The third grade placement test is held on the last Saturday of September.

I couldn't delay my study progress, so I took exams for six subjects all day on Saturday.

When he started doing the questions, he was still able to stay energetic, but when he came to the last subject, politics, Lin Chaoxi felt that his physical and mental strength had almost reached the limit. His arms were sore, but he was still trying his best to recall and kept writing.

When the bell rang for the papers to be handed in, the whole class let out a sigh of relief.

The teacher asked them to pass the test paper up. Bao Xiaomeng, who was sitting behind her, poked her back with the test paper.

Lin Chaoxi turned around and took it. At first glance, he found that Bao Xiaomeng had left many important questions blank on the political test paper, and he didn't even write a few perfunctory sentences.

She frowned, but Bao Xiaomeng acted as if nothing had happened. She turned around and asked Matt Zheng if there was a basketball game later. She would bring another pretty girl from the next class to watch it.

"In the playground of No. 1 Middle School." Zheng Matt smiled. Because she turned around, Zheng Matt subconsciously asked, "Is baby Chaoxi here to see it too?"

After asking, Mart Zheng realized that something was wrong. He paused, and An Xiaoxiao said, "Tianming, you're overthinking. Lin Chaoxi is going to Zhongming's class soon. Why would she play with poor students like us?"

Lin Chaoxi was immediately embarrassed. Zheng Tianming gave him an apologetic smile and said to An Xiaoxiao: "Xiaoxiao baby, you are overthinking it~"

An Xiaoxiao: “Haha.”

Lin Chaoxi quickly turned around and passed the test paper forward.

Similar conversations were taking place in many corners of the classroom, such as where to go out for fun and what to eat in the evening. The atmosphere in the class was certainly interesting and harmonious, but no one was comparing answers or discussing questions. It didn't feel like a junior high school graduating class at all.

Lin Chaoxi didn't know why he suddenly cared about this. He cared that there was no learning atmosphere in the class, that no one took it seriously... that... no one cared about the future...

She remained silent, handed in the paper, and started to clean up the table.

One side of the desk was hers, relatively clean, while the other side was hers, covered in all sorts of messy scribbles. She put the pencil case into her schoolbag and continued to organize the things on the desk.

At noon today, Li Shu specifically called her and Pei Zhi out of the class again and told them very bluntly that their scores in Chinese, math and English were all very good and if nothing unexpected happened, they would definitely be assigned to the Zhongming class.

At the morning meeting next Monday, each class will announce the results of the class placement test, and they can go to the new class with their schoolbags before the first class. Therefore, Li Shu told them to take the useless things home after the test today, so that they can go directly to the new class on Monday without moving around...

When Li Shu talked about the reason for letting them take their things home, her speech slowed down significantly, and Lin Chaoxi could roughly understand the unspoken meaning in her words - if they wanted to leave, they should leave cleanly, without moving things around and being watched by the whole class, which would be embarrassing for everyone.

Therefore, in order to prevent such an embarrassing situation from happening, Lin Chaoxi could only pack her things. She packed very slowly, and Bao Xiaomeng, Zheng Matt, and the students from No. 1 Middle School who were watching the basketball game all disappeared in an instant.

But some people didn't leave...

"Are you leaving our class on Monday?" The sleepy brother just woke up and looked at her with squinted eyes.

Lin Chaoxi was startled and answered hesitantly: "But... maybe... not, I'm not sure yet, I'm just packing up my things."

"You're packing to take the dictionary with you?"

Lin Chaoxi looked at the big bulge in his schoolbag and his face turned red.

"You're a nice person, don't stay in our class anymore."

After saying this, Brother Sleepy picked up his schoolbag and left, looking very cool.

Lin Chaoxi stared at his back in a daze.

When she came to her senses, the only students left in the classroom were those on duty.

The broom swept across the ground, making a quiet rustling sound. Books of varying heights were placed on the desk, forgotten clothes hung on the back of the chair, the leaves of the spider plant in the corner of the plant drooped, and the window was sparsely dusted. Under the setting sun, it seemed as if there were a few golden sands floating in the air.

Lin Chaoxi put the last exercise book on the desk into his schoolbag, but as if he sensed something, his hand stopped at the moment of pressing the book.

She turned to the first page, on which were written the three words "Zhongming Class" in red ink with certainty.

——

As usual, Lin Chaoxi left the class with Pei Zhi.

Pei Zhi traveled lightly, carrying the same schoolbag as when he went to school, without bringing anything else. Lin Chaoxi stared at the boy's schoolbag, struggling for a while, but still didn't ask him.

However, the moment they walked out of the school gate, they stopped at the same time.

In front of a stall outside the school gate, someone was taking a pancake from the stall owner. Seeing them, the man greeted them happily, then opened the plastic bag without hesitation and took a bite of the hot pancake.

Apart from Lao Lin, no one else can eat alone in front of the children.

Lin Chaoxi rushed to Lao Lin and said, "Dad, why did you come to pick me up?"

"Seeing that you have been losing your appetite recently, I came to talk to you and show my fatherly love at the same time." Lao Lin said frankly.

Lin Zhaoxi: “…”

"Pei Zhi, go home by yourself." Lao Lin patted Pei Zhi on the shoulder, pushed the bicycle with one hand, and walked in the other direction with her.

There was no conversation between her and Lao Lin until he finished eating the pancake. Lao Lin smacked his lips, got scalded, and pushed his bicycle crookedly, but even so, Lao Lin had no intention of giving her half.

Lin Chaoxi has already... gotten used to it...

After walking for a while, Lin Chaoxi finally couldn't hold it in any longer: "Dad, how long will it take... I... can't walk anymore."

Lao Lin laughed: "Where do you think we should go?"

"Why didn't you say so earlier!"

"If I had told you earlier, how could I have tricked you into walking a few more steps to lose weight?"

Lin Zhaoxi: “…”

Old Lin still had a smile on his face. Lin Chaoxi couldn't fight him at all, so she had to turn her head and look around. So, the plot was arranged in such a weird way. Unknowingly, she and Old Lin walked to the back door of Anning No. 1 Middle School.

The basketball court was not far ahead, and cheers of encouragement could be heard in the wind.

Zheng Tianming dribbled the ball and jumped back to shoot, while Bao Xiaomeng shouted in the stands. On the day Pei Zhi came, they played a game with Class 1. At that time, everyone was united and tacitly connected, and there was no distance between them as there is now.

Seeing her stunned, Lao Lin glanced at the basketball court, then smiled and walked towards it with his bicycle. There was no shelter outside the fence of the basketball court, and she and Lao Lin stood alone, which was very abrupt and easy to be discovered.

A long whistle sounded on the court, indicating the end of a quarter.

In the blink of an eye, a figure dropped the basketball and ran across the court.

When Lin Zhaoxi saw the afterimage, he subconsciously stuck himself behind the telephone pole.

"Hello, baby Chaoxi, is this uncle your brother?" Matt Zheng pulled the fence, smiled brightly, and greeted loudly.

"You are a good talker, young man." Lao Lin praised her eloquently, and turned to call her, "Come out quickly, the telephone pole can't cover you."

Lin Zhaoxi: "Don't turn around and talk to me..."

"Did Chaoxi baby come here specially to watch me play basketball?"

Lin Zhaoxi: “No.”

Lao Lin: “Yes.”

Lin Chaoxi was successfully betrayed by her father again.

More eyes were cast from the stands. Bao Xiaomeng remained silent, and An Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. However, many outgoing and cheerful classmates jumped up and waved at her, while others shouted in great frustration, "Lin, Chao, Xi, what are you doing here?"

Lin Chaoxi's hand was still raised in the air to return the gift, but upon hearing that, she retracted her hand, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Fuck you!" Zheng Tianming turned around and gave the middle finger to the boys who were shouting the loudest, "Don't try to cheat me!"

"Bill?"

"We're betting on whether you'll come and watch us play~"

"What's the point of this..."

"Because whether you love us or not is very important~"

Matt Zheng's smile was sincere, although combined with his playful look, it seemed more like a lie to make the girl happy, but perhaps because the toothpicks stuck in his ears and nose had all been replaced with jingling silver rings, Lin Chaoxi actually felt that it was sincere.

It turns out that real gold and silver are more reliable than toothpicks... Lin Chaoxi fell into a very inexplicable feeling, and Matt Zheng was still looking at her with a smile.

"You...you should go to the competition soon, come on...go!" Lin Chaoxi came back to his senses.

Matt Zheng patted his chest like a gorilla and ran away quickly.

Lao Lin: "He is not as handsome as Pei Zhi. Are you still hesitant about this?"

"I have no entanglement..." Lin Zhaoxi said this and suddenly looked at Lao Lin, "!!!"

Lao Lin wouldn't think that she had been "losing her appetite" recently because she was worried about whether to stay in Class 13 with Zheng Tianming or go to Class 1 with Pei Zhi?

"Dad, it's not what you think!"

"What is that?"

Lao Lin asked.

——

"I was wondering if you could...teach our class..."

Sitting on a bench in the small park at the corner of the alley with Lao Lin, Lin Chaoxi peeled a roasted sweet potato and finally asked the question he had been hesitating about for many days.

"No." Lao Lin's answer was decisive, in stark contrast to her hesitation.

Lin Chaoxi was burned by the golden orange sweet potato meat, but she managed not to cry out in pain.

"First of all, they don't want to learn. I can't teach people who don't want to learn, so I won't teach them."

Lao Lin is Lao Lin, and his syllogistic reasoning perfectly points out the key to the problem.

Lao Lin's attitude was unusually serious. He continued, "Secondly, I am a math teacher. I can only teach math well. I cannot change their current learning status of other subjects."

"Um."

"Of course, the main problem is that Dad's cram school is very expensive, and the classes are scheduled until next year," said Lao Lin.

Lin Zhaoxi: “…”

She lowered her head and continued to peel the sweet potato. Steam was rising from her chest. She felt angry and amused at the same time. In fact, she had thought about Lao Lin's answer many times before. Now that she heard Lao Lin say it himself, she felt relieved.

The situation in their class is completely different from that in the elementary school Olympiad summer camp, and Lao Lin is not a panacea.

"So should I go directly to Zhongming's class?" She took a bite of the sweet potato and asked the question directly.

"That's your business, why are you asking me?"

"You don't even give me any references?"

"Your old father doesn't know what's going on in your girlish heart, so he can't provide any advice?"

"It's very simple. Class 1 has a good learning environment, while Class 13 has a bad learning environment. In a better learning environment, people can be influenced by the good atmosphere, work harder, and make progress every day."

Hearing him say this, Lao Lin turned around in shock and looked at her from head to toe again: "So what happened to your father's influence on you that made you work so hard to watch TV dramas for three years?"

Lin Zhaoxi: “…”

At that moment, she certainly wanted to refute Lao Lin. For example, in the novel, Lin Chaoxi was a completely new and imperfect her, not the current her. But in fact, she was not changed by Lao Lin in the Strawberry World, so she decided to keep her mouth shut.

Lao Lin shook his head and burped.

The green bamboos behind the bench swayed gently, people were coming and going in the alley, and many students with schoolbags were happily rushing down to the depths of the alley.

"What kind of advice do you need?" Lao Lin was very curious.

"I want you to tell me, if I stay in Class 13, how can I change something without being changed by the environment?"

It is at this moment.

The setting sun finally completely disappeared behind the rooftops. At that delicate moment when the sky was at the junction of light and dark, the aroma of braised crucian carp filled the air, making people feel inexplicably warm.

Lin Chaoxi sniffed and suddenly heard Lao Lin speak.

"Don't be changed by the world, or you will change the world."

Old Lin's voice was clear and peaceful, and his smile was gentle. But at that time, Lin Chaoxi actually didn't understand what these words from her father meant.