Beyond the OutlineChapter 28

It wasn’t feasible to have four teachers per room for the monthly exam. There were so many exam rooms that having four teachers in each room was absolutely unrealistic.

There were only two teachers in this room, so Xu Sheng relaxed. 85UyFp

Otherwise he had no idea  how he’d protect his papers from being seen during the exam.

There was only one thing that was a bit troublesome. The teacher in charge of the first exam room was the literature teacher from the class next door, and also Xu Sheng’s homeroom teacher during his first year of high school.

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The woman wore high heels, her figure slender. After she distributed the exam papers, she stood at the lecture podium and read the test instructions from beginning to end, before putting them down to remind everyone, “…There’s nothing major, just relax while you’re answering and you’ll be fine.”

What worries could a teacher have in regards to the students in the first exam room? LU4M7c

They had too little to worry about.

Every one of them was a good candidate for a top university and didn’t require test supervision. Even if there wasn’t a teacher in the classroom to watch them, nothing would go wrong.

Xu Sheng wrote down the name, breathed out, and flipped the exam paper over and began reading the questions word by word.

If he didn’t understand it after reading it once, he would just read it twice.

1PEzi4

If this had been before the day he had switched bodies after jumping over the wall, Xu Sheng himself wouldn’t have even believed it: He, Xu Sheng, would have a day where he would face an exam in such a serious manner.

The students around him had buried their heads and begun solving questions. For a while, the exam room contained only the sounds of pens scratching on answer sheets, along with the intermittent sounds of flipping pages. The fans above spun continuously.

When Xu Sheng truly began to process the problems, he discovered that there were many familiar questions on the exam sheet.

Through these problems, he could almost see the way Shao Zhan had looked after taking a shower at night, marking his answers in his dorm room. The youth’s gaze had been downcast as he finished circling the questions with a pen. When he had raised his head to face the person across from him, only to discover that he hadn’t been listening at all and had one hand hiding under the table to fiddle with his phone, he had reached his pen over and neither lightly nor heavily tapped him on his forehead. “Listen carefully.” xPVbOe

Shao Zhan’s mock questions were really accurate.

Xu Sheng glanced over all the questions in the test and discovered that Shao Zhan had taught him 80% of them.

This applied not only to literature, but other subjects as well. 8zhEnc

But having an idea on how to solve it, was an entirely different thing from knowing how to solve it.

Xu Sheng could only bull-headedly force himself to answer.

The examination proctor sat by the lecture podium. After sitting for a while, she had probably gotten tired of sitting and wanted to get up to stand for a while, and so had begun walking back and forth between the rows—she especially liked walking around the number one seat.

Although the female teacher had never taught Shao Zhan before, this student was so well-known in this grade that any class’s teacher had a deep impression of him. gUBLMP

She wanted to see how Shao Zhan answered questions.

Every proctor’s habit was to stand by a student’s side to glance at the answers on their exam papers and to guess at the performance of students for the test.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

But every time her gaze swept over the answer sheet, this first place in the entire grade would quickly pull his exam questions over to cover the left half of the answers he had already written down on the answer sheet!

The speed was breathtaking. The paper was tightly covered up, not a single word to be seen, exuding the aura of “I won’t let go if you don’t go”. PN7Ec8

“…” Was this some weird habit of this grade’s first place?

He didn’t like others looking at his answers?

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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The second to last place sitting in front of him vigorously moved his pen, his hand never stopping even once.

The black fountain pen in Shao Zhan’s hands spun once before falling onto his table. Shao Zhan decided that he should just throw down the exam paper and sprawl over the table to sleep like Xu Sheng had told him. Before he sprawled over, he thought of something else, and reached his hand over to pat second to last on the shoulder.

Second-to-last turned around and leaned back. He was usually dug into many pits by Xu Sheng, and asked as he leaned against the back row table, “What do you want now.” KeWU5S

Shao Zhan’s voice did not fluctuate. “Give me a copy of your answers later.”

When Second-to-last heard “answers”, he immediately exploded. “Is using the same technique once not enough, you still want to humiliate me a second time?!”

The tragic drama that had unfolded the last time he had given him the answers was something he couldn’t erase from his mind.

He could only recall how sincere Xu Sheng’s words had been at that time, sincerely praising him for his average of fifty points, expressing the idea that “I don’t care about other people’s answers, I think you have potential.” GTL20e

He had praised second to last so much he was floating in the clouds until he finally loosened his mouth. “Okay, I’ll give you the answers.”

But the result was that Xu Sheng had actually used an elimination method from the answers for that test and ended up scoring higher than him!

Previously Second-to-last hadn’t thought this school tyrant was very scary, and he was actually pretty easy to get along with, but perhaps due to his own misconceptions, the “Xu Sheng” today wasn’t as easy to talk with as before.

The youth suddenly drew closer to him, and the distance between the two of them shortened. yNZeha

Second-to-last only felt a chill come towards him. His heart tightened, as if he was returning to the moment he had been pressed down on the table. Then, four words sounded in his ear. “You giving or not?”

Shao Zhan’s voice didn’t really have the quality that made others feel pressured, but his oppressive sternness still penetrated through second to last’s ears.

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Second-to-last didn’t even realise himself before he had already blurted out, “…Giving.”

If he was humiliated, so be it. 5DBVdA

If he didn’t give the answers, he was afraid this school tyrant might actually beat him up after class.

Second-to-last’s answers were quickly transferred over from the front row.

The reason why Shao Zhan wanted this copy of the answers was not the reason that second to last was thinking of. He was completely using it as a way to emulate how an academic failure would answer questions.

tSbzks

“The exam has ended, every examinee please put your pens down and stop writing down answers.”

“Each examinee please stay in your original examination room. After fifteen minutes, we will proceed with the next exam. The second exam subject, math.”

The broadcast repeated twice.

Xu Sheng turned in his exam paper. Perhaps due to the fact that the classroom was overly humid and hot, along with the fact that he was nervous, his back was covered in a thin layer of sweat. 4P3uWF

Afraid that the other students in the exam room would come to him with questions, he immediately left the classroom after turning in his paper.

After turning in his exam, Xu Sheng really had nowhere to go, so he avoided the crowds and went to the little convenience store near the cafeteria to buy something to eat. The little convenience store only had a small window open. This window opening was a little too short for “Shao Zhan”’s height. He bent his waist over and pointed out a few things through the window.

“Okay, that’s seventeen dollars in all.” The boss tugged down a see-through plastic bag from the side and put the things inside. “I don’t have enough change. Student, how about you make it whole?”

“Sure.” 0Gde4J

In order to make up the numbers, Xu Sheng randomly grabbed a candy.

Then he sat down at the dining area at the side, taking his phone out to commiserate with his seatmate.

-How are you.

-Are you still alive. ah0TRJ

It seemed like Shao Zhan wasn’t  looking at his phone, no response.

Xu Sheng didn’t send any more messages. He finished the sandwich he was holding, then opened the candy in his pocket before finally walking back towards the school building as he bit on the candy…this candy was mint-flavoured, icy to the point of being quite sobering.

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He didn’t return to the first examination room, and didn’t dare go back. In the light filtered by the windows, he could see a group of people gathered together and could immediately tell that they were comparing answers.

He circled around once, and then circled all the way to the last examination room before he felt like his breathing was unimpeded. qxrQ5w

It was still this examination room that was comfortable.

At ease.

The people in the last examination room were currently busy making cheat sheets for the next test. The students in the classroom bunched together in groups, with some hiding by the back door playing games. Perhaps it was because the test just now had been too exhausting; Shao Zhan was currently sprawled over his desk with no signs of cognition.

From Xu Sheng’s point of view, he could only see the hand the youth had rested upon the desk, and half of his neck. qYaS6F

Shao Zhan’s presence was completely incompatible with the last examination room, but there was something that couldn’t be described in words that made him seem like he fit in.

Two contradictions seemed to exist within him.

Shao Zhan originally didn’t want to fall asleep, but after closing his eyes, the chaotic sounds around him pulled him somewhere far away.

“Why do you take the test every time?” dgtP7K

“You came back specifically to sit in an exam for two hours, just to turn in a piece of blank paper…a person who really wanted to give up wouldn’t do something like that. Look at the other people in the exam room, which of them truly don’t want to learn?”

“Shao Zhan,” that voice asked again, “What are you struggling for?”

“…”

The dream mirage was a strange place, its images continuously going backwards, like a broken black-and-white film. Time and space was chaotic, but it was real, and a cacophony of voices rushed past his ear; it was hard to tell if this was a hallucination or reality. cCQmw

The seat in front of Shao Zhan was empty, and Second-to-last was in the back with the gaming group.

From the moment Xu Sheng walked into the room, the last examination room fell into a strange silence.

“That’s study god?”

What was the study god doing, coming here for no reason?! EjrPv

They watched as the Study God casually sat down in the empty seat in front of “Xu Sheng”, his long legs on the ground, a hand over the back of his chair.

Everyone was suddenly struck dumb by this scene of “study god coming to look for the school tyrant”.

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Xu Sheng had been looking for Shao Zhan in order to talk to him.

Seeing that he was asleep, he didn’t want to disturb him, and wanted to leave the candy on Shao Zhan’s desk before leaving. Instead, he stretched his hand out, and hadn’t even touched the desk yet when Shao Zhan opened his eyes. 9GdHlO

He was very aware of this person who had suddenly come very close, and before he realised who that person was, Xu Sheng’s wrist had already been grabbed.

“No need to be so enthusiastic,” Xu Sheng said after a pause, candy in his hand.

Shao Zhan came to a realisation, and let go of his hand. “What are you doing here.”

Xu Sheng, “They’re comparing answers in the exam hall, I’m scared that if I go back they’ll all come and ask me what the answer is, so I came here to hide.” AJhsYU

After Xu Sheng finished talking, he held out the candy. “Want it?”

Shao Zhan didn’t say he wanted it, so Xu Sheng just shoved the candy into his hand.

“Mint. It’s refreshing. I think I did okay. I fucking read through the questions in so much detail, I definitely performed supernaturally,” Xu Sheng said. “Don’t be too worried.”

Shao Zhan peeled open the candy wrapper. The mint flavour rushed to his head, and surprisingly it calmed down his emotions. “You may not know what that means.” 9l2zsp

Xu Sheng, “What do you mean by that?”

Shao Zhan, “It’s what you think it means.”

Xu Sheng, “Fuck.”

“Just hand in a blank paper in your next exam,” Shao Zhan said. “Handing in a blank paper is better than the answers you filled in.” RIi0KO

“…”

Would Shao Zhan die if he didn’t mock him for one day?

Top ten in mocking people.

The monthly exams continued for two whole days. Q1S7ns

Xu Sheng and Shao Zhan lived each second like it was a year, through deep waters and hellish fires, it was like they were being tortured. After they finished one subject, another one came.

The exam bell rang and rang.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Until the final ring of the bell, signalling the end of the long and arduous exams-

It was accompanied by the cheerful voice of Gu Yanwang over the PA system. “Students! The monthly exams are over, I trust that every one of you did your best and handed in a perfect answer sheet. Whether the results are good or bad, the most important thing is that we learn from our mistakes and welcome the next stage of learning with open arms…” tCVbSG

Xu Sheng didn’t quite listen to the rest of it because he had put his pen down, and was listening to the claps of thunder that could almost drown out the voice on the announcement system.

Boom boom boom! 

This sound was almost an illusion.

Everyone in the exam hall was chatting and joking, as if no one had noticed that loud noise. The exams ended, the invigilators also let out a sigh of relief, laughing as they gestured for everyone to hand in their papers. UOv8gk

But Xu Sheng couldn’t hear any of that, and he was also frozen.

He could only see the mouths of the teacher opening and closing, as though the scene before him was slowly drifting away. There was a strong feeling like he didn’t belong in this world and was being taken away, and at the same time, the thunder outside the window became louder and louder!

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