Chapter 30

Upstairs, Zhao Jiu took one look at the test paper and began to write; he spent too little time on Chinese, and he didn't harbor any delusions of getting a high score, as long as he could pass, that was enough.

As for the essay, he aimed for the word count to be sufficient, to stay on topic, and for the structure to be complete.

Very quickly, the first subject, Chinese, ended.

A large group of students emerged from the exam hall with ease; this Chinese paper was not difficult, and many people had half an hour left after finishing their essays.

Their faces were all brimming with the smiles of those who had performed well.

Su Li felt she had written decently, and she should still be at an intermediate level; she came out of the exam hall, prepared to return to her class, and needed to review math again for the afternoon.

At this moment, up ahead, Su Cheng emerged from another exam hall; their Monthly Exam grades were similar, so they were on the same floor. Su Li saw her chatting and laughing with a student beside her; it was obvious that she had performed well in Chinese.

Su Cheng also saw Su Li. Looking at the composed Su Li from afar, she lifted her chin slightly; although Su Li had still been a bit higher last time, it was already very close.

This time, Su Cheng felt she had a very good chance of surpassing Su Li; after all, she had performed very well in Chinese.

Su Cheng returned upstairs with a smile on her lips.

Su Li didn't care what she was smiling about; she went straight back to Class Thirteen, then picked up her workbook and began to review math.

There were still three subjects left!

Review well, and strive not to drop out of the top three hundred!

In the afternoon, whether it was because Chinese had been too simple, the school specifically made the math paper exceptionally difficult. During the exam, a crowd of students clearly felt the difficulty spike when they reached the third multiple-choice question.

Those with poor mentalities panicked immediately, especially since Chinese had been so simple that morning; they began to wonder if math was just as simple in the eyes of others.

Those with steady mentalities gritted their teeth and kept working.

Su Li looked at the paper, took a deep breath, steadied herself, and kept working, her focus highly concentrated. Two hours later, the bell for the end of the exam rang.

Su Li finished writing a sub-question, stopped her pen, rubbed her wrist, and looked at the page.

For the final long-form question, she had only written the first sub-question; she hadn't had time to look at the rest. She also didn't know the last two multiple-choice questions, so she guessed 'A' and 'B', and there was a blank in the fill-in-the-blank section she hadn't had time to do, so she just guessed a number for that too.

Su Li didn't remember the difficulty level of No. 1 High School's papers and didn't know what grade this difficulty was in the eyes of other students.

After the papers were collected by the teacher, Su Li walked out of the exam hall. In the corridor, a huge crowd of people were wailing while comparing answers.

Su Li breathed a sigh of relief; this meant that apart from the top-tier group, the middle-tier students wouldn't have their scores pulled too far apart in math. If some students in the middle section were a bit stronger in math, they could jump up quite a few spots in the rankings.

Su Li wasn't quite sure which stage her current math level was at; she should at least have an intermediate-tier score, right?

Su Cheng emerged from the exam hall; her face was slightly pale, and the smugness from the morning was gone.

She glanced at Su Li and bit her lip. Su Li was the type to stop caring once the exam was over, so her composed expression right now didn't necessarily mean anything.

Besides, there were still English and the science comprehensive. According to past habits, one subject was always simple and one was difficult. Since math had become this hard, tomorrow's English and science comprehensive definitely wouldn't be that difficult.

Other students thought the same, but this time, the school felt the students had been a bit lax lately and went straight for something ruthless.

And so, the next day, to the surprise of all the students, English was super difficult; the reading comprehension almost drove the students crazy.

Finally, the morning dragged on, and the students gritted their teeth, thinking the afternoon science comprehensive should be simple.

But...

After the science comprehensive finished in the afternoon, more than half of the students were stunned.

Was the difficulty of this exam far beyond the past?

Students in every class went crazy as soon as they returned to the classroom, starting to wail while comparing answers.

Su Li and Zhao Jiu exchanged a look outside the classroom, seeing uncertainty in each other's eyes.

This time it was truly difficult. Zhao Jiu felt it was even more perverted than his entrance exam; it was the first time he had almost failed to finish a paper.

The two returned to the classroom, not knowing if their "difficult" was the same level of difficulty as the students'.

The classroom was in an uproar. Every time an exam finished, two types of people appeared in the classroom.

One type gathered in groups to compare answers; if their answer was different from the others, they would quickly pick up their pens to recalculate, and after checking, they would start wailing again.

The other type belonged to the "don't care after the exam" category. Although some were purely composed and others were simply cowardly—terrified of hearing the answers early and ruining their weekend—they were at least quiet.

Qian Lei belonged to the type that compared answers, running around with his science comprehensive paper and wailing every time he finished with a group.

Chen Xue used to belong to the type that didn't compare answers, but today she really wanted to; it was the first time she had been this panicked.

She looked at Su Li and Zhao Jiu; were these two actually this composed?

She simply couldn't tell from their expressions whether they had done well or poorly this time.

Zhao Jiu put down his paper and sat down, and Su Li also returned to her seat.

Forget it, the exam was already over; leave it to fate.

Qian Lei returned dejectedly from the various small groups and was just about to cry when his peripheral vision caught the science comprehensive paper on Zhao Jiu's desk. Although the paper was full of rough work and the questions were almost illegible, he still saw a large, written 'D': "Zhao Jiu! You actually got the last question right?"

Zhao Jiu looked down at his paper: "Hm?"

Qian Lei picked up Zhao Jiu's paper and started looking from the first multiple-choice question. As he went down the line, he went blank for a moment, staring dumbly at the reclining Zhao Jiu.

"The study committee member got the multiple-choice answers from the teacher for this paper."

"You only got two multiple-choice questions wrong on the science comprehensive?" He was horrified.

Two weeks ago, he was still panicking and shaking because they had finished the Grade 2 curriculum, and two weeks later, he only got two multiple-choice questions wrong on the science comprehensive?

The nearby students heard this and immediately looked at him in unison. Wasn't he a whole Grade 2 behind them?

He only got two multiple-choice questions wrong on this kind of paper?

Are you crazy?

Zhao Jiu swept his gaze over the horrified students nearby and pulled out his chair to sit down: "Oh."

Qian Lei: "..."

He kind of wanted to hit someone.

Su Li turned her head to look at Gouzi, who appeared calm on the surface but was actually wagging his tail in the air.

Gouzi was feeling quite proud right now.

However, if Zhao Jiu's multiple-choice accuracy was this high, then the rest of his work should be decent too, right?

Su Li looked at Zhao Jiu; she wanted to see his test paper a little bit.

Zhao Jiu snatched his test paper back from Qian Lei's hand and handed it to Su Li; Su Li took it and began to look at his answers.

Zhao Jiu's paper was no different from hers; his rough work was done directly on the paper, while the scratch paper was clean and had few marks on it.

Su Li carefully compared them, looking for the answers; every time she saw one that was the same, her heart would skip a beat, and when she saw one that was different, her heart would tighten.

After finishing, she breathed a sigh of relief; if Zhao Jiu's paper was among the top tier, then she would still have a chance to be within the top two hundred.

As long as math didn't hold her back.

Su Li thought of yesterday's math; she had done the math test with her spirit highly tense the entire time, and she didn't even know if she had read the questions clearly.

She hoped she wouldn't do too poorly.

Chen Xue resisted the urge to check her answers and said, "Su Li, are you not going home this weekend either?"

Su Li nodded: "Yeah."

Chen Xue rubbed her heart: "My birthday is on Monday, and my dad gave me two hundred yuan to spend with my friends."

"But I think I can celebrate it early on Sunday, so he doesn't withhold the money if I bomb the exam."

"I'll come to pick you and Zhao Jiu up at nine on Sunday morning," Chen Xue said; she wanted to hurry up and have some fun before the results came out.

Su Li was slightly stunned; it was her birthday.

Then she would have to go buy a birthday gift on Saturday.

It was just as well that the Midterm Exam was over, so it was time to relax, even if the results were hard to say.

She looked at Zhao Jiu, and Zhao Jiu said: "Got it."

To go buy a birthday gift.

The school bell rang, and a crowd of students continued chatting about the test papers while walking toward the school gate.

At the school gate, parents had long been waiting, and a pile of cars had successfully caused the road at the entrance to be blocked again.

Su Cheng carried her schoolbag, bit her lip, and saw Su Lin, who had come to pick her up.

Su Lin's gaze landed behind her, his fingertips gripped the car keys tightly; was she really not planning to go home?

Su Cheng walked to his side, and only then did he open the car door and ask: "How did you do on the exam?"

Su Cheng was a little panicked, but thinking that everyone else wasn't doing well either, she said: "The test paper this time was very difficult, and I can't really say."

Su Lin: "Hmm."

Su Cheng saw that Su Lin was a bit cold: "Xiao Li also said it was very difficult; I don't know if her results this time will allow her to go back."

Su Lin said coldly: "If she doesn't put her mind to her studies, who can she blame?"

Su Cheng breathed a slight sigh of relief and shut her mouth; everyone was finding it difficult, so Su Li probably wasn't doing any better.

At this moment, Jiang Xiangnan posted his answers in the group chat; Su Cheng hurriedly checked them, and then her face gradually turned pale...

One hour later, at the school, the Lecture Hall opened; Su Li and Zhao Jiu finished their dinner and chose seats toward the back to sit down.

This was the first time the Lecture Hall had opened; the students from Grade 1 and Grade 2 who stayed at school only added up to forty or fifty people.

Su Li was writing the homework assigned a few days ago, preparing to go out tomorrow afternoon to pick out a birthday gift for Chen Xue.

Not long after, the math teacher for Class One sat at the front of the Lecture Hall.

The students were shocked to see it was the math teacher for Grade 2 Class One, and then they continued writing their homework.

About ten or so minutes later, a student gathered the courage to take their test paper up to ask about the questions from this math Midterm Exam; after he finished explaining, he saw several students stealing glances at him, seemingly hesitant.

"Are you all wanting to check the answers for the math Midterm Exam?"

"Yes," a student spoke up.

He took a test paper out from the books he had brought, stood up, and said: "Then let's go over the paper. Students who want to listen can listen, and students who want to do homework can do their own homework. This isn't a formal class, so it doesn't matter."

Although there was a subsidy, he didn't really want to be working, and he had already finished grading the math test papers last night, so he was quite bored right now.

"Come on, those who want to listen, take out your math test papers."

With a rustling sound, almost all the Grade 2 students took out their test papers, while the Grade 1 students honestly wrote their own homework.

Su Li and Zhao Jiu also took theirs out; the math test papers were similarly covered in rough work.

Su Li was a little nervous; although she would know the results on Monday, the answers were right in front of her, and not checking them felt like a cat scratching at her heart.

"I'll read out the answers; raise your hand if you got it wrong. Based on the mistakes, I'll selectively explain the questions later," the teacher said.

"Alright, first question, the answer is C." He looked at the classroom; very few people usually got the first question wrong.

"Second question, A..."

Zhao Jiu was spinning his pen while listening to the answers; the pen fell with a "clatter," and just as he was about to pick it up, suddenly, a hand from the side reached over and gripped it tightly.

Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment and turned his head; under his hand was a red gel pen, and a slender, fair hand was gripping it tightly.

Following the answers the teacher read out, the hand would tighten and loosen; Zhao Jiu looked up at Su Li, who was staring at her own test paper with a tense expression.

Zhao Jiu's right fingertips moved slightly, and Su Li gripped even tighter.

He withdrew his gaze, took another pen from his pencil case with his left hand, held it, and corrected his answers according to what the teacher read; it seemed he had gotten two wrong?

He had just used his left hand to write down the answers for those last two multiple-choice questions.

Teacher: "Alright, let's start from the third question."

He began to lecture, and Su Li sat in her seat, her eyes suddenly lighting up; she had actually gotten all the multiple-choice questions right!

Even the two questions she had guessed randomly were correct!