Just over a week left until the final exams, and the atmosphere in the class is heavy and oppressive. Early morning self-study has changed from morizing concepts and vocabulary to independent study.
Those who haven’t finished their howork are frantically scribbling, copying, and guessing; those who have t their task quota dive into workbooks, so provided by the teachers, so bought personally. Once done, they pile up the parts they don’t understand to chase after teachers for answers.
Zhao ii entered the classroom a bit earlier than usual. As she settled down, Wang Jiayue quickly approached and asked, "ii, where’s Xu Xu?"
Zhao ii was stunned, then rembered Xu Xu always took the sa bus to school with her every morning. Usually, she leaned out the bus window and shouted for Xu Xu to hurry onto the bus.
Zhao ii: "My brother drove this morning, I didn’t take the bus."
Wang Jiayue looked concerned: "Oh no, Xu Xu won’t be waiting for you, will he?"
Zhao ii glanced at the clock on the wall: "I doubt it, he should be getting here soon."
Wang Jiayue handed Zhao ii a can of Wangzai Milk, scrutinized her expression, and asked, "You’re in a good mood? Did sothing good happen?"
Zhao ii chuckled: "It’s my brother’s birthday today. Hey, accompany at noon to order a cake."
Wang Jiayue agreed with a smile: "Sure."
Xu Xu was ultimately late. The class bell had rung for quite a while by the ti he dashed into the classroom, sweating. Upon entering, he first looked at Zhao ii. Seeing her, his face relaxed a bit. He quickly turned to apologize to the teacher and went back to his seat.
After Xu Xu sat down, he quickly took out and arranged his textbooks.
The first class was Robber Hao’s lecture. He stood at the podium, energetically waving a large wooden ruler.
Zhao ii, taking advantage of the mont Robber Hao turned to write on the blackboard, crumpled a note and threw it at Xu Xu’s head.
Xu Xu turned to look, and Zhao ii flashed him a grin. Xu Xu paused for a mont, and the bit of displeasure in his heart instantly vanished. He lowered his head to pick up the note.
The note had one line of large, ssy writing: My brother drove to school this morning.
Xu Xu read it again and then carefully flattened the note. He took a thick envelope out of his backpack, opened it, and ticulously inserted the note inside. When he opened the flap, a neat stack of small notes inside was revealed.
Throughout the class, Xu Xu was sowhat absent-minded. He stared at Robber Hao on the podium, his thoughts drifting far away.
"Back to earth, what are you thinking about?"
Xu Xu looked blankly at Wang Jiayue who had co over: "Huh?"
The mont Wang Jiayue t his eyes, she quickly looked away and handed him the Wangzai Milk she was holding: "My family bought several cartons yesterday, I’ll bring them for you all every day."
Xu Xu glanced at the milk can in his hand, knowing it was quite expensive, and politely thanked her: "Thank you."
Wang Jiayue blushed slightly, lowering her head to hide it: "Want to go out together at noon?"
Xu Xu was taken aback: "Where to?"
Wang Jiayue glanced at him quickly: "ii’s brother’s birthday is today. She wants to order a cake at noon."
Thinking of the note, Xu Xu understood. He thought for a mont and politely declined: "I can’t at noon today, the teacher asked to help check answers in the office."
Wang Jiayue looked disappointed: "Oh, really."
Xu Xu didn’t look at her again, and lowered his head to organize his textbooks.
Wang Jiayue glanced deeply at him and returned to her seat.
The fourth class was English. The English teacher, Song Wuchang, was the strictest among all the subject teachers. Whenever it was her class, all students needed to concentrate fully because she might call on anyone to answer questions at any mont. If unable to answer, punishnt ranged from writing vocabulary words to reciting English passages. Failure to complete within the set ti ant a call to the student’s ho, and then notifying Robber Hao. With both actions combined, students privately referred to her as Song Wuchang.
With the finals approaching, Song Wuchang had finished teaching the textbook material. Now, each day in class she distributed papers and led students in checking and explaining answers, occasionally practicing English writing.
During the first half of the class, Song Wuchang handed out a batch of reading comprehension papers, selecting two articles, and set a ti limit of ten minutes for each, to complete the exercises.
As the ti was up, Song Wuchang tapped the blackboard: "Alright, let’s start checking the answers!"
All the students imdiately stopped writing, silently looking up at the podium.
Song Wuchang cleared her throat: "Who will read the first paragraph of the first reading question?"
There was silence below following her remark, then among a group of students with lowered heads and wandering eyes, Zhang Zhao, seated in the last row, suddenly raised his hand.
Song Wuchang was slightly surprised. Her reaction was understandable—Zhang Zhao’s grades in the class were average, but his performance in class was always passive unless directly called upon. Even then, he would display an irritated expression.
Though not a trouble student, he certainly wasn’t a teacher’s pet either.
Song Wuchang hesitated and was about to call on Zhang Zhao to read aloud when Zhang Zhao abruptly stood up, silently heading for the classroom door.
Song Wuchang’s expression changed, and she reprimanded, "Zhang Zhao! Where are you going!"
Zhang Zhao turned to Song Wuchang, with an anxious look: "Bathroom." Without waiting for Song Wuchang’s approval, he strode out with long legs and disappeared from sight.
Song Wuchang was furious but could do nothing about Zhang Zhao. Currently, the Education Bureau is emphasizing reducing students’ burden, paying attention to teachers’ attitudes toward students. Preventing a student from using the bathroom is an unacceptable form of punishnt.
Frustrated internally, Song Wuchang casually called another student to read the text, and after so ti discussing and checking answers, Zhang Zhao’s incident was slowly forgotten.
Students below rely found Zhang Zhao’s antics amusing before returning to their tasks.
Zhao ii held a pen and stared at the paper, her mind having already wandered to the cake shop. She planned to order a durian cheese cake for Shi Yang, one with durian pulp mixed into the cream inside the cheese cake. Shi Yang loves durian, and she loves cheese—satisfying both sides.
Once deciding on the cake, she started thinking about how to present the ring. She initially considered the romantic gesture of burying it in the cake but quickly rejected it. Besides possibly losing the ring inside the cake, finding it in front of Shi Yang’s parents would be too much of a giveaway.
Maybe she should just give it directly, Zhao ii recalled the small gift she had to prepare at the last minute that morning, feeling a sweet blush spread across her face.
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