Chapter 204: The Gap
After a lively weekend, Monday brought Gu Qinghuan face-to-face with a new challenge—the first monthly exam of the semester.
Last semester’s final exam results hadn’t been ideal for Class Three, so this time everyone was fired up to redeem themselves.
Song Yi temporarily paused the Sanda lessons, while Su Lin added an extra tutoring session—originally it was Tuesday and Thursday after school, now Wednesday was added too.
Their homeroom teacher, Chen Zelin, was pleased to see their enthusiasm, but still reminded them not to be overly tense, lest it backfire.
Su Lin tutoring Yu Xin and the others wasn’t exactly a secret in Class Two. The capybaras didn’t think it needed explaining, so Wei Xiao had no idea at first. It wasn’t until he saw Yu Xin and the others coming to find Su Lin for two days straight that he grew curious.
“Why do those people from Class Three keep coming to see Su Lin?” Wei Xiao randomly grabbed a “capybara” to ask.
The student looked confused at first, then suddenly realized. “Oh, I forgot to tell you—last semester Su Lin had some family trouble and needed money. Class Three donated to her, so she’s tutoring them in return.”
Wei Xiao’s mouth twitched. “Why doesn’t she tutor people from our class?”
The student shook his head quickly. “No thanks, I don’t want tutoring. I’d rather go home and play games.”
After half a month, Wei Xiao had already figured out how “unmotivated” his classmates were. Hearing this, he frowned. “Are you okay with losing to Class Three like this?”
The student blinked. “Huh? Losing to Class Three? Our class ranking has always been around 8th to 10th in the grade.”
Wei Xiao nearly choked—third to fifth from the bottom was something to be proud of?
But clearly, Class Two’s capybaras were perfectly content. Why not just happily do their own thing? With Su Lin in class attracting all the attention, that was enough.
There was even a famous joke in Class Two:
Back during the first monthly exam, the student who ranked second went home and reported his results. His dad was quite satisfied, then casually asked how much the first-place student scored.
When Su Lin’s score was revealed, his dad grabbed a calculator and punched numbers for a long time before going blank. “You’re saying… across all these subjects, she lost less than fifty points total?”
The student nodded. “She’s also first in the grade—recognized as a top scholar candidate.”
The dad immediately comforted him: “Your score is already very good. Don’t feel inferior. We don’t compare with geniuses… how about I find you a psychologist?”
The next day, that student retold the story in class, causing an uproar of laughter. “Find you a psychologist” even became a catchphrase for a while.
Thanks to this, everyone had fully accepted Su Lin’s overwhelming scores. Since no one could beat her anyway, they just learned what they could and scored what they could.
But Wei Xiao was different. As the “porcupine” among the capybaras, he was full of fighting spirit.
Since this was his first exam after transferring to Mingde, he naturally wanted a good result to prove himself.
He had also looked into it—Gu Qinghuan’s last final exam rank was outside the top 100, not particularly good.
He couldn’t beat Su Lin, but surpassing Gu Qinghuan? That should be no problem.
He even deliberately brought up the monthly exam in front of her:
“The exam’s coming soon. I’m a bit nervous.”
At noon, Gu Qinghuan had eaten a bit too much. Since Wei Xiao was around doing chores, she didn’t nap. Instead, she had him wipe down the “chat wall” in the student union hall, scribbled a few lines on it, then returned to the office to do problems. Wei Xiao sat nearby reading a book.
Hearing him, Gu Qinghuan blinked and sighed along. “Yeah, I didn’t do well in the last final exam. I wonder how I’ll do this time.”
“What score did you get last time?” Wei Xiao asked, feigning interest.
Gu Qinghuan shook her head awkwardly. “It was too bad. Better not say.”
“Did you make the top 100?” he pressed.
If Jiang Chuchu were here, she’d already want to smack him—she’d clearly said “better not say,” and he still kept asking. Was he deliberately trying to mess with her mentality?
But this was exactly what Gu Qinghuan expected. She lowered her head and continued writing, as if discouraged.
Wei Xiao softened his tone. “It’s okay. There must have been some reason you didn’t do well last time. Just work harder this time.”
Gu Qinghuan rolled her eyes inwardly.
What do you mean ‘it’s okay’? What does my score have to do with you? Acting like ‘I forgive you’—who are you trying to disgust?
And “work harder this time”—if it were someone else, their pressure might have already skyrocketed. Did he think he was a teacher or parent?
Still, she played along enthusiastically. “Are your grades very good, Wei Xiao?”
Wei Xiao smiled. “Not bad.”
A week passed in the blink of an eye, and the monthly exam arrived.
As usual, it was scheduled before the weekend, leaving time for grading. By Monday, when students returned, the scores were already out.
Wei Xiao was unusually proactive today, eager to show off his results in front of Gu Qinghuan.
Class Two’s first place—and the grade’s first place—unsurprisingly went to Su Lin again.
The capybaras applauded as usual. But when the homeroom teacher announced that Wei Xiao ranked second in class, everyone was a bit surprised.
Not bad—new student, already second place. Quite impressive.
But the praised Wei Xiao couldn’t smile at all.
This semester, subject selection was approaching, and most students had already decided their choices.
Naturally, their studying had shifted focus accordingly.
But improving already-strong subjects wasn’t easy, while weaker ones declined even more when neglected.
Overall, total scores had slightly dropped this time.
Teachers understood—it was just a temporary fluctuation. After midterms, things would stabilize.
But Su Lin was different.
Her “god-tier” scores were simply outrageous.
Even as second place, Wei Xiao was crushed by an overwhelming gap.
Suppressing his frustration, he couldn’t wait to find out Gu Qinghuan’s score.
During the break, he went to her.
Gu Qinghuan smiled politely. “What’s up?”
“Just wondering if you’re free for lunch today,” Wei Xiao said casually.
Gu Qinghuan shook her head apologetically. “Sorry, I already made plans with Chuchu and Xinbao.”
Normally, Wei Xiao would mind the word “accompany,” as if he needed her—but today that wasn’t the focus.
He sighed lightly. “I see. Actually, I just wanted to talk about the exam.”
“Oh, the exam?” Gu Qinghuan smiled brightly. “I made it into the top 100 this time!”
Wei Xiao pretended curiosity. “What rank?”
“77th. Pretty close to my best result so far.”
Wei Xiao immediately felt better—he was 35th in the grade, far ahead of her.
Then Gu Qinghuan added casually:
“I’ve decided to choose Physics, Chemistry, and Politics. For these three subjects, I got 214 this time. I think that’s already very good!”
Wei Xiao’s expression froze.
His total for those three subjects was—202.
Bao Qingsong had already found out Wei Xiao’s scores from Class Two, and Gu Qinghuan deliberately pointed it out in front of him.
She had already discussed with her family and decided on those three subjects, so from this exam onward, she focused fully on them.
It had been exhausting—her brain almost felt like exploding.
But looking at her score, then at Wei Xiao’s expression, Gu Qinghuan had only one thought:
So satisfying!
