Chapter 4

At 1:30 PM, the Chinese exam officially began.

Qi Lei followed the strategy he used for the math test, first finding the questions he knew and the easy ones, then stretching his neck to call for help, stopping just before the invigilator lost patience.

After much effort, he filled in the blanks, multiple-choice, and true/false questions. He temporarily skipped the reading comprehension and recitation sections, flipping directly to the last page for the essay question.

As expected...

"Write an essay of more than 600 words on the topic 'My...'."

Looking at the essay topic, Qi Lei felt a mix of relief and unease.

In his previous life, he had received a high score on his essay due to his grandfather's illness. In this life, could he still write with such genuine emotion?

Perhaps he could, as the writing skills he learned in junior high were far inferior to the copywriting skills he honed in his later life.

But could he surpass his later self and get an even higher score?

That seemed unlikely.

As he read the essay topic, Qi Lei had a different insight from his previous life.

This topic... is not simple; it has a pitfall!

At first glance, "My..." might make many think of "My father," "My teacher," "My classmate," "My cat," or "My childhood."

These are the most common narrative essays that have been written countless times in the past.

However, Qi Lei noticed a subtle detail: the essay topic did not specify the genre.

"Write an essay of more than 600 words on the topic 'My...'."

"My what!?" It doesn't have to be a narrative essay!

You can write an argumentative essay, a prose piece, or even a poem without going off-topic.

This makes it interesting, a big pitfall.

It's important to remember that essay grading is subjective. Whether it's the high school entrance exam or the college entrance exam, getting a perfect score is unlikely, but getting a zero is also unlikely.

The score depends entirely on the grader's discretion.

Most candidates will write a narrative essay, and the topics will likely be "My grandfather," "My mother," etc.

Inadvertently, they choose the most common genre among narrative, argumentative, prose, and poetry.

Even if written well, they will seem repetitive to the grader.

In his later life, Qi Lei's essay "My Grandfather" was impeccable but only scored 40 points.

To get a higher score, you either need to be exceptionally talented, or you need to innovate in your topic to make it stand out.

With this in mind, Qi Lei had a bold idea.

Should he take a risk? Instead of writing about his grandfather, should he choose a topic that has a chance of getting a higher score?

To be honest, it's risky, and the risk is significant. If it fails, he could lose a lot of points! It doesn't fit his mature and steady middle-aged soul!

But he didn't want to be a slacker. Isn't it the spirit of youth to be bold and daring?

After much deliberation and drafting, Qi Lei finally began his essay:

"My Homeland..."

The requirement was 600 words, with no upper limit.

However, Qi Lei knew that an essay of about 800 words was ideal for middle school.

It wouldn't be too short to lack clarity, nor too long to annoy the grader, who has to read at least a hundred essays a day.

So, this prose essay was exactly 800 words, not a word more or less.

He started with a widely recognized internet text, combining it with the context of the 1998 flood rescue efforts.

Qi Lei felt that this should stand out and win the grader's favor.

It took him about 30 minutes to finish the essay.

Checking the time, he saw that only a little over an hour had passed out of the two and a half hours allotted for the exam. This time, Qi Lei did not submit his paper immediately but returned to the reading comprehension and recitation sections.

He filled in the reading comprehension based on his understanding and did not leave any space blank in the recitation section, even if he had to make things up.

After all, Chinese is the most subjective subject, especially in an era without computer grading, relying solely on the teacher's eyes.

You never know which word or sentence might earn you a few extra points.

After filling in everything, Qi Lei reviewed the entire paper, ensuring not even a punctuation mark was wrong, before feeling satisfied.

Punctuation marks count too!

After completing everything, he still had over half an hour left. He habitually glanced at the neighboring student.

He saw that Xu Qian had already finished all the questions, including the essay, and was checking her answers.

Qi Lei glanced at her essay topic— "My Secret."

He was pleasantly surprised; it was quite novel!

Without hesitation, he got up to submit his paper.

The invigilator and Xu Qian were already used to this.

Xu Qian even suspected that he had fallen asleep, taking two hours?

She glared at Qi Lei, looking disappointed.

The invigilator had no hope for this particularly poor student.

Taking the paper, she glanced at it and shook her head with a bitter smile, thinking, "What a waste!"

The invigilator, Li Yanhong, taught high school Chinese at the second high school. She could tell Qi Lei's level at a glance.

Apart from the essay, she quickly reviewed the earlier sections and estimated that out of 100 points, Qi Lei would score around 50.

This level was simply unacceptable.

She casually flipped to the essay, "My Homeland."

The title was unremarkable, even a bit cliché.

She could almost predict that Qi Lei had already lost half his impression points.

It was normal; as soon as she saw the paper, she knew many good students would fall into the trap this year.

"My Homeland" is not a fresh topic; many students would gravitate towards it.

This year's essay would likely trip up many good students, let alone a poor student like Qi Lei.

She scanned further and saw a subtitle: "If a miracle has a color, it must be China Red!"

"Huh?"

Li Yanhong's light exclamation drew the attention of the students, who wondered what the invigilator was doing.

Li Yanhong, however, was pleasantly surprised. The subtitle was interesting.

"‘If a miracle has a color, it must be China Red’" is a metaphorical sentence from a professional perspective.

Does a miracle have a color? Of course not.

A miracle is an adjective, not a tangible thing, so how can it have a color?

However, the student said a miracle has a color and provided an answer— "China Red."

From a sentence structure perspective, it means the color of the miracle is China Red.

But the sentence should be interpreted in reverse: The color of China is a miracle! China is a miracle!

This sentence was uplifting, even a bit stunning.

Li Yanhong inwardly praised, just the subtitle alone was worth at least 10 points.

She continued reading and was taken aback again.

"Prose?"

She found her second surprise, feeling more energized. She had expected a narrative essay.

She leaned against the podium, with a hint of anticipation, and continued reading.

Then, Li Yanhong was completely stunned.

...