What a pain, got called out by the homeroom teacher for another talk.
No, wait, this time they even brought the English teacher along.
Huang Yifan quickly guessed it had to do with scoring zero on the English test.
He couldn't help blaming himself a bit for not committing to the act properly.
He didn't like English, sure, but even scoring 20 or 30 would've been enough. Why go for zero?
Now look what happened, they were already starting to suspect something was off.
But the outcome caught Huang Yifan completely off guard.
Though both teachers were shocked by his zero in English, they still didn't think in a positive direction.
They assumed his score was just because his grades were awful, and even his luck was terrible, so he ended up with a zero.
Once he figured that out, Huang Yifan immediately pulled out the pitiful act.
He said right away, "Please don't tell my dad! He's super strict; he hits me all the time. Last time I scored 30 in English, he beat me for half the day. Now I've got a zero… he might actually kill me. If you don't believe me, I still have the bruises on my back. Want to take a look?"
As he spoke, Huang Yifan started pulling up his shirt, ready to show them.
Of course, the marks on his back were actually from a recent fall, not from a beating. But using them as proof worked well enough for now.
His move clearly startled the two teachers. Huang Yilian, who had only recently graduated, blushed on the spot, turned away, and didn't dare look. Lin Jinfen was also caught between laughing and crying, quickly stopping him.
No doubt about it, Huang Yifan had solid acting chops. The moment he put on that pitiful face, both teachers hesitated and dropped the idea of calling in his parents.
How could they even bring his parents in now?
If what he said was true, having his parents come in would only make things worse.
What if he really got beaten again?
Left with no choice, the two teachers ended up comforting Huang Yifan and told him to go back to class.
"Haha, nailed it."
He hadn't expected teachers to be this easy to fool. Maybe he should ditch writing novels and go into con artistry instead.
Huang Yifan walked back to the classroom with a spring in his step.
"Huang Yifan, you just got scolded, and you're this happy? You're getting weirder by the day."
"What are you talking about? I told you, the teachers were just having a heart-to-heart with me. Who said anything about scolding?"
"Yeah, right! Must be because you did badly on this test. I'm telling you, the entrance exams are coming. You need to take this seriously. Otherwise… you might not even get into high school."
"Relax, relax, Zhang Huiping, you know my scores. Even if I do work hard, do you really think I can get into First High or Second High during the entrance exams?"
"Well…"
Faced with that, Zhang Huiping looked a bit awkward.
Xinfeng was a small county with only two public high schools: First High and Second High.
But no matter which one, their admission scores were over 500 points.
She knew Huang Yifan's usual scores, too. He only got a bit over 300. No matter how hard he worked, it'd be tough to reach over 500 in such a short time.
"Enough of that. Thanks for your concern. By the way, how did you do on this test?"
"Not great."
Zhang Huiping's face darkened, and she shook her head.
Although the scores for this month's test hadn't been handed out yet, she already knew she'd bombed it again.
Back then, her grades were decent. Scoring 500-plus was normal. But for some reason, the closer the entrance exams got, the more pressure she felt. Her scores just kept dropping. In the last few tests, she hadn't cracked 500 once. This time, she probably wouldn't even reach 450.
At this rate, forget getting into First High. She might not even make it into Second High.
"It's alright, it's just a monthly test. I believe in you! You know why the homeroom teacher made you sit next to me, right? Because your grades are good. They hoped you could help guide me. No matter what, you've got the foundation. Don't stress too much, I'm sure you'll make it into First High."
Huang Yifan tried to comfort her, but she only gave a forced smile.
"Thanks."
After that, she sat there alone, lost in thought.
…
"Ms. Lin, what should we do about Huang Yifan?"
With no other choice but to send him back to class, the two teachers exchanged looks.
They'd planned to ask his parents to come in, but things had taken an unexpected turn.
"Forget it, for now, let's not call in his parents."
Lin Jinfen wasn't sure what else to do.
"I'm starting to think maybe his parents really do hit him often, and that's why his grades are so bad."
"Could be, a lot of parents are like that nowadays. They all want their kids to succeed, but when their children don't do well, they yell at them or even hit them. That kind of parenting doesn't work."
The two teachers walked along, talking it over.
"Ms. Lin, Ms. Huang, what are you discussing?"
Ye Fei, who had just finished grading the test papers, greeted them excitedly as they entered the office.
"It's about that student, Huang Yifan."
"Oh, right! Mr. Ye, have you finished grading your Chinese papers?"
"Just finished."
Ye Fei was about to bring up Huang Yifan when he took out that student's test paper separately.
"I've found something big."
"What do you mean?"
"Just now, I kept wondering. How did Huang Yifan get a zero in English?"
"How else? Must've just been incredibly unlucky."
Huang Yilian sighed.
"No, I don't believe anyone can be that unlucky. Ms. Huang, even if I gave you an English test and you didn't read the questions, you'd still get some points, right? I've been teaching for over ten years, and I've never heard of anyone getting a flat zero in English."
"Mr. Ye, sure, I couldn't score zero, but that's exactly what Huang Yifan managed to do. What can I say? But wait, why are you suddenly so interested in him?"
"I'll explain in a moment, because I think I've found another reason for his zero in English."
"What reason?"
"There's only one answer. Huang Yifan knew how to solve every question. Not only that, to him, those questions were child's play. That's the only way it makes sense. He answered every question, but still scored zero."
Ye Fei laid out a theory that left the other two in shock.
"You're saying he deliberately got them all wrong? On purpose?"
At that moment, both Lin Jinfen and Huang Yilian were stunned.
That explanation actually made more sense than pure bad luck.
Statistically, scoring zero on a multiple-choice English test was far harder than scoring full marks.
"Could that kid have been lying to us this whole time?"
They could hardly believe it.
They'd taught Huang Yifan for nearly a year. They knew his level, or at least they thought they did.
But if they chose not to believe it, how could they explain that glaring zero?
Was it really just awful luck?
"Mr. Ye, what made you think this way?"
Lin Jinfen turned to look at Ye Fei.
"At first, I didn't think much of it either. I mean, who would believe that a student we've known so well could turn out to be a genius? But after reading his essay, I couldn't help thinking in that direction."
Ye Fei handed them Huang Yifan's language test. "Look here. Nothing special in the first sections. But the essay… It's almost impossible to believe a middle schooler wrote it. It's the kind of piece only a 'genius' could have produced, and yet, it came from Huang Yifan."
The two teachers took the paper and began reading.
A few minutes later, their reactions matched Ye Fei's. They were overwhelmed.
Even though they didn't teach Chinese, the essay struck them as exceptional.
To them, it really was that good. They even felt they couldn't write something like that themselves.
"This kid's been hiding his abilities all along. I need to check his math test too."
Problems in English. Now problems in Chinese.
If this kid were really a genius, maybe the math paper would have clues too.
With that thought, Lin Jinfen quickly found Huang Yifan's math test.
He'd scored 80. Not great, but not terrible either. Slightly above his usual.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was, when Lin Jinfen examined the paper closely, she saw something shocking.
There were lots of simple questions that he got wrong.
But a few extremely difficult ones… he just happened to get completely right.
==========
Support the translation and help me keep the work.
patreon.com/Childish_Patriarch