Jiang Nian turned his head and saw Zhang Ningzhi handing him the Chinese exam paper.
The paper was coarse and of poor quality; it was the classical Chinese test paper printed by Lao Liu. There were four pages, four classical Chinese texts in total, but only one text was required to be completed.
They had just flipped through the classical Chinese texts, and with the collective effort of the class, they had also finished the paper.
In other words, the paper was already useless.
Is there an audit team coming to the school at the end of the year?
How embarrassing, Lao Liu, are you going this far just to balance the accounts for the leaders?
Betting on the glory of a senior teacher, perhaps the desire to improve is a bit too anxious. No wonder I heard you playing "Yuanyang Xi" when passing by the office that day.
Zhang Ningzhi handed him the page with the classical Chinese text they had just discussed, the handwriting was neat and graceful.
So, what are you looking at?
Jiang Nian glanced at the paper and then at Zhang Ningzhi, thinking that she might be trying to urge him to copy. But... this paper doesn’t need to be handed in for checking.
Copy it once and correct?
This paper will only be seen by the wind and the recycling lady! It can’t get into my brain at all, baby.
Zhang Ningzhi saw Jiang Nian staring straight at her and couldn’t help but purse her lips.
What are you looking at me for? Look at the back of the paper.
Jiang Nian hesitated for a moment, then leaned over and whispered.
"Does this paper need to be handed in for checking? If it does, I’ll copy it."
Zhang Ningzhi: "....."
Luckily, Jiang Nian, seeing her staring straight at the paper, curiously opened it and flipped a page. He immediately saw the handwriting on the back and realized he had gotten it wrong.
Oh, it turns out it’s a little note.
Writing directly on the Chinese exam paper? That’s really discreet. After all, who would carefully look at the answers section to see if what’s written there is the answer?
After all, it’s an inferior paper.
Jiang Nian opened it and saw there were three small questions on classical Chinese, and Zhang Ningzhi had written from beginning to end, though not a word related to the answers, every stroke was related to him.
Turns out it wasn’t a note, it was a handwritten letter.
Jiang Nian was used to playing on his phone.
Suddenly seeing such a handwritten letter sandwiched in the rows of test papers, the sincerity overwhelmed him, like seeing a five-colored deer in a secluded mountain valley.
[There are 9 days left until the major exam at the end of the month, and I’m always worried about getting demoted. But only three people in the class who got promoted are at risk of demotion, and you and I are among them.
The previous class wasn’t bad, just fewer friends. Not as happy as now, where I can hang out with Beibei every recess, and Li Hua and Ma Guojun are pretty nice.]
Seeing this, Jiang Nian got a little anxious. So you’re excluding me from the group too?
I’m reporting your school cliques to the authorities!
Oh, there’s more at the bottom, couldn’t fit it in the end, so it’s written vertically.
Seeing this, Jiang Nian felt like blushing. This evaluation is bottom-tier, like saying, "Cute in a small way", how is this different from that kind of nonsense? Okay, okay, I’ll change seats next week.
[I don’t want to get demoted, and I don’t want you to get demoted either. Or if we fall behind in the next exam, it will easily make people think our promotion results were fake or exaggerated.]
Yu Tongjie, that Sword Tomb, is really an asshat, did this while being promoted together?
How much pressure did it put on Zhizhi baby?
[So, if possible, try to work a little harder. Although saying this feels a bit forceful, I think as friends, there’s a bit of a right to urge you.]
Forceful, hehe, I love forcefulness the most.
Jiang Nian continued to read, feeling that Zhang Ningzhi was being a bit reserved.
[I still want to be deskmates with you if we fall behind in grades. And surely we’d be told to sit apart, since the only value senior students have is studying.]
Don’t say such realistic things, it’s too sad.
No, sitting with me equals falling behind?
What, you’re saying I’m a bad influence?
Jiang Nian read on, finding a line of tiny dense characters at the bottom. Compared to the above text, this line seemed a bit lacking in confidence.
[Saying this seems a bit unreasonable, after all, anxiety is only my thing. Suddenly asking you to study seriously with me is not very good.]
Why suddenly this passive-aggressive language?
[If you find it baffling, just put the paper away and pretend nothing happened. Or crumple it up and shoot it like ugly Li Hua into the trash can.]
Ugly Li Hua shooting?
Messed up sentence order, right?
However, the fact that Zhang Ningzhi casually attacked Li Hua made Jiang Nian happy.
Worthy of being the number one prodigy in the group, and the top scorer in Group Six, Zhizhi fairy. Li Hua, that old science dog, is already a skeleton under her feet!
In Group Six, attacking Li Hua has become politically correct.
In the dim classroom, the sound of "Aerial China" echoed.
Zhang Ningzhi anxiously waited for a few minutes, squeezing the pen in her hand, the knuckles faintly white.
People in the class were either staring intently at the screen or occasionally looking up while doing homework. In the unnoticed corner, no one noticed the passing Chinese test paper.
She turned her head and saw Jiang Nian folding the paper, seemingly about to put it in the desk. Her pupils suddenly dilated, so he wasn’t accepting it, and she had done such an embarrassing thing.
Then she saw Jiang Nian fake her out, pulling a pen from the desk and starting to write a reply on the desk.
Zhang Ningzhi: "...."
She was ninety-five percent sure that this person did it on purpose. Purely mischievous, with the pen clearly on the desk yet taking one from the desk.
Then came the long wait, counting the seconds as they passed. Anxiety magnifying infinitely, the heart pounding up and down, with a bittersweet sinking feeling in the chest.