Classical Chinese Essay

The proctor's face was grim. As a Chinese teacher herself, she had been working through the exam paper on the podium while the students below took the test. Being a Chinese teacher, her pace was exceptionally fast, yet even she had only just finished everything except the essay half an hour ago.

In other words, at a Chinese teacher's speed, working through this paper with genuine focus, one would only just be starting the half-hour essay portion now. It was impossible to finish an essay in half an hour.

And yet, a student wanted to hand in his paper?

Without a doubt, he must have slacked off on the essay and fudged the earlier questions! There were probably huge swaths of blank space!

The proctor glared in anger. As a teacher, she detested these rotten students who didn't even take exams seriously; they were simply incorrigible! If Chen Zhao were her own student, she would have already taken a textbook and smacked him over the head with it!

"Teacher, I really did work on it seriously," Chen Zhao said, standing up to answer, feeling a bit awkward. "I've almost filled the essay section, too. I wrote about eleven hundred words."

"It's only been an hour and ten minutes since the exam started. Do you really think you can finish all the questions seriously in that time?! I'm a Chinese teacher; don't I know how much time this paper requires?!" The proctor was furious, scolding him loudly. "You sit back down and check your earlier answers! If you haven't finished something, write it properly. You're almost at the college entrance exam and you're still acting so flippant! If you don't want to take the exam, don't show up at all!"

The entire classroom's gaze converged on Chen Zhao, and many students were covering their mouths to stifle their laughter.

That's what you get for trying to slip out so early, getting chewed out by the teacher!

Chen Zhao felt helpless. His speed was indeed too fast, and he could understand why the teacher didn't believe him.

There was no help for it; arguing at a time like this was useless. He could only prove it with facts.

Chen Zhao picked up his exam paper, walked quickly to the podium, and handed it to the teacher. "Teacher, please take a look before you decide whether to let me leave. If you aren't satisfied, I'll go back and keep working."

The teacher frowned, looking down at Chen Zhao's paper, her fury ready to erupt at any moment!

What kind of quality could a paper finished in an hour and ten minutes possibly have?

It had to be a sloppy mess, just scribbling a few strokes for every question and calling it a day!

And he actually dared to ask me to look at it?!

However, the moment she looked down, the proctor froze. The scenario she had anticipated—where every question had only three or five characters written—did not appear. The entire answer sheet Chen Zhao handed over was completely filled! Dense, crowded characters occupied every single answer space!

So what if it's full? The handwriting is incredibly sloppy, and the content is probably just made-up nonsense! I'll know as soon as I check a random question!

Thinking this, the proctor picked a reading comprehension passage to examine. As she read, the anger on her face slowly vanished, gradually replaced by... astonishment!

This reading comprehension section was answered in great detail and very well! Every sub-answer hit the marking points perfectly. If this were being graded, it would almost certainly receive full marks!

The proctor realized something was wrong and began reading from the first question, comparing Chen Zhao's answer sheet against the answer key on her own scratch paper.

As she read on, the look in the proctor's eyes grew increasingly shocked!

First question, correct!

Second question, correct!

Third question, still correct!

She kept reading, and every single question was right! Not a single multiple-choice question was wrong, and the reading comprehension answers were extremely thorough—even more precise in their wording than her own. Even the most difficult extracurricular classical Chinese translation was translated flawlessly. After a long while, the proctor was shocked to discover that she couldn't find a single place to deduct points on the entire paper! The only possible deduction was for penmanship; the student's handwriting was truly unsightly, looking a bit wild and unrefined.

The proctor suddenly thought, Just because the earlier questions are correct doesn't mean the essay is well-written!

She had students like that in her own class: they did the standard questions perfectly but were idiots when it came to essays, always spouting nonsense or leaving them blank, which caused their final Chinese grades to fail.

Thinking this, the proctor flipped to the back of Chen Zhao's answer sheet to check the essay.

The next second, the entire class heard the proctor gasp!

Many students looked up at the proctor, only to see her wearing an expression as if she had seen a ghost, staring down at the answer sheet in her hands. It was as if she had witnessed something incredible.

At this very moment, a storm was raging in the proctor's heart!

This essay... was actually... written in Classical Chinese!

An essay written in Classical Chinese?!

How was that possible!

The proctor was still immersed in her shock when Chen Zhao, waiting nearby, grew impatient. "Teacher, you see I really did work on it seriously. I have something to do tonight; can you let me hand in my paper and leave?"

The proctor blinked, only then remembering Chen Zhao was still waiting, and quickly nodded. "You may."

The students below who were waiting to see a joke were all stunned. He can leave?

What's going on? Didn't she just say it was impossible to finish the paper in an hour and ten minutes? Didn't she just scold him? Why the sudden 180-degree turn in attitude, letting him go?

Could it be... that the answer sheet is actually decent?

But how is that possible? It's only been an hour and ten minutes; what kind of hand speed would you need to finish all of that!

Chen Zhao was unaware of the confusion among the others in the exam hall. He didn't pay any mind to the proctor, who was staring blankly at his essay, and left the classroom directly. He ran off in a rush without looking back. He had to get home quickly to stream. Little Bamboo Shoot had an appointment to play games with him tonight! School let out early on exam days, so he could squeeze in a few more rounds of streaming tonight!

Chen Zhao was currently full of passion for streaming. After all, going live meant gaining followers and tips. Was there anything better than making money while playing games?

Besides, thinking of the photo of Little Bamboo Shoot he had found online last night, Chen Zhao felt another surge of excitement. Having such a great beauty as a teammate made gaming so much more fun!

Chen Zhao was gone, but the proctor was still staring at his essay.

The more she looked, the more shocked she felt.

This essay written in Classical Chinese was actually quite impressive?

For an average student, even translating Classical Chinese was incredibly difficult, and memorizing the texts in the textbook wasn't easy. This student named Chen Zhao had actually written an entire essay directly in Classical Chinese? And after a rough read-through, it was indeed very standard Classical Chinese, with no errors or grammatical issues. Most shockingly, if translated into vernacular, it was a well-reasoned, clearly structured argumentative essay that perfectly fit the requirements of the exam prompt.

The classroom door was suddenly pushed open, and the dean of students walked in.

The dean of students would patrol every examination hall during every exam, and he happened to be passing by right at this moment.

Moreover, the dean of students also happened to be a Chinese teacher.

The proctor hurried over to meet him and showed the dean the answer sheet belonging to Chen Zhao that he was holding in his hand.

"Director, take a look at this student's answer sheet. He handed it in five minutes ago, and the essay is... written in Classical Chinese."

If you can't find the book by its title, you can try searching for the author; perhaps it was just renamed!