CHAPTER 186: CHAPTER 186: ABILITIES CALLED INTO QUESTION

Sang Chuan widened his eyes and froze on the spot, as if struck by lightning.

Sang Ning was momentarily dazed too, even doubting her ears were malfunctioning.

"Mr. Gao, you finished grading the test papers this quickly?" Sang Ning questioned suspiciously.

She hadn’t even finished her cup of water, yet Gao Mingsong claimed to have completed grading the papers. Could he really skip checking the detailed answers for the longer questions?

"Not finished, but there’s no need to continue," Gao Mingsong picked up the test paper and handed it over, his tone cold and stiff. "All the multiple-choice questions are completely wrong. With this kind of trashy foundation Sang Chuan has, he dares to talk about returning to school?"

Sang Ning took the test paper with a deeply skeptical expression. No matter how bad one’s foundation, a few correct answers could be guessed randomly, right?

What kind of extraordinary talent did Sang Chuan have to perfectly avoid all the right answers!

After taking the paper, Sang Ning casually checked two questions and frowned.

The answers in the brackets for these two questions were correct; wasn’t Gao Mingsong blatantly lying?

"Mr. Gao, are you even a math teacher?" Sang Ning slowly lifted her head and stared at Gao Mingsong. "If you’re not, you could check the answers using the reference key."

Gao Mingsong instantly exploded upon hearing this, fiercely smacking his desk several times: "I’m not, but are you? Can a senior teacher even be questioned by someone like you?"

Wang Meng, who was grading papers nearby, breathed a sigh of relief—there were fewer physics questions, and he had already finished grading them all.

The shocking part was that Sang Chuan actually got all the physics questions correct!

For now, Wang Meng was willing to admit that over the summer, Sang Chuan had indeed made remarkable progress in physics.

Yet, it was impossible for him to excel across all subjects simultaneously. His complete failure in math multiple-choice questions served as the best proof.

Wang Meng didn’t rush to announce Sang Chuan’s physics score and instead handed the paper over for chemistry and biology teachers to grade.

Even a perfect score in physics was meaningless if he still failed miserably in other subjects; Sang Chuan wouldn’t be able to regain his qualification to return to school.

Watching the tense confrontation between Sang Ning and Gao Mingsong, Wang Meng felt a pang of unease but quickly shook his head, forcibly dismissing his thoughts.

For Sang Chuan’s physics achievements to improve so rapidly indicated that he always had innate talent for learning, and it was just that he hadn’t applied himself before. There was no way this improvement belonged to Sang Ning’s tutoring efforts; her face alone screamed "useless troublemaker."

"Mr. Gao, how about you double-check the test paper? I don’t see any markings where you’ve graded it," Sang Ning maintained her polite tone and spread the paper out before Gao Mingsong.

Gao Mingsong gave a cold snort: "Why bother writing anything down? One glance is enough to see the results."

As he spoke, he pointed to the answer sheet and said sternly, "Right here, not a single blank is filled in correctly."

With this reminder from Gao Mingsong, Sang Ning finally flipped the test paper over and eyed the section where multiple-choice answers were filled in. Glancing at the questions and then back at the answer sheet, her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she abruptly looked up:

"Mr. Gao, you might want to take another look—it seems Sang Chuan messed up the option order when filling in the answer sheet."

"Let me see! Let me see!" Sang Chuan scrambled to snatch the paper away before Gao Mingsong could.

His expression turned serious as his eyes moved frantically back and forth, examining the answers on the sheet.

Finally, the glimmer of disappointment vanished from his eyes, replaced with elation. Sang Chuan beamed and leaned toward Gao Mingsong: "Old Gao—oh, I mean, respected Mr. Gao—it’s true, I filled in the wrong options! Could I trouble you, esteemed teacher, to graciously grade it again?"

Gao Mingsong’s expression faltered: "Fine, I’ll re-grade it this time. But what about next time? You can’t possibly expect second chances every time!"

Sang Chuan clung to his arm shamelessly and began begging, "Mr. Gao, pretty please! I promise there won’t be a next time! I was just so excited about seeing my favorite teacher again that my hands slipped and I filled in the wrong answers!"

Unable to handle Sang Chuan’s shameless antics, Gao Mingsong pushed him away with force, trying to maintain some distance.

But Sang Chuan refused to let go. His nose twitched as he pretended to be pitiful: "Mr. Gao, I beg you! If you don’t re-grade it, I’ll make my sister kill me right now!"

Saying this, he grabbed Sang Ning’s hand and placed it against his face for her to slap him.

Sang Ning scrunched up her face in disgust but played along with Sang Chuan’s terrible acting. She gritted her teeth and gave him two seemingly fierce but utterly harmless slaps. "You idiot! You couldn’t even fill out an answer sheet correctly! What use are you? If Mr. Gao doesn’t agree to re-grade the paper, I’ll beat—"

"Enough! Stop this stupid act!" Gao Mingsong interrupted the siblings.

He had finally seen through their little scheme; these siblings were deliberately trying to trap him.

"Fine! I’ll grade again! Is that satisfactory?" Gao Mingsong angrily snatched back the paper and sat down at his desk to start grading.

After the chemistry and biology teachers had finished grading the paper, Wang Meng, upon receiving Sang Chuan’s test results, was once again utterly shocked.

While Sang Chuan didn’t score full marks in both subjects, he only lost up to 15 points total!

Not long ago during the previous semester’s final exams, Sang Chuan had ranked dead last in every subject. Now he had caught up in all three science disciplines, even achieving a perfect score in physics!

Wang Meng no longer dared to look toward Gao Mingsong; as long as Sang Chuan didn’t score zero in math, his qualification for returning to school was secure.

Concerned that Gao Mingsong might intentionally overlook some of Sang Chuan’s points while grading, Sang Ning quietly shuffled closer, inching step by step until she could peek over his shoulder.

Watching the growing number of checkmarks on the paper, Sang Ning finally began to relax.

But for Gao Mingsong, the opposite was true—the more correct answers he marked, the more anxious he felt, beads of cold sweat nearly forming on his forehead.

If Sang Chuan couldn’t learn at school but improved dramatically at home, didn’t that reflect poorly on teachers like him?

Seeing the grim look on Gao Mingsong’s face, Wang Meng hurried over the moment he put his pen down, his eyes full of anticipation, desperate for the answer he wanted: "Director Gao, how was it? Sang Chuan’s math grades aren’t good, right?"

Instead of answering immediately, Gao Mingsong took off his glasses, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples, looking distressed.

Impatient, Wang Meng grabbed the test paper himself. The sight made his pupils contract, and he stammered in shock: "A... A perfect... A perfect score!"

"Mr. Wang, is a perfect score really that shocking? My sister went over all these math problems with me. If I didn’t get a perfect score, she’d kill me!" Sang Chuan tilted his head playfully and mimed slicing his throat.

"I don’t believe it!" Wang Meng immediately exclaimed, his tone sharp and mocking. "Sang Chuan, as a teacher, I admit you’re smart and were just lazy before. Your achievements are clearly the result of your own efforts. There’s no need to credit your sister for them."