What's wrong with me, a school principal, listening to students' suggestions?

"What does that mean? What's 150 points?"

Su Qingyan put down her chopsticks and tilted her head to look at Lin Yucai.

"Scoring 150 out of 300 is like getting only half a bowl of rice in the cafeteria, proportionally speaking."

Lin Yucai held a thermos cup, his expression excessively serious.

"What do you mean?"

"Qian Wenhua just called me and boasted that his student scored 150."

Su Qingyan was stunned for a moment, then her lips twitched, and she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She picked up her chopsticks again, took a piece of sweet and sour pork, put it in her mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and then spoke.

"Where are our people?"

"I don't know, I'll ask later." Lin Yucai put his thermos on the table, glanced out the window, and said, "Anyway, if Lu Chen says it's a sure thing, then I'll take it as a sure thing."

The hotel where No. 13 Middle School students stayed was called Honghe Peninsula.

The entire restaurant is on the 38th floor, and the floor-to-ceiling windows offer views of the river under the night sky.

The lights of the tall buildings on the opposite bank were reflected in the water, swaying gently.

At the other end of the restaurant, fourteen students sat around two large round tables.

The crystal chandelier overhead shone brightly, illuminating the draft paper spread out on the table in perfect detail.

Zhao Qiming held his pen, trying to recall the solution process for the third question of the second test.

Fang Zhuo watched from the side, occasionally interjecting with a comment.

"For the second sub-question of question 3, did you use the method of construction or proof by contradiction?"

"Construction, first assume there is a sequence that satisfies the conditions, then start with parity..." Zhao Qiming wrote a few lines, then stopped, "It's almost a reskin of the fourth question on Teacher Bi's test paper last week."

Fang Zhuo nodded vigorously: "Me too! My hands were shaking halfway through writing, and I thought, 'No way, didn't I practice before?'"

Several first-year high school students nearby also gathered around.

"I calculated the geometry problem for the first question using a coordinate system, but was the final answer...?"

"Yes, yes, that's the value!"

"What about the second question? The one about combinatorial constructions?"

"Teacher Bi's mock exam questions were just slightly modified! Almost unchanged!"

The sound grew louder and louder, and the more they talked, the more excited they became.

After Zhao Qiming finished rewriting all eight fill-in-the-blank questions and three problem-solving questions from the first test, he began working on the second test.

He checked each of the four challenging questions one by one, and his expression brightened with each confirmed answer.

"I did the math, and I probably lost about two points in the first test. I might have written the wrong sign in the last step of the calculation for the sixth fill-in-the-blank question." Zhao Qiming put down his pen, took a deep breath, and said, "I finished all four major questions in the second test, and the process should be fine."

"So what's your total score?" Fang Zhuo's eyes widened.

"First attempt: 118, second attempt... if the steps don't deduct points, at least 72." Zhao Qiming calculated, "Adding it all up, around 190."

Fang Zhuo stared blankly for several seconds, mouth agape.

190.

I can't even imagine it!

"If you're not a buddy, are you some kind of genius too?!"

Fang Zhuo quickly looked down and flipped through his draft paper, his hands trembling more and more with each flip. "I estimated 112 on my first try. I should have no problem with the first and third questions on the second try. I wrote the first two sub-questions for the second question, and the fourth question..."

He calculated for a long time, then looked up, his expression somewhat bewildered.

"I think I'm over 180cm too?"

"That can't be right, I've only been practicing for a month..." Fang Zhuo scratched the back of his head, his face full of disbelief. "Did I remember the answers wrong?"

Zhao Qiming grabbed his draft paper and checked it line by line.

"That's right, your solution to the first question is completely correct."

"For the third question, you used mathematical induction, the process was rigorous, and you hit all the points."

Fang Zhuo sat in the chair, not moving for a long time.

Several other first-year high school students were also checking each other's scores.

Although the skill levels varied, at least five or six people estimated their scores to be over 160.

"Teacher Bi's mock exams are insane..." a first-year high school boy exclaimed. "Before the exam, I thought those questions were impossible for a human to do, but when I saw the official exam today, wow, it was like a level below."

"Teacher Bi, did you look at the exam questions beforehand?"

Fang Zhuo turned his head and called out to the old man sitting by the window drinking tea.

"Don't get arrogant."

Bi Shan held up his thermos and slowly shook his head.

"Mathematics is most afraid of two types of people: those who are confident even though they don't know it, and those who are overly confident even though they do know it."

The old man's voice wasn't loud, but the restaurant fell silent.

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the quiet figure in the corner.

"Except for Lu Chen, he belongs to the third category."

"Which one?" Fang Zhuo pressed.

Bi Shangao smiled but did not answer.

in the corner.

Lu Chen leaned against the single sofa by the window, a black notebook lying on his lap, the pen tip moving quickly across the paper.

He hasn't participated in the lively discussion about comparing answers since just now.

He sat there alone, writing page by page.

"Lu Chen, what are you doing? Reviewing the mistakes?"

Zhao Qiming noticed it, hesitated for a moment, and then walked over with a glass of orange juice.

Lu Chen didn't even look up: "There were no mistakes."

"So what will you write?"

"For the fourth question in the second exam, I used twelve lines of derivation in the exam room." Lu Chen paused for a moment, "But just now I thought that if I changed the variable substitution method, it should be able to be compressed to eight lines."

Zhao Qiming's hand, holding the orange juice, froze in mid-air.

This person isn't worried about losing points.

He felt he had written too much.

"So... what's your estimated score?" Zhao Qiming asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

Lu Chen finished writing the last line of formula and closed his notebook.

He raised his head and thought for a moment.

"Around 250. I just checked online, and my simplified steps and special solution might be the reasons for the deduction."

"Be conservative; don't be too arrogant."

All the sounds in the restaurant went silent.

Thirteen students—Bi Shangao, Ai Shuang, Lin Yucai, and Su Qingyan—all turned their attention to the boy in the corner.

250.

The test paper has a total score of 300.

Wang Haoran from No. 1 Middle School estimated the price to be 150 with all his might, and was so happy that he danced around in the private room.

Lu Chen immediately said "250".

Li Hai stood beside the dining table, using a corkscrew to pry open a bottle of red wine.

Upon hearing the number, my hand trembled, and the bottle opener slipped from my grasp and fell into the soup bowl in front of me with a "clatter".

A splash of bright red tomato soup landed on the white tablecloth, creating several irregular dots.

Li Hai looked left and right and realized that everyone was staring at Lu Chen, and no one was paying attention to him.

He quietly slipped his hand into the soup bowl.

Snapped.

A pair of chopsticks struck the back of his hand with pinpoint accuracy.

Su Qingyan said expressionlessly, "Use a spoon to scoop it out."

Li Hai withdrew his hand and shook it aggrievedly.

"Wait, why are you all stunned?"

"It's just 250 points, right? With your abilities, Lu Chen, those 50 points shouldn't have been deducted at all!"

Ai Shuang slapped him on the back.

"Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand! That's worth 250 points!"