Rebirth begins with studying hard

Chapter 20 Unexpected

"How did you know?" Lu Jie asked, somewhat curious.

Although the grades will be announced when school starts the day after tomorrow, by then they should have been mostly graded, otherwise it would be difficult to complete all the data entry by tomorrow.

But this was just speculation on his part, while Zhong Muqing's words clearly had a source.

"Someone told me this, you'll know when you get there." Zhong Muqing left everyone in suspense, "Don't you want to know how you did on the exam this time, how much you improved?"

Frankly speaking, it doesn't really make much sense to check the results two days in advance, since they will be announced the day after tomorrow.

Going to school in the afternoon and wasting some more time, half a day is gone.

He can write several thousand words in half a day.

Rationally speaking, there was no need to go, but emotionally he really wanted to know how he did on the exam.

Progress is expected, but how much progress will it actually make, whether it falls short of expectations, meets expectations, or exceeds expectations?

This suspense is very captivating.

If you don't know the results are out and don't think about it, then it's just like that.

But just like when you're watching a TV series or reading a book, if there's no update, you can only wait.

If it's already been updated, I'll feel itchy to watch it.

This was Lu Jie's thought at that moment.

After thinking for a long time, I finally couldn't resist my curiosity:

"The school is closed for the next couple of days. Do you have a way to get in?"

"Leave it to me!" Zhong Muqing said confidently. "Meet me at the school gate at 2 PM."

......

It was 1:50 PM.

Upon arriving at the school gate, Lu Jie had already spotted Zhong Muqing.

"You're here so early?" he greeted.

"I just arrived too." Zhong Muqing smiled, turned and walked towards the guardhouse, knocking on the door with a polite yet warm tone:

"Uncle Security Guard, we need to go find our teacher. Could you please open the door?"

The uniformed security guard in the gatehouse poked his head out, glanced at the person who had entered, and smiled.

"Practicing even on vacation?"

Zhong Muqing waved her hand: "No, I'm here to see the teacher."

The security guard didn't ask any further questions, only saying, "I don't think I've seen Teacher Liu today."

He then opened the door.

"You know the security guard?" Lu Jie asked curiously.

"I wouldn't say we know each other, but I've been coming here to run a lot lately, so I recognize your face," Zhong Muqing explained.

"Is that so..." Lu Jie nodded, feeling that it wasn't that simple.

The school gatekeepers in 08 were not ordinary security guards; they were staff members of the security department with official positions.

The security guards at No. 12 Middle School were not easy to talk to; he had experienced it firsthand.

I originally thought that Zhong Muqing let her in because of her reputation for being a troublemaker, or because of her family connections, and that someone from the school picked them up.

Unexpectedly, Zhong Muqing seemed to have a pretty good relationship with this security guard.

Lu Jie wanted to go straight to the homeroom teacher's office to ask about his exam results, but Zhong Muqing stopped him:

"Shu Panpan is helping the teacher organize the grades and enter them into the computer. We can see the grades by just contacting her."

Lu Jie understood why Zhong Muqing knew the exam results were out; it was Shu Panpan who told her.

Asking Shu Panpan is indeed much more efficient than asking each teacher individually.

Where is she?

Zhong Muqing: "Academic Affairs Office."

Having already received the news, Shu Panpan was not surprised by the arrival of Zhong Muqing and Lu Jie:

"Wait a moment, let me look for your names."

Standing behind Shu Panpan, Lu Jie's heart began to race as he watched her search for his name.

Although it was just a midterm exam, it was the first formal exam since my rebirth, so I was still very nervous.

They both hope to achieve good results and fear underperforming and failing to meet expectations.

For a moment, he couldn't even hear the sounds around him anymore; it felt like the whole world consisted only of the computer screen and the report card in front of him.

It was a very strange feeling, one he had never experienced in his previous life.

After using Ctrl+F to search for Lu Jie's grades, Shu Panpan reported them one by one:

"Chinese 81, Math 82, English 51, Biology 93, Chemistry 98, Physics 82, Geography 78, History 81, Total score... 646."

"Lu Jie, you did very well on the exam! Your class ranking is... 14th."

My pounding heart gradually calmed down as the results were announced.

Except for English, which was as bad as ever and even worse than expected, all other grades were better than anticipated.

He is confident that he can get a top-three score in biochemistry, and even a top-three score in chemistry in the grade.

His class ranking of 14th was better than he expected.

Although the political score is not yet counted, achieving a mid-to-high level in politics is still acceptable. Even if the score is slightly lower, it will only affect the ranking by two or three places at most.

Compared to 35th place in the final exam and 39th place in the monthly exam last semester, this is a huge improvement.

Zhong Muqing offered a few words of praise, then remarked, "Lu Jie, your English is a bit too unbalanced..." before adding:

"Panpan, look at mine! What score did I get this time?"

Shu Panpan pressed Ctrl+F again: "Let me search."

Now much calmer, Lu Jie became curious about Zhong Muqing's grades.

During this period, he tutored Zhong Muqing in physics, chemistry, and biology, so he had a fairly good understanding of her abilities.

Although physics is difficult, I should be able to score above 80. The chemistry exam is not too difficult, and I should be able to get 90. Biology is of moderate difficulty, and I estimate I can get around 90.

As for the other subjects, he didn't know much about them.

However, as long as they don't specialize too much in one subject, they should be able to rank among the top athletes.

As for comparing with him, aside from physics, he felt that Zhong Muqing was hiding her true abilities, and he probably couldn't beat Zhong Muqing in English, but he would definitely score higher in the other subjects.

"Found it." Shu Panpan marked Zhong Muqing's row and then reported the score:

"Chinese 75, Math 80, English 92, Biology 87, Chemistry 88, Physics 89, Geography 70, History 75..."

Hearing the scores announced, Lu Jie nodded repeatedly.

He scored 80 points in math, which is lower than his score, but it's a significant improvement. Zhong Muqing only barely passed the last monthly exam.

He was surprised by Zhong Muqing's high score in English, but considering that Zhong Muqing's English had always been quite good, he didn't pay much attention to it.

He really hid his weaknesses in physics; he actually scored higher than him.

As for other subjects, they are all worse than him.

Of the eight subjects for which scores have been released, only English and Physics scored higher than his; Zhong Muqing scored lower in all the other subjects.

But he vaguely sensed something was wrong, and before he could think about it further, he heard Shu Panpan announce the total score:

Total score...659.

Lu Jie's smile froze instantly.

659? !

Her score was higher than his?!

He was ahead in 6 subjects, only lagging behind in English and physics, so how could his total score be lower than Zhong Muqing's?

You must be mistaken!

Then he suddenly realized that it wasn't that the total score was wrong, but that he had fallen far behind in English.

Although they were ahead in six subjects, the lead was only 35 points, while they were behind by 41 points in English alone.

He knew that being severely unbalanced in his studies would cause a lot of problems, but he had never truly experienced it firsthand.

Only now is he realizing the consequences of his severe imbalance in academic performance.

Leading in six subjects cannot compensate for falling far behind in one.

While he was still in a daze, Zhong Muqing excitedly shouted from the side, "Yay!"

Shu Panpan exclaimed, "Zhong Muqing, you're ranked number 1 in your class!"

Zhong Muqing's class was the sports class. The entrance score for the sports class was already low, and the learning atmosphere was not strong, so the overall performance was far lower than that of the regular admission class.

Her 659 points gave her a commanding lead of 572 points over the second-place finisher.

"Hehe." Zhong Muqing smiled broadly.

Lu Jie was somewhat frustrated that he, a regular student, couldn't even outperform Zhong Muqing, a sports student.

But seeing Zhong Muqing's progress, he actually felt quite accomplished.

After all, it was under his influence that Zhong Muqing transformed from a rebellious young girl into a normal student, and even a diligent and good student.

He was also the one who guided Zhong Muqing in learning and improving her physics, chemistry, and biology.

In his past life, he only had a negative impact on those around him, but he could also influence them to be better.

After offering a few words of praise, Lu Jie asked, "What about Sun Bo? What was his score?"

After searching, Shu Panpan read out the scores for each subject and finally said, "Total score: 577."

After writing down the results, Lu Jie sent them to Sun Bo.

There has been significant improvement compared to the last monthly exam.

"Shall we check if the political results have been released yet?" Zhong Muqing asked Lu Jie.

"Okay." After agreeing, Lu Jie remembered his promise to Zhong Muqing.

He had a bad feeling.