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Chapter 72: Chapter 69: You Don’t Play Fair

Jiangcheng Second Middle School.

Inside the principal’s office, Principal Zhang Cheng hadn’t had a single night of peaceful sleep in days.

He had originally planned to use their results in the Huaxuan Cup semifinals to create a ”dominating the competition” narrative, building some buzz among the parents of Jiangcheng’s tenth and eleventh graders.

He never expected that before Seventh Middle School even said a word, Sixth Middle School would jump into the fray.

And they’d even poached that Li Dong over to their side in the process!

Now, in Jiangcheng’s elite parent circles, Second Middle School’s ”dominating the competition” slogan had become an utter joke they couldn’t live down.

”Principal Zhang, please calm down...”

Dean Li Yiming stood before the desk, his expression also extremely awkward.

Principal Zhang waved his hand and said,

”Let’s not talk about it. It’s in the past, and it’ll all blow over soon enough.”

”Old Li, the college entrance exams are just six months away. That’s our real chance to turn the tables!”

Li Yiming’s expression turned troubled at his words.

When it came to the college entrance exams, their fundamental battlefield, Second Middle School’s stats had always been crushed by Sixth Middle School.

Take last year’s matriculation rates, for example. Second Middle School had a 49.1% acceptance rate into top-tier universities and a 92.1% rate for undergraduate programs overall.

And Sixth Middle School? Their top-tier university acceptance rate was 85.1%, and their overall undergraduate rate was a staggering 99.2%!

Second Middle School was in no position to even challenge them.

Zhang Cheng looked at Li Yiming’s expression and naturally knew what he was thinking.

”We can’t beat them in overall matriculation rates, but we can make a push for the title of the city’s top science student!”

The very top students at Sixth Middle School mostly focus on various competitions. Their goals are clear: guaranteed admission through early admissions, or specialized talent programs.

In their push for awards, they spend most of their energy tackling university-level material.

Their breadth of knowledge is certainly wider, but when it comes to raw exam scores, they don’t necessarily have an advantage over top students who focus purely on cramming for the college entrance exams!”

Li Yiming naturally understood the implication behind Zhang Cheng’s words and nodded.

”I’ll speak with Teacher Liu and Teacher Li. They’re veteran teachers, very skilled at predicting exam questions.”

”For this year’s exams, we will definitely secure the title of city’s top student...”

...

Meanwhile, at Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School.

In Chinese Literature class, Li Dong, who was supposed to be focused on the upcoming college entrance exams, propped his chin on one hand and stared blankly at the blackboard.

He had zoned out.

Ever since he had constructed the physics blueprint in the Cyan Dragon Study Group, he’d been itching to go into seclusion, to dive headfirst into the grand edifice of physics and build up all the missing bridges of knowledge, one by one.

But he couldn’t do that just yet.

Mendel’s lingering regret was still weighing on his mind.

’I won’t be able to settle down until I’ve gotten my prize from him.’

But the topic was genuinely difficult.

The Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum that Mendel used for his cross-breeding experiments still has no complete reference genome to this day.

The academic community had only managed to find the key gene regulating parthenogenesis, PpPAR, in the distantly related Hairy Mountain Willow Chrysanthemum.

As for the corresponding homologous gene in the Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum?

Whether that was truly what prevented Mendel from reproducing the 3:1 segregation ratio remains a question with no conclusive answer.

What he had to do was fill in this blank.

This wasn’t something he could solve just by talking about it. There was extracting high-purity genomic DNA from the Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum suitable for sequencing, screening for key candidate genes that regulate parthenogenesis...

A whole pile of tasks was waiting for him.

Thankfully, Mendel had previously given him [Life Analysis (Basic Edition)].

Only with that was he able to grind his way through subjects like molecular biology, plant tissue culture, and the application of bioinformatics algorithms.

He even went to the official NEB website and downloaded dozens of kit manuals.

Even for a ”stat monster” like him, his brain had nearly fried several times.

But he had finally managed to understand the theory. Now, he just didn’t know if he could actually pull off the practical application.

Being so busy with all this, he hadn’t made any progress on the warehouse management system he’d promised Li Yang.

The more Li Dong thought about it, the bigger his headache became.

’If I really can’t do it, I’ll just buy one for my uncle...’

”TAP! TAP! TAP!”

From the teacher’s podium, the sound of chalk tapping against the blackboard suddenly rang out.

Li Dong jolted and looked up at the podium.

Teacher Wang was on the podium, scowling at him.

Teacher Wang was a very interesting person.

In a key high school like Sixth Middle School, which was extremely competitive and prioritized the sciences above all else, he always maintained the noble spirit of a traditional scholar.

When he taught, he rarely instructed students on things like ”reading comprehension answer templates” or ”how to plug in all-purpose sentences into essays.”

When he taught ”Memorial on My Situation,” he could describe Li Mi’s dilemma—torn between loyalty and filial piety, ”standing all alone, with only a shadow for company”—so vividly that the entire class would be moved.

Just now, he had reached the most impassioned part of the text and wanted to see if the little geniuses of Sixth Middle School had been ignited by the light of the ancient sages.

But a single glance across the room revealed Li Dong, just sitting there in a daze!

He put down the piece of chalk in his hand.

”I know that all of you sitting in this classroom are geniuses in math, physics, and chemistry.”

”Many of you don’t take Chinese class seriously, thinking that only the sciences can change the world. I’m not the kind of old stick-in-the-mud who forces you to rely on rote memorization.”

”But! You must understand that for all your efforts in these competitions, your backup plan is still the college entrance exams!”

”And on that battlefield, every subject, every single point, is critically important to you.”

”A scholar’s integrity can’t put food on the table, but the points on your exam paper can decide which city you’ll go to and what future you’ll see!”

”Especially you, Li Dong.”

The entire class turned in unison to look at Li Dong.

”You’re different from them. For you, the college entrance exam isn’t your backup plan—it’s the main path you absolutely must walk right now!”

”Your foundation in Chinese is already weak. If you keep zoning out in class like you did today...”

Teacher Wang paused.

For a moment, he couldn’t think of a way to scare this student. Elder Chen treated this kid like a treasure...

Finally, he gritted his teeth and deployed the oldest trick in any high school teacher’s arsenal.

”If you keep being this inattentive in class, I’ll... I’ll call your parents!”

”HISS—”

Li Dong instantly sucked in a cold breath.

He was completely dumbfounded.

’Old Wang, oh, Old Wang, you fight dirty! You’re a man of profound literary knowledge! How could you resort to such a low blow!’

But his mom really was Li Dong’s Achilles’ heel.

’You win...’

He raised a white flag in his heart.

For the rest of the class, Li Dong completely forgot about all his messy physics blueprints and biology experiments, focusing all his energy on Teacher Wang’s lecture.

Once he actually started listening, he realized that Old Wang was a genuinely good teacher.

He constructed a near-tangible historical backdrop in the classroom.

It created a sense of immersion, and before you knew it, you were following him right into the author’s spiritual world.

And the difficult classical Chinese content words, function words, and sentence structures were logically absorbed into Li Dong’s memory.

’Old Wang’s really got some skills...’

Li Dong admired him inwardly.

”RING-A-LING.”

The bell signaling the end of class rang.

Teacher Wang closed his lesson plan and glanced at Li Dong, feeling quite gratified.

’This kid is teachable,’ he thought. As long as the boy was willing to apply himself, Chinese class would be no problem at all.

He walked down from the podium, preparing to go over and offer Li Dong a few more words of heartfelt advice—something along the lines of ”science is the tool, but language is the foundation; one must not mistake the means for the end.”

However, before he could even open his mouth,

”KNOCK, KNOCK.”

There was a knock on the back door of the classroom.

Sun Xiang was standing in the doorway.

”Teacher Wang, sorry to interrupt. I’m looking for Li Dong; I need to talk to him about something!”