MM | Chapter 5

Moving

It was Monday, and with a slight curriculum adjustment, the class committee rep went to the office before evening self-study and returned with a brand-new schedule, posting it on the bulletin board.

Sheng Wang squinted at it for a few seconds, then tapped Gao Tianyang and asked, “Why are there subject names in the two evening slots?”

“Hmm? Which two slots?” Gao Tianyang was buried in his desk, replying to messages, not quite catching what Sheng Wang was asking.

“The schedule on the bulletin board.” Sheng Wang stopped twirling his pen and pointed in that direction. “It says physics tonight.”

“The schedule?”

“Yeah.”

Gao Tianyang looked up at the front, froze for about three seconds, then suddenly turned and asked, “You’re sitting in the second-to-last row, and you can read the schedule?”

“I can.”

“Do you have a microscope attached to your face?”

Sheng Wang slowly and clearly said, “Get lost.”

“No, I’m just expressing my shock. Look around, haven’t you noticed you’re the only one in our class who’s not nearsighted?” Gao Tianyang said.

Without turning his head, Sheng Wang pointed his thumb behind him and, inexplicably lowering his voice, asked, “He doesn’t wear glasses, is he not human?”

Gao Tianyang, however, didn’t catch on and continued in a normal volume, “Tian-ge just doesn’t wear them usually. Wait until class starts.”

Sheng Wang thought to himself, what nonsense are you spouting so loudly?

Fortunately, Jiang Tian was napping during the break and didn’t hear anything.

Sheng Wang was puzzled. Why did this guy seem so sleep-deprived every day, like a thief at night? Was he staying up late to study?

Lost in thought, the people in the front row started buzzing.

The class committee rep’s voice carried over clearly, filled with gossip, “Really, I don’t know what happened, but when I went into the office, the teachers were all worked up, excitedly chatting away.”

“What were they saying?”

“I didn’t hear, they calmed down as soon as I went in.”

“Then why mention it?”

Gao Tianyang, always an active participant, jumped into the discussion, crossing two desks to join in. So, Sheng Wang’s initial question went unanswered.

But soon, the answer came to him.

Not long after the evening self-study bell rang, Homeroom Teacher He Jin walked into the classroom with a stack of papers, naturally spreading them on the podium. Then she went to pull the board behind her and said, “The weekly exam papers are out. Tonight, we’ll go over them.”

So, Sheng Wang realized—

In this unlucky school, evening self-study wasn’t really self-study but actual classes! Every night from Monday to Friday, a different subject was scheduled.

Now the problem was…

Daytime classes assigned homework. Math, physics, and chemistry were straightforward, each with a practice sheet. Chinese was slightly more humane, only giving two reading comprehension exercises. The only mercy was English, as there was no English class that day.

In total, there were about eight sheets of paper. With no self-study during evening classes, when were these supposed to be done???

Sheng Wang felt suffocated.

After He Jin finished her opening remarks, she picked up the papers in front of her and shook them, “You’re all curious about how you did, right? Let me share my overall impression. I think you might have relaxed your brains a bit too much over the summer break.”

No one spoke, but a few lips moved, probably complaining that ten days hardly qualified as a summer break.

“Overall performance wasn’t as good as the last exams of last semester. The pace was slower, obvious from the graded papers. It’s not that you didn’t know the answers, but you didn’t have time to write them properly. Some of you were shaking so much on the last question, I almost couldn’t bear to mark it wrong—”

She relaxed her expression a bit, joking, “So I just deducted points and took 2 points off the paper score.”

Someone in the classroom couldn’t hold back and let out a whimper.

He Jin said, “Whimpering? Does whining help?”

More than forty students replied in unison, dragging out the sound, “No, whimper—”

Sheng Wang: “…”

Is this stress-induced madness for the whole class?

He Jin laughed, unfazed, clearly used to it, “I know this is your old habit, every break you come back like this. I don’t want to nag, but can you keep it in mind?”

The whole class dragged out, “Yes.”

He Jin pointed at them, “Liars.”

The class burst into laughter.

“You have the nerve to laugh!” He Jin continued, “This time, the class average was lower than the last exam. Some of you really put in a lot of effort to bring the scores down.”

Most of the class was tactful and didn’t look at anyone, preserving some dignity. But some couldn’t help stretching their necks to look around.

In that moment, Sheng Wang felt like a spotlight was on him, with at least five or six people looking his way.

He Jin adjusted her glasses, “What are you looking at? Haven’t even got your papers yet, and you’re already looking at the new student! I was just about to address this. Sheng Wang joined our class on Saturday and hadn’t learned any of the exam content. But according to the usual conversion, he scored in the B tier for physics and chemistry, and his total for Chinese, math, and English exceeded 300. In the college entrance exam, that’s enough for a bachelor’s degree. He achieved this with just one day.”

She held up a finger, her gaze landing on Sheng Wang, smiling at him.

The classroom was silent for three seconds, then erupted.

Over forty heads turned simultaneously, more than eighty eyes on him. Sheng Wang felt like he was on display.

He forced a dry smile, twirling his pen, planning to drop it tactically. By bending down to pick it up, he could wait until everyone turned back.

But he accidentally flicked the pen too hard, and it spun twice, landing behind him.

Great, it hit the Plague God.

Sheng Wang turned back awkwardly, only to pause.

During class, Jiang Tian was actually wearing glasses. The lenses were thin, and from Sheng Wang’s limited understanding, they didn’t seem too strong. The fine tobacco-colored frames circled around, which on others might add a scholarly air, but Jiang Tian was an exception.

The cold white light above reflected off his lenses, giving his eyes a cool sheen. He was a capital “Not Happy.”

The pen rolled onto the desk, drawing a crooked line on his arm, stark against his pale skin.

He looked up, staring at Sheng Wang for a few seconds, then picked up the pen and capped it.

“Thanks.” Sheng Wang thought he was about to hand it over, so he prepared to apologize. But just as he opened his mouth, Jiang Tian placed the capped pen heavily in front of himself, showing no intention of returning it.

“What are you doing?” Sheng Wang asked.

Jiang Tian, now looking at the blackboard, said, “To keep you from being careless again.”

Sheng Wang: “???”

“What’s going on?” He Jin asked from the podium.

Sheng Wang couldn’t bring himself to do something as silly as complain to the teacher, so he turned back and smiled at He Jin, “Nothing, teacher. Director Xu told me to consult Jiang Tian more, so I was just asking when I might pass.”

The classmates burst into laughter, no longer staring directly at him.

He Jin laughed as well, “Indeed, if you look at the paper scores, you’re still a bit short of passing in math, physics, and chemistry. But you’re not far off. A little more consolidation will do. Reaching this level in one night shows you have a very, very strong learning ability.”

She used two “very”s to praise him, and Sheng Wang shamelessly agreed in his heart: You’re right.

“However, in subjects like math, physics, and chemistry, the basics are easy to grasp, but once you reach a certain level, every point becomes harder to earn.”

He Jin spoke while sorting the papers into groups, handing them to the first person in each group to find their papers and pass them back.

When Sheng Wang received his, there were only two left. One was his, and the other was Jiang Tian’s. His one day’s effort showed enough ability to impress the teacher and most classmates, but when he saw Jiang Tian’s score, he tucked his tail back in.

Because Jiang Tian had a perfect score.

Damn.

Sheng Wang muttered silently, then held up the paper and said to Jiang Tian, “Want your paper? Give me the pen, and I’ll give you the paper. A fair trade.”

Jiang Tian glanced at the paper, “No money.”

After saying that, the top scorer took off his glasses, pulled out the stack of homework assigned during the day, and started working with the borrowed pen.

Sheng Wang felt stifled.

Going over the papers might be a hassle for the teacher, but it wasn’t too bad for the students. Class A was notoriously unruly, with almost everyone having two sets of papers on their desks—one from the exam and the other the homework.

While He Jin explained the problems, the students alternated between two pens. They’d pick up a red pen to correct and take notes when they heard their mistakes, and for the rest of the time, they were focused on their homework.

They switched between tasks with practiced ease, clearly seasoned veterans.

Sheng Wang glanced around, muttering, “If life forces me,” then reached into his desk for his homework.

Evening self-study ended at 8 p.m., and Gao Tianyang and the others, as if they’d gotten a great deal, cheered “Awesome!” and rushed out with their backpacks.

Sheng Wang zipped up his backpack, planning to call Uncle Xiao Chen, but received a call from Sheng Mingyang instead.

“What do you want?” Sheng Wang was puzzled for a moment, then suddenly remembered that today was the day Sheng Mingyang was helping Jiang Ou and Jiang Tian move. Meaning from tonight, there would be two more people in the large ancestral courtyard in Baima Lane.

Sure enough, Sheng Mingyang sweet-talked his son over the phone before getting to the point, “Evening self-study is over, right? Xiao Chen should be near the school gate. Bring Xiao Tian home with you.”

Tch.

The young master clicked his tongue, thinking if you want to bring him, do it yourself. Why should I care? A grown person, and you have to remind me, as if he’d sprout legs and run off.

Annoyed by the call, Sheng Wang said irritably, “He’s sitting right behind me. If you need something, find him yourself.” With that, he turned to hand the phone to the back desk, only to find it empty. That bastard Jiang Tian had actually sprouted legs and run off.