16 Pressure
Yang Xiao's Strong Foundation class has a different daily schedule than other classes. While they all take the same courses during the day, during evening study sessions, students in the Strong Foundation class attend intensive classes in different subject offices, based on their chosen Strong Foundation preferences. For example, if Yang Xiao chose Mathematics, she would attend the Mathematics office during evening study with a few other students who shared her preferences.
Among those who chose mathematics in the same batch, besides Yang Xiao, there were Yue Ting and Lin Menghui.
Like Yang Xiao, Yue Ting was from the town. However, when Yang Xiao was in junior high school, she was oblivious to the world outside and missed out on Mao Qiu's stories about Yue Ting from the class next door. This indirectly led to Yue Ting's general impression of Yang Xiao through word of mouth, while Yang Xiao knew almost nothing about Yue Ting.
The math intensive class happened to be taught by Ji Yao, the head teacher of the Strong Foundation class. She was a teacher with a sharp problem-solving style and strong logical thinking skills. Yang Xiao admired her very much and always wondered if she had Ji Yao's brain, she would have gotten a perfect score in math on the college entrance exam.
So she was always the first to arrive at the office, so she could ask Ji Yao questions in advance and try her best to absorb the knowledge in Ji Yao's mind.
But tonight, Ji Yao didn't give her the answers. Instead, she sat down to review while waiting for the other two students to arrive. Once they were all together, they would conduct the first math test. Yang Xiao felt a little nervous about the exam; she had always been incredibly competitive. While this personality trait was a constant source of motivation, it was also a drawback, as it made it difficult for her to accept failure, leading to anxiety before every test.
Yue Ting and Lin Menghui, on the other hand, seemed to have a positive attitude. Yue Ting, in particular, seemed like she'd never fail. Every time she saw Yang Xiao, she held her neck high, like one of Zhou Daye's geese. Thinking of this, Yang Xiao swallowed. If she kept thinking about it, she'd probably end up writing "Stewed Goose" on the test paper.
The test papers were handed out to everyone. Ji Yao gave them five minutes to mark the papers and fill in their names, and then the two-hour test began. The sheer volume of questions had Yang Xiao feeling a bit overwhelmed when she received them, but once she got into it, it seemed like she completely lost track of time. She buried herself in solving one problem after another, and when she flipped over, the first big question she saw was the solid geometry question she'd just asked Ji Yao about. No wonder Teacher Ji hadn't given her the answer.
Thinking of this, Yang Xiao liked Ji Yao even more. She felt that Teacher Ji was fair and had a strong sense of morality. But she couldn't figure out a proof for this particular question, so she gritted her teeth and decided to skip it and think about it later after she finished. However, when she finished all the questions and was about to return to them, Ji Yao told them to put down their pens and hand in their papers.
Yang Xiao's palms began to sweat, her heart pounding with nervousness. What should she do? She hadn't done a single word on this question. If the character deciphering was also graded, she would only get 1 point out of 12 points, leaving her 11 points behind everyone else. Yang Xiao felt like crying. Before coming to the city, she knew the curriculum would be extensive, with classes taught ahead of schedule or even beyond the syllabus. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to catch up, so she studied very hard during the summer vacation, but still couldn't catch up.
Ji Yao collected the papers and told them to return to class. They could return to the dorm after evening study. Dejected, Yang Xiao walked back to the classroom. Seeing Wang Ruopeng by the window waving at her, she forced a bitter smile and returned to her seat. Wang Ruopeng, noticing her downturn, had someone pass her a roll of small notes.
When Yang Xiao opened it, she saw a large smiling face with the words "smile, darling!" written next to it. Unable to contain her laughter, she covered her mouth with her hands and tucked the note into her pencil case. After evening study, the two of them walked arm in arm back from the teaching building to the dormitory.
"Xiaoxiao, what's wrong? I felt like a frost-bitten eggplant when I came back tonight." Wang Ruopeng asked.
"The teacher gave us a set of test papers tonight. There was a big question that I couldn't answer at all." Yang Xiao's tone became depressed when she mentioned this.
"What's wrong? We had a basic survey of chemistry a few days ago, and I have a lot of ideas too. Don't be too stressed. Finding the problem is more important!" Wang Ruopeng is majoring in chemistry. In her words, she wants to be a crazy chemist in the future, making some colorful and beautiful things every day.
"Well, you are right, and I think it might also be because I was secretly reading novels and didn't study hard." Yang Xiao said as she began to review what she had done some time ago, trying to find out the reason.
"But Xiaoxiao, relaxing properly is also part of progress." Wang Ruopeng said, and then comforted her: "Don't be so stressed."
"Mao Mao, I want to be Zhou Qi." Yang Xiao suddenly changed the subject, leaving Wang Ruopeng a bit unresponsive. She continued, "Mao Mao, Zhou Qi is so hardworking. I feel like someone like him can never fail. I want to be like him—hardworking and down-to-earth."
"Xiaoxiao, it's impossible for Zhou Qi to never rest. Besides, you've been working hard. Don't let him deny you, including your past self." Wang Ruopeng didn't know whether she should say the next words, but she couldn't help but speak: "Xiaoxiao, why do you care so much about what Zhou Qi is like? Could it be that you are..."
"No, I just want to be like him." Yang Xiao shook her head, quickly denying Wang Ruopeng's answer, and added, "Besides, he is like my brother." Wang Ruopeng felt a little complicated after hearing this. She vaguely felt that Yang Xiao was developing in an uncontrollable direction, but she couldn't stop it.
After returning to the dormitory, Wang Ruopeng asked Yang Xiao to return her "good stuff." She even felt a little guilty. She had given the book to Yang Xiao to share with her, not to encourage her to imitate or even follow her path. The only solution she could think of was to quickly take the book back before Yang Xiao finished reading it. She didn't want Yang Xiao to suffer the same fate.
Without the stress relief of reading novels, Yang Xiao seemed to have completely transformed into a study machine. She would even write down the questions she couldn't solve on the back of her hand, thinking while she ran during morning exercises, mumbling to herself whenever an idea struck her. Suddenly, she became the class's nerd, rarely communicating with anyone other than Wang Ruopeng except when necessary.
During this time, Ji Yao gradually discovered Yang Xiao's problem. She repeatedly tried to talk to her, but couldn't find the opportunity. Despite her reluctance to communicate, Yang Xiao's grades were consistently in the top three, especially in math, where she consistently scored near perfect scores. She could have let Yang Xiao go on like this, following the test-taking system, but she truly didn't want her to become a person who only studied. If things continued like this, she wouldn't be able to achieve long-term development once Yang Xiao left the system.
Ji Yao then asked Yang Xiao to come to her office to help her calculate the grades. She then tentatively asked if anything had happened at home. Yang Xiao shook her head and said no, she just wanted to study harder. Ji Yao didn't know what to say. After much deliberation, she called Zhou Qi, who had signed the safety guarantee before school started.
Zhou Qi was interning at the hospital when he received the call. The chaotic emergency department, with its constant comings and goings, made it difficult for him to hear the conversation on the other end. After moving to a quieter area, he heard Ji Yao say, "Yang Xiao's parents, I'm not calling you to say that Yang Xiao is underperforming in school. On the contrary, she's doing incredibly well. She's learning whenever she can. However, if she continues to neglect her classmates, it will be detrimental to her future development and mental health."
He understood what Ji Yao meant. After hanging up the phone, he looked up at the schedule hanging in the hospital corridor, then looked at the internship shift schedule, and decided to go see Yang Xiao after work on Friday.
On Friday, unfortunately, he had a surgery scheduled, and it was already 7 PM when he got off work. Zhou Qi hurriedly took off his white coat, put on a jacket, and rushed to No. 1 Middle School. The evening rush hour traffic was stuck in a long line, all with their taillights on, like wild beasts lurking in the night. The traffic jam made Zhou Qi uneasy. Lately, he felt like he was trapped in the hospital, rotating from one department to another.
It seemed like three months had passed since I last called Zhou Dashe and Yang Xiao. He had once assured Yang Xiao that he was diligently balancing his studies with his family's financial needs for his medical dreams. But now, living a relatively comfortable life with Zhou Dashe's monthly living allowance, his annual scholarship, and the money he'd squeezed in from part-time work when his studies weren't busy, he had abandoned his family.
By the time he arrived at the gate of No. 1 Middle School, it was pitch dark. The only area lit by the streetlights and the school sign was the area around them, with the occasional flying insect tirelessly darting against the streetlights. After 8 p.m. on weekends, No. 1 Middle School prohibited outsiders from entering the school to ensure the safety of students staying on campus. Zhou Qi negotiated with the security guard at the gate, explaining his situation, offering his ID and student ID card, and promising to be out in two hours. After registering, he was successfully admitted.
He walked to the bottom of Yang Xiao's dormitory building under the moonlight, which was also his former dormitory building.
He remembered that many young men and women would secretly hide in the woods behind the dormitory building after evening classes, holding hands or hugging, trembling with fear for the Dean of Students who often made surprise raids. He couldn't understand that feeling, risking being caught and being criticized in front of the whole school just for a moment of happiness.
But now, standing at the foot of the dormitory, he hoped Yang Xiao could have a normal high school experience, including experiencing the tenderness of young love. Youth only comes once; if you miss it, it might never come back. Those beautiful, innocent years shouldn't be completely consumed by studying.
He thought that this time he really needed to have a good talk with Yang Xiao.
I stood there waiting under the bright moonlight, and about an hour later, Yang Xiao appeared.
She was carrying a heavy black schoolbag, wearing black-framed glasses and looking a little tired as she walked towards the dormitory gate. Zhou Qi immediately called her, "Yang Xiao." Upon hearing this, Yang Xiao's first reaction was disbelief and disbelief. She even subconsciously thought she had misheard and shook her head, preparing to continue walking in.
Zhou Qi walked over and held her.
She then turned around and saw Zhou Qi beside her. She called out his name in surprise, "Zhou Qi?"
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