Chapter 48

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After that, Xigua gave Tong Yan a brief lesson on the personal income tax formula, which was quite complex. In short, the more you earn, the higher the tax rate. Even if the royalties were sky-high, the tax rate would still be only 11.2%. Now, Tong Yan complained that he was at a disadvantage, but he would be secretly rejoicing when his annual income reached a million.

After a few more words, it was time to end the class. Tong Yan hadn't managed to write a 3000-word chapter, so he sent the 2000+ words to his cousin. He still owed one chapter for the week. He could go out again on Saturday night, and Sunday was all self-study classes, so the teachers wouldn't be too strict. In the future, he could make it a regular routine to stay up all night writing five chapters, write one or two chapters during computer class, and by breaking down six or seven 3000-word chapters, he could easily make up seven or eight shorter chapters.

Of course, this was far from the best solution, and Tong Yan was always looking for new ways to solve his problems.

Time flew by, and it was already the fourth week of the new semester. At Yangping No. 1 High School, there was a monthly exam every month. After the exam results were announced, there would be a holiday.

The monthly exams were not as strict as the mid-term and final exams, and the results did not affect tuition fees. However, they were still real exams, and the entire grade would be ranked. This was the first monthly exam after the division of arts and science classes, and all the students hoped to achieve good results. The homeroom teachers all hoped that their classes would rank at the top of the grade. Song Xiancheng's expectations were even more explicit: to outperform classes 1, 3, and 4, both in the number of students in the top ten of the grade and in the average class score. Class 2 had always been in the leading position.

The students' seating arrangements for the exam were based on their previous exam results. The top 30 from the last final exam were in the first examination room, 31-65 in the second, and 66-100 in the third. These three rooms were jokingly called the "Golden Three Examination Rooms." The classrooms might change each time, but the status of the Golden Three Examination Rooms remained unchanged. Students who could consistently stay in these three rooms were definitely among the top students in their grade. As long as they could maintain their positions in these rooms, they would have no problem getting into a good university.

Since entering high school, Tong Yan had taken over a dozen exams, and he had never left the first examination room. His best result was 4th in the grade, and his worst was 28th. His results largely depended on the scores given by Mr. Song for his essays. When he ranked 4th, his essay was a perfect score, and when he ranked 28th, his essay was a zero.

In the last final exam, Tong Yan ranked 8th in the grade, so he was naturally in the first examination room. The seats in the first examination room were arranged in a 7-8-8-7 pattern. Tong Yan, with the exam number 0008, was at the end of the second column. The student in front of him, with the number 0009, was his old acquaintance Ye Qingzhu. Most of the other seats were occupied by students from classes 1, 2, 3, and 4. Even if there were students from other classes, they were mostly absorbed by classes 1, 2, 3, and 4 during the division of arts and science.

The student in seat 1 was Dong Mian, a versatile exam genius who excelled in every subject and never studied during his free time. He spent all his free time on online games, making him a real oddity.

The student in seat 4 was Cheng Xianru, the female class president and English class representative. Her English scores were the best in the 2004 grade, and she consistently ranked first in English, even more so than Tong Yan's consistent first place in Chinese.

Tong Yan was third in his class and eighth in the grade, with outstanding Chinese and strong math skills. He had maintained these advantages since elementary school. His physics, chemistry, and biology were slightly weaker, but only in comparison to his Chinese and math. His English was only average, which somewhat held him back.

These three students were always among the top three in the class. Unless Tong Yan wrote a zero-score essay, it was hard for anyone to challenge their positions.

Another student from class 2 in the first examination room was Tang Xiang, who had the number 11. She wasn't particularly smart, but she had a unique kind of wisdom. Her notes were a hot resource in class 2, even more sought after than the homework of Dong Mian and Tong Yan. She meticulously recorded every key point and its extensions, making her notes a masterpiece. This was her secret to consistently ranking at the top.

Dang Han, with the number 20, had transferred from class 12 to class 2. He had dominated the top spot in class 12 for a year and often ranked in the top 30 in the grade. The division of arts and science in class 12 was significant, and he smoothly transitioned to class 2, which was full of strong students. His weakness was physics, but he excelled in chemistry and biology, and his Chinese, math, and English were above average.

Lan Mingzhu, with the number 22, was a hardworking student who devoted all his time outside of eating and sleeping to studying. His diligence made up for his lack of natural talent, and his willingness to ask questions, no matter how basic, helped him achieve a high overall score, even though he didn't excel in any particular subject.

There were seven students from class 2 in the first examination room. Besides the ones mentioned, there was also Huang Yelou, the other class president, who ranked 30th. Although he wasn't popular and didn't have the same authority as Cheng Xianru, his grades were still quite good, usually placing him in the top ten of the class and the top sixty of the grade.

Like most high school students his age, Tong Yan had a strong competitive spirit, which manifested in his desire to outperform his peers in exams. If the battlefield were his novel, he would hope for it to appear on the homepage's click and recommendation lists, and to have a good ranking on the monthly ticket list after it went online. However, due to the limited updates, his book was getting further and further from the homepage's weekly click list, and the homepage's weekly recommendation list was out of reach. As for the monthly ticket list, he didn't know when it would go online.

So, the only place where Tong Yan could now showcase his ambitions and strive for success was the monthly exams at school. A good score would make him happy and proud, and his parents would be proud of him. This was all he thought about at the moment.

The first exam was always the most challenging, the Chinese exam, which was also Tong Yan's strongest subject. He always started with the essay. When he saw the topic "Falling Snow," Tong Yan closed his eyes and leaned on the desk, gathering his thoughts.

After about 10 minutes, Tong Yan suddenly sat up straight and started writing rapidly. This scene caught the attention of many other candidates. Most students would think and write at the same time, taking at least an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, to complete the essay. But Tong Yan, the oddity, wrote without stopping, finishing the essay in about half an hour, without even correcting a single typo