It turns out that being liked by others really does give you courage during the college entrance exam...
The days that followed were like they had sprouted wings. Evening self-study ended at 11 p.m., and everyone's face showed signs of exhaustion from lack of sleep.
After several mock exams, Lin Shiren's grades have stabilized at around 20th in her grade, but this is still far from S University's admission score last year. She dares not relax at all and spends all her time doing practice questions.
As a result, my appetite decreased, I didn't want to eat anything, and all I wanted to do in my spare time was sleep.
Lin Shih-jen was already thin, with a small face that was practically skinny. He was wearing a light gray long-sleeved V-neck T-shirt, and his waistline was so thin it looked like it could be grasped with one hand. Anyone who saw him would feel sorry for him.
Zhou Lin squeezed her hand under the desk: "What do you want to eat? I'll buy it for you."
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
Zhou Lin sighed, but he didn't say anything. He just went to the west gate during the break and came back carrying several bags. He opened the takeout box and placed the steaming porridge in front of her: "Drink some, otherwise you won't have any energy."
Lin Shiren had no appetite. He listlessly got up and pointed to the fruit slices in his lunchbox: "I don't want to eat rice. Can I just have fruit?"
Zhou Lin wasn't the kind of tyrant who always went along with her wishes. He shoved the spoon into her hand and said, leaving no room for refusal, "Drink the porridge first, then you can eat the fruit."
"It's too hot, I really can't eat it."
Do you need me to feed you?
Upon hearing the threat, Lin Shiren immediately compromised, but still stubbornly condemned him with a trivial glance, which Zhou Lin pretended not to see.
She scooped a layer of congee from the surface with a spoon, blew on it, and slowly put it in her mouth. Zhou Lin did nothing but stare at her profile until she obediently finished half a bowl, then he brought over some fruit: "What do you want to eat tonight?"
Lin Shiren stabbed a piece of apple with his fork, his cheeks moving slowly: "Don't bother with that, let's eat in the cafeteria tonight."
Zhou Lin tucked the stray strands of hair that had fallen out behind her ear, his expression ambiguous: "If you could just go to the cafeteria to eat, would I be so upset?"
Huiwen's canteen is the largest and most comprehensive in the entire Huaicheng, but even the most abundant food can become tiresome eventually, especially since it's all mass-produced food. Those who know, know.
Lin Shih-jen was rendered speechless by his retort, and could only whine and complain: "I didn't know that one day I would find everything I eat tastes like wax."
The idiom was used well, Zhou Lin agreed.
He never imagined that one day he would become a person who could understand and care for others, and that his joys and sorrows would be controlled by a young girl.
Behind the long-misinterpreted Song Dynasty poetry lies the connection to Tang Dynasty poetry:
"Tsk, begging people for a meal, they have no respect for them at all."
"I love watching it, record it for me next time."
"It was recorded, but Zhou Lin deleted it..."
That's both right and wrong. The video is still there; it's just been moved from one phone to another. Zhou Lin's reasoning was even more compelling: "Stop laughing at me. You'll have your own way of dying someday."
In April, the weather warms up.
A row of magnolia trees was planted next to the teaching building. When they bloomed, the pink and white petals were lush and beautiful.
High school seniors have very little time to relax. The school has repeatedly warned teachers not to take over physical education classes. After the PE teacher led everyone in stretching exercises, the class was dismissed. The boys went to the field to play soccer, while the girls strolled around in twos and threes in the corners.
Dong Rui was taking a selfie at the perfect angle when the moment fell on a magnolia blossom, and Lin Shiren reached out to catch it: "Renren, don't move."
The photos turned out stunning.
Dong Rui wasn't satisfied with just taking pictures, so she snapped a dozen more. Afterward, she stood there editing the photos, asking Lin Shiren which effect he preferred. Lin Shiren watched her change several filters and felt the original photos looked the most natural: "Could you give me the original photos of these?"
That's when the football came flying at that moment.
Accurate direction, fast speed, and fierce momentum.
Hearing Dong Rui's scream, Lin Shiren's vision went black, and he quickly lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was already lying on a hospital bed in the school clinic.
The noise from the playground was still going on. Lin Shiren looked to the side in a daze and saw Zhou Lin sitting on a chair with a bad expression. There was also a dejected-looking unfamiliar boy standing against the wall.
My first thought was, "Who is this person?"
Her hand was quickly grabbed, and Zhou Lin looked her over with concern: "Does your head hurt? Are you still feeling unwell?"
Before Lin Shiren could reply, the boy leaning against the wall walked timidly to the bed: "Senior, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to..."
It turns out he was the one who caused the accident.
"Did I ask you to speak?" Zhou Lin glanced at him coldly, his sharp tongue chilling him to the bone.
The boy noticed his bad temper, so he hugged the ball, his face ashen, and retreated to his original spot to continue standing as punishment.
Hearing the commotion, the school doctor came from the treatment room: "It's good that you're awake. Are you still dizzy? Do you feel nauseous?"
Lin Shiren shook her head. She felt as if she had taken a deep nap, and even the place where she was hit by the ball didn't hurt.
How long have I been unconscious?
"About ten minutes."
The school doctor examined her eyelids: "There doesn't seem to be anything serious now. If you're worried, you can go to the hospital for a brain CT scan."
Zhou Lin pointed at the boy who caused the accident: "Leave your class, name, and your parents' phone numbers. If she incurs any medical expenses later, we will contact your parents directly."
The boy left with the school doctor, and the atmosphere in the infirmary returned to quiet.
The sheets were white, and the little girl looked particularly fragile lying on them. Zhou Lin picked her up, gently patted her shoulder, and sighed.
He's sighed more times lately than he's ever done in his entire life.
His gaze was fixed intently on her face, and Zhou Lin's brows showed a barely suppressed emotion: "Lin Shiren, how can I trust you... that you'll be so far away from me in the future."
He usually liked to call her Lin Qiaoqiao. Calling her by her full name usually meant he was in a bad mood, but his eyes held her dear. Lin Shiren's heart skipped a beat. She hugged Zhou Lin's waist and snuggled into his arms, saying, "A great disaster is bound to bring good fortune. I'm saving up luck for my college entrance exam now."
Zhou Lin snapped out of his reverie and gently tapped her forehead: "Okay, then I'll wait for you at Q University."
Lin Shiren said with a bitter face, "Then this calamity might be a little small..."
The string in his mind snapped suddenly, and Zhou Lin covered her lips and bit them: "Your mouth is not suitable for speaking."
Twenty minutes later, Xin Xiaomei hurriedly picked up Lin Shiren and took him away.
After the brain CT scan report showed no abnormalities, her furrowed brows relaxed slightly: "You fainted from just one hit? You're so weak!"
Lin Shiren rubbed his throbbing temples: "Mom, don't speak loudly, I'm dizzy."
Xin Xiaomei looked at her for a while, then unconsciously lowered her voice: "Your dizziness is still not right. I'll take you to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor right now."
Finally, Lin Shih-ren received half a month's supply of herbal medicine, and the effects of the Chinese medicine were quite significant; her appetite improved considerably.
The day before the college entrance examination, all the classrooms at Huiwen High School were used to set up the examination rooms. The first and second-year students were on vacation, while the third-year students moved to the library and the cafeteria to study. It was called studying, but it was more like sticking together for warmth, as if as long as everyone was together, they would have the strength to resist tomorrow.
The cafeteria chefs provided extra food that day. The xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) were filled with lean meat, and when you bit into them, clear meat juice would ooze out. Lin Shiren ate a whole steamer of dumplings, and she felt that she would miss this taste for the rest of her life.
Before we knew it, evening had arrived. The afterglow of the setting sun shone in, and everyone's faces were bathed in a golden glow—a joy born from the anticipation of finally getting through the tough times.
...
The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) is finally here.
The weather was exceptionally good that day; the sky was a clear, deep blue, and the camphor trees lining the tree-lined path were growing exceptionally well. There was not a sound of cars or noise outside the examination hall.
The science exam that year was of moderate difficulty, even easier than the last mock exam. Lin Shiren answered all the questions and had time left to check them again.
The last exam on the 8th ended, and the students who came out of the exam room were all beaming with excitement.
Study materials were raining down on the senior high school building, and the dean of students angrily shouted through a loudspeaker, "Which class are you from? Come down and pick them up for me!"
In response, she was met with an even more devastating rain of exam papers.
The campus was filled with cries and laughter. Couples openly embraced on the playground. Zhou Lin received a bunch of confessions from unknown numbers, but he was open and honest. During the class party that night, he unlocked his phone and handed it to Lin Shiren.
"I didn't watch any of them."
Before she could even react, Song Ci had already started stirring things up: "Team leader, I can vouch for you, he deleted everything he saw."
Zhou Lin glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, his expression extremely relaxed: "You see, does my wife believe you or me?"
Li Pengfei and Song Ci immediately hugged each other and yelled, "Wife!"
Everyone at the table knew each other and had known about their relationship for a long time, but it was the first time he had called her "wife" in public. Lin Shiren's small face turned bright red instantly, and she pinched his side when no one was looking: "Don't call me that in public."
Zhou Lin draped his arm over the back of the chair, rubbed his face with his other hand, and smiled indulgently: "Considering how popular I am, shouldn't you make me a full-fledged employee?"
It has to be said that he was incredibly efficient; he put his application for permanent employment on the agenda just one hour after the college entrance examination ended.
Inevitably, some alcohol was consumed during the meal.
Perhaps it was the emptiness after the pressure was released, perhaps it was the melodious music at the scene, or perhaps it was the few drinks she had when toasting the teachers, but Lin Shih-jen suddenly became very emotional. She hugged Zhou Lin's neck and said, "In the past, I always felt like I had been abandoned by the world. Indifferent parents, harsh teachers, backstabbing friends, and the final questions I couldn't answer, it seemed like any one of them could be the last straw that broke my back."
"You are the kind of genius I admire most. You can easily obtain what others dream of. Those difficult problems that I rack my brains to solve bow down to your pen. When you first said you liked me, I was really scared. I had a strong feeling of unworthiness and even worried that this was just a hunting game for you..."
Her body was flushed from the alcohol, and her eyes were red. Although Zhou Lin had also drunk a few glasses, he was still sober. He stroked her long hair and listened as Lin Shiren poured out all her insecurities in her drunken confession.
"After I found out that you were sincere, I thought, you're not stupid or blind, so I must be a good person too. It turns out that being liked by someone really gives you courage."
She remembered how he scolded Cai Shichen, almost costing him his guaranteed admission to university; she remembered how he turned down a research project from a senior at Q University for her sake; she remembered the countless nights he spent with her…
She had no recollection of what Lin Shiren said that night.
But Zhou Lin remembered it all.
-----------------------
Author's Note: I don't know why, but writing for the college entrance exam was so difficult. It took me two days to finally get the hang of it.
50 red envelopes
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