From Slacking Off To Becoming A Top Student - Chapter 12 - Chapter 12 – He Actually Managed to Show Off!

Of course, that kind of question was just another case of netizens trying to be clever. Chen Xiaoxin didn’t pay it much attention. He soon found a more serious thread on Zhihu discussing similar topics. After skimming through the answers, he more or less understood how one might win a Nobel Prize—as long as you were insanely brilliant and groundbreaking, you could get it.

“That’s useless.”

“I know you have to be impressive to win, but how do I become impressive?” Chen Xiaoxin muttered, pursing his lips and silently putting his phone away.

He had thought long and hard about the path he chose, and of course, it had something to do with the system’s name. After all, it was a learning system, and it had top student skills, so the only option was to become a top student.

…

After lunch, Chen Xiaoxin returned to the class. Usually, in the first and second years of high school, lunchtime was a break, but in the third year, the break turned into a so-called study period.

At this point, the high-achieving students and the average students would use this time to relentlessly do practice problems and compete with each other. As for the students with poor grades, some chatted, some played with their phones, and some did homework. Of course, there were only about five or six such students in the whole class.

Chen Xiaoxin, while eating jelly, played an intense game of “Landlords” on his phone, racing through life’s happiness. In comparison to his calm and leisurely attitude, Yan Xiaoxi next to him was struggling through classical Chinese texts, her head dizzy.

“I might as well give up, right?”

Anyway, as long as I can keep my Chinese score above 140, it’s fine. There’s no need to waste my time over one or two points.

Yan Xiaoxi bit her lip and secretly glanced at the lazy Chen Xiaoxin. Looking at his lack of motivation, she eventually, after weighing the pros and cons, decided to compromise with reality. She really didn’t want to keep reading classical Chinese, so she figured it would be better to study calculus with the time.

“Sigh.”

“Chen Xiaoxin?”

“Can I ask you a question?” Yan Xiaoxi asked quietly.

Chen Xiaoxin glanced at her, casually replied, “Go ahead. We’re classmates, but I won’t answer any personal questions.”

“Don’t worry!”

“I’m not interested in your personal privacy.” Yan Xiaoxi rolled her eyes and quietly asked, “Why are you so good at classical Chinese?”

Chen Xiaoxin looked at her, then continued playing his game of “Landlords,” and casually answered, “I guess it’s a gift.”

Uh…
I guess that’s the only way to understand it.

Yan Xiaoxi didn’t continue talking to him. She took out a mathematics textbook and began seriously flipping through it. At that moment, she felt like a happy fish, swimming freely in the vast ocean of knowledge.

Time passed quickly, and soon the first afternoon class began, which was Teacher Zhang’s Chinese class.

“Now, I’ll distribute the test papers.”

“Come up to collect your papers when I call your name.”

“Lin Song, 129.”

“Gu Luo, 135.”

“Zhong Lintao, 82. Zhong Lintao, what’s going on? You call this a score? Do you even have a brain?”

“Song Etc…”

“…”

“Yan Xiaoxi, 145, class top scorer.”

Chen Xiaoxin quietly watched her, looking at this somewhat proud girl as she emotionlessly took her test paper. It was as if getting first place was just routine for her.

He’d heard she was a super top student before—but he hadn’t expected that with just the slightest effort, she’d already hit the ceiling for everyone in the class.

“Impressive!”

Yan Xiaoxi had just returned to her seat when she heard praise from her deskmate.

“Just a casual test.”

Yan Xiaoxi usually didn’t show off, but facing her deskmate, Chen Xiaoxin, who was like a lazy dragon—she decided to flex a little. Just a little taste of what a true study goddess could do.

Unfortunately, Chen Xiaoxin didn’t seem to feel it at all.

“And finally…”

“Chen Xiaoxin, 91.”

When Teacher Zhang finished speaking, the whole class let out a gasp.

The student who had always ranked last in the class, Chen Xiaoxin, actually passed this time? He must have cheated! After all, Yan Xiaoxi was sitting next to him.

“You’re probably thinking Chen Xiaoxin cheated, but I don’t suspect him at all because his essay got full marks—full marks for the entire class, and all the Chinese teachers agreed it was perfect!”

In an instant, everyone sucked in a cold breath, as if the global greenhouse effect had intensified.

Full marks?

His essay actually got full marks?

Confusion, curiosity, and bewilderment appeared on everyone’s faces, some even feeling at a loss.

“I’ll read Chen Xiaoxin’s essay. Just a reminder: he wrote it in classical Chinese, so most of you might not understand,” Teacher Zhang said, holding Chen Xiaoxin’s test paper and reading his essay aloud.

As soon as he read the first sentence, most of the class gave up. Only a few high-achieving students struggled to follow along, but by the time the first paragraph was finished, even they couldn’t keep up. Only Yan Xiaoxi remained, fuming silently while listening to the classical Chinese essay.

“Sigh.”

“Yan Xiaoxi!”

She heard her deskmate’s voice again.

“Actually…”

“I just scribbled something down casually,” Chen Xiaoxin said seriously.

Ughhh!!

I’m so mad!

I was actually impressed by him!

She’d tried to awe him with her top-student brilliance, and it didn’t affect him one bit. Instead, it was the disdain of a “bad student” that crushed her.

Although Yan Xiaoxi was angry, she didn’t know what to do. After all, she had already given up on surpassing her deskmate in classical Chinese.

“In all my years of teaching language arts, this is the first time a student has written such a stunning essay,” Teacher Zhang said, deeply impressed. “Even I, along with all the other teachers, can’t write such classical Chinese.”

“However…”

“It’s rare for a classical Chinese essay to get full marks in the college entrance exam. Over all these years, only one student has managed to do it,” Teacher Zhang said seriously. “And that student was quite lucky. If there had been any mistake in the classical Chinese writing, it could have easily failed to meet the topic requirements and turned into a zero-mark essay.”

Then, Chen Xiaoxin took his test paper and walked off, receiving the same treatment as Yan Xiaoxi, with all the students watching him.

Yan Xiaoxi looked at her essay score of 58, then glanced at the full-mark essay next to her. Shame burned across her face, her skin flushed hot—especially after getting mocked by him.

“Want some chips?”

At that moment, Chen Xiaoxin handed her a bag of original-flavor Lay’s.

“…”

“They’ll make noise,” Yan Xiaoxi snapped.

“Just suck on it.”

“Watch this.”

Chen Xiaoxin took a chip, held it delicately in the palm of his hand, and then—with a casual scratch of his head—the chip mysteriously vanished.

His mouth didn’t move, but a few seconds later, his throat seemed to move, as if swallowing.

Yan Xiaoxi was dumbfounded. How much weird stuff has this guy researched? But… I really want to try it.

The next second, she tightly pinched her own thigh.

Yan Xiaoxi, stop being silly!