Chapter 23: Results

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The original Jiang Se was not much different from Lu Baobao. Their focuses were not on their studies as that would be a waste of their beauty.

However, at least, the former Jiang Se would know her capabilities. The current Jiang Se had an exaggerated opinion of her own abilities.

When the teacher in charge saw the words “First Imperial Academy” written on her application form, she felt slightly impatient. After her graduation, Jiang Se would no longer be her student, so she did not want to drag this conversation out with her.

“Since you’re sure about your application, we’ll be having a farewell party for the class on the 25th. Remember to stop by to take your National College Entrance Examination results and your student files.” When the teacher finished, she asked again, “Do you want the acceptance letter to be posted to the school or your house?”

Back at home, Zhou Hui was insistent on persuading Jiang Se to give up on her studies. Naturally, she would not get the acceptance letter to be posted to her house.

She answered without hesitation, “To the school.”

At this moment, the teacher did not think that she would be accepted by the First Academy. When she heard her answer, she gave half a smile. After registering her according to the procedures, she sent Jiang Se away.

On the 23rd when the results would be determined in the imperial capital, the teachers-in-charge of the Grade 12 classes of Jucai High School reached the office early in the morning. They waited for the clock to strike noon when the results would be released.

In the office, one of the teachers asked, “Teacher Lin, I heard that a student named Jiang Se from your class picked the First Academy as her university of choice this time.”

This question made the teacher-in-charge of Jiang Se’s class look helpless.

It was several minutes before noon. When the other teachers heard Jiang Se being mentioned, they gathered around Teacher Lin.

“I’ve didn’t know that she had the results for it. I don’t remember her results for the mock examination in May being good enough for any first-rate universities.”

There were many schools in the imperial capital, and Jucai High School was not a first-rate school either. While it was not as if none of its alumni had ever gotten into the First Academy, those were rare cases.

The few top students to whom Teacher Lin paid special attention in class did not even choose the First Academy after discussing their choices with her because they were not confident enough to get in. However, Jiang Se picked the First Academy as her university of choice, and her results had never been good. When the other teachers asked about this, as the teacher-in-charge, she felt ashamed.

“I’ve talked to her about this before. However, she insisted on sticking with her choice.” Teacher Lin sighed. “If that’s what makes her happy.”

“Kids her age won’t listen to anything you tell them to do.” Jiang Se’s mathematics teacher shook his head. He was clearly thinking about Jiang Se’s previous results. It was a waste of her beautiful looks when she did not have the intention to study. It had been difficult for her to even pass his subject.

“If she chose an ordinary school and perhaps performed well, she might still stand a chance. But the First Academy…” The mathematics teacher shook his head.

The First Academy’s baseline for accepting students had been released this year. It was fixed at 660 marks which were higher than the previous years’.

Judging from Jiang Se’s usual condition, getting into the First Academy was a pipe dream.

The others in the office could tell that Teacher Lin was not in a good mood and they refrained from mentioning Jiang Se again. After waiting in silence for a moment, someone shouted, “It’s 12 p.m.!”

That was when the results were released. Everyone turned their gaze toward the computers and refreshed the page for the results.

The teacher-in-charge had looked up the results of the several students in whom she took a special interest. There were a couple who did not perform too well with their marks being slightly lower than her expectations while the others did quite well.

The students with poor results performed about as well as Lu Baobao. In other words, they performed as poorly as ever. Lu Baobao had only scored 298 in her National College Entrance Examination. It was clear that she would not get her university of choice this time.

The teacher-in-charge had already expected this, so she shook her head and said nothing.

The other teachers around her were checking the results of their respective students. For some reason, the teacher-in-charge thought of Jiang Se who the others had mentioned.

When she remembered that Lu Baobao did not even reach half of the First Academy’s baseline and that Jiang Se was equally competent, the teacher-in-charge guessed that even if she did burn the midnight candle, she would score about 300 marks, at most.

With that result, it would have been enough for her to get into an ordinary university with some money. However, she would be daydreaming if she wanted to get into the First Imperial Academy.

She searched for Jiang Se’s name with these thoughts in the back of her mind. When she finally saw Jiang Se’s results, she was stunned. Then, she nearly kicked the rubbish bin over in shock. She exclaimed in utter surprise, “How’s this possible?!”

Her shout caught the attention of the other teachers. They turned to look at her while she stared at her computer screen with a dumbfounded expression.

The numbers displayed on the screen showed that Jiang Se’s results for her National College Entrance Examination was 676.

Among her students, Jiang Se had scored the highest marks!

“Impossible. How’s this possible?” The teacher stood up. Her chair skidded backward slightly from her sudden movement, letting out a soft screech. She stomped her foot twice and inched closer to her screen again.

“What’s wrong?”

The teacher next to her moved closer to ask her. The teacher-in-charge’s voice shook with agitated emotions as she said, “Jiang Se… she’s passed!”

Her single sentence caused a thousand layers of waves in the office. The other teachers gathered around her and asked incredulously, “What?”

The teacher in charge tried to calm herself down. “Jiang Se did well this time!”

Worried that she made a mistake, she ran a finger along the screen to tally the marks with Jiang Se’s name.

She did score 676 marks. There was no mistake about it!

At this moment, the teacher-in-charge’s emotions felt like a roller coaster ride. After the initial restlessness and uneasiness, she was now feeling an irrepressible excitement. After confirming that there were no mistakes, she was so excited that she nearly leaped.

Jiang Se had performed well in her three main subjects this time, especially in English, in which she scored the highest.

Out of a maximum of 150 marks per subject for the three subjects, she scored 415 marks. She did not do as well in politics, history, and geography, but she scored a total of 261 marks nonetheless.

The teacher-in-charge stared at the results for a long while. She remembered Jiang Se’s university of choice and mumbled to herself, “To think that she passed the baseline mark…”

Jiang Se had a rough feeling about her marks in the examination.

On the 25th of June, she went to school. Many of her classmates had already checked their own results using their student IDs. While some of them rejoiced, it was only natural for some of them to fret as well.

Lu Baobao, whom she had not seen for a fortnight, was resting her listless upper body on her desk. Her face was buried in the nook of her arm which was jerking as if she was sobbing.

“What’s wrong?”

When Jiang Se sat down beside her, Lu Baobao raised her head to look at her. Her eyes were still wet. As Jiang Se expected, she had been crying.

“My results weren’t satisfactory this time. My father wants me to repeat senior year.”

Lu Baobao had been somewhat expecting this. When they were comparing answers after the examinations, she already knew that she did not do well. However, she did not expect that her results to be this bad.

Her father had checked her results when they were released on the 23rd and had nearly beat her to death. She was grounded in her room and her father mentioned getting her to transfer schools.

She took out some tissue paper and wiped her face. Then, she asked Jiang Se, “How about you?” Lu Baobao sniffled. “Are you going to repeat senior year?”

Jiang Se pulled a chair and sat down.¹ She looked at Lu Baobao.

“No.”