Chapter 7: Final Scores
"Ding-ding-ding..." The urgent school bell rang out across Yian District First High School. Parents who'd been waiting anxiously outside the exam halls—some sitting on the grass, others on the pathways—jumped to their feet, craning to peer through the campus fence.
A throng of students poured out of the exam buildings.
The 2056 Jiangnan City college entrance exam was officially over.
Now all the kids could do was wait a week to check their scores.
"Haobai." A slightly balding, scholarly-looking middle-aged man stood at the school gate, waving to his son as he emerged.
"Hey, Dad." Zhang Haobai smiled, walking over.
"How'd it go?" the man asked.
Haobai shook his head, sighing. "Alright, I guess. But math was brutal. Multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, even the problem-solving—so many tough questions. Especially those five calculation problems. I only finished two. For the other three, I just showed my work step by step. Maybe I'll get partial credit?"
Those five math problems were all about process, after all—grades were based on the steps you showed.
"Ah?" His father, Zhang Zelong, frowned. "That means your math score might take a hit."
"Don't worry, Dad. If it was hard for me, it was hard for everyone. And with a tough math paper, the undergrad cutoff will probably be lower. I should still make it into a military academy."
"Oh, right." Zelong smirked. "While we were waiting, we heard something. That kid from your school—Luo Feng, the famous one—collapsed in the exam hall with an hour left. Passed out cold."
"Collapsed? In the exam?" Haobai's eyes widened. "You mean Luo Feng?"
"Yep. Ambulance took him away. Everyone saw it." Zelong nodded. "Listen—parents are all talking about it with their kids."
"Luo Feng fainted?" Haobai glanced around, straining to hear. Sure enough, he caught snippets of conversation: "Some kid collapsed in the exam..." "Heard it was Luo Feng..."
"Haha! That poor bastard finally got what was coming to him!" Haobai burst out laughing. "Dad, you have no idea—he used to make my life hell at school. Thinks he's better than everyone because he's stronger, smarter... Now look at him!" The thought thrilled Haobai—he'd resented Luo Feng for ages.
Truth was, Luo Feng had barely noticed Haobai. But Haobai had always seen him as a rival, and it killed him that Luo Feng outperformed him in both grades and martial arts.
"Kids these days—no guts." Zelong chuckled. "Can't handle pressure. Anyway, forget him. Your uncle booked a banquet for you tonight. Come on, let's go."
"Uncle?" Haobai's eyes lit up.
The Zhang family's wealth in Yian District came down to one thing: Haobai's uncle was a martial artist.
"No way. Not possible." Wei Wen, fresh out of the exam hall, turned to his parents, panicked. "A-Feng? Collapse from nerves? No. His mental toughness—even the instructors at Extreme Martial Arts Gym praised him for that."
Wei Wen and Luo Feng were closer than brothers.
"Son, we saw it with our own eyes." His father sighed. "His dad and that brother of his in the wheelchair—they rushed to the hospital with him."
"The hospital nearby, then." Wei Wen thrust his exam supplies into his parents' hands. "I need to check on him. We'll eat later." He took off at a sprint toward the hospital.
...
In Yian District Hospital, Luo Feng forced a smile as he walked out of the lobby with his father and brother. Both Luo Hongguo and Luo Hua eyed him worriedly, afraid the collapse had shattered his confidence.
"I'm fine, Dad. Let's go home and eat." Luo Feng kept his tone light, though bitterness lingered. What was done was done—he had to move on.
"A-Feng! A-Feng!" A voice shouted from afar.
Luo Feng looked up to see Wei Wen charging toward the entrance, shirt soaked in sweat. Touched, Luo Feng blurted out, "A-Wen, how hard were those last three math problems? I didn't get to finish them." If most kids had struggled with them, maybe his score wasn't doomed.
"Brutal." Wei Wen nodded. "Worst math paper in years. Of the five problems, only the third was kinda easy. The rest? Impossible for most."
Luo Feng exhaled quietly. There's still a chance.
Scores went live at 8 PM on June 16th—you could check online or by phone, and the undergrad cutoff would drop at the same time.
Just after 7 PM that day, Luo Feng sat alone in the room he shared with his brother, door shut, refreshing his laptop screen over and over. Scores were supposed to drop at 8, but sometimes the system went live early.
"Probably won't make it into Jiangnan First Military Academy now." He frowned. "But I nailed the multiple-choice and fill-ins in math, plus the first two problems. Even though I didn't finish the second one, I showed enough steps. Maybe I'll get 120+ for math."
He crossed his fingers. "Did okay in liberal arts and science. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll hit the cutoff. Just need to make undergrad to get into the Second Military Academy."
The First Academy was top-tier, but way out of his league now. The Second? Maybe, based on his rough estimate.
Suddenly, the score-check page loaded.
"Come on, universe—just let me hit that cutoff." Heart pounding, he typed in his name, ID, and exam number, then clicked Search.
The screen flashed. A table popped up:
Name: Luo Feng
Gender: Male
ID: 426123203806083211
Exam Code: 5878643567890766
Liberal Arts: 216
Science: 223
Math: 118
Total: 557
Undergrad Cutoff: 561