Chapter 31: Entering the Examination Hall

Chapter 31: Entering the Examination Hall

Summer has arrived.

The summer trees are lush and green, and the summer waters flow gently. The people of Shuibiwei enjoy the shade but also worry about the raging river outside the market every rainy season. Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing's junior high school years have finally come to an end in this hot and uneasy season.

This time, their high school entrance exam was held at the No. 3 Middle School in the city. At the insistence of both of them, neither set of parents accompanied them to the exam.

They accepted the school's unified arrangements for food, lodging, travel, and team leadership, so no one had to worry about them.

The school rented a shuttle bus to transport the examinees between the hotel and the examination site. It was one of the newest minibuses in town, brand new and clean. The driver was very conscientious, as it was his first time transporting examinees. The teacher in charge was also more warm and considerate than ever before. Every day when it was time to take attendance, he would even call everyone by their nicknames. The bus was full of cute little girls, and everyone answered with a smile, though it made their teeth ache.

It's unclear what exactly cured, or rather temporarily cured, Fang Yuenian's motion sickness.

Perhaps it was the cars that frequently yielded to him on that tree-lined road, or perhaps it was the bag of incredibly sour snacks that Cheng Bing prepared for him; in any case, he had a very good three days.

The hotel was excellent, the restaurant was excellent, and the exam venue was excellent—Cheng Bing and he shared a triple room, ate at the same table, and took the exam on the same floor; his presence was like a pillar of strength. The classmates kept each other company, offering encouragement, comfort, and laughter; everything was—very pleasant.

The only minor incident was during the English exam on the last morning. A sudden downpour outside and a clap of thunder interrupted the listening comprehension broadcast, which was only halfway through.

The power is out.

The students were genuinely alarmed to encounter the rumored emergency during their first major exam. After calming the students down, the invigilators reported the situation. As a result of all the trouble, the English listening test was replayed at the end, extending the exam time.

However, all these big and small events eventually passed peacefully. When the final exam bell rang, everything settled down, and everyone felt relieved.

When Fang Yuenian came out of the examination room, Cheng Bing was waiting at the end of the corridor.

He was wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt with a faint gray tree-shaped pattern on the chest, and simple casual pants. However, because he had been studying hard for exams and hadn't seen much sunlight recently, his skin was extremely fair. Coupled with his handsome appearance, even just standing there casually, many people would turn around to look at him.

Fang Yuenian hurried a few steps forward, grinned, put her arm around Cheng's shoulder, and called out, "Brother Cheng!"

Cheng Bing was clearly in a good mood as well, letting him put his arm around her shoulder, and asked, "So happy?"

“Yeah! By the way,” he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small object, “I think this amulet is definitely my lucky charm. There was a word I couldn’t remember how to spell, and then I accidentally touched it, and guess what? I remembered it!”

Cheng Bing glanced at the small, dangling object in his hand and couldn't help but explain, "I already said this is to ensure your studies go smoothly. Besides, don't you already have a good luck charm?"

“That’s different. This is what you gave me,” Fang Yuenian muttered, carefully putting it back in her pocket. “Let’s go, let’s go. Everyone must have gone to the door.”

In front of the Third Middle School is a straight road. Under the tall plane trees, the rainwater on the road surface has not yet dried. Shuttle buses from different schools have already formed a long queue. In order to coordinate traffic near the examination site in the past few days, many traffic police officers have been added around the area and are now shouting and directing them.

Fang Yuenian pulled Cheng Bing to the group of people from their school. Everyone was chatting, lively and cheerful. When they saw the two of them coming over, someone said, "Why are you two so late? You didn't see how lively it was at the gate just now. Someone was confessing their love!"

Fang Yuenian was shocked: "What?"

"What kind of confession could there be? It's just a boy confessing to a girl, right? Wow, he carried a huge bouquet of flowers. Our teacher was laughing just now. City kids are really something."

"Yeah, that's really blatant, but it's awesome..."

Fang Yuenian was completely blank-faced. "You...you can do it like that?"

His deskmate leaned in, nudged him, and whispered, "Hey Fang Yuenian, do you think someone might confess to Cheng Bing? You mean, that class beauty from Class 4, isn't it rumored that she likes Cheng Bing for a long time?"

Fang Yuenian's eyes widened. He really knew the class beauty from Class 4. "Impossible, the teacher is still here."

"What's the big deal? The high school entrance exam is over, so we can do whatever we want now," my deskmate said nonchalantly. "Besides, this is such a meaningful time. Even if we don't send flowers, just saying a few words is worth more than a lot of words we would normally say."

Is...is that so?

Fang Yuenian looked at Cheng Bing, who was being surrounded by two classmates asking for answers, with a puzzled expression.

If someone actually confesses their feelings, then...

"Cheng Bing—"

Suddenly, he heard a girl calling that name, and he was shocked. Holy crap, there really was one!

He quickly turned around and started searching around, following the sound.

Class 4, the class beauty of Class 4, what does she look like again? Oh right, she has really long hair, and really long bangs too...

Hmm? No, that's...

Before he could stop staring blankly, Cheng Bingren was already in front of him. "What are you looking at? Get out of here."

My deskmate, oblivious to everything, excitedly asked, "Who is it? Who's there? Who's calling our class heartthrob? Is he going to confess his feelings?!"

Before running away, Fang Yuenian kicked him and scolded, "Don't talk nonsense, that's me...that's his sister!"

It's Cheng Junjun and Cheng Xiaoxiao.

They're so mysterious. Yesterday morning they even called the homeroom teacher's cell phone and were transferred to Cheng Bing to ask about them. Today they're even more amazing; they've shown up.

Cheng Xiaoxiao wore a knee-length skirt and had her hair tied in a low ponytail, while Cheng Junjun wore a cool T-shirt and shorts. Both of them wore the same style of canvas shoes. The two pretty girls stood casually by the roadside, attracting a lot of attention. Then Cheng Bing walked over and stood obediently in front of the sisters. Fang Yuenian felt that the scene was exceptionally harmonious and neat, making him feel embarrassed to go over and disrupt it.

Cheng Xiaoxiao gave each of them a bottle of iced cola and asked with a smile, "Aren't you hot?"

“It’s not hot,” Cheng Bing shook her head. “Why did you two come? You didn’t even say anything.”

"I originally planned to just wait at home, but Junjun insisted on coming. It was raining so hard just now, and we were on the bus. The lightning scared everyone to death. Luckily, the rain stopped quickly. How about you two? Are you relaxed after your exams?"

Fang Yuenian said cheerfully, "That's right! The exams are finally over!"

Cheng Junjun chuckled softly: "I can tell."

Fang Yuenian was about to open a Coke when she suddenly remembered something and stared at her with shining eyes: "Sister Jun... have you checked your scores yet?"

Cheng Junjun blinked. "Ah, I've finished investigating."

"How many?"

Now, not only Fang Yuenian, but Cheng Bing also looked at her expectantly.

Cheng Xiaoxiao chuckled, cleared her throat, and said, "Guess, guess how many points your Sister Jun got on the test."

Fang Yuenian could tell from their expressions that it was definitely close. "Uh... 100 points above the first-tier university cutoff, at least 90 points above it, how about that, is it close?"

Cheng Xiaoxiao looked surprised. "Hmm? That's amazing! How did you guess so accurately? 97, that's 97 points above the first-tier university cutoff!"

"Yoho—"

Fang Yuenian made an exaggerated, strange noise and was elbowed by Cheng Bing.

The two met eyes. Cheng Bing remained calm and composed, while Fang Yuenian dared not speak out against her anger.

Cheng Junjun looked at the two of them and couldn't help but roll her eyes almost imperceptibly: "Alright, you two hurry back to your teams, let's split up and go home."

Fang Yuenian asked in confusion, "Oh? So, they weren't here to pick us up."

“Why are you being picked up? Hurry up and go back to your classmates and teachers. You won’t have a chance to get together like this again. Don’t you appreciate it?” Cheng Junjun said. “Sister, let’s go. Don’t waste their time.”

“Go back quickly,” Cheng Xiaoxiao nodded and said with a smile, “We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

When they returned to the group, the teacher was already arranging for everyone to board the bus. Fang Yuenian's deskmate, who had noticed what had happened earlier, leaned over and asked, "My goodness, who were those two pretty ladies just now?"

“Oh,” Fang Yuenian said cheerfully, “Cheng Bing’s two older sisters.”

My deskmate stared wide-eyed and exclaimed quietly, "Holy crap, he has two older sisters? Was he fined when he was born? That's terrifying, his family must be very sexist."

Fang Yuenian was stunned, completely bewildered by this distorted and distorted argument.

The next moment, he glared angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about? If his family favors sons over daughters, then there is no family in the world that doesn't!"

He was so angry that his lungs hurt. He decided not to associate with this person and ran a few steps to catch up with Cheng Bing, then squeezed into the car alongside him.

After a bumpy ride, before we even got back to town, a large number of people on the bus were already asleep, sprawled out in various positions.

The relaxed mood after the exam didn't last the whole way. At first, everyone was laughing and joking, talking about the exam and their plans for the future. But after a while, the high tension and pressure of the past few days, coupled with the hard work of preparing for the exam, finally broke down these teenagers.

Soon, everyone gradually fell asleep.

As they approached the town, the teacher, seeing that they were almost at the drop-off point where some students and parents had arranged to meet, quickly woke everyone up one by one. So, the ninth graders, clutching their bags and still half asleep, got off the bus one by one, thus ending their journey to take the high school entrance exam.

Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing weren't the last to get off the bus. They came down the long slope at the embankment. Fang Yuenian's classmate apologized to Cheng Bing in a flustered manner, saying that he shouldn't have talked about his family like that. Cheng Bing said it was okay and then got off the bus.

Lin Guohui was already waiting at the bottom of the slope.

He didn't drive the truck today, but rode an electric tricycle. In the back, Cheng Xiaoxiao and Cheng Junjun sat cross-legged on small stools, waving to their two younger brothers. There were also two small wooden stools in the back.

Fang Yuenian immediately came to her senses, moved to tears, and shouted to the sky, "Uncle Lin is so reliable!"

He had been chewing on hawthorn candy the whole way, but he still couldn't suppress the dizziness and nausea. As soon as he saw the car, he took off running towards it.

"Uncle Lin! Sister Xiaoxiao—Sister Jun—"

Cheng Bing walked slowly behind, and after a while, a small smile appeared on her face as she looked down.

This road was so familiar. Not only Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing, but also Cheng Junjun and even Cheng Xiaoxiao had left indelible memories of their youth on it. Lin Guohui deliberately drove slowly, listening to the four children chatting. The wind blew their hair into a messy mess, and carried their laughter far and wide.