Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 104 - 104 The biggest winner

At noon, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing were called to the Chemistry Teaching and Research Office.

They each received a large stack of papers.

Li Zheng was, of course, exceptionally excited.

Lin Yujing was inevitably full of suffering.

These were not just any papers.

They were this year’s provincial preliminary exam questions, as well as the training camp and tutoring class mock questions, and of course, Sun Leyang’s final sprint questions.

Yu Hong had indeed gone through a lot of trouble to obtain them.

Speaking of Teacher Yu Hong, although his teaching skills were debatable, his connections and methods were definitely top-notch.

Now, looking at the preliminary exam questions.

Unlike directly governed cities like Jijing, many provinces have a huge number of contestants, and it’s impossible to arrange for all of them to take the national preliminaries.

Therefore, the Chemical Societies in those provinces would first arrange preliminary rounds in various prefecture-level cities to select candidates before they compete in the national preliminaries.

Although the quality of these questions was average, they were very suitable for finding shortcomings and identifying knowledge points that hadn’t been fully understood.

As for the mock questions from the tutoring classes and Sun Leyang’s sprint questions, their quality was on par with the past national preliminary exam papers. Completing them all would not only lead to improvement but also serve as a reference to gauge one’s performance in the national preliminaries.

This large pile of papers was definitely a timely help.

But for some others, it might be the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

For example, Lin Yujing, who was walking in the corridor with Li Zheng, holding the papers and almost bending under their weight, looking extremely feeble.

"Ugh..."

Competitions were not easy, Yu Jing sighed.

Li Zheng, however, was overjoyed, refusing to put down the papers, "Alright, since we’ve decided to compete, let’s give it our all. Let’s finish them early so that Teacher Sun can provide some guidance based on how we answer."

"Hmph." Lin Yujing finally took a deep breath, clenched her fists in secret, and quickly found a reason to feel relieved, saying fiercely, "After suffering so much, it would be a loss not to win a prize."

"That’s a point," Li Zheng laughed, "But think about it the other way, what if you make it to the provincial team and go on to compete in the nationals?"

"Gah..." Lin Yujing shuddered at the thought and glared at Li Zheng, "You go to the provincial team, your whole family goes to the provincial team."

"Haha, I’d actually really want to join," Li Zheng said, scratching the back of his head, "Honestly, if you do well, you might really get a reduced admission requirement for the Chemistry Department at Ji University."

"No way."

"Then why are you doing this competition?" Li Zheng asked, puzzled, "I’m doing it because I genuinely like it. You don’t like it, and you don’t want to go into a chemistry major, are you... are you a masochist?"

"Tsk." Lin Yujing turned her head away, ignoring him, "I like other competitions."

"Oh?" Li Zheng asked, "Mathematics?"

Lin Yujing didn’t speak.

"Biology?"

She remained silent.

"Physics?"

"Hmph..." Lin Yujing’s smile gave her away.

"Sometime, I’ll join, too."

"Go away," Lin Yujing dismissed him with a wave of her hand, "I’m not competing with you."

"Ha! As if you could avoid me in academic competitions," Li Zheng had already taken out his phone to search, "The preliminaries are around April or May, right? Once Chem Comp is over, I’ll go see Teacher Tao."

"Gah..." Lin Yujing looked at him with disdain, her eyebrows pressed closely together, "Faithless, competition doggie."

"Hehe, knock it off, who was it that begged me for the Chem Competitions reference book and then added me as a friend after admitting their mistake?"

"???" Lin Yujing glared fiercely, "It was you who admitted the mistake!"

"Heh, women are really childish."

"!!!" Lin Yujing pulled out her phone and actually showed Li Zheng a series of screenshots.

[Li Zheng: I was wrong, I won’t do it again.]

[Lin Yujing replied: Have you come to your senses?]

[Li Zheng: Yes, you got hurt, and I felt the pain.]

[Lin Yujing replied: …How did you come to your senses?]

[Li Zheng: It was in the agony of being apart from you that I realized.]

[...]

Li Zheng was completely dumbfounded, nearly dropping the papers on the ground, "You... you Photoshopped this, are you kidding me?"

"Gugu~" Lin Yujing finally felt relieved and hopped back to class with the papers in her arms.

Li Zheng’s face turned both pale and red, and after pondering for a long time, he finally had an answer.

Old Li!

You’re dead!

...

After school, it was time for the usual basketball relaxation.

Same time, same place, same team, same method.

The so-called method was actually how to secure the basketball court.

As everyone knows, with many people and few basketballs, it’s hard to monopolize the court.

Unless, you have Qiao Bixia.

Her presence was like a thunder bomb, always managing to drive some people away.

But today, during the team match, Xu Mengxi was even less noticeable than usual. She barely even ran the basic sprints, always zoning out, and she missed catching the ball twice.

Li Zheng, with his high EQ, naturally noticed that Xu Mengxi had something on her mind.

After the game, while everyone was sitting on the sidelines resting and drinking water, he finally couldn’t help but sidle over, pretending to admire the sunset while drinking from his bottle.

"I said, what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is yours," Li Zheng gulped down a big swig and then murmured, "That statement has no expiration."

"..." Xu Mengxi’s face turned red and she got so scared she jumped up and ran off.

If she didn’t know Li Zheng well enough, that line could have served as a wedding vow.

"Bullying my girl again," Qiao Bixia clenched one hand into a fist, crushing the drink bottle in her hand, and cursed fiercely, "Mengxi didn’t do well in the midterms to begin with, and you’re still picking on her?"

"Oh?" Li Zheng’s eyebrows tightened.

Then came the overwhelming sense of guilt.

Indeed, he had not been sparing Xu Mengxi from distractions lately.

As high school students, is there a graver sin than distracting someone from their studies?

"It’s my fault," Li Zheng hung his head in shame.

"No... it’s not..." Xu Mengxi covered her face with both hands, frantically waving them, "It’s because of the Chem Competitions that I’ve been held up, it has nothing to do with you..."

"Hmph," Lin Yujing trotted over and hugged Xu Mengxi, glaring at Li Zheng, "It’s your fault!"

"Stop it, Jingjing..." Xu Mengxi almost cried.

Li Zheng was also very anxious.

He really wanted to help Xu Mengxi, but with his limited knowledge, he truly couldn’t find a way to assist.

Apart from English and Chemistry, he was no match for Xu Mengxi in all other subjects.

As for English, memorizing words and reading comprehension is key, and there’s no way to guide her there.

Chemistry, she’s already proficient, there’s no need for guidance.

Li Zheng clenched his fists in frustration.

For the first time, he discovered he was such a powerless man.

Especially in his strongest suit, academics.

Behind him, Qiao Bixia also heaved a sigh, "Mengxi is usually either second or third in the grade, it’s just this time she fell to the twenties, probably just a slip-up, don’t panic."

Beside them, Liu Xin, while wiping the sweat off his face with his collar, asked, "What about you?"

"I moved up two spots, to seventh," Qiao Bixia chuckled mischievously, "You know, I’ve been feeling more spirited lately, can’t really tell why."

Li Zheng shivered at the sound.

Could it be because of her flirting?

Think about it.

The six of us, hanging out together every day.

The biggest winner is not me, Li Zheng.

It’s Qiao Bixia.