Chapter 175: Chapter 174: For Anitaqing - Celestial Blossom Fate + Update 9
It rained continuously during the two-day final exams, so much so that the lights had to be kept on in the exam hall during the day.
In the second year of high school, students are divided into Arts and Science classes, so the exam subjects and seating arrangements were based on this division.
In Zhao Meimei’s class, over ten students chose the Arts class, and during the exams, they were placed on different floors. The rest were split 50/50 and allocated into two classes. Seats were arranged by interspersing the highest and lowest scorers in an attempt to avoid any predictable seating pattern, which was further randomized deliberately.
As a result, Zhao Meimei ended up in the second half of the exam room, with Zhang Zhao sitting across the aisle to her left.
The exam discipline was strictly enforced, with one invigilator sitting at the podium keeping a close eye on the students’ movements, and another one walking back and forth, frequently checking desks, stationery, and drink bottles for items unrelated to the exam. Any suspicious activity was immediately investigated, leaving those students who harbored some wishful thinking terrified and focused solely on answering the questions.
Zhao Meimei has always answered questions quickly, generally completing the exam from start to finish with a cursory check for typos.
But today, she was exceptionally meticulous, reviewing each question one by one without missing even a punctuation mark. Once she confirmed everything was correct, she stood up satisfied to submit her paper and was still among the earlier batch to finish.
Xu Xu and Wang Jiayue were both slow in answering; Xu Xu was careful with the questions, while Wang Jiayue wrote slowly.
Zhao Meimei glanced out the window, saw that the rain had stopped, and left the exam hall without waiting for them, leisurely heading to the school supermarket. She planned to buy a bag of chips and spend some time in the supermarket’s resting area.
As she walked out of the teaching building, she heard someone calling her from behind: "Zhao Meimei!"
She turned around to see Zhang Zhao taking a few long strides to catch up with her.
Walking side by side to the supermarket, neither of them bothered to ask meaningless questions like how the exam went. They naturally and comfortably walked across most of the playground to the supermarket, finding it not awkward at all.
Zhao Meimei picked out a bag of her favorite chips and grabbed three bottles of yogurt.
At the checkout, Zhao Meimei didn’t compete with the cash-strapped Young Master Zhang to pay, and she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about eating things bought by him. They sat together in the resting area for a leisurely chat.
Zhao Meimei, chewing on chips, placed the bag between herself and Zhang Zhao: "Try some, this flavor is really good."
Zhang Zhao reached out, took one, and asked, "What are your plans after the holidays?"
Zhao Meimei took a sip of yogurt: "I should be going to my grandma’s place. My grandma isn’t well and has been hospitalized. My parents are all there."
Zhang Zhao nodded, reaching into his pants pocket to send a message on his phone. After typing just two words, he caught a glimpse of something shiny on Zhao Meimei’s finger — it was a ring.
Zhang Zhao asked, "That ring looks nice, is it new?"
Zhao Meimei gave a mysterious smile: "Yeah."
Zhang Zhao examined the style closely and asked, "Isn’t this usually a couple’s ring?"
Zhao Meimei smiled and nodded: "Yep."
"Hmm?" Zhang Zhao shot Zhao Meimei a look, "Wow, when did this happen?"
Zhao Meimei giggled, a sweetness she couldn’t hide glowing on her face.
Zhang Zhao asked, "Who is it? Do I know them?"
Zhao Meimei took a bite of chips: "Mind your own business!"
Zhang Zhao nudged her with his elbow: "Whoa! Keeping it secret? So precious, huh? When are you going to introduce me?"
Zhao Meimei grinned widely: "No way! I told you, it’s a precious gem. Once I show it off, you’ll feel inferior, how bad would that be!"
Zhang Zhao looked at Zhao Meimei’s boastful demeanor and teased her on purpose: "Maybe you’re embarrassed ’cause they’re ugly, huh? Don’t wanna bring them out?"
Zhao Meimei thought to herself, my Brother Yangyang is so handsome he could put you to shame. If he’s ugly, then there’s no such thing as good looks in this world.
Zhao Meimei pursed her lips: "Pfft! I’m afraid they’ll blind your titanium-alloyed nearsighted eyes!"
Zhang Zhao jokingly scolded: "Pshaw! You’re the one with dog eyes!"
Not long after, Xu Xu and Wang Jiayue showed up together, prompting Zhang Zhao to stand and take his leave.
Zhao Meimei handed them the yogurt.
Xu Xu took it, glancing back at Zhang Zhao’s departing figure: "Did he need something from you?"
Zhao Meimei laughed: "No, we just bumped into each other. Here, have some chips!"
The last subject that morning was Chinese. While Zhao Meimei was absorbed in her essay writing, she heard a faint cellphone vibration twice.
Following the sound, she turned her head and saw Zhang Zhao sneaking a glance at the invigilator.
Noticing her gaze, Zhang Zhao turned his head, and their eyes met.
Zhao Meimei immediately understood, the phone was Zhang Zhao’s. He was really daring! Bringing a phone into the exam hall and, even more, leaving it on.
Zhang Zhao gestured at Zhao Meimei with his eyes: Can you do me a favor?
Zhao Meimei was taken aback, frowning: What favor?
Zhang Zhao glanced at the teacher and quickly patted his pants pocket with his hand.
Zhao Meimei got it; he wanted to check his phone and needed her to cover for him.
Zhao Meimei discreetly kept an eye on the teacher, lowered her head, turned her face, and silently mouthed: Are you crazy!
Zhang Zhao gave her a look without saying more and pulled his long legs that were under the desk back in, intending to tidy up his desk.
From a distance, Zhao Meimei glanced at Zhang Zhao’s empty, untouched essay paper and couldn’t help but feel annoyed. Was he planning to hand in his exam just to check his damn phone, not even caring about the class divisions?
Crazy!
While Zhao Meimei was cursing inside, Zhang Zhao already gathered his things, placed his hands on the desk, and bent his long legs, ready to hand in his paper to the teacher.
Seeing that he was actually serious, Zhao Meimei panicked and called out without thinking: "Teacher!"
Both invigilators turned to look at her simultaneously, and the one pacing around turned from the left aisle directly over to Zhao Meimei’s side, standing with his back to Zhang Zhao, asking: "What’s the matter?"
Feeling cornered, Zhao Meimei quickly thought and casually grabbed her essay paper: "Uh, um, teacher, what should I do if I run out of space on the essay paper?"
The teacher seemed a bit speechless, as this was not the first exam, and she didn’t even know this?
The teacher responded: "Write on the back of the answer sheet. Try not to exceed the word limit too much, otherwise, it might affect your score."
Zhao Meimei quickly thanked: "Thank you, teacher, I understand."
She plopped back onto her chair and immediately sneaked a peek at Zhang Zhao, who was holding his pen and focused on answering his paper. She wasn’t sure if he managed to see the phone’s message, but he probably did?
Thinking so, she secretly let out a sigh of relief.
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