The afternoon's second session.
Before the exam, classmates exchanged glances as if checking communication equipment before battle.
Jiang Ye idly spun his pen.
The invigilators took their positions, the bell rang for the papers to be distributed, and then it rang again to start the exam!
A rain of writing sounds erupted, and all candidates held their pens, writing their names and student IDs.
It was still all short-answer questions, and as usual, he couldn't understand the questions.
Most students reluctantly put down their pens.
The candidates around Jiang Ye and Yue Qilan did not put down their pens. Instead, they uniformly turned their gazes towards the two, waiting to copy.
However, a strange thing happened.
Both Jiang Ye and Yue Qilan sighed softly and put down their pens.
Then, without even reading the questions, they actually lay down on their desks and fell asleep!
The surrounding candidates were dumbfounded, feeling as if they had encountered a ghost in broad daylight.
What was going on?
Why weren't they writing anymore?
Where was the momentum from the previous few sessions where they answered frantically and submitted early?
Wake up and fight! Don't just lie there!
The students in the exam hall were all waiting to copy. Seeing both prodigies slumped over, everyone felt a chill. The plot had not followed the script, catching everyone off guard.
An atmosphere of despair enveloped the entire class.
This was perhaps the most pathetic exam hall in the world. No one could write for a full minute, and most people didn't even pick up their pens, just staring blankly.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
Forty minutes.
Finally, Jiang Ye and Yue Qilan, who had been lying down the whole time, raised their heads, glanced at the clock, grabbed their pens, and started writing!
One hand wrote, while the other held the scratch paper, covering one line as they wrote, leaving no room for error!
The surrounding classmates were shocked. Why had the style changed so drastically?
Was it intentional to wait until the exam was halfway through before starting to answer? People shouldn't be this ruthless!
Ten minutes before the collection bell rang, Yue Qilan submitted her paper and left. Five minutes before the collection bell rang, Jiang Ye submitted his paper and left.
Both of them held their heads high and swaggered away.
They left many students who hadn't managed to copy staring at each other.
Jiang Ye went into a toilet stall to review.
Before long, the toilet was once again crowded.
"I'm impressed, what was going on in the last session?"
"It was utterly speechless. Were those two top students doing it on purpose? They didn't want us to copy?"
"I heard from the girls that Yue Qilan's handwriting was originally large, but she changed to a smaller font in the last session, shrinking it by half. You couldn't see anything clearly."
"That's disgusting! How can someone be so heartless! We're all classmates, couldn't you have leaked even two questions?"
"I think we should go talk to those two top students, offer them some money or something. It's not good to freeload."
"Yes, yes, let's pool some money to bribe them."
Jiang Ye tapped his phone and started discussing with Yue Qilan.
After a few exchanges, they reached an agreement.
For each exam, they would leak at most two questions to the students next to them. They would write the answers in large characters on scratch paper and push them to the edge of the desk, letting the students glance at them.
The price per question was ten million.
It was an exorbitant price, but for the total number of generals in the classroom, it was nothing. On average, each person only had to pay a few hundred thousand, which was like scratching an itch.
As soon as the two had colluded, many friend requests came in.
The classmates had somehow gotten Jiang Ye and Yue Qilan's numbers and were all adding them as friends to discuss cheating.
The prices were fair, the quality reliable, and the cooperation was quickly established. The money was transferred immediately. Jiang Ye received one hundred and ten million yuan, which was the total amount for the remaining eleven subjects.
They took eight subjects on the first day: three in the morning, three in the afternoon, and two in the evening.
It was already half-past eleven when they finished.
Jiang Ye did not return to the dormitory. Instead, he went to the 116th floor and knocked on Yue Qilan's dorm room door.
After the door opened, Jiang Ye looked left and right, then immediately entered and closed the door.
Yue Qilan smiled, looked up, and with a click, turned off the light. She immediately bent down and took off her skirt.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Jiang Ye clicked the light back on, grabbed her arm, "I'm here to talk business with you."
Yue Qilan was stunned. "You came this late at night, I thought you wanted to... take advantage of me."
"What nonsense! Don't say such inappropriate things loudly!" Jiang Ye was extremely embarrassed and quickly got to the point, "We've earned quite a lot of money from the papers the teachers gave us, right?"
"Yes, the teachers' kindness is as deep as the sea."
"Peach and plum do not speak, we must give money," Jiang Ye said. "We've earned so much, by rights, the teachers should have a share."
"That makes sense. How much should we give? Do you want to give it, or should I?"
"I'll go, of course."
"That's right."
"There are a total of 16 teachers, so let's give each teacher ten million. You get eighty million, and I get eighty million."
Yue Qilan was very straightforward. She took out her phone and immediately transferred eighty million to Jiang Ye.
It was efficient to discuss matters with intelligent people. The deal was done in a few words, and Jiang Ye was very satisfied.
"Still want to 'take advantage' of me?" she asked, tilting her head.
"What nonsense! Don't be so vulgar!" Jiang Ye turned and opened the door, "There's still an exam tomorrow, I'm leaving. Keep this absolutely secret."
"What's wrong? You don't like me?" Yue Qilan frowned and muttered, "My figure is so good! My legs are like works of art! Jiang Ye, you truly have no vision, no taste, no artistic sense."
Jiang Ye quickly closed the door and fled.
In the elevator, he rubbed his flushed face and muttered to himself.
"Take advantage? What dialect is that?"
He headed straight for the teachers' offices on the lower floor.
He knocked on each office door.
It was too late, and the teachers had already left. However, there were message boxes at the doors. Jiang Ye deposited the money inside and left a message: "Your teachings are like a spring breeze, your kindness as deep as the sea. Thank you, teachers, for your diligent instruction. This is a small token of appreciation from your student, Jiang Ye."
He went back and fell asleep.
The next day, it was another full day of exams.
Everything went smoothly, and all the exam questions were memorized.
He first finished his own exam paper, then picked two short questions, wrote them in large letters on scratch paper, and let the students at the neighboring desks peek.
From more than two meters away, they could still see clearly. Jiang Ye had to admit he was impressed by their eyesight; they were practically snipers.
For the last subject, he was in a great mood. After finishing the questions, he didn't move. He spread out his paper, and the surrounding students copied frantically. Consider it a bonus.
Finally, the semester ended.
On the morning of the last day, all students gathered in the small auditorium.
A banner was hung at the front of the auditorium: "Colonial University General Training Class Graduation Ceremony." The banner was faded, suggesting it had been used for at least several decades.
The exam papers had all been graded. After all, blank papers were easy to grade. Now it was time to announce the results.
Jiang Ye and Yue Qilan sat in the front row by the aisle with tacit understanding, as they were both expected to frequently go on stage to receive awards. The top ten in each subject were required to go on stage to receive certificates.
Yue Qilan wore a red tight-fitting dress, exposing her arms and long legs, with a happy expression.
The school leaders on stage had not yet all arrived, and the students below were chatting chaotically:
"Oh my god, please! Don't let me fail!"
"I'm definitely failing the previous few subjects; they were practically blank papers!"
"I'm impressed. If I had known, I would have studied harder. Now I'm panicking."
"I don't ask for awards, I just ask to pass!"
"I wrote a bunch of gibberish on the exam paper, I don't even know what I wrote. I can only beg the teachers to be lenient and let me off the hook."
Jiang Ye and Yue Qilan remained silent, quietly gazing at the stage, the two most composed people in the entire venue.