Chapter 39 Old Stories "Senior, good luck on the college entrance exam. Wishing you the best of luck..."

The college entrance examination is just around the corner, but for Zhu Liushuang, who is only a first-year high school student, there is actually no real sense of urgency.

Only after listening to the two senior students' excited whispers did she realize that the college entrance examination was really coming.

Then, an indescribable sense of resentment arose from the bottom of his heart.

After the college entrance exam, she probably won't see that person again, right?

She had to do something! Zhu Liushuang urged herself on.

Therefore, when the two senior students were worried about not having enough people to distribute glow sticks, she volunteered to step forward.

The orange glow of the evening sun illuminated her brave and fearless face.

"Senior... I can help hand out glow sticks on the senior floor. I'm... a freshman, and my evening self-study ends early."

Back then, Zhu Liushuang's hair was even shorter than it is now, just reaching her ears. However, her bangs were very long, almost covering half of her eyes.

As she spoke, her face flushed red, and her voice trembled intermittently.

The two people in front of her were engrossed in their conversation when they were suddenly interrupted. They immediately fell silent and stared at her warily.

After seeing the class nameplate on Zhu Liushuang's chest, they patted their chests to calm themselves down.

"You scared me to death! Junior, why are you floating around behind me like a ghost without making a sound?"

"Shhh-keep it down."

"You really want to participate? We're organizing this activity at the risk of getting disciplinary action, aren't you afraid?"

Are you scared?

Why aren't you afraid?

But what if she could never see him again after tonight?

She was willing to become the one who no longer followed the rules.

She wanted to personally hand him the glow stick, and then, with a heart full of joy, offer him her best wishes for his college entrance exam.

"I'm not afraid!" Zhu Liushuang said resolutely.

The two senior students were amused by her serious expression and couldn't help but reach out and pat her head.

"Just kidding, junior, don't be nervous."

"Although this is a secret operation, our grade 11 head and music club advisor have our full support!"

"Then—senior, what should I do later?" Zhu Liushuang's earlobes were burning red. Evening self-study was about to start, and she quickly asked.

“Come here—” one of the tall female students with a ponytail beckoned with her finger.

Seeing Zhu Liushuang step forward, she leaned down and whispered in her ear, "After evening self-study ends, immediately gather in the lobby on the first floor of the senior high school building. Someone will give you glow sticks. Once you get them, choose a floor and wait there. Distribute them to the senior students as they finish their evening self-study..."

"Here... this is for you, keep it as a souvenir!" A thin little piece of paper was slapped into Zhu Liu's hands. "Remember to hide it well, don't let the teacher find it."

Once the two senior students had completely disappeared from the tree-lined path, Zhu Liushuang carefully unfolded the note.

It contained a long passage:

Good evening, all senior high school students!

With only four days left until the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao), we'd like to hold a "shouting from the building" event before the exam. This is a self-organized activity, and we hope everyone can participate and create a wonderful memory of their youth. We will hold the event tonight after the third period of evening self-study (9:30 PM) in the senior high school building.

...

Glow sticks will be distributed randomly. If you have any light-up items with you, feel free to use them. To ensure safety and order, please...

The chorus pieces are: "Sunny Day," "The Ordinary Road," "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies," and "Goodbye" (to be circulated privately; please tear up after reading).

The bell rang on time for evening self-study, and Zhu Liushuang ran along the tree-lined path of the school.

In early summer, the air is filled with the fragrance of camphor trees, and birds singing merrily on the branches as they return home.

As she ran, she folded the sweaty note neatly and stuffed it into her school trouser pocket. Her mood, like the neatly folded note, was wrinkled yet secretly delighted.

After the first evening self-study session, Zhu Liushuang made an excuse to go to the toilet and ran to the corridor closest to the senior high school building to quietly observe.

As usual, the corridors of the senior high school building were deserted.

She wondered: Why weren't the senior students in their final year of high school excited at all?

She even doubted whether this "shouting from the building" event could actually be organized.

After the second evening self-study session, Zhu Liushuang opened her physics workbook and pretended to be deep in thought, lingering in her seat without leaving.

"Shuangshuang, are you going back to the dorm? It's so hot in the classroom without the air conditioning on! I want to go back and take a shower right away..." Tian Xingyu packed her things and came up from the back of the classroom to urge her.

Zhu Liushuang quickly lowered her head, covering her eyes with her bangs, and said in a muffled voice, "Um—Xingyu, I want to do some more practice problems. My physics teacher talked to me a few days ago and told me to go to her every day to ask her a physics question."

"Okay then." Tian Xingyu slung her backpack over her shoulder. "Remember not to go past ten o'clock. The lights should be turned off at ten-thirty, and then you won't be able to take a shower."

It's true that her physics teacher talked to her, but the claim that she wanted to do more physics problems was just a random excuse.

Zhu Liushuang sat in the classroom, staring at the physics problems for more than ten minutes, before quickly packing her bag and sneaking off to the senior high school building.

There was a grand piano at the entrance on the first floor of the senior high school building, which was usually deserted, but tonight a large crowd had gathered there. Zhu Liushuang roughly estimated that there were about twenty people.

She ran so fast that she was out of breath when she got there, and her back was covered in sweat.

“Look—there’s one more.” Someone in the crowd spotted her and said in a low voice.

Zhu Liushuang recognized her at a glance as the tall senior from earlier.

"Hello, senior—something came up and I was held up." She explained, panting.

"What, there are even high school freshmen girls here?" a boy with a buzz cut laughed. "They're corrupting the kids..."

Surrounded by more than twenty pairs of eyes, Zhu Liushou was extremely flustered.

She lowered her head as low as she could, almost burying it in her chest.

"Alright, stop joking around, let's get down to business." The tall senior slapped the drumsticks out of the boy's hand. "Hurry up and get the drums moving! Is the speaker connected?"

"Junior... come here." Someone came to her rescue. "We didn't prepare many glow sticks, so we'll give you forty. Go to the second-floor stairwell and wait for them to come out. Just hand out the glow sticks randomly, regardless of whether you know them or not."

Zhu Liushuang took the glow stick and held it to her chest, nodding vigorously: "Don't worry, senior. I... I promise to complete the mission."

Second floor.

He Ming's classroom is on the second floor.

What a coincidence, the floor her senior asked her to guard was also the second floor.

The sky was a somber, dark blue-black, and the senior high school building was brightly lit. A night breeze blew in from the corridor, ruffling the stray hairs on her forehead.

Zhu Liushuang, carrying a bunch of glow sticks that hadn't been turned on, skipped lightly towards the stairwell.

She had only run a short distance when she subconsciously slowed down on tiptoe, afraid that her excited footsteps would disturb the teachers and classmates in the classroom. Thus, the "shouting from the building" activity, which hadn't even begun, came to an abrupt end.

The staircase from the first floor to the second floor has twenty-five steps, which is two more steps than the one floor above.

She had walked up and down this staircase many times.

At the corner of the second-floor staircase, there is a large mirror, which makes it convenient for students and teachers to tidy their clothes.

At this moment, Zhu Liushuang was waiting in front of the mirror. She stared blankly at her reflection, her cheeks flushed, and everything seemed so unreal.

But the glow stick in her hand felt heavy, as if reminding her: Zhu Liushuang, you have to do something really brave tonight.

She couldn't resist turning on one of the glow sticks and waving her arm at the mirror.

The warm yellow light flickered, illuminating the half of her face that looked silly.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock," the watch hands kept moving, and in the blink of an eye, the minute hand was about to point to the number six.

Zhu Liushuang counted down in her mind: five, four, three, two, one.

The school's public address system played melodious music, signaling the end of evening self-study for the senior students. She took a deep breath, nervously stamped her foot, and only then dared to take her first step.

Soon, people filed out of the classrooms, and the once quiet teaching building instantly became noisy.

Perhaps having received advance notice, many senior high school students did not leave immediately after exiting the classroom, but instead leaned against the fence outside the classroom, looking around.

Zhu Liushuang walked briskly through the crowd, randomly handing out her glow sticks to unfamiliar upperclassmen and women along the way. She received a string of "thank yous" in return.

When the last one was handed out, she only had one glow stick left. At the same time, she stopped in the corridor outside the classroom of Class 20, Grade 12.

She wasn't sure if He Ming had left; she hadn't found him along the way.

Zhu Liushuang glanced around quickly and found that He Ming was not among the crowd watching in the corridor.

She gripped the glow stick tighter and tighter, and the sweat on her back grew thicker and thicker.

During this time, a strange senior walked past her, seemingly wanting to ask her for the glow stick she was holding. Zhu Liushuang's face paled, and she nervously dodged to the side, hiding the glow stick behind her back.

People came and went in the corridor, chatting and laughing, and no one paid attention to her sudden action.

The unfamiliar senior student then walked right past her and greeted a classmate not far away.

Zhu Liushuang's face turned from white to red. She bit her lip and leaned against the wall, but her eyes were fixed on the classroom door of Class 20, Grade 12.

About five or six minutes later, a commotion arose downstairs, and soon someone started playing the drums. The rousing and uplifting music was transmitted to everyone's ears through the speakers, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

The "shouting from the building" event has begun.

Glow sticks of various colors, cell phone flashlights, and flashlights all lit up, like twinkling stars in the night sky.

Zhu Liushuang also took the opportunity to open the glow stick in her hand.

She couldn't hear what the upperclassmen downstairs were saying in their opening remarks. All she knew was that He Ming hadn't left the classroom yet.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the person singing downstairs, so she boldly walked to the classroom door and looked around the classroom without any scruples.

He Ming is packing his schoolbag.

She saw him!

Zhu Liushuang quietly stepped aside, her restless heart pounding wildly in her chest.

She had already silently recited the blessings she wanted to say to him dozens of times in her heart, just waiting for the moment to speak.

He packed his schoolbag.

He walked towards the front door of the classroom.

He walked to the door.

Just as He Ming stepped out of the classroom, Zhu Liushuang took the opportunity to follow him.

In the crowded corridor, the distance between them was only a few dozen centimeters.

She deliberately quickened her pace, walked past him close to his clothes, and casually slipped the pink glow stick into He Ming's hand.

"Good luck on the college entrance exam, senior! I wish you all the best!" That well-wish, which she had repeated countless times, came out of her mouth amidst the night wind and the noisy voices.

Zhu Liushuang couldn't help but turn her head to steal a glance at He Ming's face.

She thought he would at least say "thank you" to her.

But reality slapped her hard in the face.

He Ming held the glow stick in his hand, glanced at it a few times with a blank expression, and then handed it back to her.

From beginning to end, he never once glanced at her. He simply walked with his head down, not looking at her at all.

His handsome, aloof features remained completely unmoved, as if the surrounding hustle and bustle had nothing to do with him.

Including her heartfelt wish, spoken in person.

Zhu Liushuang stood there, watching his back recede into the distance until he disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

The pink glow stick in my hand fell limply to the ground.

She heard the chorus of high school seniors echoing in her ears: "Once upon a time, there was someone who loved you for a long time, but the rain gradually blew the distance between you so far. It was so hard to love you for just one more day, but in the end, it seems you still said goodbye."

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The author says: "Once upon a time, there was someone who loved you for a long time, but the rain gradually blew the distance so far. Finally, you could love me for just one more day, but in the end, it seems you still said goodbye." — Jay Chou's "Sunny Day"

Finally, we're back to writing the copy! Shuangshuang is so hurt, Senior He, how could you be so cold!