Chapter 18 is about her younger brother.
Chapter Summary: Right now, I only want to accept this one possibility.
The day of the monthly exam.
Fu Xianyin had insomnia last night and only managed to get a light sleep until 5 a.m. after taking two melatonin pills.
My heart was pounding when I woke up.
Fu Xianyin didn't pay much attention. She had slept a little last night, as long as it didn't affect her exam performance.
The monthly exams are all held in one day. Chinese and physics are tested in the morning, and English, biology and chemistry are tested in the afternoon. Mathematics is tested during evening self-study.
Fu Xianyin reviewed classical Chinese texts in her dormitory for a while. Before leaving, she sent a message to Cheng Zhaozhao, and the two agreed to meet downstairs in the dormitory and go to the cafeteria together.
While waiting for Cheng Zhaozhao, Fu Xianyin was looking at writing materials.
"Yinyin!"
Cheng Zhaozhao jogged downstairs, took Fu Xianyin's arm, and asked, "Why did you decide to have breakfast in the cafeteria today?"
Fu Xianyin put away her Kindle, greeted the girl next to Cheng Zhaozhao, and then said, "It's the monthly exam, and I'm so nervous. I feel like I won't be able to concentrate on anything even if I go to the classroom early. Why don't we go have a meal to relax?"
Chen Nianke whispered, "Wow, top students relax when they eat in the cafeteria, but when I eat in the cafeteria, I make sure to ask the auntie to add two extra pieces of pork tenderloin to my pancake while I'm early."
Fu Xianyin was amused by her, and then asked curiously, "I've never had a wrap before, is it delicious?"
"It's super delicious! Do you eat spicy food? If you do, you definitely need to add extra spice."
"Add a serving of pork tenderloin, a fried egg, and a serving of dried tofu. Sometimes when I'm still not full, I'll buy a braised egg and have a bowl of porridge. It's amazing!"
Fu Xianyin bought breakfast based on Chen Nianke's recommendation. She didn't finish the purple rice porridge, so she took it to the classroom to drink it.
When I entered the classroom, Gu Linzhao was already there.
Gu Linzhao was reviewing his Chinese texts when he heard the noise. He glanced at the purple rice porridge in Fu Xianyin's hand and uttered two words:
"How strange."
Fu Xianyin gave a soft hum.
The monthly exams were not held in the classrooms of the students' own classes. Instead, students were assigned to classes based on their scores from the last exam before the summer vacation. Fu Xianyin had just transferred here and did not have any previous scores, so as usual, she was assigned to the last exam room.
Fu Xianyin was quite happy. Before, at Linlan No. 1 Middle School, she was assigned to the last exam room after missing the exam. The last exam room was mostly filled with students who didn't care about their academic performance, so there was no atmosphere of frantically writing, and therefore no pressure.
However, once she arrived at the examination hall, Fu Xianyin once again felt the gap between Linlan and Beichuan.
At Beichuan No. 1 Middle School, even in the last exam room, not all the students are completely uninterested in studying.
Fu Xianyin's heart, which had been at ease, was stirred again.
The exam time went by very quickly.
The Chinese exam in the morning wasn't too difficult. The fill-in-the-blank questions were all based on the knowledge points that Fu Xianyin had reviewed, and the final essay topic wasn't too tricky either. I could just apply some of the materials I had memorized in the morning.
Physics was a bit difficult, but it wasn't too bad for Fu Xianyin. She had ten minutes left to check her work after finishing the test.
After the exam, Fu Xianyin carried her schoolbag back to the classroom.
Beside their seats, Lin Anxu and Cheng Zhaozhao wailed incessantly.
Cheng Zhaozhao: "The Yue Kingdom was considered distant, yet I actually wrote that the Yue Kingdom was far away."
Lin Anxu: "I'm betting that it won't rely on Zhu Zhiwu's strategy to repel the Qin army."
Cheng Zhaozhao: "Me too, so I didn't watch it."
Lin Anxu: "Stop talking, Zhaozhao. Let's find a secluded place and end it all ourselves."
Gu Linzhao chuckled and commented, "Gambling addict."
Fu Xianyin: ...
I don't know why, but it seems like she got criticized too?
During the lunch break, Fu Xianyin did not return to her dormitory but stayed in the classroom to continue studying chemistry.
Unexpectedly, Gu Linzhao didn't reply either.
Seeing Fu Xianyin return, he raised an eyebrow, took out his chemistry notebook, and asked, "You're here? Want me to help you review the chemistry points?"
Fu Xianyin hesitated for two seconds between "not relying too much on Gu Linzhao" and "having a chemistry exam in the afternoon," and decisively chose the latter.
She might not die from relying too much on Gu Linzhao, but if Chen Huimei found out she did poorly on her chemistry exam, she'd rather die.
Because of the monthly exam, there were quite a few people in the classroom during lunch break.
Gu Linzhao spoke in a low voice, making circles and dots in Fu Xianyin's own notebook with a red pen.
The afternoon sun shone through the window, casting a soft, warm yellow light on Fu Xianyin's face.
Gu Linzhao's gentle voice lingered in her ears, and he would occasionally ask her a question.
Are you sleepy?
After highlighting a key point, Gu Linzhao suddenly turned to him and asked, "How many hours did you sleep last night?"
Fu Xianyin: "I slept for three hours, from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.
She blinked, belatedly realizing she was a little tired, and muttered to herself, "I should have skipped lunch. Sure enough, I feel sleepy after eating."
Gu Linzhao pinched his temples, feeling a headache coming on: "You're not eating again. With your health consciousness, how can you face the biology exam you have this afternoon?"
Fu Xianyin sighed: "I've been worthy of it, but has it been worthy of me?"
She was genuinely tired, her eyelids drooping. Fu Xianyin was hesitating whether to wash her face or get some ice water when she heard Gu Linzhao say:
"Take a 10-minute nap, I'll wake you up when it's time."
Fu Xianyin weighed the options for a moment, then nodded: "Just 10 minutes."
I'm really tired.
Fu Xianyin fell asleep the moment she slumped onto the table.
Gu Linzhao's gaze fell openly on her face.
She was very thin, with little flesh on her fair cheeks; only a small tuft of baby fat was visible when she leaned against her arm.
Gu Linzhao watched quietly, when suddenly, Fu Xianyin's eyelashes trembled.
Gu Linzhao hurriedly looked away, holding a red pen to highlight key points. After a while, he realized that the person next to him was not moving. Gu Linzhao carefully turned his head and found that Fu Xuanyin was not actually awake.
He suddenly felt like a thief, no, he felt even worse than a thief.
Thieves can openly look at what they want, but he panics the moment Fu Xianyin's eyelashes tremble.
Gu Linzhao asked himself in his heart, what is he panicking about?
His heart did not tell him the answer.
Gu Linzhao sighed, picked up the red pen, and finished drawing the remaining key points for Fu Xuanyin. Then he glanced at the time and gently touched the girl's arm with the back of his hand.
Fu Xianyin opened her eyes.
The classroom was a bit too bright, and she squinted, trying to adjust for a moment. Suddenly, a shadow fell over her.
Gu Linzhao placed his hand lightly over her eyes, and then removed it after Fu Xianyin's eyes adjusted to the classroom light.
He pushed the notebook over and said softly, "I've drawn the rest for you too. If you're unsure about anything, just ask me."
Fu Xianyin yawned and stretched, took the notebook, and said softly, "Thank you, class monitor."
"You're welcome."
Thanks to Gu Linzhao, Fu Xianyin did better in the chemistry exam than she had expected.
Objectively speaking, the difficulty of this chemistry exam wasn't actually that high, especially compared to the physics exam in the morning. With easier papers, the difference in difficulty wouldn't be too significant, and the impact on the overall score wouldn't be too great.
Sure enough, when they returned to the classroom, Fu Xianyin noticed that Cheng Zhaozhao and Lin Anxu had more smiles on their faces than in the morning.
Cheng Zhaozhao waved excitedly when she saw Fu Xianyin: "Yinyin, come here quickly! How was it? Wasn't chemistry not too difficult!"
Fu Xianyin: "It's much better than I expected!"
"Yay!"
Cheng Zhaozhao knew that she was bad at chemistry, and she was genuinely happy for her.
After finishing the chemistry exam, Fu Xianyin's anxiety about the monthly exam had largely dissipated.
There was only one subject left to take, math, which was one of Fu Xianyin's strongest subjects, so she wasn't too worried.
After finishing the math exam, Lin Anxu and Cheng Zhaozhao's faces fell again.
Fu Xianyin comforted her, "Alright, the exams are over, so don't worry about it. From now on, it's vacation time. If you're not happy during your vacation, don't you feel like you're missing out?"
Cheng Zhaozhao's eyes lit up: "That makes sense."
Lin Anxu grinned: "It's holiday time!"
He asked Fu Xianyin excitedly, "Sis, we've arranged a basketball game for tomorrow. Are you interested? Or we could go out for dinner together after the game."
Fu Xianyin smiled apologetically: "Tomorrow won't work. I have an appointment with someone tomorrow, so I don't have time."
Lin Anxu showed no disappointment at being rejected, grinning broadly, "It's okay, anyway..."
He had barely finished speaking when a voice rang out: "Class monitor, where are you guys playing basketball tomorrow? Can I come watch?"
Song Yaoge, carrying her schoolbag, stood at the back door and looked up at Gu Linzhao.
She bit her lower lip, her face full of tension.
Song Yaoge had heard about Lin Anxu and his friends' invitation to a ball game a long time ago, but they hadn't invited her because she was too embarrassed to go.
Ji Zhumiao found out and had been persuading her to ask since the exam, which finally gave her the courage to speak up.
Gu Linzhao said without much emotion, "The sports field next to People's Park."
Song Yaoge let out a sigh of relief: "Thank you, class monitor. I... I'll bring you water tomorrow!"
After she finished speaking, fearing that Gu Linzhao would refuse, she grabbed Ji Zhumiao and ran away.
Fu Xianyin ignored Song Yaoge the whole time. After he left, she nudged Lin Anxu with her elbow and asked, "What were you going to say just now?"
Lin Anxu: "Huh? Oh, I was saying since we have a 4-day holiday for National Day, how about we create a group chat and see when we have time to hang out?"
“Sure.” Fu Xianyin readily agreed, then slung her backpack over her shoulder and waved to the three of them: “I’m staying at school tonight, so I’m going back to catch up on my sleep. See you during the holidays.”
With a great weight lifted from her heart, Fu Xianyin's sleep improved.
She slept from 9:30 p.m. until 11 a.m., and only when she opened her eyes did she realize that she had arranged to meet Fu Yeyang at 10:30 a.m.
She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on, and sent Fu Yeyang a WeChat message:
Sorry, I overslept.
Fu Yeyang had been saying he wanted to meet her since last week, but Fu Xianyin refused when she returned to Linlan last week. This week, during the National Day holiday, she felt it would be difficult to refuse, so she agreed.
Fu Yeyang replied instantly:
[It's okay, Sister Xianyin. It's a holiday, so it's normal to sleep in.]
Let's go eat then!
Fu Xianyin:
OK, send me the address.
It was almost October, but the sun was still very strong. Fu Xianyin hesitated for a moment, but still wore a cool tank top and short skirt, and then added a blue shirt on top.
After packing up, Fu Xianyin took a taxi directly to the address Fu Yeyang had given her.
As expected of Fu Dongyuan's eldest son, Fu Yeyang is much more punctual than him.
As soon as Fu Xianyin got out of the car, she saw Fu Yeyang waving at her. The boy ran over like a puppy, grinning and saying, "Sister Xianyin, you slept very well last night."
Fu Xianyin: "The exam is over, so I can finally relax."
Before meeting Fu Yeyang, Fu Xianyin was a little nervous.
She had a good relationship with Fu Yeyang when she was a child, but this was under the premise that they had the same status.
Since starting junior high school, Fu Xianyin has never seen Fu Yeyang again, and the two have lost contact.
Even disregarding the six-year time gap, the existence of the relationship between Li Chan, Chen Huimei, and Fu Dongyuan inevitably creates a barrier between them.
But her worries seemed to vanish the moment she saw Fu Yeyang.
The same emotions were also played out in Fu Yeyang.
"Blood relation," a word that the two of them hated most, seemed to play a strange role at this moment.
I enjoyed the meal very much.
Fu Yeyang kept chattering away, and Fu Xianyin finally couldn't stand it anymore and stuffed a chicken wing into his bowl, speaking in a very natural elder sister manner: "Eat quickly, talk less while eating, or you'll get a stomachache."
Fu Yeyang ate the chicken wings with a grin, but he didn't become any quieter.
Fu Xianyin had originally planned to make an excuse to run away after dinner if things didn't go well, but now it seems that this worry is no longer valid.
Fu Yeyang asked mysteriously, "Sister Xianyin, guess what we're going to do now?"
Fu Xianyin thought for a moment and gave a rather unoriginal answer: "Watch a movie?"
"no!"
Seeing that she hadn't guessed correctly, Fu Yeyang became childishly happy. He pulled Fu Xuanyin into the car and said, "Then it's a secret. You'll know when we get there."
The car stopped next to People's Square.
Fu Xianyin was unfamiliar with Beichuan and didn't know what kind of place it was. She followed Fu Yeyang across a grassy area, and then Fu Yeyang said, "Sister Xianyin, wait for me for a moment, I'm going to change my clothes."
Changing clothes?
Fu Xianyin had no idea what big thing this little brat was planning until she saw him walk out wearing a jersey.
"How about that? Didn't expect that, did you?"
Fu Yeyang looked at Fu Xianyin's somewhat surprised expression and said with satisfaction.
Fu Xianyin really didn't expect Fu Yeyang to bring her to watch him play ball.
Since she was already there, Fu Xuanyin took Fu Yeyang's bag and water and found a seat in the front row of their team's audience.
Without noticing, in the other half of the field, two familiar figures appeared.
Almost the instant Fu Xianyin sat down, Gu Linzhao saw her.
His first reaction was that he thought he was blind.
Seeing that he didn't move, Lin Anxu, who was next to him, threw the ball over and asked, "Brother Zhao, what are you standing there for?"
Lin Anxu followed his gaze and exclaimed in surprise, "Beautiful lady? Didn't she say she was busy? Is she going to give us a surprise?"
Cheng Zhaozhao, who was bringing water to the two of them, pinched her brow speechlessly: "Look at the seat Yinyin is sitting in, does she look like she's here to surprise you?"
"She's not here to see you, save your breath, Lin Anxu, have some self-awareness, I'm begging you."
As soon as she finished speaking, the three of them saw a boy in the affiliated high school's uniform walk up to Fu Xianyin. Fu Xianyin naturally handed him water, and then, seemingly feeling hot, took off her shirt jacket, revealing a thin tank top underneath. Next, she rummaged through her bag for her phone, and the boy casually took the jacket from her. Then, Fu Xianyin seemed to say something, and the boy bent down, resting his hands on his knees. The two looked at each other very closely.
Gu Linzhao stopped reading after seeing this.
Lin Anxu, oblivious to the danger, continued to make dangerous remarks: "It seems like my sister and that kid from the affiliated high school are quite close. That kid even plays with the pretty sister's phone."
"It's her younger brother."
Gu Linzhao, who had been silent all along, suddenly blurted out this sentence.
Lin Anxu asked in surprise, "How did you know? Did the beautiful lady tell you?"
"no."
Gu Linzhao remained expressionless, flicked his wrist, and the basketball arced through the air before smoothly entering the basket.
"Right now, I only want to accept this one possibility."
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