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Chapter 20: Chapter 020 "Goodbye Again, Cambridge
The surrounding classmates burst into laughter as soon as they heard this.
Apparently, everyone was quite tasteless, with no refined interests at all.
The boy’s face turned green: "Fine, it’s a deal!"
He reached out his hand.
Sheng Tang high-fived him: "In front of all our classmates, it’s a deal!"
Just as they finished speaking, the class bell rang. The teacher came in with the lesson plan, and everyone returned to their seats.
The bet between Sheng Tang and the boy successfully diverted the class’s attention; they no longer focused on Jiang Wei.
No matter how tearful Jiang Wei got, she couldn’t cause Sheng Tang any harm now that everyone was waiting for the bet’s outcome.
"You shouldn’t have bet with Qi Lin, it wasn’t necessary!" Jiang Baocu said secretly to Sheng Tang.
They had only gotten to know each other in a week, but sometimes feelings build up in an instant.
Jiang Baocu felt that Sheng Tang had become interesting, and she really didn’t want to lose her desk partner.
She also knew Sheng Tang’s grades weren’t good in any subject and had never seen her write a poem.
This class seemed to pass incredibly slowly.
Finally, class ended, and the students flooded to the canteen. But Sheng Tang pulled Jiang Baocu back, staying in the classroom.
Smiling, she asked Jiang Baocu, "Bao Chu, what activity am I participating in this afternoon?"
Jiang Baocu: "..."
Jiang almost fainted!
"Sister, you don’t even know what activity it is, why did you make the bet?" Jiang Baocu was exasperated.
"It’s the spirit that counts." Sheng Tang laughed.
Jiang Baocu: "..."
At this moment, Jiang was utterly impressed and gave Sheng Tang a thumbs-up, "You’re amazing!"
"Know-it-all" Jiang Baocu knew everything.
She explained to Sheng Tang: "Our school celebrates its anniversary on October 20th. Before the celebration, there’s a tradition of holding an impromptu poetry competition, started twenty years ago. The prize is quite substantial, besides the trophy and certificate, there’s prize money."
"Prize money?" Sheng Tang’s eyes lit up.
She had been worrying about how to come up with nearly twenty thousand dollars as her "weight loss fund."
"How much?" she asked.
Jiang Baocu thought for a moment: "I haven’t participated before, let me check."
She quickly opened the school’s website, found the announcement page, and handed her phone to Sheng Tang.
First prize is thirty thousand, second prize is twenty-four thousand, third prize is eighteen thousand, fourth prize is six thousand, fifth prize is five thousand...
"The prize money for the top three is quite substantial!" Sheng Tang said, feeling quite tempted.
Jiang Baocu: "Since poetry isn’t like math, evaluations can be subjective sometimes, so the top three prizes are pretty generous."
Sheng Tang thought that if she could get third place, it might cover six to seven months of personal training, solving her immediate problem. If she hadn’t lost the desired weight by then, she could think of other ways.
"... Are there any special requirements for the competition?" Sheng Tang asked.
"I heard there is a theme," Jiang Baocu said, "but the length and subject matter are not restricted. The theme is revealed only on the spot."
Sheng Tang nodded.
After understanding, she and Jiang Baocu went to the canteen to eat.
In the canteen, Sheng Tang noticed many classmates going to the third floor, while she had been eating on the first and second floors all this time.
"What’s special about the third floor?" she asked Jiang Baocu.
Jiang Baocu pulled her aside: "We aren’t allowed on the third floor; it’s for the student council."
Sheng Tang was stunned.
The student council, so superior to regular students?
"You’ve been at this school for a year; don’t you know anything?" Jiang Baocu was helpless, "Did you not care before?"
Sheng Tang smiled.
After finishing their meal, at two o’clock in the afternoon, Sheng Tang went punctually to the poetry competition classroom.
She set off with Wang Haihao from her class, initially wanting to walk with him. But seeing he walked quickly, even jogged a few steps, and distanced himself from Sheng Tang.
Sheng Tang didn’t bother keeping up and let him go.
"Why are the kids at this school so scheming?" Sheng Tang was puzzled, "When I was studying, we were all quite naive, no such tactics."
Times have changed, it’s not her era anymore.
Plus, the hierarchy is different.
Sheng Tang slowly walked to the poetry competition classroom.
This time, each class from grades one to three recommended two people, a total of thirty-six.
The poetry competition topic is never disclosed beforehand; not even the leading teacher knows the topic until it begins.
The topic is given on the spot.
Sheng Tang had researched during lunch break and found that past topics were all sorts of quirky ones.
The bell rang, and the chief examiner and two proctors entered.
This time, the chief examiner was a seventy-something reemployed old professor with graying hair.
"The topic for this impromptu poetry competition..." The old professor said, writing on the blackboard in beautiful handwriting, "Campus."
All participating students looked toward the podium.
The professor didn’t give any further explanations, just said, "Everyone, start preparing."
The proctors distributed the exam sheets and draft paper.
The exam sheet was a white letter paper, quite sturdy, and looked nice.
Sheng Tang began to ponder.
She knew the world she was in was different from the one she used to be in.
Many famous poets from her original world didn’t exist here.
"You can praise the campus, criticize it, or bid farewell to it." Sheng Tang formulated ideas.
She remembered a teacher saying that the best poetic state is to describe the campus without mentioning it explicitly.
A poem suddenly came to her mind: "Taking Leave of Cambridge Again."
The famous work by poet Xu Zhimo in her world, a hallmark of the New Moon School, and a timeless classic.
Cambridge was the poet’s university, bidding farewell to Cambridge meant bidding farewell to his campus life, perfectly fitting today’s topic without mentioning "campus."
Sheng Tang recalled "Taking Leave of Cambridge Again," remembering it quite well.
Her photographic memory was still intact.
Previously, while memorizing scripts, she would memorize not just her lines, but all the lines, effortlessly.
This had given her an edge in her acting career. Directors and fellow actors she worked with had a good impression of her. With opportunities, they would more or less think of her.
This skill had traveled with her to this girl’s body.
After some thought, Sheng Tang started writing on the draft paper.
After reviewing it twice and ensuring there were no errors, she transcribed it onto the exam paper:
Very quietly I take my leave,
As quietly as I came here;
Quietly I wave good-bye,
To the rosy clouds in the western sky.
...
Sheng Tang finished writing, raised her hand to submit, taking barely half an hour while the competition’s duration was two and a half hours.
The teachers were surprised at her.
The students also looked up.
Her classmate Wang Haihao saw this and thought, "That fat classmate probably didn’t write anything, just gave up voluntarily."
He looked down on Sheng Tang.
He felt girls like Sheng Tang shouldn’t be in the same place as him. Her grades were poor, and she was the fattest in the class, evident of her incompetence, failing both academically and physically.
He sneered and continued writing his poem.
This time, his topic was praising the campus. 𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
