The fifty-odd students in the class fell silent for a moment. Some of the girls’ eyes welled up, while others who had previously received "special treatment" from Li Mei looked ashamed.

Still others didn’t quite understand what was going on.

Qin Jiao, however, understood. She stood up and took the lead, bowing to Sun Guotao, who stood on the teacher’s platform.

"Mr. Sun, we’re already so happy to have you as our homeroom teacher. When it comes to anything, as long as you’ve started, it’s never too late. That’s true for you becoming our homeroom teacher, and it’s also true for those of us who have only decided to start working hard now, in our senior year."

Sun Guotao felt his eyes begin to well up.

The other students caught on as well. Their scores on this monthly exam must have been excellent. If Li Mei had resigned earlier, many of them might have achieved even better results!

Everyone else rose to their feet and bowed to Sun Guotao.

"Mr. Sun, thank you!"

"Qin Jiao is right. It’s never too late to start! Mr. Sun, we’ll keep working hard!"

Sun Guotao had been a teacher for many years and was nearing retirement. He had seen all kinds of students and experienced many grand occasions, but this single moment made his eyes burn, bringing him to the verge of tears.

He sniffled, set down his large tea mug, and waved a hand at the class. "All right, all right, you kids. Always so sentimental. Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll start reading out this time’s scores now."

The students’ eyes all went wide, and they grew incredibly tense.

Shen Yi glanced at the very emotional teacher on the platform, then turned his head to look at the girl beside him. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

’She’s so calm and composed, clever and shrewd. When dealing with good, kind people, she never holds back her own kindness and virtue.’

’But when faced with bad people, she’s decisive and uncompromising, never backing down.’

’Such a wonderful person... How could I have been so blind in my past life, not knowing enough to cherish her?’

Just as all the students were waiting with nervous anticipation, Sun Guotao spoke slowly. "You may have already guessed, but our class’s results on this monthly exam were quite good. Our average score was only one point lower than that of the second-place class, Experimental Class 2! What’s more, one of our students achieved an amazing result, placing tenth in the entire school!"

"Wow!" a girl couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.

Meanwhile, Chen Feng, who had been sitting there tensely, suddenly clenched his fists.

’Top ten in the entire school... That’s a guaranteed spot in a prestigious university!’

’His best rank before this was only around twentieth place. Getting into the top ten had always been his goal!’

Lin Nian was also excited.

’Last time, Chen Feng only underperformed because he was affected by that business with his mother. He’s a brilliant student. He’s the one who’s supposed to take first place in the grade on the college entrance exams!’

’Now that Chen Feng has managed to get into the top ten, the conflict between him and his mother will ease up, our relationship will become more stable, and everything will go according to my original plan!’

The more Lin Nian thought about it, the happier she became.

At the same time, Shen Yi took out a piece of white scratch paper, drew a thumbs-up on it, and pushed it over to Qin Jiao.

Qin Jiao chuckled.

’How could he be so sure that she was the one Mr. Sun was talking about?’

’Although, to be fair, Qin Jiao was also quite confident that Mr. Sun was talking about her!’

The corners of Shen Yi’s mouth lifted. The smile on his face was faint, but full of tenderness.

Just then, Sun Guotao walked over to Qin Jiao’s desk and said earnestly, "Qin Jiao, congratulations. You ranked first in our class and tenth in the entire school!"

From behind her, Jiang Xiaoyue immediately started clapping vigorously. "Wow! Qin Jiao, you’re amazing! That’s incredible!"

The rest of the class broke into enthusiastic applause, genuinely happy for Qin Jiao.

There were two exceptions, however. Chen Feng was completely stunned, while Lin Nian’s face fell completely.