The Young Girl's Chronicles of Demon-Slaying

Chapter 31: Entrance Exam

Song Wencheng ultimately didn’t have time to wait for Song Jianqiu to finish all her exam papers before heading off to work, leaving only Song Jianqiu and Lin Yuqin at home. The former worked through the exam papers one by one, while the latter carefully and meticulously checked each one. Her handwriting was beautiful, her answer sheets were neat—she hadn’t even made any rough drafts—yet there wasn’t a single trace of corrections or mistakes! These were answers written only after a complete train of thought and careful consideration! Glancing up at Song Jianqiu, who was still working on her exam, Lin Yuqin couldn’t help but marvel inwardly—she had truly struck gold! With a genius like this, how could the family that had previously fostered Hengheng have treated him so poorly? The thought flashed through her mind but didn’t linger; she quickly refocused her attention on the papers in her hands. By now, she already had the exam papers for the core subjects—math, English, Chinese, physics, and chemistry—in her hands. Without a doubt, with the scores from these core subjects, the purpose of this diagnostic test had already been achieved. As for the other papers—history, geography, and the like—it didn’t matter whether she did them or not; after all, this wasn’t a real exam. However, seeing how focused Song Jianqiu was, she didn’t disturb her and waited quietly for her to finish the remaining papers. By 2:30 p. m. , all the exams were finished. Aside from the scores in the core subjects Lin Yuqin cared about, she merely glanced briefly at the other, non-core subjects before stacking them together with the rest. These at-home tests were actually of no use to the school; an entrance exam would inevitably be required later on. But Lin Yuqin’s purpose in bringing the test papers home for Song Jianqiu to take was simply to gauge her current level—so that she and Song Wencheng could get a sense of Song Jianqiu’s academic performance. And without a doubt, this assessment gave Song Jianqiu’s parents quite a pleasant surprise. With scores high enough to earn a perfect score on the 15th-grade entrance exam, she would have no trouble getting into not only Nan’an Affiliated High School but any other top-tier high school as well. So now, Lin Yuqin had completely put her worries aside and turned her attention to another matter. “Hengheng, which grade do you want to start in?” Previously, Song Wencheng and Lin Yuqin had planned to have Song Jianqiu repeat the grade and start in the second year of junior high, so they wouldn’t have to rush to catch up for the 2017 high school entrance exam with only a little over a month left. But now, after seeing these test papers, Lin Yuqin had begun to change her mind. However, when it came to making decisions, Lin Yuqin’s approach to parenting had always been to first listen to her child’s choice, fully consider their thoughts, and then offer her own advice from the sidelines—and she continued to do so now. “Ninth grade!” Song Jianqiu answered Lin Yuqin’s question without hesitation. This answer didn’t surprise Lin Yuqin. If it had been before this diagnostic exam, she might have tried to persuade her otherwise, but after reviewing the test papers, she felt that since Song Jianqiu had already achieved such excellent results, repeating eighth grade would simply be a waste of time. So, after giving the answer some thought, she said nothing more. She simply gathered up the test papers, told Song Jianqiu to play at home or go out for a walk, and then left the house with her bag. Although the school didn’t recognize the results of this in-home test, she still planned to take the test papers to school to show them to her eldest sister-in-law, Song Wenhui, who served as the director of academic affairs at Nan’an Affiliated High School. She was confident that, given her reputation, Song Wenhui—as a relative—would believe the test results, which would significantly reduce the obstacles to Song Jianqiu’s enrollment. After seeing Lin Yuqin off, Song Jianqiu returned to the house. She looked around but didn’t feel like doing anything; the TV wasn’t worth watching, so she went up to the piano room on the third floor. Before long, the melodious strains of piano music drifted out from the open window on the third floor. Lin Yuqin didn’t return until around four or five in the afternoon. Without taking time to rest, she hurriedly began preparing dinner. Song Jianqiu followed her into the kitchen to help and, at the same time, received some good news: tomorrow she could take the entrance exam at Nan’an Affiliated High School. As long as she passed the exam, she could be temporarily enrolled in a class; once the adoption certificate, ID card, and other necessary documents were issued, she could officially transfer to Nan’an Affiliated High School. Things had gone so smoothly largely thanks to her eldest sister-in-law, Song Wenhui, who served as the Director of Academic Affairs at Nan’an Affiliated High School. Therefore, Lin Yuqin planned to find an opportunity to treat Song Wenhui’s family to a meal first. Once summer vacation arrived—by which time Song Jianqiu’s household registration would have been added to the family register—she planned to take her back to the Song family’s hometown for a visit and, while there, introduce her to relatives and friends, thereby making Song Jianqiu a full-fledged member of the Song family. The entire cooking process passed amid such casual conversation, and by the time Song Wencheng came home from work, the three of them enjoyed a cheerful family dinner. After the usual routine of resting and washing up, when the night was deep and quiet and everyone was fast asleep, the soft, whispering sound of sutra recitation drifted out from Song Jianqiu’s window on the second floor. The osmanthus tree in the corner of the front yard swayed gently to the rhythm of the chanting, as if flecks of Buddha’s light were flowing across its green leaves, tinging them with a golden hue. The night passed without incident. The next day, accompanied by Lin Yuqin, Song Jianqiu arrived at Nan’an Affiliated High School. As the affiliated high school of the Nan’an Conservatory of Music, Nan’an Affiliated High School was a key high school in Yashan City—a school with a vast campus that housed both middle and high school divisions. Upon entering the school gates, Lin Yuqin introduced Song Jianqiu to the places she would be studying while leading her straight to the administrative complex, where they found Song Wenhui waiting for them in the Academic Affairs Office. She was a woman in her forties, wearing a gray skirt suit, with her hair pulled back. Her skin was well-cared-for, and she was quite attractive. She exuded an air of maturity, though the black-rimmed glasses on her face gave her a very serious appearance when she wasn’t smiling. However, upon seeing Lin Yuqin and Song Jianqiu, she became very warm and welcoming, breaking into a smile as she served them tea and invited them to take a seat. Then, Song Wenhui gave Song Jianqiu a scrutinizing look, sizing her up from head to toe, and asked, “So this must be the Song girl?” “Mm-hmm! Her name is Song Jianqiu! Her nickname is Hengheng!” Lin Yuqin introduced her, then prompted Song Jianqiu to greet her: “Hengheng, go say hello to your Auntie!” “Hello, Auntie!” Song Jianqiu greeted her obediently. Song Wenhui smiled and said, “I’ve looked over the test papers your mother brought yesterday, and I’ve had a few teachers grade them. Your scores are excellent. If you maintain this level, the entrance exam shouldn’t be a problem for you. The key question is, do you really want to skip straight to ninth grade? Isn’t that a bit too rushed? Keep in mind, the high school entrance exam is just over a month away!” “I can do it!” Determined not to have to repeat her junior high school year, Song Jianqiu drew on her self-confidence. Seeing this, Song Wenhui nodded approvingly and said, “It’s good that you have that kind of confidence!” Having received a definitive answer from Song Jianqiu, Song Wenhui didn’t say anything further. After chatting casually for a moment, a young woman came in to announce that the entrance exam was ready and they could proceed to the testing area. Seeing this, the three of them got up and left the office, heading toward the venue where the entrance exam was being held. When they arrived, they discovered that the exam venue was a spacious conference room. There were two teachers supervising the exam, and as the three of them took their seats, the room seemed even more empty. The proctor explained the rules in detail to the sole examinee and then distributed the test papers. Since this was an entrance exam rather than a formal test, there were relatively few subjects covered—only Chinese, math, and English. There was one exam paper per subject, and the number of questions wasn’t high; there weren’t many short-answer questions, but rather mostly long-answer ones. The questions weren’t particularly difficult, but the scope was broad and the content was in-depth, focusing primarily on testing foundational knowledge. When it came time for grading, the scores weren’t calculated numerically; instead, they were rated using the letters A, B, C, and D. A candidate needed two “B”s to pass. The exam papers were distributed one by one. The exam lasted three class periods—essentially one paper per period—but since this wasn’t a formal exam, students were allowed to turn in their papers early and pick up the next one ahead of schedule. For students with average academic performance, these three class periods might be a bit tight, but Song Jianqiu was no ordinary student. After receiving a test paper, she didn’t rush to start. Instead, just as she would in a regular exam, she first read the questions carefully; she scanned the entire paper from beginning to end before beginning to answer. Once she had finished answering, she reviewed her work to ensure there were no errors, and then turned in the paper. Even though she deliberately slowed down, the entire process took her only about half an hour per exam, because she knew that in addition to the marks on the exam itself, this entrance exam also involved a “perception score.” In other words, the examiners observe the students’ behavior and demeanor—which is essentially a very subjective matter. Simply put, the goal is to make a good impression on the proctor. If she worked as quickly as she did at home, even if she got every question right, she would likely lose points for her demeanor—which would make it a case of losing more than she gained. While Song Jianqiu was taking the exam in the conference room, Song Wenhui and Lin Yuqin stood outside the door, chatting casually while keeping an eye on what was happening inside. As she finished each exam paper and handed it in, one of the proctors would begin grading it. So by the time she had completed all three papers, Song Jianqiu’s scores were already in. She passed with perfect scores in all three subjects! Although Lin Yuqin had confidence in Song Jianqiu, she still couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing the news. Next, there were still some formalities to take care of, and they also had to prepare various school supplies: backpacks, pens, notebooks, and so on. Taking advantage of the time they had left, Lin Yuqin and Song Jianqiu announced after leaving school that they would go shopping that afternoon. As one might expect, it was going to be a very long afternoon. As the days passed, someone who had lived for more than twenty years would probably never have imagined that a single act of bravery could become a life-changing opportunity. From elementary school to middle school, from high school to college, and then out into the working world—before she’d even made a name for herself—she found herself back in middle school once again. And so, their brief life as middle school students began once more. (End of Chapter)