"A perfect score? Who got a perfect score?"
Inside the math department, a teacher who stayed late grading papers suddenly let out a gasp, waving a test paper in his hand, his face full of shock.
His outburst instantly drew several other math teachers over to check out the paper.
"This paper's answers look almost exactly like the standard answer key!"
A teacher flipped through the problem-solving steps on the math paper and was a little stunned.
Meanwhile, rumors about the transfer student from Senior Year Class 32 were going wild all over campus.
"Hey, you can't just say that. Today's students have way more knowledge than we did back in the day. You can't just assume someone cheated just because they scored high—that's definitely the wrong mindset." Henry Wang, smiling and holding a cup of tea, walked in from the hallway.
His Experimental Class 2 always did well in math, and Henry Wang was the lead on this math test. Hearing there was a perfect score as he entered the math office, he felt a little smug, wondering which of his students had pulled off such a monster result.
After a night of rumor-mongering, all these events drew tons of curiosity. During breaks the next morning, plenty of students crowded around the door of Senior Year Class 32, peeking in to catch a glimpse of the transfer student.
Evan Lin remained completely calm about it, while Jason Liu, sitting beside him, had never encountered anyone like this before and looked at Evan with a mix of curiosity and strangeness.
A few teachers chuckled at that.
"Well, you never know—it could be anyone's student. Looks like this afternoon at the teacher-student assembly, that top scorer's headed to the conference room for a public commendation." Wang Xiu grinned, playing humble, but his eyes were full of pride.
For this exam, the students’ names were sewn inside the seal on the papers, so no one could see them until the seal was opened. That way, teachers wouldn’t let bias affect their grading.
After speaking, Wang Xiu glanced around and happened to spot Byron Yang sitting in a corner, head down as if prepping his lessons—but really, he was just trying to avoid the whole grade drama.
Byron Yang's Senior Year Class 32 was notorious for its poor academic performance.
No surprise, Byron Yang was the last person who wanted to see the test results this time around.
"Mr. Yang, aren’t you going to check? Grading’s a bit slow this time, and some scores aren’t out yet, but we should have everything ready before the assembly this afternoon."
"Who knows, maybe that perfect score came from one of your students."
Henry Wang said with a smile.
"Teacher Wang, you’re joking. If my students even pass, I’ll thank my lucky stars. Honestly, our class can’t compare to yours when it comes to grades." Byron Yang forced a smile, but his face was extra gloomy.
Byron Yang and Wang Xiu never really saw eye to eye.
Everyone in the math department knew it.
Seeing the two of them talk, the other teachers just exchanged knowing smiles, shaking their heads a little. Their gazes toward Byron Yang held a bit of sympathy.
For teachers, student grades are everything. If your class can’t deliver, all your talk is just empty words.
In the afternoon, Byron Yang—already in a terrible mood—was summoned to the Academic Affairs Office, where, besides Director Ben Lu, there was also a girl present: Wendy Wen, who had previously filmed the scene of Evan Lin beating Ryan Luo with her DV camera.
Meanwhile, rumors about the transfer student from Senior Year Class 12 were going wild all over campus.
On his first day, the transfer student beat up Ryan Luo and Liam Liu. Not only that, some students saw him stomp Mason He’s face at the school gate, and even the famously cold Ivy Liang was—unbelievably—waiting for him at the entrance.
After school that day, the transfer student marched right up to the door of Experimental Class 2 and, in front of everyone, called Lynn Chen out directly.
After a night of rumor-mongering, all these events drew tons of curiosity. During breaks the next morning, plenty of students crowded around the door of Senior Year Class 12, peeking in to catch a glimpse of the transfer student.
Evan Lin remained completely calm about it, while Jason Liu, sitting beside him, had never encountered anyone like this before and looked at Evan with a mix of curiosity and strangeness.
During Byron Yang’s morning class, he was feeling extra frustrated. While teaching, he spotted Evan Lin in the back row, clearly not paying attention. Byron’s face darkened and he called Evan up to the board to solve a problem.
He thought this would embarrass Evan, but to his surprise, Evan solved the problem with just a few strokes of chalk. Byron was shocked—and even more annoyed that he couldn’t vent his frustration.
Over in Experimental Class 2, things weren’t peaceful for Lynn Chen either. All morning, at least five groups of students came by to ask about her relationship with Evan Lin. Lynn got so fed up she buried herself in her books, secretly blaming Evan for dragging her into the mess.
"Ivy, you waited for that transfer student at the school gate yesterday, right? He seems pretty close to Lynn Chen from next door in Class 2."
In Experimental Class 1, Ivy Liang was working on problems when a girl in front turned around and dropped that line. After she spoke, a few others glanced over, curious.
"Oh."
Ivy Liang didn’t even look up, just gave a simple reply and kept working, leaving the others a bit disappointed.
But Ivy was secretly mulling things over. She didn’t care much about Evan Lin, but she did have opinions about Lynn Chen—especially since her childhood friend Leo Liu seemed interested in Lynn.
Just as Ivy was thinking, her phone chimed with a text. She glanced at it—it was from Leo Liu. The message made Ivy raise her eyebrows, looking pretty annoyed.
"We’ve got an arts gala at our school in a few days. The show’s gonna be great. Help me bring Lynn Chen over, will you?"
Leo Liu didn’t beat around the bush.
"You think you’re so slick? If you want to chase a girl, do it yourself!"
Ivy Liang rolled her eyes, shot off a reply, then switched off her phone.
All morning, the atmosphere at Capitalview First High was just weird.
In the afternoon, Byron Yang—already in a terrible mood—was summoned to the Academic Affairs Office, where, besides Director Ben Lu, there was also a girl present: Wendy Wen, who had previously filmed the scene of Evan Lin beating Ryan Luo with her DV camera.