Early the next morning.
Cheng Che was woken by his alarm.
He opened his eyes, and his first reaction was to check the time.
Good, he wasn't late.
He sat up and found a blanket covering him and a plate of sliced apples on his desk.
He smiled, got up to wash, patted the last bit of toner onto his face, ate the breakfast his mother had left him, and headed out.
There was a jianbing stall beside the bus stop, so he bought one. After he got off the bus, he found Guo Xin squatting on the steps outside the school gate as usual.
"Here." Cheng Che handed him the jianbing.
Guo Xin took it, fished nine yuan out of his pocket-a five and four ones-and casually stuffed the money into Cheng Che's hand.
"One yuan for running the errand. Once I make it big, I'll give you a fat red envelope."
"All right, I'll remember that." Cheng Che pocketed the money.
The two entered the classroom. They hadn't been sitting long when Old Xu came in carrying his big tea mug.
"Everyone, perk up! Mock exams today, so show us what you're really made of!"
A chorus of groans rose from the class.
"All right, all right. What are you sighing for at your age?"
Old Xu tapped the desk.
"Come on, spread the desks out, one person per desk! Class monitor, get everyone organized. Desk openings facing forward, and at least eighty centimeters between students!"
A clatter filled the classroom.
Desks were pulled apart and chairs dragged around, like a miniature earthquake.
Cheng Che moved his desk to a spot by the window and sat down.
When the exam numbers were handed out, he looked down at his: Class Five.
His exam room was his own classroom.
So he went to the restroom, then returned and rested with his eyes closed.
The first exam was math. He had to give it everything he had.
Meanwhile, Zhao Lei sat a short distance diagonally behind him, doing eye exercises with his eyes closed.
After finishing all four sets, he opened his eyes, and his gaze happened to sweep over Cheng Che. He curled his lip in disdain, his look saying it loud and clear:
"Eyes closed, too? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were summoning a god."
Cheng Che paid him no attention and lowered his head to check his pencil case.
The bell rang.
The proctor began handing out the papers.
When Cheng Che received his paper, he skimmed through it first.
Sixteen multiple-choice questions, four fill-in-the-blanks, and six long-answer problems.
The difficulty looked about the same as yesterday's Daily Practice, if not a little easier.
He said inwardly, Activate.
[Total Concentration activated.]
The familiar sensation washed over him. The world fell quiet, leaving only him and the paper.
He picked up his pen and began answering.
First question: write down the answer straight away.
Second question: draw a diagram, eliminate the other options, choose C.
Third question...
When Zhao Lei reached the fourth question, he looked up to check the time.
His gaze had barely lifted before it froze.
Diagonally ahead of him, Cheng Che was turning a page.
He wasn't flipping to the reverse side; he was turning to the second sheet, while Zhao Lei himself was still grinding away at question five on the first page.
Zhao Lei instinctively glanced at the clock on the wall by the podium.
Only twenty minutes had passed since the exam began.
That fast? Heh, he must be just filling in whatever.
Of course multiple-choice questions went quickly if you guessed. He had seen far too many people like that: they never worked hard normally, then scribbled all over their papers during exams, as if writing fast meant they were good students.
Zhao Lei shook his head with the air of someone disappointed that iron had failed to become steel, then returned to his own work.
Yet before long, when he looked up again, Cheng Che was already working on the long-answer problems.
Zhao Lei sneered inwardly.
Keep putting on an act. You'll have plenty to cry about when the scores come out.
The second exam that morning was Chinese.
Cheng Che activated Total Concentration again.
Chinese was different from math, with more material that required interpretation.
But once Total Concentration was activated, even the reading comprehension passages became clear, as if someone were breaking down every sentence for him and marking its main point.
When he reached the essay, he paused his pen and thought for a moment. The topic was "Walking Alone and Walking Together."
As Cheng Che looked at those five characters, images surfaced in his mind from the past few days: running alone, grinding through problems alone, and standing alone before the mirror, washing his face with its fading acne marks.
He put pen to paper and wrote:
"Walking alone, perhaps we can walk faster; but in this life, we must first learn to walk alone before we deserve better company on the road."
After writing that sentence, even he froze for a moment.
Could the old me have written a sentence like that?
He shook his head and kept writing.
By the time all the exams were over, it was already noon.
The examinees streamed back into the classroom to put their things away before heading to the cafeteria. Cheng Che returned his pencil case to his seat and was about to leave when Guo Xin slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Have you compared answers for the math multiple-choice questions? I got C, D, A for the last three. What about you?"
Cheng Che thought for a moment. "The last three? I chose B, A, D."
Guo Xin's face turned green. "Are you serious?"
"For the third-to-last question, you actually just had to substitute special values..."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Guo Xin clutched his head. "Why do you sound just like Old Xu? You used to be worse at math than me!"
Lin Xiao turned around from the seat in front, eyes sparkling.
"Cheng Che, did you choose B for the third-to-last question too? So did I! But your method sounds different from mine. Could you explain it to me?"
"Of course."
Cheng Che was delighted. To think the day would come when a top student asked him a question.
He opened his scratch paper and wrote out the solution in a few quick strokes, his reasoning clear and his steps clean.
After reading it, Lin Xiao let out a soft "Wow." "Your method is so simple. It's much easier than mine."
Beside them, Guo Xin's eyes widened. "Seriously, Lin Xiao? You're our class's math representative, and even you think he did well?"
Lin Xiao nodded earnestly. "Really. Cheng Che's solution is especially clever. And Old Xu only just explained a similar method before the exam, but he's already put it to use."
Guo Xin looked at Cheng Che with a complicated expression, then grumbled, "You actually evolved behind my back. I'm seriously going to have to rein you in."
Behind them, Zhao Lei had already reached the doorway with his backpack on, but stopped.
Standing sideways, he heard every step Cheng Che explained with perfect clarity.
He had chosen C for that question too.
If he followed Cheng Che's derivation, then...
Zhao Lei's face slowly drained of color.
Impossible.
Fuck, how could that guy possibly have solved it? He must have guessed.
But a voice inside him said: If Cheng Che had only guessed, how could he explain the process so clearly?
Zhao Lei didn't listen any longer. With his backpack on, he hurried out of the classroom, his steps a little uneven.
Cheng Che didn't notice him. After comparing answers for a little longer, he headed to the cafeteria with Guo Xin, their arms slung around each other's shoulders.
He needed to replenish his energy, then take a nap to prepare for the afternoon's exams.
Otherwise, if he collapsed asleep the moment he deactivated his talent after the exams, he would probably scare even the principal to death.