45: Ah, the sweet scent of knowledge!

September 29th, Monday, the first monthly exam for grade 12 at Ancheng No. 7 Middle School.

It was called a monthly exam, but it was written as a Joint Exam. Although it was only a Joint Exam between key middle schools in the city's counties and districts, the scale was already quite significant. By the time school ended on Friday, all the examination rooms had already been set up.

For official exams at Ancheng No. 7 Middle School, every student's examination room was arranged according to their ranking in the last major exam.

In his last diagnostic exam, Lin You ranked 257th in the grade. With 50 people per examination room, Lin You was assigned to the sixth examination room.

At 8:30 in the morning, Lin You finally hurried to school. The classroom for grade 12 class 7 on the second floor had also been repurposed as an examination room. Since Lin You arrived very late, he could only go directly to the examination room.

Last night...

Hiss...

He couldn't think about it too much, otherwise he wouldn't be able to take the exam properly today.

All he could say was that it was fortunate the College Entrance Examination had scheduled Chinese Language and Literature as the first subject. Even if Lin You hadn't slept well, with his "metaphysical" approach to Chinese Language and Literature, he might even perform better.

When he arrived at the examination room, Lin You looked up at the wall clock in the classroom. It was already 8:45, only a few minutes away from the 9:00 exam, and the classroom was almost full.

Lin You's seat was the last one in the row near the door, and behind his seat was the back door of the examination room.

Just as Lin You sat down and put down his pen, he felt a gaze from the side in his peripheral vision.

As the top two students in grade 12 class 7, with their scores not far apart in the last exam, Xie Xingmeng was turning around to look at Lin You.

"Why did you come so late?"

Xie Xingmeng, who had recently been competing with Lin You, was a bit surprised by Lin You's lack of seriousness about the exam.

"I studied too late last night and got up late this morning."

Xie Xingmeng's expression changed. She thought to herself, 'As expected of you, Lin You, trying to outdo me again!'

The interaction between Lin You and Xie Xingmeng was very brief. Although she was his "ex-girlfriend" from university, because of Xie Xingmeng's obsession with studying and her serious nature, Lin You and she had never had any close interaction. Without Wang Lian there to liven up the atmosphere, the interaction between the two was just like a robot.

After exchanging pleasantries with Xie Xingmeng, Lin You sat upright in his seat and began to size up this sixth examination room he had never been to before.

Lin You's previous scores had all been below 450, and his rank was usually around the six or seven hundredth place in the grade for science students, so his examination room was always after the tenth one.

Although the Buddies in the later examination rooms were good at making things happen—scratching their ears and cheeks or shaking rubber dice during the exam was quite comical—the sixth examination room at this moment was already permeated with the scent of undergraduate students.

Although after graduating from university, some would end up in factories and others would become corporate slaves, at least everyone present had moved beyond the realm of vocational colleges and had begun to steadily enter the realm of undergraduate studies. Those in the front half of the classroom could even look forward to tier-one universities and Double First Class universities.

For a beauty of the same level, would you choose one from a vocational college or an undergraduate one?

That was the sweet scent of knowledge!

Lin You keenly captured that the girl in the seat in front of him seemed very pretty, cute, and was wearing low double ponytails, which were very rare for high school students these days.

After the teacher entered the examination room and started distributing the test papers, when the girl in front passed the paper to Lin You, her side profile was practically perfect. However, Lin You was here to take an exam, so he only took a few extra looks before collecting his thoughts.

Lin You's Chinese Language and Literature grades relied entirely on metaphysics. His speed in solving problems was not fast, he guessed the multiple-choice questions, and relied on sudden inspiration for the subjective questions.

It wasn't until the memorization of famous passages and sentences that Lin You began to strike hard. This time, everything tested was exactly what Lin You had memorized last night, so he took it down without any effort.

When he started writing the essay, Lin You looked up at the wall clock. There were still more than forty minutes left until the end of the exam at 11:30, so Lin You began to bury his head in writing.

As long as the handwriting in the essay wasn't bad and it didn't go off-topic, one could get forty-something points by mindlessly writing an argumentative essay. If the teacher grading the paper happened to like your writing style and wording, the score might even be higher.

Until five minutes before the end of the exam, Lin You finished writing the essay smoothly. He didn't check it either, just made sure the class and name were correct, put away his pen, leaned back, and waited for the bell to end the exam.

The bell rang, and every student sat upright in their seats. After the teacher finished collecting the test papers, they stood up and left their seats one by one. Lin You stood up, preparing to meet up with Xie Xingmeng and go out together.

The moment he turned around and walked towards Xie Xingmeng, Lin You's eyes caught the slender waist and round hips of the girl in front after she stood up.

Gulp...

Lin You seemed to hear the sound of himself swallowing saliva. He subconsciously took two steps forward, peeking with his peripheral vision, as if he saw a towering mountain peak.

TikTok did not deceive me. It turns out that in real life, there really is such a thing as "slender branches bearing big fruit"...

Lin You, who after "criticizing" the "hot chicks" with "slender branches bearing big fruit" on the internet, would comment "It's photoshopped, too fake," deeply repented for his previous ignorance.

Lin You actually didn't know that in grade 12, there was actually such a... stunning Classmate in the seat in front of him.

After satisfying his eyes, Lin You met up with Xie Xingmeng and walked out of the examination room.

"Are you going to eat with Wang Lian at noon?"

Xie Xingmeng shook her head. "During exams, I'm used to being alone. A Lian likes to compare answers, and it's a bit noisy."

Lin You was a bit speechless: "..."

Xie Xingmeng saw Lin You's expression, realized it, and said: "I can go with you."

Lin You felt a joy in his heart. Could it be that I have something special?

"You've been quite serious lately, and you don't compare answers, right?"

Lin You recalled how every time after an exam in the past, he would gather with the people around him, comparing answers while feeling regretful.

"Of course I don't compare answers. What serious good student compares answers after an exam!"

...

As a poor student with less than 500 points, Wang Lian was in an examination room upstairs. She had a lively personality, and although she was Xie Xingmeng's good best friend, she also got along well with other girls in the class.

Knowing that Xie Xingmeng liked to be alone during exams, she had already found girls among the boarding students in the class, ready to go to the cafeteria to eat together, and go to the girls' dormitory to take a nap at noon.

Just as she was walking down from the third floor and reached the second-floor corridor, Wang Lian glanced out and saw Xie Xingmeng walking with Lin You.

As if struck by lightning from the sky, Wang Lian stood frozen in place.

Xingmeng, didn't you say you like to act alone during exams?!

Wuwuwu... Why is the CP I ship walking together, but my heart hurts so much...

Clearly I was the one who came first...