Chapter 14 Chapter 14

The grand first monthly exam of senior high school finally kicked off amid everyone's anticipation.

To create a "mock college entrance exam" atmosphere, No. 4 Middle School's monthly exams were conducted with students ranked in random order based on their grades. The exams were the following Monday, so on Friday night, our homeroom teacher, Mr. He, spent the entire evening on the podium, explaining important points to take, even refilling the water in our cups twice.

"Be sure to pay attention to exam room discipline and treat every monthly exam like the college entrance exam," Teacher He emphasized. "Today, everyone, move any extra books from your desk holes. They can be put in corners or cabinets. If that doesn't work, take them home or to your dorm."

He passed a stack of printed papers to the students from the front row. "Everyone, please stick these seat numbers on the upper left corner of your desks later." He then pointed to an A4 paper taped to the blackboard wall. "The exam room allocation for our class has also been announced. Most of the students are in classes 1-4 upstairs..."

It was the first time that Ren Li knew that the monthly exam was such a big deal, and she suddenly became a little nervous. She pricked up her ears and listened carefully to what Teacher He said on the podium, for fear of missing some key details.

The others in the classroom were used to it, continuing to clean up their desks or correcting their mistakes. However, Wen Shuo, unusually, stayed until the last evening study session. It seemed Teacher He had specifically reminded him to do so.

"Everyone, when you wake up on Monday, be sure to check your stationery bags, IDs, pencils, erasers, gel pens, etc. to see if you've forgotten anything. Enter the venue on time. Also, be sure not to bring cell phones or other communication devices into the venue. Otherwise, it will be treated as cheating..."

Teacher He continued to give instructions for a long time, and finally finished successfully when the bell rang. Teacher He walked down the podium, looking back every three steps, wanting to say something but stopping himself, and before leaving, he couldn't help but say a few more words.

After he left, everyone swarmed to the blackboard to see their exam room for tomorrow's exam.

Ren Li also joined in, but her seat was in the last row, and as a girl she was embarrassed to squeeze forward, so she had to stand on tiptoe outside the crowd and look around.

She was a little anxious and wanted to know her specific seat - after all, the seats for this exam were arranged according to grades, but on the other hand, she knew clearly in her heart that she would most likely be ranked in the last class because she had not yet had any grades in No. 4 Middle School.

Later, the bustling crowd in front of her finally dispersed. Ren Li squeezed in and finally saw the seating chart.

Now she finally understood why Wen Shuo always looked indifferent, because his name was always on the first row of the ranking list - No. 001, Class 1, Examination Room.

However, her gaze did not linger on Wen Shuo's name for long. She kept looking down the seating chart, her heart growing heavier.

"Lili, I found my name." Zhang Xintong called her from the side, "And yours too."

At the same time, Ren Li also saw her name, and as expected, she was the last one.

This means that she will take the exam in Class 3 (20).

The key classes in No. 4 Middle School are not ranked from the front to the back, but rather are ranked at the end of the grade. So starting from Class 17 to Class 20, they are all key classes.

After seeing the final result, Ren Li felt relieved. In fact, it didn’t matter. By the next monthly exam, she should have a place that truly belonged to her.

She squeezed out of the crowd and walked to the back of the seats with Zhang Xintong. Zhang Xintong seemed visibly happy at the moment, "It turns out my grades aren't that bad." Of course, she also didn't forget to comfort Ren Li, "It's okay, Lili, this is just your first time taking the exam here, and your seat list doesn't mean anything."

The comfort of a good friend is still useful. The two looked at each other and Ren Li smiled knowingly: "Then I hope that during the next monthly exam, my exam room can be closer to you."

Ren Li had just seen Zhang Xintong's examination room. She was in Class 3, so considering the entire No. 4 Middle School, her grades shouldn't be too bad.

Ren Li walked back to her seat to pack her things. Wen Shuo stood up and asked Zhou Qi through her, "Are you leaving or not?"

Zhou Qi turned around hurriedly, with a wry smile on his face, pointing to the pile of things on his desk: "Boss, why don't you wait for me for a while, I have too many things."

Wen Shuo threw his backpack over his shoulder and said, "It's because you always like to hoard useless magazines."

Ren Li, who was also packing up magazines: ...

Of course, her magazines are different from Zhou Qi's because she stocks literary magazines.

Cleaning up her desk was a big project. Ren Li liked to buy things that looked nice but were practically useless, like all sorts of colored paper, pens with dolls attached, and highlighters of all colors. Not only on the desk, but also under her feet were bags for various things. Since she was in the back row, not many people passed by here on weekdays.

If she had known this day would come, she would never have brought so many things with her.

Ren Li packed slowly because there were too many things, but Zhou Qi was different, he was simply slow.

It looked like the hole in his desk hadn't been tidied for a long time. A large pile of garbage was swept out, plus those magazines that had been expired for a long time. Zhou Qi was reluctant to throw away any of them, so he picked and chose for a long time.

Wen Shuo seemed unusually patient today. He stood aside and waited without urging him.

Finally, almost simultaneously, the two men finally cleared the table, creating a stark contrast. Zhou Qi was carrying a large black plastic bag, one that made one wonder if it was a garbage bag, stuffed with a ton of his messy stuff.

Ren Li, on the other hand, had her things neatly packed into cardboard boxes and various shopping bags. In fact, if she had known she would have to clean her desk today, she could have brought some more professional packing boxes.

Zhou Qi carried the big bag and called Wen Shuo: "I'm ready, let's go."

Seeing that the two of them were about to leave, Zhang Xintong also spoke: "How about you help Ren Li take some down."

Wen Shuo and Zhou Qi's eyes fell on Ren Li at the same time. The latter was holding a cardboard box, bending over, trying with some difficulty to hook the shopping bags on the ground with her fingers, and there was a backpack on her shoulder.

Wen Shuo couldn't help but sigh: Is she a treasure chest? She just came to school, but she brought so much with her.

Zhou Qi's hands were already full, and Zhang Xintong was also holding a box. Only Wen Shuo had empty hands, and the backpack on his shoulders was so empty that it didn't look like there were any books in it.

"Let me do it." Wen Shuo said, taking the box from Ren Li.

"It's okay, there's no need..." Ren Li's hands were empty. She obviously wanted to try her best on her own and not trouble others. However, it was useless to refuse because Wen Shuo was already doing it.

Wen Shuo's hand reached to the edge of the cardboard box, trying to find a foothold, but accidentally touched Ren Li's hand.

The soft and warm feeling was fleeting. After that extremely brief second, although their hearts were surging, the two of them tacitly ignored this detail and completed the handover calmly.

"Thank you... uh, I mean..." Ren Li suddenly thought that Wen Shuo didn't like to hear her say thank you.

"Let's go." As he spoke, Wen Shuo had already walked towards the back door. Ren Li bent down, picked up the pile of shopping bags from the ground, and quickly caught up with them.

Summer was fading away, the stars twinkled in the sky, and the evening breeze was a bit chilly. Ren Li went downstairs, shivering unconsciously, and followed everyone towards the school gate.

On the way, Zhou Qi asked Wen Shuo: "What are you going to do this weekend? Go out and play, or play games together at home?"

Zhang Xintong from the next door rolled his eyes: "Brother, you have an exam next Monday, why are you still playing? Ren Wenshuo can get first place in the grade just by playing games on the weekend, what about you?"

Wen Shuo: "Do you believe me when I say I'm at home reading on the weekends?"

Zhou Qi: "Reading? Who was it last weekend, and the weekend before, who played games with me until midnight?"

Zhang Xintong: "Did you hear that? Brother Shuo is better at playing games than you."

Zhou Qi: …

Ren Li just listened quietly to everyone chatting without saying anything, but the corners of her mouth unconsciously rose up.

This atmosphere was really wonderful. She felt lucky to have so many lively and talkative friends, with whom she could crack jokes and smile knowingly at the right moments.

Sometimes she really envies Zhang Xintong or Yuan Jiani. They have a natural ability to be at ease in any crowded situation.

Ren Li's thoughts were pulled back from their distraction, and Zhang Xintong asked, "Li Li, there shouldn't be any school buses now, right?"

Ren Li: "Well, the time has passed. I'm going to go to the school gate to take a taxi back."

Zhang Xintong: "Me too. Zhou Qi and I are going the same way, so we'll share a car later." She turned around and asked Wen Shuo, "Brother Shuo, I remember you and Lili were going home in the same direction, right? After all, you both took the same school bus."

Wen Shuo: “Yeah.”

Zhang Xintong: "Oh, that's perfect. Why don't you take her home? She has so many things with her and needs some help."

When Ren Li heard that she had to ride with Wen Shuo, a level one alarm immediately sounded in her head: "No, that's too much trouble. I can just take a taxi back by myself."

Wen Shuo turned around and asked Zhang Xintong and Zhou Qi, "Do you feel that Ren Li likes to refuse everything she encounters, always saying 'no' or 'no need'? Actually, she doesn't need to be so polite."

Zhang Xintong and Zhou Qi immediately moved in unison, nodding like chicks pecking at rice.

Ren Li: ...

She felt that Wen Shuo now knew exactly how to deal with her, and he could counter her every move. This time, she finally had no way of refusing.

"Hey, this thing is the one that Wen Shuo took away last time." Zhou Qi pointed at the bag in Ren Li's hand and said as if he had discovered a new world.

Ren Li looked down and saw that the pink plush toy had emerged from the bag at some point. The bag was small, and the plush toy was very springy, so it had somehow gotten stuck like that.

She stuffed the thing back in a guilty manner, but it was too late, Wen Shuo had already seen it.

It turned out that she had kept this thing in the classroom and had not taken it back.

On the other side, Zhou Qi seemed to understand everything.

He finally connected the whole story. After returning from the sports stadium that day, Zhao Manyue kept telling him about Wen Shuo bullying her. It turned out to be this thing. Wen Shuo finally gave it to Ren Li.

Zhang Xintong was the only one in the room who remained unfazed. "Huh? Is this a gift from Brother Shuo? Why would he give you this?"

Ren Li felt that the thing in her hand was even hotter.

"No reason." Fortunately, Wen Shuo took the initiative to help her out. "How about I give you one too?"

"This isn't something another girl gave you, and you didn't want it." Zhang Xintong exclaimed, "I don't want it."

As they were talking, they had already reached the school gate. A taxi was waiting for its daily business on the side of the road. Wen Shuo leaned over and said something to the driver, then reached out to open the door and turned to Ren Li, "Let's go together?"

Ren Li held the pile of things in her arms and remembered Wen Shuo's "rejection" remarks just now. Instead of avoiding it, she decided to face it. She finally nodded, said goodbye to Zhang Xintong and Zhou Qi, and got into the car with Wen Shuo.