Chapter 419 - 208: Under the Desk, Two People’s Hands
Chapter 419: Chapter 208: Under the Desk, Two People’s Hands
At this thought, He Zhiyu practically melted.
’So what if he’s a little devious? Let me savor this sweetness, let me savor it!’
He Zhiyu composed herself, saw Shen Yuan and Li Zhi already walking off, and quickly hurried to catch up.
"Hey, hey, wait for me, Zhizhi!"
...
The examination hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, the only sound the soft rustle of pens on paper.
Shen Yuan lowered his gaze, focusing on the monthly math exam paper before him.
When the papers were handed out, Shen Yuan had already given the questions a quick look.
Generally speaking, the questions were definitely less difficult than on the joint exam, probably because the teachers saw how much the school-wide math scores had dropped last time.
So they went a little easier on the students.
But for Shen Yuan... it wasn’t a big deal.
While he probably couldn’t get a crazy score like 140 or higher, Shen Yuan felt that getting around 120 wouldn’t be a problem.
All his hard work over the past half-month, cramming questions to the point of forgetting to eat or sleep, hadn’t been for nothing.
His fingertips tapped lightly on the desk. As Shen Yuan’s mind gradually sank into the test paper before him, [Concentration] quietly activated.
Almost instantly, a strange sense of detachment washed over Shen Yuan.
The faint yet distracting background noise of the examination hall was suddenly muffled, as if by a thick pane of frosted glass. It instantly lost its power to disturb his thoughts, fading into a blurry, distant, and insignificant hum.
In its place, the test paper at the center of his vision became exceptionally clear.
In fact, during the weekly quizzes, Shen Yuan had already discovered that the Concentration skill wasn’t just useful for studying—it was even more amazing for taking tests!
As long as he focused his mind just a little, he could instantly enter the zone and start blazing through the problems.
Any trace of nervousness would vanish completely. All that was left was to blaze through the problems.
He didn’t have to worry at all about underperforming on the test.
Time flowed by silently, marked only by the rustling of his pen.
Multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, long-form problems... he tackled them one by one.
Shen Yuan’s handwriting was steady and smooth, and his calculations on the scratch paper were clear and methodical.
His thought process wasn’t one of lightning-fast leaps of insight, but rather like a steady, powerful stream flowing along its designated course.
Finally, he derived the complete solution for the last long-form problem, the answer written clearly on his answer sheet.
Looking at the completed paper, Shen Yuan didn’t exit his state of Concentration. Instead, he began to carefully check his work.
"RRRRING—"
The sharp ring of the bell, signaling the end of the exam, pierced the stagnant air of the hall!
Shen Yuan put down his pen and let out a silent sigh of relief.
He lifted his hand. His knuckles were stiff from gripping the pen tightly for so long, and his palm was slick with a thin layer of sweat.
The tension in his shoulders and neck slowly eased. The deep exhaustion that follows intense concentration washed over him like a receding tide, slow but undeniable, creeping back into his limbs.
But before long, his own vigorous energy slowly began to suppress that sense of fatigue.
By the time the proctor had collected all the papers, Shen Yuan had already shaken off most of his exhaustion.
He picked up his clear folder, and just as he was walking out the door, a familiar figure bustled through the crowd and appeared in front of him.
"Yuan!" Zhou Shaojie’s face was flushed with excitement, his eyes shining brightly.
Zhou Shaojie had been in the same examination hall as Shen Yuan for this monthly test.
The two of them left the hall and walked back to their classroom, with Zhou Shaojie asking Shen Yuan how the test went the entire way.
There was a simple reason for his curiosity: he had witnessed Shen Yuan’s study process over the past half-month.
From Ah Jie’s perspective, "intense" was no longer enough to describe it; it was borderline terrifying.
’Who the hell studies that intensely every single day!’
That was why Zhou Shaojie was so eager to know how Shen Yuan had done on the test.
’It’s a classic underdog story!’
Ah Jie eagerly started comparing answers to the math problems with Shen Yuan, who was happy to oblige.
After all, Ah Jie’s math scores were famously among the best in their class. By comparing answers with him, Shen Yuan could get a rough idea of his own score.
As long as he hadn’t forgotten what his own answers were, that is.
When the two of them got back to the classroom, Li Zhi was already at her desk.
You could only say that for this monthly exam, Li Bao had gotten the luckiest seat assignment of all.
Shen Yuan put his things on his desk and glanced at Li Zhi’s. The label stuck to it didn’t have a name, but Shen Yuan knew it was her exam number.
She didn’t even have to move after finishing the test.
"Ready to go eat?" Shen Yuan asked, looking at Li Zhi.
Li Zhi nodded.
Shen Yuan turned to Ah Jie. "Let’s go. Stop comparing answers and let’s get some food."
Ah Jie paused for a second, then immediately called for Yang Ze and the others to go eat with them.
The hallway was packed with students heading to dinner after the exam, and a wave of noise washed over them.
It was deep winter in December, and at five in the evening, the sky was already completely dark.
The inky darkness had swallowed the sunset early, and the biting cold seemed to pierce through their thick clothes and seep into their bones.
Outside the building, the campus paths glowed coldly under the streetlights, and the bluestone pavement seemed to be coated in an invisible layer of thin ice.
The group pulled their jackets tighter, hunched their shoulders against the cold, and merged into the stream of students heading for the cafeteria.
Just as they stepped out of the academic building, He Zhiyu let out a sharp "HISS" from the cold and buried half her face in her scarf.
Yang Ze stomped his feet hard. "Damn, it gets dark way too fast! And it’s as cold as an icebox!"
"I feel like my soul’s about to freeze and fly away!" Ah Jie exclaimed dramatically, hopping on his feet and rubbing his arms. The wind tore his words to shreds.
"This goddamn weather, and they won’t even turn the classroom heating on!"