"You… Why did you… Why did you bring so many books…" Sun Xiubin asked.
"Does a student need a reason to bring stationery?" Li Zheng placed the last of his materials down and stood up as he opened his empty bag for Sun Xiubin to see.
Sun Xiubin was utterly speechless.
However, she noticed something when she glanced into the bag.
"Don't move!" She reached into the bag and dug out a magazine. On the cover of the magazine was a masked person holding a gun. There was even a robot in the background.
"What's this? What's this?" She suppressed her excitement as she displayed the magazine for the students around to see. "Did I not say that you cannot bring books for leisure, did I not?"
"Discipline mistress…" The ordinary girl looked closely at the cover of the magazine as she said, "There seems to be the library stamp on the magazine."
"Oh?" Sun Xiubin froze. She pulled the magazine closer to have a better look. It was indeed the stamp unique to the Cherry Lake High School library.
She thought, "In the end, he came to return a book?"
Sun Xiubin felt her scalp tremble. She quickly stuffed the magazine back into the bag, then pointed around, and said, "What time is it already? Do you all want to be late?"
Everyone scattered in an instant.
Sun Xiubin then looked at Li Zheng. He was kneeling on the ground and packing his bag.
He carefully arranged the bundles of material into their designated spaces.
He did not have any complaints. He was like a wronged daughter-in-law.
Sun Xiubin's expression softened. She felt remorseful.
"Alright, alright, alright, stop packing up." She then turned to the students on duty and said, "It's about time you guys head back. Help him move his books into his class while you are on your way back."
She turned her head and left without looking at anyone.
In that final moment, Li Zheng's flirting score for Sun Xiubin was reluctantly increased to -5.
He managed to stop the damage.
The rest of the students on duty also managed to get off early. They walked toward the teaching block.
Only the ordinary girl stepped forward to help Li Zheng pack up, "Discipline Mistress Sun is too much… But you also… Such a ridiculous bag…"
She secretly watched Li Zheng, then hid her face and smiled slightly, "Furthermore, the way you walk is especially eye-catching."
"Yes, I've learned my lesson. I'll walk slower next time." Li Zheng gave a heavy nod.
They took two minutes to fill up the bag again. However, they ultimately did not pack the books as well as Li Zheng had in the morning. They could not stuff all of the books into the bag.
Thus, the ordinary girl gathered a stack of books and carried it to Li Zheng's class together with him.
"Oh yes, why did you bring so many chemistry books?" the girl asked as she looked at the book covers.
"I have to practice chemistry intensively." Li Zheng had a look of regret. "Unfortunately, I only have materials for second-years."
"Do you need to prepare for third-year chemistry in advance?" The girl involuntarily hugged the books tighter. "Do you… I'll lend it to you…"
"Oh?" Li Zheng was elated.
Studying ahead of the syllabus was undoubtedly the simplest, most direct way to increase his score.
However, Li Zheng should not seem so anxious to ask for a favor during the first conversation he had with someone.
"This… Wouldn't it affect your studies?" Li Zheng scratched the back of his neck and forced himself to be hesitant.
"It's alright, there is no chemistry class today." The girl lowered her head as she whispered, "If you need it… You can come to look for me in Class 3-1. My name is Xu Mengxi."
"Class 3-1? The elite class!" Li Zheng quickly looked her in the eye, then nodded and said, "Pardon my impudence."
"Haha…" Xu Mengxi laughed. "You are so funny."
As they talked, the two of them arrived at the door of Class 2-4.
Xu Mengxi placed the books into Li Zheng's arms and asked hesitantly, "Your name is Li Zheng, isn't it? How do you write Zheng?"
"It's Zheng from the phrase Zhengrong, which means lofty and outstanding."
"Alright…" She had already turned around to leave but suddenly remembered something. She turned her head and asked, "Do you want notes for second and third-years?"
Li Zheng was dumbfounded.
"Are you an angel?" he thought.
"Yes, yes." He could not hold back in the end. He nodded continuously as he wiped off his drool.
"Haha…" Xu Mengxi laughed at Li Zheng's action. "Can you stop being so funny?"
"Sure, sure."
Suddenly, a voice that sounded like its owner should not be trifled with rang out from behind Li Zheng.
"Hm…"
A petite girl, who was wearing a white shirt and holding a water bottle, stood at the door of the classroom, staring at the two of them.
She pulled Xu Mengxi aside without waiting for Li Zheng to react and walked quickly toward the pantry.
Li Zheng opened his eyes wide.
He thought, "Not good.
"She is even trying to snatch the third-year chemistry notes from me."
Li Zheng wanted to chase after them but ultimately held back.
After all, Lin Yujing was good friends with Xu Mengxi.
There were different levels of closeness between people. He had merely crossed paths with Xu Mengxi.
He thought to himself, "I'll look for Xu Mengxi during the time between classes. It'll be good if she'll lend me the notes. If not, I'll look for another basketball partner."
LI Zheng hugged his bag and stepped into the classroom.
At this moment, the students were gathered around Jiang Qinghua's seat. They were chatting nonstop.
"What? I got into the top 100 even with my score?"
"To think that Liu Xin is not in last place."
"Did Lin Yujing score first place even in biology?"
"How much did Li Zheng get?"
Li Zheng calmly took out his bundles of study material and started to arrange them on his desk amidst the chatter.
However, he did feel a little uneasy.
Judging from the situation, the rankings for the monthly exams had been released.
Logically, to protect a student's privacy, the result slips would never be made public.
But who did they think Hu Chunmei was?
Rankings were undoubtedly the best form of recognition a hardworking student could have. It was also the largest form of motivation for the distracted students.
To work around the privacy policy, Hu Chunmei chose to give the result slips of everyone in the class to the monitor, Jiang Qinghua. She allowed him to organize and hand out the result slips.
During the process, the rankings of the students would inevitably be revealed. The effects of recognition and motivation would be doubled.
Even Li Zheng felt a little expectant. He did not know what level he had reached for the first monthly exams of his second year.
There were 264 science students in the grade level. They were split into six classes.
Amongst the classes, Class 2-1 was the elite class and was made up of the students placed in the top 45.
It was supposed to be the top 46, but Lin Yujing had come into a little conflict with the homeroom teacher. The school had no choice but to transfer her to the fourth class.
Following that, as the classes in high school got more advanced, the 45 students in the elite class were unable to maintain their advantage.
The reasons for that could include the student's potential, distraction, tardiness, etc. There had been less than 20 students from the elite class who had maintained their position in the top 50 during the year-end exams last year.
Li Zheng had managed to improve from his position outside the top 100 when he first started school to being 43rd after a year's worth of effort.
He wondered if he could improve even further for last month's monthly exams.
As the students chatted, the most talkative student in the class, Liu Yue, suddenly laughed and shouted from Jiang Qinghua's seat, "Haha, Li Zheng only managed to obtain 51st place even after studying for so long. He did not even score higher than Jiang Qinghua."
Li Zheng tightened his expression.
He thought, "What?!
"51?
"That was unexpected."
Li Zheng rubbed the box of pen nibs as he sat frozen in his seat.
"Liu Yue! Stop talking. The school does not allow us to speak about this," Jiang Qinghua scolded. "I'm not going to let you guys look anymore. Go away. I'll organize this myself."
"Haha, you're already second in class. Stop acting." Liu Yue picked up a bunch of result slips and dug her way out of the crowd. "I'll stop talking. I'll help you hand these out!"
"I'll not let you see the results in the future," Jiang Qinghua scolded again. He then turned to look at Li Zheng, "I am sorry… I'll complete this in Mrs. Hu's office next time."
Li Zheng shook his head and indicated that it was fine.
Liu Yue chose Li Zheng's seat as her first stop with the result slips in hand.
"Not bad, don't be discouraged." Liu Yue glanced toward Li Zheng after she placed his result slip on the desk. She had a faint, mocking smile.
To her, seeing a hardworking student experience such a pitiful defeat seemed like a decent form of entertainment.