Chapter 10: The First Monthly Exam

On a golden October morning, the air at Xia Minghan Primary School was unusually free of its customary noise.

In its place was an almost frightening atmosphere of tension.

The first monthly exam of third grade had finally arrived!

“I can’t get a zero!”

“Oh no! How is it exam time already?”

The school took major exams exceptionally seriously. To stop neighbors from sharing answers, the desks had to be separated, one student to a desk, and a white slip bearing each student’s name and exam number was pasted to the corner.

Worse still, students from all four third-grade classes were mixed up and assigned to different exam rooms.

The bell for morning study hadn’t even rung, but Class One was already in a panic. Several girls by the window were trying to memorize the analysis of “The Feet of the Virginia Creeper,” while a few bespectacled students at the front bent over written three-digit multiplication.

Around my desk, meanwhile, a small circle of scheming young masterminds had gathered.

Class monitor Chu Hanya hadn’t arrived yet, so her empty throne had been occupied by a certain unruly athletic tomboy.

Su Xiaoqing sat backward on Chu Hanya’s chair in a most undignified manner, her chin resting on her folded arms. Around her stood Hou Jian, Li Bo, and chubby Zhang Wei, who was sweating nervously.

And me, of course.

I was there purely because it was my seat. They were gathered around me because Su Xiaoqing was sitting there.

Back to the point.

“Listen up. I figured out a way to cheat last night!”

Li Bo lowered his voice and mysteriously pried a large white eraser from the bottom of his pencil case. On each of its faces, he’d written A, B, C, and D in crooked blue ballpoint.

Looking as proud as a scientist who’d just invented the atomic bomb, he declared, “You can use it for all the multiple-choice questions!

“If you don’t know the answer, toss it on the desk and pick whichever letter lands face up! My cousin’s in eighth grade, and he taught me this secret himself!”

Wow. If his cousin really relied on that method, it was a miracle he’d made it to eighth grade.

Compulsory education was powerful indeed.

“Give me a break!” Hou Jian, nicknamed Monkey, interrupted contemptuously. “Leaving it to fate like that isn’t reliable at all!”

Monkey rolled up the sleeve of his autumn uniform, revealing a skinny arm densely covered in multiplication tables and easily confused Chinese characters copied in ballpoint pen. Sweat had already blurred the ink into a dark smear. He looked as though he’d just crawled out of a coal mine.

So instead of staying up last night to review, he’d stayed up making a cheat sheet? His efforts were going entirely in the wrong direction.

“Idiot, the invigilator has sharp eyes. The moment the teacher comes over, you’ll be caught, and the evidence won’t even wash off!” Su Xiaoqing said bluntly.

The childish strategy meeting was in full swing, everyone discussing how to cheat. I had no intention of joining them. These kids had simply gathered around me, that was all.

We hadn’t had an exam yet, and I didn’t usually answer questions in class, so few people thought I was a good student. Even Su Xiaoqing and Zhang Wei, who borrowed my homework, assumed math was the only subject I was good at.

As they talked, Zhang Wei came running back—he’d just stepped away—and shouted excitedly as though he’d discovered a new continent.

“Holy crap! Luo! Qing!

“Quick, look at the exam-room list!”

“What are you yelling for? Lost your soul?” Su Xiaoqing glared at him.

He ignored her, his chubby cheeks trembling with excitement. “Room… Room Three! It’s in Class Two’s room next door!

“Luo is number seven, Qing is number eight, and I’m number nine! We’re sitting right next to each other!!”

Su Xiaoqing froze for a second. Then her bright dark eyes lit up. “Really?!”

Zhang Wei grabbed my other arm and pleaded earnestly, “Luo, whether I get to touch the Subor learning console over the National Day holiday depends entirely on your mercy today! When we get word problems or big questions, just move your paper over a couple of inches, or throw a little note back… Please!”

“Is Fang Luo good at school?” Monkey was baffled. As he remembered it, the transfer student had never paid attention in class, and rumor had it that other people did his homework.

“He should be pretty good at math!” Su Xiaoqing nodded emphatically, then joined Zhang Wei in asking to copy from me.

Looking at these two little kids, I agreed. It was elementary school; I could understand how it happened. Cheating was obviously wrong, but sometimes you had to be flexible.

“All right, stop. Quit shaking me.”

I pulled my arms from their clutches. “Only math, okay? And I’m not sure how well I’ll do myself.”

“I thought so,” Monkey said with a relieved nod.

Su Xiaoqing lifted her chin confidently, showing her little canine teeth. “Hmph, that’s fine! I’m doomed either way. If I can copy enough to pass math, I can probably scrape by in the other subjects myself. As long as my basketball doesn’t get cut up.

“It’s settled. No backing out!”

“Okay, okay…”

“Then we…” “Whoa, the eraser!”

While the first group was still in an uproar, the back door clicked open.

A fresh breeze brought in a faint fragrance.

Chu Hanya entered with her schoolbag on her back, her uniform crisp and the two-bar red armband on her chest perfectly straight.

When she saw her personal throne occupied by a short-haired, wheat-skinned wild girl, her calm little face visibly cooled.

Li Bo and Monkey shrank back and scattered like mice spotting a cat.

Su Xiaoqing had intended to linger under the protection of her “Fang Luo alliance,” but one look at Chu Hanya’s sharp eyes, which seemed ready to produce the discipline notebook at any second, made her purse her lips and slowly climb off the chair.

“Hmph. Stingy. Sitting on it won’t wear it out.”

Before leaving, she winked at me and mimed passing a note, then dashed back to the rear of the classroom. Zhang Wei ran off with her.

Whew. Peace at last.

Chu Hanya came over, pulled out her chair, and wiped both the seat and desk with a tissue before neatly placing her bag and sitting down. She gave me a meaningful look.

We’d had quite a pleasant time at the library, but apparently our relationship had reset itself.

She didn’t seem to like other people sitting in her seat. Was she a bit of a neat freak? How should I put it…?

Chu Hanya set her pencil case on the corner of the desk and glanced sideways at me. “Forming a clique first thing in the morning?

“Fang Luo, don’t say I didn’t warn you. They’re watching for cheating very closely today. Old Wang said anyone caught will be criticized before the whole school, and our class will lose assessment points.”

I leaned back and answered helplessly, “Don’t worry, Monitor Chu. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I didn’t agree to help them. And remember, we agreed that if I beat you this time, you can’t write down my name anymore.”

Chu Hanya gave a cold huff and lifted her chin. “Keep talking tough. You’ll be crying when the papers come out.”

Riiing!

The bell officially starting morning study interrupted our bickering.

Old Wang strode in, beer belly first, carrying a thick stack of exam-number stickers under his arm.

“All right, all right! Quiet!”

He slammed his insulated cup onto the teacher’s desk. “Put all your textbooks, homework books, and reference materials in your schoolbags. Nothing stays on your desks except pencil cases and writing boards—not a scrap of paper! If your books don’t fit, stack them neatly in the open space at the front!

“Hurry up! Then move the desks into exam formation!”

The classroom erupted, filled with zippers and the shrill scrape of chairs being dragged.

I packed fastest, since my bag held hardly anything besides two comics and a few pens.

Carrying the light bag to the front, I found a clean patch of floor by the corner and put it down.

I’d just straightened up when a whirlwind rushed over.

“Fang Luo! Catch!”

Su Xiaoqing dropped her heavy, dusty canvas schoolbag precisely on top of mine with a thud. She clapped her hands and grinned. “Ha! Mine’s on top of yours. There, I’ll cover you!”

Before I could comment on that remarkable logic, I heard faint, labored footsteps behind me.

I turned. Chu Hanya was carrying her bulging backpack in both arms, her face slightly red as she staggered toward the front.

It held not only all three textbooks but apparently thick Olympiad math exercise books too. It was much too heavy for her slight frame.

She’d been looking for Wen Shuyao’s bag to put hers beside it, but the space in front was packed with a crowd of clumsy boys.

“Mine, mine! Put mine there!”

“That’s my spot! Go away!”

“Monitor.”

“Huh? Who called me?”

“Give it here.”

I stepped forward and took the heavy pink bag from her arms.

Suddenly relieved of the weight, Chu Hanya froze and looked up at me in a daze.

“Put it over here. The corner’s clean, so it won’t get stepped on.”

“And if someone does step there, Su Xiaoqing’s bag will get it first.”

Chin in hand, I spoke seriously as I placed Su Xiaoqing’s bag at the very top and arranged Chu Hanya’s beside mine. Xiaoqing’s could shield both of ours; that was a contribution too.

Thank you, Su Xiaoqing.

“Achoo!” Su Xiaoqing sneezed while basking in the sun in the corridor. Beside her, Zhang Wei was still pouting over the exam.

Inside the classroom, Chu Hanya bit her lip for some reason, a faint pink rising in her cheeks.

“…Thank you,” she whispered quickly, then turned and hurried back as though afraid someone might see.

“Oh? Oh, you’re welcome.”

Next came the great migration.