CH 21

Overgrown Grassland

21. Chapter 21

21  

Crap…

As she entered the exam room, there was just one word spinning inside Zhu Yun’s head.

Crap! Crap! Crap!

In the end, a person wasn’t a machine. Their energy had a limit. Marx just wasn’t nearly as interesting as mechanical systems.

Sadly, Zhu Yun’s last recollection of the subject was back on that afternoon’s ‘fundamental conflicts in Chinese society.’ On the days following, she’d made no progress whatsoever with it. And so, in that state, she walked into the exam room. Er, or was it an execution ground?

Zhu Yun sat in the center of the room, her heart beating so quickly that it might explode at any minute. Her mother had always told her that you had to concentrate on your studies. Last minute cramming wouldn’t bring good results. She realized that she hadn’t before understood the depth of those words, not truly. At worst, she’d thought that ‘wouldn’t bring good results’ meant her exam score would be a bit lower, but she’d not expected that her mind would be subject to such tormenting pressure.

Since she knew that anything she wrote would be garbage, why should she bother writing anything at all?

This was how helpless a person could become.

Having expected that Marx wouldn’t sit well with herself, Zhu Yun had already started to try coming to terms with it. Since things had come to this, the only thing left to do was to calmly face it head on.

Just then, someone sat down beside her. Zhu Yun turned her head.

Li Xun was really going into battle with an easy heart. He’d walked into the room emptyhanded. After he sat down, he pulled out a black pen from his pocket and placed it on his desk.

Depending on the importance of a course, students nicknamed their college exams as either ‘wrapped’ or ‘loose.’ ‘Wrapped’ exams were exams in important subjects, where the course professor usually proctored the exam personally. They would come up with complicated seating charts to employ during exams. This was in contrast to the ‘loose’ exams, in reference to courses that weren’t too important to their degree. There was no assigned seating, and students could sit wherever, so long as there was an empty seat between two students.

‘The Basic Principles of Marxism’ was very obviously a ‘loose’ exam.

Zhu Yun looked at Li Xun with a stiff expression.

What did that mean?

Were us two Marx-Lennin idiots going to have to embrace each other to keep warm? Recalling that, just two days ago, she’d made fun of Li Xun’s politics (class) scores, but here she was in the same situation as him, Zhu Yun couldn’t help lament that karma truly came quickly in one’s life. She wasn’t even in the mood to greet him.

The proctor walked into the room with the exams in hand. “Take a seat, everyone. Place your ID cards on the left. Backpacks go by the window in the back. You cannot have anything on your desk.”

Everyone quickly moved. Zhu Yun grabbed her bag and moved to walk past Li Xun. Young Master Li’s legs were stretched out, his arms crossed and eyes closed.

How late had he worked until last night? The dark circles around his eyes looked like they’d been added with makeup. Zhu Yun decided not to disturb him, so she carefully stepped over his legs.

Li Xun woke up when the teacher started handing out the exam.

Zhu Yun answered the questions she could and was left confused by those she couldn’t. Since the old pots had been dropped and broken, she was finally able to ease up. If she was going to die anyway, why not feel at peace about it. Zhu Yun wrote and then stopped and then wrote. Occasionally, she would glance over at Boss Li beside her.

The image of Li Xun holding a pen was very foreign to Zhu Yun. In her mind, his hands were always tapping at a keyboard.

Zhu Yun wrote her exam as she silently criticized him. Perhaps because she understood Li Xun to some extent now, his show of superiority made Zhu Yun feel like he was constantly (striking a) pose. For example, right now.

Everyone one else was stooped over their test papers, but he was the only one leaning back in his chair, as if saying that there wasn’t enough space. His body was just slightly turned, a frown on his face, looking down at his exam with an arrogant expression, as if he were a king passing judgement.

That pair of legs was too attention grabbing, especially when he was wearing black. The smooth line really made a person wonder about the workings of the world.

Zhu Yun silently sighed. Before she could take her next breath, Li Xun had already finished the first page of his exam. Then, he turned the paper towards her. In a swift move, the sheet flew over to Zhu Yun.

?!?!?!?!

Zhu Yun gasped.

What are you doing?! Did your brain get fried too?!

Li Xun’s actions had been too quick, too natural, too matter-of-fact. It was like time had stopped for him. No one saw this frightful scene. Zhu Yun’s was the only heart pounding. Her mouth was parched. Her body broke out in a cold sweat. She was feeling very much unwell!

What was this? …Cheating? Cheating?!!! Oh my god!!!

Zhu Yun had never done this sort of thing in her life. Even if there had been some small incidents, it was never something as large scale as this. No need to say it, but she’d never even witnessed this kind of direct, barbaric method!

If she scored poorly, she would return home and suffer for two weeks, tops. But if she were caught cheating, if her mother found out, she wouldn’t be able to protect her fair, white skin any longer.

Li Xun… Fuck.

Torture… This exam had become utter and complete torture. The two exam proctors had become grim reapers. She lowered her head and covered the exam paper with her arm, silently praying to every god or deity she could think of.

Ten minutes later, Zhu Yun had started to calm down. The benefit of a ‘loose’ exam was that the proctors weren’t very strict. The two teachers sat at the front of the room, one reading a book and the other looking like he was observing the class. Of course, it was very possible that he was just zoning out.

Zhu Yun furtively glanced at Li Xun. He was just as before, the same posture, the same epression, speedily filling out his exam paper. He must have been perceptive, because he turned ever so slightly and looked at Zhu Yun.

She was about to express her thoughts on this situation, when Li Xun glanced down at the sheet of paper under her arm. His expression seemed to carry a tiny bit of urgency, and then he returned to his exam. Zhu Yun was touched by how calmly he acted.

Zhu Yun had a good seat, located behind and to the right of the lecturn. Since the teachers weren’t being very active in their supervision, if they didn’t turn their heads, she had a lot of space to work.

She dropped her eyes. The quality of the exam papers was worrying. Pressing down on the paper, you could see the black ink of the sheet beneath.

Zhu Yun was thinking about how Li Xun’s writing was always in 10.5 Song font… Who’d have guessed his handwriting was so nice? While it wasn’t entirely uniform and there were scratch outs, that hardly took away from its beauty. His words were firm and decisive, his thought process clear. It looked very much like his coding.

The proctor made an announcement, “You have 30 minutes remaining. Make use of your time.”

Zhu Yun quickly put an end to the nonsense in her head and looked at the two exam sheets. There were some differences on their fill in the blanks section. Zhu Yun was conflicted. Thought she was always modest when she spoke about her studies, to be honest, she was still a bit confident in herself. To change her answer to someone else’s…

Two crisp taps rang out. Zhu Yun turned her head to see that Li Xun had finished his exam. He had his legs crossed, and his chin rested on one hand. With the other, he tapped on the table.

He frowned at her with disdain. Zhu Yun felt that she could hear his thoughts: Can you fucking hurry up?

Zhu Yun took a deep breath and crossed out her answer.

“You there! What are you doing?!”

The entire exam room seemed to tremble at the exclaimation. The proctor had finally come of out his daze. He looked this way. Pointing to Zhu Yun, he said, “The girl with the glasses! What are you doing?! Take out your things!”

The gods were useless. My life has come to its end!

Zhu Yun’s face paled, her hopes turned to dust. She didn’t know how they had seen, and she didn’t want to know. The result was what mattered.

The teached walked over, like a demon about to claim a life. Zhu Yun had never in her life been this afraid before. She didn’t know that there could be such a terrifying moment in one’s life. Her eyes turned red.

The teacher walked up to Zhu Yun and reached out a hand—

And grabbed a sheet of paper from the desk behind her.

“What’s going on?” the proctor asked sternly.

Ah?

The teacher scanned over the exam and then picked up the student’s ID card on the corner of their table.

“Come with me.”

The girl behind her was in Class 2. Her face looked familar, but Zhu Yun couldn’t seem to remember her name. Her hair spread out, blocking her face, as she followed the teacher outside the classroom.

“See that? Don’t hold onto any wishful thinking. Answer your own exams,” the book-reading proctor at the front said.

Zhu Yun’s fingers trembled and she was soaked with sweat, as if she’d gone to die with that girl all the same.

Suddenly, she heard a sound beside her. Zhu Yun turned. Li Xun was laying on his desk, trembling like her. But he wasn’t trembling from fear, but rather laughter. He turned his head slightly and peeked over at her. When he saw her deadly pale face, he couldn’t help himself. He buried his head back into his arms and continued laughing, his yellow hair shaking gently.

It’s fine, Zhu Yun thought warmly. It’s fine.

If I walk out of this exam room alive, I’m going to season you with salt and cook you in a broth.

When the exam was over, the students in the back passed forward their exam papers. Zhu Yun was still nervous, too scared to even make a casual move. Li Xun quickly reached over and accurately snatched back his own exam paper.

This exam truly felt like a matter of life and death.

When Zhu Yun walked out of the exam room, her legs were still weak.

There was a tap on her shoulder. Zhu Yun turned and saw the criminal mastermind. She really wanted to lay it on him, but just as she was about to berate him, he grabbed her neck. “This way.” He dragged her out the math building from another path. There were fewer people. Zhu Yun couldn’t help saying, “Were you trying to get me killed?!”

Li Xun smiled as he pulled out a cigarette, looking over at her. “You said you had guts?”

“You’re turning this on me?!”

When they left the math building, the winter wind blew at them. Her heart rate had slowed. Zhu Yun shouted angrily, “You should have at least told me beforehand!”

“I sat next to you.”

“You—” Zhu Yun felt a sharp pain in her head.

I hope that next time, your method of expression can be as direct as your method of cheating.

The sweat on Zhu Yun’s forehead hadn’t evaporated yet.

Li Xun blew out a cloud of smoke, and he said, “I’ve never slipped up.”

Zhu Yun asked, “You’ve done this many times?”

Li Xun looked ahead and replied lightly, “You’d have a heart attack if I told you about my experience as a stand-in.” (t/n: Taking exams for other people)

…You should just shut up.

When they arrived at the practice base, Li Xun pulled out his keys to unlock the door. Since it was finals week, all the seminar activities had come to a halt. But the project wasn’t yet complete, and Zhu Yun couldn’t just stop working on it. She even hoped that the school would delay their break by a few days.

Li Xun went to get some water. Zhu Yun watched after him, and she suddenly asked, “Why did you…”

He took a few more gulps and drank half the bottle of water. “Hmm?”

Why did you sit next to me and let me see your exam paper?

Zhu Yun saw Li Xun’s glistening eyes, and then she didn’t want to ask her question anymore.

Li Xun raised a brow. “What is it?”

Zhu Yun pouted. Slowly, she said, “Nothing really. I was just thinking that you only just pass the exams in our politics class. You’re like a clay idol crossing a river, but you let me copy off of you? It won’t cause any problems, will it?”

Li Xun glanced at her. “Worried?”

“Of course.”

Li Xun leaned against the back of the chair and gave his signature smile. His lips were still moist from the water he just drank. When he smiled like that, a person’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.

“Princess, let’s be a bit more candid, okay.”

……

Zhu Yun silently retorted with a, “Tsk.” She turned away from him.