The midterm grades came out on the first day after the National Day holiday ended.
Ruan Mian’s weakness in certain subjects remained as severe as ever. She got full marks in math, 208 total points in science, and luckily passed English with over 100 points this time. The only subject, Chinese, barely scraped by with 90-something points, not even one point over the passing line.
Unsurprisingly, after the grades came out, she was called to Teacher Zhao Qi’s office.
Teacher Zhao was a provincial first-class teacher who had taught many top classes, and seen all kinds of students with weaknesses in certain subjects, but never one as extremely unbalanced as this.
He looked over Ruan Mian’s essay and pushed up the glasses on his nose. It was a long while before he spoke, “If I were grading this essay, I wouldn’t even have given you 30 points.”
Ruan Mian lowered her head, revealing a sliver of fair neck, and didn’t dare respond.
Zhao Qi flipped over her exam paper and looked through it from beginning to end.
Finally, he stabbed at the paper with his finger and interrogated, “Look at over 100 students in the two advanced classes. Who scored lower than you in Chinese? If you could devote just a fraction of the effort you put into math to Chinese, your grades wouldn’t be so pathetic.”
When teachers admonish students, even one extra word could be seen as talking back. Ruan Mian had frequently encountered this type of situation at No. 6 Middle School. She had long figured out how to deal with teachers.
She let Teacher Zhao finish lecturing her, then spoke up to admit her mistake and said she would work hard to practice and strive for a better grade next time.
Seeing her sincere attitude admitting fault, and that her grades in other subjects weren’t too bad, Zhao Qi decided she was still a good sapling after all. He didn’t interrogate her further, “I heard from Teacher Zhou you transferred to No. 8 this semester. I won’t question how your Chinese teacher taught you before, but now you’re with me. I have no other requirements. Just learn properly and make some progress each time, that’s all.”
Ruan Mian nodded. “I understand, thank you Teacher Zhao.”
“Learning isn’t just about keeping your head down and plugging away. Sometimes you should also look at how others learn – listen more, watch more, learn more. You can’t go wrong.”
Zhao Qi picked up his teacup and took a sip. “For example, look at your deskmate. His science and math scores aren’t too different from yours this time, but he got 103 in Chinese. How did he manage that?”
Speaking of which, right after Zhao Qi mentioned Chen Yi, the boy happened to walk by outside the office. Zhao Qi’s eyes lit up. Still holding his teacup, he called out, “Chen Yi!”
Ruan Mian instinctively turned to look out the window.
The boy was holding a stack of exam papers. His fluffy hair looked soft and messy under the sunlight. Hearing Zhao Qi’s enthusiastic summons, his gaze fell over.
That face had sharp, clean features, completely brimming with vigorous, open youth. His eyes held a inexplicable blankness.
Zhao Qi put down his teacup and beckoned again, “Chen Yi, come here for a moment.”
Watching him turn and walk this way, Ruan Mian’s entire body stiffened. If Zhao Qi had let her return to class first at that time, she probably could have walked away in that rigid, awkward posture.
Luckily Zhao Qi didn’t do that. Chen Yi soon entered. His tall, slender figure stood next to Ruan Mian.
The air around her was filled with his scent, clear and crisp, like a torrential summer rain pouring down and washing over her, making her suddenly alert yet also softly intoxicated.
Zhao Qi took Ruan Mian’s exam paper from his desk and handed it to Chen Yi, “This is your deskmate’s essay. Take a look and let me know your thoughts.”
Ruan Mian felt Teacher Zhao wasn’t thinking straight: “…”
The exam paper lay on top of the uneven pile of books. A breeze from the open window lifted one corner. Chen Yi reached out and pressed it down. His knuckles were prominent and clearly defined. The veins on the back of his hand faintly bulged.
Ruan Mian’s peripheral vision moved from his fingers to his wrist before she lowered her head again, like a convicted criminal awaiting judgement, fully aware of what awaited her yet still terrified and uneasy.
Chen Yi scanned it quickly, ignoring the huge 30 points circled, and chuckled to himself, “It’s written pretty well.”
Zhao Qi glared, wishing he could seal the boy’s mouth shut with tape.
“I meant the handwriting is nice. As for the essay itself…” Chen Yi made a tsking sound and said, “Writing completely off topic but still getting 30 points, was the grader not thinking straight at the time?”
With a loud thump, the invisible knife hanging over Ruan Mian’s head fell steadily, accompanied by the boy’s indistinct laughter.
A joke delivered lightly was enough to defeat Ruan Mian. She sat there like she was on pins and needles, wishing she could dig a hole in the ground right then and bury herself.
Zhao Qi ignored his joke and brought up the reason he had called Chen Yi in, “Your deskmate’s weaknesses in certain subjects is rather severe. If you’re free, help tutor her more. Don’t be petty, you’re a boy.”
Before Ruan Mian could recover from those words, she heard the drowsy, lazy voice of the youth beside her. “Alright, got it.”
She felt bewildered and looked up at him.
But from this angle, she could only see the bridge of his nose and the long curled lashes. She couldn’t make out his expression or any emotion from his tone.
Ruan Mian couldn’t figure out if he had sincerely agreed or was just perfunctorily placating them.
Oblivious to how his careless words had become obscure, difficult comprehension material to someone else, Chen Yi still had that casual, indifferent attitude. “Teacher Zhao, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back first.”
“Go on, you can leave.”
After Chen Yi left, Zhao Qi instructed Ruan Mian again, “Learn from your deskmate, he’s the only person who has won first place three consecutive times in the New Concept Writing Competition1.”
Ruan Mian’s surprise showed on her face.
Zhao Qi smiled, “Unexpected, right?”
“A little.”
“Normal. Chen Yi doesn’t look like a literary artsy type. That kind of temperament is too contradictory on him.”
Zhao Qi said, “But his family has two elders involved in literature research. He was influenced since he was little, so his foundations in writing must be much stronger than you all. Study hard from him, your essay writing will surely improve greatly in the future.”
Ruan Mian nodded in acknowledgment.
After leaving the Chinese department office, Ruan Mian also went by Teacher Zhou Hai’s office for her biology exam answer sheet from the midterms.
Although No. 8 Middle School’s science midterm exam followed the gaokao format, the three subjects’ answer sheets were separate. This made it convenient for teachers to grade papers by subject, and also for review afterwards.
Zhou Hai knew she had just been called away by Zhao Qi and specially comforted her a few times, “Teacher Zhao just has a sharp tongue. He’s actually a nice person, so don’t take it to heart if he said anything to you.”
Ruan Mian nodded, “I understand.”
“Your overall performance on this midterm was rather good. Your math teacher has praised you to me several times already. Keep up the hard work, and strive to bring up your Chinese grades too.”
“Alright, I know. Thank you, Teacher Zhou.”
“It’s nothing. Go on back, class will start soon.”
“Okay.”
Right after Ruan Mian returned to the classroom, the bell rang. The group of boys gathered around Chen Yi at the back scattered away.
She went back to her seat. The just-returned physics answer sheet lay on the desk, 104 points.
Chen Yi’s physics paper was also spread out. Ruan Mian glanced over.
Wow.
Full marks.
The grading teacher had even written the 110 points extra large, as if afraid others wouldn’t see it. The force used was so great it tore through the paper at the end.
Noticing the girl’s gaze, Chen Yi grabbed the paper and placed it in front of her, tone indifferent, “If you want to look, just take it. I won’t bite.”
Ruan Mian always reacted too slowly around him. The English teacher had already entered with the exam papers before she managed a “Thank you” amidst the chorus of “Good morning teacher” from the class.
Actually Ruan Mian didn’t have much she wanted to look at. A 104 versus a perfect score was just the difference of one multiple choice question.
But she still looked over it carefully. The boy’s handwriting was very nice, powerful yet graceful. The hidden tip of the brush revealed a hint of edge; the revealed tip displayed restrained elegance. Clearly this was specially practiced, not a normal person’s penmanship.
Teacher Song Wen at the lectern had everyone take out their papers. Ruan Mian returned it and thanked him again.
Chen Yi hmm-ed and casually stuffed the paper into his drawer.
Teacher Song’s grading explanations were very fast. With only the essay remaining when class ended, she took a few minutes of break time to briefly go over the essay prompt and stance, “Students who scored below 20 on the essay, come to my office at noon.”
Hearing this, Ruan Mian involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief. She got lucky in English this time. The essay was a similar type that she had written about at cram school previously, and for the first time she passed 100.
After morning classes ended, Ruan Mian went off-campus for lunch with Meng Xinglan. She mentioned Teacher Zhao asking Chen Yi to tutor her writing.
Meng Xinglan bit down on a rib bone, voice muffled, “Did Chen Yi agree?”
“At the time he said alright, got it.”
Ruan Mian poked at the rice grains in her bowl with her chopsticks. “I’m not sure if he actually agreed or not.”
“Ah, forget it then. If you want to learn I can teach you too. After all, I did win first place in an elementary school writing competition before.”
The two chatted and laughed. Unnoticed by them, three boys came down the stairs and walked over, one after another.
Suddenly a hand reached out from the side and ruffled Meng Xinglan’s head. The playful voice of the boy followed, “Meng Xinglan, you’re still eating. You’ll get as fat as a pig.”
Hearing the voice, Ruan Mian looked up to see Chen Yi and Shen Yu standing behind Jiang Rang. She quietly put down her chopsticks.
“Screw off! You mongrel Jiang Rang!”
Meng Xinglan swatted his hand away and looked back. Not recognizing the people, she frowned and asked, “Where’s Liang Yiran? Skipping lunch again?”
“He’s the student council vice president now, busy to death with the sports meet preparations. When’s he got time to eat?”
Jiang Rang put the takeout boxes he was holding on the table. “We’re going to get haircuts after this. Can you bring it over to him?”
“Piss off, no way.”
“Then what can we do? You’d bear to let Liang Yiran starve waiting for us to get back?”
Jiang Rang joked, “Can you bear that?”
Knowing it was nonsense, Meng Xinglan still took the bait. Impatiently waving her hand, she said, “Fine fine, go get your haircut.”
“Thanks, we’ll buy you milk tea after.”
Jiang Rang retracted his hand and greeted Ruan Mian sitting opposite them, who had been silent all along.
After leaving the restaurant, Shen Yu had his arm around Jiang Rang’s shoulder and asked, “Wasn’t that girl sitting with Meng Xinglan Chen Yi’s deskmate?”
Jiang Rang looked at him sideways. “Yeah, haven’t you seen her a few times before?”
“Just a couple times.”
Shen Yu patted Chen Yi’s shoulder. “You don’t even know, Teacher Yan praised your deskmate so many times in our class this morning.”
Yan Heshan was the math teacher for Class 1 and 2 Science. The math exam had been quite difficult this time. Ruan Mian was the only one in the two advanced classes to get full marks.
Chen Yi raised his eyes. “Praised what?”
“Praised how capable she is.”
Shen Yu cleared his throat and imitated Yan Heshan’s tone, “Just this question, Ruan Mian from Class 1 had a very lucid and concise solution process. Those of you acquainted with her, borrow her exam paper after class and take a look.”
“He did praise her a lot, and she is quite capable. Even Chen Yi didn’t get full marks in math this time.”
Jiang Rang generously sang Ruan Mian’s praises, “Also, she got 208 in science, way ahead of the other girls in our class. Though her weaknesses are rather severe too. She barely passed Chinese over the line.”
“Talk about lopsided grades.” Shen Yu laughed.
“Right, Teacher Zhao called her to his office because of it too.”
Speaking of which, Jiang Rang suddenly recalled something, expression dawning in realization. “No wonder. During the diagnostic test at the start, I said she was capable but she told me to wait until the full exam results. Turns out this was why.”
Chen Yi, who hadn’t contributed much, thought back to the essay he had seen in Teacher Zhao’s office that morning and inexplicably felt amused.
The prompt had required a self-created title based on the attached material. From start to finish, she wrote absolutely nothing related to the material provided.
Who knows what she was thinking when writing it.
- A prestigious high school writing contest in China. ↩︎
Leave a Reply