"The exam starts now. You have 120 minutes."
"Students, please take note. You cannot have tools not relevant to the current exam with you..."
The invigilating teacher paced slowly around the classroom to the sound of the announcement.
Xie Yu wrote his name and glanced through the paper.
He had thought that the exam would be about as difficult as the monthly exams, but now he noticed two new question types.
Then he noticed the box containing the paper-setters' names included several names of teachers not from Erzhong.
Erzhong took this exam quite seriously. Four schools had banded together to create this exam and how their students did would directly correlate to how each school looked in the eyes of others. ...Although Erzhong did not have much of a reputation to begin with and their average refused to increase no matter what.
Even on the final subject-specific grade sheets, not many students were able to break formation and move up to a higher row.¹
"So?" After Xie Yu finished a few questions, He Zhao poked him in the back with his pencil. "How many points are you getting?"
"As many as I want."
Xie Yu calmly leaned backwards in his chair. "Worried? Beg me and I'll give you a two-point head start."
Many people were playing little tricks in the exam. Someone's paper wad didn't land right and fell into the space between the desks.
He Zhao held his pen in his left hand, and tapped lightly on the back of Xie Yu's head. "...You're very arrogant, little friend. Beg me and I'll give you a 20-point head start."
The students in the last exam room were all busy passing answers and had no idea what the two bottom-of-the-year students were saying in the corner. It was an insane conversation that would make men go silent and women cry.
This lot only ever wrote their names and class designations without an issue. After that, they would begin to chew on their pen caps and stare at the questions, unable to absorb a single word.
Very quickly, they discovered that a certain bottom-of-the-year student, who was usually right there complaining with them about the difficulty of the questions, was being very quiet.
With one less complainer, they felt like the exam was missing something. The student at the side slept for a while, then woke up and saw He Zhao still answering questions. He asked uncertainly, "Zhao-ge, you seem to be in pretty good form today...?"
He Zhao flipped a page on his exam paper and said, "Yeah, quite good. Erzhong will be proud to have a student like me."
"......"
The invigilating teacher had intended to turn a blind eye and not bother with this exam room, but the students were getting rowdier and rowdier. He put down the book in his hand and coughed. "Everyone, quiet down."
The student swallowed back his words of complaint.
Looking at He Zhao, he really couldn't understand his blind self-confidence.
Xie Yu answered each question succinctly and to the point. When he was done, he checked the paper from beginning to end, then turned to look at the clock on the wall. He estimated he could still sleep for half an hour or so.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that He Zhao was still writing the essay portion and was currently finishing the conclusion.
He Zhao usually didn't answer the question properly and his handwriting would float off the ruled lines. Everything he wrote made people think he was bullshitting. This time, he had reined in all his casualness and his eyes were lowered as he wrote seriously.
