Chapter 20 Midterm "Get some sleep."
The last Saturday in October.
In the afternoon, Yan Ning went to Room 302 opposite as usual.
The doorbell rang, and the door opened. There was someone standing inside, holding the handle and smiling brightly at her. It was—
Lu Chen.
The following weeks were similar.
Or maybe Lu Chen was already waiting opposite her before she came.
Or, not long after she started studying, Lu Chen came with his crossbody sports bag, rang the doorbell, and arrived as promised.
Anyway, this person is here every week.
But there was another point that concerned Yan Ning——
If she came first, after Lu Chen entered the room, he would consciously take out the test papers and homework, sit opposite her, and start studying.
If Lu Chen arrived first.
This person is usually playing with his phone or reading a wide range of books from the bookshelf.
He had to wait until she sat down and started studying before he followed her and got into the learning state.
Once or twice, that's fine.
It is like this every time.
Finally one day, at the suggestion of Teacher Zhao, Yan Ning brought the physics test paper issued by the school to do it.
The homework of Class 1 and Class 2 is basically the same.
Lu Chen put away his phone casually, sat down at the desk, and took out the same test paper as if nothing had happened.
And he is this person.
The speed of answering questions is simply outrageous!
While Yan Ning was consciously increasing her speed in answering questions, Yu Guangzhong, the boy opposite her, took his time and, before she had even had time to read the stems of the three major questions, he twirled the pen beautifully on his fingertips and then stopped writing.
What's even more terrifying is that, without even thinking about it, this person's accuracy rate is also frighteningly high...
Yan Ning: ...
She forced herself to withdraw her attention and focus entirely on her own paper.
As soon as she finished writing, Teacher Zhao came over, graded the paper for her, and explained a few wrong questions halfway through.
At this time, the cookies that Grandma Cen had baked in the kitchen had just come out of the pan, and Grandpa Zhao went over to help.
After Yan Ning finished writing down the key points in the notebook, he had nothing to do for a moment and was just about to look up at the kitchen.
However, as soon as his gaze shifted, he met the person opposite him halfway.
Lu Chen should have finished the test paper long ago, but for some reason, the test paper was confiscated. He was holding a pen and idly sketching something on the draft paper beside him.
See her looking over here.
He seemed to be interested, raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes were bright, and he leaned forward, as if asking her "What's the matter?"
Yan Ning was fine.
But when he asked this, the subtle competitive consciousness and a little inexplicable dissatisfaction that she had just felt surged up again. She finally couldn't help it and spoke in a low voice like pouring beans:
"Why do you always have to wait until I arrive before you start studying?"
Who knows.
This man held his chin up, calm and composed:
"Because, when you come, there will be a better learning atmosphere."
Yan Ning immediately turned off the engine.
Because she wanted to.
He said that this is more like the library model.
Yan Ning couldn't help but nodded. She did know that many people would study more efficiently in the library.
On the opposite side, Lu Chen shook the paper in his hand, as if he wanted to say something else.
But Grandma Cen said:
"Which kid wants some butter cookies?" interrupted.
Grandma Cen loves cooking. When Yan Ning came here to study, Grandma Cen often fed him various homemade snacks.
Yan Ning turned his grief and anger into appetite and raised his hand obediently in response, "I want to eat!"
-
High school life is busy, but also relatively peaceful.
The midterm exam for No. 1 Middle School is scheduled for mid-November.
As the exam was approaching, Xin Jing took two days off from school.
It was announced to the public that he was hospitalized due to influenza and fever.
However, what only Yan Ning knew was that Xin Jing had grabbed tickets for the idol group's concert, and Xin Jing's parents fulfilled their promise and took her to the next city to watch the concert.
After Xin Jing returned, she was so excited that she secretly dragged Yan Ning to look at many photos and videos of the scene. Yan Ning was also sincerely happy for her friend.
The midterm exam started quickly and ended even faster.
The day when the results are released.
It was a cloudy day with no sun at all.
As usual, the Honor Roll was posted on the notice board early Monday morning after the weekend.
Yan Ning came to school a little earlier than usual, and there was basically no one there.
The photo was replaced with the one with the school's newly collected information.
The first person in the first row is still the boy with black hair and black eyes. When he looks at the camera, the indifference in his eyes remains the same.
It is also marked below——
【Grade ranking: 1
Class 1, Grade 1
Lu Chen
The only thing that changed was that his clothes became the blue and white school uniform of No. 1 Middle School.
Yan Ning took a look and then moved his gaze down and to the right.
On the morning of the first day of the midterm exam, Yan Ning happened to have her period.
She didn't care about it at first, after all, she never had dysmenorrhea in the past, but for some reason, the abdominal pain was particularly unbearable this time, especially during the math test, she almost forced herself to finish the questions.
Pain distracts attention, and it is difficult not to affect accuracy.
Therefore, Yan Ning already had certain expectations for the results this time.
But after checking one by one, I found that my photo and name were not among the top 30 students in the grade on the honor roll.
Heart.
It's like sinking to the bottom of a lake.
After morning self-study, Jiang Caijun brought the report card for Class 2.
Yan Ning looked at his grades and ranking. He was ranked 31st in the grade, which was actually just a stone’s throw away from the honor roll.
But she also knew that this meant—
In the next exam, she was dropped from the first examination room to the second examination room.
Taking such a report card home, in Lin Xinci's opinion, would most likely be a huge, unacceptable setback...
Yan Ning was not in the right state of mind for the whole morning.
Return home at noon.
At the dinner table.
Before Yan Ning could speak, Lin Xinci said seriously:
"I asked your homeroom teacher, and your midterm results aren't very good."
"Just take your strengths in math and chemistry. I heard that the top student in your grade, Lu or something, got full marks. And what about you? In those two subjects alone, you're already 20 or 30 points behind them. And then there's biology..."
Listen to Lin Xinci's words.
A moment.
Yan Ning seemed to have returned to this summer, when the high school entrance examination results came out and she learned that she did not make it into the top 20 and could not enter the rocket class of No. 1 Middle School. She saw Lin Xinci's disappointed look on her face.
A few minutes of analysis.
Lin Xinci frowned deeply, and without asking Yan Ning's opinion, she said directly:
"I went to see a new training camp for key subjects at Nanhua Plaza today. You can go there on Saturday and Sunday nights to attend classes."
I didn't want to make excuses and didn't mention the dysmenorrhea.
Yan Ning just swallowed the rice that had long lost its taste and nodded, "I understand, Mom."
-
The weather is gradually getting cooler and it already feels like early winter.
The teaching pace in key classes is fast, and the homework assigned by teachers of various subjects is usually quite a lot, and it will double on weekends.
Recently, Yan Ning has been spending most of his time on Saturdays and Sundays in training classes, which also leave a lot of homework.
In order to save time and complete the task, Yan Ning had to work hard from Monday to Friday and squeeze out time to complete the plan.
This cycle resulted in Yan Ning not only having no free time every day, but even if he stayed up late into the night to study, he still didn't have enough time and was almost suffocated by the workload.
At first, she will feel sleepy and tired.
In the end, after mechanically repeating the same thing every day, all that was left was some numbness in my body, and I no longer felt tired.
The only time I can relax a little is probably when——
That was her only twenty minutes on the air on Thursday afternoon.
This went on for nearly a month.
The second monthly exam of No. 1 Middle School is scheduled for Thursday and Friday of next week.
Saturday afternoon.
Because the morning tutoring class lasted a long time, Yan Ning only had time to buy a sandwich at the bakery for lunch. After eating on the way, she went directly to Room 302 opposite with a bag full of homework.
Even every time he came back, Yan Ning was very serious.
However, Teacher Zhao still noticed the fatigue in her eyes, so starting from the last two weeks, he no longer gave her homework. Instead, he gave her some questions after class and explained them directly after she finished them.
The same is true today.
After finishing the physics questions, Teacher Zhao returned to his room to rest.
On a quiet afternoon, only Yan Ning and Lu Chen, who had arrived earlier than her and was now sitting opposite her as usual, were left in the living room.
There were not many questions this time, and Yan Ning finished writing in a short time.
While Teacher Zhao was still here, she took advantage of the time and took out two unfinished math papers from her schoolbag. They were for the evening tutoring class.
However, she took a pen from her pencil case.
The test paper on the table was suddenly taken away.
Yan Ning frowned and looked up.
Then, the man opposite her scanned the paper in his hand and asked her:
"So many? Are you going to finish them all today?"
"right."
Yan Ning nodded.
Because of her recent busy schedule, even though Lu Chen had been there the past few weeks, she and him had basically had zero communication. And now, the urgency of time, coupled with the subtle fatigue in her body and mind, made her not want to say anything more.
Yan Ning stood up slightly from his chair and reached out to take his paper back from him.
Lu Chen dodged back a bit and didn’t give it to him.
Yan Ning pursed his lips, just looked at the two pieces of paper, stood up, leaned forward, and went to pick them up again.
Although Lu Chen, who was sitting opposite her, was still sitting in his seat, he took advantage of his size and just raised his arm, and the paper in his hand was out of her reach.
I thought he was teasing me again.
Yan Ning was a little anxious.
"Lu Chen!"
She unconsciously raised her voice slightly and called out to him, "I really don't have time, give it back to me!"
When Lu Chen heard this, he suddenly smiled.
Yan Ning was confused when he heard him say:
"It's the first time I hear you call my name."
"It's just that what you said afterwards wasn't very nice. You should have said—"
Lu Chen looked over with his dark eyes and shook the roll of paper twice. Yan Ning also looked back at him, and then he realized that his eyes were serious and there was no intention of teasing at all:
"'Lu Chen, help me.'"
I thought he meant to write it for her.
Know that the other party means well.
Yan Ning sighed, sat back in his seat, and explained:
"No, the teachers at the training camp will ask random questions during class, and I don't want to mess around."
Unexpectedly, Lu Chen shook his head and put the paper down:
"The way I help you is a little more advanced—
These are all typical questions and their corresponding variations. There's no need to write them all again. I'll pick out a few and you can write them yourself. I'll help you with the rest. Is that okay?"
Yan Ning was stunned.
Without waiting for her to answer, he continued quickly:
"You know how fast I can finish a problem. This is a piece of cake for me. Just assume I'm just bored and looking for something meaningful to do."
"Since a combination of work and rest is the key to maximum learning efficiency, then there's nothing wrong with occasionally using some external help, right?"
Lu Chen gave Yan Ning no chance to refute after a series of arguments came down.
But she still hesitated, "But..."
He looked clear-eyed and smiled, "It's okay, I volunteered."
The long-tired brain short-circuited at this moment.
Yan Ning didn't know what to say for a moment.
At this time, Lu Chen helped her make a decision -
He raised his hand and stood up the exercise book in front of her.
Then, he put his index finger to his lips and whispered:
“Shh—get some sleep.
What you need most right now is rest, and leave the rest to me."
Perhaps it was because the afternoon was long and I felt sleepy.
Perhaps it was the books he helped stand upright that gave her an inexplicable sense of security.
Or maybe, after running so hard these days, she had unknowingly reached her limit and really needed an opportunity to have a good rest.
Yan Ning finally listened to Lu Chen's words and relaxed.
She lay on the table, closed her eyes, and soon fell asleep.
Nearly an hour had passed since I slept until I woke up naturally.
My arm was slightly numb from being rested on the pillow, and I could hear the subtle friction of the pen tip on the paper.
The long-awaited peaceful nap made Yan Ning feel refreshed and even gave him the illusion that he was in another world.
Just thinking back to where I was.
She suddenly sat up, feeling guilty for a moment:
"Teacher Zhao..."
"Don't worry, he hasn't come yet."
The boy's familiar voice was reassuring. At the same time, his slender hands took the two rolls of paper and gently placed them in front of her.
Yan Ning lowered his head to look.
The test paper was written entirely in pencil. Except for a few questions with marked question numbers, each of the remaining questions not only had the answer written on it, but also had brief steps written next to it.
"I borrowed this for a bit."
A mechanical pencil was handed to her next to her pencil case.
Yes.
Pencil writing is easy to erase.
But every time he came back, he never brought any other stationery except the black signing pen.
Such meticulousness and consideration made Yan Ning's heart move slightly.
Then I heard Lu Chen's voice continue:
"Try to answer these questions. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."
Yan Ning nodded.
The topics he helped to pick out were all very typical.
After about ten minutes, Yan Ning finished all the questions and felt as if he had connected all the knowledge points from the previous class.
As soon as I finished the test paper, Teacher Zhao arrived.
When Yan Ning had time to carefully look at the two papers, it was already time for the evening tutoring class.
A slightly balding middle-aged man was holding a triangle ruler and drawing auxiliary lines on the blackboard while explaining the questions. There were not too many people in the classroom, and his rhythmic and powerful voice filled the entire space.
Incandescent lamps also provide ample light.
Yan Ning sat in the first row, looking down at the question on the test paper, a little distracted.
In the blank space, the problem-solving steps written in pencil are concise and easy to understand, with triangle symbols and wavy lines next to the key points, which are even clearer than the teacher's explanation.
Moreover, the handwriting was neat, not as casual and free as usual, but rather seemed like—
A little bit.
similar.
Her handwriting...
Two classes are finished.
There is still a short period of time in the tutoring class for students to answer questions.
Yan Ning used to use this time to sort out the wrong questions of the day. She had scissors and glue sticks on the side of her schoolbag, which she used to cut the papers and paste them directly into the notebook, saving time on copying.
Just today.
Yan Ning glanced at the schoolbag on the seat next to him, but did not move.
Instead, he picked up a pen from the table and began to copy the questions...
At the end of class.
The two papers were neatly stacked and clipped between the last pages of the dark green notebook that Yan Ning used every day.
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