After mid-April, when I returned to class on Sunday night, the owls were no more cheerful than usual.
As soon as the study bell rang, Hu Xiujie pushed open the door, holding a thin piece of paper in his hand, and stuck it to the blackboard with a magnet.
"There are midterm exams this week. Everyone, put down your stuff and talk about the exam schedule."
Xie Lan put down the ancient poem he was writing and looked up.
He had asked before, and the midterm exams in the spring semester are usually in late April, so it is reasonable to prepare.
"The exam is on Friday, and the exam room will be assigned based on the last overall scores. The order of the exams is Chinese, math, comprehensive, and English. Lunch boxes will be distributed at noon, but there will be no lunch break. The exam will be completed in one day." Hu Xiujie paused and said, "It's a regular exam, but I have some bad news. I'll call a few students first."
"Mao Lengxue. Wang Gou. Xie Lan."
Those who were called were new students who had joined the class because of their high scores in mathematics and science after the class placement test.
Xie Lan turned his head and looked at Wang Gou in confusion, and Wang Gou also looked confused.
Hu Xiujie sighed, "The Education Bureau has been focusing on the competition class issue recently. Principal Wang went to coordinate several times. The final opinion is that key high schools can retain the competition class before the second semester of senior year, but students in the competition class cannot have poor grades. In other words, in every major exam, at least every subject must be passed, otherwise there may be a class transfer."
As soon as the rain fell, before Xie Lan could even think about it, Dou Sheng stood up.
"Teacher, this is unreasonable. Yingzhong has never adjusted classes based on midterm exam results, and the classes have only been divided for half a semester. If there is a reallocation, how will the people who are divided feel? Will they still participate in the competition after they are divided?"
He rarely got so excited during class meetings. Hu Xiujie was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "Sit down and listen to what I have to say."
Everyone in the front seat turned around and stared at him. Some were staring at Dou Sheng, but more were staring at Xie Lan.
Dai You said, "I also think it's unreasonable. Let me be frank. Xie Lan and Wang Gou are both very good at math competitions and Mao Lengxue also has a good chance of winning in physics competitions. The courses and homework of our competition class are different from those of other classes. If they leave, how many fewer awards will Yingzhong win in this year's competition?"
Dong Shuijing seconded the motion: "Has the principal made this matter a done deal? Is there no room for maneuver?"
Not only several class leaders, but other students also said it was unreasonable. Xie Lan was a little stunned. First, she was a little confused by the sudden change, and second, she didn't expect so many people to interrupt Hu Xiujie's class meeting.
Hu Xiujie sighed, "The school has considered all of what you said. But the Sports Bureau is putting pressure on us, and Principal Wang has done his best to fight for you. I've also studied it, and Wang Gou's weakness is English, and he scored 84 in the class test, which is six points short of passing. Mao Lengxue's weakness is chemistry, and he scored 57 in the class test, but he has passed the last few quizzes, so he should be okay. I think it won't be a big problem for the two of you to try your best."
As she spoke, she turned to Xie Lan, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.
Dou Sheng immediately asked, "If we need to change shifts, what are the rules?"
Hu Xiujie waved his hand. "The specific rules haven't been set yet. Students with A in math and physics and A in all subjects cannot stay in the class. Students can choose other classes based on their personal circumstances. But we will consider class selection secondarily and staying in the class first. As for Xie Lan, we have discussed with the principal. After all, you came back from abroad and have a language weakness. Your Chinese is not included in the class transfer rules this time."
Xie Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
It feels like being on the verge of death but being caught and brought back to life.
The discussion below died down. Hu Xiujie stroked the report card and said, "In last week's weekly test, Xie Lan passed all three science subjects, but his physics is not stable. You three have to work hard these days. It's not easy to get into Mathematics and Physics A. I don't want to see anyone fail in the midterm exam, understand?"
The people below said together that they understood, and then Hu Xiujie waved his hand and asked the three of them to sit down.
After Xie Lan sat down, he took two deep breaths, quickly filled in the remaining blanks in the ancient poetry section, and switched to the biology textbook.
If he didn't consider Chinese, he felt that he had a better chance of success. In recent times, his physics scores had all passed 90, and his chemistry scores were usually in the early 80s, which were not a problem. The main problem was biology, which had always hovered around 60. After all, it was a subject that he had to start from scratch, and it was different from those subjects that could be learned by just learning a few words.
Dou Sheng didn't say anything during the two evening self-study sessions. When he was walking back to the dormitory at night, he casually asked, "How is it? How confident are you?"
Xie Lan thought about it, "My score is about 50-50 right now, but if I study hard for four days, I should still have hope."
Wang Gou in front turned around and said, "Lan, I plan to get up early to practice English tomorrow. Do you want to join me?"
"Yes." Xie Lan nodded quickly. "I won't do math this week. I'll study every day, morning and noon, and read books."
Wang Gou nodded repeatedly, "Go, go, go!"
Dai You sighed, "We have to charge. Two of the four people in our dormitory are unstable. My scalp is tingling."
Dou Sheng remained silent all the way. When he went up the stairs, he slowly lagged behind Dai You and the others by a few steps. Xie Lan also lagged behind him, thinking that he had something to say.
"Actually, there's no need to be so exhausted." Dou Sheng waited until no one was around and said, "I've just thought about it carefully. Since we're going to transfer someone out, it won't be difficult to transfer them back once they pass the exam. The school is just being forced to operate by the Education Bureau. And you don't really have a shortcoming. It's mainly a matter of time. Don't put too much pressure on yourself."
Xie Lan was stunned. After thinking for a long time, he said in disbelief: "You mean it's okay to divide it?"
Dou Sheng glanced at him and hummed, "The midterm exam will be distributed, and the final exam can be returned."
The two of them spoke so quietly that the voice-controlled lights in the corridor went out unexpectedly, and then Xie Lan turned around and walked upstairs.
He couldn't describe how he felt at the moment. He felt betrayed, but he didn't have a clear position. He just felt ridiculous and a little aggrieved.
He put his schoolbag behind him and pulled it to the armrest. With a click, the voice-controlled light came on again.
Xie Lan said expressionlessly: "Thank you for helping me analyze it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Dou Sheng said calmly from behind: "Anyway, you can think about this matter yourself. If you really want to stay in Class 4, then let's work hard together. If you don't want to be too tired, just tell me in advance before the exam."
Xie Lan paused.
He looked back blankly, "What do you mean?"
Dou Sheng said nothing, walked up with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder, and stood beside him again.
Xie Lan pondered for a while, "I don't understand, can you be more straightforward?"
"That's very straightforward." Dou Sheng smiled and raised his hand to press his shoulder, "Anyway, we are definitely in the same class, so we won't be separated."
Xie Lan looked at Dou Sheng in confusion, but Dou Sheng didn't explain in the end. He just returned to the dormitory calmly, washed up, took out his biology book and began to organize his notes.
The sudden threat of class division disrupted some of the rhythm.
Xie Lan's originally planned math live broadcast was cancelled, and Dou Sheng's new game review that he was rushing to release was also suspended, so both of them started to work on biology. Xie Lan practiced at his own pace, getting up at five o'clock every morning and going out with Wang Gou. Wang Gou occupied the bathroom to do English listening, while Xie Lan occupied the windowsill here to memorize biology knowledge points.
This week, Dou Sheng joked with him less than usual. Every day before evening self-study, he would take out a few pages of biology knowledge points and give them to him. It was quite magical. He had never told Dou Sheng about his progress, but Dou Sheng seemed to know it all and always gave him the summary that he needed most at the moment.
The four days of intensive study passed quickly. On Friday, the day of the exam, when Xie Lan opened his eyes in the morning, he subconsciously reached for his cell phone under his pillow and found that Zhao Wenying had sent him a message.
- Good luck on your exam, Lanlan! Do well in the exam, and I'll let Douzi take you out for fun on May Day.
Xie Lan felt warm inside and no longer felt sleepy. He immediately replied: Thank you, Aunt Zhao.
After he replied, he looked at the dialog box again and added a lively cat emoticon.
In fact, after intensive study over the past few days, Xie Lan felt that he was already in a stable state. All he had to do was finish the exams and make sure that the dust had settled, so that he could make up for the game review that Dou Sheng had missed.
Before getting out of bed, he checked B station out of habit. The first post on the dynamic page was from Dou Sheng. It was posted five minutes ago and was a nine-second video.
The most handsome man in the world_dm: #Hardcore High School Survival Record·Preview of the second episode# Ermao is nervously preparing for the exam for the first time.
The video shows Xie Lan standing by the window reading something in the early morning. Xie Lan leans on the window sill, holding a book in his left hand, tapping lightly on the book with a ballpoint pen in his right hand, raising his head and mumbling something. Perhaps because of the dim morning light and the long-distance camera movement, the whole picture is hazy.
All the comments were “go for it” and “come on”, and in just a few minutes, there were already two or three hundred comments.
Xie Lan lifted the quilt and sat up, only to find that Dou Sheng's bed was empty. His quilt had been neatly folded and placed on the pillow as requested.
"Where are the people?" Xie Lan asked in confusion.
Dai You was holding a basin of water at the bottom and said, "I'm going to buy breakfast."
As soon as the voice fell, the dormitory door was pushed open. Dou Sheng carried a dozen plastic bags in his hands, handed some soy milk buns and tea eggs to Wang Gou, and gave some coffee and sandwiches to Xie Lan and Dai You. He said, "On exam days, the lunch boxes in the exam room are not very delicious, so there are many people in the cafeteria in the morning. You can read for a while in the dormitory and go directly to the exam room later."
Wang Gou immediately clasped his fists to thank Dou Sheng, and Dai You smiled and said, "You still get this kind of treatment?"
Xie Lan was stunned for a moment before taking the food. He wanted to say thank you but suddenly felt it was unnecessary. He just nodded and opened his food notebook.
Seeing this, the departure time is a little tight.
Xie Lan ranked 470th in the last class division exam, and his exam room was No. 18, one floor higher than Room 1. When the four of them ran to the floor where Room 1 was located, there was only one minute left before the exam bell. Xie Lan said goodbye quickly and ran upstairs, but when he got upstairs, he found that Dou Sheng was still following him.
The exam preparation bell rang, but Dou Sheng still followed Xie Lan to the outside of Examination Room 18.
The examination room was already full of people. Dou Sheng glanced inside and counted to Xie Lan's seat before looking away.
He was a little out of breath from running. "I was afraid that I would not be able to go back to the dormitory at noon, so I told you in advance. After finishing the comprehensive science test in the afternoon, I will definitely calculate how many points I can get in each subject. If I am on the edge of passing, I will just cross out a few questions."
Probably because he was anxious for the exam, he quickly explained it and then suddenly remembered that Xie Lan might not be able to keep up, so he slowed down and said, "Remember, if you are unsure, just try not to pass. And before the English exam, you must, must send me a message to tell me how you did on the comprehensive science exam, got it?"
The invigilator inside urged, "Which one of you is in this examination room? Hurry up and go in. The papers will be distributed in three minutes."
Teacher Xie Lan nodded, then turned back to look at Dou Sheng and raised the corners of his lips.
"Got it, go back and take your test." He whispered, "Have some faith in me."
"I have great confidence." Dou Sheng turned around and ran to the other end of the corridor, waving his hands as he ran, "Come on!"