Bai Jinyan noticed and a smile appeared in his eyes.
After the kiss, Bai Jinyan placed his hand on Qiao Huaiyao’s waist, supporting him as he got into the car, saying, “Be careful.”
Looking at Bai Jinyan through the gap in the car door, under the moonlight, there was a faint glow on him.
Qiao Huaiyao nodded and said, “Okay.”
…
The plane landed in the early morning.
Qiao Huaiyao remembered Bai Jinyan’s words and immediately sent him a message.
Qiao Huaiyao: [Brother, I’ve arrived. Are you done with work? [Cat winking jpg]]
Bai Jinyan: [Mhm, [pat on the head.jpg]. Still at the office, have some things to finish, will go back in a while.]
Bai Jinyan: [The driver is waiting at the airport exit, go back and rest early, you have an exam tomorrow.]
Qiao Huaiyao: [[Cat nodding.jpg]. Brother, you should go back early too.]
…
Without luggage, there wasn’t much delay at the airport.
After a student moves into the dorm, there won’t be a cleaning aunt assigned.
With so many days of vacancy, some places needed cleaning.
The good thing was that the doors and windows were closed when leaving, so there was no dust.
The bed was covered with a dust cover, so it was easy to take it off carefully.
It was too late to wash the dust cover, so Qiao Huaiyao put it on the balcony and planned to deal with it tomorrow in the daylight.
After a quick tidy up, a lot of time was wasted.
After washing up, Qiao Huaiyao sent Bai Jinyan a good night message and went to bed.
After the military training for the Department of Chemistry at Qingda University was over, the first day back to class was a nightmare for all students.
Not just for freshmen, but for all students.
Because the first day back from military training was an immediate exam, and the questions were difficult, with some content not following the textbook.
This resulted in a very high error rate.
Some freshmen were still taking makeup exams for subjects they failed in up to their third year.
If you fail, you fail directly, and you don’t need to attend the subsequent classes.
But during the makeup exams, knowledge related to the subject would obviously be used, so even if you knew you failed, you still had to attend the classes on time.
Otherwise, if you were late, the professor wouldn’t let you into the classroom.
Even so, the passing rate for makeup exams was not high, with a difficulty level reaching the level of purgatory.
Early in the morning, the school’s large lecture hall was filled with people.
The exams for freshmen were also makeup exams for seniors and seniors, so naturally, there were quite a few people.
The professor personally invigilated the exam, and with many people, he wasn’t worried that they would cheat.
Because there was no absolute correct answer for each question.
In this exam, as long as your answer could convince the professor, you could get points.
There was no place to copy.
Those who passed the previous exams couldn’t provide experience because the questions for each exam were different.
Even if those who passed filled in the current paper, they might not pass.
So once you failed, if you wanted to graduate smoothly… you had to rely on yourself.
Qiao Huaiyao found his seat based on his student number.
Qiu Shufeng arrived early and was a few seats behind Qiao Huaiyao, but he couldn’t concentrate on the notes he brought.
He nervously twirled his pen and when he saw Qiao Huaiyao, he got up and approached a familiar face.
Qiu Shufeng sighed, “Study god, I’m so nervous. As soon as I walked into this classroom, I felt suffocated.”
All the pressure came from the seniors sitting behind.
It made one wonder if they would also be among the back rows next year.
The intimidation was too strong.
In some schools, they didn’t allow too many failures in a subject.
If a lot of people fail a subject and it affects graduation, the school will inquire with the course instructor. But Qingda University is different; here, failing is failing, and you keep retaking the exam until you pass. Graduating students are cautious, and if you want to graduate from the Chemistry Department, you have to pass this hurdle.
Seeing this, Qiao Huaiyao asked, “Have you read the notes I gave you?”
“I have, I’ve read them thoroughly,” Qiu Shufeng nodded, more than just reading, he wished he could memorize them like memorizing Chinese in high school.
Qiao Huaiyao said calmly, “Then don’t worry, you’ll definitely pass. The parts covered in the notes extend to extracurricular content, which should be sufficient.”
Qiu Shufeng pursed his lips, it was odd; just now he sat in the classroom for half a day and couldn’t calm down, feeling anxious the whole time. However, now that he heard Qiao Huaiyao’s words, he suddenly felt less panicked.
Seeing a figure outside the door, Qiao Huaiyao reminded, “The professor is here, let’s get ready for the exam.”
“Huh?” Qiu Shufeng was momentarily stunned, hearing the word ‘professor’ made him nervous again. But looking around, he didn’t see anyone. “Where?”
As he spoke, the professor walked into the classroom. Just a moment ago, the room was filled with discussions, but as the professor entered, the room fell silent.
The professor calmly placed the teacup down, “Get ready, the exam will start in a few minutes.”
The teacup made a ‘thud’ as it was placed on the table, and many students felt a ‘thud’ in their hearts.
Students who were not in their seats hurriedly ran back.
The professor sipped his tea, squinted and smiled at the nervous students.
“It seems like everyone is prepared enough,” the professor knew what they were thinking and deliberately said, “The questions today are relatively difficult, I hope everyone does their best and doesn’t have to come back to this classroom next year.”
The teaching assistant handed out the papers to the people in the front row, saying, “One sheet per person, pass it from the front to the back.”
The professor said, “Two hours for the exam, there’s no fixed time to submit the paper. If you think you’ve finished and want to hand it in, you can give it to me directly.”
Although he said that, very few students submitted their papers early. Two hours weren’t enough, who would submit the paper early?
Unless they felt there was no chance after seeing the questions and decided to give up.
Qiao Huaiyao glanced at the paper and quickly scanned the questions.
They were all questions he had encountered in his past life.
He thought for a moment and abandoned the previous method of solving the questions, approaching them from a different angle.
It was rather enjoyable.
Qiao Huaiyao took his time writing, explaining in detail before moving on to the next question.
Occasionally, the sound of flipping papers could be heard in the classroom.
It wasn’t about completing it quickly, but about flipping through and starting with the questions you knew.
The professor looked at the paper in his hand, squinted, and stood up, saying, “For the fifth question at the end of this paper, the data was incorrect, and the experimental calculation couldn’t be derived.”
“It’s troublesome to switch it, so let’s leave it as is. Due to a mistake in the question, everyone will get full marks for this question.”
“Just answer the other questions normally.”
…
The scores obtained were bright, and many students’ eyes lit up.
This meant that under the same level, the chances of passing this exam were much higher than before!
Qiao Huaiyao looked at that question and added a few strokes, then continued to work on the other questions.
After finishing the entire paper, he checked it from the front.
When he hesitated at the third question, he added another possibility in the blank space beside it.
After going through the entire paper, Qiao Huaiyao didn’t check the time, he just stood up and handed in the paper.
Many students who were still writing with their heads down looked up, from when they took the makeup exam until now, they hadn’t seen anyone submit their paper early.
Everyone would only submit the paper when the collector for the exam papers stood in front of them, even though they had almost reached the deadline, they still clung to the paper and wrote down the last stroke.
Qiu Shufeng was also surprised, then he saw that it was Qiao Huaiyao, and quietly lowered his head.
This isn’t very normal; such a small matter isn’t worth your surprise.
Qiao Huaiyao handed the paper to the professor, saying, “Professor.”
The professor, who was writing a lesson plan with his head down, hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, pushed his glasses, and said, “Handing in early means you can’t make any changes if you find any mistakes later. Are you sure you want to submit it?”
As the words fell, the professor squinted and carefully examined the student in front of him.
“Qiao Huaiyao? Hmm… then it’s fine, you can leave after submitting.” The professor took the paper, abandoned the lesson plan he had been working on halfway, and started marking with a red pen.
Qiao Huaiyao didn’t get a chance to say anything, but the paper had already been submitted. “Thank you, professor,” he said and turned to leave the classroom
…
On the way back to the dorm, Qiao Huaiyao messaged Bai Jinyan: [I’ve finished the exam. Are you done with your class, brother?]
Bai Jinyan didn’t reply with a message but directly made a video call.
Qiao Huaiyao quickly put on his Bluetooth earphones, and after answering, he asked, “What’s up?”
Bai Jinyan said, “Nothing, just wanted to see you.”
Qiao Huaiyao noticed that the background didn’t look like Bai Jinyan’s home. “Are you in the dorm?”
“Yeah.” Bai Jinyan sat up against the neatly folded blanket. “I only have a class at ten this morning. After a few days, when the experiment results are out, I’ll come to see you.”
USTC and Qingda are two nationally prestigious universities in China.
Bai Jinyan chose USTC because compared to Qingda, USTC has a more relaxed attendance policy. Also, his research advisor was a professor at USTC before, and with this professor around, he had more flexible time. After this experiment, he wouldn’t need to come to school, but he needed to consider the next research direction.
Qiao Huaiyao chuckled softly, “No rush. Not being able to meet doesn’t matter; video calls are just as good.”
Their class schedules were quite similar, but Bai Jinyan had fewer classes compared to him. Within a day, there was a lot of time available for video calls.
Bai Jinyan said lightly, “It’s different.”
“Hmm?” Qiao Huaiyao subconsciously asked, “What’s different?”
Bai Jinyan said, “For example, now.”
Qiao Huaiyao thought he was going to list contrasting data and began to pay extra attention, even slowing down his pace.
Bai Jinyan, alone in the dorm, spoke deliberately and slowly, “If you were in front of me, I could…”
Could what, Bai Jinyan didn’t directly say. Regardless of what he thought, right now, he could only watch through the phone screen.
Qiao Huaiyao blinked lightly, and then couldn’t help but smile. Even though nothing was said, looking at each other through the phone screen made some things seem as if they had answers that needed to be elaborated.
He slightly pursed his lips and whispered, “Brother…”
In a place not visible in the video call, Qiao Huaiyao’s ears suddenly felt warm.
His steps back to the dormitory quickened a little.
Seeing the screen shake, Bai Jinyan guessed that Qiao Huaiyao was walking quickly, so he reminded, “Take it slow.”
Qiao Huaiyao pursed his lips and had already entered the dormitory building.
The elevator was on the first floor.
But there was no signal inside the elevator.
Without much hesitation, Qiao Huaiyao turned around and took the stairs.
Bai Jinyan asked, “What are you planning to eat for lunch?”
“Haven’t decided yet.” Qiao Huaiyao didn’t have a specific preference for food. “I’ll go to the canteen when I get hungry later.”
There were lemons in the fridge, and Qiao Huaiyao made himself a cup of lemonade.
The exam started early, and he returned to the dormitory at only half past nine.
Qiao Huaiyao drank the lemonade and said, “Brother, what time do you have class?”
Bai Jinyan picked up his books, “I’ll go in a while, the classroom for this class is nearby.”
Qiao Huaiyao nodded. At this moment, a message popped up in the group.
He casually opened it, and it was a message from the professor.
[To the students participating in this exam, please gather to pick up your exam papers in room 301 of Houde Building at three o’clock this afternoon. Students who failed to meet the passing criteria in this exam, when participating in the makeup exam for the second time, do not bring this exam paper, or your exam eligibility will be revoked.]
Qiao Huaiyao was momentarily stunned, then raised an eyebrow.
Everyone has submitted already?
However, when he clicked to check, usually his screen would be filled with messages, but this time, not a single message was sent.
It probably wasn’t because they had already submitted; it was just the professor’s usual notification.