The next day, Lin Jinran walked to the classroom door with her schoolbag on her back. From afar, she saw a large crowd blocking the door of the teachers' office at the other end, looking like a dark mass. Was this... the exam results out?
Lin Jinran raised her eyebrows, and her hand clutching the schoolbag strap tightened involuntarily.
She stopped beside the door, hesitating to move forward.
Although it was just a few steps away, Lin Jinran just stood there in a daze, never taking a few steps forward to push through the crowd and inquire about the results.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm. Lin Jinran, along with her schoolbag, leaned in the direction of the force. She turned her head blankly, and in her enlarged pupils was the figure of Xie Wanyu.
"What should I do, what should I do, what should I do? The results are out. I'm so nervous," Xie Wanyu said nervously as she grabbed Lin Jinran's arm.
"This feeling is so terrible. Wuwuwu, Lin Jinran, I'm so scared," Xie Wanyu said, pulling a bit harder. She stared in the direction of the office, pursing her lips, looking worried.
Lin Jinran was helpless. She patted Xie Wanyu and said softly, "It's okay, Xie Wanyu. Didn't you check the answers last night? You did quite well."
"I'll be relieved with your words," Xie Wanyu said as she followed Lin Jinran into the classroom.
Lin Jinran comforted her for a while longer and then returned to her seat.
Su Qinian was sitting in his seat, looking down at the test papers. When he saw Lin Jinran coming, he said casually, "You're here."
Lin Jinran nodded, put down her schoolbag, and spread out the test papers from this exam to study the wrong answers.
As the morning reading was approaching, a group of people entered the classroom. Apparently, they were the same group who had been blocking the teachers' office just now, vying to see the results.
Some were beaming, while others were frowning. Basically, one could tell that they had seen their results.
Lin Jinran looked up at them, suppressing the curiosity in her heart, and lowered her head to continue correcting the wrong answers.
The hand holding the pen was writing formulas on the scratch paper for calculations. As she wrote, the formulas gradually became messy and turned into scribbles, and the knowledge points just couldn't sink into her head.
"Lin Jinran, if you can't figure it out, stop writing," the person beside her suddenly said.
Lin Jinran was stunned for a moment upon hearing this and obediently put down her pen.
She stared at the scribbles on the scratch paper, sighed, and muttered, "Oh, it's really nerve - wracking. Su Qinian, aren't you curious about your own grade ranking?"
"Sure, I'm curious," Su Qinian said calmly. "But what's the use of being curious? We still have to study, and this won't be the last exam."
"Before everything is set in stone, we shouldn't stop moving forward," the boy said calmly with a deep and determined look in his eyes. When he said this indifferently, there was an irresistible determination to keep moving forward.
Lin Jinran turned her head to look at him. What came into view was Su Qinian's firm side - face. The sunlight behind him was spreading wantonly in the corridor, and some of it gently landed on his body.
Seeing this scene, Lin Jinran's heart gradually calmed down. She curved her lips and said, "I understand."
In the distance, Tsinghua University and Peking University were waiting for her.
Her mother was waiting for her in the hospital.
Lin Jinran took a deep breath, picked up her pen again, and concentrated on writing the wrong answers.
However, this calm didn't last long.
Suddenly, someone rushed into the classroom from the door. The person stopped abruptly in front of Lin Jinran's desk, out of breath.
Lin Jinran looked up curiously. It was Tao Wan. She rarely saw Tao Wan in such a hurry. Thinking that something had happened, she asked worriedly, "What's wrong, Tao Wan?"
"Lin Jinran, do you know? You got the first place in Chinese in the class! And the first in the grade!"
Tao Wan shouted excitedly, attracting the attention of the surrounding classmates.
"I got the first place in Chinese in the class and the grade?" Caught off - guard by this news, Lin Jinran's mind went blank at first. She repeated it blankly, and as her consciousness gradually returned, joy crept onto her lips and couldn't be suppressed.
"Tao Wan, are you serious? I got the first place in Chinese?"
"It's true. You got 134 points. Lin Jinran, you're really amazing. You got the first place in Chinese in the whole grade. The rankings will probably come out this afternoon at the earliest," Tao Wan said with bright eyes and a smiling mouth. She seemed even happier than if she had done well herself.
"Lin Jinran got 134 points in Chinese?" Zhang Qiaozhi, who happened to pass by behind, heard this news and looked at Tao Wan with a complex look in her eyes.
"Yes, I saw it on the grade sheet. I'm so envious of Lin Jinran. She's good - looking and has good grades," Tao Wan praised vigorously. "If I were half as good - looking as Lin Jinran, I'd be satisfied."
"Come on, Tao Wan. You're good - looking yourself. Don't be so modest," Lin Jinran said with a slightly blushing face, obviously embarrassed by the praise.
Standing not far away, Zhang Qiaozhi saw that Su Qinian was smiling and looking at Lin Jinran attentively and tenderly.
Zhang Qiaozhi sneered, then turned around and returned to her seat.
As Tao Wan had said, the grade rankings came out after the first big class in the afternoon. The head teacher asked a passing student to take them and post them at the back of the classroom.
"Hey, don't push me. Can I just take a look?"
"Damn it, I actually improved. I didn't regress."
"Could you move a bit? You're blocking my view."
"Damn it, I'm going to be called by the head teacher for a talk."
There were successive conversations coming from the back.
"Lin Jinran, do you want to see your grades?" Su Qinian asked.
"Sure, but there are so many people at the back now, and class is about to start again. I definitely won't be able to see it," Lin Jinran said in a frustrated voice, scratching her hair.
"It's okay. It's still early to see them now," Su Qinian said as he put down his pen and stood up.
Lin Jinran blurted out, "Is that okay?"
"Of course it is," Su Qinian said with a smile.
"Okay, I trust you," she said as she also stood up and followed Su Qinian to the back.
The two stopped outside the crowd looking at the grades.
Lin Jinran signaled with her eyes and asked, "How can we see it?"
Su Qinian coughed, and a hint of unnatural red appeared on his ears.
Lin Jinran looked at him curiously, full of puzzlement.
With so many people, could Su Qinian really do it?
"Whose money is on the ground? It seems there's more than one bill," Su Qinian raised his voice and shouted.
Huh?
Lin Jinran's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Su Qinian.
So Su Qinian could be so naughty sometimes.
The students who were looking at the grades immediately bent down to look for the money. Without the crowd blocking, the grade sheet was clearly revealed.
"Hey, where's the money? There's no money on the ground."
"Move aside, move aside. Maybe it's my money that's lost."
"Quickly look," Su Qinian patted the stunned Lin Jinran and urged her.
Lin Jinran suppressed her laughter, tiptoed closer, and scanned the sheet quickly.
She saw her name on the twelfth line.
She ranked twenty - second in the class and fifty - sixth in the grade.