"Our class has five students who can participate in this competition, Lu Yao, Li Lei, He Wenyu, Jiang An, and Luo Qianqian," Geng Zhi said while holding the transcript, "Anyone who scored over sixty on this test did very well. I won’t discuss the details of the test here. If you have any questions, you can ask me in Class One of the fourth year, or you can ask Luo Qianqian."
Luo Qianqian looked at the paper, which had neither crosses nor checks, just a stark red 100+20 across it. She had solved even the bonus questions.
Jiang An looked at his desk mate’s paper, then at his own, and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Luo Qianqian, are you even human? I’ve been studying Olympiad math for three years and only got seventy. You’re only seven, right? I can’t handle this."
Luo Qianqian, with a dark line over her head, looked at Geng Zhi. She felt that Geng Zhi was not at all straightforward and seemed somewhat sly, although it was fortunate that not all scores were published.
"Teacher, I suspect Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu of cheating. How could such little kids possibly qualify to compete?" Jiang An’s former desk mate, the math class representative Zhang Jingjing, directly questioned.
Geng Zhi didn’t speak; he just looked at Luo Qianqian with a smile, eager to see how she would handle it.
Luo Qianqian was screaming inside, ’You are the teacher, you should be solving this, not watching me solve it. What are we even having a math teacher for!!!’
"Exactly, teacher. During the exam, I saw her taking a book out from her seat." Immediately someone agreed with Zhang Jingjing’s statement. Luo Qianqian could only sit at her desk and roll her eyes. Wasn’t she with Xiao Yu? How did they all end up accusing her of cheating?
"She..." Jiang An was about to speak in his desk mate’s defense but was stunned when Luo Qianqian stuffed a lollipop into his hand.
"May I ask the math class representative, do you think the math book has these questions? Do you think flipping through a book can score high marks? This is math, not English or literature. Please don’t joke around like I’m a naïve first grader, okay?" Luo Qianqian stood up, turned around, and stared straight at Zhang Jingjing, "I wouldn’t mind re-testing to prove my strength, but does the math class representative dare to compete with me?"
"Why wouldn’t I dare!" Zhang Jingjing glared fiercely at the little kid who wasn’t as tall as her.
"I don’t mind at all; by the way, my brother is Luo Shufan, the Luo Shufan who skipped from fourth grade to sixth grade and entered Experimental Middle School." Luo Qianqian turned back around, looking aggrieved while looking towards Geng Zhi at the podium, "The math teacher was watching me all the time during the exam. He knows best whether I flipped through my question papers after I finished."
Geng Zhi felt a bit guilty and touched his nose before speaking, "Of course I saw it, because I too was expecting Luo Qianqian’s capabilities. After finishing, Luo Qianqian indeed opened her test paper..."
"See! Even the teacher saw it, cheating!" Zhang Jingjing boasted, looking towards Luo Qianqian’s direction and humming triumphantly.
"Could you let me finish, please? She opened the test paper to write her name before handing it in," said Geng Zhi.
"I don’t mind taking a new set of the test, but do you even qualify?" Luo Qianqian said before sitting down, not even glancing back at an embarrassed Zhang Jingjing.
Jiang An, seeing his desk mate’s impressive demeanor, handed back the lollipop to Luo Qianqian, "Have a lollipop to cool off."
"Teacher, can I ask how much did this math class representative score?" He Wenyu, who loved stirring up trouble, couldn’t just sit by and watch her best friend get bullied, especially since Zhang Jingjing was targeting her as well.
"That..." Geng Zhi looked at the list in his hand which recorded those who had passed, and Zhang Jingjing’s name wasn’t on it.
"Fifteen points!" Zhang Jingjing’s own deskmate, Li Lei, the lively boy who was also eligible to compete, was waving her paper in the air.
"Hahaha, isn’t that score just shameful for a math class representative? Why are you even the representative?" said He Wenyu.
Luo Qianqian turned around, showing no emotion on her face, and said coldly, "If the math class representative can find the answers in the math book, fix this paper in this class, ah no, complete this paper and get over seventy points, I will gladly give you my spot." She then turned back around.
"That’s impossible, there’s nothing like that in the book..." Zhang Jingjing started to say but then shut her mouth.
Jiang An looked at his own seventy points on the paper and shook his head. If it hadn’t been for Luo Qianqian, that would probably have been the highest score in the class.
Jiang An was not wrong; even He Wenyu had only scored sixty-five; seventy points indeed ranked second in the class.
"If you can do it and secure a spot, we’ll let this matter rest. But whether I cheated or not, everyone knows the truth," said Luo Qianqian coldly, pulling out a textbook, "If you can’t manage, I won’t let this accusation slide."
Geng Zhi shook his head. If it weren’t for Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu, these two grade-skipping students in third grade, it would have been impossible to allow third graders to participate in the middle school Math contest; even in his own class, there was only one who managed to score an eighty-five, the best student, still nothing compared to Luo Shufan from those days.
"By the way, if you don’t like us, then don’t look. Some people simply thrive under various scrutinizing eyes." But what they evolve into isn’t certain. Some become better, some turn out worse, and then there’s a type called Genius. Although she had the advantage of rebirth, she was now a genius!
"Alright, enough chit-chat, time for class," Geng Zhi said, then silently glanced at Luo Qianqian, who had taken out an English storybook, if only she would give me a little face, both siblings are so arrogantly talented."
"Desk mate, you write and I’ll cover for you," Jiang An said, well aware of his desk mate’s habits. Skipping lessons and not doing homework were minor issues for her; she would come in the morning, ask about the homework, then hurriedly do it. She never knew what the assignments were.
"No need, he won’t care about me," Luo Qianqian waved her hand dismissively, "You go on and read your novel, just be careful with the teacher." Jiang An had recently gotten hooked on Wuxia novels and had to sneakily read during class every day, "Just remember to note down the exam time and such if it’s mentioned."
Just as Luo Qianqian had predicted, before class ended, Geng Zhi did mention the examination instructions, time, and location.
"Saturday at eight in First Middle School?" Luo Qianqian, holding the note Jiang An had written, looked puzzled, "Why would elementary students go to a middle school for an exam?"
"Big sister, it’s the national preliminary contest for middle and elementary school students," Jiang An explained to the still puzzled Luo Qianqian. "You would know this if you paid even a little attention in class. This is the first time third graders are participating. There was never such a precedent before."
Middle and elementary school students? Luo Qianqian felt a strange feeling, unsure where it came from.