Chapter 28
Bai Nan didn't cry for long; she was too tired and fell asleep with her head resting on Xu Xin's shoulder.
Xu Xin dared not move, afraid that she would not sleep peacefully, so he gently supported her cheek and leaned her back against the wall.
He persevered, and as dawn broke, he finally closed his eyes.
The two of them sat on the bed, he leaning against the wall, she leaning against him, and slept through the night.
When Bai Nan woke up again, it was already bright outside, and there were less than ten minutes left before the first Chinese exam.
She dropped her phone and quickly shook Xu Xin awake: "Xu Xin, wake up! You're going to be late for the exam!"
He woke up quickly, and a flash of red blood vessels appeared in his eyes when he opened them.
There was no time to dawdle. The two quickly washed up, changed into their school uniforms, and ran to the classroom.
The classroom of Class 1, Grade 11 was in Duxing Building, which was the closest to the cafeteria and the farthest from the dormitory. She ran as fast as she could and barely made it to the classroom before the exam.
As soon as she entered the room, she received all the attention of the class, but she didn't have time to ponder the purpose behind those looks.
The classroom has been set up, and everyone will take the exam in their original seats, except that the double desks have been replaced with single desks, and the desks are now facing the opposite direction.
"Ring ring—Exam begins!"
The exam bell rang, and everyone looked down at their exam papers. At that moment, no one cared about the argument between Bai Nan and Huang Wang the night before, nor did anyone want to find out why Bai Nan was late.
Students' natural passivity is that they are single-minded during exams.
Apart from the slight movement of the curtains, the only sounds in the classroom were the swishing of writing, the occasional click of a pen, and the rustling of pages turning.
Although Bai Nan's grades were average, she would never forget any knowledge she truly learned and remembered.
Moreover, after learning more advanced knowledge, one will have a deeper understanding of previous questions and a clearer understanding of the question setter's intentions.
So she finished quickly. After finishing her essay, she looked up at her watch and found that there were still twenty minutes left before the exam ended.
She didn't want to sit and wait, so she carefully checked her paper and then raised her hand to hand it in.
After she left with her math book, the classroom erupted in commotion, and the proctor had to speak up to remind them to be quiet and concentrate.
The entrance exam for the first year of high school at No. 1 High School mainly tested the students' knowledge of the texts from the three years of junior high school, with no new content. The composition section only included two types of essays: those based on provided materials and those based on assigned topics.
She had participated in the competition two years ago. Apart from a few changes in the question types and the addition of more classical Chinese texts, it wasn't difficult for her.
The reason she has always been in the parallel class is because in math and physics, even if her scores in other subjects are similar to those of the student in front of her, these two subjects alone can pull her back by nearly 200 places.
When she was placed into different classes in her second year of high school, she chose traditional science subjects: Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry, and biology. This was in line with her grades before the class division. However, after the class division, she was in a new environment with new classmates and new teachers. She needed time to adapt to everything, and the two subjects that were not very strong to begin with gradually became difficult for her.
The fact that she only made one friend, Li Ling, in a year shows that she is someone who is very dependent on her old environment.
Li Ling probably meant the same thing to him as she did to Huang Wang, which is why his reaction was so strong...
Bai Nan shook his head, blocking out his random thoughts, and stood by the window in the hallway, opening his math book and starting to study it seriously.
Although they are testing junior high school knowledge, the teaching logic of mathematics is consistent. By reviewing the basic knowledge from the first year of high school, they can also recall the content learned in junior high school.
The weather has indeed gotten colder; after standing by the drafty window for just a while, my hands holding the book became completely cold.
She tucked her hands into her sleeves, gripped the book tightly through them again, and continued flipping through the pages.
During the math exam, Huang Wang, who was behind Bai Nan, noticeably sped up, while Chen Shu, who was diagonally behind him, even handed in his paper and left forty minutes before the end of the exam.
Bai Nan felt she had done something wrong and would probably be called in for a talk by Zeng Li after the exam, since she was the one who started it.
She endured the exam until the very last bell rang, and before handing in her paper, she checked it one last time before passing it to the student in front of her.
In the first year of high school, there are nine subjects to be tested in a total of two days, so the break between each exam is only ten minutes long, just enough to go to the bathroom and have a drink of water.
After finishing the Chinese and math exams in the morning, Bai Nan rushed to the convenience store to buy a bread and then returned to the classroom in order to make the most of her time to review physics.
Many students made the same choice as her, and at least half of the students in the classroom were doing practice problems.
Some students even ignored the patrols and spread their phones on the table to search for and answer questions.
If the atmosphere in the regular classes Bai Nan had been in was relatively relaxed, then the honors class she was in now was hell mode.
Apart from geniuses like Chen Shu, everyone else, including Huang Wang who entered the top class in second place, was on edge, only able to breathe a sigh of relief after each subject's exam was over.
Before the next exam, this tension will return, and this cycle will continue until all subjects are completed.
Bai Nan believed she had worked very hard, but she forgot that she was no longer among the top students in the regular class, but third in the honors class.
So on Monday morning during self-study, she was called to Zeng Li's office.
Bai Nan stood next to her desk, and Zeng Li pulled her to sit down.
After considering her words for a moment, she said, "Bai Di, I understand that summer vacation is long and it's normal to forget some things."
Then, changing the subject, he said, "But last night I looked at your junior high school exam papers and found that many of the knowledge points that you used to have a firm grasp of became points where you lost marks in this exam."
She pointed to a quadratic function problem on Bai Nan's math test paper, "For example, this problem is even the prototype of a problem on a test paper you took in your third year of junior high school, but you left the second sub-question blank."
"Tell the teacher if you're having trouble adjusting these past few days, or if there's anything you need the teacher's help with."
Bai Nan keenly sensed something amiss in her words, and remembering her recent reputation in class, she fell silent.
Zeng Li took her silence as an admission, assuming that her deteriorating condition was indeed due to Huang Wang.
"Bai Di, it's perfectly normal to make many friends in your life, and to make different friends at different stages. But as a student about to take the college entrance exam, nothing is more important than studying. At this stage, you should focus all your energy on studying. Friends are just a way to relax outside of studying, do you understand?"
Bai Nan nodded and replied earnestly, "Yes, I understand."
Seeing her like this, Zeng Li let her leave with some skepticism, but as Bai Nan reached the door, he suddenly called out to her again:
"Hey, wait a minute, it's your class's first period, math. Could you take my test paper over and put it on the teacher's desk?"
When Bai Nan returned to the classroom carrying a stack of math test papers, many students surrounded her, but she ignored them all, put them on the podium, and went back to her seat.
"Hey, tell me, what's going on between her and Huang Wang? It was too noisy in the hallway that day, I didn't hear clearly, but I did hear something unremarkable..."
“I don’t know either. Anyway, I heard from Li Si that they broke up. If you want to play with her, go ahead. I’m going to stick with Huang Wang’s coattails.”
At this moment, Li Si suddenly interjected, "I didn't say that the two of them had broken up, so don't spread rumors."
"Tsk tsk tsk, how can you say it's just rumors? Anyone with eyes can see it's obvious, okay? They're all silent now!"
"That has nothing to do with me, don't mention me." Li Si gestured for them to be quiet, "The teacher is here."
"Alright, I know everyone is concerned about the results this time. Before class, I'll call you up one by one to collect your test papers. All the test papers for this exam need to be signed by your parents for confirmation, as they are related to your class assignments in the second year of high school. You all need to pay attention to this."
Zeng Li opened the test papers on the podium, sorted them by score from lowest to highest, and called out each name one by one.
"Wang Bing, 110! You had so much fun during summer vacation that you only got such a low score!"
"Li Zhen, 118, weren't you so arrogant during military training? How come you only got such a low score!"
......
Zeng Li called out a person's name, and that person went up to the stage to receive the test paper, so everyone could finally match the name, face, and score.
"Here are the top ten. To commend you for remembering this knowledge after a summer vacation, I hope you will all clap along with the teacher when we call out each name."
Zeng Li stacked the test papers vertically, then began calling out, "Bai Di, 128."
When Bai Nan went up to the podium, Zeng Li led the applause: "Although you have regressed a little, I believe you can surpass yourself. Keep it up!"
Compared to Zeng Li's applause, the applause from the other students was much sparser, and some students even looked incredulous and started whispering among themselves.
"Quiet! Next up, Peng Lei, 130, that's great, but the teacher still hopes to see you improve. Keep it up."
......
When Zeng Li finished reading, he only had three test papers left in his hand: "The test papers in my hand are for the top three in our class. Everyone, count which three students haven't received their test papers yet."
The students craned their necks and scanned the room, discovering that Chen Shu was the only one without a test paper. This was beyond doubt, and Huang Wang was not surprised either. However, the third candidate was still undecided.
"Come on, let's start with the first place. She got the full score of 150 points!" Zeng Li looked at Chen Shu but found that she didn't seem very happy. But thinking about it, it was normal. In the world of top students, it's probably only exciting if they don't get a perfect score.
This time, the students' applause was much more unified, enthusiastic, and energetic. If Bai Di's rapid fall was surprising, then Chen Shu's overwhelming first place was even more admirable.
"The difference between second and third place is only one point. I'll call them both up on stage first, and you can guess who is second and who is third."
Zeng Li is actually a very young teacher. She can easily get along with students. The fact that the Academic Affairs Office arranged for her to teach the key class must have been a decision made after comprehensive consideration.
Bai Nan wondered how well she was doing in class, but even if she was bad, she couldn't be worse than the regular classes she had attended before...
"Huang Wang! Li Si!"
The two went up on stage, and Zeng Li turned the test paper over and handed it to them: "Please call out the names and scores on the test papers in order."
Seeing Huang Wang with his head down, looking like he didn't want to talk, Li Si simply flipped open the test paper in his hand: "Huang Wang, 149 points!"
Upon hearing this, Huang Wang realized what was happening and quickly added, "Li Si scores 148 points."
Zeng Li: "Great! Let's give them a round of applause!"
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