Song Cong brought the monthly exam rankings into the classroom after morning self-study. “Results are out, I’ll leave them on the podium for everyone to check.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone rushed forward, instantly surrounding the podium. Someone who finished looking and checked their results announced to their deskmate, “You’re seventeen in class, three hundred and six in the grade.”
This announcement set a benchmark, and those still sitting couldn’t stay still. The front of the classroom became a beehive.
Song Cong struggled to squeeze out of the crowded area, but there was constant chatter about him in that zone – Song Cong got first in the grade again, what would the Olympic class think, he’s broken the tradition at Tian Zhong.
Back at his seat, he nudged Jing Xichi who was resting with his eyes closed, “Your new phone is coming.”
Mrs. Jing had promised to spend big money on a new phone if his average ranking stayed in the bottom ten this semester.
Jing Xichi sat up straight, eyes shining, “What’s my rank?”
“Are the results out?” Huan’er entered through the back door arm in arm with Qi Qi, about to rush to the podium when Song Cong stopped them, “You’re twenty-fifth in class, five hundred sixty-three in the grade.”
Chen Huan’er was overjoyed, “My ancestors must be blessing me!”
In a class of fifty, this was a quantum leap for a school-choice student.
“Me, me!” Jing Xichi shook Song Cong’s arm, whining.
Song Cong smiled at Huan’er, answering casually, “You’re thirty-first, seven hundred twenty in the grade.”
Jing Xichi hugged him tightly, “Old Song, I love you!”
Song Cong pushed him away with disgust.
Seeing these two performing above expectations, Qi Qi asked both nervously and expectantly, “What about me?”
“Not so good, thirty-ninth in class, and for the grade…” Song Cong scratched his head, “Sorry, I forgot.”
He said he forgot.
“It’s fine,” Qi Qi smiled, “I’ll check myself.”
Squeezing into the crowd, finding her name, and scanning from single subject rankings to the final grade ranking, Qi Qi suddenly broke into tears.
Can’t let it show. The girl pretended to yawn, using the opportunity to rub her eyes.
It just hurt too much, an indescribable pain.
The terrible exam results hurt, but the response she received hurt even more.
This was Song Cong – the one who could memorize classical poems others had to study hard for after just two readings, who had all the math and science formulas printed in his mind, who could write out answers on scratch paper for any problem thrown at him – how could he forget? He remembered Huan’er and Jing Xichi’s exact rankings, and the only explanation that made sense was that he simply hadn’t paid attention to hers.
Qi Qi had always believed that the four of them were closer to each other than to other classmates and equally close among themselves. But at this moment she felt stung – in the heart of the person she cared about most, she was completely different from the other two.
Looking over from the podium, Song Cong was showing something on his phone, the three heads huddled together, followed by bursts of laughter.
Like suddenly losing balance on a beam, Qi Qi felt herself being strongly pulled by a thought – Jing Xichi was one thing, but what about Huan’er? She was a latecomer from some small place, just because she was lucky enough to live in the staff housing complex, she could naturally stand by his side.
She took a deep breath, hanging her head as she returned to her seat.
Seeing this, Huan’er made a “shh” gesture to the two boys before turning to approach, gently patting her back.
A mosquito-like comforting voice came to her ear, “It’s okay, think about how you studied before, this little setback just means the whip wasn’t tight enough.”
Qi Qi lay on her desk, burying her head in her arms.
“Didn’t you always encourage me that there’s still time? Doesn’t work on yourself?”
“Come on, this is just the beginning,”
“Don’t feel bad, we’ll work on what we’re missing, and at lunch, we’ll make Jing Xichi buy you chicken wings.”
Qi Qi couldn’t help but laugh, lifting her head, “Eat until we soar?”
“Got to show some determination, right?” Seeing her friend’s mood improve, Huan’er asked seriously, “Is it still physics and chemistry dragging you down?”
“Mm,” Qi Qi nodded, “I still need to take tutoring classes.”
“Do it! Go to the best class, even if it costs thirty thousand.”
Qi Qi was amused again but immediately felt ashamed of her earlier dark thoughts. Huan’er, completely unaware, treated her as a true friend – how could she think of her that way?
She was angry at herself for her petty jealousy.
Jing Xichi stuck his head over from the back row, “It’s just one monthly exam, why so serious?”
Finding a target for her anger, Qi Qi let it all out, “What did you do to deserve this? Why are even you better than me?”
She knew she was venting, but besides him, whom she’d known the longest, no one else could handle her unnamed anger.
Sure enough, Jing Xichi snorted dismissively, “I didn’t do anything, but I got it right. What’s it to you?”
“Ugh, you’re annoying.” Qi Qi pushed him away and started working on her practice problems.
A young girl’s troubles are like a fierce wind, like a tsunami, like the most violent and cruel disasters in the world, arriving without warning, releasing their force indiscriminately, leaving only wreckage before silently departing. Only when looking back many years later does one realize that those earth-shattering moments were just memories in the long river of time – some deeper, some shallower, some completely forgotten.
After starting tutoring, Qi Qi’s grades improved, and she even achieved a perfect score in composition – in talent-filled Tian Zhong, this was worth celebrating with gongs and drums. She had long forgotten that small episode, still walking home with the four of them after school, though she would turn onto another road before them. Sometimes she could still hear Jing Xichi and Huan’er’s bickering voices from far away, their quarrels and laughter remaining in the night. Qi Qi thought, if only it could stay like this forever.
Jing Xichi ultimately missed out on the new phone.
“Missed out” was an overstatement – he couldn’t even get close to a phone case.
Monthly exams, midterms, finals – Mrs. Jing even included next semester’s first monthly exam as encouragement, but as winter turned to spring, he had become a complete Jing Zhongyong, never escaping the bottom ten in class.
Huan’er’s ranking stabilized in the middle of the class, becoming one of the ordinary masses who neither drew criticism nor earned praise. Everyone around her was satisfied with this – her grandparents were told these grades could get her into university (though they couldn’t tell the difference between first-tier and second-tier schools), her parents thought this standing was quite good in the competitive Tian Zhong, and even the aunts and uncles in the complex said Huan’er had surpassed other children in such a short time. In the end, in everyone’s eyes, Chen Huan’er’s point of comparison wasn’t her current peers, but rather the girl who would still be attending Si Shui High School if she hadn’t transferred.