Anning No. 1 Middle School bus stop, before the mathematics league game.

Lin Chaoxi got off the bus. The winter cold wave brought a drop in temperature and drizzle.

She wiped the raindrops off her hair. A little further away, there were umbrellas spread out. The candidates were waiting to enter the school gate of No. 1 Middle School in a colorful scene.

Lin Chaoxi checked the time, looked towards the bus stop opposite, and began to wait.

Buses stopped and passed by one after another, parents and students came and went, raindrops like silver needles spread out, and everything was foggy.

It seems that since she came back, she has taken a lot of exams, including the Jin Cup competition, grade exams, high school entrance exams, summer camp exams...

But in fact, among all the exams, perhaps none is more important than the math league she is going to participate in now.

Last time at Strawberry World, she was not eligible to participate in the math league in her freshman year of high school. In her sophomore year of high school, because of Lao Lin’s incident, she switched to liberal arts and had no chance of participating in the league.

Pei Zhize won the gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad in his second year of high school.

And now, they are both freshmen in high school. Lin Chaoxi looks at the platform in the distance, wondering if the result this time will be different from last time.

When I thought of this, a No. 75 bus left the platform and Pei Zhi appeared.

The boy didn't hold an umbrella, and his hoodie was pulled up to cover his eyebrows. He carried his schoolbag and crossed the crosswalk, his back always straight.

Lin Chaoxi waved at him through the smoke and traffic, feeling relieved that Pei Zhi had finally come.

The rain got heavier, and Lin Chaoxi took out an umbrella. Pei Zhi walked up to her, took the umbrella, opened it, and covered their heads with it.

There was a shadow under the umbrella, and Lin Chaoxi was stunned for a moment, but the atmosphere was unusually peaceful. She moved closer to the boy and walked with him to the entrance of No. 1 Middle School.

Pei Zhi seemed to have grown taller again, and Lin Chaoxi looked up at him.

"What's wrong?" Pei Zhi asked.

"Did you bring your 2B pencil?" Lin Chaoxi found a topic.

“Yes.”

"Where's the eraser?"

“Yes.”

"What about...what about the ruler?"

"Although it's not very useful, I brought it with me." Pei Zhi answered her patiently.

Lin Chaoxi smiled awkwardly and wanted to ask something, but couldn't say it for a moment.

"I brought a signature pen, a knife, and my admission ticket..." Pei Zhi finished talking to himself, and finally his eyes fell on her face, "I also brought myself, so, did I forget anything else?"

The voices of students talking around him gradually became louder. Lin Chaoxi looked at Pei Zhi and knew that he was actually asking, "Do you have anything else to ask?"

In Strawberry World, Pei Zhi also won the Olympic gold medal in his second year of high school, which means that all his efforts in his first year of high school were actually in vain.

Lin Chaoxi then said in a rush, "If you don't take the exam and don't have a certificate, it will be very troublesome if your aunt finds out about you. Is it worth taking such a big risk to take this exam and lie to your mother?"

Pei Zhi turned the umbrella a little and looked at her deeply.

Lin Chaoxi was a little scared: "I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think that someone like my brother Pei wouldn't do these things. The cost to you is too high, and actually you can do it next year..."

Lin Chaoxi's voice became lower and lower as he spoke: "Am I being a little nagging and indecisive again?"

"When are you not indecisive?" Pei Zhi smiled very rarely, holding the umbrella, and led her to continue walking into the campus.

"In fact, I originally thought that by the time I was in my second year of high school, I might have the same opportunity - just like you said, without having to lie or take risks, and take the exam openly."

Raindrops fell on the umbrella, and it was extremely quiet. Pei Zhi said, "But there won't be a next time."

"What do you mean there won't be a next time?"

"Every opportunity comes only once." Pei Zhi said, "This time is this time, and it will be different from the next time."

Lin Chaoxi thought for a while: "Hmm... seems to be talking about philosophical questions?"

Pei Zhi stood in front of the bulletin board: "Your exam room is 102."

"Oh, oh!" She quickly took out her transparent pencil case and found her examination room right in front of her.

"Good luck then."

"Come on!" Lin Chaoxi nodded vigorously.

——

When the exam was over, the sky cleared up.

Lin Chaoxi packed up his pencil case and passed the paper filled with drafts up last.

The mild sunlight of late autumn shone through the gaps in the clouds. The voices in the classroom became louder and louder. Two or three students who knew each other began to compare answers. But more people walked out of the classroom and stretched out in the sunshine.

Lin Chaoxi sat in the sun for a while, and began to imagine the scene of entering the national winter camp, being selected for the big list with Pei Zhi, and finally going abroad to compete together.

It seems that things that seemed unimaginable before, as long as you take one step at a time, don’t seem that difficult anymore.

However, the normal procedure after the exam is certainly not to go back home and see your own mother.

She walked out of the classroom, looked at Comrade Lao Lu who had a sad face, and pretended to be cool, then was beaten by Comrade Lao Lu, and then everyone tacitly agreed to go eat something together.

——

Anqing Tang Hotpot Restaurant, noon.

The name of the hot pot restaurant sounds grand, but the store is actually very small. However, it is very popular because it is close to the No. 1 Middle School in the city.

On the way from No. 1 Middle School to the hot pot restaurant, Lu Zhihao kept asking Pei Zhi about the answers and solutions to every question. He was very studious and never gave up.

Lin Chaoxi occasionally interjected, skipped around, and was in a very good mood. When she opened the curtain and saw the girl sitting inside, her good mood reached its peak.

"Xiao Mei?"

Shen Mei blushed and stood up to greet them: "Lu Zhihao said he was worried that there would be no seats here at noon, so he asked me to take a seat. How did you do in the exam?"

"Very good!" Lin Chaoxi said without hesitation.

There were two menus on the table, with paper and pen. After they sat down, Pei Zhi turned one of the menus over and drew a picture for Lu Zhihao.

Lin Chaoxi took another dish and started ordering. The two boys were discussing "intensely". Shen Mei had never seen such a fight before and was stunned for a while.

"Do you like spicy food?" Lin Chaoxi asked her.

“No…”

"Then can I give you some tomato hotpot? It's good for your skin~"

"Okay, okay."

Lin Chaoxi began to randomly tick items on the menu and felt the restaurant getting hotter and hotter.

At noon, more and more students came to eat. Most of them had just finished their cram school nearby and came to eat lunch. The students were in groups of three or four, and it was very lively.

Lin Chaoxi handed the menu to the waiter and ran to the front counter to buy a bottle of Mirinda orange soda.

She turned her back to the counter and used a screwdriver to pry open the bottle cap with a "click". The door curtain opened and several tall boys walked into the hot pot restaurant one after another.

Lin Chaoxi inserted the straw into the bottle, turned around, and saw a familiar figure from behind.

Enemies meet on a narrow road, and it’s Zhang Yao again.

Standing next to Zhang Yao were four other boys wearing the same basketball uniforms as him. They looked like they had just finished exercising. The five men were tall and the hot pot restaurant seemed to be packed with people all of a sudden.

They all stopped at once. After a while, one of the boys poked Zhang Yao, indicating that Shen Mei was there.

Zhang Yao responded and greeted, "Shen Mei, what a coincidence."

"Classmate Xiaomei~" The boys around Zhang Yao also waved and greeted Shen Mei.

"Hello, you guys..." Shen Mei also waved back awkwardly. Perhaps she also felt something was wrong, so she lowered her head after speaking.

The originally lively atmosphere in the hot pot restaurant froze for a few seconds. The boys around Zhang Yao looked at each other. Suddenly, someone suggested: "Since it's such a coincidence, why don't we all sit together and eat?"