Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 154

The gates of both schools were usually tightly closed. Wuzhong’s management was no less strict than No. 1 High School’s—if anything, it was stricter. It was rare to see Wuzhong students out shopping on the streets.

The most they could do was buy something from the store in front of the school on Sunday, then go straight back to school.

Jiang Bai was even more of a recluse. If Jiang Ning hadn’t opened a store near the school, he could’ve stayed in his class, dormitory, and cafeteria for half a semester without stepping outside the school. In the past, Jiang Bai had always been good-looking, but now it was as if he could shine.

The Wuzhong students who pretended not to care and looked away couldn’t help but glance back at him. Many girls secretly admired him.

Why weren’t there boys like this in their school? If they’d known, they would have chosen this school when filling out their high school application form.

Students nowadays had few sources of entertainment. If any girl secretly had two extracurricular books, they were treated like treasures, passed around and borrowed by all the girls in the class.

What girl hadn’t read a few short campus romance novels in Reader Youth Digest, Wuxia, or Rainy Season? In their dull high school life, it was hard to find glimpses of sweet love like in those novels. But after seeing Jiang Bai, it was as if the male protagonist of a romance novel had stepped into reality.

Could boys like him really exist?

As Jiang Bai crossed the road, students from Wuzhong walking alongside him couldn’t help but look back. One of them, distracted by watching him, stepped on the shoes of the person in front and bumped into them.

The girl who got hit was embarrassed too because she had also been sneaking glances at Jiang Bai.

But after that brief distraction, everyone went off to find their corresponding examination rooms. Jiang Ning took out her admission ticket and also found hers.

The seating arrangement in the exam room had been shuffled. Jiang Ning and a few classmates from Class 3 were in the same room. The tables and chairs were arranged with a small gap between each.

When Jiang Ning sat down, she realized that all the chairs were facing the opposite direction—toward the blackboard newspaper at the back of the room. This setup prevented students from leaving any books in the desk drawers.

The math and Chinese exams were scheduled for the morning, but in different rooms.

Jiang Ning finished the math exam in a little while. She completed her Chinese exam half an hour ahead of time, checked her answers, and after ensuring everything was fine, she set aside the test paper. Then she picked up the draft paper that was handed out and began writing her manuscript.

Although the academic deans from several schools had sent senior teachers to co-write the exams, the main contributors were teachers from Wuzhong and No. 1 High School, with some input from No. 2 High School’s teachers as well.

Except for the third year of high school, which followed the exact format of the college entrance exam, the exams for the first and second years of high school accounted for the course progress in other schools, and certain adjustments were made.

Among these schools, No. 1 High School and Wuzhong had the fastest teaching progress. The key classes at both schools were at the forefront in this regard.

The Wuzhong invigilators were also paying attention to how the students from No. 1 High School were performing.

As they walked, they approached the desk of a student from No. 1 High School and observed her. After completing the test paper, she set it aside and began writing something on the scratch paper.

The invigilator assumed she was drafting her composition and would eventually copy it into the composition grid. So, he picked up the test paper she had set aside and glanced at it. Her handwriting was neat and strong—not like a young girl’s, but more like the calligraphy of older teachers who had practiced calligraphy for many years. The strokes were vigorous and powerful, with a sense of openness and closure, beautiful and grand.

The composition itself was also very well written. There were no signs of smudging or corrections; it was written in one fluid motion.

He had initially looked at it casually, but he unexpectedly found himself captivated by her writing. The composition was sophisticated yet graceful. From his perspective, it would easily earn full marks.

After putting down the test paper, he glanced at the girl again.

Was this really a girl?

He had walked from the back of the room to the front. From behind, he could only see her short hair and the snow-white ears peeking out from under her black hair.

With ears so white, his first assumption was that she was a girl.

He returned the test paper and noted the name, Jiang Ning, written on it.

As soon as the invigilator picked up her test paper, Jiang Ning flipped the paper over and covered it with her hand, not wanting him to see what she had written.

The teacher then noticed the draft paper she had turned over and was still pressing with her hand. He was about to leave after putting down the test paper, but suddenly felt concerned she might be cheating. He reached out and pulled out the draft paper.

During that time, everyone was busy with their test papers. There was only one day off during the weekend, and each of the seven main course teachers had assigned one test paper—so there were seven papers for each of the seven subjects.

Even a major exam like the joint examination was completed in a single day. With seven test papers to do over the weekend, it hardly felt different from a regular school day.

With so much homework, Jiang Ning couldn’t finish everything in just two hours in the morning. Since the Internet café was crowded in the afternoon, and computers were limited, she couldn’t find a free one. She had to complete her 12,000-word task in the morning and send it to Wang Yong.

The rest of her weekend, aside from delivering meals to Grandpa Jiang at noon and in the evening, was dedicated to writing test papers.

It was the same for Jiang Bai. He had originally planned to use Sunday to work at his sister’s store to earn some extra money, but the unexpected news of the joint exam arrived. He had one day off from his senior year, but without his usual ten yuan for the holiday, he couldn’t make any extra money.

Still, Jiang Bai dressed nicely every day, always wearing the outfits his sister styled for him, paying meticulous attention to his appearance.

Especially on the day of the joint examination, he, who usually only walked around No. 1 High School, was eager to go to Wuzhong to promote the store.

He wanted to sell the men’s clothing from his sister’s store to the boys at Wuzhong.

Jiang Bai, whose mind was focused on the idea of making money, had recently become more energetic about his studies, walking with a newfound confidence. He was no longer the Jiang Bai who used to lower his head and quietly read by himself. He now kept his head held high all day, chest out, full of hope. The thing he looked forward to most every day was the arrival of Sunday.