CY – Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Before the evening self-study session ended, each class received their exam venue assignments.

Zhang Xiaotian wasn’t in a hurry to look. His grades were quite stable; if he did well, he’d be in Exam Room Three, and if he did poorly, Exam Room Four. He hadn’t been to any other rooms before. Lu Bai, however, rushed into the crowd as soon as school ended to check. He jogged back a moment later.

“Our exam rooms are next to each other, Tian’er. We must have been in the same room before!” Lu Bai pulled Zhang Xiaotian up from his seat and dragged him to the notice board by the door to look at the assignments together. “See, I’m in Exam Room Three, and you’re in Exam Room Four.”

Zhang Xiaotian carefully checked the list. He was in the last seat in Exam Room Four. He then looked at the other classmates’ exam rooms and did some mental calculations. Each room had thirty people, and Class One had fewer than fifty students. His last exam had been an underperformance; he had been in the top eighty in his grade before, so while he couldn’t say he had it in the bag, he wasn’t without a chance. Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaotian relaxed considerably.

“We definitely must have been in the same exam room before,” Lu Bai chattered on. “If I had known we would become deskmates, I would have gotten to know you sooner.”

Zhang Xiaotian smiled. “It’s not too late to know each other now.”

“Li An must have thought Xiaotian was one of those people who come to Class One for a ‘visit’ by paying money,” Yin Li said. Just then, she saw Li An not far away and deliberately raised her voice.

“Xiaotian being in Exam Room Four shows his grades were good before. I wonder who was so sure he wouldn’t stay in our class.”

Li An didn’t seem to hear, as his face was too far away to see clearly.

“Actually, being in Class One isn’t that amazing. It’s just relying on the homeroom teacher’s fame and the subject teachers being good. They really think it’s their own ability,” Yin Li whispered, and Lu Bai nodded in agreement. “Exactly. He might not even score better than Tian’er.”

To have over forty students in the class generally ranked within the top eighty was indeed impressive for Class One. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Li An, and their eyes met. Li An then looked down somewhat unnaturally. Zhang Xiaotian saw this and felt no particular emotion.

“Are you really not upset?” Lu Bai asked him quietly, standing beside him. “Li An always deliberately causes trouble; he’s got nothing better to do.”

“No, I’m not taking it to heart,” Zhang Xiaotian shook his head. Seeing Lu Bai listening to him earnestly, he suddenly wanted to tease him. “Anyway, it’ll only be another two years at most.”

“At most?”

“Yeah, what if I suddenly don’t do well on an exam… Lu Bai, don’t choke me!”

Lu Bai let out a heavy “hmph” before releasing him. “Joking around. Even I, who’s so slacking, haven’t worried about this. How could you? You must stay!”

“You should worry about yourself, sleeping in class every day,” Yin Li popped out from behind, hitting Lu Bai’s behind with a broom. “Go on, I’m in a hurry to do the cleaning!”

“Ouch! Be gentle! I’m going now.” Lu Bai bolted towards the door. As he left, he didn’t forget to pull Zhang Xiaotian along. “Good luck with the exam tomorrow, Yin Li!”

The early autumn night was a touch cooler than summer, a pleasant atmosphere that should have lifted one’s spirits. However, the pre-exam tension inevitably affected everyone. Even the usually boisterous Lu Bai was quieter than usual. But Zhang Xiaotian felt more relaxed than ever at this moment.

He had done everything he could. If he couldn’t stay, he could only blame his own lack of ability. But… if he could stay in Class One, it wouldn’t be a waste of his mother’s efforts to pull strings for him to transfer. Memories of his time in Class One flashed through his mind. Although there had been some confusion and awkwardness, the overall feeling was better than he had imagined. With this thought, Zhang Xiaotian let out a long sigh, feeling a sense of clarity.

“You’re not nervous anymore,” Lu Bai said, leaning most of his body against Zhang Xiaotian. “My ordeal as your deskmate has just begun.”

Ah, right, there was Lu Bai too.

Zhang Xiaotian lowered his head slightly to look at Lu Bai leaning on his shoulder. His current ease was also because of Lu Bai. He always felt more relaxed when he was around Lu Bai, perhaps because Lu Bai was such a good friend to everyone.

“Not even a word of comfort?” Lu Bai buried his face in Zhang Xiaotian’s shoulder. “I’m going to break off our friendship for one second.”

“It wasn’t me who told you not to listen to class,” Zhang Xiaotian told him.

“I was listening too,” Lu Bai’s voice was muffled. “You can’t slander me.”

“Mmm-hmm, you were listening.”

Zhang Xiaotian suppressed his slightly upturned lips and said no more, letting Lu Bai lean on him. The streetlights shone quietly. He saw their shadows lengthen and then shorten, cast behind them. In a daze, it seemed as if they were the only two walking on this path leading to the school gate. Lu Bai’s warmth seeped through his school uniform to his skin. He heard someone’s heartbeat, though he wasn’t sure whose.

They reached the school gate before Lu Bai straightened up, adjusted his uniform, and smiled at Zhang Xiaotian. “See you in class after the exam, deskmate.”

Zhang Xiaotian smiled back. “See you in class, deskmate.”

There was no evening self-study for the two days of the exam, and the exam venues were in other classes. This made Zhang Xiaotian feel a bit disoriented, as if the past month in Class One had been a dream. So, the morning after the exams, he stood at the entrance of Class One, hesitant to go in. It wasn’t until Lu Bai saw him standing there and called out to him that it felt real.

“What were you doing just now? Why didn’t you come in?” Lu Bai asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

“Nothing much,” Zhang Xiaotian replied casually.

He couldn’t say he thought he wasn’t in this class anymore; that would be too foolish.

“Did you do well on the exam?” Lu Bai took out his papers. “I think I did okay too. Let me see your papers.”

Zhang Xiaotian took out his papers and placed them in front of him.

Lu Bai picked out the physics paper and compared it with his own.

“Hey, why did you choose B here?” he pointed to a question. “This one is clearly C, I calculated it.”

“Let me see,” Zhang Xiaotian leaned over to look.

“I might not be confident about other things, but when it comes to physics, your deskmate here is pretty good.” Lu Bai took out a piece of scratch paper. “Come here, I’ll explain it to you.”

“What question is it?” Yin Li, just entering the classroom, chimed in from a distance. “Physics? Let me see too.” She then took out her physics paper and spread it on Lu Bai and Zhang Xiaotian’s desks.

“The sixth multiple-choice question.”

“I don’t remember if I did it,” Yin Li thought for a moment, then looked at Zhang Xiaotian. “Did you do this question yourself?”

“No,” Zhang Xiaotian shook his head. “I didn’t know how, I just guessed.”

“Haha, you two are finished!” Lu Bai took out his pen and wrote the steps directly in the blank space on the paper. “Come, come, listen to me explain it to you two.”

Zhang Xiaotian leaned closer, looking down at his paper. Lu Bai’s solution steps were completely different from his own notes, omitting some basic parts and only highlighting key points, with a hint of showing off. The way he explained the problem further confirmed his intention to show off; he spun his pen while explaining, and even threw in some teasing remarks at them.

“Understand now, you two?” Lu Bai pointed at the paper. “Such a simple question needed me to explain it. It seems your skills are still too shallow.”

“Alright, enough of you,” Yin Li picked up the paper. “You’ve explained one question and you’re still showing off.”

“Just tell me if I explained it clearly!” Lu Bai snapped his pen cap shut. “After listening to me explain this question, you two are my disciples from now on. Call me Master and let me hear it.”

“Shameless!” Yin Li cursed with a laugh. “Taking advantage of us!”

There weren’t many people in the classroom yet. Yin Li rolled up her paper and pretended to stand up from her seat to hit him. Lu Bai smiled and dodged behind Zhang Xiaotian. The two of them messed around while glancing at the front and back doors, afraid a teacher might walk in and see them. Yin Li, armed with her “weapon,” was something Lu Bai couldn’t dodge. He simply stood up from his seat, backed away a few steps, and bumped into Han Chengcheng, who was entering from the back door.

“Ah!” Han Chengcheng stumbled as soon as she entered. Seeing it was Lu Bai, she quickly said, “What are you guys doing? Hurry back to your seats. Old Zhang is already at the stairwell.”

Those sitting in the classroom quickly returned to their seats, took out their books, and pretended to be studying. Lu Bai also hurried back to his seat, spread his papers on the desk, but soon found he couldn’t focus. He started doodling on scratch paper. A moment later, the homeroom teacher walked in and sat down by the podium, looking at her phone.

Zhang Xiaotian looked down at the question Lu Bai had just explained and pondered it carefully, intending to write it down. Just as he took out his mistake notebook, Lu Bai slid a small grid paper over to him with a black dot drawn on it.

This was Gomoku?

He looked at Lu Bai, who also looked at him, gesturing with his chin towards the paper. Zhang Xiaotian then glanced up at the front. The homeroom teacher was still looking at her phone and hadn’t noticed their small actions. He lowered his head even further, took the paper Lu Bai had pushed over, drew an empty circle next to the black dot, and pushed the paper back.

As soon as Han Chengcheng sat down, she took out her papers and asked Yin Li to explain them to her. Yin Li seemed to be at a difficult point and studied it for a long time. She looked back at Lu Bai and saw he wasn’t studying. So, she turned around with her paper, and Han Chengcheng turned with her.

“Lu Bai, look,” Yin Li pointed to the question they were discussing. “How did you explain this part just now? Explain it to Chengcheng again.”

“Tsk, what’s so hard to understand about this? It’s like this, see…” Lu Bai rummaged on the desk, took out the scratch paper from before, and explained it to Han Chengcheng again. After finishing, he couldn’t resist teasing Yin Li again. “You definitely weren’t listening properly just now, you needed me to explain it again.”

Yin Li scoffed, and Han Chengcheng smiled wryly beside her.

“Alright, turn back and think about it,” Lu Bai waved his hand and then said to Han Chengcheng, “If you understand, explain it to your Master again, little grand-disciple.”

“Grand-disciple?” Han Chengcheng looked confused. “What master and grand-disciple?”

“Don’t listen to his nonsense,” Yin Li pulled her to turn back.

“You are my disciple, and you explain to Han Cheng, so isn’t she my grand-disciple?” Lu Bai explained. The homeroom teacher, sitting in the front, suddenly coughed twice, and they quickly sat up straight.

Zhang Xiaotian saw Han Chengcheng’s bewildered look before she turned away and couldn’t help but smile. Lu Bai saw it.

“What are you laughing at?” Lu Bai whispered.

“Can’t I laugh?” Zhang Xiaotian retorted. “I’m laughing at your childishness.”

“How is this childish?” Lu Bai looked up at the homeroom teacher, pulled over a piece of paper, and pretended to be explaining a question, drawing and pointing on the paper. “I discovered you made a mistake on this question first, so you are my eldest disciple, Yin Li’s senior, and Han Cheng’s senior martial cousin. This hierarchy needs to be clear; it can’t be messed up!”

Zhang Xiaotian almost burst out laughing but managed to swallow it back, cleared his throat, and took out the paper from their Gomoku game. He drew a circle and pushed it back to Lu Bai.

“Still playing?” Lu Bai took it. “Didn’t lose enough just now?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Zhang Xiaotian nodded. “Again.”