Chapter 60: Pass

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　After the physical assessment came a torturous waiting period.

　　Jin Keming had not paid off the sum yet. Tan Zhenping had sought Fang Ping out once, giving him the gist of the director’s answer, which was something like “The rest of the money would have to wait until the results are formally announced…”

　　Fang Ping understood, so he was not that worried about this.

　　…

　　The 3th arrived in a flash.

　　Fang Ping had thought that he would finally be famous, but then he knew that he had too lively an imagination when the day came.

　　The physical assessment was not the Gaokao. There would not be any list of honors or something.

　　Announcement followed a remarkably simple process.

　　The Department of Education and all martial arts universities would announce the benchmark score in advance.

　　All high schools would receive the result slips after that. If one wanted to check his result, he would have to go to his teacher.

　　Those who passed would continue to the next round.

　　Those who had not would leave in the afternoon.

　　This sort of private announcement did not make Fang Ping’s ascend to fame easy.

　　He could make a name for himself with his Vitality after the Gaokao ended, but he would not be that outstanding in the crowd, shadowed by candidates who were already martial artists.

　　After understanding how the results would be announced, the group tidied up and left their rooms. Fang Ping was somewhat annoyed. “I’ve prepared to hear the praises others will pile up on me, too! Turns out only we will know our results!”

　　His posturing was all for naught!

　　Wu Zhihao was even more fed up. “Who do you wanna announce your results to? 125cal’s not low, but it’s not even the best in our school! What more do you want?”

　　Fang Ping shook his head, chuckling. “I don’t want anything. I don’t care if anyone knows.

　　“I just want you to know!”

　　Damn him for not believing that his Vitality was at 149cal when he had told him that.

　　He would force the other’s eyes open even if he did not want to face the truth!

　　Fang Ping did not really care about the public’s opinion of him. He was only joking previously.

　　…

　　There were so many candidates from No.1 High School that checking the results in the teacher’s office was just not feasible.

　　The school had rented a small conference room in the hotel for that purpose. Students were asked to wait there for a group announcement.

　　8:30 am.

　　All candidates had arrived in the conference room.

　　Yang Jian muttered under his breath, “I must pass. I must pass, or else I’m doomed…”

　　The others did not have the wherewithal to show concern toward him. They waited anxiously for the teachers to arrive.

　　In no time, the few teachers from No.1 High School entered the conference room.

　　They did not waste time. Upon entrance, the vice-principal in charge of chaperoning this time announced loudly, “Students, the benchmark this time is completely out of our expectations!

　　“It’s much more higher compared to last year’s!

　　“Those who didn’t pass, don’t be disappointed!”

　　The teachers had reassured them as a precaution.

　　The vice-principal continued, after the noise in the conference room had died down, “The Department of Education has announced the benchmark value – 112cal!”

　　“So high?”

　　“Are they kidding me? 112cal was enough for admission to university last year!”

　　“This is pushing everyone down the cliff!”

　　“I thought that 110cal would be the benchmark. Now it’s 112cal. I’m doomed!”

　　“…”

　　The students erupted after the announcement.

　　It was too high!

　　The benchmark the previous year was 108cal. Now it had increased 4cal! This was practically unimaginable in the past.

　　The vice-principal understood the students’ dejection and rage. He said reassuringly, “The blame cannot be placed on all of you. The main reason is the number of applicants this year.

　　“The living standard is increasing rapidly, which means that the average Vitality level is increasing as well.

　　“I’ll just repeat my words. All roads lead to Rome…

　　“If you aren’t accepted into a martial arts university, there are loads of paths you can take…

　　“Next, I’m going to announce the names of those who’d passed.

　　“Everyone, please prepare for the practical exams on the 7th. Passing the physical assessment isn’t a ticket to university. The upcoming tests will also eliminate a lot of candidates…”

　　After that, the vice-principal smiled. “No.1 High School did excellently this year. Among the candidates, Fang Ping and Wu Zhihao from Class (4), Zhou Bin from Class (1), Tan Tao, Tan Hao, and Chen Jie from Class (2) have achieved exceptional results!

　　“The first place in the school and also in Auspicious Sun City is Fang Ping, with a Vitality of 149cal!”

　　“…”

　　The room fell silent. Many glanced furtively toward Fang Ping.

　　Wu Zhihao, who sat beside Fang Ping, was flabbergasted. How high did the teacher say his Vitality was?

　　Fang Ping glanced at him. Serves him right for not believing him!

　　Now he was shocked!

　　It was a pity that Fang Ping did not get to hear the praise he had prepared for.

　　Everyone was shocked, but that was that. It was none of their business anyway. Few was really concerned. What that came of it was their remembrance of Fang Ping’s name.

　　The candidates the next year would probably be in awe after Fang Ping had entered a martial arts university.

　　Those in the same year rarely showed similar emotion.

　　Everyone took the tests the same year. The more excellent he was, the more useless they seemed.

　　With that, it was hard to fulfill one’s wishes of being praised or sucked up to.

　　It was exactly the same with the Gaokao situation from his past lifetime. Everyone who discussed the first place was always outsiders, those who were not affected.

　　“The number one is f*cking amazing!”

　　“He had really gotten such high marks! He’s OP!”

　　It was always the outsiders who said stuff like that.

　　Those taking the tests the same year rarely did. The worse their results were, the less attention they paid – paying attention meant puncturing their hearts with reminders of their failures.

　　Those who had gotten excellent results did not care too. They might be thinking of how they were so close to being first place themselves.

　　The students who discussed were mostly the average ones.

　　This applied to the present, too.

　　Everyone was shocked by Fang Ping’s whopping 149cal, but they would not say anything even if they were forced to.

　　Their calm demeanors gave Fang Ping the feeling that the teacher had announced his Vitality wrongly, like it was 119cal instead of 149cal.

　　…

　　He was fine with the others not discussing it. Wu Zhihao looked as if his world had crumpled.

　　Even after the vice principal said his name and announced that his Vitality was 120cal.

　　Wu Zhihao did not have the presence of mind to care about it. He looked at Fang Ping, aggrieved. “You really didn’t lie to me?”

　　“What do you think?”

　　“Did you not say that your Vitality was at 125cal?”

　　Fang Ping said, annoyed, “I told you that my Vitality was at 149cal. Did you believe me? F*ck, you thought I was joking even before I opened my mouth. What was I supposed to do?”

　　“Isn’t this too high?”

　　“It’s you who’s lousy…”

　　“This is so depressing!”

　　Wu Zhihao wilted. And he had thought that he had done superbly, too. Did Fang Ping really have to put him down like this?

　　The names of the others who had passed were announced.

　　Class (4) had outdone themselves.

　　Fang Ping’s Vitality was at 149cal, while Wu Zhihao’s was 120cal, Yang Jian’s 116cal, and Liu Ruoqi’s 115cal…

　　Four had passed out of the class’ eight candidates!

　　Fang Ping was first place in his school while Wu Zhihao had gotten sixth place.

　　There were six students from No.1 High School that had surpassed 120cal. The elite Class (1) fared worst; Zhou Bin had reached 128cal, but he was the only one in his class.

　　Class (2) had three, including the Tan brothers.

　　The candidates who had reached 120cal all came from the three classes.

　　Many from Class (1) passed the physical assessment, though.

　　56 candidates from No.1 High School reached the benchmark of 112cal, which was a decent ratio.

　　56 out from less than 300 candidates had passed.

　　There were over 1200 candidates in total from all the other schools in Sun City. The number of those who had passed was close to the number of passed candidates from No.1 High School.

　　1500 students had come to take the tests. The physical assessment alone eliminated over 90% of them.

　　Aiming to boost his students’ spirits, the vice principal put the other schools down while praising his school. He had revealed the results of the other schools too.

　　Out of the candidates from Sun City, 110 of them passed the physical assessment.

　　It was a greater number compared to last year’s, but the candidates from No.1 High School took up half of them. The elimination ratio was higher in the case of the other schools.

　　After the namelist was read, those whose names were not read out looked dejected.

　　Some girls even started to sob softly.

　　“I can’t even pass the physical assessment. What am I doing, taking the martial sciences exams?”

　　“My parents have skimped and saved, hoping that I can pass the martial sciences exams. How can I face them, now that I’ve failed?”

　　“Sob, sob…”

　　The sobs made the passed candidates unhappy too. The mood in the room was heavy for a while.

　　The teachers had already gotten used to it by then. It was like that every year.

　　Crying, noise, despair…

　　They had experienced those feelings before.

　　Some of the students did not take it well and walked on a path of no return.

　　The most the teachers could do was try their best to reassure them.

　　Those who had passed, including Fang Ping, were in no mood to celebrate. After the vice principal announced the adjournment of the meeting, they did not stay for long, leaving the conference room gradually.

　　…

　　After Fang Ping left the conference room, his phone started vibrating again.

　　He accepted the call. It was another from Fang Yuan.

　　After the call was connected, Fang Ping asked quickly, “Are the results announced?”

　　She was even more eager than Fang Ping!

　　Fang Ping had told her that he passed two days before, but Fang Yuan would only know that the results had not been yet announced until later.

　　How was she enlightened?

　　Her “lie” was debunked by her best friend when she tried to tell her the good news.

　　The results were not announced on the 1st at all!

　　Fang Yuan had this urge to charge to Auspicious Sun just so she could murder Fang Ping herself.

　　How could he possibly know his results when they were not announced?

　　Of course, she could not admit defeat. She said with certainty that her brother had passed the Vitality benchmark.

　　She had wagered on this with her best friend. If it turned out that she was not lying, she would be allowed to pinch her friend’s cheeks a hundred times each until her face was as swollen as a pig’s.

　　If it was the other way around, her punishment would be more severe. She would be subjected to 200 pinches!

　　Also, she would have another nickname “Fibber” in addition to “Round Face”.

　　That was why Fang Yuan showed so much more concern over Fang Ping’s results compared to her parents.

　　“They are. My Vitality is at 149cal.”

　　Fang Ping did not wait for her retort. He continued, “It’s true. I didn’t lie to you.

　　“Doesn’t that friend of yours have a sister who’s taking the test too?

　　“You can tell her to ask her sister herself. Your brother is now famous in No.1 High School, at least. Although they’re all jealous of me, there’s no point in lying about something like Vitality.

　　“Don’t call just to ask me this again. You naughty girl, how many times have you asked me this already?

　　“It’s true. I’ll repeat this one more time. 149cal!”

　　“Really?” Fang Yuan froze with shock. Next she yelled excitedly, “You really didn’t lie to me, did you?”

　　“No. You can go pinch her cheeks now. Yours can wait till I come back. No one except for me can pinch your face!”

　　“…”

　　Fang Yuan did not care about what he had to say, cackling like a loon all the while. Only after she finished cackling then she ended the call.

　　Fang Ping could not help laughing, too. He had not walked too far before seeing Tan Zhenping waving at him.

　　His heart leapt with excitement. The rest of the sum had arrived!