Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 24

As soon as Chu Fengqiu entered her room, she went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water.

She buried her face in the cold water until her lungs ran out of air, then suddenly lifted her head.

Water droplets rolled down the contours of her face, splashing her clothes.

Chu Fengqiu looked at herself in the mirror, and it was a long time before she blinked. The area around her eyes was sore from the moisture, a feeling that wasn’t pleasant. Chu Fengqiu took a towel and wiped her face, then started taking off her clothes to shower.

Just a wall away was Song Man. Chu Fengqiu’s fingers slid across the cold tiles, and it took several seconds before she realized what she was doing.

Chu Fengqiu felt that something was off about herself, yet everything seemed perfectly reasonable.

Warm water drenched her long hair. Chu Fengqiu let out a sigh whose reason she didn’t even know, casting aside the chaotic, directionless thoughts in her mind.

Just a wall away, Song Man wasn’t thinking about anything. She happily plugged in her phone to charge, then took a shower and went to sleep.

The next morning, after the desks were arranged and turned around, the class cadres posted the examinees’ class and student numbers on each desk. Chu Fengqiu posted the list of examinees and the timetable on the door.

The teacher had already announced everyone’s seating arrangements the day before, so everyone knew which exam room they were in.

This time, the seating was arranged according to the results of the initial placement test at the start of the semester. Most students from Class One were in the first or second exam rooms. Song Man was an exception; she was in the last exam room for the science classes and had to go downstairs to take the test.

“Did you learn everything I taught you yesterday?” Chu Fengqiu asked before the exam.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely do better than last time. This time, I’ll try my best to fill the entire test paper,” Song Man nodded perfunctorily. Of course, she had to improve a little; after all, her parents were so expectant, and her sister had put so much effort into highlighting the key points for her. Song Man suppressed the idea of ranking first in the grade, picked up her pen, and sauntered downstairs.

The exam order was Chinese in the morning and Math in the afternoon on the first day, and English in the morning and Comprehensive Science in the afternoon on the second day. The exams lasted two days.

As soon as Song Man entered the classroom, Deng Wei ran up to her as if he had seen a long-lost relative.

“Man Jie, I’ve been holding back from finding you for three days!”

Deng Wei cried heartbrokenly, though it was fake tears, but it was a heartfelt expression of his joy at seeing Song Man.

Song Man’s words were usually taken seriously by her followers; they wouldn’t pretend to obey while doing the opposite. Song Man had said she didn’t want to see Deng Wei for three days, so Deng Wei wouldn’t show up on his own.

“Didn’t you find me in the game yesterday?”

“That was an accident! Seeing you through the screen doesn’t count as seeing you in person, right? Oh, right, Ailan asked me to give you this.”

Deng Wei took out a glass cup and placed it on Song Man’s desk.

“What is this? Strawberry milk?” Song Man raised an eyebrow, looking at the pink liquid in the cup.

“Yeah, I think so. I’m not sure. Ailan knew we had exams today, so she specially made it. She said it’s to cheer you on.”

“Ailan knows I just coast through exams, and she’s still cheering me on? Alright, I’ll go find her at noon.”

“Okay.” Deng Wei nodded, thinking he’d also try to snag some good food when he saw Ailan at noon. Ailan was always so biased; she only made enough for Man Jie, and everyone else didn’t even need to think about it.

For Song Man, the Chinese exam was the most boring. She listlessly read through the initial sections, then looked at the reading comprehension questions to entertain herself.

The inconvenient thing about Chinese was having to write too many characters. Song Man wrote down the answers for the multiple-choice questions and hesitated for a moment when filling in the answer sheet.

Should I get two wrong?

To be wrong or not to be wrong?

Song Man thought about it. The difficulty of these questions didn’t seem high. To get a slightly better score, maybe it’s better not to get any wrong.

So Song Man happily filled in her answers.

When she got to the classical Chinese section, Song Man almost couldn’t control her hand from writing the correct translation.

Something more painful than writing the correct answer was deliberately writing the wrong one. Song Man thought for a moment, intentionally distorted the correct answer she knew, and wrote a literal, incorrect translation.

It felt too sinful, Song Man thought.

The reading comprehension questions were relatively simple. After writing two sentences, Song Man directly copied from the original text.

Anyway, she wasn’t aiming for a perfect score. Song Man went to great lengths to ensure she didn’t do too well.

It wasn’t until she reached the essay section that Song Man stopped writing.

Song Man’s handwriting was actually quite good. When she was little, Xu Qinglang had her copy calligraphy models, and before that, he even had her study calligraphy with a master. Song Man had learned a good hand in running script, but after becoming a slacker, she switched to wild cursive.

Luckily, her calligraphy teacher hadn’t seen her wild writing, or they would have been furious.

This time, Song Man wrote properly, without deliberately making her handwriting ugly. The entire test paper looked quite pleasing to the eye.

Song Man glanced at the essay title, brainstormed for a moment, then picked up her cup.

It was indeed strawberry milk. Ailan knew her taste, so it was on the sweeter side.

Perhaps it hadn’t been out of the refrigerator for long, as it was still a bit cold to drink, dispelling the stuffiness of the summer morning.

Song Man narrowed her eyes in pleasure and wrote the essay title on the answer sheet.

After writing the correct thesis statement, Song Man’s thoughts began to wander.

Then, while drinking the milk, she wrote a sprawling eight-hundred-word essay, even though it was supposed to be an argumentative essay. Song Man knew this.

Song Man sincerely praised how delicious the strawberry milk she was drinking was. After reaching the required word count, she put down her pen, ready to lie on her desk and rest her eyes.

Deng Wei had been watching Song Man’s direction. When he saw that Song Man, who usually submitted blank papers, had actually filled the entire test paper, he was dumbfounded.

Going to Class One really makes people study hard and improve every day! It’s too magical! It actually managed to reform Man Jie, truly impressive.

But even so, he still threw the note in his hand at Song Man’s feet.

Because it was the last exam room, the teachers’ supervision was relatively lax, basically turning a blind eye. Anyway, even if you copied, you might not copy correctly.

Song Man watched the teacher at the podium get up and walk to the door, then lowered her head to pick up the note. She thought Deng Wei was asking her for answers, but when she unfolded it…

【Man Jie, you actually finished writing!!! But don’t just write randomly! At least you’re in Class One, we can’t lose face. These are the answers to the Chinese multiple-choice questions that I thought deeply about for an hour just now. Please, please copy them.】

Below was a row of ABCD.

Song Man compared them and seriously suspected that Deng Wei had done the questions with his knees.

This is what the hell he spent an hour thinking deeply about??

Only two were correct.

Song Man looked back and saw Deng Wei’s misty eyes, filled with motherly concern.

Song Man stuffed the note into her pocket and continued to lie down and sleep.

Deng Wei saw that Song Man had no intention of changing her answers and felt heartbroken.

He wanted to hug Song Man’s leg and beg her to change the answers, but Song Man was unwilling. Deng Wei could only return with a desolate expression to check the multiple-choice questions he had just done, then revealed a happy smile.

Perfect. Every answer was well-reasoned and convincing.

Song Man had originally thought about changing a few answers before throwing the note back, but then she decided against it. Deng Wei wouldn’t lie to her; if he said he thought about it for that long, he did. If she threw the answers back, Deng Wei would probably be agonizing over them and wouldn’t be able to write the rest of the questions.

Song Man felt that getting the answers right or wrong wasn’t the most important thing when doing problems. The most important thing was writing them down seriously and knowing what you’ve mastered and what you haven’t.

If Deng Wei put in the effort, then when the answers came out, he would carefully check them and know where he went wrong, and that’s when he would truly understand.

Song Man rested her eyes until the bell rang. After submitting her paper, Song Man told Deng Wei to say hello to Ailan and tell her they would find her at noon, then waved goodbye and returned to the classroom.

Most of the class had already returned. Some were comparing answers, while others had taken out their test papers and question books, preparing for the math exam that afternoon.

“How did you do?” Song Man asked Chu Fengqiu.

“It was alright.” Chu Fengqiu never pretended to have done poorly.

“I’ll definitely improve compared to last time.”

“That’s impressive.” Chu Fengqiu showed a faint smile, genuinely praising her.

Someone behind them scoffed. Song Man looked back. Dong Xue lowered her head and packed her things, quiet as a mouse.

Chu Fengqiu, however, frowned and gave Dong Xue a deep look.

There was still half an hour until school ended, and the students quickly quieted down.

Song Man threw her test paper into the turned-around drawer and started staring blankly at her book.

Song Man was thinking about a problem, a dynamic point problem she had seen in the difficult questions section. Her eyes were unfocused, the figure was vaguely constructed before her, undergoing the movement of the dynamic point.

If calculated this way… Song Man’s fingertips slid across the paper, writing down formulas, but she still got stuck at one point.

This problem was more complex than she had imagined, using a very comprehensive set of knowledge points. Her previous calculation method could only go halfway and couldn’t continue.

Song Man stopped, took out her phone from the drawer, and sent the problem separately to Ah Q and Lingnan.

Lingnan replied with “ok,” likely starting to calculate.

Ah Q didn’t reply, probably in class.

Chu Fengqiu saw Song Man playing on her phone but didn’t say anything. She marked two problems, wrote them down in her notebook, thinking she would give them to Song Man for a quick review during the lunch break.

“We’re going to find Ailan for lunch later. She’s the girl with the green hair you saw last time. Do you want to come with me?”

Chu Fengqiu remembered the girl who seemed somewhat hostile towards her.

“Is this from her?” Chu Fengqiu pointed at the empty glass cup Song Man had brought back, which still had a layer of pinkish-white residue inside.

“Yeah, Ailan is really great. She’s not much older than me, and she’s one of my followers, but she always takes care of me like an older sister.”

Song Man felt that Ailan was incredibly good to her, not asking for anything in return, always making her food, giving her special treatment, and giving her gifts. Most of her gifts were handmade, full of sincerity.

Chu Fengqiu had initially thought of not going, remembering the girl’s hostility towards her, but after Song Man said that, she actually wanted to go.

Seeing her nod, Song Man clapped her hands.

Ailan was her sister, and so was Chu Fengqiu. It would be best if the two could get to know each other and hang out together.

Song Man hailed a taxi at the entrance, handed the cup to Deng Wei, and had him sit in the front, while she and Chu Fengqiu sat in the back.

“Did you call Ailan?”

“I just did, but it didn’t go through.”

“Maybe she’s busy,” Song Man said carelessly.

But when she arrived at the hair salon and was told Ailan wasn’t there, and her phone still couldn’t be reached, she felt that something was wrong.