Study System: I'm a 38-Year-Old Student-Chapter 76 - 69: A Sudden Windfall (Double-Length)_2
Finally, it’s the essay section.
The topic is: Blowing out someone else’s lamp won’t make your own light any brighter, blocking someone else’s path won’t help you walk any further.
A single flower doesn’t make spring; a hundred flowers in bloom fill the garden with spring.
Writing essays isn’t exactly Shen Qiushan’s strong suit, but he’s read a ton of best-of essay collections.
It’s like he’s got a massive essay database in his head, so he picked a few essays that matched the theme and fused and reworked them a bit.
Soon, a smooth and polished essay appeared on his answer sheet.
After finishing Chinese,
There was history, geography, and politics in order.
Shen Qiushan hadn’t systematically reviewed these three subjects; he was mostly winging it based on what he’d picked up from daily life. His guesses put his scores at maybe no more than 50 each.
Eight-thirty in the evening.
The mock exam was over.
The students returned to their own classrooms.
Shen Qiushan also headed back to Class 5, Senior Year Three. When he walked in, his son Shen Yixiao was animatedly chatting with class president Wu Ruohan and a few other top students, probably comparing answers or something.
And judging from Shen Yixiao’s face, it looked like he’d done pretty well; seeing his dad come back, he didn’t bother to hide his grin and said cheerily, "Dad, you better keep your word!"
"What? Looks like you did pretty well, huh?"
Shen Qiushan asked with a smile.
"Eh, just so-so!"
"I’m guessing I got about 430."
This time, Shen Yixiao had honestly put his heart into the mock exam. He’d even copied all his answers for each subject onto scratch paper.
He’d just compared answers with Wu Ruohan and the others, did some quick math, and figured he’d scored around 430 in total.
Shen Yixiao was obviously excited—last time he’d barely scraped 385!
If this time he really broke 430, that’s a jump of 40 or 50 points—a total breakthrough.
"That’s really high, actually."
Shen Qiushan nodded. If his rascal son actually scored 430, this period of being a study-buddy was obviously paying off.
But if Shen Yixiao thought 430 was enough to beat him, that would be tough.
Shen Qiushan quickly calculated his own score; for Chinese, Math, and English, he’d already got around 400.
So if he could get about 50 in each of politics, history, and geography, his total would actually top his son’s.
"Dad, don’t just praise me!"
"Remember to stick to your word—when the grades are out, you go study with Shen Yanran!"
Shen Yixiao said smugly again.
"Alright, don’t worry. Your old man’s words are as good as gold."
Shen Qiushan gave his cocky kid a pat on the shoulder, thinking he’d let him feel happy for a while.
"Uncle Shen, how’d you do on the test?"
"Heard you handed in your math and English paper super early."
This time, Wu Ruohan chimed in from the side.
The others also fixed their gaze on Shen Qiushan, all clearly curious about his scores.
"Chinese, Math, and English were alright."
"But I’m not so good at politics, history, or geography."
Shen Qiushan replied honestly.
Except, his answer was so vague it was basically not an answer at all.
’Alright’—but was it actually good or not?
’Not so good’—but how much did he get? How much did he not know?
All I can say is, Chinese is a deep language.
At this moment, the math teacher Sun Xing walked in hugging a stack of papers.
Everyone quickly rushed back to their seats.
Sun Xing put the papers on the lectern, and once everyone was settled, he said darkly, "The math scores are out. And yes, this set of mock exam questions was a bit tough, but that’s no excuse for bombing the test."
"There are 12 classes in the grade—our class’s average score is second from the bottom."
"I’m embarrassed for you all!"
Sun Xing slammed the lectern and continued, "For this test, only five people in our class scored above 120!"
"That’s the lowest of all the classes!"
"I’m handing out the papers now. Come up when I call your name."
"Wu Ruohan, 133."
"Yan Lei, 129."
"Zhao Mingcheng, 125."
"Liu Xiuxiu, 122."
Sun Xing paused here, then said angrily, "I said five people scored above 120— and that’s INCLUDING Old Shen!"
"Take him out and there’d be just four in this test!"
"Shen Qiushan, 121!"
Whoa!!
With Sun Xing’s words,
The classroom instantly erupted in commotion.
Everyone’s eyes shot towards the last row, where Shen Qiushan was sitting.
121!
That score put him fifth in the class for math.
Remember, last time in the math quiz, Shen Qiushan’s math score had been a single-digit!
It’s only been, what, half a month?
And now he’d scored 121 in the mock exam.
This was insanely impressive!
Shen Yixiao, who’d just been gloating, was instantly stunned after hearing his old man’s math score.
He turned to stare at his dad, eyes so wide they almost popped out of their sockets.
121!!
In all three years of high school, he’d never scored that high in math before.
And didn’t Wang Yunpeng say his dad handed in the paper super early?
How’d he manage a score like that?
Shen Yixiao looked at Wang Yunpeng; this guy’s face matched his own, eyes bulging and mouth hanging open—clearly just as shocked by Shen Qiushan’s score.
"Dad, who did you copy off?"
"No way you weren’t cheating!!"
Shen Yixiao felt like his dad’s score was just too unreal. He must have cheated.
Honestly, he couldn’t think of any other explanation!
"Kid, ever seen someone cheat AND hand in their paper before everyone else?"
Shen Qiushan shot his brat a glare, tapped the desk in front of him: "If you suck, just practice more!"
"Quit with all the useless chatter!"
"But... this..."
Shen Yixiao was stumped into silence.
What his dad said made sense; he’d handed in the paper half an hour ahead of everyone else—who could he even copy from?
He turned in his test while everyone else was still working.
Shen Qiushan stood up, walked to the front and picked up his own test paper.
When Sun Xing handed him his exam, he pointed at the rest of the students. "You all ought to learn from Old Shen!"
"He’s way older than you and still got 121!"
"Look at yourselves!"
"Only four of you beat Old Shen’s score. Aren’t you embarrassed? Don’t you feel ashamed?"
"Later I’m posting Old Shen’s test in the parent group for everyone’s mom and dad to see!"
After hearing Sun Xing’s words, the students were left speechless, their faces looking worse by the minute.
When they’d first heard Shen Qiushan got 121, they’d only felt shocked.
But who knew, in a blink, Shen Qiushan’s 121 had turned into a sharp sword hanging above all their heads.
If their parents found out they’d scored lower than this middle-aged guy, getting yelled at would be the nicest outcome; there was every chance of eating a parental tag-team beatdown!
Suddenly, the whole class gave Shen Qiushan a different look.
Internally, everyone was ranting.
You came here to be a study companion—why not just stick to that?
What’s with all the weird stunts?!
It’s a mock test, and you scored 121 on math—how are the rest of us supposed to survive?
Feeling the burning gaze of all these kids, Shen Qiushan quickly waved at Sun Xing, "Teacher Sun, I just got lucky, honestly, had some good luck. No need to send my score to the parent chat group!"
Sun Xing shook his head and said earnestly, "Old Shen, you’re way too modest."
"Math takes real skill—not luck!"
"These kids ought to take you as their role model!"
"Don’t worry about them—if you’re mediocre, that’s not other people’s fault!"
After Sun Xing’s words, quite a few students blushed beet red.
Yeah, being mediocre isn’t anyone else’s fault!
Shen Qiushan didn’t add anything more; Sun Xing was an old pro and had his own way of teaching. As an outsider, he should just stay out of it.
It’s like when you see parents lecturing their kids on the street—
They’re teaching their kid, and if you, a random passerby, butt in, you’ll probably get burned right back.
Ding!
Congratulations, host, you’ve beaten 612 people in the math exam.
Reward: Scholar Index +61,200 points!
Just as Shen Qiushan got back to his seat, the system notification sounded in his mind.
Damn!
Shen Qiushan let slip a silent expletive.
He’d thought the mock exam was all one big test and that you’d only get the reward after the total score was out.
Turns out, each subject gets counted separately.
Which means, in one mock exam, he now has six chances to rack up Scholar Index points.
The sky is literally showering fortune right now!
