The atmosphere in the classroom was a bit tense.
Old Man Liu swept his gaze around the room before finally speaking slowly: "Next, I'll hand out the test papers. When I call your name, come up and get your paper."
"Simon Li."
Old Man Liu called a name, and a boy in the fifth row stood up, trembling as he walked to the podium.
"Eighty-eight points."
When he heard his score, Simon Li's face turned ashen.
"Just two points short of passing. Not bad."
Old Man Liu spoke slowly and handed over the test paper.
Mia Chen was already the class study goddess, so even a high score like this only made people a bit surprised—it was still what everyone expected.
"Tim Ji, sixty-five."
"Kevin Wu, seventy."
......
Old Man Liu continued handing out the test papers, announcing each score as the students came up.
Most of the scores were below the passing line. The students who got their papers mostly breathed a sigh of relief, while those who hadn't were nervously waiting.
He was always in the bottom ten, consistently ending up with low scores—never once surprising anyone.
Evan Lin's lowest math score was an infamously abysmal eight points. As Old Man Liu said when he scolded him, even if you just guess on the multiple-choice, you should get more than eight!
Darren Zhao immediately stood up from his seat and walked to the podium.
"Thirty-eight!"
Old Man Liu's eyes flashed, and Darren Zhao's whole body trembled.
"This score is terrible! Take it and go reflect on yourself!"
Darren Zhao took his test paper, not daring to breathe, and returned to his seat. He glanced at the sheet covered in mistakes, looking rather embarrassed.
"Mia Chen."
Old Man Liu called Mia Chen's name, and she stood up from her seat.
"One hundred twenty-two. Well done."
Old Man Liu handed the test paper to Mia Chen with an approving look.
"One hundred twenty-two!"
"That's so high! No one else in the class even broke a hundred!"
The students below looked at Mia Chen with respect in their eyes; no one felt jealousy or resentment.
Mia Chen was already a top student, so even scoring a bit higher only surprised people—it was still within expectations.
"Next, Evan Lin."
Old Man Liu looked at the test paper in his hand, frowned, and called out in a calm voice.
"Evan Lin, haha, think that guy can even get twenty points?" As soon as Evan Lin's name was called, someone started laughing.
"With Evan Lin's math skills, if he scores twenty, it's pure luck. Probably just guessed a few multiple-choice questions right." Another student chimed in.
Everyone knew exactly what Evan Lin's academic level was.
He was consistently in the bottom ten of the class, always aiming for low scores, never once surprising anyone.
Evan Lin's lowest math score was a legendary eight points. As Old Man Liu said when he scolded him back then, even if you randomly guess on the multiple-choice, you should get more than eight!
Evan Lin got up from his seat and slowly walked to the podium.
"Evan Lin, get ready for a scolding." As Evan passed by his desk, Darren Zhao subtly shook his own thirty-eight-point test paper.
Darren Zhao's grades were bad, but Evan Lin's were even worse.
At least there was someone whose score was much lower than his own.
Darren Zhao couldn't help wanting to slap his thirty-eight-point test paper in Evan Lin's face and shout, "See that? I got thirty-eight!"
Aren't you supposed to be hot stuff, Evan Lin? Let's see you get thirty-eight!
Evan Lin had already walked up to the podium, and Darren Zhao, along with a bunch of others, was ready to laugh at him.
They'd even rehearsed their lines, just waiting for Old Man Liu to announce Evan Lin's score.
"One hundred and one points."
Old Man Liu held the test paper, looked at Evan Lin walking up to the podium, and spoke slowly.
"Haha! Evan Lin, you only got one hundred and one points..."
When Old Man Liu announced the score, Darren Zhao burst out laughing without thinking, but then realized something was off. His laughter faded until it disappeared.
"One hundred and one?"
Darren Zhao froze, wondering if he'd misheard.
But Old Man Liu frowned and looked at Darren Zhao: "Darren Zhao, you're proud of getting thirty-eight? Get out and stand in the hallway!"
As soon as Old Man Liu spoke, Darren Zhao broke out in a cold sweat and slunk out of the classroom to stand as punishment.
Inside the classroom, the group that had been ready to mock Evan Lin were left with their mouths hanging open, unable to say a word.
"Evan Lin got one hundred and one? Did I hear that right?" someone whispered below.
"There must be a mistake, or maybe Evan Lin somehow got the answers." Someone guessed, and a chorus of agreement followed.
"This score..." Old Man Liu handed Evan Lin the test paper, opened his mouth, looked at Evan Lin, and finally said, "Well done. Keep it up."
"Thank you." Evan Lin nodded and returned to his seat with the test paper.
Mia Chen stared at Evan Lin in astonishment, her eyes wide with surprise.
This test paper wasn't easy—the whole class had only five or six people reach the ninety-point passing line, and only Mia Chen and Evan Lin broke a hundred.
How could Mia Chen not be surprised?
"The earlier questions were basically all correct. I messed up a few of the trigonometry problems at the end—those exercises I hadn't practiced yet. But yesterday I read a lot of similar types in Olympiad Math Explained in Detail. If I did them again, I definitely wouldn't make the same mistakes."
Back at his seat, Evan Lin looked over his test paper, focusing mainly on the mistakes.
One calculation problem was worked through correctly but the final answer was wrong—a careless mistake. Another fill-in-the-blank was missing an answer, and the last big question got zero points.
There were only a few mistakes and a lot of correct answers.
Evan Lin was fairly satisfied with his results this time.
"Alright, everyone has seen their scores. This test really was tough, but not because the problems themselves were so hard—it was that each one tested the concepts in a different way."
"Take the first big geometry question, for example. If you just added three intersecting auxiliary lines, you could break it into an ellipse, a semicircle, and a cube. Then, using the relationships between sides and angles, you'd get the answer easily. But so many of you got it wrong—really shouldn't have happened." Old Man Liu spoke slowly, pointing out common mistakes before clearing his throat.
"Alright, let's go over the test paper now."
Old Man Liu stood at the podium explaining the test, while Evan Lin took out paper and pen to redo the last big question. He spent ten minutes and got the correct answer, then quietly corrected his earlier mistakes.
The bell rang for the end of class.
Old Man Liu finished explaining a fill-in-the-blank question: "Class dismissed."
"Evan Lin, come to the office with me for a moment."
Old Man Liu glanced at Evan Lin, then walked out of the classroom.
"Caught cheating—definitely getting dragged out for a scolding by Old Man Liu." Someone gloated.
"One hundred and one points, and you think you deserve that score, Evan Lin?" Li Hai held his eighty-eight-point test paper, looking at Evan Lin with disdain.
As Evan Lin left the classroom, Darren Zhao happened to walk in. "Evan Lin, you really pulled it off—cheated your way to a hundred and one? Second in the class, not bad, I admit it."
Darren Zhao didn't bother hiding his sarcasm toward Evan Lin. Having to stand in the hallway for a whole period because of Evan left him seriously annoyed.
"Loser."
Evan Lin spat out the word without even glancing at Darren Zhao, leaving him standing there, face turning from green to white. "Evan Lin, just you wait! So what if you cheated? What's with the attitude!"
Darren Zhao shouted at Evan Lin's back.
Evan Lin didn't pause for a second, rounding the corridor corner and catching up with Old Man Liu.
Old Man Liu walked ahead with his hands behind his back, heading upstairs without saying a word.
Not until they reached the math office door, with no one else around, did Old Man Liu turn to Evan Lin and carefully say, "You did very well on this test—really exceeded expectations."
"Thank you," Evan Lin replied with a nod.
"There's nothing else I wanted—just wanted to ask about your recent study habits." Old Man Liu's expression didn't change, his tone steady as always.
"These past few days, I've worked through all the math exercises from first to second year, tackling every topic one by one," Evan Lin answered honestly.
"Good, keep it up," Old Man Liu nodded. "Alright, you can go back now."
Only after Evan Lin left did Old Man Liu stroll into the math office.
As soon as he entered, a bespectacled middle-aged teacher came over and asked, "Mr. Liu, I used your test paper for my class. Ten students scored over a hundred—the highest was Rachel Liu, with one hundred thirty-eight."
"Ten, huh? Not bad," Old Man Liu nodded.
"That test was one I co-wrote with Mr. Wang. Anyone who scores a hundred did well. And Rachel Liu—she's the one prepping to represent the school in the City High-School Math Olympiad, right?" Old Man Liu asked.
"That's right, but we still don't have enough people for the Olympiad—the education bureau gave us five slots, and we're still short one."
"For this Olympiad, our main rival is First High School. Whatever happens, we can't let our scores be worse than theirs. The principal just asked me to organize a selection exam in a few days—let all the students who scored a hundred on your test take it, and the top scorer will fill the last spot on our team. What do you think?"
"If possible, I'll have each math teacher give the test directly, to prevent students from sharing answers."
Ethan Zhang asked cautiously—he's the math office director and Class 3's math teacher, but he never dares ignore Old Man Liu's opinion.
"You decide," Old Man Liu nodded.
"Oh, by the way, I checked your class's grade sheet yesterday. That Evan Lin got one hundred and one? His past scores were awful. Should we raise a flag about him? Something seems off." Ethan Zhang had already turned to leave but suddenly remembered and asked.
In the office, Ethan Zhang had heard Old Man Liu complain about Evan Lin's grades more than once. Not just Old Man Liu—even Mr. Zheng, Class 7's homeroom teacher, had often griped about it in school meetings.
Old Man Liu paused at Ethan Zhang's words, then slowly said, "Mr. Zhang, while I'm surprised Evan Lin suddenly scored so high, I'd rather trust my student."
"Even if he's a problem student."
Old Man Liu spoke word by word, then added, "Even if Evan Lin really did cheat, at least it means he wants to do well—he's finally got some shame, instead of being totally shameless about scoring eight like before."