CIATB Chapter 331 - 329: Was That Your Cheat Sheet? Sorry, I Stepped On It and Got It Dirty
Chapter 331 - 329: Was That Your Cheat Sheet? Sorry, I Stepped On It and Got It Dirty
Lin Wan Yi was surrounded by excited classmates like a hero as she walked out of the classroom, with countless people holding notebooks asking for her autograph.
That evening, the title "North Battle God Notes" spread throughout all the universities in Beijing. The mimeograph club worked overnight to print more copies, and notes still fresh with ink fragrance circulated through various channels. In the student-organized black markets, the price of one copy of the notes skyrocketed from the original two cents to the equivalent of five pounds of national grain tickets, yet there was still no supply for the demand.
In the darkest corner of the library.
Su Jiaojiao sat alone. Outside the window, faint cheers from the Beijing University campus could be heard. In front of her was a thick old textbook, but her fingers were tightly clawing at the hardcover.
Again and again.
Even when the tough cover was clawed to shreds, and blood seeped into the nail beds, she felt nothing.
The sharp ring of the final exam bell pierced through the campus silence.
The lecture hall was dead silent. Most students, just a second before the bell rang, were still greedily fixating on the yellowed paper handouts, trying to grasp one more word of the diagrams and mnemonics on them.
In the corner, Su Jiaojiao’s face was as white as paper. Her hands were hidden under the desk, her fingertips turning blue from the excessive force, her palms tightly clutching a small ball of paper dampened by sweat. Her eyes darted frantically like a frightened rabbit, between the doorway, the podium, and Lin Wan Yi’s back.
Sitting by the window in the front row, Lin Wan Yi seemed to be in a world of her own. Unhurriedly, she unscrewed the cap of her fountain pen, dipped the nib into the inkwell until it was full, and then carefully wiped away the excess ink with a napkin. The entire process was conducted with a calm elegance, as if it were just another class exercise, not an exam that would decide her fate.
Two figures ascended to the podium, one was the stern-faced department chair, the other, unexpectedly, was Dean Li.
"Everyone, put away your books, place them on the floor," the department chair said sternly.
The exam papers were passed from the front row, making a rustling noise.
When the exam paper fell into their hands, a wave of suppressed gasps spread through the classroom.
The first major question was an extremely complex genetic map analysis problem about trait segregation in the hybrids of two different crops. The difficulty of this question far exceeded the teaching syllabus and was even trickier than the problems previously posed by Zhao Lei from the Agricultural University.
The moment Su Jiaojiao saw the question, her mind went blank. The old textbooks she had painstakingly borrowed from other schools never mentioned similar types of questions.
It was over.
Just as this thought flashed across her mind, a clear and rhythmic scratching sound came from the front of the classroom.
It was the sound of Lin Wan Yi’s pen on paper.
She hadn’t even paused to think, merely glanced at the question before quickly starting to write. That sound was not loud, yet it was as precise as a measuring tape, marking out the depths of everyone’s anxiety and despair present.
Time ticked by second by second.
Sweat dripped from the corner of Su Jiaojiao’s forehead, splattering onto her blank exam paper, blurring it with tiny spots of ink. The pen in her hand felt like a thousand pounds, her mind in turmoil. From the corner of her eye, she could only see that Lin Wan Yi had already turned to the back of the exam paper.
How could she be that fast?
Finally, halfway through the exam time, Lin Wan Yi stopped writing.
She reviewed her exam paper from start to finish, even the two additional questions added by Dean Li to distinguish the top students, filled to the brim.
Su Jiaojiao’s heart raced, she knew, her opportunity had come.
She took a deep breath, focusing her gaze on the two invigilators. The department chair was busy dealing with a student who suddenly had a nosebleed. Meanwhile, Dean Li, with his hands clasped behind his back, ambled over to the window, gazing pensively at a bare old locust tree outside, seemingly pondering some academic problem.
This is it!
Su Jiaojiao’s fingers were hidden under the edge of the table. Timing it with Lin Wan Yi’s moment of standing up, she gave a sharp flick with her knuckles.
The tiny ball of paper, which she had clutched for so long and was filled with dense formulas, traced an almost imperceptible arc, silently rolling to the floor, coming to a stop right on Lin Wan Yi’s path.
It worked!
Su Jiaojiao’s lips involuntarily curled into a malicious smile. She even had her lines ready, preparing to be the first to stand up and express her indignation when Lin Wan Yi got caught, declaring "I never thought she would be that kind of person".
Lin Wan Yi stood up, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor made a soft noise. Holding the exam paper, she headed for the podium.
Su Jiaojiao held her breath, her eyes fixed on Lin Wan Yi’s footsteps.
Lin Wan Yi’s steps paused for a moment, half a step from the ball of paper. Her gaze seemed to steal a glance downward.
Su Jiaojiao’s heart jumped to her throat! She saw it! She definitely saw it!
What would she do? Kick it away in panic? Or pretend not to see and walk around it?
However, Lin Wan Yi’s next move stunned Su Jiaojiao.
She didn’t bend down, didn’t dodge, didn’t even hesitate in the slightest.
Her clean, white sneaker-clad foot simply lifted and came down.
Unerringly, it landed squarely on the little ball of paper.
A faint "pat" sound.
An incredibly soft sound of paper being crushed into the dirt echoed, as loud as a thunderclap in the silent classroom, piercing Su Jiaojiao’s eardrums.
Lin Wan Yi, oblivious, stepped on the paper now unrecognizable, walked up to the podium, and placed the exam paper face down gently on the corner of the desk.
She nodded slightly in the direction of the department chair and Dean Li, completing the handover.
Then she turned around, striding out of the classroom with her long legs.
The crisp sound of high heels clicking on the floor echoed down the corridor, gradually fading away, and disappeared.
The whole time, she never looked back.
No one in the classroom spoke.
Everyone was stunned by the early submission, not noticing the small incident.
Except for Su Jiaojiao, and Dean Li, who had been standing by the window, observing everything through the reflection in the glass.
Dean Li slowly turned around.
He put away his smile, gazing across dozens of students, heads bowed in deep thought, straight at Su Jiaojiao’s pale face.
He moved.
Without making a sound, he stepped forward, those worn black cloth shoes on concrete feeling like they bore a thousand pounds.
Step by step.
He walked down from the podium, passed through the aisle, and finally stopped next to Su Jiaojiao’s desk.
A huge shadow enveloped Su Jiaojiao and her nearly blank exam paper entirely.
Su Jiaojiao sat there, not daring to move, even forgetting to breathe.
"This student,"
Dean Li’s voice was soft and slow, as if stating something as mundane as can be.
"Throwing rubbish around during exam time isn’t a good habit."
He pointed with his finger at the floor near Su Jiaojiao’s feet, where the paper ball lay, dirty and flattened.
"Pick it up."