Chapter 63: Nie Qiu, Stay!
After finishing the meal, Peng Mama asked the waiter to pack a few dishes for Nie Qiu and her to take home. Nie Aifang hesitated, not daring to accept. Peng Mama smiled and said, “Elder sister, please take them! These aren’t expensive dishes. Nie Qiu has an exam tomorrow, so let her eat something good tonight. If you don’t take them, we can’t sell these dishes to other customers, so they’ll just have to be thrown away.” As Peng Mama spoke, she made a gesture as if to throw them away.
“No, no… no, we’ll take them then.” Nie Aifang was frugal and had never thrown anything away. As long as food wasn’t moldy or spoiled, she wouldn’t discard it.
Peng Mama smiled and handed them over with both hands. Nie Aifang stepped forward to accept them. “In that case… thank you. Thank you for treating us to dinner today. We’ll be going now, goodbye.”
Nie Qiu, carrying the things she bought in the morning, smiled and said, “Goodbye, Auntie.”
Peng Mama stepped forward, rubbed Nie Qiu’s head, and said, “Come visit us when you have time. Our home is in the residential area behind the restaurant.”
Peng Yu Yang came down the rotating staircase in the lobby holding a notebook. “Nie Qiu, wait up. I’m returning the notebook you lent me.”
“Did you understand it all? Did you get it?” Nie Qiu asked.
“I understood this notebook. I did a set of exercises with the notebook closed, and I got almost all of them right,” Peng Yu Yang said with a smile. “I might need to wait until after the exam to return the other notebook to you.”
“Next time, you have to get them all right.” She opened the canvas schoolbag she bought for twenty yuan and let Peng Yu Yang put the notebook inside.
Peng Yu Yang nodded. “Then… see you tomorrow. I hope you get good grades.”
“You too, bye!” With that, she said goodbye to Peng Yu Yang and Peng Mama and left the restaurant.
Walking on the street, Nie Aifang was very quiet. Nie Qiu walked up and asked with a smile, “Mom, what’s wrong?”
Nie Aifang said with some worry and sadness, “Qiu Qiu, did I embarrass you?”
“No! What’s wrong?” Nie Qiu looked at Nie Aifang, not understanding why she would think that.
“I didn’t even know shark fin looked like vermicelli…” Nie Aifang said with a slightly embarrassed smile. “Qiu Qiu, maybe… the classmate will laugh at you when you go to school tomorrow.”
Nie Qiu walked forward helplessly and stood in front of Nie Aifang. “Mom, there are many people in this world who don’t know that shark fin soup looks like vermicelli soup. I didn’t know before either… It’s nothing. In this world, everyone is different, and everyone has their own life. Mom, you know how delicious barbecue is when it’s grilled a certain way, Mom knows how to make plastic flowers, Mom knows how to use a stone mill to grind soy milk. But I can guarantee that Aunt Peng absolutely doesn’t know how to do any of those things! So, Mom…” Nie Qiu looked up at Nie Aifang and smiled, “Everyone is different, and everyone is unique in this world.”
Nie Aifang was stunned for a moment, then smiled. “I understand.”
Although the monthly exam was held every month, this time both the teachers and students attached great importance to it. Of course, the teachers and students referred to were from Class 10. They also wanted to see the results of their diligent efforts over a long period. If they performed well in this exam, it would be a form of affirmation for them, so the importance placed on this exam was akin to entering the Senior High School Entrance Examination. As for the other classes, they naturally continued as usual, with no changes from before.
The monthly exam was a transfer exam, with students from the first, second, and third grades of Junior High School taking exams in mixed classrooms. Of course, students from fast classes sat together, and students from slow classes sat together.
The next day, Nie Qiu arrived at school early. The exam was scheduled to start at 8:05 AM, and Nie Qiu arrived at school at 7:00 AM. Like Nie Qiu, all the students in Class 10 were also excited. It was still early, so Nie Qiu went to the office to find Teacher Yang and ask about the transfer application. However, she unexpectedly ran into Ai Si Yuan, who was also at the office to see the teacher. Ai Si Yuan was the class monitor of Class 1, and his grades were undoubtedly among the best in Class 1. When the two met, they naturally chatted for a bit.
Ai Si Yuan also expressed that he generally welcomed her, and Nie Qiu said that if her grades were good, she would apply for a transfer.
Compared to formal exams like the final exam, midterm exam, and Senior High School Entrance Examination, the monthly exam was very relaxed for many people. After chatting with Ai Si Yuan, Nie Qiu felt full of drive and more energetic and clear-headed.
At 7:30 AM, the teacher entered the classroom, distributed the admission tickets, gave a few official words of encouragement, and then told the students to find their own exam rooms. Nie Qiu’s exam room was in a second-grade classroom. Because it was a mixed exam, and the exam time was approaching, Nie Qiu didn’t see anyone else from her class except Huang Yan.
However… it was good that there was someone she knew in the same classroom, otherwise, it would have been uncomfortable during the break.
Huang Yan was still reading a book a few minutes before the exam. Seeing Nie Qiu sitting leisurely in her seat, she was envious. Look at how confident she was! It was all her fault for not studying hard before. At this moment, her eyes were filled with content she hadn’t mastered, and her heart was in a panic.
Although she had worked hard recently, and although Nie Qiu had said that cramming before an exam could be effective, knowledge was something that had to be deeply ingrained to be truly confident! It couldn’t be learned and understood in a short time.
The first subject was Chinese. For Chinese, as long as one wasn’t intellectually disabled, even someone who hadn’t studied seriously could pass. Let alone Nie Qiu? After receiving the test paper, she quickly scanned it, then wrote her class, name, and student number before starting to answer the questions.
As soon as she saw the composition topic, Nie Qiu smiled. This was a topic that was always tested, whether in elementary, junior high, or high school: 《My Ideal》. She had written essays on such topics at least ten times, if not a hundred, since she was young, so she had experience and wasn’t afraid of it, even in an exam.
She calmly began to write, writing ‘My Ideal’ in large characters in the center. Then, she drafted on a piece of scratch paper. To keep the paper neat, it was better to write it on the scratch paper first and then transfer it to the test paper, which would reduce the number of typos and such.
What was her ideal? To teach and educate people? Yes, whether in her previous life or this one, what she truly desired was to teach and educate people.
In her previous life, although she achieved this, the realities of society made her lose sight of her true intentions. In the face of money, benefits, and power, she went with the flow, accepting money for tutoring classes and lectures.
Nie Qiu thought that since she was just a junior high student now, there was nothing wrong with writing about teaching in a grander way. Adding realism would only make it less appealing. With this in mind, Nie Qiu began to write.
This theme was good, and it was Nie Qiu’s most sincere and true thought from childhood, so the article flowed out like flowing water, smooth and natural. She wrote the essay without stopping once, and a composition of over nine hundred words was completed.
Nie Qiu carefully checked it three times. By the time the submission time arrived, Nie Qiu walked out of the exam room feeling good.
