The classroom instantly erupted into a buzz.
The examinees whispered among themselves, staring in surprise at Chen Fan standing in the doorway.
It wasn't just because he had entered right as the bell rang. It was also how he looked.
Gauze was wrapped around his head, and one hand was swathed in thick bandages.
His clothes were covered in blood.
He looked downright alarming.
"Quiet!"
"Everyone, quiet!"
The invigilator rapped hard on the desk.
Only after everyone had quieted down did he turn to Chen Fan.
"What happened to you?"
Chen Fan had no choice but to make up a lie.
"Sir, I fell on my way to school."
The invigilator frowned.
"In that condition... can you still take the exam?"
Chen Fan raised his right hand and flexed it a couple of times.
"No problem."
The two invigilators exchanged a glance, then finally nodded.
"Come in."
"Thank you, sir."
Chen Fan entered the classroom, walked to his seat, and sat down.
He looked up toward a particular seat.
There, Huang Hu was staring at him, dumbfounded.
In fact, Huang Hu had been startled the moment Chen Fan appeared.
He had never imagined that Chen Fan would make it back at the very last moment.
When he saw Chen Fan looking at him, Huang Hu's expression shifted slightly, becoming a little awkward.
Yet Chen Fan's gaze was perfectly calm.
There was no anger, no hysteria.
He merely glanced at him indifferently, then looked away.
He passed right over Huang Hu as though he were thin air.
That left Huang Hu deeply annoyed.
Hmph, who are you trying to impress?
You got lucky this time. Let's see how you're going to take the exam now.
Chen Fan wasn't in the mood to bother with Huang Hu. His clothes were still covered in blood.
He simply took off his school uniform jacket and stuffed it into the compartment under his desk.
Then he took a deep breath and settled himself.
The bell rang.
At the front of the room, an invigilator began reading out the exam rules.
Afterward, the two teachers opened the sealed envelope containing the exam papers together.
The classroom was silent, each student wearing a different expression.
Some looked confident, while others looked nervous.
The two teachers stepped down from the platform with the papers and began handing them out.
As soon as Chen Fan received his paper, he quickly skimmed through it.
First, he checked the essay prompt at the end.
When he saw that the prompt still asked students to discuss different perspectives on problems in everyday life and different solutions, based on differing interpretations of four graphic symbols, the anxiety hanging over him finally eased.
It hadn't changed.
Everything was exactly the same as the exam paper from his previous life.
The bell rang.
One invigilator reminded them, "You may begin."
The examinees immediately picked up their pens and began answering at speed.
Chen Fan took a deep breath and wiped the blood from his palm to keep it from staining the answer sheet.
Picking up his pen, he carefully wrote down his school, class, candidate number, and name on the answer sheet.
Only then did he begin answering the questions.
Chen Fan worked quickly, hesitating only over a few reading comprehension questions that had no fixed answers.
For everything else-incorrect characters in idioms, filling in lines of poetry, punctuation usage, and identifying faulty sentences-Chen Fan barely paused on any question with a standard answer.
Especially for the questions whose answers he still remembered, he needed only a quick glance before writing down the answers he had memorized over and over.
Finally came the essay.
Chen Fan rubbed his slightly aching palm and began writing out the essay he had prepared beforehand from memory.
While the other examinees were still struggling to find an angle and figure out how to approach the essay, Chen Fan's words were pouring out like a bladder bursting.
He didn't need to think at all. He simply had to write down his prepared essay from memory.
Chen Fan was the first examinee to finish.
Although he was confident he could score highly, he didn't slack off in the slightest.
He carefully checked everything again from the beginning.
Only when the bell signaling the end of the exam rang did Chen Fan put down his pen and breathe a sigh of relief.
The first subject, Chinese-nailed it.
Without looking at Chen Fan, Huang Hu got up and hurried out.
Chen Fan couldn't be bothered to go after him either. He stood up, stretched his arms, and left the exam room carrying his filthy jacket.
Out in the corridor, Guo Shuai was already waiting.
"How did it go?"
"Pretty well."
That was what Chen Fan said, but inwardly, he was certain that barring any surprises, he would score at least 130 in Chinese.
"What about you?"
Guo Shuai was brimming with confidence.
"Don't worry. I filled up every answer space. No problem at all."
Hearing that, Chen Fan couldn't be bothered to ask any more.
"Let's go."
"Hey, are you really okay with those injuries? Should we go to the hospital?"
Chen Fan moved his left hand.
"It's a little better than I expected. It doesn't hurt anymore. Looks like that pretty doctor knew what she was doing."
Only then did Guo Shuai relax a little.
"Are you going home for lunch?"
Chen Fan shook his head.
"Going home would take too much time. I'll just grab something outside and wait for the math exam this afternoon."
He was also inwardly relieved that he had told his mother that morning he wouldn't be coming home at noon.
Otherwise, returning home covered in injuries would have scared her half to death.
"Then I won't go home either. Come on! Let's get lunch together."
The two went downstairs and headed toward the school gate.
Guo Shuai suddenly asked, "You're sure Huang Hu was behind it?"
"Yeah."
"Fuck, I remember that bastard was in the same exam room as you, wasn't he?"
Chen Fan gave a cold laugh.
"He ran off as soon as the exam ended. Looks like he was afraid I'd beat him up."
Guo Shuai turned to look at him.
"What are you thinking? Want to teach him a lesson?"
Chen Fan shook his head.
"Exams first. We'll deal with it afterward."
Guo Shuai cracked his knuckles.
"All right. Your call."
As they spoke, Guo Shuai suddenly stopped and nudged Chen Fan with his elbow.
"Look who's over there."
Chen Fan looked up and saw Su Ruochu standing outside the school gate in a white dress, craning her neck and looking around as though searching for someone.
"Let's go!"
Chen Fan hurriedly pulled Guo Shuai into the crowd and slipped away in another direction.
"Why are you hiding? Aren't you going to say hello to our class beauty?"
Guo Shuai looked puzzled.
"I don't want her to worry!"
"Damn! You make it sound so real. She hasn't even agreed to be your girlfriend. Why would she worry about you?"
"Quit talking and hurry up. I'm starving. Lunch is on you today."
"Damn, why should I pay?"
"I'm wounded..."
"You really know how to play me!"
At the school gate, Lin Wanxiu opened the car door.
"Ruochu, let's go. What are you still looking at?"
"Coming!"
Reluctant to give up, Su Ruochu cast another glance into the campus. She still couldn't see that familiar figure.
In the end, she could only turn away in disappointment and get into the car.
At noon, Chen Fan had a simple meal with Guo Shuai at a small restaurant.
Since the afternoon exam didn't start until three, Chen Fan and Guo Shuai sneaked off to an internet café after lunch.
They each found a computer, and Guo Shuai played Red Alert as usual.
Chen Fan went online and opened his domain-name website to check on it.
The website had been live for three or four days, but it had only received a hundred or two page views.
Still, more than fifty people had registered.
The retention rate was excellent.
That showed that the attractive, practical design of Chen Fan's website had made a real difference.
But Chen Fan was nowhere near satisfied with those figures.
In his previous life, HiChina had acquired the Easy Domain Network in September, which was just over two months away.
He had to find a way to drive up his website's traffic over the next two months.
Otherwise, there was no chance of an acquisition.
As he thought about this, he casually typed in "Easy Domain Network" and clicked search.
The next second, Chen Fan froze.
Fuck!
The Easy Domain Network... had already gone live.
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