As a reborn individual, Qin Yuanqing naturally wouldn't waste money buying past exam papers.
He logged into the classroom computer, opened Baidu, typed in "2008 College Entrance Examination past papers", downloaded them, and took them to an off-campus print shop. The whole thing cost less than ten yuan.
His parents were farmers who barely earned much all year round. Supporting him through school was already difficult enough, so Qin Yuanqing's monthly allowance wasn't much. He could eat his fill, but there was no extra money. If he could save one yuan, he would never spend two.
Six hundred yuan a month wasn't exactly tight, but it certainly wasn't generous either—after all, just three meals a day already cost around fifteen yuan.
Qin Yuanqing immersed himself in solving problems every day. After finishing a set, he checked the answers, clearly seeing which were right and which were wrong. What he had mastered and what he hadn't was crystal clear to him.
"About 580 points," Qin Yuanqing calculated silently. "That means I'm just barely at the first-tier university cutoff. I'm still far from being a real top student."
Completing one full past paper earned him one learning coin. After finishing the entire 2008 college entrance exam paper, his learning coins reached 25. At the same time, he noted down several problems in his notebook—questions that felt familiar, ones he vaguely remembered appearing in the 2009 exam.
So many years had passed, and he couldn't remember many exact exam questions. But he clearly remembered the Chinese essay prompts—that was his advantage. If he prepared well, he could easily gain over ten extra points. Normally, his essay scores ranged from 45 to 50. A perfect-score essay would change everything.
Qin Yuanqing continued grinding through the 2008 exam papers—not just from Min Province, but from other provinces as well. Whenever he encountered problems he couldn't understand, he asked his teachers, who were happy to explain.
Teachers understood very well that drilling problems was one of the best ways to improve scores. Otherwise, there wouldn't be endless test papers in senior year—those were all for training problem-solving logic and techniques, while identifying key and difficult points.
Past college entrance exam questions were the essence of all exam content. Teachers on the exam committee were undoubtedly elite; their understanding of the textbooks far surpassed that of ordinary teachers. In fact, even teachers themselves couldn't always solve every question correctly—some seemingly simple problems were full of traps.
After Qin Yuanqing finished all the 2008 exam papers from every province, his scores improved dramatically. Out of 750 points, he could now score around 630—enough to enter Lu Island University.
Lu Island University was the most famous university in Min Province, a double first-class 985 and 211 institution, consistently ranked between 20th and 30th nationwide.
At the same time, Qin Yuanqing's learning coins reached 100, and all his subject attributes advanced to Level 2.
In the beginner system, Level 10 was the maximum. Reaching Level 10 meant achieving the level of a high school top student in that field.
Qin Yuanqing checked his attribute panel:
Host: Qin Yuanqing
Age: 18
IQ: 115
EQ: 100
Subjects:
Chinese: Level 2 (100/1000)
Mathematics: Level 2 (100/1000)
English: Level 2 (100/1000)
Physics: Level 2 (100/1000)
Chemistry: Level 2 (100/1000)
Biology: Level 2 (100/1000)
Physical Fitness: Level 1 (0/100)
Looking at these stats, Qin Yuanqing understood clearly—his recent improvement had been rapid, but he had already reached his current limit. He was merely unlocking his existing potential. From here on, every additional point would be hard-earned.
"Grinding problems feels amazing—keep grinding and it just keeps getting better!" Qin Yuanqing took a deep breath. He had already been reborn—how could he be satisfied with this? He wanted to become a true top student, achieve a sky-high score, enjoy the admiration of others, and make his parents proud.
He exchanged all 100 learning coins for IQ points. As a student, EQ wasn't important—being a top student was all that mattered.
One IQ point cost 10 learning coins. One hundred coins gave him ten points. His IQ rose from 115 to 125.
By international standards, an IQ above 120 was considered excellent. His original 115 was only upper-average.
Higher IQ meant stronger learning and comprehension ability. Those students scoring over 700 points—none of them had an IQ below 140.
Compared to them, he was still far behind.
"Do you know how to solve this problem?"
Just as Qin Yuanqing was satisfied with raising his IQ, a soft, gentle voice reached his ears.
He looked up and saw Lin Yuling, the top student in their class. She consistently scored above 140 in Chinese and English, and her essays were always perfect-score examples displayed on the board.
She hadn't made it into the experimental class only because she ranked 51st in the grade during the first semester of sophomore year—missing it by one spot.
Her Chinese and English were outstanding, but her math and physics were only average.
Qin Yuanqing remembered that Lin Yuling later got into Lu Island University and became a civil servant after graduation.
"Let me see," Qin Yuanqing said, barely glancing at her.
Lin Yuling was about 156 cm tall, with short hair and average looks. After years of internet celebrities reshaping his aesthetics, Qin Yuanqing felt no particular attraction.
It was a physics problem involving mass and velocity, requiring force decomposition.
Mechanics always boiled down to force decomposition. If forces weren't broken down clearly, the problem was almost impossible to solve correctly.
As an engineering professional in his past life, Qin Yuanqing excelled at this. He marked all the forces acting on the ball, set up equations, calculated the forces, then derived velocity using force, mass, and acceleration, finally applying momentum conservation to determine the mass of the other ball.
"Got it?" Qin Yuanqing asked.
"Yes, thank you," Lin Yuling said gratefully.
He hadn't said much, but his steps were clear and logical. Watching his problem-solving process revealed his thinking—far more valuable than a simple answer.
"You're welcome. We're classmates," Qin Yuanqing smiled.
Classmates—an ordinary word, yet not so ordinary.
In the past, Qin Yuanqing thought classmates were just familiar strangers. But after working for years, he realized their importance. His university classmates were all in another province, while his colleagues easily resolved matters with a phone call through their networks. He, on the other hand, had to rely on persistence and favors.
Later, when his high school classmates ended up working in local government offices, his own work became much easier. That was when he truly understood the value of classmates—help given without expecting anything in return, simply because you once studied together.
Many students, especially girls, looked at Qin Yuanqing in surprise. They couldn't understand when he had become so approachable.
If Qin Yuanqing knew their thoughts, he would cry injustice—he wasn't cold before, just introverted.
During English class, Qin Yuanqing listened attentively. English didn't lend itself well to self-study, and his past exam papers showed that English stubbornly stayed below 120, dragging his score down.
Science was his strong suit. Back then, he scored 256 in science. Now, after intensive training, he could consistently reach 280–290. With continued effort, he was confident he could hit a perfect 300.
But English was a nightmare. Improvement was slow, vocabulary hard to memorize, and grammar confusing—past tense, present tense, future tense—it all gave him headaches.
Listening comprehension was even worse. Out of 30 points, he usually got only 18–20, a serious weakness.
Sometimes, he couldn't understand why English was compulsory when most people would never go abroad. Over the next decade, calls to remove English from exams never stopped. Countless students' futures were ruined by this single subject.
Math and Chinese had improved significantly—but English remained a glaring shortcoming, and he lacked confidence.
In middle school, he often scored 140 in English. But in high school, as the material deepened, high scores became much harder. Vocabulary, phrases, grammar—everything piled up.
There was a legend in their cohort: a petite girl in the science track who memorized the entire Oxford Dictionary. From freshman year onward, she was either first or second in every exam.
Qin Yuanqing remembered that she would later be admitted to UCLA in the United States. Her acceptance letter was displayed prominently at school and eventually preserved in the school museum.
Qin Yuanqing knew that to become a true top student, he couldn't afford any weaknesses. English had to be fixed—no matter what.
His goal wasn't just top ten in school, or even first place in the grade. That wouldn't be enough to become the top science scorer in the city.
And Shui Xian City wasn't even an education powerhouse. The city's top scorer usually ranked only around tenth in the province. Becoming the provincial science champion was still an incredibly long road.
The revolution is not yet complete; comrades must continue striving.
Qin Yuanqing took this as his motto, encouraging himself every day. His vision was no longer limited to County No.1 High School or Shui Xian City—but the entire Min Province, and even the whole nation.