Wen Qing didn't even glance at Ji Ningzhi, remaining as quiet as ever.
However, the news that Ji Ningzhi scored 96 points in history spread quickly throughout the classroom.
"Wow, that's amazing! Ji Ningzhi got a perfect score of 96 out of 100 in history!"
"I didn't realize Ji Ningzhi was such a good student before. She's suddenly become incredibly successful."
"Ninety-six points! That's amazing!"
"..."
The praises fell into Ji Ningzhi's ears. If Ji Ningzhi had a tail, it would be raised high at this moment, making her look superior, as if the words "top student" were shining brightly above her head.
Just then, the school bell rang, and the Chinese teacher arrived at class with the test papers in hand, accompanied by the crisp sound of the bell.
The squad leader called out, "Stand up!"
All the students stood up and shouted in unison, "Hello, teacher!"
The Chinese teacher said with a smile, "Please sit down."
All the students stared at the stack of test papers the Chinese teacher had placed on the table, their hearts pounding. They all wanted to know their scores, yet they were also afraid to find out, filled with conflicting anxiety. This was especially true for the students who had worked hard; they were particularly concerned about it.
Wen Qing's expression remained as calm as ever.
Wan Min, standing nearby, said worriedly, "Wen Qing, oh no, it seems my essay has gone off-topic..."
Not far away, Xu Shanshan whispered, "Ningzhi, I didn't write in the classical poetry section of my Chinese exam, and my composition wasn't good either. I'll be satisfied with a score of 70."
"Useless." Ji Ningzhi snorted coldly. She believed that if she scored 96 in history, she must also score above 90 in Chinese. After all, Chinese was her best subject. Thinking of this, she was very confident and straightened her body, looking confidently at the test paper on the podium.
"The results for all subjects in this exam are out now." The Chinese teacher stood on the podium and said with a smile, "Our class has the best Chinese score among the ten classes, with an average score of 75, ranking first in the whole school."
The class erupted in cheers.
The Chinese teacher was also happy, because the school would give him a raise of one yuan for being "number one in the whole school".
"The highest score is also in our class, 91 points!" The Chinese teacher's smile deepened, and her salary increased by another dollar: "This is the first time our class has achieved the highest score since the first year of high school."
As soon as the Chinese teacher finished speaking, the students began to make guesses.
"Who is it? Who got the highest score? Is it the class representative for Chinese?"
"Could it be Ji Ningzhi? She got 96 in history, so it wouldn't be surprising if she got 91 in Chinese."
"Possibly."
Wan Min also came over and said to Wen Qing, "Ji Ningzhi is really amazing this time. She scored over 90 in both subjects."
Wen Qing smiled but remained silent. It wasn't certain whether it was Ji Ningzhi or not.
However, Ji Ningzhi had already accepted that she had the highest score, and her heart was pounding with joy. She tried her best to suppress her excitement, but she couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Class representative for Chinese, come here and put the test papers down," the Chinese teacher said.
The class representative for Chinese language rushed forward, holding the test papers, and began distributing them.
No matter what the Chinese teacher said on the podium, no one could listen anymore; they were all focused on the class representative reading out names and checking scores.
Along the aisle, many students craned their necks to look at the Chinese language representative's hand, checking who had scored how many points, and then discussing who had scored how many points. The classroom was in chaos, and even though the Chinese language teacher tapped the desk with the blackboard eraser several times, it didn't make a difference.
"Ji Ningzhi," the class representative for Chinese called out.
Ji Ningzhi smiled, raised her hand, and said shyly, "I'm here."
"How many points? How many points?" a student asked. "Is it ninety-one? Is it ninety-one?"
The class representative for Chinese glanced at the test score but didn't say anything.
Ji Ningzhi took the test paper, and before she could even see her score, someone said, "Ji Ningzhi got seventy-one points."
71 points?
Ji Ningzhi's smile froze on her face. Seventy-one points? How could that be? Her Chinese language scores were always the best; seventy-one points didn't even reach the average.
With a "whoosh," Ji Ningzhi pulled the test paper over. It clearly showed the number seventy-one, no mistake.
"Xu Shanshan." The class representative for Chinese language casually placed the test paper on Xu Shanshan's desk, where the clear score of 85 was immediately apparent.
Xu Shanshan was overjoyed. She turned to Ji Ningzhi and announced the good news: "Ningzhi, I passed the exam..."
"Shut up!" Ji Ningzhi angrily shoved the Chinese test paper into her desk, cursing Xu Shanshan for being hypocritical. Just now, Xu Shanshan had said she would be satisfied with a score of 70.
Xu Shanshan immediately fell silent.
Since Ji Ningzhi didn't get the highest score, people stopped paying attention to her. Seeing that 91 wasn't their score, they became particularly curious about who got 91.
"Wen Qing." The class representative for Chinese language pulled out another test paper and called out. As soon as the voice fell, he froze, looking at Wen Qing in disbelief, then at the score, then at Wen Qing.
"Wen Qing got 91 points!" someone shouted, causing a stir in the classroom.
Ji Ningzhi was startled. Wen Qing had the highest score in Chinese in the whole school? Impossible. Before the Chinese class representative could react, she grabbed the test paper. Two Arabic numerals, "91," were written in red ink, even elementary school students could recognize them. Ji Ningzhi was stunned.
"Ji Ningzhi, what are you doing?" The class representative for Chinese language snatched the test paper away: "You have no respect for others at all."
Ji Ningzhi's face flushed red instantly.
"Ningzhi, sit down." Seeing this, Xu Shanshan pulled Ji Ningzhi to sit on a stool.
As soon as the exam paper was placed on Wen Qing's desk, the person at the table in front of Wen Qing turned around to look at the exam paper, and the people at the tables to Wen Qing's left, right and behind him all stood up to look at it.
"That's a perfect 91!"
"So it's Wen Qing."
"..."
Wan Min smiled and leaned closer, saying, "Wen Qing, you're really amazing."
Wen Qing hadn't expected to score so high; when she received the test paper, she just thought she knew all the answers. After the exam, she was busy with clothes, so she didn't even have time to check the answers.
"It was purely by chance," Wen Qing said modestly.
If the first time was just luck, then what about the next time?
English score: 90.
Mathematics score: 98.5.
Politics score: 92.
Is this just luck? Obviously, no one believes it.
Throughout the morning, in addition to the teachers of Chinese, English, Mathematics, and Politics distributing the test papers, the teachers of Geography and History also joined in the fun. As school was about to end, they hurriedly asked the class representatives to distribute the test papers, saying that they would go over the questions in the afternoon.
As soon as the geography test papers were handed out, everyone's first glance was at Wen Qing, wondering what kind of incredible score she had achieved.
Wen Qing scored 95 in geography, causing the entire class to gasp in astonishment. Wen Qing was simply too amazing! He hadn't attended classes for almost a year, yet he still ranked first in five out of six subjects in the exam, and first in the entire school in three of them. It was astonishing that a humanities student's math score was comparable to that of a science student.
Now there's only one subject left—history. If Wen Qing can't get first place in the class, Ji Ningzhi already did very well with a score of 96 in history. How could Wen Qing possibly get 97? That's obviously not very logical.
In the noisy classroom, all the students were waiting for their scores, and even more so for Wen Qing's score to see if it would redefine everyone's perception of her.
Ji Ningzhi sat on pins and needles in her seat. From initial smugness to astonishment, to bewilderment, and finally to an unpleasant expression, she pinned all her hopes on history, hoping that her own history could help her turn the tide. She held her breath and waited.
Just then, the history class representative suddenly shouted, "Wen Qing, Wen Qing, 96 points in history!"
Ji Ningzhi was stunned. Wen Qing had the same score as her? She gritted her teeth inwardly. They actually had the same score.
"Hey, isn't this the same score as Ji Ningzhi's?"
"They're both 96 points."
The students were whispering among themselves when the history class representative chimed in, "What nonsense! Ji Ningzhi didn't get a 96. Ji Ningzhi, your test paper, your test paper!" The history class representative handed over the test paper.
"How many points? How many points?" Someone came over to look: "Huh, sixty-nine points? It really is sixty-nine points, it wasn't ninety-six points after all."
Sixty-nine? Not ninety-six?!
Ji Ningzhi's mind went blank for a moment. She snatched the test paper and stared in disbelief at the red "69" instead of "96." Her face flushed red and then turned pale, a truly fascinating sight.
"Damn, who said Ji Ningzhi got 96 points?" At this moment, a classmate asked, "Who's so blind? There are two red lines under the score and they still think 69 is 96? That's ridiculous!"
The student stammered, "I, I, I definitely saw 96, but the test paper was upside down. I was only focused on reading the name backwards and forgot to read the score backwards. I only realized now that the score is 69, not 96."
"Pfft!" Someone burst out laughing first, followed by a burst of laughter from the classroom. Actually, everyone was laughing at that student.
The classmate chuckled, seemingly unconcerned, and even apologized to Ji Ningzhi: "Ji Ningzhi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I'm so sorry."
But Ji Ningzhi couldn't take it anymore. Her face flushed red, her eyes turned red, and she suddenly grabbed the history exam paper, tore it to shreds, then stood up abruptly, kicked away the chair, and ran out of the classroom crying.
The student stood frozen in place.
"Ning Zhi!" Xu Shanshan called out, but did not chase after her.
The classroom suddenly fell silent, everyone was confused. What was wrong with Ji Ningzhi? Her classmates had already apologized.
Wan Min leaned closer to Wen Qing and said, "Ji Ningzhi's scores in every subject are below our class average."
Wen Qing smiled and remained silent. What did Ji Ningzhi's condition have to do with her? She didn't care.
Ji Ningzhi cried all the way as she ran out of the classroom, out of the school, to the bus station, took a bus to the county town, and went straight home.
She burst into tears again as soon as she entered the house.
Ji Yanjun was discussing his business with Ji Yousheng.
"You mean you want to go to the coastal provinces to try your luck for a while?" Ji Yousheng asked.
Ji Yanjun nodded: "Dad, as you've seen, every industry is developing, and transportation, as a bridge of communication, is bound to be extremely important. Moreover..."
“And Wen Qing has always wanted to live by the sea, so you want to buy a house by the sea, right?” Ji Yousheng said.
Ji Yanjun nodded.
The two were about to continue their conversation when they suddenly heard crying coming from the doorway. Turning around, they saw Ji Ningzhi running in, sobbing.
"Ningzhi, what's wrong?" Ji Yousheng asked in surprise, standing up and asking hurriedly, "Who bullied you? Isn't today Monday? Shouldn't you be in class? Why did you come back?"
Ji Ningzhi ignored her and ran straight back to her room, slamming the door shut.
"Wenhua, Wenhua!" Ji Yousheng called out to Liang Wenhua.
Liang Wenhua rushed over and asked, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
“Ning Zhi came back from school crying. Go and ask her what happened,” Ji Yousheng said.
"You came back crying?" Liang Wenhua didn't even have time to take off her apron before knocking on the door: "Ningzhi, what's wrong?"
Ji Ningzhi cried louder and louder.
"Ningzhi, open the door first. Let's talk this out. Tell Mom what happened?" Liang Wenhua asked anxiously from outside.
"Were you bullied at school?" Ji Yousheng asked anxiously.
Liang Wenhua immediately thought of Wen Qing and blurted out, "It must be Wen Qing who bullied Ning Zhi."
Ji Yanjun immediately became displeased: "Mom, don't drag Wen Qing into everything. What does it have to do with her?"
"It's her, it's her!" Ji Ningzhi cried out in her room, "From now on, it's either her or me in the class!"
"Look, look, who else could it be but Wen Qing? Wen Qing is just a troublemaker!" Liang Wenhua said through gritted teeth.
Ji Yanjun's face showed anger. In the past, Wen Qing had a bad temper and often clashed with Ji Ningzhi and Liang Wenhua. Ji Yanjun always felt that both sides were at fault. He would try to persuade both sides and even scold Wen Qing more, because in his heart Liang Wenhua was a knowledgeable, reasonable and understanding mother.
The truth of the matter is still unknown, yet Liang Wenhua is blaming everything on Wen Qing. Ji Yanjun is very unhappy: "Mom, do you know what happened? How can you just conclude that it's Wen Qing's fault?"
"I don't need to know what happened, it's her!" Liang Wenhua said sternly. Ning Zhi's aggrieved crying spurred Liang Wenhua on, and Liang Wenhua said loudly, "She's a country girl, she doesn't want to marry a good farmer, she clings to our family every day, just wanting to marry into our family. She's not lazy, she's not after our family's money, what is she after! Who is she trying to seduce by dressing up all day long!"
"Enough!" Ji Yanjun suddenly shouted sternly.
Liang Wenhua was startled.
Ji Yousheng was taken aback.
Even Ji Ningzhi, who was inside the room, stopped crying.
Ji Yanjun looked at Liang Wenhua in disbelief and asked, word by word, "Mom, has this always been how you've viewed Wen Qing?"
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