The entire row of students being punished took their hands out of their school-uniform pockets and solemnly, seriously gave Xiao Yan a round of applause.
Zhang Shu patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder. Tang Yuan gave Xiao Yan the best spot in the line. Fan Yue shook Xiao Yan’s hand and, with tears glimmering in his eyes, gave him a heavy nod.
The students sitting in the classroom were desperately holding back their laughter. Some even stood their books upright to hide their wildly upturned mouths.
“I know your class has a good class spirit.” Teacher Xu placed the test papers on the podium and frowned at Xiao Yan, who was surrounded by the group being punished. He genuinely couldn’t understand these high school students. “But you don’t have to be this united and friendly, do you?”
The No. 1 High School campus forum broadcast the incident live.
[Hahahahaha, I just walked past Senior Two Class Three. All the alphas in their class got punished and had to stand. I’m dying laughing.]
1F: Same. [Photo] Neat and orderly, not a single one escaped. Teacher Xu criticized them one by one.
2F: Can someone tell me what happened?
3F: Apparently it was a free-point question on the physiology test, and the entire class got it wrong.
4F: What question? Anyone from Class Three here? Post it so we can see.
5F: Coming, coming. It was actually just a general-knowledge question. And it wasn’t the whole class that got it wrong. Brother Yan got it right, but just now he voluntarily walked into the punishment line. [Photo of the question] He was the only one in the entire class to get full marks.
6F: “Happily go out with him,” hahahahahahaha. What is wrong with the alphas in this class? Why are they taking a question so seriously?
7F: Subtle. Extremely subtle. Dog-head.jpg I suggest all the omega students be careful around Senior Two Class Three. They’re all scumbags hahahaha.
8F: What’s with the guy who got it right but voluntarily went to stand with them? Hahahaha. Does he have that much of a sense of collective responsibility?
“I heard all the alphas in Senior Two Class Three got punished and have to stand.” Jing Ximing had just finished browsing the campus forum. “Everyone’s gone to watch the fun. Should we go take a look too?”
Senior One Class Three formed a temporary sightseeing group and prepared to go upstairs to check out the spectacle.
“All of them?” Luo Zhiyu was bent over his test paper. Hearing this, he took his phone out of his desk drawer. “What kind of question was so difficult that the entire class got it wrong?”
Luo Zhiyu opened the forum, found the post, and clicked on the photo of the test paper uploaded by a student from Class Three.
Luo Zhiyu: “……”
That first question seemed to perfectly overlap with what had happened when he went to find Xiao Yan last night.
But he hadn’t been flirting. That had been provocation.
So it wasn’t his fault. Certain people had simply misread the question.
After connecting it with Xiao Yan’s reaction the previous night and somehow reconstructing the entire chain of events in his mind, Luo Zhiyu buried his head in his sea of books. No matter how much his classmates called him, he refused to go outside.
“How strange.” Jing Ximing said to the members of the sightseeing group, “Normally, whenever Xiao Yan is in trouble, he’s the first one cheering.”
Luo Zhiyu acted as though he hadn’t heard him. He firmly guarded his desk, putting all his attention on the test paper in front of him, as if he had never loved studying so much in his entire life.
Not long after the sightseeing group from Class Three left, their homeroom teacher, Qiu Yi, entered the classroom.
“Why are more than half of you missing?” The homeroom teacher looked at the empty seats. “Why are you running around everywhere during evening self-study?”
“They went to the bathroom.” Luo Zhiyu answered calmly. “The cafeteria food was too salty.”
“So many people all went?” The homeroom teacher was somewhat suspicious, but didn’t pursue the matter. He felt that there were more important things to announce.
“Two things. First, considering that your academic workload will be heavier next year, the school has decided to move your physiology classes to this semester. There will be four classes. Once they’re finished, you’ll take a test. After that, teachers will be arranged to teach you this course.”
“One more thing.” Teacher Qiu tapped the blackboard. “This weekend is our first major exam since the first-year students started school. Pay attention, review properly, and try to get off to a good start.”
After announcing the exam, the homeroom teacher left, giving the students the rest of the evening self-study period.
Upstairs, the sightseeing group ran into Director Xu during his rounds and were scolded back downstairs. One by one, they lowered their heads and opened their homework.
“Learn from Luo Zhiyu in your class.” Director Xu stood at the doorway of Class Three and angrily lectured them. “There’s a reason his grades are good. At a time like this, why didn’t he go join the fun?”
Luo Zhiyu: “……”
“Director.” Under the admiring gazes of the sightseeing group, Luo Zhiyu humbly said, “There’s no need to praise me. You’re making me embarrassed.”
There was still more than half an hour before evening self-study ended. Luo Zhiyu had already finished that day’s homework. Bored, he lay on his desk and drew twin ponytails on one of the ancient figures in his Chinese textbook.
The phone in his pocket vibrated.
Stinky Orange had finished his punishment and sent him a message.
[Stinky Orange]: What are you doing?
[Stinky Orange]: Why didn’t I see you come sightseeing?
[Not Zhizhi]: What? Wasn’t the area outside Senior Two Class Three crowded enough for you tonight?
[Stinky Orange]: Luo Zhizhi.
[Not Zhizhi]: Yeah?
[Stinky Orange]: You’re really good at getting me into trouble.
[Not Zhizhi]: You flatter me, you flatter me. I didn’t mean to. Don’t try to pin this on me.
[Stinky Orange]: I feel like my reputation is getting worse by the day.
[Not Zhizhi]: Is it? Stinky Orange.
“Not Zhizhi” withdrew a message.
[Not Zhizhi]: Since I’m already here, let me ask you a question while I’m at it.
[Not Zhizhi]: [Picture]
[Not Zhizhi]: I’m doing a test paper. Is my translation of this classical Chinese passage wrong? I couldn’t find the answer.
[Stinky Orange]: ……It’s only been a month since school started. How did you manage to draw all over your textbook like that?
[Not Zhizhi]: Nya nya nya.
[Stinky Orange]: I did this test paper last year. I’ll let you copy mine. Wait until I get back after class and find it.
[Not Zhizhi]: Sounds good.
That weekend, the first-year students had their first monthly exam since the beginning of the school year.
On Sunday afternoon, Luo Zhiyu had finished his test paper long ago, but remained in the examination room until the very last moment. He handed his paper to the student assistant collecting the tests, then leisurely wandered out of the examination room and met up with Jing Ximing.
As they passed the office, they ran into Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan was holding his water cup and filling it at the hot-water dispenser.
Jing Ximing had a familiar, very bad feeling.
Luo Zhiyu was still holding the scrap paper he hadn’t used up during the exam. The instant he saw Xiao Yan, he crumpled the paper into a ball and aimed it at the back of Xiao Yan’s head.
Here we go again.
Jing Ximing prepared to run.
“Luo Zhiyu.” Xiao Yan saw a familiar figure reflected in the metal casing of the hot-water dispenser and immediately turned around. “Stop. What are you holding in your hand?”
He walked over, pried Luo Zhiyu’s fingers apart one by one, and snatched the “weapon” Luo Zhiyu was holding in his palm.
After causing trouble so many times, Luo Zhiyu had finally been caught red-handed this time. He blinked at Xiao Yan with an especially innocent expression.
“Zhizhi, do you need to get hit every three days before you’ll behave?” Xiao Yan asked in a low voice. “I thought you could at least last a week without provoking me.”
“I was just passing by.” Luo Zhiyu pretended to be an innocent passerby.
“Keep making things up.” Xiao Yan said. “You’d already raised your hand.”
The office door opened, and Director Wu stood by the doorway.
“You two again……”
“We’re having a friendly exchange.” Luo Zhiyu pulled his hand back, heavily patted Xiao Yan twice on the shoulder, and instantly changed his expression, smiling brightly. “Right, Brother Yan?”
Xiao Yan: “……Right.”
Luo Zhiyu, who had been caught red-handed while attempting to cause trouble but had not yet succeeded, smoothly escaped the scene.
Xiao Yan had caught him but hadn’t managed to teach him a lesson, so he continued into the office to help grade the test papers.
All the first-year monthly exam papers had already been bound together, so the students’ names could not be seen.
“When we grade papers, we must be fair and impartial. This applies to all the second-year students helping us as well.” Director Wu took a sip of tea and read out the grading rules. “Objective questions have standard answers, while subjective questions have specific scoring points. The answer must hit the relevant points before marks can be awarded. You must look at the keywords. Be objective and fair. Make sure you grade while maintaining a stable emotional state, and give every student a fair score.”
The teachers and students participating in the school’s monthly exam grading all nodded and opened the test papers in front of them.
Xiao Yan also opened the test paper assigned to him. He spread it out, checked the answers to the objective questions, graded the subjective questions, and wrote Director Wu’s name in the grader’s section.
(Grading Assistant: Xiao Yan.)
This was an excellent student. They had gotten only the final multiple-choice question wrong.
Next, Xiao Yan had to grade the subjective questions.
Xiao Yan: “……”
The handwriting on this test paper was far too distinctive.
The first few lines in the subjective-answer section were written in a thin, elegant style reminiscent of Slender Gold Script. The characters leaned this way and that, but were at least legible.
After writing two lines, the student had apparently decided that the speed was too slow and the answers weren’t being written freely enough. They immediately abandoned the original style and completely let themselves go.
Under every subjective question on the entire test paper, this student had earnestly filled in an answer.
However, the handwriting was uniformly tilted at an angle. If the test paper were turned sideways, one could reluctantly describe it as being consistently ugly.
Xiao Yan didn’t need to look at the class or the name.
He already knew whose test paper this was.
Director Wu began emphasizing once again:
“All teachers and students participating in the grading process must not allow any personal feelings to influence their grading. Do not favor anyone. Do not be biased……”
“Director.” Xiao Yan raised his hand. “Give me another test paper.”
Director Wu: “？？？”