Contest

The spring outing ended quickly, and the students of Cangzhong also ended their short leisure holiday and returned to school to bury themselves in a sea of ​​questions. Many teachers of major subjects used the excuse of rushing to catch up to take up a lot of self-study time to teach new lessons, but the number of tests and homework did not decrease.

They're working non-stop all day, and there are quizzes at night. No one comes out to play during the long break; the only explanation is that they haven't finished their homework. The corridors are deserted, with only sighs and groans coming from the classrooms. Even the convenience store is much quieter; the owner is dozing off on the counter, bored.

When students from all three grades in Cangzhong meet, they no longer greet each other with "Have you eaten?", but instead ask, "Have you finished your test? Which set did you do? What, there's still this homework?"

Xu Jianing was no exception; it was extremely difficult for him to create an opportunity to bump into Wen Sheng.

Besides attending classes during the day and taking quizzes in the evening, he also has to find extra time to prepare for the math competition the week after next.

The usually humorous and witty Xue Pingsheng had become unexpectedly devilish during this period. He placed the competition paper on the table, took out a stopwatch and put it next to him, and said expressionlessly, "Thirty minutes, if that's not enough, I'll add another set."

Xu Jianing glanced at him and said calmly, "Laugh if you want to. It's too much trouble to pretend to be serious."

Xue Pingsheng's lips twitched when he was exposed, and he coughed to cover it up: "Hurry up and do the questions. If you really think I'm working too hard, then finish them even faster."

"Okay." Xu Jianing pressed the stopwatch and started working on the test paper.

Wen Sheng's situation wasn't much easier either; she also needed to find extra time to prepare for the English speech contest.

Wang Hejun stared at her speech, as if he had become a different person; he was usually gentle and patient, but at this moment he was exceptionally strict.

"Try again! The stress on this word is wrong again."

"The sound is too soft, make it louder. The audience sitting in the last row should be able to hear it clearly."

"Don't look down, stand tall and look straight ahead, and interact with the judges."

Wen Sheng recited the script over and over again until her voice became hoarse. When Wang Hejun saw that she was having difficulty speaking again, he finally put down his pen, poured a glass of warm water, and pushed it in front of her.

"Drink some water to soothe your throat," she said.

Wen Sheng took the document with both hands, took a small sip, and her throat finally felt less uncomfortable. She drank a few more sips, then opened the crumpled speech and continued rehearsing.

In the entire month since returning from the spring outing, Xu Jianing has only met Wen Sheng a few times, and those were opportunities he had to fight for.

Once, he overheard the English class representative complaining in the classroom: "Can someone help me take the homework to the English office? I haven't finished my math test yet."

Upon hearing this, Xu Jianing stood up reflexively and said, "I'll do it."

Before the English class representative could react, he had already picked up the English homework on the table, strode towards the English office.

He opened the door, glanced around discreetly, and recognized Wen Sheng's English teacher. She was grading homework with her head down, but he didn't see the person he was looking for beside her.

Xu Jianing lowered her eyes, neatly placed her homework behind the table, and left dejectedly.

The second time was when he went to Xue Pingsheng to ask for competition materials. He was supposed to go after the first class, but he dragged it out until the long break, wanting to try his luck.

People were coming and going in the corridor, but she was nowhere to be seen. What used to be an easy "chance encounter" had now become a luxury.

As the saying goes, perseverance pays off. On his twentieth attempt, he finally saw Wen Sheng during evening self-study one day.

She stood alone at the entrance of the corridor on the other side of the first-year high school building, holding her speech, rehearsing in front of the wall, constantly encouraging herself. When she got stuck, she would stop and mutter to herself:

"Wen Sheng, you can do it! The pronunciation of this word is..."

"Don't be nervous, just think of the judges as potatoes!"

"Aaaaaaah! I'm so nervous!"

Xu Jianing stopped at the corner of the stairs, quietly watching her downstairs. Even though it was only a few steps, he didn't go over to disturb her. He watched her pace back and forth, encouraged himself, and continued rehearsing.

He didn't turn back to the senior high school classroom until she put away her speech and left.

We finally managed to meet, and it was on the day we were leaving for the city.

A black car was parked at the entrance of Cangzhong School. Xue Pingsheng, unusually dressed in a suit and tie, was standing next to Wang Hejun, who was wearing a dark green dress and counting the students.

"Teacher Xue, both of my students have arrived."

Xue Pingsheng said, "Okay, I only have one student here, and he's arrived."

There were three students: Xu Jianing, Wen Sheng, and a boy named Li Peng.

Xue Pingsheng glanced at the three people standing by the trunk of the car and tentatively asked, "The back seat space is limited, so... how about the girls sit in the middle?"

Xu Jianing opened the car door first, "No need, I can sit in the middle."

Li Peng shrugged, said nothing, and went straight to a seat by the window. Wen Sheng paused for a moment, then followed and sat down on the other side.

After the car started and drove out of the campus, Li Peng leaned against the car window and soon closed his eyes to rest.

Xu Jianing turned her head slightly and asked in a low voice, "Did you take any motion sickness medicine?"

Wen Sheng nodded, indicating that she had already eaten.

She kept her head down, constantly flipping through her speech, silently reading and reciting it as her lips parted and closed, the paper creased from her grip.

Xu Jianing noticed her nervousness and, taking advantage of adjusting his posture, slowly reached out and quietly placed his hand on the back of her hand.

When his hand covered hers, Wen Sheng, who was silently reciting, suddenly stopped. After looking down at their intertwined hands, she did not pull her hand away, tacitly approving his overstepping action.

The back row was crowded, and Li Peng had already fallen asleep by the window, sprawled out in all directions. The teachers in the front row were chatting, and no one noticed that they were "holding hands" all the way.

Both the English speech contest and the math competition were held at the No. 1 Middle School in the city. That day, a banner with red background and white lettering was hung at the school gate, which read "City Middle School Subject Competition and English Speech Contest" in a prominent manner.

The speech contest was held in the school auditorium. The red curtain of the auditorium was raised high, and the lights shone on the center of the stage. Below the stage were rows of judges and teachers and students from different schools.

Wen Sheng paced nervously backstage, her head bowed, silently encouraging herself over and over again:

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous... just think of the judges as potatoes."

"Wen Sheng, you can do it. You've memorized these scripts dozens or even hundreds of times."

On stage, a contestant from our school is giving a speech. The person has a clear voice with a pure British accent, and each word is pronounced clearly and fluently.

I never knew people could talk so well...

Wen Sheng began to prepare urgently, forcing herself to take deep breaths and reassuring herself: pronunciation is only part of the competition. As long as she can deliver the content of the script fluently and convey the emotions, she can do it too!

The contestant on stage finished bowing, and applause erupted. A teacher backstage called out, "Next, Wen Sheng from Cangzhong, get ready."

Under the spotlight, Wen Sheng stood in the center of the stage, nodded slightly, and began her speech.

When she uttered the first sentence, her heart was still pounding, but her voice was unexpectedly clear and bright. She spoke the familiar sentences naturally from memory, accompanied by just the right amount of body language.

As the speech progressed, her breathing gradually became steady, her tone became more varied, her previously stiff back gradually relaxed, and she began to look directly at the judges, making eye contact with them. One judge could even be seen writing comments with his head down.

As they get into the swing of things, they can even smile slightly and raise their tone during key sentences.

At the end of his speech, Wen Sheng bowed deeply and left the stage amidst applause.

This time, she handed in all her practice and effort completely.

As Wen Sheng was about to get up and leave, she caught a glimpse of someone standing at the entrance of the auditorium.

The person was leaning against the door frame, and because of the backlight, she couldn't see their face clearly.

But she knew that a man named Xu Jianing had come here to applaud her after the competition.

The competition concluded in the evening, and when the results were announced, Cangzhong brought back an impressive report card.

Xu Jianing won the first prize in the mathematics competition, Wen Sheng won the second prize in the English speech competition, and Li Peng won the third prize.

The two teachers were all smiles, and Xue Pingsheng was especially excited. He dragged Xu Jianing to a big tree near the entrance of the city middle school and said he wanted to give him a shoulder massage.

A circle of stone benches surrounded the tree. Xu Jianing was forced to sit down, his face full of speechlessness.

"Ah Ning, look at this campus. You'll be coming here next semester. Did you walk around and get familiar with the campus just now?"

Xu Jianing leaned against the stone bench next to the tree, holding the certificate in her hand, her expression indifferent: "I know where the classroom is."

Xue Pingsheng's eyes widened: "You child, you're too cold-hearted! I've heard that the cafeteria here has three floors, and the food is much better than our school's. I'll take you to try it!"

I'm not hungry.

Xu Jianing didn't even bother to look up and refused outright.

Just then, Wen Sheng jogged over from the teaching building. She had just finished using the restroom, and Wang Hejun handed her the certificate when he saw her.

"You and Li Peng performed very well this time, beyond my expectations."

"Thank you, teacher," Wen Sheng and Li Peng said in unison.

Xue Pingsheng was massaging Xu Jianing's shoulder when he saw Wen Sheng. He immediately greeted her with a smile, "You guys all have good grades! How about having a meal in the school cafeteria? You can also take a stroll around the campus. What if you come here to study in your senior year? You can familiarize yourselves with the place beforehand."

Wen Sheng hugged the certificate and nodded obediently: "That's good."

Xu Jianing, who had been lazily leaning against the stone bench and had just said "I'm not hungry," immediately changed his mind upon hearing this: "Then let's go."

Li Peng nodded and said yes.

Xue Pingsheng was extremely satisfied and clapped his hands: "Alright! Come on, let's go see the three-story cafeteria of this city's middle school."

The group chatted and laughed as they walked towards the cafeteria. In the evening breeze, Wen Sheng carefully held her certificate, making sure the paper wasn't folded. Xu Jianing quietly reached out and held down the corner of the certificate that was flapping in the wind.

“I see a locust tree here too,” he suddenly said.

Wen Sheng looked up and saw a tall locust tree standing in the open space next to the cafeteria.

For some reason, she suddenly remembered the old locust tree in the warehouse. It was the most familiar scenery since the beginning of her first year of high school. Countless times she had walked home from school, participated in spring outings, and experienced heart-fluttering moments under that tree.

She asked, "Will you meet me here then?"

Xu Jianing slowed down, and gradually the two of them fell to the back of the line. He turned his head to look at her, a smile playing on his lips, and replied, "See you at the usual place."

The old place that only the two of them knew.