Lu Qingyan turned her head and looked at him in surprise, "I thought my performance was average this time. Don't be so exaggerated, okay? Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll become too proud."
However, Lu Qingyan only spoke the truth.
In such a short time, it was impossible to thoroughly make up for the gaps in her academic memory.
There were many basic formulas she hadn't touched in years, literature references she only vaguely recalled, and essay structures she had to re-learn from scratch.
So this time, in her honest opinion—
Her performance was… average.
After all, she had only just begun.
Top 20? That was barely the warm-up.
How could she be satisfied with only entering the top 20? Her goal was…
She silently glanced at Wang Jingyuan who was seated beside her.
Use magic to defeat magic.
Even Zhang Qingze, usually sharp-tongued and quick to sarcasm, didn't have much of a reaction.
After years of teaching, he had long since seen every kind of student — gifted slackers, hard-working underdogs, meteoric risers, and the occasional comet that soared then promptly crashed. So while he raised a brow, he didn't let the corners of her his twitch even once.
"Many students made progress during this exam," he said lightly, his voice slicing through the quiet. "I hope that energy continues through to the section exams."
He didn't mention Lu Qingyan's name. After she displayed the scores, she took down the list and started class.
No one spoke. It seemed like no one had recovered yet.
When did the person who never did their homework before and was always last place suddenly become so powerful?
Some people couldn't help but recalled how these past few days Zhang Qingze would select Lu Qingyan to answer some difficult questions during class.
She always answered them correctly, but nobody paid much attention to it then as they assumed that she had read Wang Jingyuan's answers, but what if—
Was it actually her own answers?
"LU QINGYAN!!" Peng Jianda all but exploded as he slammed his desk and turned around with the energy of a soap opera actress discovering her long-lost twin. "You—you little traitor!! I thought we were in this together!! I asked you and you said my grades are a 'bit' better'!! Is this your definition of a "bit better"?!"
Lu Qingyan, nibbling on a piece of dried fruit from her snack pouch, raised her eyes calmly. "It is."
"It is?! You placed seventh in the class—seventh in the entire grade! Xiao Yan, you told lies with your whole chest!"
"It looks like you're originally a genius. Or is it because you're seated next to the Learning God!?"
Lu Qingyan: "Shut up for me."
The youth in front of Lu Qingyan turned his head and said to Peng Jianda, "Then according to your reasoning, when you were seated next to our class's sports commissioner, why didn't you ignite the spirit of physical education?"
Peng Jianda was unreconciled, "How did I not? I've always persisted in doing physical education."
Tang Jie laughed, "That, I've noticed. Peng Jianda persisted in doing sit-ups every day."
"At night before he goes to sleep, he does half a sit-up by lying down, then he finishes it when he gets up in the morning."
Lu Qingyan: "Hahahahahaha."
As the head teacher, Zhang Qingze would check-in with his students after each exam regardless if they improved or did worse.
So, in the afternoon, Lu Qingyan was called to the teachers' office.
The teachers' desks were nearly all adjacent to one another and Lu Qingyan was also a special student in Special Class, so when she arrived, all the gazes landed on her.
After all, it was not easy to rank in top20 when you transferred in between the semester, so all the teachers knew about it.
Zhang Qingze was correcting homework, but when he saw Lu Qingyan arriving, he put down his red pen.
"I've noticed your learning attitude is very focused," he began, his voice neutral but not cold. "That's a good thing. This month's results reflect your effort. I hope you'll maintain this momentum through the section exams."
English Teacher He, who passed by on his way to the water dispenser to make a cup of wolfberry tea, squinted and said, "Student Xiao Yan's attitude towards homework and exams is really impressive, that's deserving of praise."
Tang Ya, who was next door, also poked out her head and said with a smile, "She did very well on Chinese too. The essay was well-written, it was structured well beyond this year's syllabus. Just work a little harder on your recitation. It'd be such a pity to lose points on the basics."
Even as a top student in the past, Lu Qingyan was never praised by so many teachers at once. Her ears were a little red, "Thank you, teachers. I'll do my best," she said sincerely."
Zhang Qingze continued, "I heard from Peng Jianda that you were able to study so impressively was thanks to your seatmate. I never expected that that child who usually looked so cold and indifferent could actually be so enthusiastic and helpful."
No matter how Lu Qingyan disagreed in her heart, she still showed a friendly smile of worship, "Yes, Student Wang is amazing. I asked him for guidance on a lot of topics and was able to learn a lot."
Zhang Qingze nodded his head, "If that's the case, you two don't have to move seats next month, just stay as seatmates. You made a lot of progress this time, but don't become overconfident, continue to work hard."
Lu Qingyan froze.
Stay… where she was?
Next to him?
Wang Jingyuan, who never passed her notes and communicated solely via head tilts and single glances?