Monday noon.
The video of Shen Yujing's online interview had a certain degree of circulation within Saint Slee, quickly fermenting and becoming known to almost all the teachers and students in the school. So, before Shen Yujing returned to school, everyone held a small meeting.
At the convenience store.
Jiang Yiheng spoke first, saying, "I've deleted all the content related to Shen Yujing's interview video, and I've also banned some accounts that were clearly stirring up trouble for varying durations."
Hang Feng took out a collection of incorrect questions from his backpack, "These are the problems Shen Yujing struggled with recently. I've basically sorted them all out."
Murong Huan, chewing gum, said, "I've already told everyone in Class B not to mention the art exam to Shen Yujing."
At that moment, Quan Le burst through the door, panting, and sat down, immediately opening a can of cola and taking a big gulp.
Murong Huan looked at Quan Le and asked, "Don't just drink, did you get the job done?"
"Of course," Quan Le said between breaths, "I've gone to every teacher in your class and given them a heads-up."
"Good," Song Yi collected the error collection Hang Feng prepared for Shen Yujing along with her own typical problems.
Murong Huan raised a hand in the air, saying, "Operation Protect Shen Yujing's Self-Esteem is officially launched! Squad assemble!"
Quan Le raised his hand: "Hooray!"
The other three: "..."
Under Murong Huan and Quan Le's expectant gazes, Song Yi was the first to place her hand on top, and Jiang Yiheng and Hang Feng reluctantly followed.
This strange little squad... well, it'll do.
In the afternoon, it was the day of the mock exam.
Before the exam, Shen Yujing entered his examination room. Due to his previous absence, he was placed in the worst exam room at Saint Slee.
The students around him were truly the idle rich second-generation, some even missing several subjects, and among them... Shen Yujing knew quite a few.
When someone saw Shen Yujing, they came over to greet him, "Yujing? Long time no see in our exam room."
This guy had a decent relationship with Shen Yujing before, occasionally going out to play games or have a meal together.
The guy continued, "Yujing, how about we just take the exam for show this afternoon? I heard there's a new bar opening tomorrow morning, want to go? I'll treat."
Shen Yujing rejected without hesitation, "No, I'm going to study."
The guy was stunned, apparently not expecting Shen Yujing to refuse, "Study? Yujing, are you changing your ways?"
Another guy also came over with a grin, saying, "Our Yujing is really serious about studying this year, even went to an art exam recently. Can't forget us when you become a big star, huh?"
Shen Yujing looked at them, his eyes showing irritation, "This is an exam room, either study or get out."
The two guys exchanged glances, clearly feeling awkward, and left awkwardly.
As they returned to their seats at the back, they muttered, "What's with the attitude? Studying for a few days and thinking he's a good student now? He's the same as us, what's with the sudden holier-than-thou act?"
If it were in the past, Shen Yujing would have already gone over to punch them, but now he felt it was pointless to argue.
Not studying is one thing, but thinking it's cool to be a bad student? What kind of nonsense is that? People like that are just societal scum...
Wait.
Shen Yujing suddenly frowned.
But not long ago, he was indeed exactly the same as them.
The tip of the pen left a large blot of ink on the paper.
It turns out that after meeting beautiful people and things, one really does come to despise their former self.
*
The next afternoon, after the mock exam, the school had a half-day holiday.
In the boys' dormitory.
Seeing the group of people standing in a row by his bed, Shen Yujing, who had been woken up from his nap, lay in bed weakly and said, "What are you doing? Preparing my funeral?"
Jiang Yiheng's voice sounded, "Shen Yujing, is this the time for you to be sleeping?"
Song Yi's voice was passionate, "Every minute of life is precious, don't waste it."
Murong Huan sincerely asked, "Why sleep so much before death? You'll sleep forever after." [Note 1]
Hang Feng coldly said, "In the time we've been talking, you've wasted three minutes of study time."
Quan Le shouted in his ear, "Get up! Study! Now! Get! Up!!!"
Shen Yujing: "..."
Shen Yujing pulled the blanket over his head.
Of course, he was still forcibly dragged out and made to sit at the desk in the living room.
Song Yi smiled and handed a pen to Shen Yujing, saying, "Come on, tell us your answers to each question so we can estimate your score."
Shen Yujing: "..."
His hand holding the pen trembled slightly.
But under the supervision of these people, he still gritted his teeth and wrote down the answers to the objective questions.
As for the subjective questions, they had a general idea of how many Shen Yujing could get right.
"Better than I expected," Song Yi looked at Hang Feng and Jiang Yiheng and asked, "What do you think?"
"Not bad," Jiang Yiheng nodded, "As long as he doesn't mess up the later questions too badly, his score shouldn't be much worse than last month's. Not regressing during a month of absence is the biggest progress."
"He's made significant progress in Chinese. Previously, the multiple-choice questions were a major source of lost points, but this time it's better," Hang Feng's gaze fell on the paper, "If you just look at the Chinese subject, he's definitely improved compared to last time."
After receiving the unanimous approval of the three, Shen Yujing proudly raised his head, of course!
Don't look at him having been absent for a month, but during that month, he didn't slack off on his cultural studies at all, all for this moment to make everyone look at him in a new light.
Murong Huan was even more surprised, saying, "Shen Yujing, you studied behind my back?"
Shen Yujing proudly replied, "That's called competing with you openly."
And two days later, the results of the mock exam came out, just as expected.
In Class A.
The homeroom teacher stood on the podium, speaking passionately with spittle flying, "Students, you performed exceptionally well in this exam! Very well! In the mock exam involving fifteen schools in our district, our class took thirteen of the top fifty spots, a proportion that can be described as excellent. You've all worked hard! I especially want to commend three of our students, everyone should know who they are."
"First is our class's Song Yi, who performed as stable as ever, taking the first place in the district mock exam. Let's applaud!"
The students clapped.
The teacher continued, "The second and fourth places also came from our school and our class, Jiang Yiheng and Hang Feng. Let's also give them a round of applause!"
But after the applause, someone asked, "Teacher, which school took third place?"
"Saint Yu Boys' High School," the teacher said, flipping through the list in front of him, "His name is Xu Che, only one and a half points behind Jiang Yiheng. Jiang Yiheng, you need to work harder next time and keep the position for us. Hang Feng, you're only one point behind third place, just one more point and the top three would all be from our school and our class."
The teacher looked at Hang Feng and continued, "Of course, I'm not saying you're not good, just that you can be even better. Next time, surpass this third place, okay?"
Hang Feng nodded, indicating he understood, "Okay, teacher, I'll try my best."
"Good, good," the teacher nodded, waving his hand, "Carry on with self-study."
Before leaving the class, the teacher's face was filled with an unconcealed joy, clearly heading to the office to enjoy the compliments from other teachers.
Meanwhile, in Class B.
The teacher had just announced that starting from this mock exam, Class B would also adopt the ranking-based class system like Class A.
Murong Huan widened her eyes in shock, looking at her deskmate and blurting out, "What the hell!"
Shen Yujing packed his things, "What a coincidence, it's us again."
Murong Huan opened her mouth, wanting to say something but was too angry to speak.
She looked at Shen Yujing and said, "What's going on? Don't tell me you're the third place, right?"
This time, her progress was not significant, moving from third to second place, but being able to stabilize this result, Murong Huan already felt quite satisfied.
But Shen Yujing? Was he third?
This was a huge blow to Murong Huan.
She had worked hard for a month, focusing solely on studying, while Shen Yujing juggled both art exams and cultural courses, and his results were almost comparable to hers?
This made it seem like Shen Yujing was smarter than her! Was this reasonable?
Murong Huan buried her face on the desk, deeply overwhelmed, unable to comprehend.
Soon, the homeroom teacher came to analyze the overall performance of this exam with them, specifically praising Murong Huan and Shen Yujing.
"Everyone, don't lose heart. Learn from our classmates Murong Huan and Shen Yujing! They were once at the bottom of our class, but through their continuous hard work, they have now become our top students. What reason do you have not to learn from them and become as excellent as they are?"
After the teacher finished speaking, she walked down from the podium and looked at Shen Yujing with a very gratified expression: "Good boy, even if you don't make it through the art exam, it's okay. As long as you keep working hard like this, I believe you can get into a very good university through cultural courses."
Why did the teacher keep mentioning the art exam?
Murong Huan rolled her eyes to the ceiling, cursing Quan Le in her heart for his incompetence.
Sure enough, Shen Yujing's expression immediately fell, and he gave a smile that could almost be described as a wry one, saying, "Teacher, but I still want to study acting more."
"Alright, alright, keep working hard, and the teacher will always support you. If you have any questions or needs, feel free to come to the office at any time."
Under Murong Huan's threatening gaze, the homeroom teacher realized she had said something inappropriate, so after a few words of concern, she quickly left.
Shen Yujing's gaze followed the teacher's departure with a hint of confusion, saying, "Did he win the lottery today? Why is he speaking to me so gently?"
The next second, Shen Yujing figured it out, and he sighed again, lowering his head.
Yes, it was because he had failed the art exam, and everyone felt sorry for him.
At this moment, Murong Huan suddenly felt the air pressure around her drop. Seeing Shen Yujing suddenly looking gloomy again, she thought, "..."
Who can save her? Is she really going to have to comfort Shen Yujing alone? That's not possible! She can't do it!
And at this moment, someone really came to her rescue.
The language representative from Class B, a girl who often wore her hair in a high ponytail, walked up to Shen Yujing. She was also the top student in Class B.
Murong Huan immediately became nervous, saying, "Han Qianqian, what are you doing?"
You should know that Han Qianqian, because of her excellent grades, had always looked down on people in Class B and had even once mocked Murong Huan and Shen Yujing for living off their family backgrounds. Of course, Murong Huan had retorted back in response.
Han Qianqian looked at Murong Huan with a complicated expression, then handed her reading comprehension workbook to Shen Yujing, "Here, take this. I've already finished it, so you can look at it if you're bored."
Murong Huan: "?"
Shen Yujing was also taken aback, but this material was indeed very useful to him, so he accepted it, saying, "Thank you."
Next, the representatives from each subject stood up one after another, handing Shen Yujing some study materials or notes.
Murong Huan: "???"
What was going on here?
So after class, Murong Huan pulled Han Qianqian to the hallway and asked, "What's going on with you guys today? Why are you all being so nice to Shen Yujing?"
Han Qianqian was a bit awkward, saying, "Although I didn't like you two before, your performance in the recent exams has really impressed me. Encouraging classmates to improve together is what our class leaders should do. So we, the representatives, discussed and decided that each of us would help Shen Yujing with our best subjects. As the teacher said, even if he doesn't go through the art exam, he can still get into a good university."
Murong Huan pursed her lips, looking at Han Qianqian with some surprise, saying, "For the first time, I think you're actually a good person."
"You!" Han Qianqian's expression immediately changed, and she sneered, "What does it matter if I'm a good person or not? Anyway, I'm someone you'll never surpass in exams."
After saying that, Han Qianqian turned around and walked proudly back to the classroom.
Murong Huan was amused, pointing at Han Qianqian's back and shouting, "Hey! I was complimenting you, okay? What kind of person are you?"
Apparently, everyone thought Shen Yujing had failed the art exam, so they were all trying to help and encourage him. This continued until a month later—
"Excuse me, where is Shen Yujing? Could he accept an interview with us?"
"We were here first! It won't take long, just a few simple questions!"
"It's said that Shen Yujing decided to study acting at the last minute in his senior year and only studied for a month before taking the exam. Do you know anything about this?"
...
At the gate of Saint Slee Academy, the scene was chaotic with reporters crowding around.
Cameras were set up everywhere, and countless media outlets had sent reporters, all eager to interview this "genius boy" who had topped the professional exam for the performance department at Imperial Capital University.
You should know that this year's art exam for the performance department at Imperial Capital University was extremely competitive.
Not only were there child stars who were well-known household names, but also popular idols from idol groups, and even a talented actress who had been nominated for a film award.
Just as the media and fans were excitedly speculating who would win the top spot in this fierce competition, an entirely unfamiliar name appeared before them, naturally causing a huge sensation.
And at this moment, the leading actor was being interrogated in the disciplinary committee's restroom at the student council.
"Tch." Murong Huan crossed her arms, laughing in anger, "Shen Yujing, is this what you meant by a complete disaster?"
Quan Le also clutched his chest, showing an expression of unforgivable betrayal after being deceived by Shen Yujing: "If you did well, you did well. Why hide it from us for so long? Do you still consider us friends?"
Jiang Yiheng said, "Your art exam score is already at a level where it's far ahead. According to the 50-50 ratio of professional and cultural courses for admission, as long as you reach the undergraduate line, you're guaranteed a spot. There's no need for extra lessons."
After saying that, Jiang Yiheng turned around and walked out.
"In fact, there's no need to attend classes either." Hang Feng said, his eyes also showing some reproach, then followed Jiang Yiheng and left together.
Murong Huan and Quan Le also followed suit, leaving together.
Quan Le didn't forget to shout as he turned back, "I hereby announce! The Protect Shen Yujing's Pride Task Force is disbanded on the spot!"
Shen Yujing: "?"
What task force? What is this?
But now Shen Yujing didn't have time to think about it in detail. He looked at Song Yi, anxiously saying, "Listen to me, let me explain."
"Mm." Song Yi nodded, "Explain."
Shen Yujing quickly said, "I really don't know why I got in, and I don't know why I not only got in but also got first place. I..."
Song Yi looked at Shen Yujing with a half-smile, continuing his words, "And you don't know why your first place is ten points ahead of the second place, right?"
"Yes! You really understand me!" Shen Yujing nodded, then became anxious, almost grabbing his hair, saying, "I didn't lie to you. I called my dad to confirm, and he didn't donate a building to Imperial Capital University. I really don't know why!"
Song Yi looked at him expressionlessly, and after three seconds, she turned and left.
Shen Yujing: "???"
He just said the truth, didn't he? Why was everyone reacting like this to him?
He really didn't know!
No, that's not right, getting in isn't a good thing? What are they doing? Can't they wish him well?
At this moment, on Weibo.
The discussion about the first place in the professional exam for the performance department at Imperial Capital University was also heating up, even making it to two trending topics.
#Imperial Capital University Performance First Place Shen Yujing#
#Shen Yujing a Complete Disaster#
As soon as the news broke, marketing accounts quickly jumped on the bandwagon, posting a video of Shen Yujing being interviewed by reporters on the day of his art exam.
The reporter asked, "How would you evaluate your performance today?"
"A complete disaster."
In the video, the golden-haired boy looked utterly defeated as he answered the reporter's question. His expression was so heartbroken that it was impossible not to believe him.
No one could have guessed that the same student who claimed his performance was a disaster would end up topping the rankings.
[Isn't this the classic case of the top student pretending to have done poorly to make the rest of us feel worse?]
[He's handsome though, and I get why he got first place just by looking at his face.]
[Indeed, he's way better than those so-called idol heartthrobs. His victory isn't surprising at all.]
[Give me three minutes, and I want all his information!]
[Hey, get a grip! Did you even watch the video? Looks aren't everything! He's full of lies. If getting first place is a disaster, does he want to be the examiner himself?]
[True, I hereby crown him the king of humblebragging for the year.]
Shen Yujing: "……"
No, that's not true. He really didn't mean it that way.
