Zong Yan didn’t notice the shocked gaze of the teacher behind him. After he handed in his test paper, he capped his pen, picked up the transparent document pouch, and walked out of the exam room.
The examinees from Qingyang High School had been distributed fairly evenly among area schools for the exam, and for each school, a senior teacher from Qingyang High School was assigned to lead the team. The teacher who led Zong Yan’s group was the head of the senior year math team.
Zong Yan had always been at the top of his school for math. He’d scored best in his grade on the mock exams several times, coming in first in the district. So when the math test ended, the head of the math team immediately walked over with several sheets of paper and the answers he’d calculated.
When the test questions of the college entrance exam were released, they became a hot search on Weibo almost immediately.
The math team leader of Qingyang High School squatted outside the school building under the shade of a big tree. He and several master teachers from other schools debated fiercely beside the flower beds while looking at their phones, brainstorming with pens in their hands. It didn’t take long before they solved most of the exam questions.
Zong Yan, of course, had no idea who the lead teacher was, but when he walked out of the school building with the other students he caught everyone’s eye.
Generally, teachers advised their students not to wear school uniforms during the college entrance exam, especially students from top schools like Qingyang High School. After all, the proctors and other students in the exam room were all unfamiliar people. Who knew what thoughts would run through their minds when they saw the uniform of Qingyang High School.
So Zong Yan, who basically wore his school uniform 365 days a year, changed into something else for once.
Several thoughts were running through his mind.
The clothes he was wearing didn’t look like anything from the wardrobe the Dragon Group bought for him, and they didn’t seem to be from the batch of luxury brands the Lord of the Gate added to his bedroom closet with a wave of his hand. This was an outfit that belonged to Zong Yan himself, a T-shirt and trousers that had been washed white.
When Zong Yan was a freshman in high school, he’d chosen these clothes at a night stall together with his grandmother. They specially picked a larger size to make sure he could still wear them when he grew taller.
Over the years, whenever he wasn’t wearing his school uniform, Zong Yan preferred to wear these clothes. Not just because he didn’t have anything else, but because they were among the few things left from his grandmother.
By now Zong Yan understood the Astrologer’s world wasn’t his own. The best evidence was the Jiangsu exam he’d just taken.
But when he saw himself in this outfit, he hesitated. He knew this was a different world, and he couldn’t help thinking—
Was there a Miskatonic University in this world?
Were there evil gods? Or otherworldly creatures? Was there a Dragon Group? Or were they nothing but splendid, fantastic stories here?
Had a mysterious organization ever barged into his classroom and taken him aboard a helicopter in front of every student and teacher in the school? Was there an ancient Realm of Dreams filled with medieval architecture? Was there a young prince of England, a silly little fat man, a Ye JingMing who’d turned from an enemy to a friend?
And… him.
Zong Yan clutched the key that was wrapped around his wrist. With his other hand he pulled out his cell phone.
When he left the exam room, he deliberately went to the front to check for a bagged cell phone. As it turned out, there really was a phone labeled with this seat number.
It was the latest model of this year’s fruit phone, which really puzzled him for a moment.
According to his original understanding, this world probably had no MU, and there might not be any evil gods either. Of course, he couldn’t rule out that in this world he was just an ordinary student with cerebral superpowers. He might not be classified as an Awakened person or belong to the occult world.
If there were no evil gods and no MU, Zong Yan didn’t have any means to make money. So where in the world did he get such an expensive phone?
How did an ordinary high school student in a cheap T-shirt buy such a thing?
While Zong Yan was pondering, the head of the math team at the entrance saw him and suddenly waved.
“Student Zong Yan, over here!”
The shout caused several examinees to look over.
The black-haired young man was standing in the middle of the crowd. He wore the simplest T-shirt and capri pants, revealing his slender arms and ankles. Under the blazing sunlight, his white skin was almost translucent. Close up, you could see the blue veins flowing beneath his pale skin.
His demeanor was lazy, his eyes were lit up like stars, and his face was handsome, even beautiful. His posture might be casual, but it couldn’t disguise the fact that he was the focus of attention in the crowd. Many people couldn’t look away.
Zong Yan saw the familiar teacher with Mediterranean-pattern baldness, so he put his phone back in his pocket and walked over.
There were already a lot of people gathered around, all of them senior students from Qingyang Senior High. Many of the other examinees looked at them in awe when they saw the logo of Qingyang High School. They had no idea this handsome exam candidate was also a student there. Qingyang High School was recognized as an elite school for students from good families, and they hadn’t expected this person with such good looks would also have an upscale background and top-notch academics—other people need to live too, okay?
The moment Zong Yan walked over, the math team leader quickly pulled him into the shade and asked, “Student Zong Yan, what do you think about the difficulty of the exam?”
At the moment, all the test takers and teachers nearby focused their eyes in unison, waiting for the answer from the recognized god of math.
“Ah?” Zong Yan considered the question. Of course, the Astrologer’s super calculation and memory ability meant he could accurately recall every single test question. The problem was—
“It wasn’t that bad. It felt easy, ” he said with sincerity.
This statement sent shockwaves through everyone.
This year, the difficulty of the Jiangsu math exam was unbelievable. When the examinees were still in the exam room, #Jiangsu math exam# was already a Weibo hot search. Melon eaters as well as the last few years of senior students looked at the final multi-part question and burst into prayer for this session’s examinees.
Even the teachers squatting outside working the questions together agreed on the rigorousness of this year’s exam, which was even higher than the mock exam. Everyone brainstormed over the last sub-part of the final question, and after mutual discussion it still took them a long time and several sheets of paper to write the proof, which demonstrated its difficulty.
While Zong Yan was good at mathematics, having placed first in the district before, and usually lost only one or two points, there were still some students who didn’t quite believe him. They gazed at him with skeptical expressions.
This wasn’t entirely Zong Yan’s fault. A moment earlier, the teacher had asked an examinee who always ranked in the top three in the school. The student said he didn’t have enough time to calculate the last sub-part of the final question, which would probably cost him several points. This was enough to confirm the difficulty of this year’s exam.
And so, when Zong Yan dared to say the test was easy, some people thought he was being pretentious.
The math team leader also had some doubts. “Did you finish all of the final question?”
He believed in the computing and logical ability of his student, but this year the calculation needed for the last question was too complex. The teachers spent a lot of time figuring it out, conservatively estimating that finishing the last question perfectly would take almost half an hour.
Half an hour for a single question was a conservative estimate, and the college entrance exam was already a race against time.
“I finished,” Zong Yan said calmly, and incidentally stated a number.
It was the final result he’d just solved.
“No way, that’s not the number I got,” the other top student interjected. Although he didn’t have time to finish the math, for the sake of his score he’d filled in a rough estimate. But his result was far different from Zong Yan’s.
The onlookers got excited. These two students had reached very different answers. Clearly one of them had to be wrong.
All eyes focused on the math teacher again.
In disbelief the team leader turned around and looked at the answer they’d arrived at before, then stared at Zong Yan with a mix of delight and astonishment. He patted his thigh. “Zong Yan’s answer is correct.”
“He was able to finish the last question. This year our school might have another single subject champion!”
The team leader raised his eyebrows and beamed with joy. After all, when there was a single subject champion in the grade, the first person who’d be rewarded by the school was Zong Yan’s math teacher, followed by the head of the department.
“Good for you, Student Zong. You’re a credit to our school. Here, this is the answer sheet your teacher made. Take a good look and estimate your score. I’ll call your teacher right now.”
Even as the math team leader spoke, his hand was already on his phone dialing the number.
For students like these, who were stable and steady and had intuitive talent in science, a teacher’s biggest worry was whether they’d make a mistake on the final problem. If they managed to complete the last question, there was a 95% chance the previous answers would be fine.
Although the national exam might see a lot of students with perfect scores in the math section, in the Jiangsu exam this was extremely rare. There were 160+40 points for a total of 200, and a single point less meant it didn’t count as a full score. Because the difficulty of the test was so high, last year and the year before not a single student received full marks. Maybe this year someone would actually break the curse.
The teachers of other schools who were watching were full of envy, especially the team leaders of the other ace schools.
Qingyang High School was wealthy and powerful, and they couldn’t say what kind of bonus a teacher would get for having a single subject champion. How could they not be jealous?
Zong Yan casually glanced at the test paper and handed it back. “There’s no problem. I’d say 80% chance of a full score,” he said indifferently.
Actually, he was being modest. He said 80% when in fact he was 99% sure.
He might lose a point if the exam supervisor decided to deduct a point from his proof. That was something Zong Yan couldn’t help.
With the Astrologer status active, the test questions were like child’s play in his eyes. The problems were so simple he could see the answer at a glance. There was no way to make a mistake.
“Sorry, teacher, I have something urgent. I’m in a hurry to head back.”
“Fine, fine. Travel safe and have a good rest. You ought to relax after the exam.”
After hearing Zong Yan’s assurance, the team leader was overjoyed.
So Zong Yan walked through the crowd, which split before him like Moses parting the Red Sea, and the others turned and watched with awe-filled eyes as the big shot left the scene.
—
The author has something to say:
This version of the Jiangsu exam has some private settings. You can look at it as a parallel dimension, because YaYa wasn’t a Jiangsu examinee _(:з」∠)_
TL Notes:
The examinees from Qingyang High School had been distributed fairly evenly… – 清阳中学的学生考场分布都还算均匀，每个学校清阳中学都分配了带队的高三老师 – I felt this section would be confusing to most readers so I added some words to make the meaning clearer. However, I’m not clear on some of the details and it’s possible I made a mistake
Mediterranean-pattern baldness – 秃头地中海 – Bald with patches of hair like the islands in the Mediterranean
""
Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:
Moses – 摩西
Red Sea – 红海
[ Project Page | Ko-Fi ✿ | Other translations by Confectioner ]
Zong Yan didn’t notice the shocked gaze of the teacher behind him. After he handed in his test paper, he capped his pen, picked up the transparent document pouch, and walked out of the exam room.
The examinees from Qingyang High School had been distributed fairly evenly among area schools for the exam, and for each school, a senior teacher from Qingyang High School was assigned to lead the team. The teacher who led Zong Yan’s group was the head of the senior year math team.
Zong Yan had always been at the top of his school for math. He’d scored best in his grade on the mock exams several times, coming in first in the district. So when the math test ended, the head of the math team immediately walked over with several sheets of paper and the answers he’d calculated.
When the test questions of the college entrance exam were released, they became a hot search on Weibo almost immediately.
The math team leader of Qingyang High School squatted outside the school building under the shade of a big tree. He and several master teachers from other schools debated fiercely beside the flower beds while looking at their phones, brainstorming with pens in their hands. It didn’t take long before they solved most of the exam questions.
Zong Yan, of course, had no idea who the lead teacher was, but when he walked out of the school building with the other students he caught everyone’s eye.
Generally, teachers advised their students not to wear school uniforms during the college entrance exam, especially students from top schools like Qingyang High School. After all, the proctors and other students in the exam room were all unfamiliar people. Who knew what thoughts would run through their minds when they saw the uniform of Qingyang High School.
So Zong Yan, who basically wore his school uniform 365 days a year, changed into something else for once.
Several thoughts were running through his mind.
The clothes he was wearing didn’t look like anything from the wardrobe the Dragon Group bought for him, and they didn’t seem to be from the batch of luxury brands the Lord of the Gate added to his bedroom closet with a wave of his hand. This was an outfit that belonged to Zong Yan himself, a T-shirt and trousers that had been washed white.
When Zong Yan was a freshman in high school, he’d chosen these clothes at a night stall together with his grandmother. They specially picked a larger size to make sure he could still wear them when he grew taller.
Over the years, whenever he wasn’t wearing his school uniform, Zong Yan preferred to wear these clothes. Not just because he didn’t have anything else, but because they were among the few things left from his grandmother.
By now Zong Yan understood the Astrologer’s world wasn’t his own. The best evidence was the Jiangsu exam he’d just taken.
But when he saw himself in this outfit, he hesitated. He knew this was a different world, and he couldn’t help thinking—
Was there a Miskatonic University in this world?
Were there evil gods? Or otherworldly creatures? Was there a Dragon Group? Or were they nothing but splendid, fantastic stories here?
Had a mysterious organization ever barged into his classroom and taken him aboard a helicopter in front of every student and teacher in the school? Was there an ancient Realm of Dreams filled with medieval architecture? Was there a young prince of England, a silly little fat man, a Ye JingMing who’d turned from an enemy to a friend?
And… him.
Zong Yan clutched the key that was wrapped around his wrist. With his other hand he pulled out his cell phone.
When he left the exam room, he deliberately went to the front to check for a bagged cell phone. As it turned out, there really was a phone labeled with this seat number.
It was the latest model of this year’s fruit phone, which really puzzled him for a moment.
According to his original understanding, this world probably had no MU, and there might not be any evil gods either. Of course, he couldn’t rule out that in this world he was just an ordinary student with cerebral superpowers. He might not be classified as an Awakened person or belong to the occult world.
If there were no evil gods and no MU, Zong Yan didn’t have any means to make money. So where in the world did he get such an expensive phone?
How did an ordinary high school student in a cheap T-shirt buy such a thing?
While Zong Yan was pondering, the head of the math team at the entrance saw him and suddenly waved.
“Student Zong Yan, over here!”
The shout caused several examinees to look over.
The black-haired young man was standing in the middle of the crowd. He wore the simplest T-shirt and capri pants, revealing his slender arms and ankles. Under the blazing sunlight, his white skin was almost translucent. Close up, you could see the blue veins flowing beneath his pale skin.
His demeanor was lazy, his eyes were lit up like stars, and his face was handsome, even beautiful. His posture might be casual, but it couldn’t disguise the fact that he was the focus of attention in the crowd. Many people couldn’t look away.
Zong Yan saw the familiar teacher with Mediterranean-pattern baldness, so he put his phone back in his pocket and walked over.
There were already a lot of people gathered around, all of them senior students from Qingyang Senior High. Many of the other examinees looked at them in awe when they saw the logo of Qingyang High School. They had no idea this handsome exam candidate was also a student there. Qingyang High School was recognized as an elite school for students from good families, and they hadn’t expected this person with such good looks would also have an upscale background and top-notch academics—other people need to live too, okay?
The moment Zong Yan walked over, the math team leader quickly pulled him into the shade and asked, “Student Zong Yan, what do you think about the difficulty of the exam?”
At the moment, all the test takers and teachers nearby focused their eyes in unison, waiting for the answer from the recognized god of math.
“Ah?” Zong Yan considered the question. Of course, the Astrologer’s super calculation and memory ability meant he could accurately recall every single test question. The problem was—
“It wasn’t that bad. It felt easy, ” he said with sincerity.
This statement sent shockwaves through everyone.
This year, the difficulty of the Jiangsu math exam was unbelievable. When the examinees were still in the exam room, #Jiangsu math exam# was already a Weibo hot search. Melon eaters as well as the last few years of senior students looked at the final multi-part question and burst into prayer for this session’s examinees.
Even the teachers squatting outside working the questions together agreed on the rigorousness of this year’s exam, which was even higher than the mock exam. Everyone brainstormed over the last sub-part of the final question, and after mutual discussion it still took them a long time and several sheets of paper to write the proof, which demonstrated its difficulty.
While Zong Yan was good at mathematics, having placed first in the district before, and usually lost only one or two points, there were still some students who didn’t quite believe him. They gazed at him with skeptical expressions.
This wasn’t entirely Zong Yan’s fault. A moment earlier, the teacher had asked an examinee who always ranked in the top three in the school. The student said he didn’t have enough time to calculate the last sub-part of the final question, which would probably cost him several points. This was enough to confirm the difficulty of this year’s exam.
And so, when Zong Yan dared to say the test was easy, some people thought he was being pretentious.
The math team leader also had some doubts. “Did you finish all of the final question?”
He believed in the computing and logical ability of his student, but this year the calculation needed for the last question was too complex. The teachers spent a lot of time figuring it out, conservatively estimating that finishing the last question perfectly would take almost half an hour.
Half an hour for a single question was a conservative estimate, and the college entrance exam was already a race against time.
“I finished,” Zong Yan said calmly, and incidentally stated a number.
It was the final result he’d just solved.
“No way, that’s not the number I got,” the other top student interjected. Although he didn’t have time to finish the math, for the sake of his score he’d filled in a rough estimate. But his result was far different from Zong Yan’s.
The onlookers got excited. These two students had reached very different answers. Clearly one of them had to be wrong.
All eyes focused on the math teacher again.
In disbelief the team leader turned around and looked at the answer they’d arrived at before, then stared at Zong Yan with a mix of delight and astonishment. He patted his thigh. “Zong Yan’s answer is correct.”
“He was able to finish the last question. This year our school might have another single subject champion!”
The team leader raised his eyebrows and beamed with joy. After all, when there was a single subject champion in the grade, the first person who’d be rewarded by the school was Zong Yan’s math teacher, followed by the head of the department.
“Good for you, Student Zong. You’re a credit to our school. Here, this is the answer sheet your teacher made. Take a good look and estimate your score. I’ll call your teacher right now.”
Even as the math team leader spoke, his hand was already on his phone dialing the number.
For students like these, who were stable and steady and had intuitive talent in science, a teacher’s biggest worry was whether they’d make a mistake on the final problem. If they managed to complete the last question, there was a 95% chance the previous answers would be fine.
Although the national exam might see a lot of students with perfect scores in the math section, in the Jiangsu exam this was extremely rare. There were 160+40 points for a total of 200, and a single point less meant it didn’t count as a full score. Because the difficulty of the test was so high, last year and the year before not a single student received full marks. Maybe this year someone would actually break the curse.
The teachers of other schools who were watching were full of envy, especially the team leaders of the other ace schools.
Qingyang High School was wealthy and powerful, and they couldn’t say what kind of bonus a teacher would get for having a single subject champion. How could they not be jealous?
Zong Yan casually glanced at the test paper and handed it back. “There’s no problem. I’d say 80% chance of a full score,” he said indifferently.
Actually, he was being modest. He said 80% when in fact he was 99% sure.
He might lose a point if the exam supervisor decided to deduct a point from his proof. That was something Zong Yan couldn’t help.
With the Astrologer status active, the test questions were like child’s play in his eyes. The problems were so simple he could see the answer at a glance. There was no way to make a mistake.
“Sorry, teacher, I have something urgent. I’m in a hurry to head back.”
“Fine, fine. Travel safe and have a good rest. You ought to relax after the exam.”
After hearing Zong Yan’s assurance, the team leader was overjoyed.
So Zong Yan walked through the crowd, which split before him like Moses parting the Red Sea, and the others turned and watched with awe-filled eyes as the big shot left the scene.
—
The author has something to say:
This version of the Jiangsu exam has some private settings. You can look at it as a parallel dimension, because YaYa wasn’t a Jiangsu examinee _(:з」∠)_
TL Notes:
The examinees from Qingyang High School had been distributed fairly evenly… – 清阳中学的学生考场分布都还算均匀，每个学校清阳中学都分配了带队的高三老师 – I felt this section would be confusing to most readers so I added some words to make the meaning clearer. However, I’m not clear on some of the details and it’s possible I made a mistake
Mediterranean-pattern baldness – 秃头地中海 – Bald with patches of hair like the islands in the Mediterranean
""
Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:
Moses – 摩西
Red Sea – 红海
[ Project Page | Ko-Fi ✿ | Other translations by Confectioner ]
