49 I'm a True Genius Now!

"I'll make sure you go broke this time!"

To Hao Shuai, it was impossible for an average student like Cheng Nuo to ever achieve first place in class. Hence, it was a sure bet that Cheng Nuo would be the one treating him.

At this moment, the students in front of the list suddenly shouted in unison.

"OMG! Cheng Nuo! He's the top scorer!" someone marveled.

"Really? I thought that the first place was always reserved for Mu Leng!"

"Mu Leng's second this time. Cheng Nuo is first!"

"Are you kidding me? Did you misread the lines?"

"No way! It's printed in black and white, right here!"

They were pretty loud, loud enough for Hao Shuai to hear very clearly.

The smile on Hao Shuai's face froze immediately.

Cheng Nuo patted Hao Shuai's shoulder and said with a satisfied grin, "Don't forget the deal, Shuai!"

"I don't believe it!" Hao Shuai said, springing up from his seat.

Hao Shuai wouldn't be surprised if Cheng Nuo had made some progress. But the first place? That's unbelievable!

With a slight glimmer of hope, Hao Shuai squeezed into the crowd and moved towards the list with great difficulty. Then he adjusted his glasses and looked up at the name at the top of the list.

"Cheng Nuo: Chinese: 121, Math: 150, English: 131, Combined Science: 285, Total: 687! 2nd in school and 15th across all schools!"

Mu Leng was in second place with a total of 680 points. She was the fifth in school and 31st across all schools. She only got 135 points in math!

"It was really Cheng Nuo!" Hao Shuai looked up at the ceiling, speechless. He could foresee his next week's pocket money parting with him.

"Yes? Do you believe it now?" Cheng Nuo grinned when Hao Shuai returned.

"Fine! I'll treat you!" Hao Shuai said, distressed.

…

On the other side of the classroom.

Xiaoxiao took a photo of the results list and walked to Mu Leng.

"Mu Leng, I'm surprised that you were not first this time!" Xiaoxiao said, showing the photo to Mu Leng.

"What?" Mu Leng looked up. She was busy doing practice questions. Hence, she hadn't been aware of the ongoing discussion in the class.

"Who could it be? Sun Yang or Wang Qian?" Mu Leng thought.

She had thought that she had done a pretty good job except for the math test. So she hadn't expected that anyone else would have performed even better than her.

As a smart, pretty girl, Mu Leng had placed high emphasis on her academic results.

She had secured the first place in class 18 several times due to her talent and hard work.

"Who's first?" Mu Leng asked.

Xiaoxiao pushed her phone to Mu Leng and said mysteriously, "Take a look for yourself."

"Cheng Nuo? It's him?!" Mu Leng saw Cheng Nuo's name on the top of the list at once.

Her heart shuddered when she saw his score.

Mu Leng had known that Cheng Nuo's math had suddenly improved significantly as if he had found the right tricks. But it was certainly unexpected that he had become so strong.

Perfect score! Mu Leng knew what that meant. She had a clear idea of how hard this math test was, especially the last question, which was so tricky that almost no one knew how to start it. That was also why Mu Leng had only managed to get 135 points in the end.

She had learned from this exam that there was a huge gap between Cheng Nuo's mathematical abilities and hers!

She had started to look at Cheng Nuo differently.

Old Man Tang had used the last lesson just to give a debrief for the exam. There were compliments and scoldings. Undoubtedly, Cheng Nuo was the one who had received the most praises.

After all, he had made a huge leap from an average student to the top of the class. All of his classmates believed that he had certainly gone through hellish studying. Hence, the whole class was looking at him with respect and admiration in their eyes.

The class bubbled over with excitement again when Old Man Tang announced proudly that Cheng Nuo was the only student who had achieved a perfect score among the 80,000 candidates for this mock exam.

As a result, Cheng Nuo had become a famous figure in the school within just one day, thanks to the publicity by the teachers and other students.

As of now, Cheng Nuo had been crowned the "genius'" laurel, receiving admiration from numerous students who were still struggling with their studies.

Cheng Nuo's dream of becoming a true academic genius had finally been fulfilled!

…

It was Friday, and excitement was brewing under the peaceful surface of the day. That's because the annual Labor Day holiday would be starting on the next day.

In the previous years, the poor grade 12 students had only been allowed to take two days off during the Labor Day holiday. But this year was different—they could rest at home for three days!

That's because the principal's son was getting married during the Labor Day holiday. Hence, none of the teachers in the school had time to prepare for their lessons, because they needed to attend the wedding. That was good news for the students.

"Ah, I can finally enjoy my three-day break with ease!" Hao Shuai had a stretch and asked Cheng Nuo, "By the way, how are you going to spend your holiday?"

"Nothing interesting," Cheng Nuo said with a shrug.

In fact, he was planning to continue reading those books at home if nothing came up.

He had started on the one on finance, and the one on coding was almost one-third done. Cheng Nuo simply aimed to finish them before the Gaokao.

Cheng Nuo had also given those world-level math challenges whose solutions were worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars a try. However, he had no other choice but to stop since his brain was overloading. Therefore, he had no intention to study those questions in the near future.

Suddenly, he saw someone approaching him when he was deep in thought.

"Height: 168.54 cm, weight: 58.22 kg, bust: 87.95 cm, waist: 61.55 cm… heartbeat: 82 beats per minute…"

It was the math rep, Qingqing. She was also the events officer of class 18.

"Hi, Cheng Nuo, Hao Shuai. We are going mountain climbing on Labor Day. Are you guys coming?" Qingqing asked.

"Mountain climbing?" Cheng Nuo asked, curious.

"Yep," Qingqing said with a nod. "It's a long holiday this year. So the class committee is thinking about organizing a mountain climbing activity. It's totally voluntary. No pressure if you don't feel like going."

Hao Shuai raised his hand and said, "I'm in!"

He had never climbed a mountain before, and he didn't have any holiday plans either. So he thought it was a fantastic idea.

After a short while of consideration, Cheng Nuo nodded too. "Alright. Count me in."

Recently, Cheng Nuo had spent most of his time either in school or at home. He had grown bored of this lifestyle too. Hence, he wanted to take this opportunity to relax in nature.

"Great," Qingqing said as she wrote down their names. "Don't be late tomorrow!"

"Of course!" The two nodded.