SYLM Chapter 35

Chapter 35: The End.

The subtle class adjustments concluded without Chen Lu or Jiang Zhen Zhen being moved.

Ultimately, neither student wanted to transfer. Plus, Chen Lu threatened to submit a blank exam paper next time. Gu Wan Jun, the homeroom teacher of Class 12, personally intervened to keep them. Jiang Zhen Zhen’s parents also used their connections to speak with school administrators. Subjected to this “three-pronged attack,” the school principal, Lu Jiang Hong, felt helpless and had to concede.

The top priority was for students to engage in their studies more effectively. Everything else was secondary. If the transfer wasn’t going to happen, it wasn’t going to happen. He would just consider it a slip of the tongue.

—

High school life isn’t just hard; it only gets harder.

Even before senior year, in the second semester of junior year, students were already feeling suffocated by the pressure.

Endless quizzes, unending classes and evening self-study, insufficient breaks, countless exams, and relentless scolding and detentions…

Everyone persevered through this period of heavy workload and increased pressure, relying solely on their willpower.

During this time, many students couldn’t endure it and called in sick.

Chen Lu was a frequent name on the list of students who were often sick.

But she never took a day off.

Because her math foundation was too weak, Chen Lu went to Wang Zhen De’s office to ask math questions whenever she had free time. She also stayed up late at home, frantically doing problems. When she encountered problems she couldn’t solve, she often knocked on Gu Wan Jun’s door across the hall.

Several times, they didn’t figure out the problem until less than three hours before they had to get up.

Chen Lu’s constitution was already weak, and with this constant back and forth, colds, fevers, and migraines became commonplace for her.

Several times, Gu Wan Jun couldn’t bear to watch and suggested that Chen Lu take a day off to rest, but Chen Lu insisted that it was just a minor issue and that she could tough it out with medicine. The class was moving quickly, and if she took even one day off, she might not know where they were when she returned. Moreover, there were many things to do this semester for the proficiency test, so she would avoid taking leave if possible.

Since Chen Lu said so, Gu Wan Jun couldn’t force her to stay home. All she could do was constantly remind Chen Lu to add or remove clothing as needed and make her nutritious meals every few days to nourish her body.

However, after doing it a few times, Chen Lu persuaded her to stop.

Not because it tasted bad.

But because Chen Lu knew that Gu Wan Jun was also working hard every day, and she couldn’t let her wear herself out taking care of her.

—

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

Chen Lu was diligently working to fill the gaps in her math knowledge, while Fu Yi Wen was “forced” to cram for English.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely forced.

After all, English was a core subject worth 150 points on the college entrance exam, and every point counted. If someone was willing to help, Fu Yi Wen herself wanted to study English properly.

However, she didn’t expect Tang Ying to be so frighteningly “strong” when it came to teaching English.

Every time she went to the liberal arts office to talk to her Sun teacher, she was intercepted by Tang Ying as soon as she entered the door, whose desk was near the entrance! That person would immediately drag her off to do English exercises!

At first, Fu Yi Wen tried to resist, but the next second, Tang Ying coldly presented the list showing her English score of 36 points. Fu Yi Wen was immediately speechless and had to obediently do the English exercises that Tang Ying had chosen for her.

If she didn’t do well, she would inevitably be scolded and given a lengthy explanation. If she did well…

Well, up until now, there hadn’t been a time when she did well.

—

The liberal arts office.

When Tang Ying received the nth grammar fill-in-the-blank paper from Fu Yi Wen with only one correct answer, she couldn’t help but curse. Her cold, sharp eyes seemed to want to turn the chubby girl into a sieve.

Damn it, this was the tenth paper, and she still only got one right? Had she been wasting her breath on the previous papers?

The poor paper was almost punctured by Tang Ying’s manicured nails. In the end, she forcibly suppressed her dissatisfaction and tried to explain the questions to Fu Yi Wen without scolding:

“Look at the question. In this sentence, what kind of clause is introduced by ‘that’?”

“What kind of clause?”

“I’m asking you what kind of clause it is, why are you asking me?”

Tang Ying shot her a glare, but the bold Aries seemed not to notice and argued for herself:

“What’s the rush? I’m looking at it! Um… a relative clause?” Fu Yi Wen mumbled softly while glancing at Tang Ying’s expression.

Tang Ying sat in the office chair with her legs crossed, while Fu Yi Wen leaned halfway across the desk in front of her. They were very close.

Their eyes met, and upon hearing the words “relative clause,” Tang Ying crossed her arms, took a deep breath, and her face turned so cold that it could have dropped ice:

“Say it again.”

“Then it’s an object clause?”

“Open your eyes and take a good look. The subject, verb, and object are all there in this sentence. Where did you get an object clause? And didn’t I explain object clauses to you on the last paper? Did you eat them with your rice? Say it again.”

Tang Ying slammed the red pen in her hand on the desk. One could tell from her tone that the anger she was desperately suppressing was about to erupt. But at that moment, a strange thought popped into Fu Yi Wen’s head—

This annoying person’s expression doesn’t even crack when she’s this angry?

Nuwa was definitely biased when she created people.

…

Tang Ying didn’t know what was going on in Fu Yi Wen’s head. Seeing that the chubby girl wasn’t speaking, she impatiently tapped the desk with her bent finger, almost dying of anger:

“What are you looking at? Is there something written on my face? Speak!”

“Oh… then it must be a predicative clause!”

“…” Tang Ying was amused by this. “Are you just guessing with me?”

“Still not right? That’s impossible, I said everything I could say!”

Fu Yi Wen wrinkled her nose, looking puzzled, thinking that Tang Ying might be deliberately tricking her. She didn’t hesitate at all, patted the paper, and asked a question from the soul:

“If this isn’t right and that isn’t right, then what kind of clause does that introduce?”

“Isn’t it obvious that it’s an appositive clause that explains the preceding abstract noun!”

“Appositive clause?” Fu Yi Wen widened her eyes and poked her forehead with a pen, her tone quite serious:

“The English teacher doesn’t seem to have taught this clause. Are you teaching beyond the syllabus?”

“…”

When facing Fu Yi Wen, Tang Ying sometimes really wanted to call the police.

Could being angered to death by a student be considered a work-related injury?

Why did she have to make trouble for herself?

Other students understood as soon as they were told, but how was this chubby girl so clueless?!

…

—

Days passed like this.

One morning on the way to school.

Gu Wan Jun told Chen Lu that a new hotpot restaurant had opened near the school and that she wanted to take Chen Lu to try it after school at noon.

Chen Lu, of course, agreed to Gu Wan Jun’s invitation. She secretly wished for more opportunities like this.

—

Grade 11 (12) class.

Morning self-study continued as before, with quizzes in each subject in order.

Unlike last semester, this semester, those who failed the quizzes not only had to write out dozens of lines of repetitive practice but also had to stay after school for an extra half hour to recite if they didn’t get their names removed from the list by the subject teacher in the morning.

The lunch break was already tight, and there wasn’t enough time to sleep. No one wanted to waste time memorizing quizzes.

Everyone desperately memorized the key points, striving to pass the first time. If they didn’t do well on the quiz, they would immediately go to the subject teachers’ offices to recite and get their names removed from the list as soon as the list of failing students came out.

Of course, there were also some students who didn’t want to memorize the key points and tried to cheat.

For example, they would be nice to the class representative and ask them to secretly swap out their poorly written quizzes. Or they would directly ask the class representative not to write down their names. Before today, Chen Lu, who always got perfect scores on the quizzes, had never heard of or paid attention to these “under-the-table operations.”

…

After the English quiz, while the students in the last row were collecting the papers from back to front, Chen Lu heard Fu Yi Wen mutter behind her:

“I’m done for, I messed up the memorization. Jiang Wen is going to kill me, and Tang Ying is going to kill me too!”

“……”

Taking the opportunity to hand in the quiz, Chen Lu looked back at Fu Yi Wen. Sure enough, the corners of that person’s mouth were almost drooping to the desk.

Since Tang Ying intervened in Fu Yi Wen’s English studies, Fu Yi Wen’s attitude towards English had completely reversed. She started taking out her English booklet to memorize vocabulary at any time and would often ask Chen Lu about grammar while holding the paper.

A few days ago, she even asked Chen Lu if she knew about appositive clauses and whether there really was such a clause.

Although there was still no obvious change in Fu Yi Wen’s English level, quantitative change leads to qualitative change. It was a good thing that her attitude had improved.

As for the rest, she could only pray for the best.

Like the English quiz this morning.

Tang Ying shouldn’t be too harsh, right…?

…

The next subject was math.

Chen Lu had memorized the formulas and definitions that were going to be tested last night. As a result, from the time Gu Wan Jun read the questions to the time she fluently wrote them down and the students in the last row collected the quizzes, Chen Lu didn’t notice anything wrong with what she had written.

She even checked it twice.

However, it wasn’t until ten minutes before the end of morning self-study.

All the quizzes for each subject had been collected and handed over to the class representatives.

Gu Wan Jun asked the math class representative, Jiang Zhen Zhen, to write the correct answers for math on the blackboard in case anyone couldn’t find them. Only then did Chen Lu realize that she had missed a formula in one of the questions.

That formula was summarized by the math teacher, Wang Zhen De, himself, and there was only one in the book.

Chen Lu, who hadn’t listened in class and had no idea that there was another formula, only wrote the one in the book.

…

From the moment she realized that she had missed a formula to the time she came back to her senses, Chen Lu was stunned for several seconds. She first added the unknown formula on the blackboard to her notebook and then turned to ask Fu Yi Wen about this formula during the free time to check answers.

But she found that that person was secretly rewriting the English quiz.

Recognizing at a glance that Fu Yi Wen was writing the English quiz that the English class representative had handed out in the morning, Chen Lu paused for a moment. She subconsciously looked around before lowering her voice and asking:

“What are you doing?”

“Rewriting the quiz. I messed up the memorization on the one I just handed in. I must have gotten at least 10 wrong. Tang Ying is going to twist my ear off if she finds out. I’m rewriting one with fewer mistakes so I can ask the English class representative to swap it out for me later.”

Fu Yi Wen didn’t treat Chen Lu like an outsider and told her everything directly.

Chen Lu was shocked to hear this. She pursed her lips, her expression troubled:

“But… isn’t this lying?”

“Oh my Lu Lu, it can’t be helped. I’m not the only one in our class doing this. We have too many quizzes every day. If we can’t memorize them, we’ll have to stay after school. Who wants to stay in class after school to memorize quizzes?”

“……”

“Oh, right, what did you want to ask me?” Fu Yi Wen stopped writing in the middle of her busyness and looked up at Chen Lu.

“Oh.” Chen Lu came back to her senses and pointed to the formula she had just written.

“This one? This is what Old Wang Head summarized for us, saying it’s convenient and saves steps to use… don’t tell me you didn’t know about it?”

“Yeah, this is the first time I’ve seen this formula.”

“Then you didn’t write it when you were memorizing just now?”

“No.” Chen Lu shook her head, telling the truth.

“Tsk, oh no, it’s all my fault, I forgot to remind you last night!”

Fu Yi Wen bit her lip, looking regretful. The next second, as if she had thought of something, she quickly reminded:

“Well, while there’s still time, rewrite one quickly!”

“Rewrite?”

“Yeah, rewrite one and give it to Zhen Zhen, and let her help you swap it out. Old Wang Head always remembers the names of the failing students himself. If you don’t let Zhen Zhen swap the quiz for you, you’ll have to stay after school at noon. There are five minutes left, enough time to write a new one, hurry up!”

“Can’t I find the teacher to recite in the morning?”

“But you have to be able to find him first. That Old Wang Head is the Party Secretary. He’s always busy. What if he’s not in the office all morning?”

“……”

Chen Lu didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to do this kind of underhanded thing, but she didn’t expect Fu Yi Wen to be right.

—

In order to be able to go out for hotpot with Gu Wan Jun as scheduled at noon, Chen Lu ran to the third floor four times during the four class breaks in the morning to find Wang Zhen De to recite the quiz, but the door of the secretary’s office on the third floor was always locked.

After returning to the class, Chen Lu asked Jiang Zhen Zhen, and Jiang Zhen Zhen said that Wang Zhen De was still in the office when she went to deliver the homework and quizzes during morning self-study, but she didn’t know where he went after that.

Thinking that Chen Lu had a question she didn’t know and wanted to ask the math teacher, Jiang Zhen Zhen said that Chen Lu could ask her instead, but Chen Lu just shook her head and then returned to her seat.

—

During the fourth class break.

Chen Lu came to the third floor again. This time, the door to the secretary’s office was open.

Chen Lu knocked on the door and went in. Wang Zhen De wasn’t there. There was only a young teacher standing at the desk, organizing Party materials.

“Hello, teacher.” Chen Lu nodded and said hello.

“Hello, are you looking for Secretary Wang?”

“Yeah.”

“We just finished a meeting. Secretary Wang should be back in a while.”

“Okay, thank you, teacher.”

Chen Lu thanked softly. She was silently memorizing the math formulas she was going to recite to Wang Zhen De when her eyes inadvertently glanced at the desk, where last night’s homework and this morning’s quiz were placed.

It seemed that neither of them had been graded yet.

…

After finishing organizing the materials, the young teacher took the things and left. Only Chen Lu was left in the office.

The clock on the wall ticked, and Chen Lu stood at the door, silently memorizing the formulas while paying attention to the time.

There were less than two minutes left before class, why hadn’t the math teacher come back yet?

What if he didn’t come back before class started?

Chen Lu pinched the corner of her school uniform, biting her lips anxiously.

Time passed second by second, and another minute passed quickly.

Seeing that class was about to start, even if Wang Zhen De came back now, she probably wouldn’t have time to recite.

Her gaze, which had been looking at the clock, subconsciously turned to the pile of math quizzes on the desk that hadn’t been touched since they were delivered. No one knew what Chen Lu was thinking in those few seconds.

There were more than fifty quizzes in the class. Would it not be noticed if one was missing?

Chen Lu startled herself when this thought popped up. By the time she realized it, she was already standing in front of the desk, with the math quizzes within easy reach.

Looking at the math quizzes that were close at hand, Chen Lu pursed her lips, repeatedly telling herself that she was going to eat hotpot with Gu Wan Jun at noon and absolutely couldn’t stay after school, while “deceiving herself” that she could already memorize the content on the quiz, but she just didn’t have time to recite it to the teacher. It shouldn’t count as lying if she took out the quiz now.

But was it really not lying?

The moment she picked up the quiz, Chen Lu’s palms were sweating, her ears were buzzing, and she seemed to be shaking all over.

No, it’s wrong to do this.

She can’t lie like this.

She almost did something wrong.

The remaining sanity and the bottom line of upholding her original intention withstood the impact of sensibility at the last moment. Chen Lu closed her eyes and took a long breath. She was just about to put the quiz back where it was when—

“You’re still here, student? The bell has rung for class, why haven’t you returned to class yet?”

It was the young teacher from before.

The sudden sound startled Chen Lu. She turned around reflexively, and the quiz she had just put down barely brushed against the fabric of her school uniform. Accidentally, it fell off the desk, scattered everywhere.

Their eyes met, and Chen Lu tightened her palms. She clearly saw the young teacher’s gaze instantly become complicated.

It was over.