Chapter 7 Final Results
The urgent bell echoed through the campus of Yi'an District No.1 High School, and the anxious parents waiting outside—some seated on the lawn, others on the pathways—immediately sprang to their feet, craning their necks over the school walls to glimpse inside .
The bustling stream of students poured out of the exam halls as the 2056 Jiangnan City college entrance examination officially concluded. The next step for the candidates was to wait a week for the results to be released .
"Haobai!" A slightly balding, refined-looking middle-aged man stood at the school gate, calling out to his son emerging from the with a smile.
"Dad!" Zhang Haobai walked over, grinning.
"How did it go?" the man asked, chuckling.
Zhang Haobai shook his head, sighing, "It was just okay. But the math questions were really tough—starting from multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, to the calculation problems. There were many difficult ones. Especially the calculation problems... I only managed to solve two out of the five. For the other three, I tried my best to write partial solutions; I should get some points for the steps I took," he explained, knowing that step-by-step scoring was the norm for such problems .
"Oh?" Zhang Haobai's father, Zhang Zelong, frowned, "It seems like your math score will be quite low this time."
"That's alright, Dad. If it's hard for everyone, it's not just me," Zhang Haobai replied with a smile, "The math exam was tough, so the cutoff line for the undergraduate program will probably be lower. I should still make it into the military academy."
"Oh, right!"
Zhang Zelong chuckled, "While we were waiting at the school gate, we heard something. That well-known student from your school, 'Luo Feng,' collapsed halfway through the exam, about an hour before it ended."
"Collapsed in the exam hall?" Zhang Haobai's eyes widened, "Dad, are you talking about Luo Feng?"
"Yes! He was taken away by an ambulance, and many people saw it," Zhang Zelong nodded, "Listen, many parents around us are talking about it."
"Luo Feng collapsed?"
Zhang Haobai looked around, straining to listen, and indeed heard numerous parents and students discussing the incident. He clearly overheard several people exclaiming "Luo Feng!"
"Ha ha! This poor kid finally has his day," Zhang Haobai couldn't help but laugh heartily, "You don't know, Dad. This guy always caused me trouble at school. He always overshadowed me because he was stronger. Now he's met his match."
In reality, Luo Feng had never paid attention to Zhang Haobai, who had always seen him as a rival. Luo Feng's superiority in both academics and martial arts had always been a thorn in Zhang's side .
"Ha ha! Such a naive kid. He couldn't handle the pressure and broke down. Let's not worry about him. Come on, your uncle knew you finished the exam today, so he booked a banquet in your honor. Let's go!" Zhang Zelong said with a laugh.
"Uncle?" Zhang Haobai's eyes lit up.
The Zhang family's wealth in Yi'an District was largely due to their uncle, because...
He was a martial artist!
...
"It's impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Wei Wen, who had just left the exam hall, became frantic in front of his parents, "How could Ah Feng collapse in the exam? He passed out from nerves? That's impossible. Not to mention, Ah Feng's mental resilience is something even the instructors at the Extreme Martial Arts School praised."
Wei Wen and Luo Feng were as close as brothers, though not blood-related.
"Ah Wen, are you serious? We saw it with our own eyes. Luo Feng's father and his brother in the wheelchair hurried to the hospital together," Wei Wen's father explained.
"Hospital? It must be the nearest one. Dad, Mom, I'm going to check on Luo Feng. I'll get lunch later."
Without further ado, Wei Wen handed his exam supplies to his parents and ran towards the hospital .
...
At Yi'an District People's Hospital, Luo Feng forced a smile as he walked out of the hospital entrance with his father and brother. Luo Hongguo and Luo Hua were both worried that Luo Feng had been too deeply affected by the setback.
"Dad, I'm fine. Let's go home and eat," Luo Feng said calmly, though he felt a pang of . He knew things were beyond his control now, and acceptance was the only option.
"Ah Feng, Ah Feng!" A voice called from afar.
Luo Feng looked up to see a figure running towards the hospital entrance—it was his good friend "Wei Wen."
Seeing Wei Wen rush over, sweat soaking his clothes, Luo Feng was touched. Then an idea struck him, and he asked, "Ah Wen, how difficult were the last three calculation problems on the math exam? I didn't have time to do the last three. If they were extremely hard and most people couldn't solve many, then..."
His score might still have a glimmer of hope.
"They were tough," Wei Wen nodded, "This year's math exam was very challenging. Out of the five calculation problems, only the third one was a bit easier; the other four were really hard."
"That's a relief," Luo Feng breathed a sigh of relief. He still had a slim hope...
...
On the evening of June 16th, the day after the college entrance exam, students could check their results via phone or online, and the undergraduate cutoff line would be announced simultaneously.
At around 7:30 PM on June 16th, Luo Feng was alone in his room at home, sitting in front of his laptop, repeatedly refreshing the page for the exam results. Although the official results were supposed to start at 8 PM, they often became available earlier.
"I'm afraid I won't make it into Jiangnan's First Military Academy this time."
"But I did complete the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, as well as the first two calculation problems. Although I didn't fully solve the second one, I wrote down quite a few steps. I should get some points for that," Luo Feng thought, hoping that with a bit of luck, he would score over 120 in math.
"I hope I did well in both the liberal arts and sciences exams. If I'm lucky, I should be above the undergraduate cutoff line."
"As long as I meet the cutoff, I can get into the Second Military Academy."
While the First Military Academy was undoubtedly better, the score requirement was too high for Luo Feng to hope for. But the Second Military Academy, based on his own estimation, still held a slim chance.
"Hmm?" Luo Feng's eyes lit up as the exam results page suddenly refreshed.
"Please, God, let me just pass the cutoff line! If I do, I can get into the Second Military Academy," he thought nervously, typing in his name, ID number, and exam certificate number before clicking "Query."
With a flicker, a table appeared on the laptop screen:
Candidate: Luo Feng
Gender: Male
ID Number: 426123203806083211
Exam Certificate Number: 5878643567890766
Liberal Arts: 216
Sciences: 223
Math: 118
Total Score: 557
Undergraduate Cutoff Line: 561