Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Sunrise in the East, Rain in the West; It’s Said to be Gloomy, Yet it is Sunny

Sun Xiansheng’s Chinese grades weren’t great.

Generally speaking, the less confident you are in a subject, the more nervous you get.

So, when Sun Xiansheng couldn’t answer Shen Yuan’s question, he immediately panicked.

But in fact, was there anything wrong with what Shen Yuan had said?

Not at all.

It was just a point of knowledge. Whether it was useful or not was another matter.

Sun Xiansheng had simply forgotten it.

And that single lapse in memory sent him into a panic.

When people panic, they often look for a way to calm themselves down.

Sun Xiansheng’s method was to recite from his books.

But anyone familiar with exams knows that testing your memory at a time like this is the worst thing you can do.

Unsurprisingly, Sun Xiansheng ended up forgetting even more.

Chinese was actually forgiving. Even if you forgot some memorized material, there was still plenty of room to improvise.

If it had been another subject, he would have been in real trouble.

At 8:30, Shen Yuan entered the examination hall right on time.

After finding his seat, Shen Yuan sat down, feeling slightly nervous.

After all, this was the first monthly exam of his senior year, and on top of that, there was his agreement with Li Zhi.

If he won the bet, he could give her the gift with a legitimate reason.

Looking at the empty seat beside him, Shen Yuan felt a daze come over him.

’So this is senior year. Even for the monthly exams, you’re all alone.’

For the monthly exams at Jiyang Middle School, first and second-year students were mixed together in the same hall.

But things were different for the third-years. After all, seniors only had to take four subjects.

First-years started with nine subjects: Chinese, Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History, and Politics.

Second-years had six subjects.

Compared to the four subjects for seniors, the exams for the other two grades took much longer.

And as for the exam venues, seniors would be sent to the first and second-year buildings, but first and second-year students would never come to the third-year building.

Time ticked by. Fifteen minutes later, the announcement to distribute the test papers and answer sheets finally came over the PA system.

The moment the paper was in his hands, Shen Yuan eagerly started scanning the questions.

He couldn’t start writing yet, but he knew these few minutes were just as precious and could be used to think about the problems.

The bell rang, and the exam officially began.

Shen Yuan quickly picked up his pen and, with a flurry of strokes, wrote down the answers to the questions he had already solved in his head.

The sound of his pen tip scratching against the paper was as fine and dense as falling rain, like a beautiful symphony.

Shen Yuan breezed through the basic questions, making steady progress.

As time went on, other sounds gradually began to fill the exam hall.

The RUSTLE of pages turning, and some anxious sighs, clearly from those who had run into difficult questions.

Sun Xiansheng, sitting on the other side, kept digging his nails into his palm, looking agitated and restless over a forgotten piece of information.

In contrast, Shen Yuan remained calm and composed. With his gaze lowered and eyes fixed on the test paper, he made progress with Concentration.

During an exam, maintaining calm and Concentration is crucial.

For Shen Yuan, the sections where he mainly lost points in Chinese exams were reading comprehension and the essay.

On every test, he would lose ten-some points on the essay and another ten-some on reading comprehension. This accounted for almost all the points he lost in Chinese.

As for the basic questions, they were no trouble for him at all.

A little over an hour later, Shen Yuan reached the essay question.

The main reason Shen Yuan lost points on his essays was because of how he interpreted the prompt.

Writing well wasn’t the problem for Shen Yuan.

But when the fundamental idea of the essay was off-topic, points would be deducted no matter how well it was written.

With 15 minutes left in the exam, Shen Yuan put down his pen and began to carefully check his answers.

This was a rare occurrence during the usual weekly quizzes.

When the bell rang, Shen Yuan put down his pen.

The first subject of the monthly exam was over.

After leaving the examination hall, Sun Xiansheng was clearly in a daze.

He’d bombed it.

"Lao Yuan, I bombed it."

Sun Xiansheng didn’t feel that Shen Yuan had disrupted his train of thought; there was nothing wrong with what Shen Yuan had said.

Shen Yuan patted Sun Xiansheng’s shoulder. "It’s okay, Teacher Hou. It’s just one monthly exam, there will be more. And don’t let the Chinese test affect your next exams!"

Sun Xiansheng nodded emphatically.

"Yeah! Thanks, man. I feel much better now that you put it that way! My focus isn’t on Chinese anyway. Even if I bombed it, I’d lose a dozen or so points at most. I can just make them up in other subjects!"

Back in the classroom, the two of them put their things down at their desks.

"Lao Yuan, wanna go eat together?"

Hearing Sun Xiansheng, Shen Yuan glanced at the pencil case on Li Zhi’s desk.

Obviously, Young Master Li had already gone out by herself.

’Heartless woman, forgetting my kindness in bringing her food yesterday.’

As for Ah Jie, he wasn’t back yet either...

Just as Shen Yuan had that thought, Ah Jie’s voice rang out from the classroom doorway.

"Kids! Dinner time!!"

"Hark! Come and eat!" Ah Ze declared, showing off his flair.

"Get lost, get lost, get lost, you damn Nantong! To the cafeteria! I’ve already fallen in love with the aunty who serves the rice bowls."

Ah Jie laughed. "The aunty gives me more food than Shen Yuan!"

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes.

’That happened one damn time!’

Shen Yuan pointed at Ah Jie and warned, "I’m going to tell the boss you’ve fallen for the boss’s wife."

Ah Jie was stunned. "That’s the boss’s wife?!"

Shen Yuan gave Ah Jie a cold look. Just when he thought Ah Jie was panicking, he saw a look of excitement spread across Ah Jie’s face.

"If it’s the boss’s wife, then that’s even better!"

"Chancellor! I’ve finally found you!"

The group of boys flocked to Ah Jie as if they’d found their leader.

But Shen Yuan didn’t join them.

For no other reason than that Shen Yuan was a proponent of pure, faithful love.

He couldn’t stand all that cuckolding nonsense.

"Let’s go eat, let’s go eat. Stop with the cuckolding jokes."

After lunch, the group split up. Some went back to their dorms, others back to the classroom.

Shen Yuan headed straight back to the classroom.

As soon as he entered, Shen Yuan saw Li Zhi.

Young Master Li wasn’t doing problems, but looking over a test paper.

There was another exam in the afternoon, so it wasn’t a good time to be actively solving problems.

Doing too many problems could mess with your feel for the test, so the main thing was to just review them.

"You heartless woman, you didn’t even wait for me to eat lunch together."

Li Zhi looked up. "Why do I have to wait for you to eat? Are you a little kid who has to cling to his mommy?"

"Hey."

Shen Yuan put his hands on his hips. "Have you forgotten my kindness in bringing you food yesterday?"

Li Zhi nodded. "I have. Some kind soul must have brought me food yesterday."

Shen Yuan was so angry he laughed.

"Fine, Li Zhi. You just wait! Next time you get your period, I’m not bringing you anything. You can go suck wind!"

Li Zhi snorted. "Then I’ll just tell your dad you’re bullying me!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, bringing parents into it is going too far."

"So, are you going to do it or not?"

"Fine, fine, fine, I’ll bring it for you, I’ll bring it." Shen Yuan nodded, extremely reluctant.

"Now that’s a good boy!"

Listening to their conversation, He Zhiyu, who was in her seat, was reminded of a line from a poem.

The sun shines east, while westward falls the rain. / You say you are unfeeling, but your feelings are plain.