Chapter 27: Trying for a Score of 700?
With a grand wave of Teacher Cao’s hand, the entire class began moving books and swapping desks.
Some students were reluctant to leave their better seats, clearly unwilling to trade for others’ worn-out benches.
As Liu An’an packed her books, she lamented in frustration, “Yan Yan, Xia Xia, I really don’t want to switch. Teacher Cao is so annoying—he deliberately split us up.”
“Ugh, you’re better off than me,” Jiang Yan replied in an exasperated tone. “My new deskmate is Zhang Li. It’s like I’ve been cursed for eight lifetimes.”
Hearing their complaints, Wen Xia sympathized but couldn’t help feeling sorry for herself as well. “Why don’t you guys switch with me? I think I might suffocate.”
Xu Min was usually quiet, and He Sheng was the class discipline monitor. Wen Xia figured she might end up mute in this new arrangement.
Although she hadn’t planned to chat during class, she still didn’t like the idea of having no one to talk to.
In comparison, Liu An’an and Jiang Yan suddenly felt Wen Xia had it worse, which eased their own frustration a little.
Jiang Yan patted her on the back and said, “Xia Xia, good luck to you.”
He Sheng and Xu Min had placed their books on either side of the desk, effectively creating a barrier that seemed to say, ‘Don’t bother us.’
Wen Xia: “…”
If she didn’t know their personalities, she might have thought they disliked her.
After organizing her desk, she glanced at the clock. There were still 20 minutes until 1:30. Deciding against taking a nap, she pulled out her math exercises and started working on them.
Qin Mo had said that doing more math problems helped you get a better “feel” for them.
Around her, others began chatting with their new deskmates, but their corner remained quiet, with everyone focused on their work.
Teacher Cao, knowing the seat change had stirred things up, reminded the class, “Keep your voices down. Don’t get too friendly with your new deskmates and end up selling out the classroom.”
After standing for a few more minutes, he left the classroom with the grade report in hand.
Suddenly, the desk vibrated. Both He Sheng and Xu Min looked toward Wen Xia.
Wen Xia gave them an apologetic smile, pulled her phone out of the drawer, and quickly switched it from vibrate to silent.
She opened the message—it was from Qin Mo.
[Have the results come out yet?]
Feeling a little smug, she typed back, [They’re out. Four hundred and eighty-something. Come on, praise me!]
On the other end, Qin Mo glanced at his phone on the desk and chuckled softly. Just as he was about to reply, Zhao Zichuan leaned over with curiosity. “What movie are you watching? You seem pretty happy.”
Despite popular belief, the students in the Rocket Class weren’t always buried in books and solving problems—they occasionally used their phones or watched movies.
Qin Mo tilted his phone slightly to block Zhao Zichuan’s view and gave him a sidelong glance. “You wouldn’t understand, single dog.”
“…???” Zhao Zichuan’s round, pale face twisted into a strange expression. After a few seconds, he blurted out a curse. “Damn.”
He felt an overwhelming urge to strangle Qin Mo.
Ignoring Zhao’s outburst, Qin Mo turned his now-locked phone back on and tapped out a response.
[You’re amazing, keep it up.]
Seeing the reply, Wen Xia grinned and typed back playfully, [Husband, how much did you score on your last monthly exam?]
This question made Qin Mo pause. He carefully considered his answer—revealing his score of 740-something might crush his wife’s confidence.
“About 700.”
“…”
Wen Xia stared at the message and finally understood why Qin Mo was so likable—he really knew how to be endearing. That score was just too adorable.
She sent a skeptical reply, [Husband, is that even possible now?]
Qin Mo raised an eyebrow, sensing her words carried a certain challenge.
[Want to give it a try?] he responded.
It took Wen Xia a moment to process the text. [Give what a try?] she began to type back.
[Try for 700 points?] came his reply.
She hesitated, typing out three words: [I can’t imagine.] But just as she was about to send it, her brain caught up.
‘Qin Mo, you jerk!’ she fumed inwardly.
Deleting the message, her eyes flicked mischievously before she retyped her reply: [Tried, didn’t work.]
Just as she was about to hit send, a sudden knock on the desk startled her. Quickly, she turned off her phone screen in a panic.
She turned her head and found herself facing He Sheng, who was wearing black-framed glasses. He pushed his glasses up and spoke in a calm tone, “Wen Xia, Teacher Cao said no phones in the classroom.”
While many students in the class played on their phones, He Sheng usually turned a blind eye. But since Wen Xia was right under his nose, he couldn’t let it slide without saying something.
“…”
Wen Xia quickly shoved her phone into the drawer and resumed working on her problems.
Meanwhile, Qin Mo, waiting for a reply from his “wife,” thought she was simply shy. He smiled softly, ready to type an apology. But just as he was about to, the shadow of someone passing by appeared on his screen. He immediately locked his phone and looked up calmly, meeting the overly warm gaze of the homeroom teacher.
Zhou Gang smiled cheerfully. “Xiao Mo, looking up information online?”
Without a hint of guilt, Qin Mo nodded. “Mhm.”
Zhao Zichuan, sitting next to him, widened his eyes, thinking to himself, ‘Teacher, I need to report this. He’s dating early!’
“There’s a computer in the teacher’s office. You can go with me to check it out,” Zhou Gang suggested kindly.
“Thank you, teacher.”
Qin Mo placed his phone back on the desk, cast a brief glance at Zhao Zichuan, and then grabbed the Olympiad math problems on his desk. He followed Zhou Gang to the office.
As the two walked off, Zhao Zichuan suddenly thought of a saying that perfectly suited their current situation:
Life is like a play, all about the acting.
…
The afternoon classes consisted of reviewing papers, and the fourth period was self-study.
Wen Xia copied all the mistakes from her six subjects into a correction notebook. She then reworked the problems that the teacher had gone over, and this time, she got all of them right.
Feeling a sense of satisfaction, she took a sip of her milk.
Beside her, Xu Min glanced at her and asked, “Wen Xia, are you free right now?”
This was the first time they’d spoken since the seating change, and Wen Xia nodded. “What’s up?”
“Can you explain this problem to me?” Xu Min asked, pointing at her paper.
Xu Min moved her book aside, placing a math test paper between the two of them. She pointed to the second-to-last question in the application section—this kind of problem was what they called the “death problem.”
The teacher had advised students like them, who were considered “mediocre,” to avoid spending too much time on this kind of question and to focus more on checking the previous problems.
Qin Mo had explained this problem to her four or five times before she fully understood it.
But to Qin Mo, the difficulty of this problem was just “average.”
Thinking about that, Wen Xia momentarily wished she could swap brains with Qin Mo. Then she looked at Xu Min. “Which step are you stuck on?”
“This step: radius r = 21, |fq| = a.”
Wen Xia took the pen and draft paper, preparing to explain in detail. “From (l), we know that 2b² = 3ac…”
He Sheng adjusted his glasses and interrupted, “Can I listen in?”
Wen Xia placed the test paper on her desk and said, “You can move your desk a little closer.”
As they were discussing the problem, Teacher Cao arrived at the back door of the classroom and saw the three of them huddled together. Wen Xia was occasionally looking at Xu Min and He Sheng, and the scene made it look like a teacher was explaining problems to students.
He often did this with his own students.
Quietly, he walked into the classroom and gave a “lollipop” to Su Bo, who was napping in the back row.
Su Bo, startled by the sudden attention, rubbed his eyes and gave an awkward smile.
The rest of the class, noticing Teacher Cao, quickly started signaling to each other, scratching their backs, kicking chairs, and messing with their hair, all in an effort to look busy.
Soon, those who needed to put away their phones did so, and the ones with novels hid them. Those who had been chatting immediately went quiet.
Wen Xia and the others realized how quiet the classroom had become. Turning to see Teacher Cao, they quickly averted their eyes and returned to discussing the problem.
Teacher Cao: “…”
He stood by the trio for a few minutes, watching quietly, and then, without a word, he left the room.
