Chapter Twenty-Seven: Seizing First Place with Courage

On Friday afternoon, thanks to the tireless efforts of all the subject teachers, the results of the midterm exams were released. The first period in the afternoon was supposed to be physical education. The students had hoped to get some exercise, but unfortunately, that was nothing more than a distant dream.

As everyone expected, the PE teacher was ill again, and the homeroom teacher took over the class. Ms. Liu, the homeroom teacher, entered the classroom with a beaming smile, holding the list of scores as she walked up to the podium.

Looking at the sixty-four anxious faces before her, Ms. Liu smiled and said, “After a grueling half-semester of hard work, you all deserve to be commended. The results of this midterm exam are out, and overall, everyone has performed well. Of course, some haven’t done as well; I hope you’ll take the time to reflect and catch up with your classmates next time. And for those who did well, don’t become complacent. What matters most is the high school entrance exam—doing well now doesn’t guarantee you’ll do well then. Now, I’ll read out the results.”

Hearing Ms. Liu’s words, everyone heaved a sigh of relief—it seemed the results were good, and they could rest easy about the midterms.

As the teacher announced the scores, Zhou Xuan took everyone by surprise by seizing first place in the entire grade with a Chinese score of 132, Math 149, English 135, Physics 92, and Chemistry 96—a total of 604 points. He was also the only student to break 600, leaving everyone in awe.

Originally, people thought it would be impressive if Zhou Xuan made it into the top five, but no one expected him to leap to the very top—he was truly a dark horse.

“Here, I want to congratulate Zhou Xuan for taking first place in the grade. I hope you’ll keep up the good work, stay humble and focused, and achieve even greater things,” Ms. Liu praised him, clearly very pleased.

Almost inadvertently, Zhou Xuan had secured first place. Still, ever since he’d tackled the test set by Director Tian last time, Ms. Liu had known that first place belonged to him.

“But many other students have also made great progress, though I won’t name everyone. What I want to say is that Zhou Xuan’s remarkable improvement is inseparable from his diligence. Over the summer break, he got up at four o’clock every morning to study all his subjects,” Ms. Liu continued, watching the astonished faces below. “He studied over ten hours a day without ever slacking, which is how he’s achieved today’s results. If any of you can do the same, I believe your grades will soar as well.”

When Ms. Liu finished, the classroom erupted in excitement. Students kept turning to look back at Zhou Xuan, who sat in the last row, tucked into a corner.

Despite his stellar performance, Zhou Xuan showed not a trace of arrogance. He wore the same calm, understated smile, as if all this were of little consequence.

In the minds of his teachers and classmates, there had once been lingering doubts about Zhou Xuan’s last exam results. But with the midterm scores now revealed, those doubts vanished.

Yet, they became even more curious: by what means had Zhou Xuan managed, in just a month, to climb from two hundred and fiftieth in the grade to first?

Only after hearing Ms. Liu’s words did they realize just how hard Zhou Xuan had worked during the summer. They couldn’t help but feel a surge of admiration.

While they had been playing from dusk till dawn, he was up before sunrise, studying for over ten hours each day. Who could not be impressed?

“Four in the morning? I didn’t get up until ten every day during the summer!”

“Seriously? That sounds unreal.”

“Wow, Zhou Xuan, you’re incredible!”

“Truly, hard work brings rewards!”

...

“Xuan, you’re amazing—first in the grade!” Zhou Lin exclaimed in admiration from nearby.

Under Zhou Xuan’s guidance, Zhou Lin had become much more enthusiastic about studying, and had improved his methods. As a result, his total score jumped to 517, placing him 167th in the grade—his first time in the top two hundred.

Seeing Zhou Lin’s progress, Zhou Xuan was truly pleased. He didn’t want Zhou Lin to have to pay an extra fee to get into No. 1 High School if he failed the entrance exam; given Zhou Lin’s family’s modest means, several thousand yuan was a significant sum.

“You’ve made good progress this time, but don’t slack off; aim to break into the top hundred by the final exam,” Zhou Xuan advised his best friend.

“Thanks, Xuan. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have made such progress. I’ll do my best to get into No. 1 High School,” Zhou Lin replied.

As for Zhou Xuan’s deskmate, Zhuo Lian, she also improved significantly, scoring 535 and ranking 108th.

The school beauty, Liu Yixue, scored a total of 589, placing eighth. Wei Xinyu, who had lost a bet to Zhou Xuan last time, scored 556 and ranked thirty-seventh—a drop from her previous performance, likely due to the blow from her last math score.

Overall, Class Six performed best in this midterm. Besides Zhou Xuan’s first place, there was Wang Lin in fourth with 595 points, Liu Yixue in eighth, and another girl, Xiao Yunqin, in tenth.

For Ms. Liu, whose class was one of six, having four students in the grade’s top ten was a triumph. At long last, Class Six had surpassed Class Two, achieving their best result in over two years of junior high.

This meant that, at the upcoming parent-teacher conference, Ms. Liu could hold her head high and present the parents with an impressive report card.

For Zhou Xuan, the significance was even greater.

Since the parent-teacher meeting in the first semester of junior high, Zhou Xuan’s father had lost his smile over the following three meetings, as Zhou Xuan’s grades slipped lower and lower, darkening his father’s mood.

Though his father had learned last week that Zhou Xuan had broken into the top ten, he still harbored doubts. This midterm was the perfect chance to finally change his father’s impression and make him proud among the other parents.

Because of Saturday’s parent-teacher meeting, the students only had one class for evening self-study on Friday. The rest of the time, under the class monitor’s direction, they tidied desks and chairs and cleaned the classroom in preparation for the meeting.

Zhou Xuan carefully wiped his desk with a damp cloth and arranged his books and stationery. Because of his skillful chalk writing, the class monitor asked him to write the welcome message on the blackboard, which Zhou Xuan gladly accepted.

Standing before the freshly cleaned blackboard, Zhou Xuan paused for half a minute in thought. He broke off a piece of chalk, about the length of his thumb, and began to write across the blackboard.

Because the chalk wore down quickly when held sideways, he had to switch to a new piece after every two characters. After five changes, he finally finished the message in the center of the board: “A Warm Welcome to All Parents.”

The writing flowed like calligraphy, elegant and effortless. Zhou Xuan’s beautiful chalk script drew cheers from his classmates—just the welcome message alone would surely impress tomorrow’s parents.