Chapter 152: Where

No pre-exam self-study meant heading straight to the exam hall.

Li Qingrong sat inside the exam hall, glancing out the window, then at the door, again and again—but that person never showed up, even after the exam began.

Jiang Nian was entirely focused on math, with no mental energy left for anything else.

Not to mention sneaking around exam halls before the test to chat with Li Qingrong—that would be pure waste of energy.

With such lack of devotion, how could you possibly score 120?

You heard right—it's 120.

Jiang Nian's usual math scores never reached 120, let alone on the district-wide exam paper. Setting a goal of 130 could only be called self-delusion.

According to the math teacher's estimate, the district-wide math paper would be about ten points harder than usual.

This meant setting a 120-point goal was equivalent to aiming for 130 on regular weekly tests. For others, it was low; for Jiang Nian, it was just right.

Sometimes, he wished life could be like a youth drama.

Gao San students frantically dating, then in the final two months, with help from a best friend or girlfriend, suddenly transforming from a failing student into a top scorer through all-night studying and getting into a top university.

Total lunatic—born right in the heart of the Republic, aren't you?

Zhennan was a small place; as its name suggested, it was truly hard.

Educational resources were backward: either you had innate talent and raced ahead, or you were an ordinary person grinding relentlessly.

Jiang Nian belonged to the third type: the Little Cheat Stream. The Cheat Master had already done his utmost to help, filling in the basics—now the rest of the path had to be cleared by Jiang Nian himself.

When the math exam paper was handed out, Jiang Nian took a deep breath.

Ah, comparable to a girl's body scent.

What did a girl's body scent even smell like? Hmm. Jiang Nian didn't know—he'd ask the monitor after the exam; if it were her, she'd probably answer honestly.

He glanced at the exam setters: two teachers from other schools.

Tsk tsk—this indirectly proved Zhennan High School was weak.

Math was the jewel on the crown of all subjects, yet Zhennan High couldn't even participate in setting the questions. Its level was obvious—it had zero voice in this subject.

The worst of the worst.

Jiang Nian suddenly felt that if he was bad at math, his teachers deserved some blame too.

He started with the big questions, then the fill-in-the-blanks. One glance and his heart sank halfway—he couldn't spot any familiar pattern in these problems.

They were slippery, sliding away. Only students who could pinpoint the key points would feel satisfied; the rest would calculate endlessly and still not understand the questions.

The exam papers had been distributed early, but no writing was allowed until the bell rang.

The proctor's voice was stern and cold: "All students, please note: you may begin answering only after the exam bell rings. If you have special circumstances, raise your hand—no writing is permitted otherwise."

Another proctor added while distributing answer sheets.

"Ah, any violation of exam rules will be treated as cheating. Please take this seriously—exam discipline is being enforced strictly this time."

Before the exam even started, Jiang Nian had mentally calculated two multiple-choice questions.

Qin Shi Huang ate Sichuan pepper—he won big.

Ding-ding-ding—the broadcast crackled, and a rough male voice boomed out.

"Exam begins."

Starting with the multiple-choice, he settled into solving problems. He'd studied hard for a month, solved countless problems, and even learned solution strategies in Baby Zhizhi's dreams.

Even a tiny bit of help mattered—drops wear through stone—and his solving speed had genuinely improved. He kept going until the ninth multiple-choice question, when his pace finally slowed.

Finished question eleven.

Jiang Nian looked up at the clock—twenty-five minutes had passed.

Spending half an hour on multiple-choice in a two-hour exam was clearly inefficient. He glanced at question twelve—no clear idea at first glance.

Instantly pick D.

All-in. Even if he lost, he wouldn't be worse off—he'd already finished the first eleven multiple-choice questions.

The essential soul ritual after finishing a question was turning to look around the exam hall.

Jiang Nian scanned the surroundings: some students were glued to their desks, feeding answers like babies; others were popping zits while writing; some were doing the classic nose-picking.

Listen closely, and you could hear the rustle of legs shaking against pants. But there was no large-scale sound of pages turning—proving Jiang Nian was far ahead.

Five minutes remained until the exam ended.

He roughly estimated: only question twelve in multiple-choice was unsolvable, one fill-in-the-blank was out of reach, and he'd completed the sequence problem and all the solid geometry problems.

Even in the worst-case scenario, he had a guaranteed 110.

One could only say—he'd never had such a perfect start.

After the math exam ended, Jiang Nian felt utterly drained.

He carried his exam supplies bag toward the adjacent exam hall, standing at the classroom door for a while. Finally, Li Qingrong emerged, and he called out, "Monitor."

Li Qingrong turned her head, fixing him with a glance.

"Mm."

For some reason, Jiang Nian felt a chill run down his back under her stare.

Had she bombed it?

"Monitor, how did you do?"

Jiang Nian asked tentatively, thinking: if she'd bombed it—say, scored only 138—he'd immediately back off, avoid triggering her wrath, and not get sacrificed.

She said, "Fine. Same as usual."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian exhaled in relief.

"Oh, oh—I did pretty well on the start; I just did everything I could."

"Mm."

They walked side by side toward the teaching building; Jiang Nian was already thinking about rushing to the cafeteria for food.

He glanced at the rush for food, then at the absurdly pretty Li Qingrong. A small dilemma immediately arose in his heart—should he eat or accompany the class president upstairs?

After a few seconds of hesitation, Jiang Nian followed his heart and decided to confirm one thing first.

"Class president, are you heading to the classroom?"

Li Qingrong paused slightly, turned her head to look at him, then shifted her gaze away after two seconds.

"Mm."

"That's great, class president, help me bring this up!" Jiang Nian was overjoyed, shoving the transparent exam bag into her arms. "Thanks!"

Having said that, Jiang Nian slipped away.

Usually, a refined gentleman; at mealtime, wild as a stray dog.

Li Qingrong stood beneath the teaching building, watching Jiang Nian run off with a stunned expression. She lowered her head to look at the exam bag in her arms and couldn't help frowning.

Ten seconds later, she still walked up the stairs.

At the stairwell between the third and fourth floors, she saw a pile of books scattered about. Her gaze landed on the name Yu Tongjie, then she looked again at the exam bag in her arms.

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes for a moment, then continued walking up.

The moment she reached the top of the stairs, Nie Qiqi threw herself into her arms, sobbing about bombing the exam. She had wanted to press her face into the class president's chest for comfort, but ended up pressing against a nylon bag.

"Huh? What's this thing?"

"What's this thing? You have the nerve to ask." Cai Xiaoqing's voice rang out as she dragged Nie Qiqi out of the class president's arms, gritting her teeth.

"Yes! Shameless thing!"

Nie Qiqi also gritted her teeth, glared at Cai Xiaoqing, then turned back to sob to Li Qingrong.

"Boohoo, class president, she's being mean to me."

"Shameless vixen, behave yourself!" Cai Xiaoqing dragged her back again, and the two of them started roughhousing.

Li Qingrong stood there watching for a while. Seeing no one paying attention to her, she walked past them and returned to her seat. After thinking for a moment, she placed Jiang Nian's exam bag on his desk.

She then took out her test paper and stared blankly at it. After looking at it for a while, she stood up again and walked toward the corridor.

She stood at the stairwell on the fourth floor, looked down, but didn't see the messy pile of books.

Who put them away?

Evening.

Yu Tongjie returned from eating off-campus, preparing for evening self-study. His mind was still on what happened that morning—Jiang Nian was really too shameless, if this keeps up...

To be honest, he didn't dare think it through carefully.

Fortunately, Li Qingrong was cold and aloof toward everyone, treating them all equally.

Jiang Nian might be shameless, but he could only add some laughs. Li Qingrong wouldn't care about him at all, and nothing could ever happen between them.

It did remind him that he should feel some urgency.

Once he won Li Qingrong's heart, the first thing he'd do was ban that bastard Jiang Nian. He wouldn't allow his girlfriend to say a single word to him!

Piss that bastard off to death!

Thinking this way, Yu Tongjie started feeling good again.

He couldn't help but think of the essay topic from the language exam—"The road ahead is long; I shall search up and down." At that time, when he wrote the essay, his thoughts flowed freely!

Others merely recited from the textbook, while he poured in genuine feeling!

With such a bold and heroic mood, he returned to the classroom. He didn't go straight to get his books, but first joined several math exam answer-debate sessions.

After a thoroughly satisfying debate, it could truly be said that scholars conversed with wit, and no common folk passed through.

Until the evening reading bell rang.

The biology class representative organized evening reading, and only then did Yu Tongjie reluctantly leave the debate center. He exited through the classroom's back door, went straight down the stairwell, and instinctively went to get his books.

He swept a glance over—no, wait.

Did he remember wrong? His book basket was clearly placed here—had he gone to the wrong stairwell?

Yu Tongjie searched around once more, and finally realized his book basket had vanished into thin air. In that instant, cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead.

Where the hell are my books!