Chapter 22: First Day of Examinations, Conquered

A sudden commotion erupted in the classroom.

A group of examinees whispered among themselves, staring in astonishment at Chen Fan, who stood at the entrance. It wasn't just because he had slipped in right as the bell rang, but because of his current appearance.

His head was wrapped in gauze, and one of his hands was bundled in a thick bandage. His clothes were stained with blood. He looked truly terrifying.

"Quiet!"
"Everyone, be quiet!"

The proctor rapped firmly on the desk. Once silence had fallen, he turned his gaze toward Chen Fan.

"What happened to you?"

Chen Fan was forced to concoct a lie. "Reporting, I fell down on my way to school."

The proctor frowned. "In your condition... are you still able to take the exam?"

Chen Fan lifted his right hand and flexed it twice. "No problem."

The two proctors exchanged a glance and finally nodded.

"Come in."
"Thank you, teacher."

Chen Fan walked into the classroom and made his way to his seat. He looked up toward a specific spot. There, Huang Hu was staring at him, dumbstruck. In truth, Huang Hu had been startled the moment Chen Fan suddenly appeared. He had never expected Chen Fan to make it back at the very last second.

Seeing Chen Fan look his way, Huang Hu’s expression shifted, appearing slightly unnatural. However, the gaze Chen Fan leveled at him was incredibly calm. There was no rage, no hysteria. He merely swept a casual glance over him before withdrawing his eyes, as if ignoring Huang Hu as one would the air.

This scene left Huang Hu feeling quite disgruntled.

"Hmph, what is he putting on an act for!" he thought. "You got lucky this time, but I’d like to see how you manage to take the exam."

Chen Fan had no mood to pay attention to Huang Hu. His clothes were still covered in blood, so he simply took off his school uniform jacket and stuffed it into the desk compartment. Then, he took a deep breath to steady his state of mind.

The bell rang. The proctor at the front began to read the examination rules. Once finished, the two teachers opened the sealed file bag containing the test papers.

The classroom fell silent, each student wearing a different expression. Some looked full of confidence, while others appeared tense. The two teachers walked down from the podium and began distributing the papers.

As soon as he received his paper, Chen Fan quickly scanned it. First, he checked the essay prompt at the end. When he saw that it was still the same topic—discussing perspectives on life and different solutions to problems based on the interpretation of four graphic symbols—the weight that had been pressing on his heart finally lifted.

It hadn't changed. Everything was exactly the same as the exam paper from his previous life.

The bell rang. A proctor prompted, "You may begin."

The examinees immediately picked up their pens and began writing furiously. Chen Fan took a deep breath and wiped the blood off his palms to avoid staining the answer sheet. He picked up his pen and carefully wrote his school, class, exam number, and name. Only then did he begin.

Chen Fan’s speed was fast. Aside from a few reading comprehension questions that lacked standard answers, he felt slightly hesitant, but for everything else—idiom corrections, poetry recitation, punctuation usage, and identifying faulty sentences—he proceeded without a single pause. Especially for the questions where he remembered the answers, he barely glanced at them before rapidly transcribing the answers he had memorized countless times.

Finally, there was the essay. Chen Fan rubbed his aching palm and began to transcribe the essay he had prepared in advance onto the answer sheet. While other students were still struggling to figure out their thesis and approach, Chen Fan’s prose flowed like a dam breaking. He didn't need to think at all; he simply wrote down the prepared piece.

Chen Fan was the first to finish. Although he was certain he would get a high score, he didn't slack off in the slightest. He went back and checked his work thoroughly from start to finish. Only when the final bell rang did he set down his pen and let out a sigh of relief.

First subject, Chinese: mission accomplished.

Huang Hu didn't look at Chen Fan; he rose and bolted out of the room. Chen Fan couldn't be bothered to cause trouble for him; he stood up, stretched his arms, and walked out of the exam hall holding his dirty jacket.

In the hallway, Guo Shuai was already waiting.

"How was it?"
"Not bad."

Chen Fan said it aloud, but in his heart, he was certain that barring any accidents, he would score at least 130 in Chinese.

"What about you?"

Guo Shuai was full of confidence. "Don't worry, I filled every single line of the paper. It's absolutely fine."

Hearing this, Chen Fan didn't bother asking further. "Let's go."

"Hey, are you sure you're okay with those injuries? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Chen Fan moved his left hand. "Better than I thought. It doesn't hurt anymore. That beautiful doctor’s skills must be excellent."

Only then did Guo Shuai breathe a little easier. "Are you going home for lunch?"

Chen Fan shook his head. "It takes too much time. I'll just grab something outside and wait for the math exam this afternoon." He felt a sense of relief that he had told his mom that morning he wouldn't be back for lunch; otherwise, she would have been terrified by his blood-stained appearance.

"Then I'm not going back either. Come on! Let's go eat together."

The two headed downstairs toward the school gate. Guo Shuai suddenly asked, "Are you sure it was Huang Hu who pulled those strings?"

"Yeah."
"Damn, I remember that bastard is in the same exam room as you, right?"

Chen Fan sneered. "He ran off as soon as the exam ended. Looks like he's afraid I'll beat him up."

Guo Shuai turned his head. "What are you thinking? Want to mess him up?"

Chen Fan shook his head. "Let's finish the exams first. We'll talk after that."

Guo Shuai cracked his knuckles, making a sharp sound. "Alright, I'll follow your lead."

As they were talking, Guo Shuai suddenly stopped and nudged Chen Fan with his elbow. "Look, who's that?"

Chen Fan looked up and discovered that outside the school gate, Su Ruochu, dressed in a white gown, was standing there, looking around expectantly as if searching for someone.

"Let's go!" Chen Fan hurriedly pulled Guo Shuai into the crowd and slipped away in another direction.

"Why are you hiding? Aren't you going to say hello to the school beauty?" Guo Shuai asked, confused.

"I don't want her to worry!"

"Damn! You say that like it's a big deal. She hasn't even agreed to be your girlfriend, why would she worry about you?"

"Less talk, let's go. I'm starving. You're treating today."
"Damn, why do I have to treat?"
"I'm the wounded party..."
"Fine, you win!"

At the school gate, Lin Wanxiu pulled open the car door. "Ruochu, let's go. What are you still looking at?"

"Coming!"

Su Ruochu glanced into the campus with a hint of reluctance. She still hadn't caught sight of that familiar figure. In the end, she could only climb into the car, feeling a bit disappointed.

At noon, Chen Fan and Guo Shuai grabbed a simple meal at a small restaurant. Since the next exam didn't start until 3:00 PM, they snuck off to an internet cafe. They each found a terminal, and Guo Shuai went back to playing *Red Alert*.

Chen Fan, meanwhile, went online and checked his domain website. It had been live for three or four days, and the traffic was only around one or two hundred hits. However, the number of registered users was already over fifty. The retention rate was quite good, which meant that Chen Fan’s website design was attractive and practical.

But Chen Fan was not satisfied with these numbers at all. In his previous life, Wanwang acquired Yiyu Web in September, which was less than two months away. He had to find a way to boost the site's traffic over the next two months; otherwise, the acquisition would never happen.

While deep in thought, he absentmindedly typed "Yiyu Web" into a search bar. The next second, Chen Fan froze.

Damn!
Yiyu Web... it actually went live.