The preliminary exam only consists of two subjects: Chinese in the morning and Mathematics in the afternoon.
The morning exam went smoothly; the questions on the paper were all familiar to Xiaojing.
She has worked very hard in her studies over the past few years. She has practically worn out her textbooks. She has memorized all the texts that need to be memorized, and she has even memorized the ones that don't need to be memorized.
So when the Chinese exam ended and everyone else was anxiously discussing the questions, she didn't feel anything special.
At noon, Principal Qiao led the students to eat lunch at a nearby primary school, where they ate dry food that the students had brought from home.
Each person had their own lunchbox, and everything was steamed in a large pot.
A brazier was lit inside the room, and water was boiled to provide hot water for the students to warm themselves.
After the meal, some students gathered together to chat, while others seized the time to study the formulas in their books. Xiao Jing, on the other hand, found a spot near the brazier, sat down with her knees together, buried her head in the crook of her legs, and closed her eyes to rest.
After a while, Xiaojing suddenly heard a commotion outside the classroom, which was getting louder and louder.
She looked up and gazed out the window.
Just then, Cheng Lin came in from outside with a sigh on his face, and Xiao Jing asked him, "Cheng Lin, what happened outside? Why is it so chaotic?"
"Sister Xiaojing," Cheng Lin responded, sitting down next to Xiaojing as he said, "It seems a female student taking the exam accidentally fell and broke her arm. She was just taken to the hospital."
Xiaojing: "Then she won't be able to take the afternoon exam?"
Cheng Lin nodded: "Yes, I can't participate."
"That's such a pity," Xiaojing said with a regretful expression.
Cheng Lin had a different opinion: "What's the pity? She doesn't care about her future. I heard she fell on the slope in front of the movie theater. Today is the preliminary exam, and everyone is studying hard. Why would she go to the movie theater? And walk up the slope? It just snowed a couple of days ago, and the slope is covered in ice. It hasn't thawed yet. Even a child knows that you can slip and fall on an icy slope. How could an adult taking the college entrance exam not know that?"
"You're right."
Xiao Jing thought Cheng Lin's words made a lot of sense, so she nodded and put the matter out of her mind.
Taking advantage of the last bit of time before the exam, Xiaojing flipped through her notebook of corrected mistakes to reinforce her memory. As the saying goes, even last-minute cramming can be effective.
In the afternoon, she took a math exam. Science wasn't Xiaojing's strong suit, and she tried her best to solve the problems and write down the answers, but she just couldn't solve the last one no matter what she tried.
But she couldn't bear to leave the question blank, so she gritted her teeth and wrote down the obviously incorrect answer.
When she came out of the exam, she was visibly dejected.
After gathering at the school gate and discussing with her classmates, Xiaojing realized that out of the fifty-odd students in the class, only about ten had solved the problem, less than one-fifth; and even the answers from these ten-odd students were different, so she didn't know who was right and who was wrong.
The students looked at each other, their anxiety growing with each discussion. Finally, a male student, known for his ability to liven things up, stepped in to calm them down: "Don't panic, everyone. The last question is too difficult. If our classmates can't answer it, students from other schools certainly can't either. The preliminary exam is based on ranking, so this one question won't be a big deal. As long as we're not at the bottom, we'll definitely pass."
Hearing him say that, the students' expressions indeed improved a lot.
"you're right."
"If our class can't solve a problem, people from other schools probably can't either."
"As long as you get all the other questions right, it's okay if you don't know the last one."
"I'll go ask around at other schools." Some quick-witted male students left the group in twos and threes and headed towards other schools' small groups.
A short while later, they returned in high spirits.
"Report, they don't know either! Not just our school, many of them couldn't solve the last big problem."
People who went out to inquire about the news returned in twos and threes. Just then, a male student came over with a troubled look and said, "Has anyone seen Principal Qiao? There are some educated youths at the school gate who say they are from the same county as us and want to hitch a ride on our bus back together."
"I didn't see it, it was just here a moment ago."
The female class monitor stepped forward and said, "The car is frozen and won't start. Principal Qiao went to help the driver."
"Principal Qiao isn't here, so just refuse them."
"Yes, yes, let's refuse. The bus is only so big, there aren't enough seats for all of us, if a few more people come, we'll be crushed to death."
"Can't they go to the bus station? Why are they taking our ride? Do they just not want to pay?"
"Exactly, exactly! You want to take a bus to the bus station? You don't want to pay, so you just want to hitch a ride? What are you thinking!"
"There's no room left, don't let them come."
The students offered their opinions all at once, unanimously disagreeing with the idea of the educated youth hitchhiking.
"Okay, then I'll go tell them."
The class monitor took charge and said, "Okay, go and tell them. Tell them not to think we're stingy, it's just that there are too many people and the bus is too small. Our classmates are all squeezing in, there really isn't enough room for anyone else."
Everyone thought the matter was over, but the male student returned shortly after leaving, followed by several young men and women wearing thick cotton-padded coats.
The female class monitor immediately got angry: "Hey, what's going on? Didn't I tell you to tell them: the bus is too crowded and there's no room to sit? Why did you bring them here?"
The male student explained in a low voice, "Class monitor, I didn't bring them here. They insisted on coming. This... this road is so wide, I couldn't just stop them from crossing."
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