Chapter 95: Exam Results Released
After New Year's Day, construction at the oil field essentially came to a halt.
Work at the company wasn't too busy, consisting mostly of year-end analysis and summary reports.
The main reason for Liu Shang's visit today wasn't work, but to seek help from Xu Tiande.
When Liu Shang walked into Xu Tiande's office, Mr. Zhong happened to be there as well.
"Hey, I heard you were supposed to be at school preparing for your final exams. What are you doing here at the company?"
Facing Mr. Zhong's teasing, Liu Shang spread his hands with a wry smile.
"I really didn't come for work today. I came specifically to ask Professor Xu for help."
"Because I've missed so many classes, my attendance grade from almost every professor is zero."
"Factoring that in, if I don't want to fail, I'll have to get extremely high scores on the exams."
"But you don't realize how hard the material is until you actually try to learn it, and it's much more difficult than I expected!"
Seeing Liu Shang's pained expression, Mr. Zhong and Xu Tiande both laughed.
Mr. Zhong smiled and shook his head. "Haha, why does it feel so good to finally see you looking helpless?"
"What happened to your usual arrogance?"
However, despite teasing him, Mr. Zhong still cared about him.
"But then again, although you can be a bit mischievous, considering your technical expertise, it really doesn't make sense to evaluate you with standard school exams."
"Professor Xu can help you out with this."
Xu Tiande also nodded with a smile. "Alright, no matter how you look at it, this is something I should help you with."
"It just so happens that many of my former colleagues and friends are still at Youda's School of Chemical Engineering, so they'll do me a small favor."
Liu Shang's expression remained grim.
"Professor Xu, I wouldn't have come to you if it were just the exams for my major."
"I'm confident I can pass the chemical engineering exams. It's the non-major subjects that I really can't handle."
Xu Tiande nodded. "Oh, I see."
"That's not too difficult. Just give me the names of the teachers for the subjects you're worried about, and I'll find someone who can help resolve the issue."
Mr. Zhong smiled and clapped Liu Shang on the shoulder. "Kid, you should know, Professor Xu has worked at the university his whole life, but he's famous for rarely asking for favors."
"Making an exception for you this time is unprecedented."
"Still, a small matter like this is hardly worth using up one of Professor Xu's favors!"
...
Some time later, Liu Shang was once again called to Song Guangyuan's office.
Their relationship had become increasingly familiar and natural.
After handing him a drink, Song Guangyuan smiled and patted Liu Shang on the shoulder.
"Liu Shang, as a father, I really have to thank you for what happened last night."
"If something had happened to Jiajia, it would have been a devastating blow to me and her mother."
"By the way, Jiajia told me you took a hard hit for her. Are you alright?"
Liu Shang shook his head and smiled. "I just happened to be passing by."
"The incident was far less serious than you're imagining, Uncle Song. It was nothing more than some kids messing around, an accident."
"As for the little bump I took, it's nothing."
Seeing Liu Shang so calm and composed, Song Guangyuan nodded with satisfaction.
"Well, kids your age do tend to be impulsive."
"If you can look after Jiajia at school, your Aunt Wu and I can truly rest easy."
Liu Shang seemed to selectively misunderstand the deeper meaning in Song Guangyuan's words, spreading his hands with a wry smile.
"Uncle Song, you know I hardly have any time to spend at school!"
"However, if Song Jia ever needs help, I'll definitely do my best to be there for her."
...
In the period that followed, Liu Shang's life became a simple, monotonous routine between his dorm and the study room.
Even though Xu Tiande had already put in a good word for him, Liu Shang didn't dare to relax given the severe situation.
Jiang Ruolin was very pleased with his diligent behavior.
Meanwhile, Song Jia and Liu Shang found themselves chatting online more and more frequently.
As they interacted more, Song Jia felt that Liu Shang was different from any other boy she knew.
Sometimes he was incredibly humorous, and other times he was so infuriating she wanted to punch him.
But before she knew it, even Song Jia herself failed to notice that the grudge she had held about Liu Shang owning the same laptop as her had quietly vanished.
On the contrary, sometimes when she was lying in bed, chatting with him on her laptop, she would imagine what Liu Shang looked like using the exact same computer.
The feeling was a little strange, and she couldn't quite describe it.
Finally, the sword of Damocles that had been hanging over the heads of the chemical engineering freshmen came crashing down: the final exams.
The professors were absolutely ruthless. Not only was the difficulty of the exams not reduced in any way, but it was even higher than they had described!
One brutal exam after another slammed down, and the entire freshman class of the School of Chemical Engineering suffered heavy casualties.
On the battlefield of the finals, every subject left a trail of metaphorical corpses.
Howling was no longer sufficient to describe the state of these first-year students; they had reached a point of despair, wanting to cry but having no tears left.
Even the few well-known top students in the department were in the same boat; just passing had become an extravagant hope.
Against this backdrop of students feeling like every day was a year and suffering through a living hell, the exam results were released one by one.
But to everyone's astonishment, the mood among the freshman chemistry professors was extremely grim.
It turned out that Liu Shang, the very culprit they had been trying to teach a lesson, had scored remarkably well.
None of them had been able to trip up the lawless student who cut classes every day.
On the contrary, the students who took meticulous notes, listened attentively in class, and had left the best impressions on their teachers had suffered devastating losses.
It could be said that in this battle they themselves had instigated, the teachers had suffered a disastrous defeat.
Just as the atmosphere in the first-year faculty office of the School of Chemical Engineering was at its most tense, the culprit who had made all the teachers' stomachs ache with anger—Liu Shang—walked in with a few bags of high-quality fruit, smiling.
Seeing this, the group of teachers felt their lungs twitch with anger and almost unanimously adopted the same tactic: they ignored him.
Their reaction was exactly what Liu Shang had expected.
He walked over to the teacher for Surfactant Chemistry, Li Wenzhong.
"Professor Li, have some fruit."
Now that Liu Shang had greeted him directly, Li Wenzhong, a model teacher, could no longer ignore him, no matter how angry he was.
"Hmph, I can't afford your fruit."
"What? Now that the results are out, have you come to gloat?"
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