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 check. His grades were quite stable; if he did well, it would be in Exam Room 3, and if not, in Exam Room 4. He hadn’t taken exams anywhere else. Lu Bai, however, rushed into the crowd as soon as school was out to check and returned a moment later.

“Our exam rooms are next to each other, Tian’er! Maybe we’ve been in the same room before!” Lu Bai pulled Zhang Xiaotian up from his seat and dragged him to the notice board at the door to look at the assignments together. “See, I’m in Exam Room 3, and you’re in Exam Room 4.”

Zhang Xiaotian carefully checked the list. He was in the last seat in Exam Room 4. He then looked at the other students’ exam rooms and did some mental calculations. Each exam room had thirty people, and Class One had fewer than fifty students. His previous exam was a fluke, and he had been in the top eighty in the grade before, so while he couldn’t be completely confident, he wasn’t without a chance. With this thought, Zhang Xiaotian relaxed considerably.

“We must have been in the same exam room before,” Lu Bai chattered on. “If I had known we’d 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 think Xiaotian is like those people who paid to ‘tour’ Class One before,” Yin Li had just finished speaking when she saw Li An not far away and deliberately spoke a bit louder, “Xiaotian being in Exam Room 4 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, his face unclear from the distance.

“Actually, it’s not that big of a deal being in Class One or not. They just rely on their famous homeroom teacher and capable subject teachers, thinking it’s their own ability,” Yin Li muttered softly. 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 in the top eighty, Class One was indeed very strong. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Li An, and just as Li An looked up, their eyes met, and Li An then uncomfortably lowered his head. Zhang Xiaotian saw this and felt no particular emotion.

“Are you really not upset?” Lu Bai stood beside him and asked softly, “Li An always picks fights, he’s so idle.”

“No, I’m not taking it to heart,” Zhang Xiaotian shook his head. Looking at Lu Bai’s earnest expression, he suddenly wanted to tease him, “Anyway, I’ll only have to put up with it for at most two more years.”

“At most?”

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

Lu Bai let out a heavy “hmph” before releasing him, “Joking around. Even I, who am so lazy, 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 and hit Lu Bai’s backside with a broom. “Hurry up and go if you have nothing else to do, I’m anxious to finish my cleaning duty!”

“Ouch! Be gentle! I’m going now.” Lu Bai bolted towards the door, not forgetting to pull Zhang Xiaotian along. “Good luck on the exam tomorrow, Yin Li!”

The early autumn night carried a hint of coolness compared to summer. It was supposed to be pleasant weather, but the pre-exam tension inevitably affected everyone. Even the usually boisterous Lu Bai was quieter than usual. But Zhang Xiaotian felt more relaxed than usual at this moment.

He had done all he could. If he couldn’t stay, he could only blame his own inadequacy. But… if he could stay in Class One, it wouldn’t be a waste of his mother’s effort in pulling strings to get him transferred. 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. Thinking this, Zhang Xiaotian let out a long sigh, feeling a sense of clarity.

“You’re not nervous anymore,” Lu Bai leaned more than half of his body on Zhang Xiaotian. “My ordeal as your deskmate has just begun.”

Ah, right, there was Lu Bai.

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 breaking off my friendship with you for one second.”

“It’s not me who made you not listen in class,” Zhang Xiaotian told him.

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

“Mhm, you listened.”

Zhang Xiaotian suppressed the smile that was starting to form on his lips and remained silent, letting Lu Bai lean on him. The streetlights shone quietly. He watched 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 body heat seeped through his school uniform to his skin. He heard someone’s heartbeat, though he wasn’t sure whose it was.

They walked all the way to 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 were no evening self-study sessions for these two days of exams. The exam venues were in other classes, which made Zhang Xiaotian feel a bit disoriented, as if his month in Class One had been a dream. So, the morning after the exams, he stood at the entrance of Class One, still hesitant to enter, until Lu Bai saw him lingering at the door and called out to him, finally making it feel real.

“What were you doing just now? Why didn’t you come in?” Lu Bai asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Nothing much,” Zhang Xiaotian replied casually.

He couldn’t possibly 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 next to Lu Bai’s.

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

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

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

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

“What question is it?” Yin Li, just entering the classroom, chimed in from afar. “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 and 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 doomed!” Lu Bai took out his pen and wrote the steps directly in the blank space on the paper. “Come on, listen to me explain it to you two.”

Zhang Xiaotian leaned closer to him, looking down at his paper. Lu Bai’s solution steps were completely different from his own notes, skipping some basic parts and only highlighting key points, with a subtle hint of showing off. His explanation style further confirmed his intention to boast, as he spun his pen while explaining and made sarcastic remarks about them.

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

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

“Just tell me if I explained it clearly!” Lu Bai snapped his pen cap shut. “After listening to my explanation, you two are my disciples. Call me Master!”

“Shameless!” Yin Li playfully scolded. “Taking advantage of us!”

There weren’t many people in the classroom at this time. Yin Li rolled up her paper and pretended to stand up from her seat to hit him. Lu Bai chuckled and hid behind Zhang Xiaotian. They continued to mess around while glancing at the front and back doors, afraid a teacher might walk in and see them. Yin Li, armed with her “weapon,” couldn’t be dodged by Lu Bai, who was darting around. He finally stood up from his seat and stumbled backward a few steps, bumping into Han Chengcheng, who was entering from the back door.

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

Those sitting in the classroom quickly returned to their seats and took out their books, pretending to be studying. Lu Bai also hurried back to his seat, spread his papers on the desk, but after a while, he couldn’t focus and started doodling on a scratch paper. Shortly after, the homeroom teacher walked in and sat down by the podium, looking at his phone.

Zhang Xiaotian looked down at the question Lu Bai had just explained, pondered it carefully, and decided to note it down. As he took out his mistake notebook, Lu Bai pushed a small grid paper towards him with a black dot drawn on it.

Is this Gomoku?

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

Han Chengcheng had taken out her papers as soon as she sat down and asked Yin Li to explain a question to her. Yin Li seemed to be at a difficult point and was studying it intently. She then looked back at Lu Bai, noticed he wasn’t studying, and turned around. Han Chengcheng also turned her head.

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

“Tsk, what’s so hard to understand? It’s like this, see…” Lu Bai rummaged on the desk, took out the scratch paper from earlier, and explained it to Han Chengcheng again. After explaining, he didn’t forget to tease Yin Li again, “You definitely weren’t listening carefully just now, so I had to explain it again.”

Yin Li scoffed, and Han Chengcheng, listening, pursed her lips and smiled.

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

“Grand-disciple?” Han Chengcheng looked confused. “What master and disciple are you talking about?”

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

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

Zhang Xiaotian saw Han Chengcheng’s confused expression before she turned away and couldn’t help but smile. Lu Bai noticed.

“What are you smiling about?” Lu Bai whispered.

“Am I not allowed to laugh?” Zhang Xiaotian said. “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 problem, drawing and pointing on the paper. “I found this mistake first, so you are my eldest disciple, Yin Li’s senior disciple brother, and Han Cheng’s senior martial aunt. This seniority needs to be clear, no messing around!”

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

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

“Mhm,” Zhang Xiaotian nodded. “Again.”