This is truly an outrageous score.

Outrageous to the point that its authenticity was questionable.

But because it was Chen Yuan, its authenticity couldn't be doubted.

But...

But...

"How is this possible!"

He Hongtao was astonished because this score was just too high.

How to put it?

Even the top scorer in the nation might not be able to achieve this score.

Let alone the top scorer of Hai Dong, a mere prefecture-level city.

In a 750-point system, without any bonus points, Hai Dong hadn't seen such a result in many years!

What did 728 mean?

It meant that there were no weaknesses in any subject.

All subjects were at the absolute ceiling.

And that 141 in Chinese was even more extraordinary!

Such a score might be possible in Fourth High, but it was unheard of in Eleventh High.

What was going on?

Could it be that he hadn't reached his limit yet, and this was still a natural increase?

How could that be!

The total score was only 750; where else could he improve?

He Hongtao still didn't quite grasp the reality.

Until a bit of warmth landed on his fingers. Only then did he realize that the cigarette in his hand had been burning for quite a while. He hadn't smoked much of it; the air had consumed it.

So, he quickly raised his hand and stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray, then used a wet wipe to clean the ashes off the desk.

Returning to the score.

Indeed, it was real.

Sun Bai, in second place, was also quite good, breaking 700 and reaching 703, his highest score yet.

However, he was a full 25 points behind Chen Yuan!

This gap was too appalling.

Right, what was Shi Yi's score in the last unified exam?

Hmm, it was 725.

So, he was 3 points higher than Shi Yi?

If only the *gaokao* (national college entrance examination) could be fixed at such a score!

After thinking this in his heart, He Hongtao picked up his phone and dialed a number.

Soon, the other party answered.

It was Wu Wensen.

"Teacher Wu, you've worked hard these past two days grading papers," He Hongtao said.

"Everyone is working overtime together; the work is progressing quickly."

"Have you seen Chen Yuan's exam paper?" He Hongtao asked.

Generally speaking, the grading of the Chinese subject was more subjective.

Different teachers grading the same paper might have a difference of seven or eight points.

And Chen Yuan's score this time clearly had a huge improvement in Chinese, which led to the increase in the overall score.

If Chinese wasn't taken into account, the other subjects were basically conservatively stable.

So, was there any problem with this Chinese exam?

"Principal He, I've read Chen Yuan's paper from beginning to end, and it's truly well-written," Wu Wensen said.

Well-written?

To receive such praise from a teacher who had long served as the leader of the Chinese grading team in the *gaokao*, it meant that Chen Yuan's Chinese this time was truly strong.

"What about the deductions?" He Hongtao asked.

"Hmm..." Wu Wensen thought for a moment and said, "Apart from the composition, all the other questions only had a total of nine points deducted. Compared to before, that's a huge improvement."

"I see."

Before, he heard teachers say that his foundation in Chinese wasn't very good. Compared to other subjects, Chinese was truly quite weak.

This time, the improvement in Chinese was so significant. Did it mean that he was finally starting to pay attention to Chinese?

So, all along, he hadn't been studying Chinese?

Wait.

He Hongtao suddenly thought of something.

Apart from the composition, only nine points were deducted.

And his score was 141?

Did that mean the composition was a perfect score?

But before, during the meeting, the school had emphasized that because the proportion of perfect score compositions in high school was very small, according to the proportion, there might not even be a few in a school. And during the exam, some teachers would give some compositions very high scores, even perfect scores, based on their preferences.

Therefore, there was a regulation that for the school's monthly exams, the highest score for compositions was set at 56 points. If there was anything exceeding this standard, it could be given 57 points as an exception.

At most, it would be 58 points.

Any higher than that would be unjustifiable.

"Then, was his composition given a perfect score?" He Hongtao asked curiously.

At the same time, he was also questioning it.

Because he felt that the school teachers were grading the papers in this way, giving Chen Yuan a perfect score for the composition, because a perfect score for the composition would allow Chen Yuan to reach such a high score of 141.

Even if the composition was given the capped score of 58, the total score wouldn't be enough to reach 141.

In other words, the perfect score was given to Chen Yuan in order to make up such a score.

In this way, the value of the monthly exam was indeed reduced.

"Yes, several of our teachers have studied it, and we all agreed that it was a very good composition." To this, Wu Wensen explained with a smile, "Principal He, I happened to have taken a picture of it. Let me send it to you for a look."

"Ah? Since the teachers all think so, then a perfect score is definitely not a problem. I haven't touched Chinese in a long time. How can I see anything special?" He Hongtao said.

He also didn't want other teachers to think that he was questioning them.

"Just treat it as a little essay. It's really well-written. I never thought Chen Yuan had such delicate thoughts," Wu Wensen said with a smile.

At this moment, Wu Wensen didn't want to take the blame.

Because he heard He Hongtao's meaning. The other party was also hesitant about the perfect score and had doubts.

He probably also felt that it was to make up a high score and 'beautify the situation,' so a perfect score composition was given as an exception.

If he wanted to avoid taking the blame, then let He Hongtao judge for himself.

"Alright, I'll take a look. It's been many years since I wrote a composition."

In this way, He Hongtao agreed with a smile.

After a while, Wu Wensen sent over the photos of the two pages of the composition.

The first thing He Hongtao saw, he couldn't help but add a few more points to this composition.

The paper was too clean.

There wasn't a single black smudge or editing mark.

This Chen Yuan was truly a talent. Was his language organization ability so strong?

Even He Hongtao, a talented student from Ji University, couldn't achieve such clarity of thought in his composition.

Unless someone read it to him and he wrote it down, then he could complete it in one go.

Also, Chen Yuan's composition was a thousand words.

Truly remarkable.

He Hongtao's composition level was actually not bad, but he only knew how to write argumentative essays. Every time, in order to make up those 800 words, he racked his brains and poured his heart and soul into it.

Were there people who exceeded so many words at once?

Of course, this was also not highly encouraged.

Because the best length for a composition was 800 to 1000 words.

But a little-known fact was that it could be slightly greater than 1000, but it couldn't be less than 800.

A composition with less than 800 words, even if it was very good, would make the graders feel embarrassed and deduct a little bit of points more or less.

Alright, let's see how Chen Yuan's composition is.

Although he wasn't a Chinese teacher, He Hongtao, as a top student, still had some aesthetic ability.

Even if he couldn't grade it, he could still see how well a composition was written.

At this time, Wu Wensen also sent the composition topic.

Family affection.

Such a composition topic was quite easy to write.

Come up with an interesting opening.

I believe everyone has relatives, right?

...Never mind, it seems that my composition skills have regressed a lot.

In this way, he began to read it seriously.

And after reading the first paragraph, he was suddenly full of respect.

The awning boat curved through the emerald green river...

The sense of imagery was really strong.

It felt like only many liberal arts students could write such words.

And most science students (not all) wouldn't have such a talent for words.

The camera sense in this paragraph was like watching a movie, first the punting pole, then the boat being rowed, and then expanding to the stern of the boat breaking through the duckweed...

It was really like watching a movie, forcibly putting people into it.

Although He Hongtao valued science over liberal arts, he sincerely felt that people who could use words to give people a picture were very talented.

Then, he continued to read.

It was still a very infectious writing style.

Then, it told a story...

As he read, He Hongtao became more and more serious.

It took about five minutes for him to slowly finish reading this article.

The ending was also really lingering...

Although he hadn't written a composition in a long time, he knew that the most important thing for this topic of family affection was emotion.

And the emotion in this article was truly overflowing.

It was too real.

The overflowing family affection in the words made a reader very moved.

The entire article didn't mention the word family affection, or even a single dialogue. The so-called communication was all unspoken.

This reminded He Hongtao of a movie he had seen before, starring Liu Ye, called *Postmen in the Mountains*.

It had that kind of feeling that made people feel particularly quiet after watching it...

"Chen Yuan, this kid, is talented," He Hongtao once again exclaimed. "If he wasn't the top science student, I would really think he could become a writer."

Anyway, he couldn't do it, so he felt it was awesome.

And after reading this composition, he also knew that Wu Wensen didn't give a perfect score just to make up this 140 points, but completely because Chen Yuan's composition had this strength.

That's right, why did he only give Chen Yuan a perfect score, and not make an exception for others?

It could only be said that it was well-deserved.

This time, He Hongtao didn't doubt it.

With this kind of composition, what else was there to say?

According to what was said on the internet, of all the weapons in the world, only the word 'emotion' was the most hurtful.

This composition was so rich in emotion that it was naturally impossible to find any flaws.

Since there were no problems with Chinese, then Chen Yuan's score...

Because it was already a bit late, He Hongtao was preparing to go home.

But at this time, he couldn't help but dial Chen Yuan's phone.

After a while, the other party answered: "Principal He, hello."

"What are you doing?" He Hongtao asked.

"I'm with...ah, no, I'm looking at the exam papers," the other side said.

I'm with?

What does that mean?

Who are you with, doing what?

He Hongtao was puzzled, but didn't ask further, so he continued with a smile: "Do you know your score this time?"

"Hmm..." Chen Yuan thought for a moment and said, "After the English test, I went to Teacher Shirley Liu's office to take a look at English."

"Only looked at English?" He Hongtao asked with a smile.

What, didn't care about the other subjects?

"The scores for all subjects will be released tomorrow, so I didn't go to look," Chen Yuan explained. "And I was just curious about English, wanting to see what the accuracy rate was."

"I have the compiled scores here. How many points do you think you can get?"

He Hongtao even started playing suspense with Chen Yuan.

They were so close that they didn't seem like teacher and student anymore...

After all, he also wanted to know what Chen Yuan felt after achieving such a high score.

However, just when he was so 'enthusiastic,' Chen Yuan was a bit disappointing, saying with a rather calm attitude: "Although I didn't check the answers, I feel that this time the score...might be very high."

Didn't check the answers and still had such confidence?

Then he must have done very well.

"So confident?" He Hongtao asked.

"I'm pretty sure about the questions I answered. As for the score..." Chen Yuan paused for a moment and said, "It should be between 725 and 730. Taking the average, it should be around 727, 728."

"..." Hearing this, He Hongtao was silent.

The score was completely guessed correctly!

In other words, he completely knew which questions he had answered correctly and how many points he had lost.

Such a student could be said to be completely proficient in exams!

"Hmm...have you really not seen the score?" He Hongtao was suspicious.

But the person who knew the score the earliest was basically himself, and he had no way of knowing the total score.

Unless he went to look at each subject.

But he usually didn't have a very high desire to ask about scores, let alone this mere monthly exam in Eleventh High.

"No. Ah? Did I guess right?" Chen Yuan said with some surprise.

But his surprise...

Didn't seem very surprised.

It was like he was surprised in order to be surprised.

As if he was completing some kind of task...

"Well, you guessed very accurately." This time, He Hongtao's enthusiasm was also reduced a bit, and he said, "It's really 728."

"Hiss, I really guessed right."

"...You're not excited at all about scoring so high?" He Hongtao asked.

"I'm pretty excited, but after all, it's just a monthly exam..." Chen Yuan said.

After Chen Yuan said this, He Hongtao also suddenly realized.

That's right, it was just a monthly exam. Wasn't he raising his psychological expectations and putting pressure on people by being so excited?

"Then tell me the truth, how was the exam paper from Eleventh High?" He Hongtao asked again.

He wanted to know Chen Yuan's thoughts.

Was it really a problem with the exam paper?

But if it was a problem with the exam paper, why hadn't others improved so much?

Sun Bai had only improved a few points.

To this, Chen Yuan said, "I've done the joint exam paper from Fourth High and First High, and it's a bit better than ours...Of course, the difficulty of our exam paper is still okay. I think it's fine to subtract five or six points from my score. I should still have at least 722."

Chen Yuan on the other end of the phone was constantly showing weakness.

Why?

Damn it, Lao Ting (old thing) has been reincarnated, and next time I have to fight for the Chinese score myself.

You want me to score another 728?!

There was no way, he could only repeatedly use words to lower He Hongtao's psychological expectations...

From the moment he received the call, he realized that Taozi (nickname for He Hongtao) was going crazy!

Damn it, what a sin.

Getting Taozi so hooked, it's all Lao Ting's fault!

Of course, he still slightly affirmed Eleventh High's exam paper.

He also let He Hongtao know that he had indeed improved, but his current strength wasn't so inflated.

However, there was also a meaning of humility in it.

He Hongtao probably knew himself that it was fine to deduct a few points, but not five or six points.

It wasn't possible to deduct five or six points.

He Hongtao looked at the average score of the first exam hall.

Overall, it was two points less than the last time.

Even if the difficulty might not be that high, because it was the first time for the national exam paper, many people weren't used to it.

Therefore, Chen Yuan's true strength.

Was already quite exaggerated.

No matter how much you talked about the problem with the exam paper, the perfect score composition couldn't be faked, right?

But He Hongtao also realized.

A bad exam paper greatly affected Chen Yuan's learning.

Fourth High and First High had such strong resources, which allowed the students to always do the most closely related to the *gaokao*, the most flexible and changeable questions.

Clearly, it was Eleventh High, this platform, that was dragging Chen Yuan down.

If the training matches were all against a bunch of weak opponents, how could you compete with others on a bigger stage?

"That's what you say, but you still did very well on the exam," He Hongtao said with praise. "I've read the Chinese composition, it's quite good, keep it up."

Before this, He Hongtao had always been worried that Chen Yuan would develop an arrogant mentality due to his huge progress, and gradually become inflated...

But now it seemed that the one who was easily inflated wasn't Chen Yuan.

It was himself.

The one with the psychological problem was actually himself, the principal!

It always felt like Chen Yuan's attitude was completely because he was worried that he was too inflated, so his expectations would be disappointed...

Indeed.

It seemed like he was always the one who was excited.

And Chen Yuan was unusually calm.

"Yes, teacher, I will," Chen Yuan on the other end of the phone was still very good at providing emotional value, responding quite strongly.

"Then you're busy, I'm going home too."

"Okay, teacher, goodbye."

In this way, He Hongtao hung up the phone.

Then, looking at Chen Yuan's score, he forced himself to calm down a bit...

Chen Yuan was right, he was right, it was just a monthly exam, don't pay too much attention to it...

But!

Clenching his fist, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, how could He Hongtao not be full of excitement in his heart.

With 728, he could even compete for the top scorer in the nation.

And if Eleventh High produced the top scorer in the nation in the first year of the national exam policy...

Then he would really be carried to the top!

At this moment, He Hongtao's ambition was constantly expanding.

Unconsciously, it seemed like he no longer cared much about Xia Hai (the city)...

After a while, he finally got up and prepared to go home.

And at this time, realizing something, he had an idea.

He couldn't drag Chen Yuan down any longer.

So, he directly spoke in the seven-school joint exam group.

He Hongtao: The national exam paper has been reformed, let's work together and come up with a set of exam papers recently.

---

Today I was outside getting the car serviced, and then I ate a Hanburger with Yuanzi, and I didn't get home until 8:30 PM, so this is the only chapter for today, see you tomorrow, respect.

Then I recommend a friend's book, the link is in the author's note.

(End of chapter)