This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 89 The Taoist Master is somewhat confused (Bonus chapter, please vote for monthly tickets)

The fact that Chen Shi'an scored 125 points on the weekly Chinese test caused a huge uproar in Class 5.

Not a Taoist priest...

Didn't we agree on nine leaky fish?
How come he got a score of 125 in Chinese on his first try?!
What about all that hard work I've put in for over ten years? Does that count as hardship for me...?

As the most unique member of the class, everyone knew that Chen Shi'an was a Taoist priest and that he had never been to school.

Aside from the fact that Dao Ye's identity as a Daoist priest was novel to everyone, no one really paid much attention to his achievements.

Anyone who has been to school knows how important a solid foundation and a structured approach are. Someone with a weak foundation might be bending down to pick up a pen in math class and then completely forgetting where the teacher left off. They might be a little better at Chinese, since it's their mother tongue and they at least have some basic knowledge… but Chinese exams aren't about who speaks the most fluent Chinese; they require a certain answering pattern and a systematic understanding of the material!

If he got a score of 60 or 90, people would understand. But he's only been in class for a few days and he got a score of 125?!

"Master Daoist! Please teach me Chinese! I always get just over 110 on my tests. Please enlighten me!"

"Master Daoist! May I borrow your examination paper for a moment?"

So, from the time the test papers were handed out until the fourth period, when Chinese class started, Chen Shi'an's weekly Chinese test answer sheet finally returned to his hands.

It was so sought after that even a perfect score on a Chinese exam paper couldn't compare to the one from the Taoist priest. At the same time, Chen Shi'an's earliest Chinese diagnostic test paper was also borrowed by his classmates.

"Holy crap! The essay on the Daoist's diagnostic test was written in classical Chinese! The entire answer was in classical Chinese!"

"No wonder Master Dao scored 125 in Chinese, his foundation is so solid..."

"You don't even need to look at the answer; just looking at this handwriting tells you about their skill!"

Chen Shi'an: "..."

Judging from everyone's astonishment, if Chen Shi'an hadn't been certain that he had only scored 125 points, he would have thought he had gotten a perfect score.

To be honest, he was definitely not satisfied with this score. He never thought that he had never been to school, so scoring 125 points was remarkable. After all, he had read so many famous classics since childhood and never neglected his studies. It would be unreasonable if he could not score 125 points after undergoing standardized training.

In fact, if Chen Shi'an had continued to write his essay in classical Chinese, which he was good at, even if it was just at the same level as the essay in the diagnostic test, he would have gotten full marks. His total score would have been at least 137 points, one point higher than the highest score of 136 points in the class this week.

Currently, the weaker areas in Chinese language are reading comprehension of informational texts, such as scientific and technological expository texts and social science academic papers, as well as the writing section in modern literary styles.

Through this weekly test, Chen Shi'an was able to strengthen his skills in a more targeted manner.

Of course, getting a high score in Chinese alone isn't enough; the college entrance exam requires you to take six subjects, so you need to catch up in the other subjects as soon as possible...

……

The cafeteria was bustling at noon.

The roadside buddies from the morning became lunch buddies at mealtimes. Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia carried their trays together and found a place to sit down.

After having meals together for a few days, the two now enjoy each other's company more and more freely and easily during meals.

"I'll give you this, and I want some of yours too!"

Chen Shi'an didn't even need to lift a finger; Wen Zhixia could do it all by herself.

Before they even started eating, the girl took a little bit of each of the three dishes from her plate and put it onto Chen Shi'an's plate. Then, she did the same to him, taking a little bit of each of the three dishes from his plate and putting it onto her own plate.

The cafeteria lady gave her a little extra food today, and since she couldn't finish it, she took a spoon and scooped some over to Chen Shi'an.

Only after she finished cooking, as if she were in the kitchen, did Chen Shi'an start eating with her chopsticks.

"Taoist priest, have you received your weekly Chinese quiz papers? What score did you get?"

"125 points, what about you?"

"1. 125 points?!"

The belated expressions on Wen Zhixia's face were a sight Chen Shi'an was already used to.

"Yes, mainly because we lost a lot of points on the social science reading comprehension question, and then we lost a lot of points on the essay."

"What about the others? What about the classical Chinese ones?"

"Isn't that the simplest one?"

"..."

What score did you get?

"Still standing still."

Chen Shi'an blinked, recalling Wen Zhixia's Chinese score from the previous monthly exam on the honor roll.

"141 points?"

How do you remember so clearly! Have you been secretly following me?

"I have a good memory. If this counts as secretly keeping tabs on you, then I did specifically look for your name when I was looking at the honor roll."

"..."

Wen Zhixia felt a little hot in the face and lowered her head to bite her chopsticks.

I was just joking, don't take my answer so seriously...!
Stupid Taoist priest!

"141 points, that's a very high score. I think the highest score in our class was only 136. Did we take the same test for both arts and science students?"

"Yes, it is Chinese."

Wen Zhixia nodded, then casually asked, "What score did your deskmate get?"

"135."

Wen Zhixia didn't reply to him, but a hint of smugness was clearly visible in her eyes.

"120, 130, and 140 are three major hurdles in Chinese. As you just said, if you strengthen your reading comprehension and composition skills, you should be able to easily reach 130."

"Then you say it's a major hurdle?"

"Because most people don't have obvious weaknesses like you. The reason why it's hard to improve in Chinese is that most people don't have any particularly strong points or particularly weak points, so it's very vague. You either spend a lot of time and effort to improve overall, or you only focus on one point and the improvement is not obvious."

"I see. Little Zhi really knows Chinese well. No wonder he's first in the grade in Chinese."

"Humph~"

After dinner, the two went upstairs together.

The girl covered her mouth with her small hand, squinted her eyes, and yawned.

"Aren't you going to take a nap again at noon?" Chen Shi'an asked.

"Go to sleep. Study for half an hour first, then lie down for ten minutes at the end."

"I think you should just go to sleep. Otherwise, you might doze off on the playground when we have class together this afternoon."

Wen Zhixia was stunned.

"Huh? We'll take classes together? What classes...we'll take them together?"

"Physical education class."

Wen Zhixia blinked. The new semester brought a new timetable. She knew that the second period this afternoon was PE, but she didn't expect it to be with Class 5.
A look of surprise and delight appeared on Wen Zhixia's face, and she asked incredulously:
"Really? Is your class also having PE during the second period this afternoon?"

"correct."

"How did you know our class had PE in the second period?"

"Teacher Wan mentioned it to me."

"Great! Taoist priest, do you know how to play badminton? Let's play badminton together during PE class!"

"Teacher Wan asked me to lead our class in practicing Baduanjin with your class."

"You can still play after practice; you can't practice for an entire class period."

"I can't."

"It's settled then, I have the racket!"

"Hey?" The two were in different classes and different subjects, but they never expected to be able to meet and play together in a PE class every week.

The girl, who had been sleepy, suddenly perked up and went upstairs excitedly.

……

Physical education class is a physical education course, but both schools and students treat it as just a time for play and entertainment.

Just like on weekends, as academic courses progress, the number of physical education classes will be continuously reduced. In the first semester of the second year of high school, there are two physical education classes per week, but in the second semester, there is only one class per week. In the third year of high school, there are no physical education classes, only one self-study class per week, which is nominally called "physical education class".

After the first class in the afternoon, the atmosphere in the class became lively. Several boys in the back row were practicing Baduanjin, which was not even half-baked, and they even called over the Taoist priest to give them some pointers.

After the school broadcast announced last week that the morning exercises would be changed to Baduanjin starting next month, everyone knew that they would be learning it in their physical education classes.

Other classes are already practicing Baduanjin during their PE classes, taught by their respective PE teachers, but it's far inferior to the Daoist master's Baduanjin.

With Chen Shi'an around, the students in Class 5 were very interested in learning the Eight Pieces of Brocade.

If I learned a few tricks, I could show them off to my grandpa at home and he'd be absolutely amazed!

Lin Mengqiu was quite interested in practicing Baduanjin, but she never showed her interest on her face.

She had watched Chen Shi'an's video many times. Although she had never practiced it herself, she knew exactly which move followed which move.

Even she herself was a little surprised that she would be interested in this kind of Taoist health cultivation exercise...

It must be because we don't have to do morning exercises.

As everyone knows, what she hates doing most is radio calisthenics.

Physical education class was about to start, and Lin Mengqiu's usual white sneakers had been replaced with athletic shoes after her lunch break.

Her little feet, hidden inside the shoes, twitched slightly. Feeling the comfortable embrace of the sneakers, she couldn't help but think of the physical fitness test last Thursday...

If I had been wearing sneakers that day, I probably wouldn't have almost tripped and ended up in Chen Shi'an's arms, right?

She always selectively forgets the embarrassing things that happened during her youth.

But this one thing is the only thing she remembers more clearly the more she tries to forget it. Even after so many days, she can still clearly recall exactly where Chen Shi'an grabbed her arm and the scent that rushed towards her at that moment.

"Has the class monitor ever practiced Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade)?"

As Chen Shi'an closed the book and turned to speak, he saw Lin Mengqiu raise her hand to tie her ponytail.

The sleeves of the summer school uniform were loose, and when the girl raised her arms, the cuffs of the short sleeves shrank, revealing a patch of soft, tender skin under her armpits, with a hazy pink hue that resembled the delicate white of snow.

Having unintentionally seen it, Chen Shi'an quickly looked away.

Do girls not grow armpit hair?
Chen Shi'an would never ask such a question aloud; he was merely curious about the Taoist priest, not some shrimp-headed Taoist.

Fortunately, Lin Mengqiu didn't notice. She took out a hair tie and tied her loose hair into a neat high ponytail before replying to him, "No."

Ever since Chen Shi'an had dinner at her house that day, apart from class time, she would occasionally take the initiative to say a few more words when there was no one else around.

"Are you teaching Baduanjin in PE class later?"

How did the class monitor know?

"I saw Teacher Wan looking for you this morning."

"Okay, if you don't know, I'll teach you. Consider it a way of giving back to the class monitor for teaching me math. Bye."

After Chen Shi'an finished speaking, he got up and left the classroom first.

Lin Mengqiu opened her backpack, took out a pine nut candy from an inner bag, and ate it to replenish her energy.

Just like with morning exercises, she didn't like going to the spacious playground too early. After all, other students were gathered in twos and threes, and she, who always preferred to be alone, always waited until the very end to go down.

It wasn't until almost time for class that Lin Mengqiu got up from her seat and took her water bottle.

People came and went in the stairwell, and her high ponytail swayed gently with each step she took.

Suddenly, her swaying ponytail paused—

A few steps ahead of her was Wen Zhixia, carrying a badminton racket and walking with two female classmates.

It seems to have a feeling.

As Wen Zhixia reached the corner, she turned around and met Lin Mengqiu's eyes.

The two stared at each other for a moment, then simultaneously looked away.

The chatter from ahead continued:

"...Zhizhi, are you quite familiar with that Taoist priest from Class 5? I've noticed you've been eating with him a lot lately..."

"Yu Ting, you're following me!"

"Hehe, I often run into you guys during mealtimes, no wonder you don't eat with us!"

"Don't talk nonsense, we're just dining buddies."

"I don't believe you. You two seem to get along very well... How did you meet?"

"I just happened to run into you on the bus earlier."

"Is he really a Taoist priest?"

"yes,"

"Is he very athletic? I heard he was the one who slammed the backboard the last time, right?"

"Well, after I finish practicing Baduanjin, I also invited him to play badminton together. Xiaoyan, do you guys want to play? Let's play doubles, that'll make four people."

"You want to team up with the Taoist priests to humiliate us, don't you? You little rascal!"

"how come……"

……

It was a bit noisy.

Lin Mengqiu quickened her pace and walked past the three slow-moving girls.

She ignored the stares behind her.

She walked straight to Chen Shi'an, who was squatting on the ground tying his shoelaces in the activity area of ​​Class 5.

Suddenly, a pair of white running shoes appeared in front of me.

Chen Shi'an stopped tying his shoelaces.

He looked up and followed the pair of straight, slender legs in front of him, and saw Lin Mengqiu's face looking down at him.

She was standing on the side that was not in the light, so the girl's pretty face looked like it was covered in shadow.

"What's wrong, class monitor?"

"Want to play badminton together later?"

"...Huh? I don't know how."

"I'll go get the racket and ball first. If Teacher Wan asks, please tell him for me."

After saying that, Lin Mengqiu walked quickly to the principal's office.

"Hey?"

Did I say I wanted to play badminton?! How come you decided that for me like a little cicada?!

Faced with this sudden invitation, Chen Shi'an was somewhat bewildered.

I don't know how to play badminton at all...

Why does everyone want to hit me?
You two like playing badminton, why don't you play together!
(An extra chapter, please give me your guaranteed monthly votes)

(End of this chapter)