The day of the exam passed relatively quickly, and it was soon time for the boring evening self-study.
After the exam hall was tidied up, there were no longer any desks connected in the classroom.
The distance between desks grew, and some students even ended up sitting out in the hallway.
It became inconvenient to chat inside the classroom, making the already dull evening self-study even more lifeless.
Yan Hao had already finished reading all the little stories in the textbooks the day before.
Now, he was so bored that he started reading the supplementary exercise books.
Before the end of the first evening self-study period, he had finished reading anything remotely interesting in the “Vision of Learning Methods” for various subjects.
The answer keys had not been torn off yet.
Yan Hao wondered, ‘Should I try to find a way to save these answers in advance?’
After thinking it over, he decided against it.
Out of boredom, he glanced at Tao Feng beside him and noticed that Tao Feng was openly reading a novel.
During the second evening self-study period, Yan Hao borrowed a novel from Tao Feng titled Dragon Raja III: Tide of the Black Moon, Part One.
This was the third installment of the series.
Tao Feng had not brought the first two parts, and he had already finished Part One and was currently reading Part Two.
Yan Hao had not read the first two parts, but since there was no other choice, he had to start with the third book.
He did not read very fast.
The more he found a book interesting, the more he enjoyed savoring it slowly.
He spent one evening self-study period finishing the prequel.
Whether it was a coincidence or something else, the male protagonist of the story was named Zero (Number 0), and the female protagonist was eventually named Zero.
However, after finishing the prequel and starting the main text, he discovered that the protagonist was a boy named Lu Mingfei.
It was no longer a story set in the icy seas of Russia; the protagonist had become a Chinese boy, and the atmosphere shifted from oppressive to everyday life.
Yan Hao had read many books of various genres, including light webnovels and world-renowned classics.
He had read most of the popular titles.
In the book corner of his middle school, he had finished the Four Great Classical Novels written in semi-classical Chinese, which others refused to open, as well as Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection, Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence, and the red-themed Red Crag.
Those books were indeed difficult to get into, but when you were bored enough to read them seriously, you would naturally discover why classics were classics and feel the core and spirit of those works.
He quite liked the prequel of the Dragon Raja series and was curious about the story of Zero (Number 0) and Zero.
However, after the prequel, the flavor of the story suddenly changed.
Perhaps it was because he started from the third book, but he felt like something was missing.
At least with this novel, he would not be bored for a while.
The exam results were released, and they were somewhat unexpected for Yan Hao.
Chinese, math, and English were 150-point exams, while the others were out of 100 points.
His scores were as follows:
Chinese: 97
Math: 91
English: 41
Physics: 67
Chemistry: 59
Biology: 69
Geography: 52
History: 78
Politics: 66
With a total of 620 out of 1050, he ranked third in the class.
His physics and history scores were even the highest in the room.
It seemed he had overestimated his classmates.
His own academic performance was not particularly great, but the grades of these people seemed a bit too poor.
The exam was over.
Taking advantage of the classroom restoration, the Class Teacher decided to change the seating arrangement.
The previous seats were mostly chosen by the students themselves during military training, but this time, the Class Teacher used a random draw with slips of paper.
The top three students in terms of grades, however, were allowed to communicate and swap seats with others freely.
Tao Feng had originally sat next to a cute girl with glasses, and Yan Hao had also been next to a girl wearing glasses.
Since they were not very familiar with each other and were of the opposite sex, Yan Hao did not have to put in much effort to swap back to his spot next to Tao Feng.
Tao Feng did not seem to mind that Yan Hao had ruined his romantic prospects; as soon as Yan Hao sat down, Tao Feng gave him a light, cheerful punch.
And so, normal classes began.
Each subject required a Subject Representative.
Given that everyone’s grades were terrible, almost no one was willing to take the initiative to become one.
The teachers here seemed accustomed to this situation.
With no volunteers, the instructors simply assigned the role to whoever had the highest score in that subject.
Fortunately, in history class, the girl who had been reading Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation during evening self-study volunteered to be the History Subject Representative.
Otherwise, Yan Hao did not know if he would have had to hold multiple positions at once.
Yan Hao finally understood what the point of this exam was.
Previously, he had never held any position at school, not even a Group Leader.
Now, he was forced to take on the tasks of writing homework on the blackboard and collecting and distributing assignments.
At school, he spent most of his free time on his novel.
With homework to deal with, the time he could spend reading during evening self-study was greatly reduced.
It was much like his middle school days; aside from class, he was either doing homework or reading novels.
What was the purpose of doing homework?
Was it to improve his grades?
It was probably just to satisfy his parents and teachers.
At least, that was how it felt to Yan Hao.
He spent two evening self-study periods finally dealing with the bit of homework they had.
However, the students around him seemed different.
They continued to chat or read their novels.
After the second period ended, Yan Hao nudged Tao Feng, who had been reading for two periods, and asked, “Aren’t you going to do your homework?”
“Brother Hao, I’m not like you,” Tao Feng said, gesturing toward the homework on Yan Hao’s desk.
“Look at my grades. Are you finished? Let me copy it.”
Yan Hao had never expected that he would one day be treated like a good student.
Saying ‘I don’t really know how to do it either’ at this point would only come off as acting pretentious.
He could only say helplessly, “Don’t blame me if it’s wrong,” and then tossed the homework to Tao Feng.
Yan Hao did not usually copy other people’s homework, but it was not because he was a good student.
He did not like doing homework either; he just had too few friends and could not find anyone to copy from.
In middle school, he only had the chance to copy homework when he occasionally ended up with a deskmate who was easy to talk to.
Before Tao Feng could finish copying, two boys sitting behind them leaned in.
“Hey, Yan Hao, let us copy it too.”
“Sure, you guys…”
Yan Hao was about to agree.
“You don’t do your own homework and just sit there copying from others. Aren’t you ashamed, Wang Yongzhong?”
A girl sitting in the seat in front of them suddenly spoke up.
Yan Hao did not mind people copying his work, but there were always those who liked to mind other people’s business…
The atmosphere became a bit awkward, and Yan Hao felt unsure of what to do.
“Yan Hao, don’t let that idiot copy. Just let me copy, and I’ll give you some candy.”
The girl tossed two pieces of White Rabbit Creamy Candy onto Yan Hao’s desk.
“Heh, like you’re one to talk. I suggest you go get your head checked at Hehua Hospital, Yang Zi. You’re acting crazy every single day,” Wang Yongzhong sneered, biting back without hesitation.
Yan Hao let out a sigh of relief.
It turned out she was not some stubborn busybody, but simply two acquaintances bickering with each other.
He smiled helplessly, unwrapped a White Rabbit Creamy Candy, and ate it.
As the milky sweetness spread, he stretched his body and comfortably took out his novel.
He let them continue their back-and-forth while he began to read on his own.
“Where are you at?”
Tao Feng, having just finished one subject, grabbed another assignment book and asked about Yan Hao’s progress.
“Are you finished?”
Yan Hao asked back.
“Almost. It’s about to make me cry, Brother Hao,” Tao Feng said while copying, though his tone did not sound sad at all.
“It’s not that serious. It’s just a novel,” Yan Hao replied casually.
“Sigh, you’ll understand once you keep reading,” Tao Feng said, shaking his head.
“Oh, right. Have you ever seen Erased?”
Yan Hao suddenly thought of the anime.
Since Tao Feng was a seasoned fan of the medium, he had likely seen it.
“Oh, I know it. That’s the one from your QQ avatar, right?”
After Yan Hao had spent more than two all-nighters over a weekend to finish the anime, he had changed his QQ avatar to Kayo Hinazuki.
“You’ve watched it?”
Yan Hao asked with a spark of interest.
“Uh, I know about it, but I haven’t watched it. Well, I probably watched half an episode.”
“It’s really good,” Yan Hao said.
This was the first time he had ever recommended an anime to someone.
“Maybe I’m just not into that kind. I couldn’t get into it,” Tao Feng replied, simply rejecting the recommendation.
“I haven’t watched many new shows this year. Most of them are sequels. I don’t have much of an impression of the new ones. I think there was one called Uma Musume: Pretty Derby that I watched a few episodes of, but I stopped.”
As Tao Feng spoke, his pen flew across the paper like a chicken scratching as he finished another assignment.
The homework he finished did not return to Yan Hao’s desk.
Instead, both books—including Tao Feng’s own—went flying; one toward Wang Yongzhong and the other toward Yang Zi.
‘Why didn’t they just prepare ahead of time before the answers were collected?’
Yan Hao grumbled inwardly at his classmates.