45

The physics competition is on Monday morning.

The examination venues drawn by the students of the Normal University Affiliated High School were all in No. 1 Middle School. After breakfast in the morning, they took the bus rented by the school and set off.

Xiao Mingyang and Li Xiangze sat right behind Zhang Fuguo. Xiao Mingyang was discussing the topic with Zhang Fuguo along the way. Li Xiangze was a little carsick, so he leaned on Xiao Mingyang's shoulder and closed his eyes to rest.

The two of them were discussing very enthusiastically. If there wasn't someone on his shoulder, Xiao Mingyang would definitely be dancing with joy.

When we arrived at the destination, the atmosphere in the car was solemn, and only two people were completely free.

One of them looked happy and seemed quite excited, while the other one had not woken up at all and looked confused.

The leading teacher is not allowed to enter the school.

Before entering, Zhang Fuguo patted Xiao Mingyang on the shoulder and said, "Keep calm. Just practice the questions at the same pace as usual. You will have no problem entering the national competition."

"OK!" Xiao Mingyang hugged Li Xiangze and waved at him, "Bye, Old Zhang!"

There were many participants this time, so three floors were vacated for their examinations.

Xiao Mingyang and Li Xiangze were luckier and were assigned to the same floor.

There were still more than ten minutes before the exam started, and there was nothing much to review for physics, so Xiao Mingyang and Li Xiangze wandered around the floor.

"If we advance, do we have to go to training camp?" Li Xiangze asked.

"Yes," Xiao Mingyang pinched his earlobe, "Maybe we can share a dormitory by then."

"What are you thinking about? I may not even be able to advance." Li Xiangze said.

Xiao Mingyang's face looked unhappy: "Then I..."

"Try your best on the exam," Li Xiangze pinched the back of his neck and warned him, "If you take the exam recklessly just because I can't get in and don't take your future seriously, we'll break up after the exam. I'll go back to my old school, and I won't let you see me anymore."

"Don't!" Xiao Mingyang touched his nose and muttered, "I'm just excited for a moment. I've already said it, how can I not study hard..."

Li Xiangze slowly stroked the back of his neck with his thumb, put his other hand in his pocket, leaned his head close to his ear, and whispered, "If you behave well today, there's no limit to the number of times you can do it tonight."

Xiao Mingyang's ears turned red instantly. He looked around and took Li Xiangze into an empty classroom next to him that was not locked, and closed the door behind him.

Li Xiangze raised his eyebrows: "I'm going to take the test soon."

"I know," Xiao Mingyang said in a hoarse voice, his arm around his waist, "Are you sure you can handle it if it's not limited?"

Li Xiangze chuckled, pinched the back of his neck, pressed his forehead against his, stared at him, and raised his eyebrows: "You think I can't stand it?"

Xiao Mingyang looked at him straight in the eyes, his Adam's apple sliding: "Okay, I will do well in the exam."

Before Li Xiangze could say anything, the inspector outside called out, "You can begin the security check!"

"The results are usually out in three days," Li Xiangze said, pushing open the door. "If you make the provincial team by then, my words will count."

＊

"Holy crap!" Chen Qiu stood at the classroom door. "I just passed by the office. Guess what I heard?!"

"What?" the classmate sitting at the door asked.

"Our class has produced a provincial top student!" Chen Qiu shouted.

"The results of the physics competition are out?!" Xiao Mingyang jumped up.

"Yes!" Chen Qiu was even more excited. "Our classmate Xiao Ming ranked first in the province!"

“Awesome!”

The whole class applauded loudly and cheered one after another.

Xiao Mingyang looked at Li Xiangze with a smile: "What do you mean?"

Li Xiangze gave him a thumbs up: "Great."

"Then what?" Xiao Mingyang raised his eyebrows.

Li Xiangze smiled: "What then?"

Xiao Mingyang was anxious: "Just..."

Before he could finish his words, a classmate came in from the back door: "Xiao Mingyang, your teacher Yang is looking for you."

Li Xiangze raised his eyebrows, pointed outside the door, and repeated, "Teacher Yang is looking for you."

Xiao Mingyang tutted his words and curled his lips: "Why are you regretting it?"

"What are you regretting?" Li Xiangze smiled and pretended to be stupid.

"At once……"

"Xiao Mingyang, Teacher Yang is looking for you!" Another classmate came and called him.

Xiao Mingyang had no idea what to do.

"I remember it," Li Xiangze said with a smile, "Go quickly."

"You said it!" Xiao Mingyang smiled again.

office.

Old Yang stood in front of his desk, unable to suppress his smile. "It's really worth all my words for you," he said, patting him on the back and laughing out loud. "Number one in the province! I've only trained two in all these years!"

"So I'm the second one?!" Xiao Mingyang's pupils trembled.

"'Surprisingly'?" the old man poked his head out from behind his desk. "That's the wrong word to use. Your class, Old Yang, was first in the province at least ten years ago."

"Actually, I didn't take care of that one. I just happened to get it transferred here. I took advantage of the situation. That kid is really smart, but..." Old Yang didn't continue talking. Instead, he patted his shoulder happily, "I watched this one grow up!"

"Yeah!" Xiao Mingyang's chest puffed up, "I am your biological son!"

All the teachers in the office were amused by him.

"The provincial government will be conducting intensive training for you before the national competition," Lao Yang said, sitting back in his chair. "I asked about the time, and it starts around the weeks before our final exams and ends near the end of the holiday, around the Spring Festival. Then we'll start school, and you'll be heading off to compete in the national competition."

Xiao Mingyang looked at the calendar: "So I only have two holidays now, New Year's Day and Spring Festival?!"

"That's not accurate. You still have weekends, but not during the training days." Lao Yang said.

Xiao Mingyang pursed his lips and asked, "How many students from our school advanced this time?"

Lao Yang looked at the list and said, "11 people made it in."

"Has Li Xiangze come in?" Xiao Mingyang was very excited.

"It went in." said Lao Yang.

Xiao Mingyang rushed out of the office excitedly, ran back to the classroom, and hugged Li Xiangze: "In! Aze, you got in too!"

"Got in?" Li Xiangze was a little confused.

"Yeah!" Xiao Mingyang held his shoulders and looked at him with bared teeth, "It's in!"

Li Xiangze pursed his lips and looked at the floor, as if he was thinking about something.

Xiao Mingyang sensed that something was wrong with his mood, and his smile slowly faded: "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I can't go." Li Xiangze looked at him.

Xiao Mingyang frowned, a little excited: "Why?"

Li Xiangze rubbed his head. "I signed an agreement with the school and have to get good grades. The provincial training camp is a waste of time... and you know, I want to do my best at everything I do."

Xiao Mingyang said nothing and lowered his head.

After a long moment, he looked at Li Xiangze and smiled, "Then I'll go with you to talk to Lao Yang later."

Li Xiangze pinched his face and said, "Thank you."

Old Yang also knew about the agreement. Upon hearing Li Xiangze's decision, he sighed, "A national competition certificate is very valuable. Are you really not considering it?"

"I'm sorry, Lao Yang." Li Xiangze said.

"You don't need to apologize to me," Lao Yang said. "This is your decision. You haven't apologized to anyone."

Li Xiangze looked at him and bowed deeply: "Thank you."

"Don't be so polite," Old Yang smiled and helped him up. "Write me an application in the next few days, voluntarily giving up your place in the national competition. It would be best if you submit it before school is over today."

"OK."

Li Xiangze turned to leave when Lao Yang called him, "By the way, call Su Yutong over."

＊

The class is as lively as ever.

Xiao Mingyang walked slowly into the classroom with Li Xiangze in his arms. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Su Yutong!"

Before he could finish his words, they were drowned out by the cheers of the whole class.

"What's going on?" Xiao Mingyang asked Chen Qiu.

Chen Qiu turned around and said, "Wasn't the art festival postponed? I heard from the class next door that it's been postponed to the week after next. I guess Lao Yang is going to ask Su Yutong to talk about it today!"

Xiao Mingyang nodded: "Art Festival."

"What do you mean?" Chen Qiu was excited when he mentioned this. "Go up and play the piano again?"

"Playing the piano..." Xiao Mingyang looked at Li Xiangze, "Do you want to listen?"

Chen Qiu blinked his clear little eyes: "Why do you only ask him and not me?"

Hu Tianyao slapped him on the mouth and glared at him: "What do you think——"

"What are you talking about..." Chen Qiu looked at Hu Tianyao's speechless expression and suddenly realized, "Oh! I understand! I understand!"

He quickly turned his head back.

Xiao Mingyang poked his head: "So do you want to listen?"

"Do you have time?" Li Xiangze raised his eyebrows.

Xiao Mingyang smiled: "Shakespeare once said that time is like water in a sponge..."

Li Xiangze smiled: "It's Lu Xun."

"Ah, Lu Xun once said..."

"Alright," Li Xiangze smiled and held his hand. "Play it. I want to see it."

"look?"

Li Xiangze smiled and said, "Well, look."

"Don't listen?"

"Listen first."

Xiao Mingyang understood and chuckled: "Fortunately, I am not a pianist, otherwise the audience's attention would be on my face."

"Well," Li Xiangze looked at him quietly, "tickets are hard to come by."

Xiao Mingyang smiled even more happily.

Su Yutong is back.

Sure enough, it was about the art festival.

"There's still some time before the art festival. If you have any solo programs, please contact me to sign up. If you have any group programs, please think about them together. If you have any ideas, please contact me."

There are obviously more individual programs this time than last year.

After all, it was the last art festival, and seniors were not allowed to participate.

As the number of programs increases, the quality declines.

During the last evening self-study session, Xiao Mingyang was dragged by Su Yutong to choose a program. This selection might take a long time, and perhaps they wouldn't have finished even after the evening self-study session.

There was no other choice, so the responsibility of delivering the takeaway food fell on Li Xiangze.

In the past, they often ordered takeout during evening self-study classes, and would usually go to the door to pick it up a few minutes in advance, otherwise it would be crowded.

Ordinary takeout is already like this, and today's takeout made Li Xiangze even more nervous.

He didn't watch Xiao Mingyang when he was buying, he just saw him ordering all the time, and he didn't know how much he bought.

There were still seven minutes left before the end of evening self-study. Li Xiangze put on his backpack, squatted down like Xiao Mingyang, slowly moved to the back door, and ran away.

No one had left the classroom at this time, and he was the first one in the school.

He ran all the way to the school gate and opened the express cabinet placed at the school gate. A large yellow paper bag appeared in front of him. Li Xiangze didn't have time to hesitate. After confirming the name, he quickly opened his schoolbag and stuffed these things in. However, he was still seen by the security guard.

"What kind of medicine do you want to buy so much?" asked the uncle.

Li Xiangze's mind raced: "The medicine box is expired."

Without listening to what the uncle said, he ran away.

There is only one sentence left in my mind -

Damn it, Xiao Mingyang, are these balloons? Why buy so many at once?!