Chapter 531: Rainy Days and Finals Go Better Together
Chapter 531 -230: Rainy Days and Finals Go Better Together
The tips of thirty pens broke the tranquility of the answer sheets at almost the exact same moment!
The varied rhythms of scratching pens, like the sound of the rain outside, suddenly filled the entire space.
Shen Yuan’s gaze swept over the exam paper, and he immediately entered a state of deep Concentration.
Outside, raindrops persistently tapped against the glass, a dense and rhythmic sound, as if trying to force their way into this battlefield sheltered from the storm.
Inside the classroom, there was only the incessant rustle of pen on paper, a sound weaving together countless minds racing against time, all united against the bleak winter rain outside.
As ink flowed onto paper, time began its silent, frantic sprint.
Li Zhi occasionally looked up from the sea of questions she was immersed in. Her gaze would drift over the rows of lowered heads, landing precisely on the familiar figure ahead of her.
Shen Yuan was hunched over, his head bowed low, his eyes fixed on the exam paper.
His fingers, gripping the pen, were steady and strong.
Even from a distance, Li Zhi could clearly feel it—that ultimate Concentration that shut out all surrounding noise.
To her, the sound of his pen scratching across the paper seemed clearer and more steady than anyone else’s.
A silent warmth flooded her heart.
Seeing Shen Yuan so completely absorbed, the slight restlessness Li Zhi had felt due to the exam’s difficulty and the gloomy weather instantly subsided.
It was as if just seeing his focused posture gave her strength.
A reassuring sense of pursuing a shared promise.
She took a deep breath, a faint smile touching her lips. Lowering her head, she tightened her grip on her pen and refocused on the questions before her.
That newfound strength filled her fingertips, and her thoughts became clearer and more resolute.
…
Outside, the rain continued its dense, persistent drumming against the glass, a tireless beat.
Amid the rustle of writing and turning pages, time slipped away unnoticed, like rainwater through one’s fingers, leaving no trace.
Two and a half hours.
For those focused on their papers, it felt strangely both compressed and drawn-out.
Shen Yuan’s eyes were on his paper.
Aided by his Concentration, Shen Yuan finished the exam early. He had already checked his answers twice.
“RRRRING—!!!!”
The piercing final bell suddenly shattered the tense silence of the exam room!
The proctor’s stern voice rang out. “Time’s up! Pens down!”
As soon as the words were spoken, thirty hands simultaneously let go of their pens, some dropping them as if they were scalding hot.
The exam room filled with a flurry of rustling, punctuated by the sharp zipping of pencil cases.
Shen Yuan slowly leaned back in his chair and let out a soft sigh.
A wave of exhaustion from the intense Concentration washed over him. His highly-focused mind, like a suddenly slackened string, brought a brief spell of dizziness that was quickly replaced by a sense of complete burnout.
But soon, the effects of Vigorous and Full of Energy rapidly diminished the fatigue.
Behind Shen Yuan, however, Li Zhi didn’t feel tired at all.
For her, the language arts exam had been fine, not too draining.
The proctor started walking down the rows to collect the exams, each steady footstep thudding on the students’ heartstrings.
Slumped in his chair in the back corner, Ah Jie let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
‘Finally, one exam down.’
Outside, the winter rain continued to drizzle. The curtain fell on the joint language arts exam, shrouded in a cold, damp mist.
The moment the exam room doors opened, the hallway erupted into chaos.
“‘The utility of the useless is the greatest utility’? Did the exam creators just finish a philosophy book or something?”
“Don’t even talk about it. I had to force three examples, and I almost couldn’t meet the word count for the last paragraph…”
As the sound of rain mingled with the chorus of complaints, Shen Yuan and Li Zhi exchanged a look and couldn’t help but laugh.
Ah Jie ran a hand through his hair and sighed, but his spirits were still pretty high.
After all, the math exam in the afternoon was his strong suit; he wasn’t worried in the slightest!
‘I can even use the time during the math exam to study vocabulary.’
‘That’s how confident I am!’
With this in mind, Ah Jie gave Shen Yuan a sly nudge with his elbow. “Yuan, you think the math exam this afternoon will be too hard? I mean, after this language arts test…”
His train of thought interrupted, Shen Yuan scowled. Without turning his head, he spat out two words: “Get lost.”
Ah Jie clutched his chest dramatically and took a step back. “Hah! Struck a nerve!”
“I’m going to find Zhuo Peipei right now!”
“Bro! I was wrong! My bad! Let me tell you a joke! Quick, name an idiom that includes the four stages of life: childhood, youth, middle age, and old age.”
Ah Jie answered his own question. “Heh! ‘Exterminate the entire clan’! Didn’t see that coming, did you?”
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes at Ah Jie. “What about an orphan?”
“HSSS—” Ah Jie sucked in a sharp breath.
Li Zhi, standing nearby, let out a soft laugh and tugged on Shen Yuan’s sleeve.
The three of them followed the noisy crowd, disappearing into the gloomy winter day as the rain continued to fall.
Soon enough, Shen Yuan really wished he could shut Ah Jie’s mouth.
In classroom 211, the rain outside had stopped, but the atmosphere inside was replaced by a silent, oppressive tension.
The students’ brows were furrowed, and every one of them looked as if they were facing a formidable foe.
Shen Yuan’s fingers tapped unconsciously against his pen. His eyes were locked on a major math problem, and a fine sweat beaded on his forehead.
‘That dumbass Ah Jie was actually right!’
‘Damn it, this math exam feels even harder than the mid-term joint exam!’
Fortunately, Shen Yuan was no longer the same person he used to be. After a semester of reviewing and grinding through practice problems, his math skills had improved tremendously.
The math was difficult, but Shen Yuan didn’t feel as helpless as he had during the mid-terms.
In contrast to Shen Yuan, Li Zhi, sitting behind him, looked much more relaxed.