Last time, Lin Jinran ranked sixth in the class and tenth in the grade. Not bad. Her grades were steadily improving. Lin Jinran's eyes curved into a smile. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before she reached the second place in the grade. Maybe she could achieve it by the end of this semester.
As for getting the first place in the grade?
Outside the window, the honey - colored sunset cast golden glints like broken gold on the classroom desks. The ceiling fan was slowly rotating. The boy beside her was bathed in a faint golden glow.
Sensing Lin Jinran's gaze, Su Qinian stopped writing, looked up, and smiled gently. His jet - black eyes sparkled like thousands of stars. "Are you thinking about surpassing me?" he asked.
Lin Jinran nodded, her eyes firm.
The boy hooked his lips. His beautiful phoenix eyes glistened. His tone was soft, but his words were ruthless. "Wait until next semester."
Lin Jinran: "..."
She knew it. Her beautiful fantasy was shattered instantly.
During the first evening self - study session, the sports committee member rushed into the classroom in a hurry and announced an exciting piece of news. "There will be a sports meet at the beginning of the month. Is there anyone who wants to participate?"
"What events are there?" someone shouted listlessly. "At the beginning of the month? Could it be the beginning of November? Dude, it's already the end of October. Announcing this now and asking us to participate is clearly making fun of us."
The sports committee member responded righteously. "Yes, it's making fun of us."
Everyone looked at the sports committee member in unison.
Lin Jinran put down her pen and watched with interest. She murmured softly. "How come I never noticed before that the sports committee member has such a funny side? He's on a par with Lu Youchuan."
Poor Lu Youchuan, who was hit by this innocent remark: Thank you, Sister Lin.
"The school originally planned that we senior three students would only watch the opening ceremony and not participate. But later, for some reason, they were kind enough to give us one day for sports activities."
Everyone: "It feels like a corpse is warming up. Great."
"Let's be quick and try to finish all the sign - ups this class. Eh, the projector is broken?" The sports committee member opened it and saw it was black. His face turned as black as charcoal.
"What about the class tomorrow? Forget it. I'll write it on the blackboard. You can sign up according to it. I'll submit all the event lists during the last evening self - study session."
The sports committee member quickly wrote on the blackboard and then stepped down.
Su Qinian took a book and walked up to the podium. He glanced at the full blackboard and shook his head helplessly. "It's really like when it rains, it pours. The projector is broken again."
"The Chinese teacher asked us to copy the answers of this monthly exam paper, especially the answers to the subjective questions, word for word, so that we can compare them with our own answers. The Chinese class representative is on leave. I'll do this job for this class. We need to give this set of answers to the class next door during the next class, so let's hurry up."
The students below took out their Chinese test papers one after another. They held a pen in one hand and the test paper in the other, looking at Su Qinian eagerly with both eyes.
They were just like good babies waiting to be fed by Mom Su.
Lin Jinran held back her laughter. She trembled as she held the pen and kept her head down. Her shoulders were clearly shaking.
Su Qinian looked across the crowd and had a question mark in his head.
"Monitor, when shall we start? We're ready. Hurry up. The sooner it's over, the better." someone shouted.
"Let's start now. Everyone, listen carefully." He deliberately raised his voice, as if reminding the girl who was laughing uncontrollably below. "The answer to the first multiple - choice question is A."
Lin Jinran quickly glanced at her own test paper. It was A. No problem. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Su Qinian's test paper on the table. She leaned over to take a look. Goodness, it was his own Chinese test paper, and he didn't even take it up to copy.
She looked at Su Qinian who was shouting the answer analysis beside the podium. After hesitating for a while, she pulled over his test paper and copied for him as well.
Lin Jinran remembered that Su Qinian had just been out of the hospital and shouldn't be over - tired. He was shouting at the top of his voice up there and also had to write quickly down here. He would surely be exhausted.
"For Material One, first put forward Lessing's view that poetry and painting are not of the same nature. Then tell the story of the 'Trojan Horse' to introduce the background of the theory of the heterogeneity of poetry and painting."
"Have you finished writing this sentence?" Su Qinian shifted his gaze from the answer on the test paper and asked.
Lin Jinran had just finished copying Su Qinian's test paper. Now there was another sentence. She hadn't written a single word yet. She was writing so fast that her pen was almost smoking. She kept her head down all the time.
Others only had to copy one set of answers, but she had to copy two.
"Finished, finished. Next sentence, next sentence." Xie Wanyu, who was sitting in front, echoed.
"Wait a minute. There are still people who haven't finished copying." Su Qinian said softly.
After Lin Jinran finished copying the latest sentence on her own test paper, she quickly went to copy it on Su Qinian's test paper, just copying directly from her own test paper.
Su Qinian had been paying attention to Lin Jinran's progress. Seeing that she stopped writing and finally finished copying, a faint smile appeared in his eyes. He continued to read. "Then explore the reasons why poetry and painting are not of the same nature. Finally, supplement that although poetry and painting are not of the same nature, they can complement each other."
"Okay, continue, continue." Lu Youchuan urged.
Su Qinian gave him a threatening look. Lu Youchuan immediately shut up, wondering what he had done to offend the dear monitor.
Following his gaze, he saw Lin Jinran still writing quickly.
Oh, so that's it. Lu Youchuan suddenly understood.
Lin Jinran finished copying the latest sentence and went to copy it on Su Qinian's test paper. Halfway through, there was a new sentence. She turned to copy it on her own test paper. Back and forth like this, her hand was numb.
After Su Qinian finished reading a sentence, he waited for Lin Jinran slowly. In order to finish reading before class ended, he didn't leave Lin Jinran much time each time.
"Monitor, why don't you continue reading? Don't delay the whole class because of someone. Her time is precious, but isn't our time? If we keep waiting for her, it will be almost time for class to end. Are we still going to copy or not!"
Zhang Qiaozhi, who was bored after copying for the Nth time, suddenly noticed this detail and exploded. She shouted angrily.
Lin Jinran, who was writing quickly, stopped and looked up at Zhang Qiaozhi. No one else had any objections. Only she did.
But it was really her own problem. Lin Jinran said calmly. "Sorry. I'll hurry up."
"Lin Jinran is not writing that slowly. Just be more understanding. There's still plenty of time."
"Yeah. Actually, I'm only a little faster than Lin Jinran. Does that mean I'll be scolded later?"
"Alas. Those who don't have fast writing speed deserve to be scolded. What's wrong with this world?"
Zhang Qiaozhi's angry shout seemed like a joke.
Su Qinian glanced at Zhang Qiaozhi. There was no emotion in his eyes. He knocked on the side of the podium and said lazily. "Lin Jinran, come here to copy. There's still a stool here."