Chapter 81 Graduation
Time marches on at its own pace, and July is just around the corner. Amidst the chirping of cicadas in summer, the heat of graduation season is intensified by the sun.
"Ah Ning~" Wang Weiwei suddenly jumped up from the back row and draped herself over She Ning's left shoulder like a koala, the hem of her floral shirt brushing against the math test she had just finished.
"I'll miss you so much!" Tears welled up in her eyes, and the water droplets almost splashed onto She Ning's calculation draft.
Under the kapok tree in front of the teaching building, students returning to school to attend the graduation ceremony walked in twos and threes.
The clingy girl and the academic star duo in Class 1 of Grade 9 have long been a sight to behold in the grade. When someone glances over, they turn their head away in tacit agreement when they see the tear stains on Wang Weiwei's nose.
He Xiaoyan and Lin Qian leaned against a table on the other side of the aisle, clutching their newly received graduation photos. In the photo, Wang Weiwei had her arm around She Ning's shoulder, her other hand making a peace sign, her eyes practically hidden by her smile.
Seeing Wang Weiwei clinging to She Ning again, the two of them stood to the side with their arms crossed, smiling in the corners of their eyes, not offering a helping hand, just wanting to see how She Ning would coax this clingy girl.
Wang Weiwei buried her head in She Ning's shoulder and neck. The fluffy hair tickled her a little. She Ning shrugged her shoulders involuntarily, and Wang Weiwei's body, which was resting on her shoulder, moved accordingly.
She Ning subconsciously tightened her hand supporting Wang Weiwei's waist, feeling the girl's burning body temperature in her palm.
This girl seems to have been on growth hormones lately, her height is increasing rapidly. Originally the shortest of the four, she is now almost as tall as Lin Qian, the tallest of them. Apart from still having a bit of baby fat on her face, she looks completely different from two months ago.
If she didn't see her every day, she wouldn't dare to call out to her if she bumped into her outside and only saw her back.
The collar of her floral shirt was disheveled, revealing a silver chain with a ginkgo pendant hanging from her neck—a birthday gift from She Ning.
"Weiwei, if you tighten it any more," in the south, summer temperatures are often over 30 degrees Celsius. Wang Weiwei is like a furnace hanging on her body. She Ning's body, after being washed, is more heat-resistant than the average person. At this moment, she still broke out in a thin layer of sweat. She raised her hand to brush away the messy hair sticking to her ears and gently patted Wang Weiwei's arm. "Cough, we really won't be able to see anyone in a while."
She still had traces of blue ink from the ballpoint pen refill on her fingers from when she was correcting Wang Weiwei's math test.
Wang Weiwei immediately let go of She Ning's hand, got off her, and looked her up and down. After finding nothing amiss, Wang Weiwei gently patted She Ning, then pulled her arm and leaned tightly against her shoulder, saying affectionately, "What should I do? I already miss you even before I've left."
The air around Wang Weiwei was filled with She Ning's unique woody scent. She suddenly remembered the day when she suddenly had acute gastroenteritis and was in so much pain that she couldn't straighten her back. She Ning carried her on his back and took her to the clinic, and stayed with her until she finished her IV drip.
At that time, She Ning's clothes were soaked with cold sweat on the back, but she still held her hand tightly. All the way, the clothes draped over her body had this reassuring smell.
“We went to the same high school.” She Ning looked at her sideways, then shoved the already graded math test paper into her arms. The rustling sound of the paper startled the sparrows in the kapok tree.
On the day the results of the high school entrance examination were released, admission notices from the No. 1 High School in the city flew into the town's teaching office like snowflakes. She Ning's name was firmly in first place in the whole town, while the names of Wang Weiwei, He Xiaoyan and Lin Qian were also neatly written in red ink in the top ten.
Every year, the No. 1 Middle School of the city admits the top 20 students from each town, so Wang Weiwei and Lin Qian are also freshmen of the No. 1 Middle School of the city.
"But summer vacation lasts for more than a month!" Wang Weiwei suddenly buried her head in She Ning's arms, the sound of clothes rubbing together mixed with sobs.
“We had math class together every day, and you could even memorize the drafts in my error notebook. Suddenly, I haven’t seen you for more than a month. I will… I will…” As Wang Weiwei spoke, she suddenly looked down, opened her schoolbag, and started rummaging through it.
Then, She Ning saw her take a piece of fruit candy out of her light blue backpack; the rainbow-colored candy wrapper shimmered brightly in the sunlight.
"Will you, like this piece of candy, melt... melt into the air?" she asked, looking at She Ning with pleading eyes.
What kind of metaphor is this? What is she thinking about in her little head every day?
She Ning was both amused and exasperated.
"Ah Ning..." Seeing She Ning's reaction, Wang Weiwei stomped her feet and dragged out the last syllable of her voice unhappily.
She Ning's body stiffened a little. Having never had any close friends in either of her lives, she was a bit unaccustomed to meeting someone like Wang Weiwei for the first time. After thinking for a while, she spoke.
"If you miss me, you can come to my house. Or when I'm free, we can go to the city together."
After harvesting corn in August, she had some free time, which coincided with the opening of the fishing season, allowing her to take a large boat to the deep sea for fishing.
Speaking of going to sea, it seems there's a water-repelling bead in her storage compartment that's been gathering dust and has never been used.
She Ning opened the system interface and reviewed its annotations.
Water-repellent beads
Note: One of the Mermaid King's favorite beads (as the name suggests, it repels water, allowing people to breathe freely underwater).
Number of uses: 5 times/5 times.
She Ning tried to multitask, and after closing the system interface, she turned her attention back to reality.
Hearing She Ning's suggestion, Wang Weiwei pulled Lin Qian and the others aside and started talking about what to prepare for going to sea, having already gone from visiting the She family three times a week.
The three of them gathered together and discussed the matter with great enthusiasm.
"Do you want to take some photos?" Lin Qingxu, dressed in a business suit, knocked on the classroom door, raised her Seagull camera, and asked with a smile.
Behind her stood Chen Yuzhen, She Hongmei, and She Ni, who was standing behind She Hongmei.
"Happy graduation, sister!" Peeking out from behind She Hongmei, She Ni smiled brightly, her little teeth peeking out from her gums, looking especially adorable as she congratulated her.
The No. 1 Cannery in Xiahe Town advertises nationwide, and its canned food business covers all parts of the country. Its performance is booming. In the current environment, where most factories are insolvent and unable to make ends meet, it stands out as a unique and leading enterprise.
The cannery was a state-owned enterprise that was converted to private contracting, a product of the reform and opening up policy. Its success has important historical significance, and the city attaches great importance to this matter. The People's Daily editorial department specially assigned Lin Qingxu to handle this interview assignment.
Lin Qingxu and her colleagues arrived in Xiahe Town this morning. They had arranged to interview the cannery tomorrow, so today they were collecting feedback from the town's residents about the cannery and its products.
After finishing his work for the day, Lin Qingxu went to a small restaurant that the town's residents highly recommended for a meal.
When she arrived, she discovered that the delicious restaurant recommended by everyone was actually She Family Restaurant, which was frequented by her old acquaintances.
Later, after learning from She Hongmei that She Ning was graduating today, Lin Qingxu immediately took out his personal camera and volunteered to take the rest of the She family to the school to find She Ning.
On such an important day, the whole family should definitely take a group photo together to commemorate the occasion.
In the classroom, She Ning looked at She Hongmei and the others. Meeting their smiling eyes, her eyes curved into crescents. She stood up and, holding Wang Weiwei and He Xiaoyan's hands, went to greet them.
In the cool summer breeze, the hems of white, floral, light blue... clothes of all colors fluttered slightly, their waists were straight, and their eyes were bright.
With a shout of "Cheese!", a click of the camera captured everyone's smiling faces, and behind them was the motto of Xiahe Middle School.
#Strive for excellence in learning, bring honor to the school and serve the country#
Not far away are the straight and tall hero trees, the kapok trees with canopies like giant umbrellas, towering and upright, sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves and casting dappled shadows on the ground.
I made a promise with Wang Weiwei and the others that every year from now on, when the kapok trees are covered in flames, they will come back to our old school to reunite.
After taking the photos, She Ning led Lin Qingxu and the others around the campus, while Wang Weiwei and the others went back to pack their things and prepare to leave the school.
"Ah Ning, come here for a second." She Ning was called out by someone as she returned from the playground and before she even reached the classroom building.
On the third-floor corridor, Director Xia stood in front of the railing and shouted to She Ning downstairs.
"Mom, why don't you take Aunt Qingxu and Grandma to wait for me under the tree? I'll be right back."
"Xiao Ni, could you wait a moment for me?" Originally, she was going to take them to the library. Knowing that the next stop was the library, She Ni had been very excited on the way back from the playground. Now that Director Xia was looking for her, She Ning instructed She Hongmei beside her, and then said to She Ni apologetically.
She Hongmei nodded. "Go ahead, it's alright. We'll wait for you under the tree."
"Sister, I can wait, you go ahead," She Ni said sensibly.
She Ning patted her head and nodded with a smile, "I'll be right back, very soon."
She came to pick up her admission notice today. At this time, there were hardly any people at the school. When She Ning went to the academic affairs office, there was only Director Xia inside.
"Director Xia." She Ning knocked gently on the door.
"Come in quickly and sit down for a while." With her back to the door, Xia Qiuxia squatted under the table without raising her head, her hands busy holding things.
She Ning watched for a while, then stepped forward and said, "Director Xia, please sit down and rest for a bit. Let me handle this."
Her cabinet was probably crammed with too many documents, making it difficult to pull them out. She Ning helped Director Xia to a chair to sit down, squatted down to look at the layout inside the cabinet, and then pulled out one of the documents.
Once one book is published, the rest will be easier to handle.
"It's all for you, so bring it all out." As people get older, they become useless; their legs go numb after squatting for just a short while.
While rubbing the flesh on his calves, Director Xia said.
“These were all sent by Teacher Li. Take them back and try them out.” Teacher Li is Xia Qiuxia’s college classmate and is now a professor at the university.
“These questions are quite difficult for Lin Qian and the others. If you have time, you can explain them to them.” Xia Qiuxia believes that teaching others is a good way to check whether you have mastered a concept, as it also helps review the material.
"Teacher Li mentioned that there will be an Olympiad math training camp in a while. You should prepare for it. It will be around mid-August, but the exact date hasn't been confirmed yet. I'll let you know when it's confirmed."
Since learning that She Ning's goal was to participate in the IMO, Xia Qiuxia has been extremely attentive to her, using all her connections to help her as much as she can.
After hearing what she said, She Ning, who was squatting on the ground tidying up the documents, paused for a moment before replying with an "okay".
After leaving the administration office, She Ning led She Ni and the others to visit the library. Not far from the library was the honor roll.
On the honor roll, with red background and black lettering, She Ning's name stood out, with her total score more than 20 points ahead of the second place.
She Ni also got first place in the final exam, but the difference between her and the second place was only one point. When she saw the difference in scores between She Ning and the second place, her eyes were sparkling as she looked at She Ning, as if there were stars in them.
"Sister, you're amazing!" she exclaimed, silently resolving to follow She Ning's example and dedicate all her playtime to studying when she got back.
She also wants to be at the top of the honor roll.
After looking at the honor roll, She Ning took them to visit other parts of the school. Later, seeing that it was getting late, they packed up and left the school.
She Ning usually commutes to school, so she didn't have much stuff. She packed up quickly, said goodbye to Wang Weiwei and the others, and then She Hongmei pushed her bicycle with her luggage on the back seat and walked ahead.
She Ning led She Ni and Chen Yuzhen behind her. Lin Qingxu had things to do, so she declined She Ning's suggestion to go home for dinner and returned to the guesthouse first.
The evening sun wasn't as scorching as the daytime sun; it had a warm feel, and their shadows were stretched long in the slanting sunlight.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
