Chapter 43: The first battle
The final exams at the very end of the term were, in every respect, the cruelest thing facing university students these days. Just think: freshmen had practically shed a layer of skin to make it to university, and were now raring to run wild like mustangs in a free state without restraint or government-visiting other dorm rooms and other campuses, enjoying a little bourgeois leisure in the tea restaurants or drink bars around campus, playing football and games without a care, wandering aimlessly around school, or going to every bar under the sun. Yet the final exams suddenly and mercilessly tore apart this invincible, king-of-the-world state of mind.
Even seniors who had reached the point where they could calmly pick a cockroach out of their cafeteria food, lay it to rest to one side, and carry on shoveling down their meal could not treat finals lightly or pretend they did not exist. They still had to cultivate relationships with a few professors and humble themselves to keep any blemishes off the degree certificate that would secure their livelihood. People could weather four years of university, however bedraggled they emerged, but their academic credentials had to shine. Much of the time, that was the only logic society recognized.
But for Su Can and the countless Nanjing University students fighting on the front lines of finals, it was simply a matter of whether they would find themselves in a retake classroom next semester, handing over several hundred yuan in course-retake and makeup-exam fees.
The exams for the remaining subjects took place over the following days. Perhaps it was because preparing for exams during the day kept everyone tense and their brains working hard, but they all got hungry very quickly every day during the exam period, so