Episode 17
"It didn't work."
"This person is really difficult to deal with."
"It's okay, there are plenty of ways."
"......"
That day was the second monthly exam for the second year of high school. Benjamin "met this person" through a classmate's introduction. Later, when Benjamin remembered the name Sasin, he also remembered that his mother had told him about the name. However, at that time, he was not sure if they were the same person.
"Old Liu!"
"......"
"What...what!"
"......"
Old Liu didn't know what Benjamin called him. However, he had something he needed to ask Benjamin. His mother had been murdered, and no one was handling her funeral arrangements. Plus, the slow-witted Benjamin hadn't had time to see his mother again while he was at school. They used to joke around, but without her, his life was dull and lonely. Besides, the rumors about her being spread would be troublesome. This was an urgent matter for him, but he had forgotten about it for other reasons.
"What?"
"Let's go, let's talk on the playground."
"OK".
From that day on, Benjamin had no doubt that he was with Lao Liu. Lao Liu's expulsion during their senior year of high school was only one of the reasons. Later, when Song Ran saw their behavior, she also hinted at it to her junior.
"Why?"
"Who knows..."
"?"
"What's wrong?"
"fine."
"......"
The next second, Song Ran told her junior about it. Benjamin, after seeing Song Ran, understood what she was up to. Three days later, Lao Liu returned, and Benjamin also returned. However, Song Ran immediately said something very unpleasant:
Do you like boys?
"Isn't it perfectly acceptable for someone to think they like girls when they don't know they're in the minority?"
"......"
"Also, why is it assumed that I must like men just because I'm close to Lao Liu? When you're chatting with your junior, does that mean I can also assume that you two are together?"
"you!"
"So what if you're not with me? What would you do if I told you that forced relationships don't work? Would you spread rumors like an undercover agent and then disappear without a trace?"
"Benjamin, don't go too far!"
Are you qualified to say that to me?
"We are classmates."
"You're just a transfer student."
"?"
"You don't know me. The classmates in the class don't know much about me either. You think you know me very well, but the reason you know me so well now is only because I want you to know some things about me. You say I'm too much of a person, but how do you explain your own wishful thinking when you're being a person?"
"Do you believe I'll go to Lao Liu and tell on you?"
"Go ahead, I don't object."
"I've got it."
------Final Exams Coming Soon------
"That student in your class named Song Ran is really strange."
"What's wrong?"
"No...it's nothing."
"......"
They just didn't want to be so direct. Old Liu had also heard the rumors about himself and Benjamin being together. As for Old Liu, could Benjamin handle him? Meanwhile, Song Ran started arguing with him in the next post, saying that boys should be together and come back together.
"......"
"I'm exhausted!"
"These few words have made you this tired; you must have a problem with your lung capacity."
"you!"
Old Liu immediately retorted, and the next second Benjamin came in and added insult to injury:
"I'm worried about whether you can pass the 800-meter race in the college entrance exam."
"......"
"You could tell your junior that you should go to a good tertiary hospital to check the cause of your reduced lung capacity."
"you!"
"Didn't you say your junior's father is a doctor in the respiratory department of a top-tier hospital? Why don't you just ask him directly? You can get it for free."
"......"
"Old Liu, I've come to talk to you about something."
"Please come in."
Song Ran was almost in tears. After that, Benjamin brought up Sassin as if he wanted to rub salt in the wound. As for Sassin's homeroom teacher, Lao Liu even said, "It's okay, you do your lesson plan."
"......"
When are you going to teach him?
"I'm not going."
"Why?"
"I can only teach the second year of high school, not other classes."
"If they don't teach it in other classes, surely they can teach it in other grades?"
"......"
Old Liu was more determined to save him than anyone else, but he really couldn't do it because he never had the chance. Old Liu talked to his classmates about switching classes to teach journalism, but he didn't expect it to be the same teacher who taught Sassin.
"never mind."
"......"
"There's still a chance, Lao Liu. I'm going back now."
------Five minutes later------
"That kid's request is really quite bold."
"Old Liu, you spoil him too much."
"He was a student in my class, and his mother also took good care of me, so I felt mostly grateful for her indulgence."
"I'm used to it, so it doesn't matter. What I'm most worried about is Benjamin calling you 'Old Liu' in front of the principal or other school leaders."
"No, he called me teacher."
"......"
"As it turns out, you were right."
"Am I smart?"
Another colleague offered him a way out, because he had witnessed Benjamin addressing Lao Liu as "teacher," and he himself had done so. Lao Liu taught Chinese, and Benjamin's Chinese had always been poor, that was all. However...
"Sassin is good at Chinese, but Benjamin's Chinese grades are not good. It seems that the situation has reversed."
"That's true..."
—On the day of finals—
"So? Are you confident in your results?"
"No."
"?"
This was a question Sasin asked him from his junior classmate Song Ran. Later, they switched classes during the exam, and unfortunately, Song Ran ended up in the same class as her junior classmate. The principal didn't know about their relationship, but the principal's ignorance didn't mean Benjamin didn't know. Sasin didn't know the whole story about their relationship, and he didn't want to get involved in those messy things. He just wanted to prove that he was better than Benjamin.
"There's something I need to tell you all."
"......"
"What?"
"Some people have had their exam scores canceled for cheating with their phones. You can decide for yourselves. And as for those trying to be clever, I'd like to remind you that it's unlikely."
"......"
Song Ran didn't bother with the principal. The next person to make her do something she was unwilling to accept and break her heart was not the principal, but Lao Liu, which led to a shocking scandal on campus.
—20 minutes after the start of the exam—
"......"
"It's him, the student whose grades were on par with Benjamin's?"
"Yes, yes, that's him."
"Our school really produces a lot of talented people."
—60 minutes after the start of the exam—
"120?"
Who is it?
Who's so unlucky?
"It seems to be downstairs."
No one explicitly stated what had happened. However, Lao Liu had a vague sense of unease. The classroom downstairs was the same one where Sasin was taking the exam, and Benjamin had started to dawdle on the essay. He had only heard about the previous questions in class.
"......"
"......"
Benjamin was silent because this essay topic was his weakest subject, while Lao Liu was silent because the person rescued and put on the ambulance stretcher was none other than Sasin. Somatization had occurred, and his answering speed was almost the same as Benjamin's. He really couldn't figure out what the problem was. Perhaps Benjamin felt the same way and guessed why Sasin had somatized.
——150 minutes after the start of the exam——
"Alright, let's start collecting the papers."
"......"
Song Ran and her junior classmates were not here, and their gossips were widely known. However, Benjamin did not want to rely on them, and after seeing Lao Liu's vaguely uneasy look, Benjamin seemed to have sensed something.
"Old Liu."
"I'm going to the principal's office."
"?"
"I'll come back to you after I've dealt with this."
"......"
"You've come at the right time; I need to talk to you about something."
"What's the matter?"
"A student from the exam room below was taken to the hospital."
Who is it?
"It's Sasin, the student in your class who got the same grades as Benjamin in journalism."
Old Liu pretended not to know anything, and then the principal went along with what Old Liu said. Only one person knows what the principal said and what Old Liu agreed with.
Who knows?
"Benjamin."
"......"
The next second, Song Ran wanted to harm Benjamin, but before she could harm him, she was harmed by Lao Liu first, because what Lao Liu said was related to Song Ran. No sooner had Benjamin finished listening than Song Ran arrived.
Why her?
"Because she is indeed suspected of school bullying."
“It’s always her. She doesn’t quite believe it. Also, it’s a pity about Sasin, his homeroom teacher.”
"head teacher?"
"......"
——Lunchtime——
"Another leave of absence?"
"Yes, today is the seventh day after my mother's death. I'm going back to visit her."
"Can't it be at night?"
"I'm going home tonight, but I want to get home ten minutes earlier today."
"Then there's nothing more to say, because every time you ask for leave, you only ask for a whole day."
Benjamin had to go early this time because it was the seventh day after his death, while Lao Liu would be getting off work later. He wanted to have a drink with Sasin's homeroom teacher. There was also some progress on Song Ran's matter now, and a little lesson would be enough to teach her a lesson.
"I'm a bit confused by what the principal did this time."
"If it was Sasin's homeroom teacher who denounced the principal for being indifferent and uncaring towards his students, then his punishment of Song Ran was not quite right, because he thought there was a problem. Being a double agent is wrong, and not being a double agent is also wrong. So what kind of person does the principal want to be?"
—Journalism Exam—
"It's easy for me~"
This was Benjamin's thought upon seeing the journalism exam questions. However, after seeing the questions, he was completely stunned, thinking, "This is not what we expected."
——10 minutes after the start of the exam——
"I seriously doubt that the teacher who set this question used their brain when setting it, or rather, the teacher who set the question has no brain at all."
"......"
These were the words of Benjamin's homeroom teacher. After seeing the difficulty of these questions, it seemed that he understood who had set them. Sure enough, after seeing the content of these questions, Benjamin also understood which teacher had done this.
"Li Zan?"
"I guess so......"
At that time, Li Zan was still the editor-in-chief, and it was a great honor to have him provide guidance. But for the students, it was a different story. Therefore, Benjamin had been wanting to meet this editor-in-chief for a while. However, on that day, Sassin made his wish come true, which was also the most unhappy moment for Benjamin.
"Someone will come."
"The person who set the questions?"
"That's possible."
"Because of him, we have to relearn the knowledge we haven't learned yet, which is really troublesome. Besides, if he could answer these questions, that would be a different story."
"It's obvious that it's impossible, and how could our school possibly invite him over?"
—30 minutes after the start of the exam—
"?"
"......"
"sky......"
The two homeroom teachers and one student were stumped by the twelfth question, because it asked how to handle a bomb like this. Who would handle such a bomb? The three of them seriously suspected that Li Zan was not involved in this question.
"......"
"Benjamin, let's see what your choice is?"
The picture shows two things: a C4 bomb, which appears as a transparent cone-shaped tube containing a sphere. When the person noticed the red and blue lines on the bomb, they immediately thought to cut the red line, but they were wrong. They noticed a thin, long object stuck to the person's clothes. Luckily, their eyesight was good, otherwise… Therefore, the answer isn't to cut the blue or red line, but rather…
—60 minutes after the start of the exam—
"The last question is finally easy." Benjamin seemed happy to see the last question, but when he analyzed the requirements, he finally realized that this question was actually a test of human nature.
"What would you do if it were you? (Shares the same stem as question 11.)"
There's a place where the atmosphere is peaceful, but on your way back you're hit by grenades and witness a city completely destroyed. What do you do next? (Shares the same stem as question twelve.)
Benjamin was a bit confused by the question stem. Was there something wrong with the question stem for question eleven? Because the two stems presented two different scenarios, and more importantly, this question was really challenging.
"......"
"......"
How do you feel about your exam results?
"Not good."
——120 minutes after the start of the exam——
"Ten minutes left."
Benjamin never mentioned paying to hand in his exam paper, but not today. For him, exams were just another part of life, nothing more. The difficulty of the questions was vastly different from his usual monthly tests, so Benjamin wasn't very confident about this exam.
"I'm leaving now."
"......"
"goodbye."
Benjamin didn't say a word to the others or make any move towards them. In fact, Benjamin didn't get along with any of them, and Old Liu let him go. This was the last time. Benjamin wasn't just here to observe the seventh-day memorial service for his mother; more importantly, he wanted to take this opportunity to visit Sassin.
"You took another day off?"
"This is the last holiday before starting school."
"You said the same thing to the homeroom teacher, right?"
"yes."
Benjamin could get along with the security guards, but they didn't seem to give his homeroom teacher a friendly look. Even Benjamin didn't know about their feud, but it didn't matter.
—Collect papers, deliver to the principal's office, leave work—
"Don't spread this information out for now."
"What's wrong?"
"Let me tell you something. We've been investigating the missing school uniforms for the past few days but haven't received anything. The students from outside the school said they borrowed the uniforms from someone in the school. But when they reported the situation to the students outside the school, they said they only borrowed four uniforms, which doesn't match what the students outside the school said. So, we suspect that one of the parties is lying, or that both of them are lying."
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