TSMVHATRM Chapter 108

Time Space: the Male Villain Has the Ability To Read Minds Chapter 108: The Results Are Out 

Gu Rong shook his head.

Pei Tiantian patted her chest with her chubby little hands and said confidently, “Of course not, only a fool would fall into a trap.”

“Fool?” Ding Qiang was stunned at first, then his face turned pale.

He firmly remembered that the answer to that question was C, so he didn’t even look at the number during the exam and directly chose C and left.

But Ma Xiangdong said the options had changed.

Doesn’t that mean option C is no longer the correct answer?

Ding Qiang’s lips trembled.

Oh no, he’s lost another ten points.

“Ding Qiang, what about you? You didn’t even get the points for this easy question, did you?”

Ma Xiangdong noticed that Ding Qiang’s expression was off and asked in a deep voice.

“I…I, Teacher Ma…” Ding Qiang stammered, unable to say anything coherent for a long time.

Ma Xiangdong understood immediately, and sighed with exasperation, “You! Ten points for one question, gone just like that.”

“Teacher Ma, it’s not my fault! This test was so poorly designed, even the public questions had traps. It’s clearly designed to prevent high scores!”

Ding Qiang complained.

Pei Tiantian’s lips twitched.

This Ding Qiang was quite the excuse-maker, blaming the test for his own carelessness.

Ma Xiangdong glanced at him and retorted mercilessly, “On the contrary, it shows that this test was very well-designed. Otherwise, how could you have gotten it wrong?”

Ding Qiang was speechless for a moment.

Ma Xiangdong waved his hand, “Forget it, as long as you tried, that’s good enough. The result isn’t important. You can all go back to the classroom and get ready for class.”

Ding Qiang walked out of the office dejectedly, while Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong strolled over to the back.

Pei Tiantian called out to Ding Qiang, “Class monitor, did you forget to give Teacher Ma something?”

Upon hearing Pei Tiantian’s voice, Ding Qiang instantly understood that she was referring to the apology letter.

He turned around warily and glared at her. “I’m warning you, don’t mention this in front of Teacher Ma, you hear me!”

With that, Ding Qiang snorted and turned away, walking quickly forward.

Pei Tiantian pouted.

She knew this guy was going to renege on his promise.

Ding Qiang returned to the classroom, feeling dejected.

He didn’t take the self-criticism seriously at all; his mind was completely focused on his competition results.

The percentage of participants advancing to the finals from the preliminary round was 35%, and last year’s passing score was 60 points. He had already lost 30 points, and if he got one more question wrong out of ten, he would be in serious trouble.

Ding Qiang was quite uneasy.

He had participated in several competitions before, and this was the first time he might not even pass the preliminary round.

Thinking about this, Ding Qiang felt ashamed and didn’t pay much attention in class.

But what he didn’t expect was yet to come.

During the afternoon self-study period, Tao Jing and Chen Juan passed by Ma Xiangdong’s office and told him about what had happened in the city competition, and asked if he had received Ding Qiang’s self-criticism.

Only then did Ma Xiangdong realize what had happened.

“Teacher Tao, Teacher Chen, I’m sorry my student caused you trouble,” Tao Jing shook her head.

“It’s not trouble at all. The most important thing is to make the student truly realize their mistake, otherwise it won’t be good if something like this happens again.”

Ma Xiangdong nodded. After Tao Jing and Chen Juan left, he went to the classroom and called Ding Qiang over, asking him directly where his written self-criticism was.

Ding Qiang blurted out instinctively, “Did Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong tell you?”

Ma Xiangdong looked at him with disappointment. “No, the teacher in charge found me and told me about it.”

Ding Qiang felt extremely frustrated.

For such a small matter, Tao Jing and Chen Juan actually came all the way to complain to Ma Xiangdong—was it really necessary?

He said cautiously, “Teacher Ma, don’t be angry. I just forgot for a moment. Besides, it’s not a big deal.”

“Forgot? It’s only been two days since last Saturday. How could you forget? Ding Qiang, do you think I’m stupid?”

“Teacher Ma, I’ll write it now, please don’t be angry.”

“You say it’s not a big deal, and it really isn’t. But Ding Qiang, don’t you understand? The reason I’m angry is your attitude. You made a mistake but refused to admit it, and you even hid it from me. You didn’t write the required self-criticism. You’re our class monitor; tell me, do you even act like one?”

Ma Xiangdong’s tone became harsher, his voice echoing throughout the office.

Just then, several students carrying homework arrived at the office door. They all looked at Ding Qiang in surprise.

They hadn’t expected to witness Ma Xiangdong scolding Ding Qiang.

Ding Qiang saw his familiar classmates, his face turning pale and then red, clenching his fists in resentment.

Ma Xiangdong handed the homework to the students, then turned and saw Ding Qiang’s defiant look, which made him even angrier: “Reflect on your own actions, and come back to me when you realize your mistake!”

Ding Qiang returned to the classroom in a daze, and after sitting for a short while, the bell rang to dismiss everyone.

He packed his bag and prepared to leave when Fang Yun slammed the class log onto his desk. “Ding Qiang, can’t you do your own work? You’re the class monitor, why do I have to write the class log for you? How many times has this happened!”

Ding Qiang was already annoyed, and he sneered: “As the vice class monitor, you should unconditionally obey my arrangements. If you don’t do it, then don’t be the vice class monitor. I’ll tell Teacher Ma tomorrow, there are plenty of people willing to take the job!”

The next moment, Ding Qiang suddenly met the eyes of the person at the door, and he froze on the spot, his whole body trembling involuntarily.

Ma Xiangdong was about to leave, but remembering that the class had lost points in the hygiene inspection last week, he came to the classroom today specifically to check how they were cleaning. Who knew that he would hear Ding Qiang’s words before he even stepped into the classroom.

How could Ding Qiang say such a thing? Was his previous obedience and submissiveness all an act?

Ma Xiangdong frowned sharply and said in a deep voice, “Ding Qiang, Fang Yun, come to my office.” Fang Yun chuckled.

She hadn’t expected Ding Qiang, who always loved to put on airs, to have such a blunder.

She was overjoyed and quickly followed Ma Xiangdong out.

Ding Qiang’s legs felt like lead; he moved reluctantly, step by step, out of the classroom.

Ma Xiangdong personally questioned Fang Yun about all the things Ding Qiang had done in class.

Fang Yun immediately launched into a long, detailed account, such as always forcibly assigning his own chores to other class officers, using his position as class monitor to force other students to do his cleaning duties on his days, and always taking credit for others’ work…

She rattled off a whole string of such trivial matters, having always disliked Ding Qiang.

With each item she mentioned, Ma Xiangdong’s face darkened, until it was as black as the bottom of a pot.

Ding Qiang immediately and vehemently denied it, but he had already lost Ma Xiangdong’s trust.

Ma Xiangdong didn’t believe a word of his explanation; instead, based on Fang Yun’s account, he went to the other students in the class to find out more.

This indirectly proved that everything Fang Yun said was true.

Two days later, Ma Xiangdong announced Ding Qiang’s removal from his post in class.

The class monitor was directly replaced by the vice-monitor Fang Yun, and the academic representative was Xu Guozhu, a quiet and well-behaved student with good grades.

Ding Qiang was forced to apologize in front of the whole class for his past behavior.

Pei Tiantian, watching Ding Qiang’s embarrassed appearance from below the stage, found it somewhat amusing.

Since this incident, Ding Qiang had become an “ordinary person” in the class. He became much more subdued, his presence in the class diminished, and he started to keep a low profile, no longer bothering to mock Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong.

Pei Tiantian was quite satisfied that there was one less noisy fly around.

Soon, the preliminary scores were available.

Just as Pei Tiantian had guessed, she and Gu Rong both scored 100.

The cutoff scores for the finals were also released. Due to the increased difficulty compared to last year, the cutoff score for the upper elementary grades was lowered by ten points, setting it at 50 points this year.

Of the twenty-five students who participated with Pei Tiantian, six made it to the finals.

This included Ding Qiang, who scored 60 points.

He was initially happy about reaching the finals, but the next moment, upon hearing that Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong had achieved perfect scores, Ding Qiang’s smile vanished completely.

He realized the vast gap between himself and Gu Rong and Pei Tiantian.

Pei Tiantian, on the other hand, already knew her score and wasn’t particularly excited upon receiving it.

After telling her family the results, they were overjoyed, but it did cause as much of a stir at school. After all, only eight students in the entire city scored 100 points, and their small rural elementary school had two of them.

It was unbelievable.

Last year, their highest score was Ding Qiang’s 70 points; this year, they had two perfect scorers.

Not only Ma Xiangdong, but even the school leaders were extremely satisfied.

Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong even made their names known to the principal, who personally praised them during the flag-raising ceremony and wished them even better results in the finals.

The next finals were scheduled for March of next year, so there were still several months to go.

With final exams approaching, Pei Tiantian temporarily put the Hua Cup competition aside.

About a week after the final exams, the results came out.

Gu Rong was first in the class, and Pei Tiantian was second.

Gu Rong got perfect scores in both subjects, and Pei Tiantian also got a perfect score in math, but lost two points on her Chinese composition, placing her second overall.

Their combined scores far surpassed everyone else in the class. The third place wasn’t Ding Qiang, but the newly appointed class monitor, Xu Guozhu, with a total score of 188.

Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong went to school to collect their report cards and winter break homework, and received several bags of snacks as a reward. Ma Xiangdong pinned small red flowers on their chests.

Only the top ten students in the class received these small red flowers.

Gu Rong was first place, so he had two little red flowers on his chest, while everyone else only had one.

When all the top ten students came up to the stage, Pei Tiantian realized that Ding Qiang wasn’t among them.

She subconsciously glanced at the rankings posted on the wall and finally saw Ding Qiang’s name in the middle of the list.

Ding Qiang’s grades had dropped so much.

It seemed that being removed from his position in class had really hit him hard.

Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong returned home wearing their little red flowers, attracting many stares on the way.

Coupled with their perfect score in the competition, the whole village knew about it.

The villagers then realized that Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong were genuinely smart, and their skipping a grade was based on real ability, not bribery.

They all praised Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong, and some even went to the Pei family to ask Wang Ruizhen how they raised their children.

Wang Ruizhen confidently said there was no special method; Pei Tiantian and Gu Rong were just naturally smart.

This made the visitors slink away.

Pei Tiantian just smiled when she heard this.

She had long since stopped caring about the villagers’ opinions.

These people always believed what they heard, had no opinions of their own, and changed their tune in an instant.

Pei Tiantian had given up on them; let them do what they wanted.

She was too lazy to deal with them anyway.

This year, the Lunar New Year was earlier than usual, at the end of January. On New Year’s Eve, the Pei family prepared a large and sumptuous dinner.

Pei Tiantian ate until her little belly was round and full before leaving the table.

After the meal, everyone happily gathered around the fire pit, some cracking melon seeds, others eating candy.

Pei Tiantian was also chatting away with Gu Rong.

Only Wang Ruizhen’s gaze was fixed on the window, seemingly absent-minded, even her smile was somewhat forced.

Pei Zhiwen knew that Wang Ruizhen was probably thinking about Pei Zhiqin.

Ever since Pei Zhiqin’s miscarriage, she seemed to blame the Pei family, refusing any contact with them.

This year, Pei Zhiqin didn’t send anything for the New Year, not even a letter; she simply refused to return.

It was clear she was cutting ties with them.

This chilled Pei Zhiwen, let alone Wang Ruizhen.

Pei Zhiwen patted Pei Tiantian’s head, “Tiantian, go talk to your grandma.”

Pei Tiantian seemed to understand, running over with her short legs and throwing herself into Wang Ruizhen’s arms, hugging her neck and affectionately calling out “Grandma.”

Wang Ruizhen felt the soft, fluffy little bundle in her arms, and those pure, watery grape-like eyes, and her heart softened.

“Tiantian, what’s wrong?”

“Grandma, don’t be sad. Tiantian loves Grandma the most, and Tiantian will never leave Grandma.”

Pei Tiantian nestled in Wang Ruizhen’s arms, speaking in a childish voice, and then gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Wang Ruizhen’s eyes immediately welled up with tears, and she hugged Pei Tiantian tightly. “My little darling is the best. I’m not sad. I’m happy to have you by my side!”

Pei Tiantian smiled.

She remembered that it was this year, during the government’s crackdown on the counterfeit and shoddy goods market, that Li Jianguo, who sold counterfeit luxury goods, was imprisoned and his property was confiscated.