Chapter 16: Exam Trouble

Zuo Hongbin smiled and said, “I’ll tell you what to write, then you just copy from the textbook. It’s very simple.”

A look of apology appeared on Su Chunfeng’s face. He lowered his head and said softly, “Teacher Zuo, the exam is in two days, so I need to focus on studying…”

Hearing this, Zuo Hongbin’s face instantly turned cold and stern.

Su Chunfeng quickly said, “How about this? After the final exam is over, I’ll help you write it.”

“The inspection team is coming the day after tomorrow! What’s the use if you write it after the final exam ends?” Zuo Hongbin said with a stern face. “Su Chunfeng, to be honest, if the few third-year students with good handwriting weren’t taken by other teachers, would it be your turn?”

“I know that,” Su Chunfeng nodded. His expression was no longer as respectful as before. “But I really don’t have the time.”

Zuo Hongbin slammed the table with a bang. Glaring, he shouted, “Are you going to write it or not?”

“No,” Su Chunfeng gave a straightforward reply, then turned and walked away.

He hated being threatened most of all, especially by a teacher who was supposed to set an example. This teacher didn’t prepare his lessons seriously, and now that an inspection was coming, he hastily grabbed a student to copy his teaching plans, acting all fierce… What a disgrace, a complete jerk who misled students.

A second-year student daring to refuse his request and walk away so rudely made Zuo Hongbin furious. “Su Chunfeng, do you not want to study here anymore?”

Su Chunfeng had already reached the office door. Hearing this, he turned his head and glanced at Zuo Hongbin with disdain. “Are you trying to scare me?”

“You’ll be in third year next semester!” Zuo Hongbin threatened.

“And if I’m in third year, can you bite me?” Su Chunfeng sneered and strode away.

Zuo Hongbin stood up abruptly, so angry he almost chased after Su Chunfeng to beat him. But after all, he was a teacher. He restrained his anger, gritting his teeth as he thought, “Just you wait. You’ll get yours!”

Because there were too many students, whenever there was an exam at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School, they would clear out rooms like the laboratory and the library—rooms that were mostly for show and not fully functional yet—to use for exams. The school conference room was also cleared for use.

Su Chunfeng remembered in his previous life, there were one or two exams where he even had to bring a stool from home and take the test outdoors on the playground.

For this final exam, the third-year students had already graduated, freeing up two large classrooms.

At eight o’clock in the morning, the exam was about to begin.

Su Chunfeng sat in his seat. He turned his head and smiled at Wang Haifei. “Nervous?” His deskmate, Zhang Lifei, had been assigned to another classroom for the exam, so only he and Wang Haifei were at the desk now.

“Mm-hmm,” Wang Haifei nodded softly, biting her lip.

Su Chunfeng leaned closer to Wang Haifei and whispered, “If there’s any question you can’t do, copy from me.”

“No need.”

Su Chunfeng smiled and said nothing more—he knew Wang Haifei’s personality. Her grades were above average in the class, but she never cheated during exams and always disliked other students copying her answers. However, in his previous life, she always silently allowed Su Chunfeng to copy her test answers.

But in this life, Su Chunfeng would not cheat on exams anymore.

After more than two months of hard study, he was confident that even if he couldn’t rank at the top, he could at least make it into the top fifteen in the class.

With such a result, it would be enough to comfort his parents.

Clang, clang, clang…

The bell for class rang. The exam began.

Two proctors strode into the second-year Class 14 classroom.

Seeing the male and female teachers, Su Chunfeng was momentarily stunned—the female teacher was the English teacher, Xu Yunxia, and the male teacher was… the third-year P.E. teacher, Zuo Hongbin.

Narrow roads crossed for enemies?

That phrase suddenly flashed through Su Chunfeng’s mind. But he quickly relaxed. No matter how much resentment Zuo Hongbin held against him, it probably wouldn’t lead to any actions during the exam. At most, he would just stare intently to prevent him from cheating. He couldn’t possibly disqualify him from taking the exam, right?

The first exam subject was math.

When handing out the test papers, Zuo Hongbin was responsible for the row by the window on the left side of the classroom and the row next to it. The other two rows’ papers were handed out by Xu Yunxia.

But when it came to Su Chunfeng’s turn, Zuo Hongbin deliberately skipped him, going directly to the student behind.

Su Chunfeng immediately stood up. “Teacher Zuo, you haven’t given me my test paper yet.”

“Huh?” Zuo Hongbin snorted coldly. “What are you shouting for? Don’t want to take the exam? Wait…”

Su Chunfeng sat back down.

On the other side, Xu Yunxia saw this, frowned slightly with some surprise, but said nothing.

Only after all the other students had received their papers did Zuo Hongbin, who had been dawdling at the back of the classroom, finally come to Su Chunfeng’s desk. He threw a somewhat damaged test paper in front of Su Chunfeng, while holding a few intact ones, and returned to the teacher’s platform, sitting down calmly as if it were perfectly natural. He curled his lip scornfully at Su Chunfeng, who frowned and glared at him with displeasure.

Su Chunfeng smiled, gave Zuo Hongbin a thumbs-up, then lowered his head and began working on the test paper.

Zuo Hongbin couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He felt as if he, the teacher, had been looked down upon by the student Su Chunfeng.

This scene was seen by Xu Yunxia, who had already finished distributing papers and was sitting on the platform proctoring. She frowned slightly and looked at Zuo Hongbin with full confusion.

Xu Yunxia was twenty-seven years old. Though relatively short, she had a dignified and beautiful appearance. Her jet-black long hair was casually tied back with a clip, with some strands pinned loosely at the back of her head. Her petite, slender figure was clad in a fitted light blue dress that showed her smooth calves. Her delicate feet, without socks, wore shiny high-heeled sandals. Being a new mother gave her a unique charm that radiated from her.

Among the female teachers at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School, Xu Yunxia’s looks definitely ranked second, only behind the ice-teacher Chen Liping, who perfectly combined beauty and ferocity.

Noticing Xu Yunxia’s puzzled gaze, Zuo Hongbin awkwardly returned a smile.

No man wanted to leave a bad impression in front of such a dignified, beautiful, and charming female teacher. Especially Zuo Hongbin, who often fantasized about something happening between him and Teacher Xu Yunxia, thanks to his own handsome looks and good physique.

About twenty minutes into the exam, Zuo Hongbin suddenly stood up, strode to Su Chunfeng’s desk, and barked, “Su Chunfeng, get out…”

Su Chunfeng looked up, bewildered. “Why?”

“You cheated,” Zuo Hongbin said with a stern face, looking serious. “Therefore, I’ve decided to disqualify you from this math exam!”

Su Chunfeng was immediately furious. He never expected Zuo Hongbin to be so petty and mean-spirited. Picking on him and making things difficult was one thing, but trying to disqualify him from an exam… He narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “I did not cheat!”

“Get out!”

Just as Su Chunfeng was about to explode in anger, Xu Yunxia had already quickly walked over. She said gently, “Forget it. If he cheated, a warning is enough. There’s no need to disqualify him from the exam.”

“But I’ve never seen cheating this brazen,” Zuo Hongbin said stiffly.

By now, the entire class’s attention was drawn to them. Some looked surprised, some sympathetic, and some were secretly gloating.

“We’re in the middle of an exam; don’t disturb the other students,” Xu Yunxia whispered in persuasion, while glancing around the class. “Everyone, continue with your exam. Don’t waste time.”

Originally, Xu Yunxia’s advice had made Zuo Hongbin consider letting it go. But when he saw Su Chunfeng’s expression full of anger and contempt, he could no longer control his temper. With a fierce expression, he said, “Cheating on an exam, defying a teacher—he must leave!”

Seeing this, Xu Yunxia didn’t know what else to say.

She couldn’t ruin her relationship with a colleague over a student’s exam issue. Moreover, according to school rules, if a student’s cheating was severe, they could indeed be disqualified from that exam. A proctor even had the authority to disqualify a cheating student from the entire final exam.

“Get out!” Zuo Hongbin stared at Su Chunfeng, leaving no room for doubt.

“Teacher Zuo, since you’re so sure I cheated…” Su Chunfeng suppressed the anger in his heart and said calmly, “Whom did I copy from? Do you have any evidence?”

Zuo Hongbin couldn’t help but sneer, and even Xu Yunxia looked startled. All the classmates watching showed expressions of surprise and amusement—evidence? What a joke! In these times, a teacher’s word was the law; it didn’t need proof!

“I saw you copying answers from your deskmate’s test paper with my own eyes,” Zuo Hongbin said, looking at Wang Haifei. “This girl, you should be careful too. Don’t let others copy from you.”

Two days ago, after Su Chunfeng refused to help Zuo Hongbin copy his teaching plans, Zuo Hongbin had casually chatted with some second-year teachers and inquired about Su Chunfeng’s academic performance. He learned that the kid’s grades weren’t great. He wasn’t too troublesome, but he wasn’t a good student either. With that in mind, Zuo Hongbin felt more confident and had managed to get assigned as a proctor for second-year Class 14 during the exam duty allocation.

He deliberately gave Su Chunfeng his paper a few minutes late, hoping the student would panic and cheat.

But after watching for over twenty minutes without seeing Su Chunfeng cheat, Zuo Hongbin grew impatient. That’s why he stood up to falsely accuse Su Chunfeng. In his view, as a teacher, he had the inherent advantage. If he said any student cheated, other teachers and students wouldn’t doubt it.

When Su Chunfeng was first accused and shouted at by Zuo Hongbin, he had already glanced at Wang Haifei’s test paper out of the corner of his eye…

Now, hearing Zuo Hongbin lie so blatantly, Su Chunfeng, who was sitting on the inner side of the desk, immediately stood up. He picked up his own test paper and slapped it in front of Wang Haifei. Pointing at the papers, he said, “Open your eyes wide and see clearly! Look at which question I’m on, and which question my deskmate is on!”

Zuo Hongbin was stunned and hurriedly looked down.

Xu Yunxia also frowned and looked.

They saw that Su Chunfeng had already started working on the eighth major question on the back of the test paper, while Wang Haifei’s paper was only at the sixth major question.