Top Student at Their Peak-Chapter 33: This is What Not Very Smart Looks Like

Many students in the Olympic Competition class wanted to talk to Qiao Yu, but Qiao Yu walked into the classroom with Lan Jie instead.

Even though he was drooping his head with a somewhat reluctant expression, it still made the students in the Olympic Competition class very envious.

Students with good grades generally hope to receive recognition from their teachers. Being close to a teacher is a form of recognition. Of course, everyone could only feel envious and jealous inside, as this newcomer took Teacher Lan’s affection.

Only Ma Yufei and Lu Jia had eyes full of gratitude.

Qiao Yu is such a good guy!

...

After confirming his short-term developmental direction, Qiao Yu continued his usual style—being open to advice.

Although he didn’t really like the repetitive task of writing, since the teacher thought he should practice, he decided to go ahead and do it.

Looking up at the example question Lan Jie gave, he mentally went through it once. After understanding the solution, he lazily moved his gaze to the handwriting copybook given by the good guy.

Qiao Yu didn’t directly pick up his pen to practice but instead opened the copybook to study carefully, and then casually wrote two lines in the blank spaces for reference. With just a glance, he realized that practicing stroke by stroke was tiring and inefficient.

His goal wasn’t to become a calligraphy master, just to make sure his handwriting was passable. Neat handwriting in exams doesn’t give extra points.

So, as long as he paid a little attention to the structure of the characters and the tidiness of the paper, it should be fine.

If he practiced the formal script in the copybook stroke by stroke, apart from slowing down his writing speed, it wouldn’t benefit him much.

Thinking this through, Qiao Yu didn’t trace stroke by stroke according to the copybook but began analyzing based on the structure of the characters and started writing in the blank spaces at optimal positions, making the accumulation of multiple characters appear neat and pleasing.

The biggest advantage of practicing this way is that it’s not tiring, and it’s effective quickly. After writing a few pages, Qiao Yu roughly got the knack of it. He could smoothly maintain a suitable character structure without much thought.

Like this, after writing a page, Qiao Yu would stop to take a look, and compare it to the first page. Indeed, it looked much smoother at first glance, even with some connected strokes typical of cursive writing, it didn’t affect the overall feel.

Except for not looking perfect upon close inspection, there really weren’t any issues.

And Qiao Yu felt that after he began to pay attention to character structure, he could write faster.

So as long as he imprinted the best character structures in his mind while writing, being mindful of them subconsciously during exams would suffice.

Whether it’s the middle school exam or the college entrance exam, teachers are usually under a lot of pressure grading, mostly skimming through ten lines at a glance. How could they scrutinize each character’s perfection?

With this understanding, Qiao Yu wrote even faster afterward. The task the good guy set for him was to finish ten pages before the end of class; he completed it in just forty minutes, then put down the pen to rest.

Although the copybook had over fifty pages, Qiao Yu, being a good listener, decided ten pages were enough. Not writing any less or more would be a sign of disrespect to the good guy. It was well-known that Qiao Yu respected teachers the most; he wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect toward the good guy...

The Olympic Competition class had a ten-minute break. Lan Jie walked down the podium and made some brief explanations to the students sitting in the front, then walked to the back row to Qiao Yu’s seat and casually picked up Qiao Yu’s copybook.

It was noticeable that there was obvious progress—the handwriting between the first page and the third page had greatly improved. It seemed he was genuinely practicing handwriting. But as an experienced teacher, Lan Jie looked a little more closely and quickly understood how Qiao Yu was cleverly practicing.

The writing was tidy, but it wasn’t done stroke by stroke according to the copybook. Nonetheless, by simply paying more attention to the structure and layout of the characters, what once looked like chicken scratch now looked legible and comfortable even.

Honestly, Lan Jie was impressed and internally marveled at Qiao Yu’s talent once more—being able to find quick tips on handwriting practice so easily. Even if this boy didn’t study in the future, he could still make a name for himself; whether it would be a good name was another question.

A sense of responsibility began to sprout from deep within.

Indeed, at this moment, Lan Jie felt that since he had discovered Qiao Yu, he had to ensure this slippery boy stayed on the right path.

At the very least, his name and ID number should not appear on a wanted list in the future.

"I told you to write ten pages stroke by stroke seriously."

"Just tell me if my handwriting has improved?"

"Then write another ten pages!"

"No way, I absolutely cannot let you become someone who breaks their promises. You said ten pages, so ten pages it is!"

Their voices weren’t loud but both were firm. As their eyes met, it made Lan Jie laugh out of frustration and say, "So you’re doing it for my sake?"

Qiao Yu confidently replied, "Yeah, who doesn’t know in the entire high school grade that Teacher Lan is the most reliable? I can’t ruin your good reputation here."

This time Lan Jie was defeated, mainly because it wasn’t convenient to actually argue with Qiao Yu in the classroom, especially with all the Olympic Competition kids watching.

Considering the need to keep the mindset of the other students balanced, after the Olympiad class ended at 5:30, he didn’t bother to ask Qiao Yu to leave with him.

This didn’t affect Qiao Yu at all.

Today’s placement test went smoothly and he found tips for making his handwriting look nice. At this moment, Qiao Yu truly felt that he had become terrifyingly strong—practically an emotionless exam machine. Never mind the middle school exam, even the college entrance exam didn’t seem challenging now.

Feeling proud of himself, he started thinking about buying something delicious today to reward his hard-working self when a crisp voice stopped him, "Qiao Yu classmate, wait a moment."

Turning his head, he saw one of only two girls in the Olympiad class. He remembered her last name seemed to be Luo, but he didn’t remember her first name.

To Qiao Yu, anyone who’s not family or a sponsor is mostly just a passerby.

It’s not that Qiao Yu doesn’t want to invest more emotion in embracing the world; it’s mainly because any clear-headed person understands the principle that for small businesses, excessive emotion can easily cost money.

As for big businesses, Qiao Yu, for now, doesn’t have that capability.

So when he turned his head, he casually asked, "What’s up?"

"Teacher Lan said in the last class that if we have questions we don’t understand, we can ask you. I happen to be stuck on an Olympic Competition question. Could you help me look at it?"

Hearing this, Ma Yufei and Lu Jia, who were about to leave the classroom, slowed down.

Qiao Yu hesitated for a moment. It was already 5:30, a bit late, and this schoolmate didn’t seem too bright, but did she have money...

Luckily, his desire to make money suppressed his laziness.

So, tentatively, he asked, "Hmm, one hundred bucks, I’ll solve it for you in detail?"

His words left the whole class stunned.

After a while, Luo Yatong uncertainly asked, "One hundred bucks? What one hundred bucks?"

It was confirmed; this senior really wasn’t too bright...