I'm Really a Superstar

The next day.

The storm was not over yet.

The first thing he heard when he woke up and opened his eyes was the ringing of his cell phone.

Zhang Ye was in a half-awake state when he answered the call, "Hello, who is it?"

"It's Pan Yang." It was the Dean of Peking University's School of Mathematical Sciences on the line.

Zhang Ye suddenly felt more awake, and asked knowingly, "Ha, Dean Pan, what's the matter for you to call so early in the morning?"

Pan Yang did not hold back. "Why did you pull that shit on me yesterday?"

Zhang Ye played dumb. "Ah? Did I?"

"You claimed that the questions were set by me?" Pan Yang asked.

Zhang Ye said, "What? What questions were set by you? Did I say that? I don't remember anymore. I was too tired yesterday, so I went to bed immediately after I got home."

"You rascal, still pretending to be innocent."

"Hehe, that's not it."

After quibbling for a bit, the call ended and Zhang Ye was no longer feeling sleepy. He got up and went out of his bedroom only to see that his family had already gathered in the living room to watch the news. Chenchen was sitting at the computer desk, fidgeting around, doing something.

"Dad, Mom," Zhang Ye greeted.

His mother turned her head. "You're up? I'll go prepare breakfast then."

"Sure. Thanks, Mom." Having said that, Zhang Ye turned to Chenchen. "What are you doing?"

Chenchen did not turn to look at him and just replied, "Using the computer."

Zhang Ye grunted, "Playing games again?"

"No," Chenchen said.

"Let me see." Zhang Ye walked up behind her and saw the interface of Weibo in the browser. When he saw that the entire screen was filled with the angry comments and scolding by the examinees and their parents, he couldn't help but sweat at this. "Why are you looking at this so early in the morning?"

Chenchen simply said, "I want to know how everyone is scolding you."

Zhang Ye nearly fainted. "Why would you want to know that!"

Chenchen said, "It's fun."

Zhang Ye: "…"

His father was amused by this as he sat there beside them.

His mother said, "You rascal, you deserved it. You could have just stayed at home in peace, yet you chose to go out there and get into trouble!"

Zhang Ye said depressed, "You say it like it's such a simple situation. If I just stay at home all the time, where would I get my popularity? How could I boost my reputation that way?"

His mother rolled her eyes at him. "Whoa, you're still talking about reputation? Do you even have any reputation left now? It's already turned into notoriety! When I went out to buy the groceries this morning, I bumped into our neighbors, Little Sun and Sister Chen, at the market. They would usually chat with me for a bit whenever we see each other, or at least greet me. But today, it's like they pretended not to have seen me at all and just walked past me. I only found out later that Little Sun's and Sister Chen's children were taking their college entrance exams this year! Grandma Wang told me that Little Sun's child went home after the exam and broke down crying! Look at the trouble you've caused me! I have to go over there to make a visit to clean up your mess!"

Zhang Ye blinked. "Surely that's not necessary? The questions I set were definitely not easy, but they also weren't that difficult either. It shouldn't have been so difficult that it would cause them to cry, right?"

His father interrupted. "Just watch the news for yourself later. You can't imagine how many people are crying because of this year's college entrance exam."

……

The scoldings continued on the Internet.

If the examinees had just recounted from memory the Mathematics exam questions yesterday, then as of today, the entire exam had been uploaded with all the answers included in it. Anyone could see it. It was only then that the netizens discovered that those questions they had seen yesterday were only for the multiple choice or fill in the blank sections at the beginning part of the examination paper. The short answer questions at the end of the test were even crazier in difficulty. One of them required the examinees to solve a question that was at the university level using high school algebraic geometry knowledge. The attached ideal answer for this question took up more half the paper it was written on, leaving anyone who read it trembling!

The examinees were in tears as they checked through the answers.

"I scored 50 points!"

"I calculated mine and I only got 45 points!"

"I'm so sad, I think mine is only about 40-45 points. There were a few multiple choice questions that I couldn't understand and guessed at, so I can't remember which options I chose for those!"

"I did a little better, but I won't get higher than 70 points!"

"Having analyzed the questions and answers today, I've realized that we were too careless during the exam. We totally underestimated that scammer Zhang Ye back then. Many of the questions could still be solved and were within most of the examinees' level. But what is most wicked about Zhang Ye is that he totally tries to catch you off guard with the questions' approach. The style of the questions are all done in a way that we have never come across before, so when we first read the questions on the exams yesterday, most of us were stunned by them. It happened to me as well and I was totally unprepared for it!"

"It's useless to say anything now!"

"I hereby announce I will officially join the 'Zhang Ye's Lifetime Adversaries Organization'!"

"I will join too!"

"A lifetime of adversary? I will be his adversary for at least two lifetimes!"

"Three lifetimes for me!"

"Ahem, don't be so harsh. Teacher Zhang was just following orders. He's still a nice guy no matter what."

"Right, don't be too harsh on Teacher Zhang now."

There were still a few netizens who were speaking up for Zhang Ye.

In the end, an examinee from this year's college entrance exam posted a reply that left everyone laughing: "It's not like I want to be so harsh on Teacher Zhang, I really don't wish to do so. But among all the insanely difficult questions, if any one, just one question, was set by another teacher, then I wouldn't have said anything. I would understand and I could point my finger at the other question setter instead. All it needed was for a single question to not be set by him! But as it stands? They were all set by him! Every single question was his creation! So give us a reason not to be harsh on Zhang Ye? Just a single reason will do!"

If it were any other question setter, when faced with all these public opinions, they would have long since crumbled from the pressure and come forward to give an explanation to save their reputation. But Zhang Ye did not do so. He just went ahead with the most straightforward response—lie low! It was a good thing that this guy's mental strength was so strong. He had already gone through many similar situations where he was scolded by a lot of people at once, so it was just routine for him now.

Perhaps that was also the same reason why the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board had approached him in the first place. The Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board were very committed to the reform of the college entrance examination this time as they wanted to change the perception of their exam questions being too simple. That explained their determination but also explained why they needed someone to carry out this dirty job. They needed someone who could become the focused target of the backlash from the examinees and their parents, thus lessening the pressure focused on the Board itself!

But who could they find?

Who would be the most suitable target?

Among all the teachers at the university level, who was the most unafraid of getting scolded? Whose mental strength was the strongest? Who had the thickest skin of all?

The Board did not even need to think and made their decision immediately—recruit Zhang Ye! This fellow had already been through a hundred battles. His skin was amazingly thick. Even if the examinees and their parents did not scold him, there were still many other groups scolding him. Since he wasn't lacking in this area, it wouldn't matter much even if another group were to join in and scold him. So no matter how you looked at it, Zhang Ye was clearly the best candidate for this role! There was no one more suitable than he!

—That was probably why the Board invited him to join them in the first place.

However, at the very end, the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board might not have even expected that Zhang Ye would be able to write such insanely difficult questions that it would bring the examinees to tears. This was something no one could have predicted!

……

Later in the morning.

At the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board. More than a dozen people had gathered here for a meeting.

A female staff member said nervously, "Leader, the scores for this year's Math and Chinese Literature tests might be a little bit low. Professor Liu has already informed us to be prepared for it. The teachers who graded the papers have already given us some feedback. They told us that after marking more than 20 papers, no one scored higher than 100 points for the Chinese Literature test yet. It's even worse for the Math test. Among the 20 papers…not one scored above 70 points!"

The Board's leader: "…"

The Board's office supervisor: "…"

Finally, the second-in-command wiped his sweat away and said, "For the reform this time, I think we might have tried a little too hard….It feels a little too harsh even. Could the tier 1 grade really not even be above 480 points?"

A staff member coughed and said, "Only over a few dozen papers have been graded. We still don't know about the rest of the papers after that. However, it's true that this year's questions were too difficult."

Faced with the incredibly low scores of the examinees, the people on the Board were also feeling a little guilty now. This was the first time they were doubting their decision in getting Zhang Ye to join them and wondered if it was a mistake. They felt they might really have gone too far this time!

……

A few days later.

The national college entrance examination's results were gradually released.

The Internet buzzed with activity.

A Shandong Province examinee: "I checked it out! I scored 560 points!"

A Beihe Province examinee announced excitedly: "I got 530! It should be enough to qualify for tier 1! Hahahaha!"

A Jinshi examinee: "I scored 510. I didn't do as well as I could have, but it should be enough to qualify me for tier 2. Why haven't they announced the grading yet? Hurry up! It's taking too long!"

"596 for me! Do you all think that I will become the top scholar of our province?"

"Nonsense, I scored a point higher than you, what top scholar are you talking about!"

"Hai, I only got 488. I'm in trouble this year!"

"I got 601 points, higher than any of you!"

Many examinees from the different provinces were bragging about their scores actively online, except for one place. That place was where the Beijing examinees were from.

Everyone began to notice.

"Eh, why haven't any of the Beijing examinees talked about their scores yet?"

"Beijing examinees, how did you guys do?"

"Right, your exams made the headlines this year!"

"How many points? Tell us quickly."

The other provinces' examinees were all full of anticipation and curious.

At this moment, a female Beijing examinee posted on Weibo: "Are you sure you want to see?"

The netizens actively replied: "Of course!"

"Alright then." The female Beijing examinee immediately posted her results slip online.

When the netizens saw it, they were all dumbfounded!

Chinese Literature: 78 points.

Mathematics: 25 points.

"Damn!"

"Surely that's too low?"

"Are you serious? 25 points for Mathematics?"

"This girl must be just average in her studies. Is there anyone else who scored higher?"

Another group of Beijing examinees gradually posted their results slips online. They were even the students from some of Beijing's key focus schools!

A student from No. 15 High School: "My total score is 391 points."

A Beijing Normal University Affiliated High School's student: "I only got 69 points on my Chinese Literature test."

A student from No. 4 High School: "My total score is 482 points. It's already considered high, but I only received 69 points on my Math test! It's low as f**k. Not even labeling it as going overboard on the scores would explain the situation properly!"

Very soon, the various provinces' average scores were tabulated and released.

It was generally as follows:

Shandong Province Chinese Literature Examination Average Score: 97 points.

Jiangnan Province Chinese Literature Examination Average Score: 101 points.

Jiangsu Province Mathematics Examination Average Score: 102 points.

Liaodong Province Mathematics Examination Average Score: 99 points.

But the average score everyone had their attention on for this tabulation was the Beijing Municipality's examinees' average scores. For example, the English, Arts, and Science average scores of the Beijing examinees were still in line with the national average. But the Chinese Literature and Mathematics average scores, together with the weighted total score for the Beijing examinees were basically eyesores!

Beijing Municipality Chinese Literature Examination Average Score: 72 points.

Beijing Municipality Mathematics Examination Average Score: 59 points.

When they saw the statistics, many of the netizens were stunned!