Chapter 263: First and First

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Ci’s body stiffened. Her heart seemed to have stopped beating at this moment.

She knew that Li Guangyuan was looking at her, but she did not dare to meet his eyes and subconsciously lowered her head.

Even so, Li Guangyuan’s gaze still fell on her shoulders with a substantial weight, suffocating her.

The paper she had done was a mess, so much so that she had felt anxious until now.

It felt like a knife was hanging over her head and would fall at any time.

Li Guangyuan frowned slightly and silently shook his head.

He then looked at the form and could not help but smile.

.

“First place, Ning Li. Full marks.”

After a short period of dead silence, the large auditorium was abuzz.

Everyone turned around and looked at Ning Li, who was still sitting in the corner of the last row, with a look of shock that could not be concealed.

“A perfect score?! Really?!”

“Three teachers marked the paper, so surely it can’t be wrong, but how did she manage to get full marks?!”

“I remember one of the big questions and three of the fill-in-the-blank questions were not in the syllabus, yet she got them all?”

“I’m impressed! She turned it in an hour early and still managed to get a perfect score? No one can possibly beat that…”

Since Ning Li had handed in her paper early, everyone had guessed that she would be able to do well in the exam. However, no one had expected that she would actually get a perfect score!

This small test was for the winter camp instructors to segregate them based on their standards.

They were the most outstanding group selected from various provinces and cities, and the difference between their preliminary scores was not big.

To separate such a group, the teachers had no choice but to make the questions more difficult.

Some had gotten full marks because they coincidentally knew all of the topics that were tested, and some had gotten full marks only because there were only so many marks in that paper.

In addition, the three teachers also wanted to kill the arrogance of these students so that they could study well in the next two weeks.

Who could have guessed that Ning Li would get a perfect score?

Li Guangyuan and the other two teachers had taken Ning Li’s paper and studied it all morning, making sure that there was indeed no place to deduct points. Only then had they given her full marks with caution.

He looked up at Ning Li and complimented her. “Good job on the exam.”

The others did not know this, but Cao Jingxuan and a few students from Capital First High were quite familiar with Li Guangyuan.

As the Head of the Physics Team of Capital First High who had been leading compet.i.tions all year round, Li Guangyuan had seen his fair share of talented students.

He looked like a gentle person, but he had very high standards. Those who could get his attention and praise were really few and far between.

Li Guangyuan must really admire Ning Li to praise her in front of so many people.

Even when Cao Jingxuan had been selected for this winter camp after getting first place in her province, she had only gotten a “keep up the good work” from him.

Ning Li looked very calm beneath everyone’s gaze.

Her pretty face looked so calm, as if it did not matter to her whether she got a perfect score on the test or not.

This was a huge blow to the others.

Everyone had come to partic.i.p.ate in the final compet.i.tion. Since this was an examination, someone ought to be the first.

However, getting a full score was the maximum compet.i.tiveness, which made others feel left behind.

Li Guangyuan continued to read out the results.

“Second place, Pei Song. 146 marks.”

Hearing this name, the crowd was in a frenzy again and turned to look at Pei Song.

Some people murmured, “No way! First and second place are both from Yunzhou Second High School!”

The full score was 150 marks. With Pei Song’s score, he probably only got one fill-in-the-blank question wrong.

“Tan Ruiqun, 146 marks. Tied for second place.” Li Guangyuan read immediately after.

This was the tall and buff boy who had turned in his paper after Pei Song for the exam. He had gotten first place in C Province.

The three people who had turned in their papers early had the best scores.

Tan Ruiqun did not seem to be surprised by his score. Instead, he looked at Ning Li a few more times.

In all the physics exams over the years, he had never taken second place.

He had not expected to be overpowered by a girl this time.

Although he and Pei Song were tied, Pei Song had handed in the paper earlier than him, so he still felt like he had lost by a little.

Some people looked at Ye Ci and whispered.

“Yunzhou Second High accounted for two out of the first three places, so Ye Ci should be next, right?”

Hearing this, Ye Ci stiffened.

“I don’t think it’s likely. Although she’s also from Yunzhou Second High, she only got fifth place in their province for the preliminary round. How can she be in the top few with that kind of standard?”

“No one knows for sure! Maybe she just didn’t do so well in the preliminary round, so she got fifth place. Don’t forget, she lives with Ning Li every day. Ning Li got first place, so Ye Ci shouldn’t be far behind, right?”

“That’s right… If that’s really the case, then Yunzhou Second High is really amazing!”

…

Li Guangyuan continued to read aloud.

“Fourth, Liang Rong. 132 marks.”

A tall, thin boy with black-framed gla.s.ses turned his pen and grunted.

He had also been first in his province.

Being in fourth place was considered an outstanding achievement, but it was quite a big difference in score with the rank above him.

This made him very unhappy.

The next ranking came out in turn.

Li Guangyuan went further down the list. The difficulty of the paper became more obvious.

A fill-in-the-blank question was worth four points and a long question was worth around eight to twelve points.

Any mistake would greatly pull down their scores and seemed like a steep drop compared with the top few.

Cao Jingxuan was placed sixth. She was one of the few students from Capital First High and was the best one among them in this small test.

Li Guangyuan felt a bit regretful.

Capital First High was the home base of this training, but the four students from his own school had not even made it into the top five.

They were all very outstanding, but there were always brighter students.

Song Mengtang came in seventh.

She was not very satisfied with her ranking.

After all, since the very beginning, she had always benchmarked herself against Tan Ruiqun and Ning Li.

Although the difference in ranking between them was not much, the score difference was relatively large.

Cao Jingxuan leaned over to Ye Ci’s side and said with a smile, “Ye Ci, if you’re also in the top ten, then the four people in our dorm would have made it into the list!”

Ye Ci froze and smiled faintly. “I don’t think I’ll get into the top ten.”

Her hand under the table was already clenched tight.

Soon, the top ten names were read out, and Ye Ci’s name was indeed not included.

Ning Li, Cao Jingxuan, and Song Mengtang were the only three girls in the top ten.

Cao Jingxuan blinked and sat back down.

Out of fifty-two students in their cla.s.s, the ones who could land an offer with the top universities in China would not be more than twenty people.

In particular, only the top ten would have a chance at Xijing University.

The names were read one by one.

However, Ye Ci’s name never appeared.

There were fewer people left as time pa.s.sed.

Li Guangyuan had already gotten to 51st place.

“51st place, Li Peng. 78 marks.”

Ye Ci’s face turned pale.

By now, she was the only one left in the cla.s.s who had not been called.

Li Guangyuan gave her a look.

“52nd, Ye Ci. 41 marks.”

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