Vol 2 Chapter 23: The Monthly Exam Results
“So, were you and Baili really a couple before?” Chu Jingyi rested her chin on her hand, the mist in her eyes not yet completely faded. “Did you two get back together today?”
“Yes.” He had to give an explanation. It was better to be honest with Chu Jingyi. This girl was kind-hearted and would always find excuses for him in her heart.
Chu Jingyi received the explanation, but she still couldn’t feel happy. She felt like she had lost something, and her heart was still a little heavy. “Then… what am I to you? You even kissed me…” She was asking herself more than she was asking Lu Li. The confusion in her watery eyes was heartbreaking.
“What do you want to be?”
“…Friends, I guess.” Then she shook her head. “I, I don’t know.”
Lu Li sighed, somewhat regretting kissing Silly Goose that day. He rubbed the girl’s head. “Then I’ll still be your best friend.” The time wasn’t ripe yet. The current Silly Goose was too naive about love, and he wouldn’t do anything to rush her. He gently wiped away her tears. “Let’s go, let’s go back to class. The Class Monitor can’t be the one skipping class.”
“Okay.”
After taking two steps, Silly Goose suddenly turned back to look at him. “By the way, the monthly exam results will be out this afternoon.”
“So fast?”
“Yes, the papers are graded by computer. Actually, the multiple-choice scores were already out on the day of the exam. We were actually having self-study this morning because the teachers were all grading papers. That’s why I wasn’t skipping class.” After explaining herself, the Class Monitor turned and walked out of the botanical garden. She felt like she had gained something today, yet also lost something. She couldn’t quite put her finger on that strange feeling.
Back in the classroom of Class 1, Liberal Arts, as expected, all the students were having self-study, and there was no teacher on the podium. Some advanced students had already started working on self-made practice papers for the college entrance exams. Just walking past these people gave Lu Li a sense of pressure. An Baili had also returned to her seat early and was looking out the window with her head tilted, wondering what she was thinking.
Lu Li returned to his seat and heard An Baili and Chu Jingyi whispering behind him. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he vaguely heard his own name. The female deskmate sitting next to him looked at him with a knowing smile, but didn’t say anything. Lu Li felt uncomfortable being stared at and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong with me?”
“I wouldn’t dare to say anything about you.” The other party whispered, “Someone was badmouthing you today, and the Class Monitor punished him by making him clean the toilets for a week. No one in the class dared to make a sound, hehe…”
Lu Li didn’t know how to respond and could only smile awkwardly. The morning self-study passed quickly. After lunch break, the teachers returned to the office one after another, bringing the monthly exam papers with them. Some impatient students were already crowding in front of the teacher’s office, inquiring about their scores and whether they were eligible to participate in the Academic Competition.
Lu Li could hear the discussions in the corridor from afar:
“I must have gotten at least 120 points in Chinese this time.”
“How did you do?”
“Oh, not very well, I didn’t have enough time to finish the paper.”
“You always say that, and you always get high scores!”
“Hey, what do you think Lu Li’s ranking will be this time? He skips class every day…”
The following discussions were very low, drowned out by other noises, and Lu Li couldn’t hear them clearly. Lu Li was sitting with An Baili and Chu Jingyi in a corner of the classroom, casually chatting about some academic issues. He didn’t know what An Baili and Chu Jingyi had said, but Silly Goose’s mood suddenly improved a lot. She would occasionally steal glances at Lu Li, as if she was brewing some secret plan.
“It’s too much… They’re just hoping that Lu Li will be last.” An Baili was now on Lu Li’s side. Hearing the discussions outside, she couldn’t help but protest in a low voice. But this girl only dared to mutter to herself. She probably wouldn’t dare to confront anyone directly.
“Yeah. Actually, many people are curious how much your ranking will drop this time.” The Class Monitor said hesitantly. “Lu Li, how confident are you this time?”
“Fifty-fifty.” He couldn’t be too confident. There were always unexpected events in life. Lu Li saying “fifty-fifty” was actually very modest.
When the bell for class rang, the students who had been crowding outside the office finally returned one after another. As the saying goes, some were happy, some were worried. Some were so happy that they were skipping, occasionally doing a fadeaway jump shot, while others hung their heads, too ashamed to see anyone. This class was a class meeting. The homeroom teacher glanced at the students and noticed An Baili. “The monthly exam results are out. The school attaches great importance to this exam, so the teachers have been grading the papers urgently. However, some students unfortunately missed this monthly exam. You should pay more attention to your health and don’t miss important exams in life, understand?”
“Now, let me briefly talk about the situation of this monthly exam.”
“The results of this monthly exam are not very ideal. The difficulty of the questions was lower than that of the Academic Competition, but many students still failed to reach the passing line. The highest score in the grade was achieved by Jian Zihao from Class 3. He is the president of the Go Club, and he spends most of his time pondering black and white stones. You guys can’t even beat him, it’s really disappointing.”
Lu Li noticed that some people were secretly glancing at him, as if observing his reaction. As expected, the top student in the grade wasn’t Lu Li this time. So what was Lu Li’s ranking?
“However, Chen Yu from our class performed very well. She scored a total of 630 points in this monthly exam, ranking second in the grade and first in the class. Moreover, Chen Yu has made great progress, jumping from 17th to 2nd place, which is commendable.” The students applauded sparsely, and some couldn’t help but look at Lu Li with malicious glee.
Lu Li didn’t know that he was actually being envied by many male classmates. It wasn’t envy for his grades, but envy for his close relationship with Chu Jingyi and An Baili. Many people wished that he would lose face in front of the beautiful girls.
“I want to severely criticize Lu Li.” The homeroom teacher suddenly took out two test papers. “His learning attitude is very bad, and his ranking has dropped from first in the grade to eleventh. Lu Li, you must reflect on your learning attitude during this period!” His tone was very stern, and Lu Li was stunned. It was impossible. Even if he had written nonsense, he couldn’t have dropped out of the top ten, right?
The homeroom teacher didn’t dwell on this matter. He asked Chu Jingyi to hand out the papers and then started talking about the Academic Competition. “The original plan was for the top ten students with a total score of 650 or above to participate in the Academic Competition. However, there wasn’t a single high-scoring student in the entire grade, so the teaching research group decided that each class would send one student. Just treat it as a trip to Mulan City to relax. We don’t expect you to win any awards.”
One student from each class? It wasn’t about winning awards at all. Lu Li thought to himself. Chu Jingyi behind him suddenly poked him in the back and whispered, “Lu Li, it’s okay, there’s nothing fun in Mulan City anyway…” She was already comforting him? Lu Li was both amused and exasperated.
“Our class will send Lu Li.” After announcing this, the homeroom teacher put down his book. “Self-study.” Everyone was stunned. Wait, you just criticized Lu Li, and now you’re giving him the spot? Shouldn’t it be Chen Yu? Lu Li turned his head and saw a plain-looking girl in the front row glaring at him with resentment, as if he had committed some heinous crime.
“Teacher, why Lu Li?” The girl was Chen Yu. She stood up directly and asked, her tone harsh. Lu Li finally realized that he had been wrong about Chu Jingyi. Even when Chu Jingyi was at her angriest, her tone wasn’t this bad.
“I have the highest score, why not me?” As expected of a student from a prestigious school, she had no respect for the teacher. Her questioning tone was like a superior questioning a subordinate.
“Well, this is also the decision of the teaching research group.” The homeroom teacher wasn’t angry. “Although Lu Li’s score is low, it’s only because he didn’t fill in the multiple-choice answers for the last two exams, resulting in a very low score. The teachers of the teaching research group looked at his original answer sheet and decided to let Lu Li participate as our class representative after comprehensive consideration.”
Indeed, Lu Li had been thinking about An Baili during the exams, and after handing in his papers early, he went to find her. He didn’t expect that he would forget to fill in the multiple-choice answers. No wonder the homeroom teacher said his attitude was bad, it turned out he was talking about this. However, the real reason he got the spot probably wasn’t this… Lu Li secretly glanced at the beaming Chu Jingyi. This girl seemed even happier than he was.
“Lu Li, did you hear that? You got eleventh even though you didn’t fill in the multiple-choice answers!” The unpleasantness of the morning seemed to be forgotten. Silly Goose excitedly shook his shoulders.
“Yes, yes, stop shaking, stop shaking. Look, Chen Yu’s eyes could kill.”
“She wouldn’t dare.” The Class Monitor suddenly raised her head, her childish demeanor gone. “If she messes around, I’ll invite her parents to come.” Right, who could compete with Miss Chu in terms of parents? Lu Li was infected by her smile and couldn’t help but laugh. He suddenly felt a tug on his clothes and saw An Baili pouting, looking at him expectantly.
This is going to be a lot of trouble in the future… He suddenly had this thought.
But… the Academic Competition was in Mulan City, right? Mulan City seemed to be the city where Chen Jianing was. Should he visit Chen Jianing? Lu Li tapped his fingers lightly on the table, as if pondering a multiple-choice question with far-reaching consequences.
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