Chapter 31: Blue as the Bottom of Water
The holiday is over and I will be back on Thursday.
There are long self-study classes during the day, and we leave school early in the afternoon to prepare for the examination room. There are two consecutive days of monthly exams starting on Friday.
As soon as the bell rang for morning reading, Teacher Ding came in with the exam room ranking list and posted it on the bulletin board, saying, "This is the first exam after the subject division, so take it seriously!"
"Those who have reviewed should go through their wrong answer books again. Those who had a blast playing on National Day should take care of themselves. There's only one day left. You guys study for the exam downstairs while I prepare for the class at the podium. I'll see who dares to look up."
Except for the two experimental classes, the student sources of the remaining parallel classes are similar.
Normally they are quite friendly and at ease, but once the exam rankings are announced, whoever ranks last will be embarrassed.
When Teacher Ding sat in the classroom, he had such a strong aura that the more than 40 people in the class couldn't even breathe.
The class monitor stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth before she entered the door, and didn't even dare to chew it. He just held it in his mouth and memorized words for the whole morning.
As soon as the bell rang for morning reading, Teacher Ding went back to the office to get the lesson plan, and the classroom returned to its former state. A group of people rushed up and crowded around the podium to record their seat numbers for the exam room.
As before, the exam numbers are the grade rankings from the last major exam, with each fortyth person in an exam room.
Before the final exams of her freshman year in high school, Su Xia was still heartbroken over the scandal of secretly photographed photos from the sports meet. She had chosen science out of sheer determination, but her brain hadn't caught up.
On the day of the exam, I caught a cold and had a low fever. I was in a daze and forgot to fill in the exam number on the answer sheet. My results were a mess.
Seeing the crowd in front, Su Xia looked around several times but still didn't move forward.
Whether it is the last or the second last exam room, they are all equally bad and look the same no matter when you look at them.
It's so embarrassing, in front of so many people.
She sat there for a long time, and He Miao first squeezed out from between the crowd.
The girl was thin and ran towards the window, clutching a small notebook and a ballpoint pen. She was agile and a little proud, like a mother bird flying back from hunting.
Mother Bird sat back on the stool, tore off half a page of notebook paper for her, and handed it to her. "Xia Xia, you don't have to squeeze. I just copied it for you."
The small piece of paper was folded neatly. Su Xia opened it and took a look.
As expected.
There are nine examination rooms for science, and she is in the ninth examination room, number 30.
After Teacher Ding's harsh words, except for those who were still gathered in the front, almost everyone in the class took the opportunity to slip out for some fresh air, and the classroom was empty.
Su Xia held her face in her hands and sighed softly, "Do you still need to count how many science students there are in the whole grade? Just look at my test number."
"The past is the past. Xia Xia, you've worked so hard, you'll definitely get better."
He Miao encouraged her and moved his stool closer to her table. "And who said you were last? I just checked and Xu Jiqing is also in the ninth examination room."
Su Xia was stunned for a moment, "What's his number?"
"Thirty-eight. He didn't come last semester, so he probably got a zero on the final exam."
He Miao thought for a moment and added, "But it might be the same as the student status. It's just a formality to be in our class. Have you ever seen a contestant in Class S take the exam?"
She glanced around and saw that the person she was gossiping about was not there. She lowered her voice and continued, "Look at Li Rui. He's only in Class A, but he usually goes to class with us. I used to be in the same class with him. He wouldn't take exams if he wanted to. He's so arrogant."
Su Xia nodded.
Yes, there are five rows of desks in an examination room, with eight people in each row.
She is number 30 and Xu Jiqing is number 38, probably right next to her. If such a conspicuous person had really been here, she would have had some impression of him in her previous life.
There were eight days of holiday during the National Day holiday, and Su Xia took make-up classes for five days.
She had never tried so hard to cram knowledge in her two lives. The materials she collected from the tutoring class were spread out on the table. She felt inexplicably excited and started to underline with great enthusiasm.
After lunch, there was still a long time before the bell rang for the first self-study class. Everyone in the class was asleep, and even He Miao couldn't help but lie on the table for a while.
Su Xia was in high spirits, holding the highlighter and continuing to mark. As the page was almost filled, a voice suddenly rang out beside her, "Are you familiar with this Xie Yang?"
The boy's voice was clear and deep.
He doesn't have the majesty of an adult superior, but he is already recognizable enough.
Su Xia turned her head and met Xu Jiqing's handsome face, which was full of emotion. "...Ah?"
I just said that this person would definitely not take the exam, so why is he here?
...and what about Xie Yang.
She had never heard of it.
Xu Jiqing put down his bag, pointed at the name column on the photocopied notes with a pen, and left immediately.
Su Xia looked over and it took her a while to react before she had some impression of him. "Not really, I'm familiar with him. I'm in a tutoring class, and this is the math teacher."
Xu Jiqing paused.
His expression didn't change much, but his tone seemed to soften a bit, not as harsh anymore. "Why don't you read the key points I highlighted for you?"
Su Xia looked at him blankly.
"Homework plan."
Xu Jiqing said, "I ticked the key questions, went through the steps of questions one and two, and skipped the third question. I went through all the questions, and the multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-blank questions were all variations of the main questions."
In his two lifetimes combined, Su Xia had never heard him speak such a long speech. He blinked slowly and couldn't help but stare at Xu Jiqing's pale red lips and get distracted.
When the other person looked up at her again, she realized how offensive she was. She quickly said "oh" and looked away.
The study plan written by Xu Jiqing was still in the hole of the desk, clamped with a beautiful little clip. Su Xia took it out and flipped through it carefully. There was indeed a mark under the question number.
Not many, just one or two per side on average.
Because it was also drawn in black, she had never noticed it before and had never thought that it had this meaning.
Su Xia was really touched and even felt a little guilty.
Seventeen-year-old Xu Jiqing just talks less, has a colder expression, and sometimes asks strange questions, but at heart he is a very good kid.
She took out a chocolate from her schoolbag and quickly stuffed it into Xu Jiqing's palm while he was holding the pen, with a sweet dimple, "Thank you."
Xu Jiqing nodded and clenched his palms.
After that meal during the holiday, Su Xia felt that they were closer to each other.
Watching Xu Jiqing is like watching a larger, gender-swapped, silent version of Xu Jiaojiao, and my courage increases dramatically.
He didn't refuse the feeding that he hated so much in his previous life.
I pulled his sleeve once and he pushed me away, but then it seemed like I... gradually got used to it?
At most, you can just watch her smile or act coquettishly, and her expression will be a little ugly.
Su Xia couldn't explain it, but she seemed to have a vague intuition that the nature of his indifference might not be disgust.
The Xu Jiqing in front of her was completely different from her deceased husband in her previous life. It would be inappropriate to apply her previous experience to him.
She had to start from scratch.
After figuring out the equivalent relationship between the Xu brothers and sisters, Su Xia felt as if his Ren and Du meridians were opened up, and he felt relaxed.
She collected all the materials from the tutoring class, leaving only a few pages of paper from Xu Jiqing on the desk.
When a real big shot takes action, the scope is much smaller than that of a tutoring class.
Su Xia just wanted to pass the exam, so she didn't put too much effort into it. She turned the pages at an unprecedented speed, and she actually felt a false sense of happiness as a top student.
She supported her chin, her shoulders swayed slightly, and she tilted her head to purse her lips secretly. From the corner of her eye, she saw Xu Jiqing's pen tip stop and his eyelids slightly raised, as if he was looking at her.
The classroom during lunch break.
There was only the sound of flipping pages and breathing. The curtains were drawn, and the light was filtered into a blue color like the bottom of the water.
Xu Jiqing's eyes were indifferent, quiet and suppressed.
Su Xia stopped smiling and avoided his gaze. Thinking of something, she asked softly, "...Did you open the night light I gave Jiaojiao?"
Xu Jiqing remained calm, "No."
Su Xia breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but give another warning, "This is for Xu Jiaojiao. Children also have privacy. Don't tear it apart."
There should be a balance of more than 900 yuan on that bus card.
Even though Xu Jiaojiao is young now and cannot take the bus or subway home alone, she will still be able to use it in a few years.
Xu Jiqing said calmly, "Well, I won't tear it down."
He kept going along with her, and Su Xia felt a little embarrassed to continue, so she changed the subject and asked, "Why did you come back to study in the afternoon?"
Xu Jiqing: "I have an exam in the morning."
Su Xia couldn't keep up with his strange train of thought. She paused before continuing, "Will you take the exam?"
"You want me to go?"
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