The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Chapter 23 (Wang Xiang Got a Zero!) An’an Was Dragged down by Wang Xiang

“Attention, march rapidly!” Zhao Yuan commanded. The team set off again.

As it rained intermittently, the team had to stop sometimes. Lin Wenxi could not remember how many times they stopped. The only thing that he remembered was the warmth of Zhao Yuan’s back. He felt so warm there that he nearly broke into a sweat.

After traveling for some time, he felt that someone fed him some liquid food which tasted like bread. Another time when they stopped, he heard Zheng Kai’s deep voice. “Hold these two bamboo sticks in place!” After that, he felt that he was lying comfortably on a stretcher instead of being carried by Zheng Kai or Zhao Yuan.

When the team stopped again, he heard the boys leave to fetch some water and the girls chatting together. Chen Wanxin said, “Looks like he’s even weaker than a girl! Zheng Kai has muscles, Wang Xiang reads the map, and Zhao Yuan is our leader. The three of us have to pack up the tents, wash the clothes and do many other things every day. Now we have to take care of him. Without him, we would arrive at the destination now.”

Shu Xiaoman retorted in a low voice, “If we hadn’t spent so much time playing around, Wenxi would’ve arrived at the destination a long time ago. He’s actually quite strong.”

“Humph, can he read the map?” Chen Wanxin said somewhat grumpily.

“He could’ve joined another team,” Shu Xiaoman said somewhat sternly.

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“Haha, I think he would’ve arrived at the destination now if he had hooked up with that military instructor. Our cute brother Wenxi is just so charming and able to hook up with any guy. Do you think so?” Zhang Anan said smilingly to amuse the other two sisters. By doing so, she successfully resolved their conflict.

Upon hearing their conversation, Lin Wenxi thought dejectedly, “I really didn’t contribute much to the team. I just delayed them and caused them a lot of trouble.” He was so tired that he quickly fell asleep. When he woke up again, he heard Zhao Yuan’s anxious voice.

“What do you want? To take the test one by one or as a team?” the examiner asked impatiently.

When the team arrived at the depot, they were told that every one of them had to take a test consisting of 20 questions. Once an examinee answered a question correctly, he or she would get one point. To pass the test, an examinee had to get at least 10 points if he or she took the test alone. For those who took the test as a team, each of them had to answer 20 questions, and they could pass only by getting an averaged score of 10 points. If the team failed to get such an averaged score, all the members of the team would be eliminated from the competition. The questions of the test fell into different categories, which included “politics and economy”, “astronomy”, “geography”, “military”, “liberal arts”, “physics and biology”, “medicine and health care”, “electronic computer”, ” “math and logic” and “music and dance”.

The team had to be careful about this choice. They could not ensure that every one of them could get 10 points if they took the test one by one. However, if they took the test as a team, they had to know every team member’s strength and work closely with one another. As both of the two choices were risky, the team members just looked at one another without saying a word.

After a while, Zhao Yuan said resolutely, “I’ll team up with Wenxi. You guys can make your own choices. We can’t get all of us eliminated from the competition here.”

“I’ll also team up with Wenxi,” said Zheng Kai.

“I’ll take the test with Wang Xiang,” Zhang An’an said affirmatively.

“I’ll take the test with Wanxin,” Shu Xiaoman bit her upper lip and said.

“I’ll take the test alone,” Chen Wanxin sneered and said. Shu Xiaoman was embarrassed. When Zhang An’an was about to speak for Shu Xiaoman, Shu Xiaoman shook her head to her and quickly corrected herself, “I’ll take the test alone!”

The next moment, they separated and entered different test rooms. Everyone of them was nervous since they knew that tests in Jifu University were never easy.

Zhang An’an picked “music and dance”, as this was what she was most skilled in. Wang Xiang hesitated for a long time and then picked “liberal arts”.

Chen Wanxin also picked “music and dance”, and among all the seven team members, she was the first one who passed the test. When she walked into the second depot after the test, she still had cold sweat on her forehead. She felt so lucky that she had managed to answer most of the questions correctly. She had been stunned when she was asked to write out the musical notation for Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto after listening to the piece of music twice. Fortunately, not long ago her father’s subordinate Mo Qian had given her the musical notation and asked her to practice playing this piece of music. Now, she smirked with arrogance and looked at the test building, her long hair floating in the wind. She wondered, “All my roommates and all the boys from Dorm No.216 are still in the test building. How are they now? How is Zhao Yuan? Will he pass the test? Well, I really don’t know much about him. I just found him kind of attractive before, but I won’t consider him to be attractive anymore.”

To her surprise, a moment later, she saw Shu Xiaoman pass the test and step out of the building. Shu Xiaoman chose “medicine and health care”. She was good at medical stuff, but she never planned to become a doctor.

Chen Wanxin had never expected Shu Xiaoman to come out so quickly, so she said complimentarily, “You’re brilliant.”

“So are you,” Shu Xiaoman smiled slightly and replied. Now she perfectly understood why Chen Wanxin had chosen to take the test alone. She thought that it was a wise choice and did not want to blame Chen Wanxin for embarrassing her at that moment anymore.

Right at this moment, Zhang An’an and Wang Xiang walked out of the test building, and they did not look happy. Shu Xiaoman hurriedly came up to them and asked them what happened, Zhang An’an sighed, and Wang Xiang said sadly, “It’s my bad. I dragged An’an down.”

Zhang An’an had also picked “music and dance” and been asked to write out musical notations after listening to some rarely-heard piece of music, to dance improvisingly to some song and to answer many questions. She worked really hard and got 13 points. As such, Wang Xiang just needed to get 7 points to get both of them to pass the test. However, Wang Xiang got a zero. He failed to recite Qu Yuan’s poem Lisao. He wrote my characters wrongly when writing another poem The Moon Night of Spring River and Flowers from his memory. He forgot about Napoleon’s birthday, metaphysics and Aristotle. He also failed to write a poem using a Yuan Dynasty writing format called Getting Drunken under the Flowers. In the end, their averaged score was 6.5 points, and thus both of them were eliminated from the competition.

“How did you get into this university?” Zhang An’an poked Wang Xiang’s forehead and said dejectedly.

“I, I published a dozen novels...” Wang Xiang muttered.

“Remember to write an autobiography for yourself in the future and write down this shameful thing you’ve done!” Zhang An’an was so angry that her slender eyebrows became slanted, and her eyes welled up with tears. When she heard that both Chen Wanxin and Shu Xiaoman had passed the test, she felt even more regretful. She sighed, “I really trusted a wrong guy.” The next moment, she discovered that Wang Xiang looked even sadder than herself. She hurriedly said something to comfort him. Shu Xiaoman and Chen Wanxin also said something to help them get over their sadness. It took them quite a long time to calm down.

Lin Wenxi, Zhao Yuan and Zheng Kai took the test together. Lin Wenxi picked “liberal arts”. Zhao Yuan glanced over all the categories and said with his hands laid out in a shrug, “I wish I could choose martial arts.” After a moment of thought, he chose “politics and economy”. Zheng Kai chose “military”.

“Why didn’t you choose ‘physics and biology’?” asked Zhao Yuan.

“I’ve never passed any physics or chemistry exam,” Zheng Kai replied. He had to take a general knowledge course back in the Green Field Military Academy, but he never excelled at it. If it had not been for his excellent military skills, he would have been expelled from the school a long time ago.

Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi went to sit down, and Zheng Kai began to take his test.