Chapter 22 - Exams
“I am backward in my thinking! Why did you not set an example for me? In short, if you uses the Ding’s family old rules and thinking on Nan Nan, I will not let you off!”
With that, Qiao Dongliang got up from bed, took his pillow and blanket and went to sleep in the study room. He did not wish to share a bed with Ding Jiayi any more.
He did not care how the Ding family treated people, but he would not allow his daughter to be treated like that!
“You… you, where are you going?” Ding Jiayi was dumbfounded. Old Qiao refused to share a bed with her just because of that wretched girl?
On the next day, Qiao Dongliang was just his usual self; but Ding Jiayi’s eyes were puffy red and swollen. She had obviously been crying.
Qiao Nan started school at an earlier time than Qiao Zijin. She went out early in the morning, taking the deep-fried dough sticks that Qiao Dongliang bought along with her. She carried her bag and drank her soybean milk, making a stop at Zhai’s house to get her books before heading off to school.
Looking at the unfamiliar faces of her classmates whom she could not recall, Qiao Nan started to feel anxious. She could not even remember where she sat in the classroom.
She finally found her classroom by checking the class plates outside. She stood dumbfounded at the doorway.
“Qiao Nan, why are you standing by the door, go in now.” Her class teacher, Teacher Chen saw Qiao Nan and smiled brightly.
Qiao Nan always ranked top three in her level and ranked first in her class. Every teacher loved a good student like her.
With Teacher Chen’s prompting, Qiao Nan braced herself and went into the classroom.
Qiao Nan could no longer remember her classmates, but she still remembered Teacher Chen.
In this country, everyone had to go through nine years of compulsory education. In her previous life, Teacher Chen paid a lot of visits to her house when she stopped going to secondary three.
Every time Teacher Chen visited their house, her father would urge her to go back to school, but her mother would kick up a fuss. She was frustrated by all this and ended up doing a lot of stupid stuff, breaking Teacher Chen’s heart.
Looking at her junior high class teacher, Teacher Chen, she felt a twinge of guilt.
Upon entering the classroom, Qiao Nan had no idea where she used to sit. At this moment, Teacher Chen said, “Qiao Nan, you had better sit in your usual place.”
Teacher Chen pointed towards the second row of the second group, at the seat to the right.
That seat was the nearest to the blackboard and the teacher.
This was undoubtedly the seat that teachers reserved for good students.
Qiao Nan let out a breath and with her bag behind her, walked towards the seat that Teacher Chen said. She put away her bag at the desk.
When she was finally settled down, the rest of the classmates also streamed in gradually. Teacher Chen assigned seats to everyone but the good seat besides Qiao Nan still remained vacant.
“The summer break was over. Let’s have a test. Everyone put away your books, do not leave anything unnecessary on the table. Hurry up.”
At Teacher Chen’s words, everyone started to complain.
There was a saying that goes: Examinations were a teacher’s weapon while grades were a student’s lifeline.
Qiao Nan turned as white as a sheet upon hearing Teacher Chen’s words.
Nobody knew the worry, dread and guilt a top student like her was feeling at this moment.
She had only spent a few days revising the junior high syllabus and she had to sit a test now. There was no way that she could get a good result and match up to her usual standard.
Qiao Nan started to break out in a cold sweat.
Teacher Chen was a Mathematics teacher, so he must be testing them on their Maths.
She took a few deep breaths, gripped her pen and started writing.
Qiao Nan had a systematic way of tackling the test. In order not to run out of time, she started answering the questions one by one. If she was stuck for five minutes, she would skip and move on.
When she finished answering the questions she knew and had checked through once, she then went back to the questions that she skipped.
It was a good thing that she could answer most of the questions. But in the past, she could start solving the problems as soon as she gets the papers without stopping for a moment to think.
Now, she had to think through the solutions and she was not as good as before in her mental and manual calculations.
After finishing the paper, Qiao Nan was drenched in sweat, with her clothes plastered to her back.
Qiao Nan only had time to check through once before the alarm went off. Teacher Chen then started to collect the papers.
When class was over, Qiao Nan headed for the washroom to wash her face.
The Maths test was finally over, but there must be other tests for the rest of the main subjects.
On the first day of school, Qiao Nan was kept busy taking tests for the three main subjects Mathematics, Chinese and English. Her head was spinning from the tests.
Qiao Nan did not feel well after the tests; she barely made it back home.
“Oh, you are back so early today?” Ding Jiayi saw Qiao Nan and pulled a long face, her eyes full of mockery. “Your Dad is not back yet!”
Didn’t the wretched girl always come back at the same time as Old Qiao?
Pierced by Ding Jiayi’s mocking voice, Qiao Nan came back to her senses. She felt the heavy weight of her books on her back. Without a word, she ran inside the house like a rabbit, sped past Ding Jiayi and went into her room, sliding the bolt in place.
“Mom.” Qiao Zijin saw that Ding Jiayi was about to follow after and stopped her. “Dad is still furious. We can’t help that Nan Nan is not sensible. But you definitely do not want to keep on quarreling with Dad.”
Father was the sole breadwinner in the house. If mother fell out with father and he refused to give his pay to her, what was going to happen to her?
“Since Nan Nan is not going to work to lighten Dad and your load this year, Mom, you should stop quarreling with Dad and making yourself unhappy.”
“You are right. Your Dad and I have been together for so many years, we have never had such a fierce quarrel before. It’s not worth it to fall out with your Dad for this wretched girl.” Ding Jiayi calmed down and said, “You mentioned that secondary three syllabus is much more difficult, and not as easy as before, right? Let’s wait and see her results this year. She had made a promise with your Dad. If she fails to score well, she would have to work no matter what!”
She finally managed to calm Ding Jiayi down. Actually Qiao Zijin did not tell Ding Jiayi that secondary three syllabus might be difficult for her; but she had no idea if it was easy or difficult for Qiao Nan.
Qiao Zijin could not help but pray that just like her and the other female classmates in class, Qiao Nan would find the secondary three syllabus difficult, and in particularly would fail terribly at Maths and Chemistry.
“Nan Nan, it’s Dad.” Qiao Dongliang reached home one hour later and went to look for Qiao Nan.
“Dad.” Qiao Nan opened the door to let Qiao Dongliang in.
Qiao Dongliang knitted his eyebrows, “Nan Nan, your room is this small?”