Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 117 - 116 It’s a study group for Laozi’s water (thanks to the alliance leader Sanshengyuan Taohua - Le Sanye)

Liu Xiaodong had no choice but to turn his head and change the subject, "Teacher Yu, can Jijing’s second place from previous years reliably win a national gold medal?"

"Hard to say, let alone a national gold, even making it into the provincial team isn’t guaranteed," Yu Hong said bluntly, "because they’ve added a 100-point practical question, which will result in significant fluctuations in training camp scores."

Liu Xiaodong pressed his lips together and asked again, "How about the performance of Jijing’s provincial team in the national competition in the past?"

"Generally, it’s between five to ten gold medals," Yu Hong replied, turning to look at Li Zheng, "Don’t feel too pressured. Although Jijing isn’t an absolute powerhouse in terms of average strength, we do have standout talents. It’s just that there are fluctuations every year.

During an off-year, Jijing’s first placer might only rank within the top twenty nationwide, but in a good year, they could even take first place in the country."

The more Li Zheng listened, the more excited he became, and he couldn’t help but rub his hands together eagerly, "This year, it’s definitely a good year."

"You actually got it right," Yu Hong said with a laugh, "This year, Jijing’s top students are clustered together. It’s remarkable that you managed to secure second place. I’ve also heard about the student who took first. He was practically born for chemistry. You think his theoretical score of 99 is impressive, right?

I can tell you that he is at least twice as strong in practical experiments as in theory. You mustn’t seriously compete with him."

"Oh," Li Zheng replied, his response very perfunctory.

Not competing was simply impossible.

He was already eager to ask for the details about the explosion.

After heaping considerable praise, Liu Xiaodong finally let Li Zheng return to class and then closed the door to talk with Yu Hong.

Li Zheng could feel that Principal Liu didn’t seem to be ready to let Lin Yujing off so easily.

Even though Li Zheng had secured the second place in the city, in everyone’s eyes, including his own, Lin Yujing’s talent undoubtedly crushed all competition.

With her capability, a slight focus on experiments would logically result in her overtaking the lead.

But...

Enough was enough.

Really, it was enough.

The fact that Lin Yujing was willing to invest in physics competitions was a tremendous boon.

Though he thoroughly enjoyed watching her struggle with chemistry.

Compared to that physics pearl sparkling in her eyes.

This bit of joy was truly insignificant.

...

Back in class, ten minutes of the second period of physics had already passed.

Teacher Tao, seeing Li Zheng’s return, also put down the lesson to congratulate him, "Congratulations, Li Zheng! You have to bring back a national gold for our school. You can just self-study."

"Thank you, Teacher," Li Zheng nodded and quickly returned to his seat.

The lesson resumed after a brief interruption.

Li Zheng, feeling particularly at ease, casually listened in for a bit.

The more he listened, the more something seemed off.

Teacher Tao, usually so clear-headed and coherent, had stumbled over his words twice within a short five minutes.

His eyes seemed distracted, frequently drifting towards Lin Yujing’s direction unintentionally.

Even when flipping through the pages of the book, there were sighs.

Connecting this to his recent meeting with Liu Xiaodong and the secretive conversation behind closed doors with Yu Hong.

Li Zheng began to sense something.

Clearly, the whole school now wanted Lin Yujing to attend the provincial team training.

But Lin Yujing insisted on preparing for the physics competition.

Naturally, the school leaders suspected that it was Teacher Tao who had misled her.

One could imagine that Teacher Tao was innocent.

She didn’t even have a boyfriend, wouldn’t she rather snag a man with all that effort?

But whether she was innocent or not, she was likely going to face some pressure from the school administration.

Tang Zhifei could not escape either.

After all, this Chem Competition was the closest Lake Ying Middle School had come to glory since its inception.

Even if Yu Hong let Lin Yujing go.

Principal Liu was probably not ready to give up.

Li Zheng suddenly started to feel a headache.

He felt the same way studying philosophy and politics.

Whenever he thought about matters related to power and human nature, he would get a headache.

Although he could begrudgingly understand them, they always disgusted and repulsed him.

Why couldn’t everyone be more straightforward and progress together?

At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly came from the right front.

"Hm, hm?" Lin Yujing was very curious about Li Zheng’s experiences and couldn’t help but carefully probe.

Although things were a bit complicated, Li Zheng flashed an "OK" sign.

Focus on studying physics, I’ll handle the rest.

Be it smiles or hmms.

Since I’ve decided to protect, I won’t waste words with you anymore.

"Hm…" Lin Yujing sent a look of gratitude, and with it, the last shadows of chemistry gloom on her face also dispersed, and she began to listen to the class seriously, which was out of character for her.

Li Zheng just smiled silently.

Heard you’ve become mentally stronger?

Then don’t blame me for trampling on you even harder in the physics competition next year.

What trash talk should I say to annoy her more after winning the physics pinnacle showdown again?

Stop, going off track again.

Get a grip, refocus first.

Deal with Cobalt God first.

That Cobalt God must also be an interesting person.

As it happened, Li Zheng’s phone was vibrating non-stop in his pocket, so he simply took it out, bowed his head, and quietly opened QQ, tapping into the Dragon Pearl Group.

Next to him, Zhang Xiaoke, who was reading manga, glared: "No playing with phones in class..."

"I’m looking at Chem Competitions material, got a problem with that?"

"What Chem Competitions, you’re just goofing off in the group chat."

"Cough!" Teacher Tao suddenly coughed, "Xiaoke, pay attention to the class."

"Ah..." Zhang Xiaoke quickly stashed the manga and desperately signalled Teacher Tao with her eyes, asking her to reprimand Li Zheng.

But Teacher Tao pretended not to notice and continued teaching.

Zhang Xiaoke was in despair.

That’s privilege.

The privileged class.

In this ordinary middle school, is it really so ruthless to grab a spot in the provincial team?

"Wu..." Zhang Xiaoke glared fiercely at Li Zheng, she wanted to play with her phone in class too.

"Hmph, look clearly." Li Zheng flipped his hand and showed various chemical structure diagrams sent by classmates in the group, "I’m ’watering’ a study group."

"...I can’t deal with you, I can’t." Zhang Xiaoke instantly behaved, "I’ll listen to the class properly, won’t disturb you anymore, master..."

Having tamed his disciple, Li Zheng truly began to goof off in the group chat.

At this moment, people in the Dragon Pearl Group were madly tagging him.

They had posted a multitude of ruthless structure diagrams.

Turns out, just a few minutes ago, the Jijing Chemical Society’s official website had announced the award winners’ list.

It was probably about one class period after Yu Hong’s insider news.

Li Zheng then took an interested look at the winners’ list as well.

In such competitions, scores are usually not disclosed, but the order of the winners’ list is based on the scores, which makes Li Zheng’s name and school standing out in second place, quite eye-catching.

The first place goes without saying; it’s Shi Yang, the Cobalt God from No. 1 Middle School in the City.

Looking further down, Lin Yujing ranked seventh, with Ou Xingzhuo and Wu Shu following closely behind at eight and nine.

Although these two powerhouses were temporarily behind, they had almost come to this competition unprepared.

Now joining the experiment section, which is new content for most people.

It’s hard to estimate how much they will improve.

The very thought is frightening.

Further down the list, students from Ren Da Fu and No. 1 Middle School were plentiful, with someone from another school popping up every few places.

Of course, the other schools are all well-known middle schools like No. 4 Middle School, experimental schools, and Jinghua Affiliated, and the names of ordinary schools are almost absent.

Because the name of an ordinary school had already appeared twice in the top ten.

For an unheard-of school to snag two top ten spots was unprecedented.

Thinking of the day Lake Ying Fishery Gang could hold their heads high and breathe easy, Li Zheng felt very gratified.