After running into them a few times, Qin Jiao noticed that Lin Nian and Chen Feng’s relationship seemed to be getting better and better. They were still somewhat discreet at school, but one weekend when Qin Jiao was out buying stationery, she saw the two of them kissing behind a tree.

Good as their relationship was, it was clear that Chen Feng was never in a very good mood. It seemed the situation with his mother was still having a huge impact on him.

Just before the exam, Shen Yi suddenly asked, "Qin Jiao, do you remember what you promised me last time?"

"Promised what?"

Shen Yi looked at her confused expression and smiled faintly. "If I make it into the top one hundred on this monthly exam, you’ll go sketching with me in the park."

Come to think of it, they had made such a promise.

Qin Jiao nodded. "Fine."

’Making these small promises to slowly close the distance between us... this feels really good.’

Out of Qin Jiao’s sight, a slow smile curved Shen Yi’s lips.

Exams always seemed to pass in a flash, but the teachers graded the papers even more quickly.

In the vice principal’s office, Sun Guotao was looking over his students’ latest scores, sighing emotionally one moment and regretfully the next. Vice Principal Chen asked him curiously, "Old Sun, what’s gotten into you? Did the students do poorly? No, that can’t be right. I saw your class average—it’s gone up again. You’re almost catching up to Experimental Class 2."

"We still have a ways to go before we catch up to the experimental class, but the students’ overall performance did improve. It’s just that... our class’s former top student has fallen behind."

Chen Feng. He was 28th in the entire school on the last monthly exam. This time, he placed 68th.

That’s a huge drop!

After looking at the results, Vice Principal Chen also remarked with a sigh, "That’s quite a drop. I remember that kid being pretty outstanding ever since his first year. He was always in the top fifty on the school-wide ranking. I wonder if he’s run into some trouble recently."

Sun Guotao actually knew Chen Feng and Lin Nian were dating. He had spoken to both of them about it before, but when he saw that even their parents weren’t intervening, he decided to let it go, as long as their grades weren’t affected.

But he never imagined Chen Feng’s grades would fall by so much!

However, apart from Chen Feng’s significant drop, the other students’ scores were quite good. Qin Jiao and Shen Yi, in particular, deserved praise!

Sun Guotao chatted with the vice principal for a little while longer before heading to his classroom.

The atmosphere for learning in Class 10 was particularly strong now. Under their teacher’s guidance, the students had also learned to balance hard work with rest. So, even knowing that the results of the third monthly exam would be announced during evening self-study today, most of them remained quite calm.

Jiang Xiaoyue said with a grin, "Mr. Sun, hurry up and announce the results! I want to see how many places I moved up this time."

Sun Guotao laughed. "So confident you’re sure to have moved up?"

"Of course! I’ve been studying so hard, giving it my all! If I didn’t improve, I’d just have to cry!"

The rest of the class giggled.

Looking at their beaming faces, Sun Guotao smiled warmly as well. He began to read out the monthly exam results.

But before reading the results, Sun Guotao added, "It’s perfectly normal for your scores to fluctuate between monthly exams. Those of you who didn’t do as well as you’d hoped shouldn’t be too disheartened. It might just be that some of the questions this time weren’t your strong suit. Use this to identify your weak spots, figure out what you still don’t understand, and work on it. Once you overcome these hurdles, you’ll be sure to achieve great results on the college entrance exam!"

"We get it, Teacher. Just announce the results already!"

Looking into his students’ eager eyes, Sun Guotao held up the grade sheet and announced slowly, "This time, first place in our class goes to... Qin Jiao."