The bell rang for the end of class.
Jiang Mian leaned over curiously, holding her exercise book. She pointed at a math problem on the page, her brows slightly furrowed as she asked, “Cheng Ye, how do you solve this question?”
Cheng Ye glanced at it. The moment his eyes swept across the problem, a clear solution formed in his mind. He asked calmly, “Have you learned the formula for the sum of the first n terms of a geometric sequence?”
He wasn’t quite sure how far Jiang Mian had progressed in her studies.
“No,” Jiang Mian replied, blinking as she tilted her head, confusion written all over her face. “What’s a geometric sequence?”
Cheng Ye flipped open the high school textbook and said, “I’ll first go over the concept with you. We can solve the problem later.”
“Okay.” Jiang Mian nodded eagerly, her expression bright with curiosity. “Cheng Ye, you’re really amazing.”
Her eyes sparkled like stars as she added, “If I don’t understand something in the future, can I ask you for help?”
Cheng Ye curved his lips slightly. “Sure.”
“Thank you.” Jiang Mian smiled obediently, two small dimples appearing on her cheeks, pure and sweet.
Nearby male classmates overheard their conversation and immediately began mocking with disdain.
“Jiang Mian, you just transferred here, so you probably don’t know yet! Cheng Ye is a complete underachiever!”
“He ranks after 1,000 in the entire school. What can you expect him to teach you? Any one of us is way better than him! You’d be better off studying on your own. If he teaches you, he might just mess up your learning!”
“Back in his first and second years, Cheng Ye was always late, leaving early, or skipping classes! Even when he stayed in the classroom, he was either gaming, zoning out, or sleeping! In last semester’s final exam, he ranked last again! An underachiever teaching others? That’s hilarious!”
At that moment, Cheng Fenghao walked over and said gently, “Jiang Mian, if you have any questions you don’t understand, feel free to come to me or Chu Xiyan. We’ll help you with your studies. As for Cheng Ye…”
He shifted his gaze toward Cheng Ye, whose expression remained indifferent. “Your grades aren’t good, so it’s better not to mislead a new classmate.”
Cheng Ye replied calmly, “The past is the past. After three days apart, one should look at someone with new eyes.”
Low laughter spread among the classmates.
Cheng Fenghao couldn’t suppress the smile at the corner of his lips. A trace of ridicule flashed in his eyes as he said, “Oh? There’s a math quiz tonight. What kind of result do you think you can get?”
First- and second-year students didn’t have evening self-study sessions, but starting from the third year, studies became extremely intense, and all classes had to attend evening study.
During that time, teachers might give tests or go over material they didn’t finish during the day.
“First in the class,” Cheng Ye said lazily. New chapters come out on g.com first.
The entire class burst into laughter.
First in the class?!
Everyone knew exactly how capable Cheng Ye was!
Even if he boasted about barely passing the math quiz, they wouldn’t believe him, let alone claiming first place!
After all, the top two spots in the class, and even in the entire school, had long been firmly occupied by Cheng Fenghao and Chu Xiyan.
Cheng Ye wasn’t just bragging—he was outright daydreaming!
Cheng Fenghao’s lips curled upward uncontrollably. In his eyes, Cheng Ye looked like nothing more than a clown putting on a show.
When Chu Xiyan heard Cheng Ye boast about taking first place in the class, her delicate brows immediately furrowed. A wave of embarrassment washed over her.
Did Cheng Ye really have no self-awareness? Did he not know his own limits at all?!
She stood up angrily, her cold gaze falling on Cheng Ye, who sat there casually. “Are you not embarrassed enough? First in the class? Challenging Fenghao to his face?”
Cheng Ye’s tone remained lazy. “Cheng Fenghao, do you dare to make a bet with me?”
Cheng Fenghao’s expression darkened slightly. “What kind of bet? Cheng Ye, if it’s about academics, then I’m sorry, but you’re bound to lose.”
He had always considered himself a favored genius. Ever since entering high school, no one had surpassed him in grades.
“It’s about academics,” Cheng Ye said casually. “If I take first place in the class, you’ll write a 10,000-word self-criticism about falsely accusing me today, and then publicly apologize to me during next Monday’s flag-raising ceremony. How about that?”
His tone was nonchalant, yet brimming with arrogance.
The mention of the accusation made Cheng Fenghao’s expression turn unpleasant.
With Chu Xiyan present, if he refused, it would make him look spineless.
“I agree,” Cheng Fenghao said, his eyes slightly red, his attitude humble. “Brother, no matter what you want to do, I’ll cooperate with you. But if you lose, you can’t mislead the transfer student anymore.”
Cheng Ye’s voice turned impatient. “I’ll teach her properly. That’s none of your concern.”
Chu Xiyan felt a strange discomfort in her chest. She glanced at Jiang Mian, who stood behind Cheng Ye, too timid to speak. For some reason, her intuition told her that Jiang Mian was not as simple and harmless as she appeared.
Realizing she had once again lost focus because of Cheng Ye, Chu Xiyan felt irritated. She called Cheng Fenghao to go out for dinner together.
At 7 p.m., the math teacher walked in with a stack of mock test papers and said, “Students, tonight’s quiz covers basic high school knowledge. The questions aren’t very difficult, but you need to be careful.”
“You’ll have two hours. Time starts now!”
Cheng Ye didn’t take such a small math quiz seriously. Earlier, he had already printed out the electronic document “Refined Knowledge Points and Typical Problems for the Physics Competition” at the school print shop.
Since phones weren’t allowed in class, having a printed copy made it convenient for him to review and study.
He had already memorized the content, but he still planned to go over it a few more times. After all, he pursued perfection—there was still a noticeable difference between scoring 99 and 100.
When Cheng Ye received the math test paper, he immediately recognized the solution methods at a glance. After writing his name, he began answering swiftly.
On the podium, the math teacher had brewed a cup of goji berry tea and was leisurely sipping it. Suddenly, he noticed Cheng Ye writing at an astonishing speed.
The teacher frowned. Was Cheng Ye really solving the problems that fast? Didn’t he need time to think through them?
In less than half an hour, Cheng Ye put down his pen, walked up to submit his paper, then returned to his seat and began flipping through the Physics Competition materials on his own.
The math teacher was stunned. Although the quiz covered basic knowledge, it still included most of the high school math topics. Even if it wasn’t difficult, finishing it in under half an hour was unbelievable.
He was a new teacher, having just started teaching Senior Year Class 1 this semester.
On the first day of school, he simply wanted to use this test to get a general sense of the students’ math levels.
However, he had already checked the previous semester’s final exam results. Among the top ten in the class, Cheng Ye’s name wasn’t there at all.
The math teacher even used his phone to specifically look up Cheng Ye’s grades. In the last semester’s final exam, Cheng Ye ranked beyond 1,000 in the entire school, last in the class, with an abysmal math score of only 12.
Thinking of this, the teacher was almost certain that Cheng Ye had randomly filled in answers out of frustration, handing in his paper early because he didn’t know how to solve the questions.
Holding a skeptical attitude, the math teacher casually began grading the paper with a red pen while sipping his tea.
As one red checkmark after another appeared on Cheng Ye’s test paper, the teacher’s pupils gradually trembled in shock…