Chapter 710: The most difficult exam in history!
Translator: Legge Editor:
The next day.
The college entrance exam ushered in the second, and last, day of the examination.
The subject for the day's morning's examination was the Chinese Literature test followed by the Mathematics test in the afternoon. It was not even 8 AM yet, but many of the examinees were already outside the exam venues accompanied by their parents.
"Have you brought along all your exam items?"
"Yes, I've brought them all."
"Exam admission pass, ID card, pens and pencils?"
"They're all inside my bag."
"Do your best today and just keep up your good work."
"Of course, Dad. I feel like I could get at least 550 points in this exam!"
"Are you serious? That high?"
"It's because the questions were not too difficult."
"If you think it's easy, then others will also find it easy too. Everyone might end up with very high scores in the end. When that happens, the cutoff points for admissions in Beijing will also increase accordingly. The result will be the same, that's why today is the crucial moment. Don't let your guard down, make the best of the easy questions to get more marks, and don't make any careless mistakes."
"Understood!"
……
Elsewhere.
"How did you fare yesterday?"
"It was very good."
"I also did quite well. This year's college entrance exam didn't seem like the big deal they made it to be."
"Hehe, I'm going to the internet cafe tonight. You wanna come?"
"Let's go! Of course I want to!"
"After working so hard for the past year, I can finally enjoy playing games again!"
"Man, there are still two subjects left, let's focus on the exam first."
"It's nothing. With that standard of difficulty in the English Language and Science tests yesterday? I'm feeling very confident about it."
"Heh, that's very true."
From the conversations, the mood and mentality of the Beijing examinees were very telling. More than half of them came to the examination venues today with confidence and were calmer after having experienced their first tests of the college entrance exam yesterday. Many of them who originally were scared of the college entrance examination had become indifferent as the difficulty of the English Language test had given them confidence for today. The remaining half of the examinees still maintained their alertness and nervousness as they felt that yesterday's tests were too simple and probably the two tests today would be slightly more difficult. On top of that, these two tests were set by the famous Zhang Ye. That was why some of the examinees definitely did not dare underestimate the questions.
Very soon, it was time for the examination to begin.
At the examination venue at No. 4 High School, in an examination hall on the second floor.
A plump and a thin examinee were whispering to each other. They were not from the same school and probably only got to know each other yesterday.
"Fatty, how was your English Language test?"
"I won't get fewer than 100 points."
"Whoa, you're that awesome?"
"What about you, Skinny?"
"I won't get fewer than 110 points."
"Hur, can you stop bragging?"
"I'm not bragging. If you don't believe me, let's compare whose Chinese Literature test will score higher. This subject is my forte. Moreover, the Beijing Chinese Literature test has always been very easy every year."
"It will be different this year since they're pushing reforms on the college entrance exam."
"Reform, my ass. You should've already gotten an idea when you saw yesterday's exams. How difficult can the tests get?"
"Sure, then let's compare whose score is higher. If I can demonstrate my fullest potential, I can probably score 115 points and above."
"Then I will score 120 points!"
"F**k, I will score 125 points!"
"Then I will score 130 points!"
At this moment, a female proctor stared at the two of them and said, "Stop whispering to each other. The exams will be distributed soon."
The two of them immediately shut their mouths.
In the next second, the examinees were passing the exams backward. Once the tests were in their hands, everyone immediately picked up their pens and started answering the questions.
The plump examinee rubbed his hands together and had a look of concentration on his face.
The thin examinee was also smiling as he prepared to attempt the questions.
However, after just a moment, the entire batch of examinees in the exam hall suddenly fell silent. It seemed that even the sound of scribbling had disappeared and the atmosphere abruptly became strange!
A proctor glanced at them curiously. "Quickly answer your questions!"
Answer our questions?
Answer your sister!
The plump examinee was stunned!
The thin examinee was also stunned!
The entire hall of examinees were all stunned!
They had just began attempting five questions before they got stuck. They felt that they could not continue anymore! Some people felt like they were about to vomit blood as they stared with their eyes wide, looking down at the next few questions. As a result, they found out that after every few questions, there would be a question that was so difficult that it would make people feel like they wanted to die!
For example, this question:
Confucius and Laozi are fighting, who will you help?
Help your second granny! How could these two old men get into a fight?! Besides, even if the two of them really got into a fight, how could I help? No matter who I helped, I will get f**king beaten up! Come on, they were both sages!
At this moment, all the examinees' hearts froze.
Score 120 points?
Score 130 points?
Both the plump and thin examinees could no longer boast anymore at this moment! Their faces turned green!
Many of them couldn't help but swear: "F**k, what the f**k are these questions?! F**k, which f**king bastard's grandson wrote these questions?!"
The proctor felt strange about everyone's reaction and was wondering why everyone was looking so baffled. Then she also looked down and flipped through the spare exams. After she saw the questions, the female proctor also became confused and was totally stunned at that moment. She was also a Chinese Literature teacher, but in all her life of teaching Chinese Literature lessons, she had never come across such questions before or even heard of similar ones. Even if she tried to attempt some of the questions herself now, she did not know how she would begin to answer the questions!
The same scenes were happening at every examination venue!
Some of the examinees even double facepalmed!
While some of them stared unblinkingly with stunned faces.
Without needing to think much, many of them had already come to a conclusion. Zhang Ye! This question was definitely f**king written by Zhang Ye! Besides this bastard, no one else could possibly come up with such a wicked question! It was definitely that person trying to lead them into a trap!
They seemed to know Zhang Ye's style quite well. These extremely difficult questions in the Beijing Chinese Literature test were in fact all set by Zhang Ye. For example, the question of "Confucius and Laozi are fighting" was actually sourced from Zhang Ye's previous world, when Tsinghua University held its own admissions test, which could also be considered as a sort of college entrance exam question. The question itself was considered to be open-ended and could be freely answered as there wasn't a perfect answer. Confucius and Laozi were both people of a certain status, so it wasn't likely for them to get into a fight. Laozi spoke of the Way (Dao) while Confucius pushed Ruism. When Confucius was born, Laozi had left society. From the perception of ideology or conduct, there were too many ways to approach and analyze this question. [1.]
However, it was easy to say but hard to do. This question had truly stumped all of the Beijing examinees. On top of that, this was still only the beginning as there were more of these similarly wicked questions waiting for them in the later parts of the test, each one of them trickier and more difficult than the other!
Time passed by quickly.
"Put down your pens. It's time to hand in your papers!"
"Teacher, I haven't finish answering yet!"
"You can't continue to write anymore."
"Come on, please let me write a little more!"
Every examination venue was defeated on all fronts, with many of the examinees wailing!
When they came out from the examination halls, the examinees did not even know how they could describe their current feelings!
"Son, what happened?"
"Dad, I blew it!"
"Ah? How can that be?"
"It was too difficult! The Chinese Literature test was too difficult!"
Close by were some examinees who were already cursing and swearing!
"Zhang Ye! It must be him!"
"That guy is wicked all the way to his grandma's house! What an inhumane person!"
"I don't care whether Confucius and Laozi are fighting or not! I only know that if Zhang Ye were standing in front of me right now, he would definitely get beaten up by a bunch of people!"
"I've never come across such difficult Chinese Literature questions before!"
"Is this even the college entrance exam? Why do I feel like it's an exam for post-grad students instead?!"
"I'm done for! It would already be very good if I can manage to pass this time!"
"Me too, I've totally screwed it up!"
"I didn't give an answer for quite a number of the questions! I totally had no idea how to even start answering them!"
"It's really a reform of the exam! This reform is too harsh! All of a sudden, the difficulty has been increased severalfold!"
In the afternoon.
Many of the Beijing Chinese Literature exam questions had already been leaked and were quickly spreading on the internet. The questions became famous almost immediately as they were widely spread by everyone!
When the netizens saw this, they expressed their shock.
"Holy shit!"
"These questions…luckily I'm not involved in this year's college entrance exam!"
"Thankfully, I didn't repeat my studies last year. Otherwise, if I encountered these questions, I wouldn't even know how I died!"
"Why are they so difficult?!"
"Did all of the Beijing examinees get wiped out?"
"Who could even answer them?!"
"Who was the person who wrote these questions?! That was too damaging!"
After looking through the questions, many netizens and examinees from the other provinces very nearly fainted as well. With this, the examinees from the other provinces were no longer envious of the Beijing examinees or wishing they were born in the imperial city in their next lives anymore. These questions were so f**king difficult that it was clearly not meant for anyone to attempt!
Some teachers also posted online.
A Chinese Literature teacher of Yucai High School: "I'm also stunned with some of the questions. I don't see how I can get full marks for them! Today's Chinese Literature test was totally beyond our imagination!"
A head-of-department at the Chinese Literature Department of Beijing Normal University Affiliated High School: "This Chinese Literature test is probably the most difficult test in the history of the Beijing college entrance exam! But if you were to say that the difficulty of the test has gone overboard? That is also not the case. All the questions were set within the scope of the topic, just that the approach of the questions were quite different from usual. They needed the examinees to have a very strong sense of logic and good at expressing the language to be able to answer them well. The exam questions were actually set in a very interesting manner, and could be approached from several directions, thus testing the examinees' overall ability!"
News was flying all around in the mainstream media publications of Beijing!
"The Beijing Chinese Literature test: The reform that drew first blood!"
"The Beijing Chinese Literature test: Rated the most difficult exam in history by the experts!"
"The examinees believe about more than ten of the difficult questions were set by Zhang Ye. Reporters have inquired with the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board but received no comment and need further verification!"
"The Beijing Chinese Literature test creates a shock with its 'godly question'!"
"The Beijing examinees have fared badly at most parts of the Chinese Literature test. Examinees' parents curse at the question setter! "
Then, very quickly, in just the short duration of the afternoon break between the exams, the godly question and some godly answers in reply to it were published one by one.
For example, the question about Confucius and Laozi. Many of the examinees had posted their answers online. It was not known whether they were answering seriously or was just ridiculing the question.
ChenFeng2001: "I will help Confucius because Laozi knows Tai Chi!"
DUSHDJ: "I will help whomever the question setter helps!"
LittleButterflyCC: "I will not help anyone but call 110 to inform the police immediately!"
Obese317: "I will not help either of them. First, I will go and mediate for them. After I manage to calm Confucius and Laozi down, the three of us will proceed to beat Zhang Ye up together!"
The last answer resonated with many of the examinees.
Many of the examination candidates were "shouting" on Weibo @Zhang Ye: "Teacher Zhang Ye, show yourself. We promise that we will not beat you to death!"
[1. Ruism, also known as Confucianism]