Shen Qi's desk was completely empty; even the drawers had been emptied.
Actually, Shen Qi didn't have many books or stationery items on his desk or in his drawer to begin with.
He hasn't been back to school lately, and he's taken all the useful books home. He left a few textbooks on history, politics, geography, and other subjects that aren't on the college entrance exam in the classroom, along with a few pens and an eraser.
"They were taken by my classmates," Chen Xiaoting said quietly.
"Sigh." Shen Qi sighed, feeling helpless but understanding. The clever man understood after a little thought; it was probably another case of "having a touch of literary flair."
"Then why didn't you take my pen yourself?" Shen Qi asked Chen Xiaoting. "You've been my deskmate for years. If you took my pen, would I criticize you?"
"It must have happened in the last couple of days, right? I've only been coming to school every few days lately, not in the classroom every day. I came to school the day before yesterday to ask Teacher Yuan about some chemistry problems. Your books and stationery were still there then," Chen Xiaoting said weakly. "Just an hour ago, that guy—I won't say his name—he... as soon as he saw your books and stationery were gone, he tried to move your desk and chair, Shen Qi. I stopped him, but he wouldn't listen, so I went to Teacher Zhang to complain, and Teacher Zhang kicked him out."
"..." Shen Qi was speechless. To even steal public desks and chairs—that was truly outrageous.
"Chen Xiaoting, you're too honest. You've been my deskmate for so many years, and you're only asking me for a pen now? You're so slow on the uptake, Honest Chen." Shen Qi was both amused and exasperated. He guessed that Chen Xiaoting had only mustered up the courage to ask him for a pen after discovering that other classmates had "stole" his books and stationery these past few days.
Honest Chen hasn't had it easy either. She's spent most of the year sitting alone at her empty desk, and now someone's even trying to take the empty desk next to hers—crossing her line. Chen Xiaoting probably knew an hour ago that Shen Qi didn't have a pen in the classroom. She said, "If it's convenient, Shen Qi, if you have any spare pens, could you give me one as a souvenir?"
Shen Qi readily agreed, "Of course! I have a lot of pens at home, and I need to keep one as a souvenir. We only have a few days left in our high school life. Tomorrow at this time and place, Honest Chen, come over, and I'll give you a pen."
"Okay, thank you!"
The next day, in the classroom of Senior Three (2).
Shen Qi gave Chen Xiaoting his complete set of stationery, which included: 2B pencil, black ballpoint pens, rulers, compasses, set squares, erasers without covers, and a pencil case printed with Ultraman.
"Your pencil case... it's so cute! I didn't expect that even Academic God Shen Xiaoqi would use such an adorable pencil case!" Chen Xiaoting was very happy, and at the same time, she was charmed by Shen Qi's pencil case.
"This is Gauss Ultraman, an invincible god of war who has never tasted defeat. This War God set is for you. I wish you success in your college entrance examination, Xiaoting." Shen Qi sincerely wished Chen Xiaoting good luck in her college entrance examination and that she would achieve excellent results.
"Thank you, Shen Qi!" Chen Xiaoting originally only wanted to ask Shen Qi for a black ballpoint pen, but she didn't expect Shen Qi to give her a whole set of War God set.
At this particular moment, politely declining would seem pretentious. Chen Xiaoting accepted the souvenir Shen Qi her, and then reciprocated with a small gift. "It's only polite to return a favor, so this is for you, Shen Qi."
"So cute, thanks." Shen Qi accepted the souvenir Chen Xiaoting gave him: a miniature violin and a matching, shrunken bow.
"Well... goodbye," Shen Qi said.
"Um..." Chen Xiaoting hesitated, then finally uttered two words: "Goodbye."
Afterwards, the two went their separate ways to prepare for the college entrance examination.
Shen Qi will go to Yenching University in September. As for Chen Xiaoting, she cannot completely control her own destiny, as it depends on her college entrance examination scores and admission cut-off lines.
After the college entrance examination, Shen Qi and Chen Xiaoting, who were classmates, may really never see each other again, or they may not see each other again for many years.
June 7.
The first day of the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao).
This was destined to be an extraordinary day.
A strange phenomenon suddenly appeared between heaven and earth.
But then one sees auspicious clouds rising from the vast world, and clear, gentle mists rippling as chaos is first extinguished.
Ah!
What a beautiful morning! The sun is out.
The Boss cooked mung bean soup and distributed it for free, kindly helping the students taking the exam to quench their thirst and cool off in the summer heat.
The downtown area remained bustling with traffic, and unless there was an emergency, most drivers refrained from honking.
Put yourself in their shoes. Whose child hasn't taken the college entrance exam? And whose child won't take it sometime in the future?
The whole society has mobilized; today belongs to the students taking the college entrance examination.
Tomorrow belongs to the same.
In some provinces, the day after tomorrow is also designated as a test day, meaning they will be taking exams for three consecutive days.
After confirming that his admission ticket was intact, Shen Qi went out, accompanied by his parents.
No need to drive or ride a bicycle.
The examination venue was only a seven or eight-minute walk from Shen Qi's home. He took the two-day college entrance examination at the No. 1 High School in the city.
Shen Qi's college entrance War God set certainly wasn't just one set; today he was wearing an extremely ordinary white T-shirt, a pair of capri pants, and a pair of athletic sandals.
Everything is ready.
Come on, college entrance exam, let me see your true strength. Shen Qi entered the examination room and waited for the invigilator to distribute the exam papers.
The first opponent sent out by the college entrance examination is Chinese language.
Shen Qi had two and a half hours to engage in a battle of wits with the Chinese language.
This was the subject he was least confident of getting a perfect score in, bar none.
Shen Qi had no choice but to face his toughest opponent in the very first exam on the first day of the college entrance examination.
At 9:00 AM sharp, the Chinese language exam began, National Paper I.
The exam starts with a long text; the argumentative reading section has three questions, each worth 3 points.
The excerpt from "A Brief Discussion on Absurdity: Aesthetics Opens Up to the Weak" was not difficult to understand, and Shen Qi quickly completed his answer.
Next up are literary reading, practical reading, classical poetry and prose reading, classical poetry reading... reading, reading, all reading.
"Read."
After reading the passage, Shen Qi gave his answer, "This year's Chinese reading comprehension questions weren't too difficult; they were about the same difficulty level as the '53' series."
Then came the fill-in-the-blank questions.
Memorizing famous passages and quotes in fill-in-the-blank questions is a required component of the College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) in Chinese language.
Memorizing famous passages and quotes is a free point; you must get all 5 points.
If he couldn't get them all, Shen Qi felt he might as well chop off his own hand.
Ask:
1. Xunzi said in "Encouraging Learning" that a gentleman needs to improve himself through extensive learning. The two sentences are ___ and ___.
No need to even think about it.
Shen Qi up his pen and wrote:
"A virtuous person, through extensive learning and daily self-examination, will gain clear understanding and avoid mistakes in his actions."
That's exactly what I'm saying.
Shen Qi laughed as he wrote. Who has learned more or more extensively than me in the past year or so? I've been improving myself every month, and my math level has reached 6 and I'll be at 7 soon.
Who came up with this question? It's simple, but it's surprisingly fun to write, isn't it?