Chapter Twelve: Entrance Exams?

  He said he came to find Principal Chen about something, and Chen Ping suddenly didn't know how to start. In his opinion, letting a 3-year-old child attend elementary school was really a joke.

  So he was afraid that once he said it, he would be scolded by Principal Chen. Chen Ping's mouth opened and closed, but the words seemed to be stuck in his throat, unable to come out no matter what.

  "Grandpa Chen, my dad and I came to see you today about my elementary school."

  "What? Dreamer, I didn't mishear, did I? You said you and your dad came today because of your elementary school matters?"

  Chen Meng'er nodded firmly under Chen Principal's gaze that was definitely "I must have misheard".

  "No, Meng Er, how old are you this year?" Principal Chen asked.

  "Three years old, Dream is three years old today." Chen Meng'er replied seriously.

  "Meng Er, if you go to elementary school, you have to be at least 7 years old," said Principal Chen. He looked up and asked Chen Ping, "Xiao Ping, is what Meng Er said the purpose of your visit today?"

  "Yes, it's this matter." Chen Ping nodded under the severe gaze of Principal Chen.

  "Nonsense! You're still so young, you don't know any better. But you, at your age, still don't understand the importance of school?" Principal Chen glared at Chen Ping, scolding him.

  "Uncle Chen, I know what you said. But I told Meng Er and she still insists. I'm afraid my wife and I are not good at talking. We might say something wrong and hurt Meng Er's feelings. So, I thought of bringing her to see you, and have you talk to her."

  "Is that so." Principal Chen heard Chen Ping say this, and felt that he was right. "Meng Er, it's not that your father or mother, nor is it Grandfather Chen who won't let you go to school. It's just that you're still too young for school now. When you reach the age, Grandfather Chen welcomes you to come to school." Principal Chen sincerely advised Chen Meng Er.

  If it were another child, Principal Chen would have said that, and they would have surrendered. However, the person in front of Principal Chen was not someone else, but Chen Meng Er, a reborn person who had made up her mind to enter elementary school today.

  "Grandpa Chen. But I know there are special circumstances." Chen Meng'er pulled at Principal Chen's sleeve, batting her eyelashes as she looked up at him and said.

  "What's special about it?" Principal Chen and Chen Ping asked in unison.

  "This student with good grades can't skip a grade? Then if I, Meng Er, have good grades, won't I also be able to enter school early?"

  Looking at Chen Meng'er's serious little face, Principal Chen was momentarily speechless. Chen Meng'er looked at Principal Chen who was being cornered by her words and continued to press on: "Then Grandpa Chen, you come and test me. If my grades are good, then you let me go to school with Xiao Xuan. If my grades aren't good, I won't go to school. Wait until I'm older, then I'll go back to school."

  Chen Meng'er was making a retreat in order to advance. Chen Meng'er made a proposal, and Principal Chen thought it wasn't bad either. The reason why Principal Chen thought it wasn't bad was that he genuinely believed that Chen Meng'er, being only three years old, wouldn't be able to pass his assessment. "Alright, since Meng'er has proposed this, then we'll do as she says."

  Chen Meng'er saw her proposal being adopted, she was excited and clenched her fist in her heart. She shouted: "Yes."

  Chen Ping was stunned on one side, how did the development of this matter turn out to be completely different from what he had thought before? However, he didn't plan to participate and decided it was better to just watch from the sidelines.

  Principal Chen walked in, bringing with him two primary school first-grade mid-term exam papers. Principal Chen did this on purpose, intentionally pulling out the primary school mid-term exam papers for first grade. As far as he knew, a child of Chen Meng's age should not have even held a pen before, let alone written anything. And that was to say nothing of the questions on these papers.

  "Meng'er, come here to Grandpa Chen." Principal Chen sat on the stone bench with a pencil and exam papers in hand, beckoning Chen Meng'er over.

  As soon as Chen Meng'er saw what Principal Chen had taken out, she knew what kind of calculation he was making in his heart. However, Principal Chen didn't know that the little trick in his heart had fallen into the trap set by Chen Meng'er.

  Chen Meng'er had been waiting for this. So Chen Meng'er hurriedly ran to the side of Principal Chen.

  "Meng'er, look, this is the first grade elementary school exam paper. As long as you pass it, Principal Chen will let you go to school." Principal Chen said, pointing at the paper.

  "Grandpa Chen, what you said is true, isn't it a lie to trick Meng'er?" Meng'er was afraid that Principal Chen would regret it later, so she asked again on purpose.

  "Of course it's true, Grandpa Chen doesn't lie. However, Meng'er also has to promise Grandpa Chen that if this exam isn't passed, our Meng'er will obediently wait until she's seven years old and can go to school, okay? And no crying either." Principal Chen pinched Chen Meng'er's little face and said.

  Principal Chen really liked Chen Meng'er. He rarely met a child who was not afraid of him and willing to get close to him, even his own grandson was afraid of this grandfather and did not dare to get close to him.

  "That's right, Meng'er never cries." Chen Ping nodded in agreement. Chen Meng'er was indeed someone who rarely cried, except when she was a child and couldn't speak yet, she would shout loudly to express herself. At other times, she wouldn't cry, only showing a sweet smile towards you.

  "Good. Chen Meng'er is really clever." Principal Chen liked Chen Meng'er more and more as he looked at her. If Chen Meng'er wasn't too young, Principal Chen would have really wanted to set a precedent and take her in.

  Chen Meng'er took the pencil from Principal Chen's hand, looked at the height of the stone bench and stone table, then looked at her small stature, and helplessly turned to look at her father, Chen Ping.

  As soon as Chen Ping received his daughter's pleading gaze, he knew what she was going to do. He walked over and carried Chen Meng'er to the stone bench, but Chen Meng'er was too small and couldn't sit down, so she could only kneel on the stone bench.

  Chen Ping looked at the pencil in Chen Meng'er's hand as he carried her to the stone bench and asked worriedly, "Meng'er, can you write?"

  Chen Meng'er didn't respond to her father's words, but instead gave him a mysterious smile.

  Then she adjusted her posture to make herself more comfortable on the stone bench, grasped a pencil, lowered her head and started doing her homework.

  When Principal Chen saw Chen Meng'er's pencil grip, his eyebrows raised slightly. If he wasn't mistaken, this pencil-holding posture was quite standard. In fact, it was even more standard than the average child who had just started learning to write.

  For some reason, looking at Chen Meng'er kneeling on the stone bench, holding a pencil and seriously reading the volume with her head down, there was a voice in Principal Chen's heart telling him that he might be able to expect something, and see an entirely unexpected result appear.

  Chen Meng'er focused all her attention on the scrolls on the stone table, and it could be said that she could do the questions on the two scrolls in front of her with her eyes closed. However, she overestimated her current physical body.

  She is still a 3-year-old child after all, and this body has never held a pencil before, so it can be said that this is her first time holding a pen. Her grip posture is correct, but the strength of her hand and wrist is not quite controlled.

  Although she can hold a pencil to write out words, these written words are not only without penmanship, but also crooked and ugly. Fortunately, these words can still be recognized as some kind of characters.

  It's like this, Chen Mengran's writing speed is also very slow. She almost draws one stroke at a time, slowly drawing it out. Fortunately, after Chen Meng'er adapted for a period of time, the situation improved slightly.

  When Chen Mengran was concentrating on the test paper, struggling with the pencil in her hand, Principal Chen's eyes were fixed on Chen Meng'er. When he saw her write out the first word, although it was just a simple horizontal and vertical stroke, it still made him feel quite surprised.

  As Chen Meng'er worked on the questions one by one, Principal Chen's heart couldn't be described as merely surprised. He looked at Chen Meng'er who was diligently working on the questions, then raised his head to look at Chen Ping who was quietly drinking tea with his head down, opening and closing his mouth, but in the end swallowed back the words he wanted to ask.

  Half an hour later, Chen Meng'er put down her pencil and shook her wrist which was sore from writing. Then she looked up, smiled and showed off her two good-looking dimples to Principal Chen: "Principal Chen, I've finished everything."

  If it weren't for Chen Meng'er being inexperienced in writing, she would have finished these two scrolls within half an hour.

  "Ah, oh." Before that, Principal Chen was lost in his own thoughts after reading Chen Meng'er's paper. He was pulled back to reality by Chen Meng'er and then picked up her test paper to read it again.

  The immature handwriting, but the clearly unaltered answer sheet. Made Principal Chen's heart feel complicated. And what made Principal Chen feel even more complicated was that the entire answer sheet had not a single error. He raised his head, staring straight at Chen Meng'er, for a long time without saying a word.

  Until Chen Ping spoke up and asked: "Uncle Chen, how was it? Wasn't Dream's performance bad? If the performance was bad..."

  Chen Ping's words were not yet finished when Principal Chen suddenly spoke up and said: "You're doing very well."

  "Ah." Chen Ping thought he had misheard himself.

  "These two test papers, Meng Er did very well. All correct." Principal Chen said finally, his tone became excited.