High school graduation exam
Xu Changjia and Ou Liyao waited and waited, but what they received was not the preliminary selection for the school anniversary program, but the notice of the college entrance examination.
The original plan was for school leaders and teachers of music, physical education, and art to select the school anniversary programs from each class next week. However, two teachers were unexpectedly sent on business trips. It was only after inquiring that we learned they had gone to host a program on television, which led to the postponement of the preliminary selection. The specific time has not yet been determined.
Along with the postponement of the school anniversary celebration program selection came another piece of news: the graduation exam has been scheduled for the 18th of next month. This means that just over a week after their school anniversary gala, they will be busy preparing for the graduation exam.
This exam is actually taken by students who have already chosen their majors (arts or sciences) in their second year of high school. They take all nine major subjects at once, and their scores are graded into four levels: A, B, C, and D. Only those who score C or above are considered qualified and can receive their graduation certificate after graduating from high school. Otherwise, they will not graduate and will have to come back to retake the exam.
Having already been divided into arts and science classes back in the second semester of their first year of high school, they had focused their attention on their respective subjects. Aside from the month or so before the final exams, which allowed them to cram, there was really no other reason for them to concentrate on their studies. As a result, these two students from the astronomy and science classes became very close, constantly asking each other to borrow history notes or ask for help with difficult physics problems. The teachers from the other classes all turned a blind eye.
Even in Zhang Yuning's weekend class, Li Teng brought a few people to audit the class and asked Xu Changjia a lot of questions. As a result, Zhang Yuning and Ou Liyao also spent the whole morning listening to the drowsy political history class.
Li Teng, with one foot on the stool swinging back and forth and chewing bubble gum, asked her, "What language was the Bible originally written in? That's a fill-in-the-blank question, how am I supposed to know?"
"Hebrew," Xu Changjia told him the correct answer without looking up.
Li Teng slammed his pen down. "Hey, Xu, you academic genius, your memory is amazing! You even know such a small detail."
He felt he had never worked so hard before. After practicing problems all morning, his wrist was even a little sore from holding the pen. If it weren't for the high school entrance exam and graduation certificate, he wouldn't want to spend every weekend here with them doing practice problems. He then looked at everyone in the wall of books one by one. The three good students were either doing problems with their heads down or thinking with their heads up, while the few underlings he brought were either playing with their hands or spacing out.
He suddenly asked, "Want to try Zhuge Grilled Fish across from the bookstore? It's on me."
Several of his underlings' eyes lit up instantly, and they nodded repeatedly, but the other three didn't react. Even Ou Liyao, who was never very interested in studying, ignored him and just said, "Wait a minute, let's talk after we finish this set of questions."
Unlike the college entrance exam, the high school graduation exam has a high chance of improving scores and getting a C in a short period of time. Therefore, the subject teachers have all obtained past exam questions for them to practice, and they have also highlighted the key points for the exam. This should be enough to handle the exam. This morning, Zhang Yuning highlighted the key points for physics, chemistry, and biology as soon as she arrived. With the help of what the teacher talked about in class, practicing a couple more sets of questions should be enough to pass the high school graduation exam. Xu Changjia naturally wanted to give everyone a push as well.
She flipped through the papers, marked all the key points she had drawn on the humanities papers, and then talked to them for more than an hour.
By the time the group of about ten people headed towards Zhuge Grilled Fish Restaurant, it was well past lunchtime. Xu Changjia and the others were used to this. Li Teng and his friends followed behind, whispering amongst themselves, unable to believe that they would put in this much effort for a small exam. It was definitely different being around these high-achieving students. True to his word, Li Teng booked a large private room and treated them all to grilled fish, then casually inquired about the school anniversary celebration.
Once this was mentioned, Ou Liyao got excited and praised the script of "Tales of the Republic of China" to the skies, describing it in glowing terms. She also went on to describe how good the young director Xu Changjia was, mentioning that besides acting, he would occasionally feed them food and drink, which made Li Teng and the others very interested.
He asked another question, "I heard that your script is a joint performance by multiple classes. Do you think we can even get in and play some minor roles like flowers and plants?" As soon as Li Teng spoke, several people behind him who were still eating pickled pepper grilled fish and rice nodded in agreement, wanting to participate in Director Xu Changjia's play.
Ou Liyao nudged her with her elbow, "Jiajia, Li Teng and the others want to come too, what should we do?"
She swallowed a large piece of fish fillet without even lifting her eyelids, and said calmly, "Then they can all go and be our extras. There are three main characters, so we need some subordinates and followers. They'll be perfect for the job."
Zhang Yuning nodded in agreement, told them the time of the next rehearsal, and told them not to be late. He put down his small bowl, slung his schoolbag over his shoulder, leaving behind only a dashing figure, and told them to see them at school for evening self-study.
After paying the bill, Li Teng asked his underlings to buy a cup of coffee for each of the three of them. He also let them take Zhang Yuning's coffee with them. After all, they had been coming to audit classes every day for the past few weeks. It was generous of them to be willing to teach you, and you can't keep asking for things that aren't going to happen, right?
Xu Changjia knew they wanted to thank the three of them for their private lessons, which gave them the opportunity to make rapid progress in their studies. However, they couldn't keep asking for favors every day. She had already decided that since "The Legend of the Republic of China" had recruited them, she couldn't just ignore them. She gave them a copy of the script so they could familiarize themselves with the story, and they would rehearse together in a couple of days.
Although their roles aren't many, this is a good opportunity to give each of them a set of Republic-era costumes as a way of repaying them for eating their meals every day. As for the money, we can split it with Ou Liyao and the others later, since they mentioned before that it's not good to eat Li Teng's meals every day.
During Sunday evening self-study, the classroom was quiet. If it weren't for the gentle March breeze rustling the pages of their books and illuminating their earnest faces, everyone would have been dozing off, their heads bobbing on their desks. Aside from the homeroom teacher taking attendance, they were left to quietly work on practice problems in preparation for the college entrance exam. Ou Liyao and Zhang Yuning's cups of coffee on their desks were particularly eye-catching, drawing even the homeroom teacher's attention several times.
[Notice: All participants in the school anniversary performance, please be in the studio by 7:30 PM sharp after changing your costumes.]
Xu Changjia's pen stopped moving. What's going on? Are the preliminary rounds about to begin? Is it that sudden?
Before she could think much about it, a figure by the window caught her eye: *pfft pfft*. Seeing her gaze follow that direction, Ou Liyao waved to her, and she told her homeroom teacher that there was a performance, then went outside.
Ou Liyao pulled her along and stood outside the classroom door, whispering, "Jiajia, Zhang Yuning and the others went to change their clothes. They asked me to come find you to go together. They said they'd see you in the studio later." She wasn't going to perform on stage anyway; she was just helping everyone coordinate. After accompanying Ou Liyao back to the dormitory to change, she grabbed her script and USB drive and headed towards the studio, arriving not too late.
However, the studio occupied a full 300 square meters, and there were many people coming and going at this time. As Ou Liyao pulled her along, searching, they were stopped by a hand that reached out before they could meet up with Zhang Yuning.
"Xu, you academic genius, Miss Ou, would you like me to take you to find someone?"
The two men didn't seem to care about Li Teng's roguish tone at all. They were quite surprised to see him and called out at the same time, "Li Teng!"
The school-wide announcement was broadcast, and after hearing it, he and a few of his underlings arrived at the studio early to secure a good spot for them. Zhang Yuning and the others had already arrived and gone, so he had deliberately left people at the front and back doors of the studio to wait for them. This foresight allowed him to successfully catch them.
When Li Teng led the two of them over, Zhang Yuning was leading a few people to familiarize themselves with the stage and discuss their positions. Xu Changjia stepped forward and took over, immediately coming up with a solution: have the three main actors stand on the stage in a triangle formation, facing the audience, giving the judges a chance to see them clearly.
She then quickly told the others their positions, emphasizing the mistakes they had made before and warning them not to repeat them on stage, because once they were on stage, their mistakes would be magnified and seen by everyone. After speaking to them, she looked seriously at Li Teng and the five or six people who had come with him, mentally strategizing and considering where to place them.
Time was too short, and they didn't have time to go through the whole scene again, so they were asked, "Have you understood the script?"
A thin, small boy sitting next to Li Teng nodded. "Not only did he understand it, but our leader also memorized all the words. Xu, you wrote so well!"
Xu Changjia ignored their flattery and simply selected two strong-looking men to follow Ou Liyao around as her sidekicks, sending them to review all of Ou Liyao's parts. She also arranged for Zhang Yuning to play one thin, small man and the other tall, strong one; she remembered one of them best, as he always managed to create a bit of a joke, adding stage effect to their script and leaving a good impression on the audience. Finally, she left Li Teng and his usual arm-in-arm best friend, to join her former class monitor Zhuo Hui, the last main character, in a heroic sacrifice—brotherhood, after all, applies everywhere.
After this arrangement was completed, it was exactly 7:30 PM. The judges then picked up the microphones and asked one representative from each of the 97 submitted programs to draw lots to determine the order of their performances. Ou Liyao and Zhuo Hui both went; the former represented "A Humorous Look at the Republic of China," and the latter represented his solo dance.
They went there happily, but came back with a long face.
As soon as he got back, Zhuo Hui was about to lean on Zhang Yuning, but luckily he dodged in time. "What should I do? My solo and 'The Legend of the Republic of China' are scheduled one after the other, 18 and 19 respectively."
Time was too tight. The 18th act was on stage, and the 19th and 20th acts were already waiting in the wings. There were also people checking all sorts of details. There were less than three minutes between them. Let alone not having time to change clothes, even if the clothes and props were prepared in advance, it would be difficult to fully concentrate on the next performance while drenched in sweat.
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