Chapter 29 The Cruel Reality

Even Chen Tong didn’t utter a sound, standing quietly leaning against the wall.

However, at this moment, Mink gritted his teeth and said to Teacher Tang,

“Teacher, I don’t want to give up. I think we can take a chance.”

“Forget it. Even if you have confidence, I don’t.”

“No, Teacher, I have a lot of confidence in you. After all, you graduated from Royal Courtyard Academy Outer School. You can definitely lead us to pass the exam.”

“Uh, I did graduate from Royal Courtyard Academy Outer School, but how should I put it?”

Teacher Tang was a bit embarrassed for a moment. He was too embarrassed to say that he was one of the bottom students at Royal Courtyard Academy Outer School. Moreover, a big reason he got in back then was because he was from Three Cities, but his family declined, and he ended up in Thirteenth District.

Su Ming also looked at Teacher Tang with some surprise. He didn’t expect that the teacher had actually graduated from Royal Courtyard Academy Outer School.

“Teacher, you can do it!”

Mink said with full confidence.

“That’s right!”

Zhao Ran and the others also chimed in.

Teacher Tang sighed and didn’t say anything more. He just got up and walked into the house, then came out with a stack of test papers.

He slapped the papers on the table and said calmly,

“These are last year’s City Exam comprehensive papers. All of you do them.”

Mink and the others were stunned, then they all got up, took a paper, and quietly found a corner to do the questions.

Su Ming also took a paper and found a spot to sit on the floor. He first scanned the entire paper. Compared to regular exam papers, this one was much larger, a full twenty pages, printed with various types of questions.

He looked at the total score on the paper, which was a full 300 points.

Su Ming felt a bit eager to try. He also wanted to see how many points he could score, so he started writing on the paper diligently.

Teacher Tang sat on the sofa, quietly watching the students do their work.

Five hours passed in a flash, and Su Ming had reached the last page. However, he was doing it very painfully because the knowledge in his mind was truly too limited. Many questions left him completely blank; he couldn’t even guess!

For example, the third to last question: “In the history of the Old Federation, during the eleventh system architecture reorganization, what challenges were encountered, how did it ultimately fail, and if it were you, how would you avoid it?”

For this question, Su Ming only remembered the date of the event and general information about the initiator. He had no idea about the specific content, so how could he answer?

The most frustrating part was that these types of questions varied each year. The Old Federation had such a long history, and too many major events occurred. Many things were only briefly mentioned in historical records, and to understand them, one had to specifically look up documents.

Therefore, this required a very high level of knowledge from the students. If Su Ming had enough time, these wouldn’t be an issue, but what he lacked most right now was time.

Teacher Tang checked the time displayed on his phone, patiently waited another half an hour, and then said,

“Time to hand in your papers!”

Su Ming and the others stopped writing and handed their papers to Teacher Tang.

Teacher Tang immediately began grading, and everyone gathered around, curious to see how many points they would score.

First, Chen Tong’s paper was graded. Teacher Tang marked checks and crosses, and quickly gave a score of 129 points.

Chen Tong’s face was very displeased looking at this score.

Teacher Tang continued grading, and soon the scores came out one by one: Zhao Ran 103, Cheng Ran 72, Mink 141.

“Wow, Class Monitor, you scored so high!”

Zhao Ran and the others exclaimed in admiration.

“Not good enough.”

Mink was very dissatisfied with this.

At this moment, Teacher Tang picked up Su Ming’s paper and began grading it. Su Ming’s heart tightened slightly, very curious about what he would score. However, as he watched the crosses accumulate, his heart immediately dropped by half.

The final score was out: Su Ming scored 92 points!

“Not bad, Su Ming, you’ve made great progress.”

Teacher Tang looked at the final score, raised his head, and praised Su Ming. One must know that this was a City Exam comprehensive paper, and judging by Su Ming’s previous scores, getting sixty or seventy would have been good for him.

“Yes, keep up the good work!”

Mink and the others praised him.

Su Ming also gave a wry smile; this was just the beginning. However, improving by twenty points in just a few days was indeed quite good.

At this moment, Teacher Tang coughed, signaling everyone to be quiet, and they immediately fell silent.

Then, Teacher Tang said with a serious expression,

“You’ve seen the scores, right? Now let me tell you the specific situation. First, why I don’t recommend you apply to Royal Court Academy is because for Royal Court Academy’s internal school, the comprehensive paper is 300 points, and the admission cutoff requires 290 points. For the minor subjects, it’s 100 points, requiring above 90 points! Although the Outer School is more lenient, the comprehensive paper still requires above 250 points, and minor subjects need 60 points. Compare your scores yourself.”

As soon as these words were spoken, even Mink, who had the best score, fell silent. As for the others, they were even more despairing.

“No, how can we score such high marks? Who can get in?”

Cheng Ran complained unhappily.

“People from Three Cities can. Their internal school only requires 280 points and 80 points, and the Outer School needs 200 points and 50 points.”

Teacher Tang explained to everyone.

Upon hearing this, Su Ming looked at Teacher Tang with a very surprised expression. Could Teacher Tang have been from Three Cities before?

“No way, this isn’t fair. How can they get so many points deducted? They already have better resources than us.”

Cheng Ran couldn’t help but complain.

Teacher Tang sighed and said to everyone,

“As you know, the various regions of the Old Federation have a high degree of autonomy. Of course, they prioritize taking care of their own people. There’s nothing to say about that. In short, you need to face reality now and set your sights on ordinary senior academies. This way, not only is the cutoff score lower, but the minor subject requirements are not high either. Don’t look down on ordinary senior academies; as long as you get into an ordinary senior academy, you can extend your life by four years and avoid drawing the red and black lots. And after graduation, you can try applying for public service positions or key federal enterprises, or develop other industries. Your future is also promising!”

“Mhm, mhm.”

After hearing Teacher Tang’s words, Zhao Ran and the others’ gloomy expressions brightened up.

At this moment, Chen Tong suddenly spoke up,

“Teacher, what you said is right, but the fear is not even getting into an ordinary senior academy. If I remember correctly, the minimum score required for an ordinary senior academy is also 150 points.”

“Ah, that high? Then aren’t we far off?”

Zhao Ran and the others all looked dejected.

“Don’t be disheartened. Just don’t apply to schools in Three Cities. If you apply to our Thirteenth District’s higher academies, you only need 120 points. Most of you can achieve 120 points if you work hard.”

Teacher Tang explained to everyone.

“Teacher, do residents of Three Cities also need 120 points to apply to their ordinary higher academies?”

Cheng Ran hesitated and asked.

“That’s right.”

Teacher Tang nodded in reply.

“Sigh, I’m so envious. With 120 points, they can get into a surface academy.”

Wang Chi and the others said enviously.

“What’s there to be envious of? If they want to get into our Thirteenth District’s higher academies, they also need 150 points.”

Teacher Tang coughed to comfort everyone.