Spring quietly left with the melted ice and snow. When there was only a small stack left on the countdown calendar in the classroom, even the weather in Huai City, where it snowed all year round, became mild, silently welcoming the special day in June every year.
After the World Championships, Lu You and Xie Yunjun devoted themselves to study during the off-season.
A week before the exam, not only did Xue Chengze call to cheer them up, but even the godfather of figure skating, Liang Xu, learned how to use a smartphone and used his grandson's phone to send a video to Lu You and Xie Yunjun.
On May 15th, at 6:30 in the morning, the study committee member of Class 5 of No. 1 Middle School was the first to arrive in the classroom.
Xu Xinyi stood on tiptoe and erased the words "20 days left until the college entrance examination" on the blackboard and replaced them with big Arabic numerals 19.
There are still nineteen days before the college entrance examination.
Lu You walked into the classroom from the back door. The girl threw her ice skate bag and school bag on the table by the window in the second to last row. She first took off the heart rate monitor wristband, then took out the school uniform from her school bag to replace her morning jogging clothes.
Not long after, Xie Yunjun, who had gone to the bathroom earlier, came in with a hot water bottle in his hand.
The boy naturally lifted the hem of his female companion's coat, put the hot water bottle in place through the clothes inside, and held out his hand: "Cup."
Lu You quickly took out a mug from the desk and handed it over. During this period, Lu Tingsong specifically consulted the nutritionist of the provincial team about brain-boosting meals for the college entrance examination. He even lived directly at his brother and sister-in-law's house. He would get up at four o'clock every morning to make breakfast for the two children, take them to do an hour of training at five o'clock, and drive out on time to send the children to school at six o'clock.
When Xie Yunjun poured brown sugar ginger tea from his thermos cup, Lu You had already started chewing a sandwich. He waved his hand at the class committee member who was wiping the blackboard and said, "Xinyi, have you had breakfast?"
Xu Xinyi transferred here in the first semester of senior year. During that time, Lu You and Xie Yunjun were running around the world competing and had no idea that there was a new student in their class. In the second semester of senior year, everyone was busy reviewing, and Xu Xinyi always felt that she and these two legendary figures were in a state of "I know you but you don't know me".
As far as she knew, there were many people in the class and even in the whole school who were paying attention to Lu You and Xie Yunjun. When the Grand Prix was held last semester, the classmates secretly replaced the 20 minutes of watching the news every night with watching the game replay on CCTV5.
Xu Xinyi was a little flattered when her name was suddenly called out by the most popular person in the school.
She happily put down the eraser and leaned over with bright eyes: "You remember my name!"
"Of course." Lu You chewed the food in his mouth and swallowed it before speaking. "Last semester, I was in the same exam room as you for the second mock test. You broke off half a piece of eraser for me."
Xie Yunjun took a paper cup, poured half a cup of hot water and placed it next to Xu Xinyi.
Xu Xinyi discovered that even though Lu You and Xie Yunjun were already people that ordinary high school students had to look up to, and were usually busy with training and seldom came to school, the classmates in the class were still very close to the two of them, and even took the initiative to share their own collections of wrong questions with them. There was a reason for that.
When the halo of an athlete fades away, the Olympic bronze medalist is also a senior high school student preparing for the college entrance examination just like everyone else. He is a person who would return half of an eraser borrowed from others with a brand new one. He is approachable and well-educated.
Of course, he is also the only magical person who can hold hands with you on campus without receiving a death stare from the dean.
Although both of them are trying their best to avoid such things from happening, there is a saying that sometimes the body acts before the brain catches up, and the physical habits formed from childhood are not so easy to change.
Every minute and every second of senior year is precious. Not only do they have to fill in the gaps, but they also have to prepare for new repertoire for the next season. Until half a month before the college entrance examination, Lu You and Xie Yunjun would go to a commercial ice rink ten minutes' drive from the school to train every day from 8 to 9:30.
For figure skaters, maintaining the sense of ice is a must. If they really don't go on the ice for a month or two, they are doomed to fall through the center of the earth in the new season. You know, the A-level competition in the following year is counting on them to hold the stage. If the Lu and Xie combination fails, then the entire figure skating pair skating will almost be over.
I don’t know how long this busy life lasted, but the countdown to the college entrance examination finally came to an end.
The teaching building was cleared out two days in advance, and the first and second year high school students were given leave for the college entrance examination, freeing up the battlefield for the seniors who were about to write their exams.
It was drizzling on the morning of June 7. The Lu family personally sent the two children to the test site. Liang Jie, wearing a cheongsam that symbolizes "a successful start", checked the equipment of the two children in detail.
"I have markers, erasers, rulers, and pencils. Mom wants to ask you, what should you do if you make a mistake on a big question?"
Lu You recited it by heart: "Raise your hand and ask the invigilator to help you cover it with special paper."
Liang Jie knocked her daughter on the head: "Wrong! The best way is not to make mistakes."
Lu You: “…”
At the school gate, police cars and ambulances silently flashed red and blue lights, providing solid assurance for the students heading to the examination room. The children hugged their parents and relatives, and walked into the cordon with firm steps amid their parents' earnest expectations.
Ten years of hard study and ten years of sharpening the sword, just for this nomination.
Half an hour before the exam started, the cordon of the examination building was opened. When they were about to separate and go to different examination rooms, Lu You and Xie Yunjun hugged each other spontaneously, silently passing on strength to each other as they did before every game.
After all, it is the most important moment in life. Even though Lu You has developed a strong mentality through international competitions, she couldn't help but feel her heart beating wildly when the test paper was handed out. She quickly flipped through the test paper, read the essay topic first, and then turned around to write the test paper.
As candidates entering school in 2020, Lu You and Xie Yunjun will take the last college entrance examination for the liberal arts and science majors. Next year's college entrance examination will implement the "3+2+1" subject selection model.
After finishing the last exam, Lu You walked out of the exam room feeling dizzy. On the way, he met Xie Yunjun who had also finished his English exam. Lu You walked over, clasped his hands around Xie Yunjun, and draped his body limply over him, clasping his hands together and praying, "I hope I got all the answers right!"
Xie Yunjun smiled and touched her hair, listening to her complaints: "English cloze test is my lifelong enemy. There is not a single word I know in it. I just fill in a random word and I don't know if I can guess it right."
After returning to the classroom, everyone unanimously shut up and did not check their answers. Facing her deskmate's expectant eyes, Xu Xinyi covered her ears and said, "I won't listen to you, you bastard! I want to have fun for three days and three nights before the results are announced!"
Xu Xinyi is consistently ranked among the top three in her grade. As long as she performs normally, several top domestic universities will call to recruit her a few days before the college entrance examination results are released. Lu You and Xie Yunjun, as stable top three in the world in figure skating, have also received olive branches from many university admissions offices.
In fact, the two of them have rarely fallen off the podium in their professional careers. Lu You and Xie Yunjun were awarded international athletes after winning gold in the World Youth Championships. Logically, they should have been directly admitted to university.
However, each university has limited special recruitment quotas. Except for the Sports University, several top universities in the capital have already given their quotas to athletes in summer events. Although ice and snow sports have warmed up a lot after the Winter Olympics, they are still not as good as summer events, which account for the majority of the sports world.
The first to call was from Jianglin University.
The director of the admissions office spoke in a very gentle tone: "After our school's recommendation quota was announced, the first thing I thought of was to contact Lu You and Xie Yunjun. I wonder if the parents have considered applying to Jianglin University? Our school's preferential treatment for winter athletes is one of the best in the country. Oh, and the athlete Jiang Shi that the children are familiar with is our junior."
The second caller was from Asia’s No. 1 Youth Sanatorium… No, it was the Capital Sports University.
This school is quite straightforward: "Both children are going to join the national training team anyway. Our Capital Sports University is right next to the training base. There is no other advantage except convenience. No one is better than us at balancing sports and study."
The third one is Capital Agricultural University, which is said to compete with Capital Sports University for sports students every day.
Capital Agricultural University: "Don't listen to Capital Sports University's nonsense. Excuse me for being frank. Their school only teaches physical education, but our agronomy and fertilizer science are both top 1. After retirement, you can continue to shine in crop cultivation."
While waiting for the college entrance examination results to be released, Liang Jie and Lu Shi'an received calls from countless universities. The universities that were interested in recruiting figure skaters tried their best to persuade them, but after a while, they found that their ultimate moves were in vain.
After checking their scores, Lu You and Xie Yunjun were admitted to Capital University of Foreign Studies, also known as the Asia, Africa and Latin America Department of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with scores of 601 and 612 respectively, and became junior students of Zhao Zixuan, who was also studying for a master's degree here.
On the day of volunteer filing, Lu You and Xie Yunjun quietly became the last of the hot searches. The athletes did not take the special recruitment channel, but were admitted to the top universities among the Double First-Class Universities based on their raw scores without any policy support. This title alone was enough to spark discussion among netizens.
The admission letter from Beijing Foreign Studies University was sent directly to the national training team.
After the college entrance examination, the national team's non-staff members Lu You and Xie Yunjun were finally converted to regular members. They packed their bedding and rushed to the capital, officially becoming members of the national training team. Having just finished the college entrance examination, they immediately began preparations for the new season.
The popularity of figure skating has remained high after the Winter Olympics, and along with it, the funds invested by the country in figure skating and the endorsement fees of athletes have also risen.
As the current leaders of Chinese figure skating, Lu You and Xie Yunjun have not only attracted more and more people to learn figure skating, but also heated up the commercial value of the unpopular pair skating. Among the official peripherals, the best-selling one is a set of colored paper in cooperation with the well-known painter "Yan". Each set has ten sheets and is priced at 60 yuan. The cumulative sales have reached one million.
In September, Lu You and Xie Yunjun put their bank cards together, counted the long string of numbers in the balance, and directly bought a 156-square-meter flat in Haidian District with full payment. With their student ID in one hand and the property certificate in the other, they were confidently welcoming the new figure skating season and the start of the university school season at the same time.
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