Lin Zhiyue moved her chair back to avoid the hot air and added a piece of frozen tofu to each of their bowls with a serving chopstick: "Can't even the freshly cooked tripe stop you guys from eating?"
She deliberately put on a stern face, but a smile was hidden in the corners of her eyes. "If I check the answers now, what if I find that I made a mistake and can't sleep at night? What if my hands shake during the exam tomorrow?"
Wen Yu picked up a piece of spinach with chopsticks at the right time. The green leaves were swirling in the bone soup: "Zhiyue is right!"
She skimmed off the foam with a colander, and the hot steam condensed into white mist on the lenses of her glasses. "Just eat and drink well for this meal, and save the answers for the celebration party after the exam. Come, try this new sweet and sour pork ribs!"
As he said this, he piled a few pieces of ribs covered with sauce into the children's bowls.
Lin Qiyang muttered, "I knew you were partial to my little sister," but he still bit into the sugar-crunchy spareribs. He didn't even bother to wipe the sauce that flowed down the corners of his mouth.
Mu Yuchang spun around to cool the winter melon soup in the bowl, and suddenly smiled slyly: "Then let's make a pinky promise! After the last exam, we will check the answers immediately, right away, as soon as possible!"
Her outstretched little finger was still stained with icing from the chestnuts she had just peeled.
Lin Lang raised his glass and said, "No matter how you do in the exam, you have worked hard, kids! Let's have a good meal first!"
Everyone raised their glasses, and amid the crisp clinking sounds, Lin Zhiyue looked at the table full of steaming delicious food.
Several parents had smiles in their eyes when they saw this group of children.
Zhang Yao said, "After you finish eating, take a good rest so that you can do better for the exam in the afternoon."
The sycamore leaves were swirling in the autumn wind, and in the blink of an eye, the last bell for the exam finally rang.
Lin Zhiyue was clutching her slightly sweaty admission ticket, and before she could even walk out of the classroom, Mu Yushang grabbed her neck.
"Let's go! We have to go to your house today to hold a question-answering meeting!"
The girl's ponytail swept across Lin Zhiyue's flushed cheeks, and the ends of her hair were still stained by the warm light of the library's desk lamp.
When the group of five rushed into the Lin family courtyard in the sunset, the osmanthus cake and sour plum soup prepared by Wen Yu were already placed on the stone table under the grape trellis.
Mousse swung her schoolbag, and the wind caused the icing sugar to fall onto the bluestone slabs;
Mu Siyou silently took out the test paper that was neatly pinned with paper clips, and even folded the draft paper into the standard A4 size;
Lin Qiyang then pulled out a small notebook from the inner pocket of his coat like a magician, with "The Secret to Dealing with Wrong Questions" written crookedly on the title page.
"Let's check the last big math question first!"
Mu Yuchang poked Lin Zhiyue's shoulder with her finger stained with osmanthus dust, "I set x equal to..."
Before he finished speaking, Mu Sihuai suddenly jumped up and said, "No! We should use the substitution method!"
The brothers' test papers collided in the air, startling the parrot in the corridor and starting to flap its wings and scream.
Lin Zhiyue looked at his friends who were quarreling, and suddenly remembered Zhang Yao's instructions before the exam.
The sound of the parrot's flapping wings startled Wen Yu who was busy in the kitchen. She walked out quickly in an apron, holding a wooden spoon covered with flour in her hand: "Little ancestors, are you going to blow the roof off?"
Before she finished her words, Mu Sihuai and Mu Siyou rushed to her with the test papers in their hands. The two brothers argued with each other until their faces turned red.
Wen Yu took the test paper with a helpless smile, her fingertips wandering among the densely packed formulas, and suddenly her eyes lit up: "You two have missed a variable. Look, the trigonometric functions here..."
Lin Qiyang took the opportunity to sneak to the stone table, grabbed a piece of osmanthus cake and stuffed it into his mouth. The sweet and fragrant taste spread on the tip of his tongue.
He mumbled incoherently: "I told you not to rush to check the answers. Now I can't sleep again."
But his eyes were fixed on the two test papers and his ears were perked up.
Mu Yuchang held her cheek with her hand, her eyes darting back and forth among the arguing people, when she suddenly caught a glimpse of Lin Zhiyue staring at the sunset in a trance.
She quietly moved to her friend's side and gently bumped her shoulder: "What are you thinking about? Are you thinking of Aunt Zhang Yao's words 'have a good rest' again?"
Lin Zhiyue came back to her senses, and a gentle smile appeared on her lips: "Yeah, I suddenly feel that how I do in the exam doesn't seem to be that important."
Mu Yuchang was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud: "When did you become so artistic? But..."
Her voice gradually lowered, "I also think that the time I spend with you is the most precious."
As dusk deepened, the arguments in the courtyard gradually turned into relaxed laughter and conversation.
Wen Yu brought out the freshly baked egg tarts. The golden color was particularly attractive under the warm yellow light.
Lin Lang joined in at some point, holding up his camera to capture this heartwarming scene forever.
As the moonlight climbed up the grape trellis, the five young men lay side by side on the mats, looking at the twinkling stars in the night sky and talking about their unrealistic dreams.
The evening breeze blows by, bringing with it fragrance and the most beautiful taste of youth.
The draft papers scattered on the stone table rustled in the night wind. Lin Qiyang lay on his back on the bamboo chair, looking at the sky full of stars and sighed: "I have estimated the scores, but I have no idea where to fill in the application form after going through it over and over again."
He casually pulled a grape leaf and rubbed it between his fingers. The fragrance of the broken leaves mixed with the sweetness of the tuberose spread.
"Me too!"
Mu Siyou pushed up his black-framed glasses. The school codes listed on his notebook flickered in the moonlight. "My parents said that a normal school is a good choice, but I still want to try computer science..."
Before she finished speaking, Mu Yuchang had already jumped up from the mat, and the osmanthus flowers on the ends of her hair fell on Lin Qiyang's shoulders: "Don't mention it! I have no idea at all."
The moonlight flowed along Mu Yuchang's ponytail. She suddenly turned to Lin Zhiyue, who was curled up in the corner of the rattan chair, her eyes shining like stars: "Zhiyue, you have such good grades, which school are you going to, and what major are you going to study?"
Lin Zhiyue shook the sour plum soup in her hand, and the water droplets condensed on the wall of the cup reflected tiny pieces of light under the moonlight: "I haven't decided yet."
She lowered her eyes and stirred the straw, the ripples swallowing up the ice cubes at the bottom of the cup. "I'll apply to any school that allows me to take a long vacation."
The sound of cicadas suddenly became shrill. Mu Yuchang opened her mouth and her Adam's apple moved before she found her voice again: "Ah? Then...then I will also apply to that school! We can be classmates!"
She grabbed Lin Zhiyue's hand fiercely, and the warmth of her palm passed through the cold glass. "At worst, I can help you take notes every day."
Lin Qiyang turned over and sat up, deliberately using an exaggerated tone to break the stagnant air: "Hey, hey, hey! You two can't leave us boys behind!"
He grabbed the osmanthus cake on the stone table and threw it at Mu Sihuai, "We agreed to go to college together, no one is allowed to sneak behind!"
The night wind swept across the grape trellis, making the leaves rustle. The arguments of the teenagers resounded in the courtyard, startling the birds sleeping on the branches, which flapped their wings and flew towards the starry night sky.
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