More than half the week had passed, and Qingming Festival was drawing near.
Jiang Ning stood in the corridor outside the classroom. There had been a drizzling rain in the morning, but by dusk, the rosy clouds stretched across the sky.
Birds skimmed across the heavens, their wings edged with gold by the setting sun.
Down in the square, Yun Tingting, who loved playing badminton, was nowhere to be seen.
That was perfectly normal, because class was in session.
Behind Jiang Ning, the students in the classroom bent over their desks, studying hard and striving toward the same goal: the college entrance examination.
There was the Classical Chinese they had yet to memorize, the math formulas they could recite but not apply, the physics models they simply could not understand...
Guo Kunnan clawed at his hair, helplessness written all over his face. "I obviously know how to do this problem! Why can't I do it after they changed the wrapping?"
His deskmate, Shan Kaiquan, pinpointed the issue. "Because you don't really know it."
Guo Kunnan raised his head. He first looked toward the classmates diligently studying around him. Some were frowning in deep thought, while others scratched at their heads. Feeling understood, his mood improved considerably.
Then he lifted his gaze and saw Jiang Ning standing alone outside the window, enjoying his freedom.
Guo Kunnan grew melancholy. He was confused. "Tell me, what are we working so hard for? Why do people work hard?"
Shan Kaiquan said, "Because everyone is working hard. We have no reason to fall behind."
Cui Yu turned around and shouted past Tang Jing to Nan Bro, "Because those who fall behind get beaten!"
Guo Kunnan said, "What if none of us worked hard? Wouldn't that solve it?"
Ma Ge, who was playing a game, said,