Top Student at Their Peak-Chapter 35: The Prodigal Son Returns?

The ninth-grade teenager with heart problems walked downstairs. Feeling it was still early, he habitually took a stroll near the playground and spotted Zhou Shuang playing basketball against a wild team.

There was nothing else to do at school; the existing activities were overly wholesome. Basketball was considered one of the most interesting and fiercely competitive activities, adored by the boys in Class Thirteen.

"Qiao Yu, want to join?" Zhou Shuang noticed Qiao Yu as well and casually called out with the ball in hand.

Qiao Yu shook his head decisively, "No, heading home."

Even though the rain had stopped, the basketball court was still a bit wet, and the players’ clothes inevitably got splattered with mud.

If it were earlier, playing for a longer time wouldn’t matter. But it was almost time to go home for dinner, and playing only a few games would dirty the clothes, making it not worth it.

"Wait for me; I’ll head home too," Zhou Shuang said, tossing the basketball aside and casually informing his playmates before grabbing a coat hanging on the basketball hoop and walking over to Qiao Yu.

When Zhou Shuang reached him, Qiao Yu casually teased, "Why follow me? I’ve quit going to internet cafes recently."

"I don’t want to go to internet cafes either lately," Zhou Shuang replied casually, then seriously asked, "Qiao Yu, I suddenly don’t want to go to vocational high school or those kinds of vocational schools anymore. Do you think I still have hope of getting into a general high school?"

Qiao Yu glanced quizzically at his classmate beside him, thought for a moment, and then asked, "What was your score in the last mock exam?"

"386, and... I might have copied a few of your multiple-choice questions," Zhou Shuang confessed honestly.

Qiao Yu frowned and asked, "Did you include the scores for biology, geography, and physical education?"

Zhou Shuang nodded, "Yes!"

Qiao Yu recalled some details and said, "I checked the previous year’s scores a few days ago. I remember the minimum score for the private general high school in Star City was 457. However, I heard the tuition there is quite expensive, at least tens of thousands per year."

"Tuition doesn’t matter."

Zhou Shuang responded wistfully, then explained, "I mentioned this to my parents last night. They weren’t bothered about spending more money; they were actually quite happy. Especially my dad, who said he’d pay anything as long as I genuinely wanted to study and met the score line.

Oh, they also plan to hire a private tutor for me to catch up at home. But I think there’s no need; I just want to study on my own."

"Are you sure you’re not planning to learn excavator operations now?" Qiao Yu asked skeptically.

Zhou Shuang’s sudden decision left him feeling a little out of sorts.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Lan Jie insisting he had a talent for winning scholarships in math, he wouldn’t really want to continue schooling.

"After thinking it over, I feel that doing that kind of work in the future would be quite meaningless. I also want to be someone like you, respected wherever I go," Zhou Shuang said earnestly.

Qiao Yu was taken aback and asked, "What gave you that impression?"

"Impression? Haven’t you noticed how the teachers look at you now? There are over thirty students in the class, but in the teacher’s eyes, it’s only you all the time. Now, whenever our teacher gives a speech, every line involves you. Heck, even when I go to the bathroom during recess, I hear those students from the fast class talking about you in the restroom!"

Zhou Shuang said, somewhat agitated.

You could see that Qiao Yu’s sudden rise did indeed trouble his deskmate a lot.

We agreed to just get by together, and then suddenly, the deskmate he used to hang out with becomes a top student in the grade. It’s really a mood-shattering thing.

Qiao Yu didn’t know what to say for a moment.

The long speeches he gave Xia Keke last night were now hard to articulate.

For someone with a solid academic foundation and learning ability, the teacher’s level and the learning environment’s influence can be negligible. But for someone like Zhou Shuang, whose grades are truly terrible, the impact is significant.

That whole "5+3 can secure a future, and college pathways still exist" is mostly nonsense.

When classmates around you are all slacking, sticking to studying requires great perseverance. Zhou Shuang clearly doesn’t belong to one of those with great perseverance. Qiao Yu even suspected this guy was just having a sudden impulse.

"Then for the remaining month, study hard and improve steadily. Language, English, and Chemistry are slightly easier; you just need to memorize. If you really want to get into a high school, then you need to memorize everything that needs memorizing this last month."

Qiao Yu eventually gave some advice.

"What about Mathematics and Physics?" Zhou Shuang asked humbly.

"Don’t bother with the tough exercises in mathematics now. Memorize all the theorems and only practice the basic exercises in the textbook. Physics is the same; spend two hours a day, focusing only on the basic exercises in the textbook to ensure you can solve the exercises at the end of the textbook.

As for Daoism and History, don’t worry for now. It’s an open-book test. Just get familiar with the textbooks in the last two days and then look at the exam patterns and correct answers from previous years. At this point, that’s all you can do."

Based on Zhou Shuang’s current situation, Qiao Yu gave his suggestion.

There’s not much to be done; with such a weak foundation, the only way to quickly improve the results within a month is to give up on medium and high-level questions. Fortunately, the high school entrance exam isn’t overly difficult; if it were the college entrance exam, improving by a hundred points in a month would be nearly impossible.

"Alright, I’ll start as you said tonight, beginning with memorizing English vocabulary." Zhou Shuang declared with great enthusiasm.

"If you really enter high school, you’ll have to endure hard times for three years. Otherwise, there’s no point in attending high school if you can’t get into college," Qiao Yu reminded.

"That’s what I think. There’s about a month left until the high school entrance exam. If I can really get into high school, it means I still have some learning ability. Attending high school would give me three additional years to improve myself. If I try my best this month and still fail to get in, then so be it."

Zhou Shuang said seriously.

"Then good luck. Start with vocabulary today. After the exam tomorrow, I’ll give you my chemistry book for free. I’ve marked all the important points that need memorizing. If you memorize them, you can score high."

Qiao Yu decided to help his good friend out.

"What about your other books?"

"The chemistry book is because I’ve looked at it recently. My other books are like yours, all empty. What do you need them for?"

"Then how come your other subject grades are all so good?" frёeωebɳovel.com

"Because it’s simple. When class gets boring, I just look at the textbook to understand. Why take notes?"

After finishing, Qiao Yu glanced towards the school gate and the nearby alley, suddenly asking, "Honestly, why do you want to go to high school? Is it really just because I’ve been in the spotlight lately?"

Zhou Shuang replied sincerely, "Almost entirely because of you. Didn’t you show me Shi Xiaoke’s short video that day? I later searched more videos about top students and some college life videos and even stumbled upon many random interviews at school entrances. Wow, even elementary students in Beijing and Linhai can speak fluent English now.

When I think about it, I can’t even write a satisfactory essay in Chinese; I feel utterly useless! Somehow, I suddenly don’t want to operate excavators anymore; it’s not cool at all, really!"

"Oh, well, I wish you success!" At the entrance of the alley, Qiao Yu casually waved his hand and then turned away.

What a predicament...