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Chapter 7: Cheating?

“When you skipped a perfect score on the last math test, was it deliberate or an accident?”

Mr. Liu stared straight at Lu Li for a moment, then slowly showed a gentle, kindly smile.

“Deliberate!” Lu Li lifted his chin.

“How so?”

Lu Li straightened his back and said, “My math used to be poor, but Mr. Liu teaches so well! To repay his guidance, I studied hard, and whenever I felt like giving up, I thought of his patient instruction; at last I made this tiny bit of insignificant progress.”

Mr. Liu was overjoyed, almost moved to tears, and said, “Good! Good! Good! Class, you should all learn from Lu Li’s diligence. His math score used to be mediocre, yet now, because he paid attention in my class, he actually earned a full mark on this paper! From now on, when I’m teaching, none of you may slack off, doze, or sneak snacks!”

As soon as he spoke, the room erupted.

“His paper got a perfect score?” Student A could not believe it.

“He really finished it, got everything right, and scored full marks?” Student B’s face was shocked.

“I hid my snacks so well and still got caught?!” Shao Linlin’s round eyes widened, and the chips in her hand fell in panic.

“No, no, no, I’m ridiculously smart; it must be some other fool who got caught eating…” Shao Linlin patted her heaving chest, finding a reason to comfort herself.

She gazed quietly at Lu Li, her big eyes blinking. “His math is amazing; he actually got full marks! Then why didn’t he accept Shen Tan’s challenge before? Oh, I get it, his sights are too high; he disdains challenges from idiots, just as a black-belt master won’t accept a white-belt’s challenge because that’s bullying amateurs. He scorns the provocation of the weak, willingly backing off and not caring about his own honor… that must be the strong heart and expert bearing Dad talked about! Wow, he’s so handsome~~”

Shao Linlin looked at Lu Li’s sharply defined profile, and her little heart thumped nonstop.

“Impossible!” Shen Tan slapped the desk and shouted, “Impossible, absolutely impossible! How could Lu Li get a perfect score? I couldn’t solve so many questions; how could he finish in such a short time and still score full?”

Without thinking, Shen Tan left his seat, strode forward, and grabbed Lu Li’s paper.

Mr. Liu frowned slightly; Shen Tan’s behavior was far out of line.

Even so, Mr. Liu did not stop him.

Shen Tan was Class 4’s top student and the discipline director’s son; as long as he didn’t go too far, Mr. Liu could not be bothered.

Shen Tan quickly scanned the problems he himself could not solve, and the hand holding the paper began to tremble.

Right… every answer was right!

What a brilliant method; so that’s how this question is done!

So the problem was not beyond the syllabus at all; it could be solved with what we’ve learned! It was only my rigid thinking that missed such an ingenious approach!

Shen Tan slammed the paper down, took a deep breath, and fixed his eyes on Lu Li. “Lu Li, tell the truth… did you cheat?”

Lu Li rolled his eyes and said nothing.

Taking the silence as admission, Shen Tan sneered, “So you did cheat! These questions are so difficult; there’s no way you solved them. To beat me, you used any means, even cheating… how despicable.”

Mr. Liu’s frown deepened; Shen Tan’s behavior had gone from rude to nasty.

He rebuked loudly, “Shen Tan, watch your mouth! You have no evidence, so how can you wrong an innocent person? You’re going too far!”

Shen Tan turned the blame on Mr. Liu. “Mr. Liu! You know how hard these questions are! Even the smartest senior, Chu Zining, can’t solve them, right? Yet Lu Li not only did them but took less than 40 minutes. How can there not be something fishy? Wake up!”

What Shen Tan said sounded reasonable, and after grading the paper Mr. Liu had indeed doubted whether Lu Li might have cheated.

After all, it had taken him an hour, and he still missed two questions.

Yet that thought flashed by and was immediately dismissed.

First, the problems were newly written; even if Lu Li tried to cheat online, there were no answers to be found.

As for copying a classmate… ha… no one else in the room could solve them, so whom would he copy?

Second, after more than 20 years of teaching, Mr. Liu had sharpened eyes for people.

He had long known that Lu Li was stubborn and tough, the last person to admit defeat; such a student would never stoop to lowly cheating.

He trusted his own judgment, and he trusted Lu Li.

Backed by his own logic, Shen Tan kept cursing Lu Li. “Lu Li, have you no shame? You even dare cheat? Scum like you is doomed to be society’s trash!”

“Enough! Shen Tan, you’re out of line!” Mr. Liu rarely showed anger; he stood up and said sternly, “Classmates should help and unite, not slander others because they’re less skilled. Acting like this in society, you’ll never amount to much! Apologize to Lu Li… now!”

“Apologize to him?” Shen Tan looked both wronged and furious, his breath hot and ragged. “Mr. Liu! Are you crazy? Lu Li cheated and you want me to apologize? Has your hair fallen out and your brain dried in the wind?”

“You… you… you!”

Is it a crime for a middle-aged math teacher to go bald?

I have a physics buddy researching quantum mechanics whose hair was gone back in college!

Hair is the last dignity of middle age; who knew a student would rip off that fig leaf… Mr. Liu was so angry he nearly choked.

As a highly cultivated teacher, Mr. Liu always persuaded with reason, believing everything could be solved by words and never raising a hand.

This time, though, he decided on physical persuasion.

He picked up the set square on the desk, pointed at Shen Tan, and said, “You little brat! Feeling cocky, are you? I’ll show you whether I dare draw blood!”

He raised the set square to strike, paused, then shifted the blow from Shen Tan’s head to his thick-skinned backside.

After the solid whack, Shen Tan yelped in pain, eyes wide. “Mr. Liu, you really hit me! Don’t forget, my dad is Shen Huan, the discipline director… your superior!”

“So young and already playing bureaucracy? Your dad’s a director so that makes you great? You even dare threaten a teacher!” Mr. Liu grew angrier, the set square whipping like a switch. “I’m disciplining the director’s unruly son for him!”

“Just wait, I’m telling my dad… you abused a student! He’ll have you dealt with!” Shen Tan clutched his butt and ran out of the classroom.

Mr. Liu was usually kind, and his rare fury left the whole class silent with fear.

He put down the set square, collapsed onto the stool, panting heavily; his time-smoothed face flushed red with anger.

Lu Li walked behind him and gently kneaded his shoulders.

Mr. Liu finally felt better; he sighed and looked apologetically at Lu Li. “That kid Shen Tan is used to being conceited. His words were ugly, but he meant no real harm. Don’t take it to heart.”

Lu Li shook his head and chuckled. “Why would I? I actually admire him.”

“How so?” Mr. Liu was utterly surprised.

Lu Li lowered his voice and said, “Tsk, with his vision and ability he still managed to be the fastest sperm out of hundreds of millions.”

Mr. Liu froze, then couldn’t help laughing and slapped the back of Lu Li’s hand.

This rascal…

Seeing Mr. Liu shift from anger to amusement, the classmates all breathed huge sighs of relief.

Shao Linlin took out her tomato-flavored chips, hurried over, and offered them with both hands. “I’m giving you my treasured snack, please don’t be angry anymore.”

She looked at Mr. Liu pitifully, then reluctantly at the chips in her hands.

Mr. Liu held his head; suddenly he felt exhausted.

Already awakened by the commotion, Tang Yang also stood up, grabbed his water cup, and hurried over. “Mr. Liu, I present you my prized ’82 boiled water. Drink a couple of sips to soothe your throat. When that bastard Shen Tan comes back, you can scold him harder.”

“Shoo, shoo, is that how you address a classmate?” Mr. Liu gently kicked Tang Yang back.

Laughter once again filled the classroom.

The joy did not last long, though; Shen Tan soon ran back in.

Two neatly dressed middle-aged teachers followed behind him.

Shen Tan raised his right hand, pointed at Mr. Liu, and shouted, “Dad, Mr. Liu hit me with a set square! He laid hands on a student… punish him!”

He swung his hand toward Lu Li and shouted even louder, “And him, Lu Li! He cheated on the test, has no integrity at all! Punish him too… no, expel him outright!”

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