Chapter 29

He was only in the first year of junior high school, and after just one summer vacation, he had already grown to 180 cm, while she only reached his shoulder.

Xiang Wan slightly raised her eyes, looking at the boy's sweat-soaked hair and then at his smiling eyes.

Unlike when he was wearing a pink cotton-padded jacket when we first met, no one would mistake him for a girl now.

Not only that, he also grew into a handsome young man who was impossible to ignore.

In just a few minutes, Xiang Wan noticed that several girls were quietly discussing Chen Yan with their girlfriends as they passed by.

A boy patted him on the shoulder as he passed by and said, "Chen Yan, let's go to the cafeteria first."

"Okay, you don't need to wait for me."

Seeing how popular her younger brother was, and how high his popularity seemed, Xiang Wan's worries disappeared.

When she visited him in the sixth grade at Beiyi, she could sense that Chen Yan seemed somewhat isolated in his class. Now that she saw him getting along well with the boys, she no longer had any concerns.

Xiang Wan asked the driver to give him the food and also the lunchbox from the back seat: "Wang Yidong made this for you personally and asked me to bring it to you."

Chen Yan smiled and took the lunchbox, opened it and smelled it: "Sister Yidong is so good to me."

"Take it back and eat it with your roommates." Xiang Wan glanced at her watch as she spoke. "Chen Yan, I have to go back now."

Chen Yan's smile faded slightly: "Won't you take a look around my dorm?"

"Next time." Xiang Wan glanced at her phone; it was a message from Secretary Huang.

Although it's National Day today, the company's shopping mall is in the midst of its sales push, and she's going to inspect it later.

"Okay." Chen Yan's voice was normal, but his expression showed a hint of disappointment.

After Xiang Wan left, Chen Yan returned to the boys' dormitory with a large pile of snacks. His roommates rushed over as soon as they saw what he was carrying.

"Chen Yan, who came to see you? They're so beautiful."

"..." Chen Yan paused in his hand holding the lunchbox. For some reason, he didn't want to refer to Xiang Wan as his sister.

After a while, when his roommate thought he hadn't heard him and repeated himself, he turned his back to his roommate and said in a seemingly casual tone, "An older sister I know."

"I thought she was your older sister, she's so beautiful."

Chen Yan still had his back to them, but paused for a moment before saying, "She's not my biological sister; we're not related by blood."

"All right."

*

Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye. Xiang Wan is now a senior in high school and will soon face the college entrance examination.

Xiang Wan's parents have always respected her ideas, and when they heard that she decided to take the college entrance examination in China, they expressed their support.

Xiang Wan's decision to apply to Bei Yi University also greatly influenced the group of four.

Their families had originally planned for them to go abroad, but when they heard that Wanwan was going to study at a university in China, they decided to spend the remaining year trying to get into Beiyi University.

Although the four of them, except for Xiang Wan, were all mediocre and lazy in class, they were all quite intelligent, and their grades improved significantly in just a few months.

Not long after the start of the senior year, the pep rally was held. Almost all the parents of the senior students were present. The principal spoke on the podium in the playground, followed by a speech from Xiang Wan, who was ranked first in the grade.

She spoke very briefly, and her voice was as indifferent as ever, but the effect was surprisingly good.

"...I know that many of the alumni here will take over their family businesses after graduation, and the college entrance examination is just a formality."

Upon hearing this, laughter erupted from the audience, and Jiang Zhuochun and Che Nanbei even took the opportunity to whistle in support.

Xiang Wan smiled faintly, and continued after the noise from the audience subsided a bit: "After graduating from high school, everyone went their separate ways, and perhaps many of them have already seen each other for the last time in this life."

Her voice was as deep as water over the microphone, and everyone fell silent. Some sensitive young men and women couldn't help but feel a lump in their throats.

Xiang Wan paused again: "Years later, when everyone gets together to reminisce about the past, will they remember dozing off in class or passing notes during class?"

"...There's only one summer left. Let's create some more unforgettable things for our youth and senior year of high school, like chasing a goal day and night. As for what everyone's goal is, perhaps we can take the next year to think about it seriously."

After the speech, thunderous applause erupted, which only gradually subsided after Xiang Wan stepped down from the stage.

After the speeches came the coming-of-age ceremony, where parents led their children through a prop gate, symbolizing a carp leaping over the dragon gate and a bright future.

The four of them met briefly and then participated in the activity with their parents.

Xiang's parents were too busy to come, and Wang Yidong was receiving an IV drip at home after catching the flu. Chen Yan was the one who came.

After transferring to Nanyang High School, Chen Yan skipped a grade in his first year of junior high and went straight to the first year of senior high at Nanyang High School last year, ranking first in his grade.

Xiang Wan was standing under the shade of a tree when she turned her head and saw a boy wearing a black jacket and a black baseball cap running towards her.

The two were far apart, and with their hats on, she couldn't see each other's features clearly, but she recognized each other just by their overall demeanor.

The boy stopped in front of her, his voice slightly breathless: "I'm late."

Xiang Wan found it somewhat amusing: "You ran over here?"

"Yeah, there was a traffic jam on the way, so I ran over."

"Let's go."

"good."

There were still quite a few parents and children queuing up in front of the coming-of-age ceremony. The two of them were behind a mother and daughter. When the daughter saw that it was Xiang Wan behind her, she stole a few glances at her.

He pretended to take a selfie with the camera, but actually took a picture of her together. Xiang Wan pretended not to see it, but glanced at the camera when he pressed the shutter.

They waited in line for a short while before it was their turn. As they crossed the dragon gate, Xiang Wan reached out to Chen.

With her fair palm facing upwards, Chen Yan stiffly grasped her hand, while using his other hand to pull down the brim of his hat.

The two of them stepped through the gate of the coming-of-age ceremony together. When they came out, Chen Yan took the initiative to let go of her hand and said in a serious tone, "I hope my sister can get into the university she wants."

"Thank you, Xiao Yan."

After almost everyone had passed the test, the head of the teaching department asked each class teacher to bring their parents and children back to their classrooms for a parent-teacher meeting.

Chen Yan wanted to go to the classroom with Xiang Wan, but she stopped him. Chen Yan looked at her in confusion: "Sister, I'll accompany you to the parent-teacher conference."

"Xiao Yan, you skipped class to come here, didn't you?" Xiang Wan's expression held a hint of understanding. "You should go back to school first."

“…Okay.” Chen Yan’s lips curved into a stiff smile as he looked down at his toes.

Xiang Wan looked helpless: "Next time you need to ask for leave, just ask the homeroom teacher to send me a leave slip, and I will sign it."

With just one sentence, Chen Yan's eyes lit up instantly: "Understood."

"Don't run back when you go back; take a taxi back to school."

"good."

As Chen Yan approached the school gate, he turned back to see Xiang Wan waving at him, and couldn't help but smile and wave back.

When he returned to school, he ran into the head of student affairs who was taking attendance during evening self-study. He was caught climbing over the wall and was punished by the head of student affairs to run ten laps around the playground.

However, he had no regrets at all. After running back to his dormitory, he still had a smile on his face.

Although Chen Yan wasn't particularly aloof at school, he wasn't someone who smiled often either. Seeing him so happy for the first time, his roommates were quite curious.

Why are you so happy today?

Chen Yan didn't hide anything: "I'm going to attend my older sister's coming-of-age ceremony."

Ni Zhen, who was standing nearby, also became interested upon hearing this: "Wouldn't it be that older sister who came to see you during your first year of junior high school military training?"

Xiang Wan came to Nanyang to see him three years ago. Chen Yan didn't expect Ni Zhen to still remember her, and the smile on his lips faded a little upon hearing this.

When Ni Zhen saw that he was ignoring her, she was stunned for a moment and realized that he had misunderstood: "What are you thinking? I like Xiao Xinran in our class."

Chen Yan still ignored him, but Ni Zhen became even more interested: "You don't actually like your older sister, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan paused in taking off his coat, neither confirming nor denying.

"If you like her, go for it." After saying that, Ni Zhen took out her phone from under her pillow and secretly started reading a novel under the covers.

Behind him, Chen Yan took off his coat, revealing a white T-shirt underneath. He glanced at his roommate, then took his change of clothes and went into the bathroom without a word.

In the bathroom, Chen Yan let the cold water wash over his body, feeling a sudden, inexplicable sense of unease.

'Will she meet someone she likes when she goes to university?'

The thought of someone else holding her hand filled him with indescribable frustration.

After taking a cold shower, Chen Yan went to bed and didn't even hear his roommates playing around. He slept soundly until the next day.

The next day, his roommate saw that he was still asleep and pulled his blanket to wake him up, saying, "Chen Yan, you're going to be late."

Ni Zhen called him while putting on her socks, which he found strange. Chen Yan, a good student, was never late, but he had overslept today.

However, no matter how he called, he couldn't wake him up. He touched his forehead with the back of his hand and found it was burning hot. He was stunned for a moment and then immediately ran to call the homeroom teacher.

When Chen Yan woke up, he found himself receiving an IV drip in the school clinic. His homeroom teacher breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he was awake: "You scared me to death, kid."

Chen Yan felt dizzy and knew that he had probably taken a cold shower after exercising yesterday, which was why he had a fever.

The homeroom teacher asked him if he wanted to call his parents, and Chen Yan shook his head in a hoarse voice: "No need, my sister is about to take the college entrance exam, I don't want to affect her."

Since his body temperature had come down, the homeroom teacher didn't call Xiang Wan and told him to rest in the infirmary and come back to class in a couple of days.

Chen Yan nodded and didn't say anything more. He stared out the window for a while, then fell asleep again...

*

Time flies, and the national college entrance examination will be held in two months.

When Xiang Wan took the college entrance exam, it happened to be Chen Yan's final exam in his first year of high school, so she told him not to come.

Chen Yan said on the phone that he would do well on the exam, but he still went to see Xiang Wan when she took her last exam.

During the chemistry exam, the proctor noticed an empty seat and called the homeroom teacher, who then learned that Chen Yan had climbed over the wall again.

Thinking that it was his sister's college entrance exam today, he held his anger and didn't go looking for her. Instead, he sat in the invigilation room waiting for her to return.

On the other side, at the Beiyi Affiliated High School examination site, parents were waiting outside, some even with their entire families, including their 90-year-old grandmothers.

An hour had passed inside, and the parents were chatting amongst themselves in their small groups until the bell rang signaling the end of the college entrance exam, at which point everyone pushed forward.

Five minutes later, as the first examinee ran out, a large number of examinees followed suit.

Chen Yan, wearing a baseball cap, stood behind a tree trunk, quietly watching the crowd until he saw a person in a white dress in the crowd, and the corners of his lips unconsciously curled up.

Over here, Xiang Wan, who had just come out of the examination room, seemed to sense something and looked at the crowd in front of her.

She only looked away when Wang Yidong saw her and squeezed through the crowd to greet her.

After getting into the car, Xiang Wan lowered the window and glanced at the crowd again.

She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she had a feeling that Xiao Yan was there too.

Thinking that Chen Yan should be taking an exam right now, she rolled up the car window again.

Behind the tree trunk on the other side, Chen Yan hid himself, and after the car drove away, he ran off in the opposite direction...