Examination

Don't know what that person wants to do.

Xu Yan felt a bit tired, holding the hot drink in her hand, walking silently all the way.

Suddenly, she felt someone was looking at her. Xu Yan snapped out of it and met Chen Xiao's gaze.

She smiled at Xu Yan, her soft voice ringing, "Achai, who bought you bubble tea?"

After a few seconds of silence, Xu Yan asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious."

Xu Yan didn't know that Chen Xiao had already begun to fantasize wildly in her heart. She shook her head and said, "I don't know either."

"Don't pretend!"

Chen Xiao's expression was solemn as she continued to press, "Tell me, do you have an affair with someone?!"

An affair?!

This word scared Xu Yan.

It was too absurd. She had just transferred to this school a few days ago and hadn't even recognized everyone yet. How could she have an affair with anyone?

"Where were you lost in your thoughts?"

Xu Yan didn't know how to respond and felt a bit flustered. "Oh my," she exclaimed a couple of times, "Your imagination is too rich."

"It must be someone from your class who bought it!"

Seeing Xu Yan's reaction, Chen Xiao thought she really didn't know, and started analyzing confidently, "But the boys in your class are quite high-quality, many of them are handsome and come from well-to-do families. Your class can be considered one of the best in terms of quality in the grade."

It seemed that girls of this age were very concerned about various gossip and often gathered together to share.

Xu Yan was clearly absent-minded.

Chen Xiao continued on, getting more excited as she pulled Xu Yan along, "Maybe you've caught the eye of one of the boys in your class, Achai!"

"Well..." Xu Yan didn't want to discuss this kind of thing further and changed the topic, "Do you know where the multimedia classroom is?"

"The multimedia classroom?" Chen Xiao paused, furrowing her brows in confusion, "Why do you want to go there?"

Xu Yan replied, "Our teacher posted the distribution of exam rooms for tomorrow's monthly exam, and I'll be taking the exam there."

"Oh, oh, oh," Chen Xiao realized, "You're a transfer student, I almost forgot. But those are the underachieving students in that exam room."

Xu Yan nodded, indicating that she knew.

The two of them happened to enter the school grounds, turning a corner from the tree-lined path, and a teaching building came into view.

Chen Xiao pointed towards the opposite side of the fountain and said to Xu Yan, "There, next to the music room, the multimedia classroom is on the first floor."

Xu Yan looked in the direction she pointed, silently remembering it in her mind.

...

As per the tradition of No.1 High School, there were no early self-study classes during the two days of exams.

Since the students were not yet divided into arts or sciences, they had to take both arts and sciences in the exams.

On the first day, they had Chinese in the morning, comprehensive science in the afternoon, and comprehensive arts in the evening.

On the second day, they had math in the morning and English in the afternoon.

Xu Yan set her alarm clock for 6 o'clock to wake up. She quietly put on her clothes, tidied up, and sat at her desk to silently read her essay for half an hour.

After a while, her roommates began to wake up one by one.

Liao Yuemin rubbed her eyes and yawned as she passed by Xu Yan, greeting her with a lack of energy, "Yanyan, why are you up so early?"

Xu Yan responded with a nod, packed her books, and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.

Before leaving, she filled her large water bottle with hot water and put it in her backpack.

Holding breakfast bought from the cafeteria, Xu Yan walked slowly towards the exam hall, with students passing by in small groups.

The campus was peaceful in the early morning, with a few osmanthus trees planted along the roadside, blooming in this season. The cool breeze carried a faint floral fragrance.

The sky was gradually brightening, with golden rays spreading across the horizon.

Upon arriving at the exam hall, Xu Yan found her seat, sat down, took out her books, and started reviewing while eating her breakfast.

The exam starts at 8:30.

Xu Yan looked down at her watch and it was already 8 o'clock, with only a few people in the exam hall.

After another ten minutes or so, more people gradually arrived.

Li Jieyi, Song Yifan, and Xie Ci came together, without bringing anything except for pens. They casually entered the exam hall one after another.

Li Jieyi placed his hand on Song Yifan's shoulder, stood at the door and looked around, asking, "Hey bro, where's my ray of hope sitting? Point it out to me."

Song Yifan raised his head and looked around, trying to locate it.

"There, over there!" He pointed to the front right, "Your light, your goddess of hope."

Li Jieyi glanced casually in that direction.

A slender figure was sitting quietly not far away, with her head lowered and black ponytail hanging over her shoulders.

Xu Yan was focused on her textbook, diligently reciting poems. Suddenly, she felt a poke on her back.

She turned around and saw a head approaching her closely.

Xu Yan reflexively leaned back, exclaiming, "Ah!"

The soft and tender exclamation made several boys in the room chuckle.

Some of them quietly mimicked the sound.

Song Yifan leaned on the desk behind Xu Yan, grinning, "Sister, can we make a deal?"

"What?" Xu Yan looked up and noticed two other boys standing beside him.

One of them she didn't recognize, and the other was...

When Xu Yan locked eyes with Xie Ci, she froze for a moment, then quickly looked away.

Song Yifan pointed to Li Jieyi beside him and said, "This is my buddy. Can he sit next to you during the exam so he can copy from you?"

After a two-second delay, Xu Yan asked in a daze, "How do I help you cheat?"

She had never done anything like this before and had no experience whatsoever.

Song Yifan, being familiar with such situations, patted her shoulder to reassure her, "You don't have to do much. Just raise your test paper slightly so he can see the multiple-choice questions."

Li Jieyi looked at the timid girl in her school uniform in front of him.

He sighed inwardly, no wonder, no wonder.

"Thank you, Miss, I'll rely on you for my living expenses next month. After the exam, I'll treat you to a meal," Li Jieyi said.

After Li Jieyi thanked her and said he would treat her, Xu Yan didn't know how to refuse. After hesitating for a moment, she nodded hesitantly, "Um, no need to treat me."

With just over ten minutes left until the exam started, the invigilator had already sat at the top of the platform, counting the exam papers.

Li Jieyi and Xie Ci finished their banter and jumped down from their desks. Just as Li Jieyi was about to return to his seat, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask, "Hey, Ci, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," Xie Ci lazily leaned against the desk, reading a basketball magazine.

"It's about..."

Li Jieyi raised his arm and placed it on Xie Ci's shoulder, asking in a low voice, "Why were you staring at that girl just now? Do you find her attractive?"

Xie Ci continued to look at the magazine without any change in expression on his face.

Li Jieyi pushed him again. "Give me an answer?"

"What answer?" Xie Ci was impatient.

"Do you think she's pretty?"

After hearing the question, Xie Ci looked up at him, nodded faintly, and asked, "What do you want to do?"

As Li Jieyi walked back to his seat, he was still thinking: Fortunately, he didn't tell Xie Ci just now that he was interested in pursuing girls like Xu Yan.

The invigilation in this exam hall was relaxed because it was quite large and had two teachers sitting at the front and back. After handing out the exam papers, they sat down and started playing with their phones.

The exam lasted for two and a half hours and ended at eleven o'clock.

At the moment the bell rang, there were few people left in the exam hall, as most had already finished their exams and left early.

It was the first time Li Jieyi had diligently completed an 800-word essay in the exam hall.

After finishing, he felt exhausted and slumped down in his seat.

Song Yifan came to find him and chuckled when he saw his half-dead appearance. "What's wrong? Already wilted?"

"Almost." Li Jieyi crumpled the draft paper on his desk into a ball and thanked the girl next to him, "Thank you, classmate."

Xu Yan was busy packing up her things, putting her stationery into her backpack and zipping it up.

She stood up and hugged the water cup on the table, nodding. "It's nothing."

Then she walked away.

...

In the afternoon, they had a comprehensive science exam.

Xu Yan was worried that she wouldn't have enough draft paper, so she brought a few sheets of blank paper with her.

After experiencing Xu Yan's "care" in the morning, Li Jieyi kept talking to Xu Yan before the exam, trying to get closer to her. "Hey, classmate, where are you from? How old are you? Why do you look so young? How about I treat you to a meal after the exam?"

Xu Yan was busy organizing her things, answering him with partial responses while keeping her head down.

As soon as Xu Yan found the notebook in her backpack, her desk was suddenly knocked askew by a burst of force.

Two boys were wrestling and playing beside her.

The desk shook violently. The water cup fell over, and water spilled out from the poorly sealed cup rim, quickly flooding the table. Xu Yan's clothes were also soaked.

She got up from her seat and exclaimed, rushing to hold the cup.

At the same time, Li Jieyi also realized what had happened.

He stood up and impatiently scolded the two boys, "What's wrong with you, Fu Yishun?"

The boy who bumped into Xu Yan's desk didn't back down and retorted angrily with a fiery attitude, "What's the problem? I accidentally bumped into it, do you have a problem?"

Tensions were about to escalate between the two.

Coincidentally, Xie Ci and Song Yifan walked by from behind.

Xie Ci frowned as he looked at Xu Yan standing by the side with wet sleeves, then turned to ask Li Jieyi, "What happened?"

"Fu Yishun knocked over Xu Yan's water cup."

"It's okay, it will dry up soon." Xu Yan interrupted them as she wiped the desk with tissues. "You guys should go back to your seats, the exam is about to start."

Xie Ci seemed indifferent to Xu Yan's remark. He pushed Fu Yishun's shoulder and raised his chin arrogantly, saying, "What's going on? Are you fucking blind?"

No one dared to speak as they watched the two conflicting individuals, and nobody dared to step forward to intervene.

Finally, the invigilator came down from the platform, separated the crowd, and said to them, "What are you all doing! Go back to your seats! The exam is about to start."

Fu Yishun glared at them fiercely before leaving, saying, "Just wait."

...

Xie Ci had someone in front of Xu Yan change seats, and he immediately fell asleep on his stomach as soon as the exam started.

Halfway through the comprehensive exam, Xu Yan finished answering the multiple-choice questions, filled in the answer sheet, and set it aside.

Li Jieyi smartly raised his head and started copying.

Xu Yan turned over the exam paper and began to answer the essay questions on the back.

After writing for a while, a wad of paper suddenly landed on her desk. She was startled.

A few seconds later, her back was hit again.

Xu Yan turned around and saw the boy who had knocked over her water cup earlier sitting diagonally behind her, continuing to throw paper balls in her direction.

This time it was slightly off-target and hit the head of the person who was sleeping.

Xu Yan pursed her lips, lowered her head, and continued to write her exam, ignoring the disturbance from behind.

The paper balls kept coming.

Xie Ci raised his head from his arm and turned around.

Xu Yan was still hunched over her desk, pen in hand, answering the questions on the comprehensive exam.

There were a few scattered paper balls around.

With long lashes lowered, her delicate features obscured by shadows, concealing all her emotions.

"----You fucking want to die."

In the quiet exam room, suddenly a loud thunderbolt.

All the students in the room, including the teachers, turned their heads towards the source of the noise.

Xie Ci lost his temper, pushed his desk away and stood up, grabbed a book at random, and walked over to Fu Yishun.

With a loud smack.

The book's pages fluttered in the wind as it slapped Fu Yishun's face.

Everyone was stunned by his ferocity.

Xie Ci kicked Fu Yishun's desk askew, pointing at him and saying, "If you dare to throw one more thing today, I dare you to swallow everything. Do you believe it or not?"