peep
The September sky still carried a hint of summer heat.
A red note was pasted on the blackboard of Class 1, Grade 11:
"Countdown to the monthly exam: 1 day."
The atmosphere in the class was somewhat oppressive. Even Li Changshui, who usually loved to talk, had been speaking less these past two days.
Xu Jianing had just finished a math test when she saw her deskmate, Li Changshui, lying face down on the table, motionless.
He tapped on Li Changshui's desk and asked earnestly, "Dead?"
Li Changshui rolled over, looking utterly dejected, and said, "Almost done. Look at what's written on the blackboard."
Xu Jianing looked up at the blackboard: "Countdown: 1 day."
Li Changshui lamented, "I just did a mock monthly exam, and I got stuck on the first fill-in-the-blank question. I had to guess on the rest."
"Is it that difficult?" Xu Jianing took out a notebook from the drawer, flipped to the middle page, pointed to the question on it, and said, "Try to do this question."
The handwriting on the page was clear, neat, and so familiar that it was immediately recognizable as Xu Jianing's.
The question is a function problem. The question is concise and the logic is rigorous. It doesn't seem to be copied directly from the question bank. It seems to be carefully selected and adapted.
"You paid for it yourself?" Li Changshui asked.
"If you can understand it, then do it," Xu Jianing said calmly, then lowered his head and continued writing his test paper.
Li Changshui picked up a pen and began to write, asking as he wrote, "By the way, has your style of setting questions changed recently? It's become more human-like. But it's definitely your handwriting."
Xu Jianing was writing on her notebook with her head down when she heard this, and her hand holding the pen paused: "If you can't do it, I'll take it back."
"Hey, hey, hey, stop!" Li Changshui slammed the notebook down. "I'll write, I'll write, just pretend I didn't say anything."
He was engrossed in his calculations, completely unaware that the person next to him was writing the same name over and over again in the corner of a draft paper.
"Wen Sheng".
That day, when she handed him the neatly organized exercise book, her eyes gleamed with undisguised pride, waiting for his praise: "How about it! Teacher Wen, weren't the questions I set pretty good?"
But what Li Changshui sees now is the version he copied into his notebook, written in his own handwriting.
On the other side, Wen Sheng stood outside the washroom and couldn't help but sigh.
"Why is it broken again? This is the third time this month." She muttered, lifting the kettle in her hand; it was empty.
Li Qingmiao, who was standing next to her, also sighed, "Oh, what a miserable life. Even getting a sip of hot water is so difficult."
"How about we go to the second-year high school area? The water rooms there are still working properly," Li Qingmiao asked.
Wen Sheng feigned hesitation: "Hmm, it seems like this is the only way."
The two women exchanged a glance. It was still self-study time, and they carefully made their way upstairs.
After leaving the first floor, Wen Sheng quietly slowed her pace, her toes lightly brushing the steps, carrying an empty water bottle while glancing around at the end of the corridor.
"I think I left something in the classroom. Do you want me to go get some water?" she said, smiling at Li Qingmiao. "I'll come find you in a bit."
Li Qingmiao didn't think much of it and waved her hand: "Then hurry up, I'll go first."
After the other person's figure turned into the water room on the second-year high school side, Wen Sheng slowly turned around and deliberately walked to the other side.
It was during the second year of high school self-study time, and the whole floor was quiet. Wen Sheng carried an empty water bottle and walked very lightly along the corridor of the second-year floor. She even pressed the lid of the water bottle tightly, afraid of making a sound.
Actually, she had already made up her mind that she didn't really want to get water.
As they neared the end, Wen Sheng stopped at the corner and glanced casually through the window.
Xu Jianing's seat was towards the back, sandwiched between the third row and the wall, and was almost completely blocked by the person sitting by the window. Standing in the aisle, she could only barely see a corner of the table.
Wen Sheng was unwilling to give up, so she stood on tiptoe and stretched her neck to look into the classroom.
He was writing with his head down, his elbow resting on the open book, his expression extremely focused, as if he had entered a state that no one else could approach.
Li Changshui next door kept scratching his head and stealing glances at Xu Jianing, as if searching for answers, but he didn't dare to actually go over.
Wen Sheng stood at the far corner, originally intending to sneak a peek, but somehow her gaze became fixed there.
She hadn't planned to look at it for that long, but she happened to see it and couldn't take her eyes off it.
Suddenly, Xu Jianing, who was writing, seemed to sense something. He paused, raised his head, and looked out the window.
Their eyes met directly in the air, separated by the classroom and the corridor.
Wen Sheng's heart skipped a beat, and almost instinctively she turned and ran away. Her movements were too hasty, and the kettle hit the railing with a loud "clang." Several people in the classroom looked up at the window upon hearing the sound.
She quickly lowered her head and walked briskly, the kettle swaying in her hand, witnessing her "crime" and serving as evidence.
After walking around the corner, Wen Sheng dared to secretly glance back.
Thankfully, no one chased after them.
Wen Sheng patted her chest, just as she breathed a sigh of relief, when suddenly Xu Jianing's gaze unexpectedly met hers in her mind.
Oh no, oh no, oh no! Did she actually laugh? Did she pretend to be just passing by? Did she cover her face?
"What am I doing...?"
After muttering to herself, Wen Sheng pinched herself hard and then walked towards the water room.
When she was almost at the water room door, she quickly adjusted her breathing and put on a calm demeanor, as if she had only been delayed for a few minutes on the way.
Li Qingmiao was standing in line when she turned around and waved at her: "You're really slow, the water's almost all filled up!"
"I was just stopped by the teacher." Wen Sheng forced an excuse, picked up the water bottle and shook it. "See, I'm here now."
Li Qingmiao didn't notice her unusual behavior. She took the kettle from her and said with a smile, "The water comes out quickly in the senior high school water room. That's great. We don't have to wait too long."
"That's great." Wen Sheng opened the kettle to fill it with water, acting as if nothing had happened.
——
Just as Wen Sheng was running away, in the classroom of Class 1, Grade 11, Li Changshui was engrossed in writing a problem when he suddenly looked up at the window and asked, "Did you just hear a sound? What hit the railing?"
"Kettle," Xu Jianing replied unhurriedly, without even lifting his eyelids.
Li Changshui was taken aback: "How did you know it was a kettle?"
Xu Jianing then tilted her head slightly, shifting her gaze from the exam paper, and gave him a brief, indifferent look: "You have too many questions."
"Oh—" Li Changshui drawled out, smiled meaningfully, and suddenly leaned closer. "I'm not saying this to be mean, but your reaction is a bit too fast for your liking."
"Shut up." Xu Jianing pushed his head away and impatiently threw back two words.
After a while, he suddenly asked, "After this monthly exam, can I apply to change my seat?"
"It seems so." Li Changshui nodded, still feeling puzzled. "You want to change seats? Aren't you quite satisfied with your current seat?"
"The current location isn't very convenient," Xu Jianing said.
“That’s true, it’s indeed a bit difficult to see the blackboard from the back, and the person next to me keeps blocking the light.” Li Changshui nodded in agreement.
Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of the self-study period.
The crisp sound of the bell broke the silence of the classroom. Some students stretched, some stood up to go to the water room to get water, and some took the opportunity to lie on the table and close their eyes to rest.
Xu Jianing also stood up and walked to the podium to observe the classroom layout. People occasionally passed by in the corridor. The window seats were right in front of the classroom door. With just a slight turn of the head, one could see what was happening outside.
Now that the columns are selected, the next step is to choose the specific locations.
He stepped down from the podium and slowly walked through the classroom, row by row, his eyes comparing the seats and silently making selections.
When he reached the third row by the window, he stopped, thought for a moment, and looked at his classmate who was doing his homework at the table.
"Yang Li, may I sit in your seat?"
The boy who was called to the side stepped aside and offered his seat, saying, "Please sit wherever you like."
Xu Jianing pulled out a chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table. He looked left and right, his expression serious, not like someone who was "just sitting down."
He looked up at the blackboard; the angle was just right, neither too far to the side nor too far to the left, and the words written on the edge were clearly visible.
I glanced out the window again and saw that I could see the classroom door and the end of the corridor. If someone walked by, I could see them with just a glance.
"It suits you well," he said softly, getting up and pushing the chair back.
Yang Li glanced at him: "You want to move here?"
"Mm." Xu Jianing nodded, didn't explain further, and turned to leave the classroom.
There weren't many people in the corridor. He walked to the stairwell, paused for a moment, glanced casually downstairs, and then turned back.
When he reached Yang Li's position, he took a slight step to the side of the corridor, deliberately lowering his height and center of gravity, trying to see if he could see the person on the desk from different angles, repeatedly verifying the "possibility" he had tested countless times.
Anyone passing by in this direction, even if they only stop briefly, can be spotted at a glance.
For example, someone might sneak over here, hide around the corner to watch the classroom, or pretend to be passing by.
For example, someone might accidentally come into his line of sight.
That one glance was just right.
It's just the right amount of exposure, just the right amount of conspicuousness.
This is the place.
After confirming her location, Xu Jianing walked back to the classroom as if nothing had happened, pulled out a chair, sat down, and continued working on her problems.
No one knew that just minutes before he was trying to stage a "chance encounter" in the hallway.
——
The monthly exam at the end of the month arrived as scheduled.
Because the arrangements were to be made uniformly across the entire school, the Academic Affairs Office posted the examination room arrangements on the bulletin board.
The classrooms were rearranged and used as examination rooms. A temporary allocation list was posted in front of the bulletin board, with names and examination numbers drawn in red pen.
The night before the monthly exam, during the break between evening self-study sessions, the bulletin board was immediately surrounded by people.
"Huh? Why was I assigned to take the exam on the second-year high school level?"
"Me too, I have to climb one more floor."
"It seems to be a unique feature of Cangzhong High School. To prevent students from submitting cheating materials, second-year students will take the exam in the first-year exam room, and first-year students will take the exam in the second-year exam room."
"What about the senior year of high school?"
"Senior high students don't take the monthly exams with us; they have other exam schedules."
As the crowd gradually dispersed, Wen Sheng squeezed to the front and stood on tiptoe to look at the examination room allocation table marked in red pen.
A quick glance revealed her name in the middle of the third column.
"Wen Sheng, Grade 11 (1), seat number 3."
She paused, thinking she was seeing things, rubbed her eyes and looked again before confirming that she wasn't mistaken.
How could it be Class 1 of Grade 11?
Although I had heard that Cangzhong had a tradition of "changing floors" for the exam, and that first-year students would be transferred to second-year classrooms to prevent cheating, I did not expect to be directly assigned to the second-year (1) class.
"Miaomiao," she tugged at the sleeve of the person next to her and asked in a low voice, "Where are you taking the exam?"
“Me? Grade 11 (2) class.” Li Qingmiao was copying down her student number and location with a pen.
"And you?"
“Grade 11 (1) class,” Wen Sheng replied.
Upon hearing a familiar class, Li Qingmiao exclaimed, "Huh? Isn't that my brother's class?"
"Um."
"Let's go check the exam room schedule; it'll be clear at a glance."
Li Qingmiao pointed to several pieces of paper posted on the bulletin board, "Look, there's a seating chart on this, it's hand-drawn."
Wen Sheng leaned closer for a look and saw that it was indeed a yellowed checkered paper with a classroom floor plan drawn on it in blue-black pen, with two rows of seats on the left and right, the podium at the top, and the door at the bottom.
The seats on the left and right were densely packed, with the numbers written in vertical order in the boxes. An arrow was drawn in red at the door, and the words "Senior 2 (1) Class Examination Seating Chart" were neatly written below.
She scanned the numbers and found that the third one was in the column by the window.
"By the window..." Wen Sheng murmured to herself, "Wouldn't that make me more noticeable to people in the hallway?"
Li Qingmiao didn't pay attention, assuming that she was worried about being distracted during the exam. "No, you can always concentrate on the questions. I called you several times before but you didn't respond."
Wen Sheng thought Li Qingmiao's words made sense, so she stopped staring at the seating chart. She tugged at Li Qingmiao's sleeve and said with a smile, "Let's go back to the classroom."
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