Midterm exam ranking
The midterm exam report card was posted on the bulletin board at the back of the classroom, attracting all the students like a magnet. Lin Weixi stood on the outskirts of the crowd, standing on tiptoe, looking over the dark crowd of heads, anxiously searching for her own name.
Her heart was beating fast and her palms were sweating slightly. She prepared for this exam more seriously than ever before.
"Make way, make way!" Chen Siyu squeezed into the crowd like a nimble little fish, and emerged again moments later with an excited blush on her face. "Wei Xi, you've improved by fifteen places!"
Before Lin Weixi could even feel happy, her eyes involuntarily drifted to the top of the list. Chen Wang's name was firmly in third place, with nearly perfect scores in all subjects. There were more than thirty names between them.
"What's wrong?" Shen Siyu noticed her suddenly dim eyes. "You did so well on the test, but you're not happy?"
Lin Weixi forced a smile: "No, it's just that my math is still not ideal."
This wasn't just a way to comfort Shen Siyu; it was also the truth. Although her math grades had improved compared to last time, they were still a long way from Chen Wang's near-perfect score.
The bell rang and the students returned to their seats. The math teacher walked into the classroom with a stack of test papers and began to explain the midterm exam questions. Lin Weixi sat up straight and listened very attentively.
"Only five students got the last question right," the math teacher said, drawing auxiliary lines on the blackboard. "Chen Wang's solution is very clever. Let's invite him up to explain it to everyone."
Chen Wang walked up to the podium calmly and picked up the chalk. His fingers were slender and powerful, and he wrote clear lines of problem-solving steps on the blackboard. Lin Weixi watched intently, trying to follow his train of thought.
"We need to change our way of thinking here," Chen Wang said, turning around and scanning the class. "Don't be limited by the conditions given in the question."
His sight accidentally met Lin Weixi's and stayed there for a brief second. It was this second that made Lin Weixi's heart skip a beat.
After class, Chen Siyu came over and said, "Weixi, do you want to go ask the math teacher a question together? I have no idea how to solve the last question."
Lin Weixi hesitated for a moment and shook her head: "You go first, I'll organize my notes."
After most of the room had left, she quietly walked to the podium and looked at the solution Chen Wang had just written. The chalk handwriting was neat and powerful, and each step exuded the beauty of logic.
"Don't you understand this?" A familiar voice sounded behind him.
Lin Weixi was startled and turned around to see Chen Wang standing at the door, as if he had returned to get the water cup he had forgotten in the classroom.
"A little bit," she admitted honestly. "How did you come up with this move?"
Chen Wang put down his water cup and walked over to her. He picked up his chalk and drew another auxiliary line next to the original solution: "It's actually very simple. Just start from here..."
He explained very patiently, occasionally turning his head to check if she was following his train of thought. Lin Weixi smelled the faint scent of laundry detergent on him, mixed with the smell of chalk dust.
"I see," she said, a sudden realization dawning on her. "So it's about thinking outside the box."
Chen Wang smiled, revealing his dimples: "You are very smart, you get things right away."
This simple compliment made Lin Weixi's face slightly hot. She lowered her head and pretended to organize her notebook, fearing that he would see her embarrassment.
In the afternoon class meeting, the head teacher praised the students who had made significant progress as usual, and Lin Weixi's name was among them. When the eyes of the whole class were focused on her, she subconsciously glanced in the direction of Chen Wang. He was looking down at something and didn't seem to be paying special attention.
After school, Lin Weixi stayed alone in the classroom, sorting through her notebook of wrong answers. The setting sun shone through the window, casting a warm glow on her desk. She opened her math test paper and carefully wrote down the alternative solution Chen Wang had explained.
"Still studying?" Chen Siyu suddenly poked her head in from the doorway. "Let's go to the library together. I heard they've got a new batch of reference books."
The library was very quiet, and they found a seat by the window. Lin Weixi was concentrating on studying math problems, while Shen Siyu was flipping through a collection of essays.
"Wei Xi," Shen Siyu suddenly lowered her voice, "Have you ever thought about which university to apply to?"
Lin Weixi's pen stopped. Of course she had thought about it, and more than once. Every time she thought about this question, she would subconsciously check the schools that Chen Wang might apply to, and then stare at the admission scores in a daze.
"I haven't decided yet," she said vaguely. "Maybe a local university."
Shen Siyu gave her a meaningful look and said, "I heard Chen Wang wants to apply to University A, which is one of the top universities in the country."
Lin Weixi's heart sank. University A, that was a score she could never reach.
On the way home, she made a detour to the bookstore and spent a long time in the supplementary section. The shelves were filled with various versions of math reference books. She carefully compared them and finally chose a more difficult exercise book.
That night, she wrote in her diary:
"Today's midterm exam results are out, and there are 36 names between him and me. He used a very clever solution to the last math problem. Chen Siyu said he wants to get into University A, which is a place I can never reach. But if I work harder, can I get closer to him?"
Having written this, she opened her newly purchased exercise book and began working on the first problem. Under the desk lamp, her shadow stretched long across the wall. The moonlight outside the window was beautiful, and she had only one thought in mind: she had to work harder.
That night, Lin Weixi made a decision. She would shorten the gap between the 36 names in the next exam. Even if it was just one name, it would be progress.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
