After the two days of exams concluded, the students in their final year of high school continued their fierce battle before the college entrance examination.
As for the results of this mock exam, they would not be out for a few more days.
However, since the difficulty was indeed much lower than the previous one, most students were quite confident about their performance in this exam.
This was especially true for the students in Class 10 of the final year.
During the mathematics and comprehensive science exams, everyone was surprised to find that Qin Tian's review outline had been incredibly effective.
It was naturally impossible to predict the exact same questions.
But the problem-solving approaches, knowledge points, and formulas in the examples from the review outline were used in about eighty to ninety percent of the questions.
The deeper one's understanding of Qin Tian's outline, the greater the perceived benefit, and those who attended the May Day holiday study session reaped significant rewards.
And Xia Nuannuan, who had Qin Tian's personal one-on-one guidance and clarification of three outlines before the exam, was undoubtedly the one who benefited the most.
In any case, for several days after the exam, Xia Nuannuan's small face was always glowing with health, and her mood was clearly very good.
According to her own words, this was the first time she had found the mathematics and comprehensive science papers so easy to complete.
Of course, she herself did not have absolute certainty about whether she could achieve her goal of entering the top twenty in the grade.
After all, everyone's exam papers were the same; if you found it easy, it meant others also found it easy.
Everyone in the class was in high spirits, eagerly awaiting the release of the exam results.
However, there was an exception, and that was Xu Ying, who had been alone recently.
During the three-day holiday, she had not received the three review outlines from the class monitor.
It wasn't that Qin Tian was petty, or that the class monitor Mu Nan withheld them from her.
It was because during the holiday, she had gone to Jiangcheng to have fun with a friend from another school.
After returning to school, Mu Nan had given her a copy as well, treating everyone equally.
However, after taking it, she directly put it into her drawer, too embarrassed to open it.
After all, everyone in the class knew clearly that Qin Tian had made this for Xia Nuannuan, and others were merely benefiting incidentally.
After the evening self-study that day, she forgot to sneak it back, and of course, even if she had taken it back, she wouldn't have had much time to look at it.
Therefore, after this exam, her mood was completely different from that of her classmates.
The papers were indeed much simpler, but she still had many questions left unfinished.
As for her deskmate Wu Xin, after recovering from the blow he received last time, he had a change of heart, abandoning his arrogance and diligently focused on his studies, feeling quite confident about his performance this time.
He didn't dare say he could compare to Qin Tian, that monstrous genius, but he felt he had definitely done better than last time.
After the morning self-study one day, someone from another class brought back gossip that the exam results seemed to have been released.
The classroom immediately became agitated, and everyone began to discuss the matter.
The focus of everyone's attention was not on Qin Tian, as they were all aware of his status as a scholar who controlled his scores.
Given the exaggerated scores he achieved even with the previous difficulty, unless there was another hidden prodigy at the school, he would undoubtedly be first again this time, without any suspense.
"What do you think Xia Nuannuan's ranking will be this time?"
"I bet she'll be in the top ten of the class for sure."
"That's obvious; she was almost in the top ten last time, wasn't she? I guess top five."
"You guys are thinking too simply. I heard Zhang Peng say that Xia Nuannuan is aiming for a grade-level ranking this time."
"Holy cow, is that true?"
"It seems to be true; I heard the class monitor mention it too."
"Wow, Xia Nuannuan seems very happy these past few days. Could she really be among the top students in the grade?"
"Well, with a monstrous genius like Qin Tian sitting next to her, I don't think anything is surprising."
"..."
Listening to the surrounding discussions, Xu Ying pretended not to care, but Wu Xin, sitting next to her, could sense that the girl he liked was in a bad mood.
"Xu Ying, don't listen to what they're saying. I casually glanced at Qin Tian's review outline, and it's all just the simplest examples and knowledge points. It's not as effective as they imagine."
Wu Xin said cautiously.
Xu Ying remained silent, her expression bland as she turned her head to glance at him.
"Really, based on Xia Nuannuan's previous results, she could at most be around 100th in the grade. Progress becomes harder the further up you go. It's impossible for her to get a high ranking in the grade."
Wu Xin stated with certainty.
"Did I ask you to speak? Weren't you embarrassed enough from being proven wrong last time?"
Xu Ying questioned expressionlessly.
Ever since Wu Xin was defeated by Qin Tian last time, in her eyes, he had reverted back to being a useless bookworm, and she felt not even a sliver of good impression.
Wu Xin smiled bitterly and said nothing more.
During this period, he had already been deeply hurt by Xu Ying's similar words and had developed an immunity.
It was precisely because of this that he was able to channel his pain into motivation, studying even harder, solely aiming to excel in the college entrance examination and gain Xu Ying's respect.
After all, besides academics, he had no other commendable strengths.
In fact, he now felt listless throughout the day if he didn't hear Xu Ying's reprimands and contempt a couple of times.
The more setbacks, the stronger he became!
Perhaps this could be considered a special skill of a devoted follower.
Xu Ying crossed her arms, her gaze directed towards Xia Nuannuan's location.
At that moment, Cui Ying and Qiu Man were turning around, chatting and laughing with Xia Nuannuan, appearing to be on very good terms.
"Two fair-weather friends, both despicable."
Xu Ying muttered darkly, in a voice only she could hear.
In fact, her hatred for Cui Ying and Qiu Man was no less than her hatred for Xia Nuannuan now, perhaps even more so.
Originally, she had these two friends, or rather, her followers, in the class.
But for some reason, the two of them suddenly bowed to Xia Nuannuan and deliberately avoided her, drifting further away from her.
After that, the two of them even became friends with Xia Nuannuan, becoming members of that enviable small circle in the class.
She indeed resented Xia Nuannuan.
But now that she was protected by Qin Tian, coupled with Xia Nuannuan's stunning comeback in both appearance and academic performance, she had been left far behind.
As the gap widened, this jealousy and resentment gradually began to be replaced by other emotions.
Naturally, more negative emotions were then redirected towards Cui Ying and Qiu Man.
Meanwhile, Cui Ying, who was chatting happily with Xia Nuannuan, keenly sensed her gaze and looked over.
Xu Ying gave a cold, sinister smile.
Cui Ying's face turned pale, and she quickly averted her head.
Xia Nuannuan was discussing a very popular Korean drama that they were both following with Qiu Man and did not notice her situation.
Cui Ying felt uneasy, having a bad premonition.
Compared to Qiu Man, she was more perceptive and was very familiar with Xu Ying's personality.
To put it bluntly, she was self-centered and vindictive!
While deliberately avoiding Xu Ying during this period, she had also been worried about Xu Ying retaliating against them, keeping this unease hidden in her heart.