TPH Chapter 38.1

The Protagonist’s Halo [Arc 3] Chapter 38.1: I Have the Halo of a Top Student (2)

The students gathered around the results board immediately stirred and began to discuss among themselves. “I didn’t see that wrong, did I? Xu Jun isn’t in first place this time.”

“Who is Cheng Yin? Where did this amazing person come from? I’ve never heard of her before.”

“Holy crap, not only is she number one in total score, but she also got full marks in several subjects. That’s insane! No wonder Xu Jun’s high score was also surpassed.”

The curious students quickly noticed that Cheng Yin belonged to a class next to her—Class 7 of Grade 11.

I think the top student in Class 7 of Grade 11 was the class monitor, Jiang Hui, but I haven’t heard of Cheng Yin’s name much.

But none of this prevented the explosive news from spreading instantly among the first-year students. Xu Jun lost his first place to an unknown person from Class 7 and was relegated to second place.

Compared to the students’ unfamiliarity with Cheng Yin, the teachers in the office were much more familiar with her, having known her since the time when grading and summarizing the results.

“Cheng Yin from Class 7 is a real dark horse; she’s pulled ahead of Xu Jun by twenty-three points.”

Xu Jun was snatched up by Donghua High School with the highest score in the city’s high school entrance examination.

He had been at the top of the list in every exam since entering high school. The teachers thought he was a sure thing this time, but unexpectedly, Cheng Yin from Class 7 suddenly appeared.

“Teacher Song, your class is truly full of hidden talents! I’ve never heard you mention such a promising student before,” said the homeroom teacher of Class 6, Xu Jun’s class, with a hint of envy.

It’s no wonder he felt a little uncomfortable. Every time, Xu Jun from his class would consistently take first place in the whole school, his grades were on a completely different level from the other students. He was used to enjoying the praise and congratulations from other teachers after the exam results were released. He was all prepared for this time, but the result told him that Xu Jun was second place, and the first place was taken by the class next door. He had never heard of any student named Cheng Yin from Class 7 who had outstanding grades before.

This sudden turn of events inevitably caused him some subtle psychological letdown.

Although the homeroom teacher of Class 7 was secretly pleased, she didn’t show it too obviously. “Teacher Chen, it’s not that I’m hiding it. This child’s grades have just started to improve by leaps and bounds recently.”

Suddenly another teacher’s voice rang out, “I do remember Cheng Yin. She has made significant progress in the past month. In the last physics quiz I arranged, she got 98 points. Those two points were deducted because she missed a step. She has a real talent for physics.”

“I knew I wasn’t wrong. I set this physics exam, and the overall difficulty was higher, especially the last two big questions. Xu Jun only got 92 points, while Cheng Yin got full marks. She did a perfect job. I rarely see such a well-done physics exam in the first year of high school. I’ll show it to the students in other classes later. The average score for the whole grade this time is only 59.2, which is below the passing mark.”

“Cheng Yin also got full marks in math and English, which puts her 15 points ahead of Xu Jun. In the other subjects, she’s about the same as Xu Jun, with only a point or two difference.”

Other teachers also started discussing it.

Xu Jun’s homeroom teacher grew increasingly displeased. She had also seen Cheng Yin’s grades, which were nothing short of amazing. If Cheng Yin were also in Class 6, the top two students in the entire school would be in her class, which would be incredibly prestigious. Unfortunately, reality wasn’t like that. Teacher Song from Class 7 was still feigning modesty, saying, “Cheng Yin performed well this time, but she might not always do this. I still need to keep a close eye on her and help her maintain this level of performance.”

If they maintain this performance, wouldn’t that mean that all future top students in the entire school will be from Class 7?

Xu Jun’s homeroom teacher, Ms. Chen, said with a forced smile, “Actually, Xu Jun probably made a mistake on an occasional occasion; he was a little careless when doing the problem.”

“Actually, if you ask me, you’re spoiling Xu Jun from your class way too much,” a teacher interjected.

“Isn’t Xu Jun in a relationship too early? Dating is the easiest way to affect studies. As his homeroom teacher, you should keep an eye on him.”

The affair between Xu Jun and Cheng Yang was not only widely known among the students, but also occasionally heard by the teachers.

Xu Jun’s homeroom teacher never expected that just one sentence would spark a discussion about Xu Jun’s early romantic relationship. Speaking of this, the teacher felt a pang of bitterness.

Every class has students who like to fight, skip school, and are disobedient. Cheng Yang was a bad student and a troublemaker in the homeroom teacher’s eyes. She couldn’t manage her, so she just left her alone, since Cheng Yang wouldn’t stay in her class after the class reshuffling in the second year of high school anyway. She was only focused on the academic performance of the top students in the class and didn’t pay attention to the students’ conflicts at first. When she noticed the signs, she talked to Xu Jun in a nice tone, telling him that this was an important period for his high school studies and he shouldn’t be distracted by other things.

Who would have thought that Xu Jun, who had agreed so readily, would turn around and start dating Cheng Yang, that bad student? The homeroom teacher doted on Xu Jun, who had been the top student in the school since entering the school. She couldn’t persuade him, nor could she scold or beat him. Seeing that Xu Jun’s grades hadn’t dropped and he still maintained his number one ranking, she could only let it go.

In fact, other homeroom teachers would have done the same.

In high school, grades are the most important thing; even family background is secondary. Forget about dating, the homeroom teacher is willing to help with anything, no matter how big the problem is.

But who made Xu Jun come in second this time? There was a teacher who didn’t get along with the homeroom teacher of Class 7. He always complained that Xu Jun was always showing off, and this time he was just mocking her.

The homeroom teacher felt a pang of heartache from the poking at her, but she also began to wonder if Xu Jun was really distracted by his relationship.

…

As soon as the results were released, students from all grades rushed to check them, but some didn’t. Some didn’t care at all about whether their scores would make the list, while others were confident. Xu Jun was one of the latter.

True academic achievers never look back at their grades.

Faint, hushed sounds drifted in from outside the window, seemingly discussing grades and rankings.

“Did you see the results list posted on the bulletin board? Xu Jun actually came in second place this time.”

“So who’s number one?”

“It’s a girl, Cheng Yin from Class 7.”

“Class 7, isn’t that the class next door? Let’s go see what they look like.”

Xu Jun frowned slightly.

But soon the bell rang, and the students quickly and obediently returned to their seats in the classroom. Today was the day the exam papers were handed out after the test, and it wouldn’t be good if they displeased the homeroom teacher.

The homeroom teacher, Ms. Chen, walked in with a stack of test papers. Her face was not smiling, which immediately made all the students nervous, except for a very few who were sleeping in the last row.

Teacher Chen slammed her hand on the table and said sternly, “All of you in the back, sit up, especially you, Cheng Yang. You’re not behaving like a student. Did your parents send you to school so you could sleep?”

“If you don’t want to listen to the lecture, go outside and stand there all day.”

Even though he couldn’t see Cheng Yang’s expression, Xu Jun, who knew she had a strong sense of self-respect, couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and thought the teacher’s words were too harsh.

Cheng Yang was indeed very unhappy, especially when her homeroom teacher mentioned her parents. Her father had died long ago, and her mother had remarried. What did it matter to them whether she studied or not? Cheng Yang pursed her lips, silently cursing her homeroom teacher as an old monster. She didn’t take a nap anymore. The school gates were closed right now, and she couldn’t go out. If she had to stand in the corridor outside all day, she, Cheng Yang, was afraid she would become the laughing stock of Donghua High School.

Seeing that Cheng Yang did not argue with the homeroom teacher, Xu Jun breathed a sigh of relief. It was obvious that the homeroom teacher was not in a good mood. If Cheng Yang had gone against her at this time, the homeroom teacher would have really gotten angry, and Cheng Yang would have been the one to suffer.

Now that Cheng Yang had behaved herself, the homeroom teacher didn’t bother to look at her anymore. She called the class representative up to distribute the test papers and announce the results.

“Many of you probably already know the results of this exam. This is the last monthly exam for first-year high school students. Next semester, we will be divided into classes. Some of you are still lazy and unwilling to work hard. Let me tell you, don’t think that it will be easier just because there are fewer subjects after the class division. You will face more difficult test papers and a more arduous senior year. Some of you are not focused on your studies now. You will only have regrets later.”The homeroom teacher’s tone became even more serious, “Now I’ll talk about the results this time.”

After the homeroom teacher finished reciting a student’s name and grades, she also listed their ranking in the class and the entire grade.

When Xu Jun was announced as the first in his class and second in the whole school, the class erupted in an uproar. Even those who had already seen the rankings were still no less shocked.

Xu Jun remained calm as he walked up to the stage to collect his test paper. His homeroom teacher, Ms. Chen, even told him, “The top scorer in the whole school this time is Cheng Yin from Class 7. She scored 23 points higher than you, mainly due to her scores in math, physics, and English.”

Cheng Yin? Xu Jun secretly memorized the name. Although he wasn’t spending as much time studying as he used to, he was still very confident of getting first place in exams. He never expected to lose to someone else, and Xu Jun couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed as he experienced this kind of setback for the first time.

Although Xu Jun was not the top student in the whole school, his second-place ranking still made Teacher Chen treat him kindly. Afterwards, the homeroom teacher did not mention Xu Jun’s second-place ranking in the whole school, for fear that the discussions of other students would put pressure on Xu Jun.

Cheng Yin from Class 7 has only recently made rapid progress, and this exam may just be an exceptional performance. Unlike Xu Jun, who has a solid foundation and is very stable, this is just one defeat. The homeroom teacher is full of confidence that Xu Jun will definitely be the first in the whole school next time.

But when the homeroom teacher read out Cheng Yang’s test paper with a score of only 20 or 30, she couldn’t help but feel heartbroken. Cheng Yang hadn’t gotten first place in the whole grade, and her average score had been dragged down.

It seemed that the homeroom teacher was looking at her more fiercely than before, but Cheng Yang didn’t care.

If it weren’t for Xu Jun’s encouragement, she wouldn’t have bothered writing at all.

“Let me tell you about the class average score this time. Our class score is 1.4 points lower than the school average…”

After a class period ended with the test paper being reviewed, the students muttered among themselves, “Our teacher was so angry today, it’s definitely not because of the class average, but because Xu Jun came in second.”

“When did Class 7 produce such a formidable person? He even snatched Xu Jun’s first place title.”

Xu Jun frowned, his eyes fixed on the test paper that had been handed out, especially the few questions he had gotten wrong. He had even forgotten about comforting Cheng Yang after class.

Seeing that Xu Jun didn’t even bother to show her any concern, Cheng Yang, who was sitting in the last row of the class, couldn’t help but feel resentful.

…

The students in Class 7 next door were completely numb that day. The monthly exam results came out, and the teachers of each subject walked in with the papers. Every time they read out the first place, it was Cheng Yin’s name.