Lu Xingyan’s words were half serious and half playful.
Shen Xingruo grabbed the “Little Topic Drills” and tapped his head with them. “Shut up. You’re about to turn seventeen, and yet you’re still so brainless. With your behavior, I doubt you’ll ever score over 400 in the college entrance exam.”
Okay.
He was overthinking.
Teacher Shen was as sharp as ever, maintaining her precise and crushing wartime demeanor.
The vacation during the college entrance exam days soon came to an end.
When they returned to school, the banners cheering for the college entrance exam were still hanging at the gate of Mingli High School, but there were noticeably fewer students than usual.
In the morning when they arrived at the classroom, Shen Xingruo hadn’t attended the morning self-study. She had been called to the office by Wang Youfu along with He Siyue.
When good students were called away, it was ninety-nine percent of the time for a good reason.
He Siyue returned during the morning self-study, and someone curiously asked him what good news he had received.
He smiled and said, “City’s Best Three Selection.”
“Why didn’t Shen Xingruo come back?”
He Siyue paused for a moment. “Teacher Wang asked her to stay; probably had something else to discuss.”
Lu Xingyan overheard this.
He was playing with Shen Xingru’s Rubik’s Cube. She had taught him the formula for solving it, but he hadn’t quite mastered it yet. His thoughts were disrupted, and he couldn’t remember where he had left off.
When the morning self-study ended, Shen Xingruo returned from the office.
Lu Xingyan asked, “What did Wang Youfu want from you?”
“Oh, he wanted to talk about learning martial arts.”
She didn’t take it seriously and just casually responded.
Lu Xingyan asked, “What martial arts are you learning? You have this skill, so why don’t you use it when showing off, instead of always using me as a target?”
Shen Xingruo glanced at him. “It’s not what you think. I don’t need you for this. Participating in the training can give you extra points for the college entrance exam.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xingyan became interested. “That’s a good deal. How can I learn? I want to give it a try too.”
Shen Xingruo stared at him, too lazy to explain any further. “Shut up.”
While Lu Xingyan was clueless about this, Siyue understood it very well.
The martial arts bonus points were already an open secret at Xingcheng High School. The provincial special talent bonus point system stipulated that students who ranked in the top six in the provincial martial arts competition would receive 20 bonus points, while those in the city-level competition would get 10 points.
However, “martial arts” was a general term. It was divided into eight categories of competition, such as knives, spears, swords, and sticks, and there were separate competitions for men and women, as well as city-level and school-level competitions.
In reality, there were a total of 192 spots available for bonus points through these competitions.
Not many schools had the qualifications to participate in these competitions, and there were very few participants who had professional standards. Many events had no participants at all, which created a loophole for bonus points.
During the summer vacation of the second year of high school, several prestigious schools in Xingcheng would train a group of top students to participate in martial arts training, ensuring that they could earn bonus points in competitions and strive for excellence in the college entrance exam.
The top scholars of Mingli High School two years ago were not just scholars based on raw scores; they were scholars who had received bonus points from martial arts.
Wang Youfu had asked Shen Xingruo about this matter but had not asked He Siyue.
He Siyue felt a bit uncomfortable hearing Shen Xingruo talk about it now.
But then he heard Shen Xingruo say, “I didn’t agree to it.”
Lu Xingyan said, “Just learning a bit can earn you extra points. Why didn’t you agree?”
“What’s the difference between this and buying points? Don’t you think it’s unfair?”
“I can’t stop others from exploiting loopholes, but I can choose not to exploit this loophole myself. Besides, I don’t need to do this to get into the university I want.”
“Then you’re quite principled.” Lu Xingyan joked casually, not taking it seriously since he didn’t understand much about it.
Shen Xingruo couldn’t be bothered to explain to him either. She had presented an even more principled stance when discussing it with Wang Youfu, leaving him somewhat stunned and deeply convinced.
In reality, the higher-ups had begun to pay attention to the issue of martial arts bonus points in the past two years as well.
In Xingcheng, the allocation of martial arts slots to various schools had tightened slightly. Previously, Mingli High School could enroll students in the top twenty of both science and liberal arts classes by paying for training.
Not anymore. Although there were slightly more spots for the science class, the liberal arts class only had a total of three spots now.
Shen Xingruo readily gave up the twenty points, which surprised the top students who heard about it.
He Siyue had thought that Shen Xingruo would decline the spots and they would fall to him, but in the end, they went to Zhai Jiajing.
He felt even more disappointed.
As the footsteps of the final exams drew nearer, the soon-to-be seniors began to feel the urgency of time.
Class One was a science experimental class with no art students, but there were quite a few art students in regular classes. They had been preparing for training recently, and some had even left school early to attend training.
Previously, Pei Yue had considered having Lu Xingyan learn broadcasting or scriptwriting to boost his art grades in the college entrance exam. But after careful inquiry, she decided against it.
Lu Xingyan was neither suitable for broadcasting nor scriptwriting…
Especially scriptwriting. His wooden-headedness would probably struggle even to retell the story of Snow White.
On Wednesday afternoon, during the self-study class, a group of students suddenly rushed past the corridor, making a commotion. It was as if they were evacuating due to an earthquake. Li Chengfan, who was dozing off, was awakened by the noise.