Chapter 48 Conversation
Zhou Chong held his breath, repeatedly glancing at Jiang Wan out of the corner of his eye, the ranking list in his hand almost crumpled up from being held so tightly.
This proud little princess, who used to excel in all kinds of school-level exams, failed to even make the top ten in her class in this city-wide mock exam, let alone rank in the grade.
She must be in a very bad mood right now.
However, he dared not speak rashly. Jiang Wan had a strong sense of self-respect, and he was not good at comforting people. If he made her feel even worse, Zhou Chong would not know what to do.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, the words he wanted to say lingering between his lips and teeth. After several repetitions, he finally mustered the courage to turn around, "You..."
"Jiang Wan."
Zhou Chonggang uttered a single word before being interrupted by another voice.
Jiang Wan turned around, but her gaze wasn't directed at Zhou Chong. Instead, she raised her head slightly, looking over Zhou Chong's head at Jiang Shengming standing behind him.
"Old Fan wants you to go to his office." Jiang Shengming said, "Go now."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
Jiang Wan nodded, put down the test paper and pen in her hand, and stood up from her seat.
Before leaving, she seemed to remember something, turned back to look at Zhou Chong, and asked, "Is there something you wanted to say to me just now?"
Zhou Chong pursed his lips. "It's nothing. You can go to Teacher Fan's office first."
"Okay, let's talk about it when I get back."
Jiang Wan nodded, turned around and walked out of the classroom.
Actually, Jiang Wan had a general idea of why Lao Fan was looking for her.
It's just that she didn't do well on the mock exam, and her ranking dropped so much, so we need to talk to her.
Old Fan has always been a man of action, but Jiang Wan never expected that Old Fan would be so eager to talk to her as soon as the report cards were handed out.
He really can't hold his temper.
Jiang Wan, at twenty-eight years old, thought so.
Even so, despite rehearsing her explanation the whole way, she still couldn't figure out how to tell Lao Fan.
The real reason cannot be told, and even if it were, no one would believe it.
The reason it's not true...
They said she was under too much psychological pressure and was too nervous during the exam?
She performed normally in Chinese, math, and English, but did poorly in the combined science exam.
She said she wasn't feeling well on the day of the exam?
But she did very well on her English exam that afternoon. Could it be that she only had diarrhea during her science exam in the morning?
Fine, let's play along.
Jiang Wan dragged her heavy steps to the office door, took a deep breath, and said, "Report."
Old Fan looked up and waved to her, "Come in."
Strangely enough, there were almost no other teachers in the office. The only remaining young teacher took her water cup and left after seeing Jiang Wan come in.
Jiang Wan suddenly felt a dark cloud looming over her.
Is this a big deal?
Is it really necessary to ask everyone in the office to leave just because someone dropped a dozen or so places in the grade?
What exactly did Lao Fan want to say to her?
Jiang Wan walked up to Lao Fan, lowered her head, and murmured, "Teacher Fan."
Old Fan glanced at her, picked up the report card on the table, and before speaking, sighed softly, "Jiang Wan."
Jiang Wan quickly replied, "I'm here."
Old Fan glanced at her again, then looked down at the report card in his hand, pointing to Jiang Wan's line. "683 points, that's a drop of more than ten places in the grade. Jiang Wan, this is not your usual level. What happened to this exam?"
Jiang Wan lowered her head and remained silent, unsure of what to say.
Seeing that she remained silent, Lao Fan thought he had spoken too harshly. He also thought that she must be feeling bad because she did not do well on the exam, so he changed his tone and said, "Jiang Wan, I don't mean to criticize you. You are a top student, and you know that very well. I don't need to say anything more."
Jiang Wan nodded repeatedly, "Mhm."
"So," Old Fan pondered for a moment, then asked with concern, "have you encountered some difficulties? Have you been under too much psychological pressure lately?"
Jiang Wan thought for a moment, hesitating whether to continue along with him, when she heard Lao Fan ask another question.
"Is it because sitting with Zhou Chong puts too much pressure on you?"
"No, no." Jiang Wan quickly raised her head and waved her hand. "Teacher Fan, I'm not under much pressure, really."
"Really?" Old Fan expressed doubt. "Jiang Wan, you can speak your mind. If Zhou Chong is putting too much pressure on you, just tell the teacher, and I'll move you to a different desk. Who do you want to sit with?"
Jiang Wan wanted to cry but had no tears.
I just want to sit with Zhou Chong.
She never imagined that her declining exam scores would affect the classmate she had worked so hard to get.
I finally managed to build up some friendship with Zhou Chong as deskmates, I can't let it all be ruined in one fell swoop.
The problem is, she really did her best in this exam. If it weren't for Zhou Chong being her deskmate and him helping her review, she might have dropped even further in the rankings.
“Teacher Fan, this really has nothing to do with Zhou Chong.” Jiang Wan kept shaking her head. “Zhou Chong has helped me a lot with my studies, and I am very grateful to him. This exam was purely my own fault.”
"What's wrong with you?"
Old Fan's question was sharp, leaving Jiang Wan speechless.
"I...I just..." Jiang Wan scratched her head, "I didn't perform well on the exam."
She actually thought she did quite well on the exam, but she couldn't say that, or Lao Fan would think she was stupid.
"Everyone makes mistakes, and even horses stumble." Jiang Wan wanted to add a couple more words to her defense. "Teacher Fan, no one can guarantee that they will always do well on tests, except for Zhou Chong, of course. So, I can't change my deskmate. I have to learn from Zhou Chong."
Old Fan looked up at her. "Is that really all there is to it?"
"Really." Jiang Wan nodded vigorously, raising her right hand to show her loyalty. "I swear, in the next exam, I will definitely be back in the top ten, no, in the top five."
After all, she had only been reviewing for a little over a month, and her grasp of many knowledge points was still not very solid. However, given time, she believed that she would continue to improve.
Jiang Wan thought his oath was very effective, but to her surprise, Lao Fan still sighed.
"Jiang Wan, you used to be second in the grade. Did you lose confidence in yourself just because you failed one exam?" Old Fan looked heartbroken. "Are you satisfied with just being in the top five?"
“No, Teacher Fan.” Jiang Wan shook her head, her expression serious. “Give me some more time, and I will definitely get back to my previous level. Not only that, I will also make progress.”
Old Fan stared at her for a while, his eyes and expression not seeming to be feigned, serious and firm, and his tone was very sincere.
He slammed his hand on the table. "Okay, teacher believes you."
Jiang Wan felt a sense of relief, and just as the corners of her mouth curved into a smile, she heard Lao Fan sigh again.
"However, there is one more thing I must make clear to you."
His tone seemed somewhat helpless, which made Jiang Wan's heart jump again.
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