Every day after the third mock exam seemed to be on fast-forward, passing unbelievably quickly.
Those not taking the regular college entrance exam route had all received their results, each with their destinations.
Class 6 was a parallel class, with most students taking the regular college entrance exam route. Those like Yang Linyu who had passed the independent recruitment were objects of everyone’s envy and jealousy.
Few people knew about Sheng Xia being on Heqing University’s review list.
So when everyone saw Sheng Xia, someone who was only twenty-some points above the first-tier university cutoff line, constantly hovering around Zhang Shu, someone assured of getting into a 985 university, worrying about his Chinese scores, they couldn’t help but sigh: this is love’s dedication!
The summer cicadas were chirping enough to make one’s ears ring, and the countdown numbers had entered single digits.
Teachers changed their usual motivational speeches, asking everyone to return to normal schedules, stop staying up late, stop being nervous, stop tackling difficult problems, and go out for walks instead.
The weekly test questions also became increasingly simple. Zhang Shu had completely stopped doing them, only repeatedly practicing previous questions and doing a few new ones daily to maintain his touch.
The school also held a parents’ meeting, forming a united front with parents to stop adding pressure and creating a relaxed atmosphere from inside out, from family to school.
Everything revolved around one word: stability.
On the evening of the 6th, senior year only had one evening self-study period. Wang Wei gave reminders above, repeating the usual points: admission ticket, ID card, stationery, don’t eat ice cream or spicy food, don’t stay up late, call the police if there’s trouble.
When the class bell rang, Sheng Xia packed up to leave. Suddenly, the lights in the entire building went out, causing an immediate commotion.
Then, enthusiastic cheers came from the adjacent teaching building.
The sound grew closer as junior and sophomore students rushed toward the senior building.
“Good luck with the college entrance exam! South Da Affiliated must win!”
“Good luck with the college entrance exam! South Da Affiliated must win!”
The building cheering began.
First came organized slogans, and then everyone shouted whatever they wanted.
Blessings rose one after another.
The seniors above began responding.
“South Da Affiliated must win!”
“Sharp sword unsheathed! South Da Affiliated’s glory!”
“Senior sister is so beautiful!”
“Junior brother is so handsome!”
Class 6 was on the first floor, hearing every cheer.
Several clear “Go Zhang Shu” cheers cut through the noise, reaching Sheng Xia’s ears.
“Zhang Shu, you’re the strongest!”
“Zhang Shu, I like you!”
Taking advantage of the darkness, the noise, and perhaps never meeting again, someone was confessing.
Xin Xiaohe came over, whispering in Sheng Xia’s ear: “So popular, huh?”
Indeed.
This popular person had found his way to Sheng Xia’s side in the dark, catching and holding her hand tightly.
Xin Xiaohe rolled her eyes and stepped aside.
“So popular, huh.” Sheng Xia stood slightly on tiptoe, repeating in Zhang Shu’s ear.
Hearing this, Zhang Shu smiled, and taking advantage of her upturned face, supported her head, saying: “Won’t you cheer me on?”
Sheng Xia had recently gotten somewhat used to his physical proximity, and went along with it: “Go Zhang Shu!”
As soon as she finished speaking, her chin was caught and lifted, the head in front of her quickly approaching—
Just when she thought their lips would meet, and she tensed up, almost instinctively pushing him away, his head turned slightly, and the soft touch landed on her cheek.
Very light, briefly lingering.
Then he quickly straightened up, looking at the noisy crowd outside, his hand uncomfortably rubbing his philtrum.
In the dim light, she couldn’t see his expression.
That dragonfly-touching-water touch just now, Sheng Xia felt it might have been her imagination.
If not for Xin Xiaohe dramatically clutching her stomach and making retching sounds beside them.
The building cheering stopped, and the underclassmen turned on their phone lights, waving them while singing the school song.
Sheng Xia saw surrounding classmates pressing their clasped hands to their chins, closing their eyes to make wishes.
Zhang Shu saw her still dazed, and shook her hand, “Make a wish?”
Sheng Xia didn’t know about this tradition, and coming to her senses, quickly pulled her hand from his, clasped her hands together, and made a sincere wish.
When she opened her eyes, Zhang Shu asked: “What did you wish for?”
Because of the small gesture in the darkness earlier, Sheng Xia didn’t look directly at him, but didn’t hide anything, replying: “Hope to successfully get into Heqing University, what about you?”
“I hope… it won’t come untrue if I say it?” The swaying, flickering phone lights flashed across Zhang Shu’s face as he smiled brilliantly, “I hope to have an entire Sheng Xia (Summer).”
Have an entire Sheng Xia. Sheng Xia repeated silently in her heart.
He had peeked!
When the lights came on, Sheng Xia saw Zhang Shu’s mischievous eyes.
“You peeked!” she accused.
Zhang Shu tacitly admitted it, unconcerned: “Tomorrow’s the college entrance exam.”
Sheng Xia was extremely angry, but with tomorrow being the exam, she couldn’t be angry, could she?
She had said he could look after the exam, but that was just talk really.
Besides worrying about affecting his mood, she also felt embarrassed.
He had peeked, and she couldn’t even be angry anymore, just embarrassed.
Sheng Xia hurriedly packed her bag, retreat being the best of the thirty-six stratagems, “I need to go home, good luck tomorrow!”
“Good luck.”
“Good luck the day after too.”
Zhang Shu smiled helplessly: “Mm, even more luck the day after.”
The night before the college entrance exam.
Such a special moment in time, and Sheng Xia spent it quite specially indeed.
No studying, no practice problems, just eating fruit while watching TV dramas with Wang Lianhua.
Her phone screen switched repeatedly between several social media platforms.
Then she found everyone was pretty much the same.
The class group chat started sharing silly memes, from energetic “let’s go” gradually to “I’m tired, just destroy everything,” topics becoming increasingly strange.
A male student shared a screenshot in the chat, and Sheng Xia clicked it instinctively.
Scanning it, she almost choked on her mango.
The screenshot was from Baidu Medical Consultation.
Patient: Hello expert, I have the college entrance exam tomorrow. I heard ** helps with exam performance, is there any scientific basis?
Expert: Hello student, ** can help relax, and sexual pleasure can aid sleep, but how well you do in the exam isn’t much related to this. You might even become anxious due to an unpleasant first ** experience, so it’s not recommended to try.
This?
Was this because graduation was coming, and everyone showing their true colors?
Shortly after, this screenshot was quickly recalled.
But everyone was online at this time, those who were meant to see it had already seen it.
Several rows of ellipses expressing speechlessness followed.
A few usually unrestrained ones sent “haha” emojis.
Someone else chimed in: “You talk as if you have a partner.”
Screenshot sender: “Cover my pot, I don’t, but someone does!”
Zhang Shu: “…”
Screenshot sender: “Shu-ge why did you suddenly pop up?”
Response: “Because your Shu-ge has a girlfriend.”
This conversation was also quickly recalled.
Followed by another row of speechless ellipses.
Meaning: read and understood.
Those who should have seen it had seen it.
Sheng Xia had just been casually looking, she had never spoken in the group chat.
Somehow, why did it feel like she was being called out?
After a few seconds, the number in parentheses after the group name decreased by two.
The group went quiet.
Then, Xin Xiaohe’s dorm group became lively. Since going out for late-night snacks together, Sheng Xia had been added to their dorm group, a group without Zhou Xuanxuan.
Da Mai: “Hahaha dying of laughter, Zhang Shu kicked Tao-ge and them out.”
Xin Xiaohe: “Well done, these guys every day.”
Da Mai: “Young hearts.jpg”
Lanlan: “More like middle-aged hearts, so greasy.”
Xin Xiaohe: “But honestly, is what the expert said true?”
Lanlan: “Heard guys are all terrible their first time, hahaha anxious.”
Da Mai: “Expert said it, should be right? That last line almost killed me with laughter, guys should all be quick their first time, right?”
With the exam approaching, this group’s color was a bit too bright.
Sheng Xia remembered she had promised to send everyone pre-exam predictions, which she hadn’t done yet, so she sent them now.
They weren’t predictions, just some classical text recitations she thought might come up for last-minute practice.
Xin Xiaohe: “Thumbs up.jpg”
Lanlan: “Xia Xia, why are you changing the subject?”
Da Mai: “Is your heart racing?”
Sheng Xia: “Good luck on the exam!”
The group returned to quiet.
Sheng Xia saw the time and decided it was time to rest.
She forwarded the classical text recitations she had just sent to Zhang Shu, then went to wash up.
Wang Lianhua made her check her admission ticket, ID card, and various stationery items one more time before letting her go to bed.
Sheng Xia half-reclined on her bed, picked up her phone, wanting to remind Zhang Shu to check his admission ticket too, but as soon as she opened the chat window, she froze.
Song Jiang: “?”
Song Jiang: “What are you implying?”
Song Jiang: “I haven’t tried, I don’t know.”
Song Jiang: “Won’t be that quick.”
Sheng Xia’s heart jumped, and she quickly scrolled up to see what she had forwarded him.
Besides the classical text recitations, at the very top was Da Mai’s line — Expert said it, should be right? That last line almost killed me with laughter, guys should all be quick their first time, right?
It looked like she was asking him!
Truly suffocating!
When selecting messages to forward earlier, she had accidentally included the one closest to her message!
God! Help!
Sheng Xia gathered her thoughts, choosing to ignore them.
Reply: “Remember to check your admission ticket, ID card, and stationery again, check if the marking pen’s refill is broken.”
Zhang Shu must have been watching his phone, as almost immediately, the chat showed: other party is typing…
But it took a while for the message to come through.
Song Jiang: “Don’t worry, I’ll remember to check, I’m not anxious.”
Ahhhhhh!
You’re crazy!
…
When the college entrance exam day truly arrived, Sheng Xia didn’t have much emotional fluctuation.
Perhaps the successive tests had worn away all the nervousness.
Especially since she was a boarding-out student going to the exam site alone, without experiencing the ceremony of leaving school together by bus with others, receiving teachers’ send-off.
So when she arrived at the exam site, she just methodically went to find the exam room she had checked earlier.
Zhang Shu wasn’t in the same exam district as her. Probably because she was a transfer student, she wasn’t in the same district as most Class 6 classmates.
Not a single familiar face in the same exam room.
Sheng Xia finally felt something of the college entrance exam atmosphere.
Getting the test paper, Sheng Xia first glanced at the classical text recitation and predicted one extra-curricular line.
Though just one line.
Sheng Xia wrote particularly smoothly, and after finishing the essay, found she still had twenty minutes left, which made her somewhat panicked.
She wrote Chinese quickly but had never been this fast in previous tests.
Could there be quality issues?
Sheng Xia took deep breaths, playing positive meditation in her mind, forbidding herself from borrowing anxiety, then checked the multiple choice questions again and again.
In the afternoon, halfway through the math exam, the bright sunny day suddenly turned to rain.
Low clouds in chaos, torrential rain.
Rain pattered on leaves, the rhythm chaotic, disturbing one’s mind.
But Sheng Xia was used to meditation, many meditation background sounds were rain sounds, so she found it peaceful, much better than cicada sounds.
As soon as the exam ended, the rain stopped too, as if it had deliberately tried to make things difficult for the examinees.
The second day was similar, with torrential rain halfway through the science comprehensive exam.
Near the end, it obediently stopped.
“Exam ended, examinees stop answering…”
When the announcement sounded, Sheng Xia sat in her seat waiting for papers to be collected, suddenly feeling like a top that had lost its whip’s drive, wobbling, coming to a stop.
Had her high school career just ended like this?
Truly dazzling.
“Nothing can stop your yearning for freedom…”
The exam district must have learned it online, as music played through the broadcast. Among the folk song’s rhythm, crowds streamed out of the exam rooms, some running, some shouting, but more like Sheng Xia, walking quietly, eyes showing no particular emotion.
Parents waiting outside were more anxious than each other.
Sheng Xia saw her parents standing in the crowd.
Sheng Mingfeng and Wang Lianhua stood one in front and one behind, without opposition, without tension, having only the same, searching gaze.
Wang Lianhua held a bouquet, seeing Sheng Xia, already had tears in her eyes.
Sheng Xia gazed at her mother, running towards her.
The college entrance exam had finally ended.
Senior year had finally ended.
High school had finally ended.
Three years of high school, and one year of senior year, was not just her difficult journey, but also her parents’ spiritual practice.