The Administrative Aptitude Test was over.
In the corridor outside the exam room, Dong Xuebin ran into Xiao Dong.
Xiao Dong glanced at him mockingly. "This one was even harder than the National Civil Service Exam. You didn't have any problems, did you?"
Dong Xuebin met his gaze without backing down. "Don't tell me you messed it up?"
"Me? Mess it up?" Xiao Dong laughed in disbelief, brimming with confidence. "Don't compare me to you. Aside from two logic questions I probably got wrong, and a few particularly difficult general knowledge questions, there's basically no way I got the rest wrong. I calculated it before handing in the paper. Unless something unexpected happened, my error rate won't exceed seven percent. Heh, what about you? With a paper this difficult, you must have missed at least forty or fifty questions, right?"
Dong Xuebin smiled. "Don't worry about me. If you're fine, then I'm fine."
"Don't just put on a brave front." Xiao Dong clearly had no idea what Dong Xuebin meant.
Having gotten through one exam, Dong Xuebin felt much more relaxed. But when he thought of the essay exam that afternoon, his head started aching again.
He did not even feel like eating.
Qu Yunxuan and Aunt Xu, who had been waiting for them outside, might have been afraid of putting pressure on them. When they saw the two come out, neither asked how they had done. They ate at a dumpling restaurant by the west gate of Fifteenth Middle School, and before they knew it, it was time for the afternoon exam.
Back at the Fifteenth Middle School test site, Xiao Dong looked very calm, as if he had everything under control. "Good luck. Don't fail."
Although Dong Xuebin had no confidence at all, he still stubbornly replied, "Same to you. Don't screw it up."
"Hmph." Xiao Dong turned and entered the classroom.
Essay exam, duration: two and a half hours.
13:30–16:00.
It tested seven abilities in candidates: reading comprehension, analytical judgment, the ability to identify and solve problems, language expression, formal writing, the application of current affairs and politics, and administrative management. There was no single correct answer. It was somewhat like a short essay and allowed considerable flexibility.
Dong Xuebin was not good at essay exams—especially not good at them. Although Grandpa Hu had personally tutored him for several days and he had improved a tiny bit, it was still last-minute cramming, and his foundation was far too weak. Dong Xuebin had originally planned that if the Administrative Aptitude Test were easier, he would rely on his own ability to answer the questions and try to score a few more points. Then, during the essay exam, he could use Back to steal someone else's paper and cheat. The Administrative Aptitude Test was all multiple-choice questions, after all, so even guessing gave him a twenty-five percent chance of getting one right. But the essay exam was different. It was not so easy to bluff his way through.
Yet plans could not keep up with changes. Something had gone wrong during the first Administrative Aptitude Test, forcing him to use up today's Back. Now he was helpless against the afternoon essay exam.
What was he supposed to do?
If the exam was as difficult as it had been that morning, he definitely would not score much on the essay portion.
Was this as far as he could go? Was he truly not destined to become an official?
Half an hour before the exam, Dong Xuebin sat in Room 026 and watched time tick by. He keenly sensed the slightly oppressive atmosphere in the classroom. Perhaps everyone had done poorly on the Administrative Aptitude Test, and it had affected their mood for the afternoon exam. Every face carried a trace of seriousness and gloom.
Dong Xuebin sighed nervously to himself, patted his cheeks, and prayed to the heavens.
He no longer hoped to answer many essay questions correctly. He only hoped his score would not be too low. That way, with his advantage in the Administrative Aptitude Test, he might still have a tiny chance of exceeding the cutoff line.
Whew, Dong Xuebin, Dong Xuebin, you have to perform beyond your usual level!
At one-thirty, the exam began.
The instant he received the test paper, Dong Xuebin hurriedly started on the first question.
After reading through the materials once and then looking at the requirements, his heart sank. The paper had indeed continued the morning test's level of difficulty. Dong Xuebin read the entire passage twice and still could not understand what it meant, much less how to answer according to the prompt. He was completely lost.
This was bad.
He was doomed.
After muddling through the first question and scribbling down an answer, he gritted his teeth and looked at the second question.
"Our country is rich in marine resources, but per-capita possession is low. The Bohai Sea is our country's largest inland sea and is of great importance to the northeastern economy..."
Suddenly, Dong Xuebin let out a startled sound and blinked in disbelief. No way. Why did this look so familiar?
Then he looked at the third question.
"Regarding uncivilized tourist behavior among Chinese citizens, write a proposal to the tourism authorities. Requirements: the proposal must be reasonable and feasible, clearly organized, and no more than 400 words..."
He froze completely. "Huh?"
"What are you doing?" The invigilator looked over with a stern face. "Do your own questions. Don't make any noise."
Dong Xuebin hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry." He lowered his head to look over the paper, confirming that he had not read it wrong, then shifted his gaze to the fourth question in shock and delight. Holy crap! Dong Xuebin immediately sucked in a cold breath. He was so stunned that he punched his forehead with his fist, having no idea how to describe his current feelings.
This was the essay exam?
This was the essay exam?
This was the essay exam?
After asking himself three times in a row, he still could not believe his eyes.
Seeing that half an hour had already passed, Dong Xuebin stopped overthinking and picked up his pen, rapidly beginning his answers.
His pen moved as smoothly as flowing clouds and running water, without the slightest hesitation.
The invigilator had kept watching Dong Xuebin, seemingly suspecting him of cheating. After taking a lap around the room, he stopped behind Dong Xuebin and glanced over his answer sheet. After a while, a flicker of surprise appeared on the invigilator's face. He did not look up until the bell signaling the end of the exam rang, then worked with the other invigilator to collect and seal everyone's papers.
One after another, people left Fifteenth Middle School.
When Dong Xuebin was about to leave as well, the invigilator nodded at him approvingly and smiled.
Flattered, Dong Xuebin returned the smile. With a stiff expression, he turned and walked outside. What was going on? What exactly had happened with the essay paper?
On the athletic field, complaints crashed in from all directions. "Ah, I'm finished this time. The questions were too hard."
"Yeah, the Administrative Aptitude Test was already bad enough. Who knew the essay exam would be this hard too? Especially the third question—how many people could answer that?"
"I messed it up too. Sigh, I'll take it again next year."
Nine out of ten people looked miserable, as if none of them had done well.
Outside the school gates, Qu Yunxuan and Mom were waiting for him in the shade beneath a tree. Aunt Xu was with them too, and it seemed Xiao Dong had not yet come out of the exam room. Dong Xuebin walked over absentmindedly. Seeing Mom and Aunt Xuan about to ask something expectantly, he suddenly raised a hand to stop them. "Don't say anything yet. Mom, Aunt Xuan, I need to go somewhere immediately. It's very urgent. You two go home first."
Before Mom and Qu Yunxuan could react, Dong Xuebin reached out and hailed an Elantra taxi by the roadside.
"Driver," he said, "please take me to Tumor Hospital."
As soon as he entered the general oncology ward, he was shocked to discover that Grandpa Hu's room was empty. Even his belongings and luggage were gone. After asking a nurse, he learned that Old Master had been discharged the previous night, possibly not long after Dong Xuebin had left. He immediately took out his phone, found the number Grandpa Hu had called him from that day, and dialed it. A woman's voice answered, "Hello, Tumor Hospital inpatient department."
That was not Grandpa Hu's number? Had he used the hospital phone to call him that day?
He went back to the nurses' station and asked for Grandpa Hu's phone number and address, but the nurse said hospital policy prohibited them from disclosing patient information.
Standing in the corridor, Dong Xuebin stared blankly at the empty room.
Old Master probably did not have many days left. Had yesterday been the last time he would ever see him?
Facing that hospital room, Dong Xuebin lowered his head and bowed deeply three times.
Only now did he understand why Grandpa Hu had told him with such certainty that the essay exam would earn him a high score. Only now did he understand why Grandpa Hu had not allowed him to share the study materials they had discussed with anyone else. Perhaps Grandpa Hu's son had written this year's questions in Capital City, or perhaps he had gotten them through some other channel, but seventy percent of the essay exam questions in Capital City had actually been original questions... Grandpa Hu had secretly told him all of them while tutoring him.
If he still could not pass the written exam after cheating like this, he might as well smash his head into a block of tofu and die!!!
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