Time Travel: The Queen's Coronation

Summer tutoring has begun. In the scorching summer heat, the classroom only has four ceiling fans to provide relief from the students' heat. But compared to the Gaokao, the heat seems less of a concern. Even drenched in sweat, we continue to work on our problems. By this point, I'm a top student; solving problems is a piece of cake. Daily class time and study time are more than enough for me to learn. So, I've taken my time with other things. I used to be like this at this time, too. The difference is that before, I was helpless because my grades hadn't improved, and I was in a period of doubt and lost interest in studying. Now, I'm taking it upon myself to slow down because I've mastered the knowledge base and my efficiency has improved, so I don't need to spend extra time outside of class to catch up.

Now that I'm a top student, I want to test just how powerful the aura of a top student truly is. School rules forbid students from bringing solid foods into the classroom. I used to see students in the elite classes brazenly carrying bread and snacks into the building, and the teachers turned a blind eye. But if students in the regular classes brought snacks, the teachers would catch them. And if a top student was late, the teachers would just tell him to hurry up, but if a student in the regular or elite classes was late, the teachers would catch him and scold him. The elite and elite classes had a small classroom dedicated to them, with teachers on duty there so they could ask questions during self-study. While students in the elite and regular classes could go to the office to ask questions, walking around during self-study resulted in a penalty. And most importantly, there was the issue of sleeping during morning self-study. Teachers didn't deduct points for top students sleeping, but they did without mercy for non-top students... I'd seen so much injustice before, and this time I wanted to see if I could also enjoy the privileges that come with the aura of a top student.

It was incredibly hot in the summer. After class ended at 5:30, I went home to take a shower to cool down and feel better for evening study. I deliberately slowed down, eating my meals leisurely. My other classmate wasn't afraid of being late anyway. When we were together, I'd always have to rush him, but now, we both took our time. The bell rang at 6:30, and we trotted into the teaching building. As expected, the teacher on duty caught us, but she glanced at us and let us go. We walked into the classroom, and our homeroom teacher looked at us helplessly. For the next few days, I was late every day, occasionally even bringing a piece of bread up to the teaching building. When I saw the teacher, I pretended to hide it behind my back, and the teacher on duty turned a blind eye. I didn't doze off during morning self-study because the questions perked me up and I wasn't sleepy at all. But on weekends, when the weekly tests were so easy, I'd finish them quickly, and I'd just draw. I was caught red-handed by my homeroom teacher a few times, but she just looked at me speechlessly and with disgust, and I could only pretend to check myself awkwardly.

But if I was caught by other teachers too many times, I would go to the head teacher to complain. As the head teacher received so many complaints, I would inevitably be called to the office.

"Wei Qing, your grades are very good, and the teacher knows that. But you can't let your guard down. The placement test will be next week. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready!" I answered firmly.

"Yeah. Confidence is good. But even if you have confidence, you still have to do the questions well. Even if you're done, you have to check them again. If you've checked them, you can turn them in and work on other things. Don't do other things unrelated to studying just because you've finished them. We only have less than a year left before the college entrance examination, so we have to make the most of every day. Do you understand?"

"Oh, okay, teacher."

"The teacher looked at your previous grades and said your grades are perfect for the smaller class. But you insisted on not going, and the grade agreed. It's quite stressful for a teacher to be teaching your graduating class right after graduation. If your grades drop under my guidance, I won't be able to explain it to the grade. So you need to focus on your studies and not let other things distract you."

"Oh, okay, teacher."

The teacher then said a lot more things, basically saying that my grades couldn't drop, otherwise she would be in trouble with the head teacher. Thinking about how I used to be just an average student, a poor student, and now I've become a top student, a protected animal in the eyes of the teachers, this feeling is really wonderful.

On the subsequent mock exam, I achieved top marks in the entire grade, achieving perfect scores in math and English, taking first place in all three core subjects and physics. Most importantly, I scored a perfect 700, beating the second-place student by a full 60 points. The entire grade was in an uproar because I had set a new record for a student from a key program to take first place in the grade. I achieved the highest score in science in the school's history, achieving perfect scores in both math and English, and even surpassing the top student in the elite program by 60 points. I was a true miracle for both the key program and the regular program, while the elite and elite programs were merely a sideshow. I proved that a good study environment isn't necessary for good grades; even in a more relaxed environment like a key program, one can still achieve top marks in the grade!

With this result, my academic aura became even stronger. The head teacher was even more polite to me. When they saw me in the office, they would ask who I was looking for. Being late, walking to the bathroom during study time, and bringing snacks were no longer a big deal under the aura of academic aura.