Twenty-five, End of Term

  On New Year's Day, Brother Lin Zhengyu came to find Fang Hua, mainly to ask her when the exam and holiday were. When he learned that the medical university was having exams from January 21st to 26th for a week and then having holidays, he said he would have two days off earlier and would come to pick up his sister to go home together at that time. Lin Fanghua agreed.

  On January 5th, everyone learned from the radio news that Taiwanese female writer San Mao had committed suicide yesterday. Later, there were also lengthy reports in the newspapers. This made Zhou Yu, who liked San Mao's works very much, inevitably shed a few tears of sadness. However, for other classmates, it did not arouse too much emotion, because they could no longer afford to lament others' fortunes and misfortunes.

  At this time, the entire medical university campus had entered the most tense period of final review and welcome exam. The seats in the self-study classroom became scarce at night. Especially the largest classroom - the lecture hall, because during this period, only this classroom can be licensed to delay the lights-out time to 10:50, while general classrooms are still 10:00-10:30 lights-out. So the seat occupation war in the lecture hall was unprecedentedly fierce, often filled with gunpowder smell. Later, it developed to the point where many people had to use chains to lock their bags on the seats to occupy them, and some people did even more extreme things. He simply used a screwdriver to remove the chair's seat plate and took it back to the dormitory to hide, and then brought it back to install during self-study time. Of course, later the administrator issued a notice, explicitly prohibiting this behavior of damaging public property. But from this, we can see the craziness of occupying seats in medical university self-study.

  It's not just the lecture hall that is hard to find a seat, but other classrooms are also crowded. Lin Fanghua can still find a seat when she goes to self-study at night, usually only in the library's reading room. Because it also closes at 9 o'clock at night, of course, it is not favored by everyone during the final exam phase. Lin Fanghua really doesn't like to fight with people for anything, and seeing some people quarrel over seats makes her feel a headache. She calmly reads in the library until 9 o'clock and then returns to her dormitory to read books.

  Lao Da Zhou Yu also started reviewing seriously, so the two of them got along peacefully in the dormitory. However, she usually didn't study hard, and now that she had to cram for exams, she often stayed up late at night burning candles to memorize books. Other sisters also looked at their books for a while after lights out, but none of them stayed up as late as her. One time, Lin Fanghua woke up in the middle of the night and saw that Lao Da's mosquito net was still shining with light, it was already past two o'clock. And looking out the window again, there were also some lights on in the other girls' dormitory buildings.

  Fanghua remembers that she used to rely on her intelligence, not reading books during normal times, and cramming before exams by staying up all night to memorize a thick book's worth of material for an entire semester. Although she could often barely pass, she would quickly forget everything afterwards.

  After her rebirth, she had much stronger self-control and her studying had reached a state of "play hard during big exams, play less during small exams, and don't play when there are no exams". Normally, she would focus more and study for longer periods in the evening, but before an exam, she would just briefly review the main points and that was enough. After all, with the advantage of rebirth, even though many things had been forgotten, relearning them still left some impression. Additionally, having experience as a teacher, she found herself particularly good at grasping the key points of each chapter, making learning much more efficient.

  The last week of classes is the review stage. Students can choose not to attend classes, but teachers will still be in the classroom to answer questions. Some teachers like to highlight key points during the Q&A session. Therefore, seniors often say that while it's okay to skip regular classes, attending the final Q&A session is a must. It's said that students who are skilled at this can guess about 10% of the final exam questions.

  Lin Fanghua also went to answer questions. She didn't ask questions herself, but instead carefully observed the teachers' reactions. Although the teachers had different personalities, human nature is universal. They would always reveal some information through body language, facial expressions, and even tone of voice. When students asked irrelevant questions, some teachers would be disdainful or furrow their brows, while others would slightly raise the corners of their mouths as if they were secretly pleased. In short, they were not focused. However, when they were asked key questions, they would become more serious and solemn, and would often unconsciously say a few more sentences. If they found that the student was still unclear about the question, they would often become anxious. After all, no teacher wants to have a large number of students who need to retake exams under their care, as this would only indicate that the teacher is not competent and has failed to teach the students properly.

  The key points inferred from the Q&A session often coincide with Lin Fanghua's own review focus. As a result, Lin Fanghua would also reveal her highlighted key points to Wang Ju and Zhou Yu. Wang Ju is usually diligent and doesn't need to worry; as for Zhou Yu, although she has a good memory, having these key points can still alleviate some of her burden. Indeed, after the exam, Zhou Yu repeatedly praised Lin Fanghua's highlighted key points for being extremely accurate.

  On the fourth day of the exam, Lin Fanghua woke up early and felt that the sky was brighter than usual. She looked out of the window and exclaimed in surprise: "It's snowing! What big snow!"

  "Really?!" "Oh! It's really snowing! How beautiful!" The few people who were woken up also poked their heads out of the mosquito net, letting out bursts of exclamations.

  Fanghua put on her coat, got out of bed and pushed open the window. A gust of cold wind blew in with a few snowflakes. She shivered slightly, subconsciously wrapped her clothes tightly around her, and looked outside.

  C city, as the provincial capital of S province, has always been known for its mild and humid climate, with endless rain. Whether in spring or autumn, C city often experiences over 10 days of continuous rainy weather. However, the rain here is very considerate, usually falling at midnight and stopping by daybreak. Even if it rains during the day, it's just a gentle "silken rain", full of romantic atmosphere. The great poet who lived here left behind many famous poems, such as "The sky in Shu is often rainy at night, but clears up by dawn. The leaves are moist and the forest is dense, my clothes are dry and my bed is cool", "Good rain knows its timing, it happens when spring arrives. It enters quietly with the wind at night, and nourishes things silently".

  But the winter here is rarely snowy, and even if it does snow, it won't be heavy in the city. Therefore, her snowy scene has a completely different atmosphere from the north. Without the help of the biting north wind, it quietly arrives at midnight, unknowingly putting on beautiful winter clothes for the campus buildings and plants. Under the snow's imprint, those old buildings built during the Republic of China period are no longer dull as usual, but instead, the red windows and green tiles appear particularly spirited. The evergreen shrubs and trees along the pedestrian path also become crystal clear like jade trees and crystal branches. The best part is that the snow in the south is difficult to accumulate on the roads, probably because of the warmer surface temperature and the fact that the snow is often not big. Therefore, the snowy scene here is very clean and won't be like the northern cities where a snowfall can paralyze the entire city's transportation, making all the roads muddy and impassable. The snow here will only bring joy to people, and rarely brings trouble.

  When Lin Fanghua and the others went to take the exam, there were still some light snowflakes in the sky. By the time the exam was over, the snow had completely stopped. After all, they were still children who hadn't grown up yet, and many students ran into the courtyard and lawn to play with snowballs and build snowmen. Even students from the north were equally excited by the rare snowy scene. The campus was filled with laughter and cheers. There were also more people taking cameras to take photos in front of the snowy scenery. However, most of these people were local residents and school staff. Most of the students didn't have cameras.

  Thinking that there's only one more day left for the military theory exam, after finishing it everyone will go back home for winter vacation. Classmates all want to take advantage of this rare snowy day to relax and also want to take a photo as a keepsake. Later, Guo Ling suggested that all the sisters in the dormitory go out to find a photography studio to take snow scenery photos. Everyone responded unanimously.

  After lunch, they set off to the square in the city center. To enjoy the snowy scenery, everyone decided to walk there. Anyway, the road is not very long, and even if you take a bus, it's only three stops away.

  All the way, everyone was in high spirits. On the streets, many citizens were taking photos or admiring the snow scene. People's faces naturally showed joy, and even if they didn't know each other, they would smile and greet each other. The more such warmth, the more it made people feel harmonious.

  At that time, the city center had not yet expanded to the later Tianfu Square. The statue, as a symbol of the city, still stood tall on the central axis of the city. Mr. Fu, the photographer from the photo studio, took a family portrait for the girls in dormitory 203 with Chairman Mao's statue as the background and the snow-covered cypresses and pines in the street garden as the foreground.

  The next day, Guo Ling went to pick up the photos. Everyone loved this group photo. The girls were all smiling happily, their noses and cheeks red from the cold. Their clothes weren't fashionable, some even looked rustic, but they all had a radiant glow about them, exuding a youthful energy. The beauty of youth doesn't need cosmetics to embellish it.

  Mr. Liang Qichao said "Rare flowers in the early stages, majestic and magnificent... The future is like a sea, and tomorrow will be long" is their true portrayal!

  The book review section is really quiet! 50+ chances to add precision and 250 points have nowhere to go! I sincerely welcome friends who pass by to give more comments, and also collect recommendations! O(∩_∩)O