Chapter 21: One More Person
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I'm very disappointed! Your average scores this time are in the bottom-third place!"
The Mathematics teacher, Liang Feng—Mr. Liang, stood angrily on the podium in front of the classroom as he held the piece of paper that had all the students' scores on it, singling them out one by one.
"Wang Liang! The decline in your results is quite big, big to the point I can hardly bring myself to believe it." Mr. Liang said, "In the last monthly exam, you scored 145 marks, and now, you've only obtained 132 marks. You have dropped by a whole 13 marks."
Wang Liang didn't respond, silently accepting the anger directed toward him by the teacher.
"Li Hua! Your results have also shown a decline by a whole 3 marks. Make sure you study properly next round!" Mr. Liang continued his tirade. "Xia Xiaoxiao, your marks have also declined…"
Liang Feng continued to point out the several students who showed an obvious decline in their results, and the classroom which had been quiet before this now felt heavy with added pressure.
At this time, there were just two unusual existences that didn't feel it at all.
One of them was the newly-christened top-placing elite student...Yang Xiaoman. The other was the veteran scum student, the advanced scum of all scums who was practically cancer, Xu Mang.
Of course, the current Xu Mang had climbed up into the category of average students where he had basically just passed the line between the two categories, but in substance, he was still scum.
"We'll be going through the questions in the paper, everyone, make sure to take notes." Mr. Liang eyed each and every single one of the students as he said that, and when he reached Yang Xiaoman, he gave her a smile and said, "Xiaoman, you may self-study, it's probably more efficient."
Hearing Mr. Liang's words, many of the students couldn't help but feel envious. However, none of them dared to voice any objections as there was a clear difference in their intelligence and positions.
"We'll start from the last question." Mr. Liang flipped the paper to the end and said with a blank expression, "But first, whoever has gotten full marks for this question, please raise your hands."
Upon saying that, only six hands were raised.
"Six…"
Liang Feng sighed heavily, a hint of steel and reluctance in his tone as he spoke quietly. "Is my teaching ability that poor or are your learning abilities that bad? The other class had seven people who got full marks for this question."
Nobody dared to respond to this because they knew that Mr. Liang was a very short-tempered person. Nevertheless, he was also a good person and extremely responsible toward each student.
At this time, Yang Xiaoman who was reading her own book was hit with a feeling of curiosity. She wanted to see how many marks the moronic idiot behind her had scored.
She carefully pulled Xu Mang's test paper out from under his head. The entire process was done discreetly with no one seeming to have noticed her actions.
The huge '12 marks' on the paper made Yang Xiaoman almost burst out into laughter.
Apart from his name and class, nothing else was written on his paper. So, where had his 12 marks come from?
With a slightly doubtful feeling, Yang Xiaoman flipped through the paper, and what she saw at the end shocked her to the bones. In the entire empty paper, the last question was the only one filled with a comprehensive answer.
This…
This...the entire twelve marks had come from the last question!?
Yang Xiaoman carefully checked through the entire paper again and found that the entire 12 marks had indeed come from the last question, which was also the toughest question in the entire paper.
Was this for real?
Or was she blinded and had misread it?
The moment the thought surfaced in her head, Yang Xiaoman dismissed it immediately. Mathematics was an extremely rigorous subject. You could probably score in multiple-choice questions depending on luck and probability, but this was a subjective question!
While trying to understand Xu Mang's writing and explanation, she realized something else.
Concise, clear, and reasonable!
Yang Xiaoman compared her own answer with Xu Mang's and it was obvious that the latter's response was better. This made Yang Xiaoman feel slightly unwilling to accept it in regards to her pride, and her confidence took a huge hit.
She...had lost to a moronic idiot.
Was he a genius?
But he didn't look like one…
Yang Xiaoman glanced back to look at Xu Mang, who still had his head on the table, and she could imagine the word 'disgusting' practically written on his face.
"Mr. Liang! There are seven people in our class who got full marks for the last question." Yang Xiaoman suddenly said, interrupting Liang Feng's lecture.
"Oh? Who else?" Liang Feng asked, taking it in stride.
"It's...it's…" Yang Xiaoman felt as though a lump of coal was stuck in her throat, making it hard to force the words out as she stuttered, "It's...Xu Mang."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The class was silent for a moment before laughter erupted.
Xu Mang, the old scum student, had managed to get full marks on the toughest question in the Mathematics test paper... was this a joke?
"Cough, cough!"
"Settle down, class is still in session." Liang Feng chided, feeling slightly uncomfortable. If it was anybody else, he wouldn't hesitate to give them a good scolding, but the student in question was Yang Xiaoman.
"Yang Xiaoman, this...this joke is not really funny." Liang Feng said somewhat awkwardly. "You...that is…"
Yang Xiaoman: 囧
How badly had this guy screwed up?
Was it that bad?
"Mr. Liang...Xu Mang really did score full marks, please see for yourself." Yang Xiaoman replied, raising Xu Mang's paper in her hands.
Suddenly, the class was in an uproar.
What the flying f*ck!
Surely he cheated off somebody?
These thoughts not only crossed all the minds of the students in Year 3 Class 1 but also the mind of Liang Feng.
However, since he upheld a strict and righteous attitude, Liang Feng still took the paper and checked through it. What he saw made him feel extremely shocked. It was just too perfect… the explanation of the answer was an example of perfection without any flaws. Each explanation was clear and concise, having just enough information to explain each step.
"Yang Xiaoman, show me your paper."
"Here."
Liang Feng suspected that Xu Mang had copied off someone, and so, he took the paper of the most likely candidate to compare, and he got another shock of his life.
The explanation of the problem by Yang Xiaoman was clearly inferior to Xu Mang's, but of course, that was not to say that Yang Xiaoman's answer was bad, only that Xu Mang's answer was too perfect. It was like describing a fight where the former kept coming back again and again, finally managing to come out at the top while the latter just ended the fight with one fatal blow, simple and explosive.
"Xu Mang! Wake up!" Liang Feng nudged the still-sleeping Xu Mang.
"Ah?"
Despite being confused at the sudden awakening, Xu Mang still displayed an impressively good-natured attitude, meekly saying, "Mr. Liang, I was wrong...I won't do it again."
"..."
Yang Xiaoman was speechless. She felt that Xu Mang was overly paranoid about everything being his fault whenever he was called out.
"Don't make weird guesses. I have a question, did you solve this question by yourself?" Liang Feng pointed at the last question on Xu Mang's test paper.
"Eh? Why is my paper in your hands?" Xu Mang asked, slightly stunned.
"Don't change the topic! Did you or did you not solve this question by yourself?" Liang Feng's anger increased slightly as he got irritated.
To be fair, this was quite a normal phenomenon. Any teacher that spoke to Xu Mang would either lose their temper in the process or just become angry in general.
"Mr. Liang? Are you too stressed from teaching, causing some blindness in your eyes?" Xu Mang asked again, a surprised look on his face. "Of course I did it, that's my paper after all. Are you trying to say that the invigilating teachers helped me do it?"
What the…
Whatever goodwill Liang Feng felt toward Xu Mang instantly evaporated.
"Then it's just good timing that we're on that question. Come and explain the steps to solving it then." Liang Feng said with false cheer. "Go up to the front and explain it to the class."
Xu Mang was forced to go up on the podium. Looking over his classmates who all had a glint in their eyes, there was no need to say anything...he felt as though he was someone superior, being able to come out and stand up in front of them like this.
'System, how many points do I need to explain this question perfectly.'
[System has detected, to perfectly explain the solution to this question will require: 200 points (Mathematics Skill)]
Oh, man!
So expensive!
Sorry, this was goodbye.
"What are you waiting for?" Liang Feng urged, getting irritated once again. "Hurry up!"
"Okay…"
Xu Mang had no choice, so he started to write the solution on the blackboard, and after he had finished writing, he didn't forget to tap the chalk 3 times on the board.
"This is how it is, from here to here."
"And this is how it is, from here to here."
"It goes like this after that."
"It's like this, over here."
"And finally, this is done like this."
Xu Mang was explaining excitedly on the podium while Liang Feng was having a mental breakdown.
Had that question really been solved by Xu Mang!?
Are you sh*tting me!?
-- Gift
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