The night exam

The students were excited. Whether their grades were good or bad, they all felt hopeful.

Xibao Middle School was not a large school like No. 1 Middle School. Its junior high, senior high, and repeat-year classes together had only a little over four hundred students. With 125 places available, a quarter of the students had a chance at a scholarship. Even students a little below average might reach one if they stretched themselves.

Some clever students wolfed down their food and ran straight to their classrooms to cram for a while. Others who were usually top students slowed their eating, deliberately or otherwise, looking utterly unconcerned.

Inside the two adjoining single-story rooms in the cafeteria courtyard, the teachers were divided. Some thought it was a good thing; helping students was always good. Others thought the idea was good but the method was wrong.

"Yang Rui is a student himself. How can he give students exams and hand out scholarships?" Qi Yuan, the politics teacher, slammed the table and rose, then said, "Teacher Lu, Yang Rui is your student. You go talk to him."

Zhuang Musheng, the tall chemistry teacher, laughed. "Why don't you talk to him yourself?"

"Teacher Lu is Yang Rui's homeroom teacher. He's responsible for keeping Yang Rui in line. What, am I wrong?" Qi Yuan had an uncle who was an official and had arranged his transfer to Xibao Middle School a few years earlier. It was not much of a job, but at least it had secured his cadre status. In recent years, his thoughts had turned to transferring to the county seat. But all he could do was recite quotations, and he had no diploma. The principals of the county's several middle schools would not take him even with their eyes shut, so the matter had dragged on.

Since he had his heart set on transferring away, however, Qi Yuan behaved rather independently at school. Apart from keeping an eye on wages and bonuses, he devoted himself to finding ways to slack off.

Teacher Lu rubbed his sunken eyes and said awkwardly, "The principal gave Yang Rui permission to distribute the Rui Study Group's money and the supplies sent by Xibao Meat Processing Plant. Even if I talk to him, I can't take part in managing them."

"Have him stop the exam first. We can discuss distribution afterward. He's a student himself. What right does he have to test other students?" Qi Yuan actually wanted very much to take charge of distributing the supplies. Better still if he could bring the Rui Study Group under his wing. Unfortunately, Principal Zhao would not budge, and his uncle was no high-ranking official. He could only entertain the thought.

Zhuang Musheng had always looked down on him and came from a working-class background himself. He blew out a forceful puff of smoke and said in an odd tone, "Some people don't even have a high school diploma. What right do they have to teach high school students? As for ability, Yang Rui can get full marks in math, physics, and chemistry. Some people can't even score twenty."

Qi Yuan's face instantly flushed scarlet.

He had been sent to the countryside after graduating from junior high. After considerable effort, he had secured a factory job in the county seat, then entered Xibao Middle School, leaving him no time to improve his academic qualifications. Fortunately, he had memorized enough quotations in the countryside to bluff his way through a politics lesson without trouble.

Zhuang Musheng also came from a working-class background, but he had some genuine knowledge and ability. He felt Qi Yuan gave workers a bad name and had never liked him.

Still, this was the first time he had openly mocked him in front of so many teachers.

"You're only speaking up for Yang Rui because you took his canned food, aren't you?" Qi Yuan fought back with everything he had.

Zhuang Musheng took a contemptuous drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke into Qi Yuan's face. Not bothering to argue, he said, "Get lost."

Humiliated repeatedly, Qi Yuan grabbed Zhuang Musheng by the collar, only for the other teachers to pull them apart at once.

"Just you wait." Qi Yuan pointed at Zhuang Musheng, then at Teacher Lu. He left the courtyard without looking back, mounted his bicycle, and rode down the hill.

"Ah, his uncle is an official at the Education Bureau. Why offend him? If he reports this, it'll affect your professional title evaluations and job transfers." An older teacher tried helplessly to reason with them. The comfortable thing about a public institution was its stability; the uncomfortable thing was also its stability. A person could spend a lifetime in one workplace, and offending someone could mean being held down for that entire lifetime. Leaders might not remember the good you did, but the slightest offense would be carefully stored deep in their memories.

"I'm not afraid of him." Zhuang Musheng dropped his cigarette butt on the ground and left.

The other teachers lost interest in eating too and left the cafeteria one after another.

Back in the classrooms, every class was full of students studying hard, which gave the teachers considerable comfort. Some students came forward with questions, keeping the teachers of every class busy.

In that age of burning passion, the vast majority of teachers genuinely held the lofty ideal of giving until nothing remained, like candles whose tears dried only when they burned to ash. Giving students free extra lessons and caring about their studies and daily lives really were not mere slogans.

Only when the whole world began chasing money did teachers change their thinking in response to society's changed views.

After all, if those nouveau riche with primary school educations and their relatives found new ways to flaunt their wealth every day, then mocked honest people who quietly worked away, even if those honest people did not turn bad, the people around them would urge them to.

Fortunately, schools in 1982 remained untainted. Teachers around forty, like Teacher Lu, still used their lunch breaks to explain problems to students despite having to go home every evening. Whenever he had free time, he would take up breaks and self-study periods. Although his teaching ability could not match that of the extensively trained teachers of later years, his original intentions and attitude were entirely different.

Moreover, some teachers voluntarily helped students from struggling families financially. In the eighties, there were no particular concerns about buying homes, medical care, or retirement. Teachers with secure jobs had no compulsion to save and save beyond putting money aside for appliances and supporting their families. When students dropped out because of financial difficulties, they often did everything they could to help. Some even gave a month's salary to support a student.

As a township school, Xibao Middle School faced even more problems than urban middle schools.

Only by working harder could the teachers barely maintain some rate of advancement to further education. As the best township middle school in the surrounding area, Xibao Middle School produced a few junior college students and a dozen or so specialized secondary school students each year. This was the teachers' greatest comfort and achievement.

For precisely that reason, although Yang Rui's actions stood out, most people approved.

Even the more conservative teachers adopted a wait-and-see attitude because the principal had agreed.

Among the school's thirty-odd staff members, Qi Yuan was the only one of his kind.

Once he left to lodge his complaint, no one at school remained to obstruct Yang Rui's work.

After classes ended that afternoon, members of the Rui Study Group appeared in every classroom and directed students to move desks and chairs to the sports field.

The Rui Study Group's members all came from the repeat-year and graduating classes, so ordering younger students around went smoothly and easily. Before long, the field was filled with desks and chairs.

Xibao Middle School had no multistory classroom buildings; all its classrooms were single-story structures, so moving the furniture to the field was easy. The school also had various large lights purchased with the Rui Study Group's money. Once wires had been run over and the power switched on, the whole place was brightly lit.

Yang Rui watched with satisfaction, then stepped onto the dais and said, "We'll hold the exam right here on the field."

"We're really doing it outdoors?" Huang Ren had not expected him to actually go through with it. "What if it rains or the wind picks up?"

"Everyone has the same conditions anyway," Yang Rui said casually. "If the rain gets too heavy, they'll hand in their papers, and whatever points they've earned will count. Same goes for wind. We're ranking them in the end."

"Some students write faster. Others are more careful but write slowly..."

"Why worry about all that?" Yang Rui gave him a helpless look. "This isn't the college entrance exam. It's just a scholarship assessment. If their academic performance really is good enough, they should write both well and quickly. For those who only write quickly or only write well, whichever ranks higher comes down to luck. If they don't get a scholarship, they can only blame themselves."

"The other students probably won't see it that way."

"Let them. Thin-skinned students had better not come looking for me, either."

Huang Ren actually admired Yang Rui's decisiveness, but he lacked it himself. He still spent ages explaining everything to the students in detail, until Yang Rui pulled him back.

"All right, let's get ready to begin." Yang Rui checked his watch. "It's seven o'clock now. The exam lasts five hours, which means it ends at midnight. You may ask to use the toilet during that time; go alone. No cheating, no talking, and no exchanging papers. Anyone caught will have their name recorded and receive a zero."

"Five hours straight?" students in the front row immediately cried out.

"That's right, five hours straight. Also, you'll receive papers for all six subjects together. You may start with whichever subject you like. Your final score will be calculated from the total. In other words, we're testing six subjects at once, over five hours. You can answer the Chinese paper first and give up on English entirely if you want, or finish the short questions in every subject before tackling the longer ones. In short, five hours, six papers. Whatever you finish counts. But don't worry. These papers have fewer questions than normal exam papers. Put in some effort, and you can still answer quite a few questions in five hours."

As soon as Yang Rui explained the exam format, groans broke out everywhere, and some students even protested loudly.

Yang Rui pointed at the clock illuminated by the lights and said calmly, "It's nine-oh-one now. Make good use of your time."

At that, the students could only start working furiously.

Puzzled, Teacher Lu walked onto the dais and said quietly, "Doing it this way will make it hard for students to show their true ability. Besides, mixing the papers together will muddle their thinking."

"Middle schools in Japan often use this format for exams." Yang Rui spread his hands. "Our resources are limited. We can't really hold exams for six days straight."

Hearing that the Japanese used this method, Teacher Lu nodded reluctantly. "Organizing exams certainly is a lot of trouble."

"Not just trouble. If we held them for six days straight, all the questions would probably leak. Besides, there's no need to waste so much of the students' time." Yang Rui paused, then changed the subject. "Teacher Lu, could you find a few teachers you know to help me start marking papers tomorrow?"

"All the papers?"

Almost the entire school had entered the exam. Apart from students like Hu Yanshan, even those who did not lack money were willing to strive for the honor. Instead, some Rui Study Group members had not entered because they had to set papers and invigilate. But however one counted it, marking the papers would involve a great deal of work.

Yang Rui let him think for a while before saying quietly, "The Rui Study Group still has a little money set aside. Could we give the teachers a small fee for marking?"

"What? Money? We can't take money..." Teacher Lu hastily declined.

Yang Rui took his hand and steadied him. "Don't rush. The money isn't just for you. Besides, marking papers is something you'll do in your spare time. Ask the teachers. Whoever's willing can come, and no one who isn't will be forced. We'll pay two yuan a day."

Two yuan a day was a teacher's daily wage. Of course, daily wages were normally calculated using working days, while these gentlemen with secure jobs liked to calculate them using calendar days.

However it was calculated, it was a decent sum. Teacher Lu thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll ask around."

"Sorry for the trouble." Yang Rui expressed his thanks and nodded inwardly. If the Rui Study Group starts paying teachers, its standing at Xibao Middle School will rise.

Teacher Lu had no idea Yang Rui's thoughts were so complicated. He was still agonizing over whether they ought to accept the money.