Chapter 248: Chapter 241: Where Did the Dark Horse Come From?

“Hello, Teacher Wang,” Teacher Jin hurriedly looked up, giving a rather awkward smile. Every time report card distribution came around, she was plagued with embarrassment. There was no choice. Her students consistently performed poorly, making her feel as if she can’t hold her head high within the school grounds.

“Hehe…” Teacher Wang beamed, “This time, I really have to congratulate you.”

“Congratulate me?” Teacher Jin pointed at herself, laughing as if she were on the verge of tears. What was there to congratulate her for? For once again earning the label of teaching the worst-performing class? A status she had carried for several years.

“Your class ranked first,” Teacher Wang continued to smile.

But Teacher Jin felt like crying. It must be the bottom rank. Always the same scenario.

When Teacher Wang finally left, Teacher Jin breathed a sigh of relief. She was really afraid that if Teacher Wang continued with his congratulations, she might lose her dignity completely.

“Teacher Jin…” Another familiar person approached.

Teacher Jin hurriedly squeezed out another smile on her face.

“Hello, Teacher Bai. You look very happy. How did this exam go?”

“Good, good,” The class that Teacher Bai coached had always been above average. Although it could not compete with Teacher Song’s gifted and talented class, it still maintained a high college-acceptance rate. And this time around, students in Bai’s class generally performed above average on the exam.

“Teacher Jin, your class did really well this time.” Teacher Wang actually laughed quite genuinely.

In Teacher Jin’s eyes, this just seemed like a genuine mockery. Her heart ached. Teacher Bai clearly knew her class’s situation, consistently ranking last every year.

Could it be that they actually did well this time and got the penultimate place with someone else bottoming out for them?

If so, she would indeed be quite happy.

“Did our class rank second from last this time?” Teacher Jin asked happily– not ending up in last place would already be a huge satisfaction for her.

“Ahem….”

Teacher Bai coughed, “Teacher Jin, your expectations are really low, aren’t they?”

“How can they not be low?” Teacher Jin replied, somewhat despondently. “It’s not like you don’t know, the students I teach… as long as they rank second-to-last for me, I wouldn’t consider myself a total failure. At least someone is underneath us.”

“You’re overthinking it,” Teacher Bai felt that Teacher Jin had stumbled upon some good luck this time, “There will always be a few surprises in this world. Go look at the score board and you’ll know.”

Teacher Bai didn’t say more. Because saying more just made him feel even more regretful. Why didn’t those students end up in their class? Being placed in such a mediocre class— it really felt like a blooming flower stuck in cow dung.

Teacher Jin was utterly confused. Everyone seemed to be speaking in riddles.

They insisted on her checking the board. Why should she? No matter how many times she looked, not a single student from her class would be listed there.

She was about to leave, yet, almost as if by fate, she found herself in front of the honors board.

Starting from the end of the list, she started to check one by one. Maybe a few of her students ranked within the top 100. Still, given the overall academic performance of her class, having any students ranking above 100 was a rarity. Based on her experiences, there were none, so she didn’t need to look for them.

Just as she was about to leave, she overheard some students chatting about a name from her class.

“Where did this Tang Yuxin come from? How could she score that high? She came out of nowhere and ranked first. Isn’t it said that their class is the worst-performing one? But look, first, fifth, eighth, and then twentieth, twenty-second, thirty-fifth… they are all names from that particular class.”

“I think those three are from a junior high school in Jiangcheng?” Another student added.

“Exactly, they are from Jiangcheng County Junior High, we were classmates. But we weren’t in the same class,” intervened a student, continuing the conversation. “The trio already had excellent grades in junior high. Tang Yuxin almost scored 700 in the high school entrance exam, and the Second High School wooed her with scholarships. Ultimately, however, she chose the Fifth High School. It’s said that the principal of the Second High School turned white from anger when he didn’t get to enrol these three students.”

With her ears perked, Teacher Jin listened closely while disbelievingly scanning the honors list.

Indeed, the name at the very top was Tang Yuxin. Within the entire school, only one person held that name,

That would be Tang Yuxin from their class. Moving her gaze downwards, the fifth and eighth places also carried names from their class, confirmed by the class names written next to them.

Especially that first place, it was exceptionally conspicuous.

“Hehe… Haha… Wah Wah…”

Teacher Jin suddenly burst out laughing.

A student from her class came first. They had a student who topped the class. The weight of being top in the grade was much more significant than topping an individual class. Besides, it was impossible for all students in a class to rank within the top 100. High school had eight classes in total. Even if a class had gifted students with excellent grades, not all would rank within the top 100. There will always be some dark horses.

At this moment, from their class, deemed to be the worst one, emerged a dark horse. Not only did they snatch the throne of first place in the whole grade, they produced students ranking in the fifth and eighth places. Moreover, five students from their class made it into the top 100.

What used to be considered the worst class was now clearly teeming with hidden talents.

Teacher Jin smiled happily, you could barely see her eyes, she was laughing so hard. She hummed a pop song she picked up from somewhere, practically floating back to her classroom. As soon as she entered, the classroom chatter died down.

Teacher Jin glanced at Tang Yuxin, who then winked at her.

For some reason, Teacher Jin burst into tears.

She wiped her tears and smiled at her students, though her eyes remained blurred.

“This time, everyone has done a great job. We can now prove to others that we are the best. A single exam cannot define us. We are all growing and improving. And we can succeed; we have already succeeded this time, haven’t we? Students, have you seen the score board? Do you know? We did a great job this time, even better than the advanced class of the Fifth Class. Tang Yuxin from our class topped the grade, Chen Lidong ranked fifth, and Xu Sisi was eighth. We have five students within the top hundred in our grade. We are not worse than others, I’m not worse than the advanced class. Our parents sent us here for a reason: to learn, to acquire knowledge, for our future, not to be bullied or belittled.”