Xia Xiao Lan woke up at 6 AM as usual.
This was her habitual wake-up time.
The preliminary examination followed the same procedures as the college entrance exam – it was essentially a rehearsal. Chinese was the first subject. Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t brought her books, but Teacher Qi had given her a set of keynotes covering the most likely-to-appear famous quotes and other materials that required memorization. This wasn’t exclusive to Xia Xiao Lan; all of Teacher Qi’s exam candidates had received the same materials.
Though the review materials were identical, their effectiveness varied by student.
Xia Xiao Lan went through her normal morning routine, and ate a simple breakfast, appearing no different than usual.
Sun Tian, however, seemed very anxious, with dark circles under her eyes clearly showing she hadn’t slept.
“Teacher Sun, don’t worry, I’ll do my best.”
Sun Tian nodded, but anxiety wasn’t the issue – she’d spent the entire night thinking about Zhao Gang’s intentions, breaking into cold sweats imagining the terrible consequences if he had succeeded in entering the room. If anything had happened, Sun Tian would have felt guilty for life.
She already felt guilty but couldn’t show it, having to maintain a calm facade in front of Xia Xiao Lan.
Her poor acting skills, however, left her concerns written all over her face.
In contrast, Li Dong Liang and Ge Jian were completely unfazed by such a minor incident. They had the situation under control – the man was tied up and hidden under their bed. They could deal with him properly after Miss Xia finished her exam.
Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t suspected anything about herself and instead tried to comfort Sun Tian.
While she had enjoyed a full night’s rest at the guesthouse next to Fengxian No. 3 Middle School, other students had to take the morning bus, arriving at the school gates feeling queasy. One student got motion sickness and vomited right after getting off the bus, her face pale as she cried to Teacher Wang.
“Teacher Wang, how… how can I take the exam like this?”
With waves of nausea rising in her stomach, the thought of taking the exam in this condition made her more nervous, which only worsened her symptoms – a vicious cycle.
Teacher Wang was at his wit’s end.
Xia Xiao Lan handed over her water bottle that she’d prepared for the exam:
“Rinse your mouth first. Once the motion sickness passes, you’ll be fine. Now you know you get car sick, next time bring something sour to eat when you feel dizzy – it helps relieve the symptoms… That’s right, rinse your mouth, then drink some water. Just rest a bit, and you’ll recover. Everything will be fine!”
Xia Xiao Lan’s composure was contagious, affecting the crying student.
“Thank… thank you!”
Student Xia was truly kind – this motion-sick girl wasn’t even from Class 3, and Xia Xiao Lan didn’t know her at all.
A top student’s advice was always different, wasn’t it?
The female student was infected by Xia Xiao Lan’s methodical approach and gradually became calm. Controlling her breathing, rinsing her mouth, and drinking water helped clear the unpleasant taste, and her body began to feel better. Though still tired, it didn’t matter – Student Xia said everything would be fine, and she could make it through the first Chinese exam!
There was a small shop at the school gate, and Xia Xiao Lan ran to buy a pack of preserved plum candy for the motion-sick student.
“Think about it – it’s good we discovered your motion sickness during the preliminary exam. It would have been much worse during the actual college entrance exam. You don’t need a high score for the preliminary exam, just passing is fine. And Chinese is the first subject – we’ve been accumulating knowledge all along, this won’t affect your performance.”
The girl nodded at each of Xia Xiao Lan’s words.
Student Xiao Lan made so much sense and was so gentle.
Eventually, the girl realized motion sickness wasn’t such a big deal. She could overcome this minor physical discomfort! Look at Student Xia Xiao Lan – she’d managed to keep up despite studying at home alone.
Student Xiao Lan had a noble character, always selflessly helping others.
Sun Tian’s heart felt like it was being fried in oil. She should tell Teacher Wang about Zhao Gang – the school must deal with him severely!
She also needed to examine her own mistakes – her attitude had given Zhao Gang an opportunity.
Li Dong Liang stopped her: “Teacher Sun, now isn’t the right time. Everything can wait until after the exam.”
Li Dong Liang couldn’t fully appreciate how important the “preliminary exam” was, but university entrance meant a lot to Miss Xia – why else would she have called them from Yangcheng for protection? Nothing could be allowed to affect Miss Xia’s exam, not even school teachers, not even with good intentions.
Teacher Sun was young and couldn’t hide her concerns, so Li Dong Liang wanted to have a proper talk with her.
“Teacher Sun, you must hold on for these two days. Pretend you never saw that person last night.”
Teacher Wang checked everyone’s admission tickets and led the No. 1 Middle School students to their exam rooms.
Xia Xiao Lan found her assigned classroom – coincidentally, she was in the same room as the motion-sick student. The effects of motion sickness had largely subsided, and the other student had completely calmed down with Xia Xiao Lan present.
“Everyone take your seats! No talking after receiving the test papers, no looking around, no whispering… If you’re caught cheating, we’ll report it to both the school and the education bureau. This is a serious matter that could ruin your future! If you have any questions during the exam, raise your hand and wait for the teacher’s permission before speaking. If you need to use the bathroom, go now – no bathroom breaks during the exam. Leaving the classroom counts as submitting your paper!”
The preliminary exam wasn’t nationwide but organized by Yunan Province.
It wasn’t as strict as the college entrance exam – for one thing, there were more students per classroom. With a slightly longer neck, one could see others’ answers, but such cheating was pointless. If you needed to cheat to pass the preliminary exam, you clearly wouldn’t succeed in the college entrance exam two months later.
After the proctor’s announcement, several students suddenly felt the urge to use the bathroom. Once the first person went, others followed suit.
It was all due to nervousness. Xia Xiao Lan didn’t mock anyone; she just quietly waited for the test papers.
If possible, Xia Xiao Lan still wanted to achieve a high score – it would be a morale boost for the school. The school had given her special treatment compared to other students, so she should repay them with good results.
The preliminary exam results would be ranked province-wide.
Chinese was Xia Xiao Lan’s weak point, but when the test paper arrived, the opening questions didn’t stump her.
Marking word pronunciations.
This essentially tested standard Mandarin pronunciation – students used to speaking dialect might struggle, but it was incredibly simple for Xia Xiao Lan. In her previous life, she had an accent in her teens, but later, working in different places, especially in first-tier cities, speaking non-standard Mandarin would invite ridicule. Xia Xiao Lan had practiced diligently, conquering even English pronunciation barriers, let alone standard pronunciation in her native language.
The first question went smoothly.
Starting well on today’s Chinese exam, Xia Xiao Lan wrote her answers fluently, maintaining good momentum throughout.
She wasn’t being willful like in regular tests, leaving blank spaces for questions she couldn’t answer. Not only would she attempt ambiguous answers, but she wouldn’t leave any blank spaces even for pure guesses. From her previous life’s experience, she knew exam graders were quite sympathetic. The more important the exam, the more they wanted to award points. They weren’t looking for mistakes but for anything worth giving points to, even just one or two marks.
Especially in subjects with subjective questions like Chinese reading comprehension and Politics, writing a long wrong answer was better than no answer at all.
A blank space offered no scoring opportunity, but even if you misinterpreted the question, having one or two sentences that barely touched on the correct answer might earn some sympathy points from the graders… Turning in a blank test paper would be truly foolish.