Days passed, and before they knew it, the first monthly exams of high school were fast approaching.
The students were getting nervous. After all, this was the first high school exam whose results would be shown to their parents. Moreover, Huaicheng No. 1 High School was packed with hidden talents, and a moment of carelessness could easily cause anyone to drop in the rankings. Everyone began intensely reviewing their recent coursework.
This was especially true for the four-person study group that Jiang Shengyan belonged to. Needless to say, Jiang Shengyan rarely gave herself time to relax. Qin Yanxi, the study commissioner, was already a strong student and possessed iron self-discipline; whenever Jiang Shengyan ran into something she didn't understand at school, she basically discussed it with Qin Yanxi.
Lin Mengke had always been playful, but surrounded by studious people, she felt too embarrassed to bother others and ended up studying along with the rest of them.
Li Haoyu, the mathematics class representative, was a champion of unevenly developed subjects, always doing science homework during other classes. He was a key figure of concern for the English teacher, having completely given up on the three humanities subjects.
Jiang Shengyan's focus was also on the sciences. For the three humanities subjects, she simply listened attentively in class, completed the assigned homework, and didn't spend any extra time studying them on her own.
*
The day of the monthly exam was ordinary and mundane. People bustled through the corridors as everyone methodically packed up their things and moved them into the lockers in the hallway.
As class monitor, Jiang Shengyan led her classmates in setting up the exam room before finally grabbing her stationery and heading to her assigned room. By the time she arrived, most of the students were already seated.
Jiang Shengyan quickly found her seat, walked down, sat down, and calmly waited for the exam to begin. Although she was a bit nervous, she had worked hard for so long and felt fully confident.
Time ticked away second by second. The only sounds left in the exam room were the scratch of pens and the rustle of turning pages. The focused and determined looks in the students' eyes made the finest answer sheet in this youth examination!
After two and a half intense days of testing, Jiang Shengyan walked out of the exam room feeling as though even the breeze in the corridor was sweet. Overall, the monthly exam hadn't been too difficult, and Jiang Shengyan felt fairly confident in her performance.
The corridors were bustling with activity as students either discussed the test questions or compared answers with one another, occasionally punctuated by enthusiastic arguments. The feeling was both familiar and deeply nostalgic.
Back in the classroom, Jiang Shengyan organized everyone to move their belongings back and restore the room to its original state.
"How do you feel it went?" Qin Yanxi turned around and asked Jiang Shengyan.
"Pretty good, I think. The questions didn't feel too hard this time," Jiang Shengyan said with a smile.
"Hehe, I didn't think they were hard either. When I go home this time, my mom shouldn't be nagging me anymore," Lin Mengke chimed in.
Li Haoyu had just walked back and, upon hearing what everyone was saying, spoke up with a miserable expression: "I'm going to get on the English teacher's bad side again this time. I'm done for."
He returned to his seat, slumped face-down on his desk, and resignedly announced, "I didn't know the word 'culture' in the English composition, so I just left the essay blank. I filled in the earlier parts with random guesses of A, B, C, and D. I have no idea if I'll even scrape thirty points."
Lin Mengke questioned reality for a moment and blurted out, "You don't even know 'culture'? I'm really curious what you got on your junior high school English exam."
"Aiya! I genuinely can't learn English," Li Haoyu said with a helpless, bitter smile.
"Was your junior high English score thirty points or something?" Qin Yanxi asked hesitantly.
"??? How do you know? I've never told anyone!" Li Haoyu instantly bristled.
"I overheard the English teacher in the office talking about someone in the class who got thirty points, I just didn't expect it to be you," Qin Yanxi said with a hint of disbelief.
It was Lin Mengke's first time meeting someone who scored thirty in English, and she was temporarily at a loss for words.
Jiang Shengyan tried to comfort him. "Uh, maybe you guessed a lot of the multiple-choice questions right this time."
Li Haoyu's eyes lit up instantly. "Really?"
"......" Jiang Shengyan smiled awkwardly, thinking to herself how she was supposed to tell him that she had just said a white lie to make him feel better.
"Yeah, right. It should at least shatter your illusions," Qin Yanxi said, placing her test paper on Li Haoyu's desk.
Li Haoyu's head immediately drooped. "Forget it, I'm not mentally prepared yet and don't want to face it right now," he said, quickly pushing the paper back.
Qin Yanxi: "......"
With the exams over, the school arranged a two-day break, and everyone packed their things and went home.
*
At the Jiang family dinner table.
"Eat more. The stewed pork ribs are good today, have a few more pieces of meat," Sheng Yue said, looking at her daughter's gradually thinning face, and added a few more pieces of meat to her bowl.
"Mom, stop putting food in my bowl. Eat some yourself," Jiang Shengyan hurriedly moved her bowl away; it was already piled up like a small mountain.
"Eat more, look how thin you've gotten. Tomorrow is a day off, do you want Mom to take you out somewhere?" Sheng Yue asked, hoping to help her daughter unwind.
"Forget it, I don't really feel like going out," Jiang Shengyan replied, intending to study.
"Why don't you like going out at all anymore? You need to relax sometimes, you can't just study all the time," Mother Jiang nagged.
"Your mother is right. Just do your best with your studies and don't put too much pressure on yourself," Father Jiang said, looking at his daughter, feeling both proud and sympathetic as she grew more sensible.
"Aiya, I'm fine. It's high school now, so things can't be like before. I'll find some time to rest tomorrow," Jiang Shengyan quickly changed her tune to set her parents' minds at ease.
After dinner, Jiang Shengyan returned to her room and picked up her phone, which was flooded with notifications. She tapped on a newly popped-up group chat named "Share Blessings Together, Quit the Group in Hardship."
It turned out to be a group chat created by Xu Jingyu. The members were actively discussing where to go to unwind after finishing the exams, and there were even a few messages tagging her to ask what she was up to.
She tapped open the chat box and tapped her fingers lightly against the screen.
JSY: "Was eating just now, didn't see the messages."
Daydreamer: "No worries, no worries. Yanyan, do you want to hang out tomorrow?"
Call Me Handsome: "Exactly, let's all go out and play together. We finally finished our exams."
Her excuse to her parents about going out tomorrow suddenly had a landing spot, and the corners of her lips curved upward.
JSY: "Sure! Have you guys figured out where to go?"
Daydreamer: "I wanted to go shopping, but these two wouldn't agree."
Call Me Handsome: "What's fun about shopping? If we're going to play, we should do something interesting."
Daydreamer: "Then you come up with something interesting, you childish pest."
Call Me Handsome: "????? Me, childish? Are you kidding me?"
Daydreamer: "Yep~ I'm talking about you."
......
They really were a pair of bickering frenemies, Jiang Shengyan thought with an amused chuckle. Suddenly, she caught sight of a Samoyed avatar.
Y: "Got any ideas? @JSY"
Jiang Shengyan thought for a moment and made a suggestion.
JSY: "How about we go to the amusement park?"
Daydreamer: "I agree!"
Y: "Agreed. Three votes pass, amusement park it is."
Call Me Handsome: "...... I feel isolated."
Daydreamer: "Your feelings are probably correct."
......
Watching the two of them bicker was somewhat amusing. Jiang Shengyan put her phone away, intending to knock out a portion of tomorrow's homework tonight.
She took out her assignments, calmed her mind, and set to work.