Exactly the Same Resu1t¹ (1)

The weather became even hotter on the eve of the high school entrance examination.

Not only was the weather hot and stuffy, but the heart also became restless. Once a person’s heart became irritable, of course they would not be able to maintain their cool.

The air conditioner in the classroom was turned on to the max, but it still couldn’t calm the restlessness in the air.

Jiang Xiumei was very worried about her child’s grades, and she was afraid that she would fail the exam. Every day she thought about replenishing Xiaoman’s body nutrition; fortunately, Jiang Xing stopped her.

Jiang Xing said, “Mom, I think Xiaoman has always worked very hard. Even if you don’t replenish her body or whatever, nothing would happen. But if you tried to replenish her body, you might actually make something happen instead. Just be calm and act normally.”

After hesitating for a while, Jiang Xiumei decided to listen to her son. She nodded and did not give anything to replenish Jiang Xiaoman’s nutrition. Not only that, she even told her to eat at the school cafeteria.

The school cared even more about the students’ situation.

Regarding Jiang Xiaoman’s performance, Jiang Xing was not worried at all, and he was even less worried about her mental state. Going a step further, you could even say that no one in this world was as optimistic as his niece. As for her capabilities, Jiang Xiaoman had not been learning in vain for the past three years. All the trophies and certificates on the shelf already told the whole story.

Originally, he found a tutor for Jiang Xiaoman. But after Sun Xiaojie and the others graduated, Jiang Xiaoman didn’t even need any more tutoring class. She had already finished the materials for the third year of junior high school in advance, and she mastered them well. Doing all the questions herself was not a challenge at all. She dismissed Tao Tao on her second year of junior high because she didn’t need a tutor to help her at all. Tao Tao was now serving as a secretary at Jiang Xing’s company, becoming the White Bone Demoness of the workplace.

Everything was ready, they were just waiting for the East Wind².

Two days after the exam, the front of the school gate was filled by the parents who came to accompany the examinees. However, no one came to accompany Jiang Xiaoman, even her meals were all eaten in the cafeteria.

According to Jiang Xing, he had done everything he had to and could do in the past three years. This was not the singular moment that was going to decide her success or failure, everything else is up to Xiaoman’s own fortune. Even when she went home, they let her ride her bicycle back, not worrying at all.

Jiang Xiaoman didn’t panic.

Before the official exam, the school held several try-outs together with other schools, and it would have the first, second and third place winners. Every time, she would score very well and rank first.

After the exam, Jiang Xiaoman and Yu Qingshi rode on the street side by side, going home together.

The weather was still very hot and stuffy, Yu Qingshi went to buy her a cup of milk tea halfway home.

Jiang Xiaoman asked him, “How did you do on the exam?”

“I did fine.”

“I did fine, too.”

The two looked at each other and found that there seemed to be nothing to talk about, so they went home in silence.

Then they ate dinner and went to sleep.

The day passed ordinarily, looking no different than any other day.

On the day when the results came out, Jiang Xiaoman vigilantly watched the website from early in the morning, waiting to see her results. But watching as the loading circle keep spinning on the webpage, her high spirits gradually cooled down. When she finally ran out of patience, she simply threw the mouse away and didn’t bother checking it anymore, and instead leisurely flipped through a novel.

In the afternoon, Ye Jiajia called. “Xiaoman!! Have you checked your results!?”

“I did.”

“How did you score?”

“I do not know.”

“Eh?”

“The website was broken.”

“Oh.” Ye Jiajia felt the same way. After a while, her tone turned back to joy, “Aaa, I got into the top 200. I’ll definitely be able to enter the same highschool as you!”

“Congratulations!” Jiang Xiaoman was really happy.

After all, she often got first place in the exam, but Ye Jiajia rarely came in the top 200. Rare things were more valuable, not to mention that this rare occurrence was a good thing.

Jiang Xiaoman opened the website while talking to her. This time she entered the account password and quickly logged in without it being laggy.

Ye Jiajia asked excitedly, “How did you do? How many points did you score?”

“Two points.”

“Huh?” Ye Jiajia was dumbfounded. She touched her unkempt hair in a daze. After a long time, her mind still couldn’t process it. Then a cold breath rushed to her back, and she cried out, “Wuu wuu wuu, Xiaoman, you failed the exam?”

…This failure was also too severe. How did it happen?

If this was broadcasted, not only would the whole school be shocked, but she was afraid that their homeroom teacher would jump off from the roof.

Jiang Xiaoman smiled, “Two points were deducted for Language.”

“Eh??”

“The rest have full marks.”

“!!!” Ye Jiajia felt that she had been too ignorant and easily spooked. How could Xiaoman have failed the exam!?

Even for the life of the homeroom teacher, it was impossible that she would fail the exam!!

Ye Jiajia sung her praises for a while, then asked, “What place are you at? Are you number one in the city again?”

“I can’t see my placing, I can only see the score.”

“You’re definitely number one.”

“Maybe there are warriors who got perfect scores in Language.”

“That’s impossible.”

The two exchanged good news, and soon hung up the phone. Then Yu Qingshi also called her to tell her the good news.

Jiang Xiaoman asked him, “Did you get a full score on the Language test?”

“Two points were deducted.”

Jiang Xiaoman was relieved and patted his shoulder, “Not bad.”

…Not bad, what’s not bad?

Yu Qingshi glanced at her and hesitated for a moment, and finally left with a blush.

He didn’t know that Jiang Xiaoman was struggling with her ranking.

Initially she didn’t care much about it, but after thinking about it for a little, in the end she still cared a tiny bit.

However, the rule was that the specific rankings could not be mentioned; only the scores were published. No public notifications or promotions were allowed. Jiang Xiaoman wanted to know, so she could only ask others one after another.

…it was so troublesome.

Jiang Xiaoman weighed it up and felt that it was not worth it, so she gave up.

Footnote:

1. Hoo boy. The word they choose to describe exactly the same here contains the word for “one”. A literal translation would be something along made from one mold, of one same type. But for Yu Qingshi’s portion they just swapped the word for “one” with the word for “two”. It was hard to translate the pun into English while keeping the punchline so I went with resu1t and re2ult. It’s kinda cringy but hey, the original pun is too XD

2. This is from the Three Kingdoms. Zhuge Liang had prepared a strategy and all preparations to carry it out, all he needed was to wait for the East Wind to blow so he could put it all into motion. Everything is ready, just waiting for the right time.