It wasn’t just Wen Ying and Li Mengjiao who improved their final exam results.
Or rather, their progress in year rankings paled in comparison to Wang Shuang’s astonishing leap.
Wang Shuang’s previous grades were abysmal, in a key provincial school with an extremely high undergraduate admission rate, his persistence in lingering among the bottom 20 or 30 in the year was a kind of stubborn academic failure.
After last summer, Wang Shuang was inspired by some positive influence, in the first monthly exam of the second year of high school, he ranked 78th from the bottom, a slight improvement.
Wang Jun hired several tutors for Wang Shuang, finally pulling him out of the bottom 100.
But Wang Shuang’s real breakthrough began when Xie Qian took charge of this academic underachiever.
With over a thousand science students in the second year, Wang Shuang not only escaped the bottom 100 but even the bottom 200, for the first time, his exam results could be counted from the top, he ranked 804th in the year.
This was so unbelievable to Wang Shuang, the academic slacker, himself.
If he worked a bit harder, could his year ranking start with a “7”?
Ranking in the 700s meant his dad wouldn’t have to spend money to send him abroad, he could get into university on his own merit.
Xie Qian thought there were too few university options beyond the top 600, but that was Xie Qian’s standard, for a self-aware slacker like Wang Shuang, he never measured himself against top students.
“If I take this report card home, my dad might set off firecrackers!” Wang Shuang said.
Wang, the slacker, leaned half his body through the window of Class 16, grinning so wide it nearly reached his ears.
Li Mengjiao, who ranked 311th in the year, turned her head aside, giving Wang Shuang a disdainful look, “That’s because you’ve hurt Uncle Wang too deeply, making his expectations of you too low! I remember your grades weren’t this bad in junior high, but in the second semester of eighth grade, you suddenly stopped caring about studying and started chasing girlfriends… you didn’t work hard before, so now you have to put in several times the effort to catch up, serves you right!”
Li Mengjiao’s looks gave her an edge, even when scolding, she was adorable.
Especially when scolding Wang Shuang, it felt almost flirtatious.
With an old auntie’s mindset, Wen Ying watched the young pair, packing her summer books while whispering to Xie Qian, “I bet five test papers, before the college entrance exam, one of them, Li Mengjiao or Wang Shuang, will confess first.”
Xie Qian laughed.
Not because he wanted to bet papers with Wen Ying, but out of exasperation.
, What did he say? This hamster, if not kept in check, would float up to the sky!
“I bet ten papers, neither of them will confess first,” Xie Qian said.
As he spoke, he pulled a stack of test papers from his desk, counted out ten, and handed them to Wen Ying.
Wen Ying, “…?!”
Even Xie Qian couldn’t be this unfair, the bet hadn’t been settled yet, how could he decide she’d lost already?
Facing Wen Ying’s questioning look, Xie Qian was confident.
He couldn’t control two high schoolers developing feelings for each other, but he could ensure those feelings didn’t grow further.
Confess?
One was a busy student juggling academics and a celebrity career.
The other was a pure slacker just escaping the bottom ranks.
If these two started dating… it’d be like a flock of egrets soaring to the sky, two slackers singing among the willows!
Wen Ying watched as Xie Qian walked over, holding nearly all the papers from his desk, distributing them to Li Mengjiao and Wang Shuang.
The love of a top-student friend was so weighty, Li Mengjiao and Wang Shuang were moved to near tears.
Wen Ying lowered her head, avoiding the pleading looks from Jiao Jiao and Shuang Shuang, she’d been too reckless, hoping her friends never found out the extra papers were because of her careless words.
Why was her mouth so troublesome?
When Xie Qian returned after distributing the papers, one glance made Wen Ying shrink like a quail, “I was wrong, slackers don’t deserve to date early, I got carried away.”
Slackers didn’t just miss out on early romance, they didn’t deserve to chase idols either.
Xie Qian didn’t stress this point.
One move to shake the mountain and startle the hamster, hoping it would stay clear-headed.
Today was, after all, report card day, and the hamster had indeed made it into the top 300 in the year, Xie Qian softened his tone, “Your parents are waiting for you to bring the report card home, go on, head back. The *Aige* matter won’t be resolved in a day or two, do what you need to do, don’t let them throw off your rhythm.”
Wen Ying nodded, this final report card determined whether she’d have a good summer.
First, smooth things over at home, free of worries, then roll up her sleeves and take on the fight!
Today, while Wen Ying collected her summer report card, Chen Ru and Wen Dongrong were busy too, the couple went together to complete their in-service graduate program registration. Back home, Wen Dongrong took on cooking duties, while Chen Ru read in the living room, frequently glancing at the wall’s electronic clock.
Chen Ru thought her distraction was due to the heat.
The rented apartment had no air conditioning, only a creaky old fan, the air was thick with heat, even the breeze from the fan was warm.
Wen Dongrong was sweating buckets in the kitchen, knowing why his wife was anxious but not daring to mention it, he poked his head out, “How about we install a couple of air conditioners? We can take them with us when we move to the new place, it won’t be a waste.”
When Chen Ru and Wen Ying moved in last year, it wasn’t summer, and the old neighborhood felt comfortable enough, but this summer, Chen Ru felt the heat.
Wen Dongrong was even more sensitive to heat, unable to sleep well in July.
Their hometown had air conditioning, of course, but Wen Dongrong had to commute daily between Rongcheng and work, and Chen Ru couldn’t do much about it.
Now that Wen Dongrong mentioned the heat, Chen Ru grew more irritable.
This year’s renovation budget was tight, otherwise buying two air conditioners would be nothing.
But Wen Ying was officially on summer break starting today and said she wouldn’t attend tutoring classes, meaning she’d be home all day… unlike Chen Ru and Wen Dongrong, who could enjoy free air conditioning at work.
“Install one for now, go check the store this afternoon,” Chen Ru said.
Wen Dongrong’s back was soaked with sweat.
Oh no, just one unit clearly wasn’t meant for him!
Wen Dongrong wanted to argue, but footsteps approached the door, followed by the sound of a key turning, Wen Ying, who went to get her report card, was back!
Chen Ru immediately locked her eyes on her study materials, pretending she didn’t care when Wen Ying brought the report card home.
Wen Ying put down her backpack, calling out to Mum and then Dad, grabbed a cup from the table, gulped down half of it, and slapped the summer report card on the table.
Chen Ru’s eyelids twitched, but she didn’t move.
“Looks like you did alright, huh?” Wen Dongrong said.
Wen Dongrong turned off the stove, picked up the report card, and saw English at 144 points, quite impressive.
Chinese was good too, 132 points.
Math was a bit weaker, only 109 points, with room for improvement.
But a total score of 602 points, and a year rank of… 289th!
“Here, take a look,” Wen Dongrong quickly pushed the report card to Chen Ru.
Wen Ying had really made it into the top 300 in her year!
, If his wife was in a good mood after seeing this, maybe she’d agree to buy two air conditioners!
