Chapter Ten Examination

  Ouyang was startled and trembled, then heard a voice: "Scared?" Ouyang almost shouted out loud. Turning his head to look, the speaker was Chen Juan, and he finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the podium, the teacher was writing something on her own notebook, Ouyang finally relaxed, and said to Chen Juan: "You want to scare me to death?" Chen Juan laughed even harder, then said "Is there anything I can see too?"

  Ouyang thought for a moment and said: "There is indeed, I'll bring it to you tomorrow." Chen Juan nodded and continued her studies.

  For a period of time, Ouyang repeated the same routine every day: waking up early, taking the bus, going to school, taking the bus back home, doing homework, and sleeping. Since he was studying in District C, Ouyang would always get home late, finishing his homework around 10 pm or later, then having to wake up at 5:30 am the next day. This made him feel lethargic every day, and he would often fall asleep during class. Ouyang had a habit of snoring loudly whenever he fell asleep. Every time Chen Juan saw him snoring, she would wake him up to avoid getting caught by the teacher. The price for this was that Ouyang had to recite new extracurricular books to her every week.

  After a period of school life, Ouyang discovered that the students at Fengmao Middle School were really different from those in District D. The students in District D did not have as much attention in class as those at Fengmao Middle School. Moreover, Ouyang found that Fengmao Middle School had very strict rules and discipline. Any student who was late or violated the rules would be announced over the loudspeaker, and their class's honor would be affected. In elementary school, Ouyang thought that having four small red flags meant that each of the four classes had one flag. However, at Fengmao Middle School, eight classes were competing for only two red flags every week. Any mistake could not be made, and Ouyang clearly felt a sense of pressure and tension in class. If he was not careful, he would miss a knowledge point.

  As for studying, the teacher Liu designed a competitive way to encourage students. After each test, whether it was a big exam or a small quiz, Liu would create a paper with all the students' names and scores. Then, she would print out copies of the paper for every student in the class. The students were required to take the paper home and have their parents sign it, giving their opinion on the test results. The students at Fengmao Middle School were very diligent, and if you scored less than 90 points on a test, your ranking would definitely be low in the class. After going home, your parents would criticize you severely. Who wants to hear criticism?

  However, as the saying goes, "above there are policies, below there are countermeasures." Ouyang and Wang Lin had a good relationship with the vendors near the school during this period. Because the school was closed during class hours, every time Ouyang and Wang Lin wanted to buy something, they would rush to the iron fence at the school gate during the few minutes of recess. They would shout to the vendors on the other side, who would then bring over a bunch of people carrying small baskets or pushing carts with drinks, snacks, toilet paper, and other miscellaneous items.

  There was a small episode that Ouyang still laughed about many years later. The classmates in his class knew that Ouyang and Wang Lin were willing to go out and buy things during recess, but they themselves were too lazy to move. So every time, they would ask Ouyang to buy things for them, and of course, the change would become Ouyang's "running fee." One time, the student sitting next to Wang Lin, Mu Yuhan, asked Ouyang to bring back a bottle of Coke and a pack of "tea language." Ouyang was a bit confused and asked, "What is tea language?" As soon as he said this, he regretted it. In less than two seconds, Chen Juan and Mu Yuhan burst out laughing. Chen Juan told Ouyang that "tea language" was actually a type of toilet paper. When Ouyang went to buy it, he asked the vendor for "tea language," and the vendor directly took out a pack of toilet paper from his basket and handed it to Ouyang. Ouyang thought to himself: Why say "tea language" when you can just say toilet paper? Cultural people are really hard to understand.

  Because there are many warehouses opposite the school, they will wait at the gate to sell things after class, so there is also competition among warehouses. Wang Lin did a good job in this regard, buying things from different families each time, so he didn't have to worry about having a bad relationship with any warehouse owner.

  Having a good relationship with the warehouse owners makes everything easy. Whenever Wang Lin's grades weren't good, he would find a warehouse aunt to help him sign his parents' names, so he wouldn't have to go home and listen to their nagging.

  However, there were also times when he got caught. Once, Wang Lin ranked third from last in the class, and he went to ask a nearby warehouse owner for help writing an opinion. As a result, the teacher discovered it the next day, and Liu teacher directly brought Wang Lin's father over from District D.

  Later, Ouyang asked Wang Lin how he got caught, and Wang Lin said expressionlessly: "Have you ever seen someone rank third from last, but their parents' opinion is still 'continue to work hard'?" However, the truth eventually came out. As more and more classmates went to the warehouse to find signatures, they were discovered more and more times, until finally, it was abandoned.

  Before long, the mid-term exam is approaching, Ouyang is both excited and a little fearful. On the one hand, he doesn't know if he will do well in the exam, on the other hand, he also looks forward to the examination method of C District's key primary school.

  "What? You said the exam is two days, and the second day is only half a day, then we're off in the afternoon?" On the eve of the exam, on the commute home. Ouyang was surprised when Wang Lin told him this news. "How about you want to finish the exam and continue with class?" Xue Mei laughed and said. "No, I just have an idea, let's go visit Teacher Li, how about it?" Ouyang replied. "Ah, I think that's a good idea." Li Jun, who was in front, spoke up first, "We haven't visited the teacher for a long time since we graduated from D district, should we buy something?"

  "I've decided to go to the flower shop and buy some flowers for the teacher," said Ouyang. "Giving flowers is too common, I plan to buy some children's goods for Little Hu."

  Mr. Li in their mouths is their elementary school class teacher, and Xiao Hu is Mr. Li's child.

  "It's settled then, we'll go on the afternoon of the second day after the exam." Everyone nodded in agreement after Ou Yang finished speaking.

  That night, Ouyang was reviewing the material for the next day's exam. His mother, Feng Hongyan, brought a cup of hot milk and quietly placed it on the edge of Ouyang's desk. Then she sat down in a chair and gazed at little Ouyang silently. It wasn't clear when this started, but every night at 10 o'clock, his mother would put a cup of hot milk on the table. Feng Qinglian had said that drinking hot milk before bed helped you sleep better, so Feng Hongyan was using this way to remind little Ouyang it was time for bed. Ouyang turned to Feng Hongyan and asked, "Mom, are you saying I'll do well tomorrow?" Feng Hongyan stroked little Ouyang's head and smiled, saying, "The other subjects will be fine, but English must be good; don't embarrass your English teacher." Ouyang nodded vigorously, "Of course I know that."

  At night, Ouyang fell asleep. Feng Hongyan covered Ouyang with a quilt and then returned to her own room. Feng Qinglian had already gone to bed early. Feng Hongyan picked up the phone and dialed the number. On the other end of the line was Ouyang Mubo's voice.

  "What I told you about, what do you think? That's our son's business," Feng Hongyan said.

  "Uh-huh, okay, you take care of the purchase, and it's better to move in as soon as possible." Ouyang Mubo said over the phone. Feng Hongyan couldn't tell whether his tone was good or bad, so she hung up.

  The next morning, Ouyang got up early. Feng Hongyan made noodles for Ouyang and gave him 50 yuan. Then she said to Ouyang: "Take the exam well, I won't pack lunch for you today. Mom has something to do in District C, so you can eat out at noon."

  "Uh, okay, so you're coming back tonight, right?" Ouyang said while eating noodles. Feng Hongyan nodded, and outside the kitchen, Mais was packing up his backpack to leave. Feng Qinglian said to Mais, "The test results will be out today, and tonight your dad is taking us out to dinner. Your aunt might not be able to make it back, so remember if you didn't do well, don't take out your test scores." Mais nodded and left after putting on his shoes.

  Ouyang finished eating his noodles and asked Grandma, "Are we going to the restaurant tonight?" Feng Qinglian nodded, "Your uncle got promoted and wants to treat us to a good time. There might be some surprises, so do well on your test today, did you hear that?" Ouyang vigorously nodded.

  On the radio playing in the background, a voice said, "The next song is 'Wishing You Peace' dedicated by Ms. Feng Hongyan to her son Ouyang Chenxi. Ms. Feng wishes her child all the best for his exams." Ouyang looked at his mother, who was cleaning up the dishes and turned around with a smile, saying "Be careful on your way, come back after finishing your test."

  This day's exam, Ouyang felt not bad. The first subject was Chinese, which had always been his strong point since he was a kid. The second subject was English, and Ouyang thought he did okay on it too, at least he understood the listening part. Plus, they were going to a restaurant later that night, so Ouyang's mood was naturally great. He skipped and jumped all the way home.

  When he got home, Mais was already there. Ouyang saw that Mais' face looked a bit off, so he went over to ask: "What's wrong? We're about to go eat good food, why aren't you excited?" Mais didn't say anything, but after a while, his dad, who is also Ouyang's uncle, came back and started getting everyone ready to go out for dinner.

  As they were leaving the house, Ouyang was about to hail a taxi when his uncle said: "No need, I just bought this car and I'll drive us there. It's good practice since I just got my license." Ouyang looked over and saw that it was a van, which was perfect for practicing driving.

  Mais' mom, Feng Qinglian, smiled and nodded in agreement when she heard Ouyang say: "This is what they call a surprise!" She herself hadn't expected to be able to ride in a car driven by her family member in her lifetime.

  When they arrived at the restaurant, Mais' dad asked him if he had received his mid-term exam scores yet. Mais said that the school would announce them four days later, and then there would be a parent-teacher conference. Feng Qinglian quickly intervened before Mais' face fell, which made Ouyang realize why Mais had looked so strange earlier - probably because he hadn't done well on the exam.

  Mais' dad didn't ask any more questions, and they all ate dinner together. Afterward, Mais' dad drove them home and then went back himself. Mais asked Feng Qinglian: "Grandma, what about the parent-teacher conference?" Feng Hongyan said: "Your dad is always drinking and will probably forget about it in a few days. I'll go with you to the conference instead."

  Mais felt relieved when he heard this. Ouyang quietly asked him: "How many points did you get?" Mais' face turned red as he replied: "40, 50, 60." Ouyang knew that this meant Mais had scored in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Given his uncle's personality, it was better not to let him know about Mais' scores, or else he would probably get scolded.

  One night passed, and the next day, Ou Yang's most worried math exam arrived. It was still 70% written and 30% multiple-choice questions. Ou Yang seemed to be naturally uninterested in mathematics, no matter how hard he studied, he just couldn't understand it. However, after the curriculum reform, Ou Yang felt that the exam questions were a bit simpler than those rigid math problems they used to do in elementary school. No matter how well he did, at least his answer sheet was filled up. After finishing the exam, Ou Yang took the bus with his little friends and arrived at their elementary school's new address.