Madam, Please Behave
Chapter 446: Shattered Illusion

During English class.

Just as the bell rang and before the slightly noisy classroom could fully quiet down, the English teacher walked in through the door carrying textbooks.

Arriving at the podium, the teacher casually placed the textbooks down and slapped the desk with a palm.

The sudden noise instantly silenced the remaining chatter in the classroom.

Standing at the podium, the teacher scanned the room, meeting the gazes of numerous students.

Opening his mouth, he made this announcement:

"Put away your textbooks. We're having a surprise dictation quiz."

"Ah!"

As soon as the teacher finished speaking, some students couldn't help but exclaim in surprise at the suddenness. Hearing these sounds, the teacher instead questioned:

"What's with the 'ah'? I mentioned this last Friday during our final class. Two days should be more than enough for you to memorize it thoroughly. And... don't even think about trying anything funny under my watch..."

Here, the teacher pointed at his eyes with two fingers, then gestured toward the students before him.

"I'll be watching you all!"

With the situation already set, the students could only take out their notebooks and prepare for the dictation assignment from last week.

"Ten minute time limit starting now."

With the teacher's command, the classroom suddenly became silent.

The only sounds that could be heard were pens scratching across paper.

Chi Xiaoxiao wasn't panicked at all.

During the weekend, while resting at home, she had thoroughly completed the teacher's assignment. So upon hearing about the dictation quiz, she had already taken out her notebook early.

Her pen moved swiftly across the paper without pause.

Word after word deeply imprinted in her mind appeared on the page.

Time passed slowly.

It didn't take long before Chi Xiaoxiao finished writing everything. After completing it, she didn't relax immediately but instead reviewed everything from start to finish. Only after confirming there were no mistakes did she set down her pen and wait quietly for time to be called.

"Hmm..."

A faint movement beside her caught Chi Xiaoxiao's attention. Subconsciously tilting her gaze sideways, she saw the girl named Liu Xiazhi wearing an extremely serious expression.

The hand holding the pen brought it to her mouth, teeth nibbling on the pen cap.

She looked like she was facing a formidable enemy.

This sight made Chi Xiaoxiao briefly freeze before she subtly leaned slightly to the right, her gaze landing on the other girl's paper.

Huh...

Why hasn't she written anything?

This discovery surprised Chi Xiaoxiao. Normally, given Liu Xiazhi's academic level, this simple rote memorization dictation should have been easily completed.

Why... hadn't she written a single word?

Chi Xiaoxiao couldn't understand.

Just as she was puzzled, Liu Xiazhi - who had been chewing on her pen cap - suddenly stopped. The hand holding the pen moved from her mouth to the paper.

She began writing.

Seeing this, Chi Xiaoxiao's nearly shattered worldview seemed to repair itself at this moment.

For some reason, she sighed in relief while still secretly observing the other girl's next moves.

She watched as Liu Xiazhi wrote an English word.

Then crossed it out.

Wrote another.

Crossed it out again.

And...

Within moments, the previously blank paper now had several dark scribbles.

These were from writing mistakes that were blacked out with pen strokes instead of correction fluid.

Chi Xiaoxiao's eyes widened to their limits.

Her gaze held disbelief as she looked at the chaotic paper and... its owner, the girl named Liu Xiazhi.

Why... why couldn't she write even one word of this simple dictation...?

Could it be... she spent the entire weekend playing at home?

Didn't study at all?

Unaware of her deskmate's thoughts, Liu Xiazhi was completely focused on the paper before her. After hesitating for a long time, she once again wrote the word "accident," but the longer she looked at it, the more these letters randomly assembled from the alphabet didn't seem like the correct answer.

So the uncertain girl once again crossed out the correct answer.

This cycle repeated - writing something, worrying it was wrong, then scribbling it out.

As time passed, more and more students stopped writing. Some even raised their hands to indicate they were finished. Seeing this, the teacher at the podium walked over to collect their notebooks.

He began grading them immediately at the podium.

Watching this, Liu Xiazhi started to panic.

Other classmates had already finished, while she had only written a few words... and wasn't even sure if they were correct...

Just as her anxiety grew, Liu Xiazhi suddenly felt someone gently poke her arm.

Noticing this, she turned her head to look at her deskmate - the girl she'd barely spoken to in the over two weeks since school started.

She saw... the girl named Chi Xiaoxiao subtly slide her completed dictation notebook toward Liu Xiazhi's position.

Allowing her to clearly see every written word.

Liu Xiazhi froze on the spot.

Staring at her deskmate's action, she was completely stunned. Flustered, she sneakily glanced up at the teacher grading papers at the podium.

Then looked back at her deskmate's complicated expression.

This person... is an angel...

With this thought flashing through her mind, Liu Xiazhi felt deeply moved.

Then she copied everything enthusiastically.

After finishing, she let out a long sigh of relief. Then together with her deskmate, she stood up and went to the podium to submit her notebook.

Returning to their seats.

Neither did anything else, sitting up perfectly straight.

Neither spoke a word.

After all notebooks were collected, there was a five-minute blank period - one third of the class time had already passed.

The teacher finished grading and handed the notebooks to the English class representative for redistribution.

When Liu Xiazhi received her notebook and opened it...

Every answer was marked correct.

Looking at her perfectly copied answers, Liu Xiazhi paused for a moment before slowly turning her head to look at her deskmate beside her.

Gazing at that ordinary profile.

This person... seems really impressive!