Chapter 91
In June, the weather in the south has become hot and humid.
Xu Qingzhou woke up early in the morning with a thin layer of sweat on his body.
She got up, drew back the curtains, and opened the window. A morning breeze blew in, making the small rented room more comfortable.
As I turned to get out of bed and put on my shoes, I heard the metallic clanging of a key opening the door.
Xu Qingzhou looked up and saw Chi Jun push the door open and come in, carrying two small bags of soy milk buns and tea eggs.
Xu Qingzhou: [Why are you up so early?]
Chi Jun smiled and placed the breakfast on the small dining table.
"It gets light too early, and the lights are making it hard to sleep."
Xu Qingzhou turned around and glanced at the curtains that had been pulled aside.
Printed with old-fashioned floral patterns, it's a thin layer and doesn't really provide much shade-blocking effect.
Let's go buy some blackout curtains after school tonight.
“No need,” Chi Jun walked to the window, grabbed a toothbrush, and squeezed on toothpaste. “I won’t be living here for long, so why bother buying it?”
Xu Qingzhou thought about it and agreed.
That night, let's take out the bed curtains and hang an extra layer on the window; that should help.
"OK."
After washing up and having breakfast, Chi Jun took the electric scooter keys and drove Xu Qingzhou to school.
The rental courtyard, bathed in sunlight, was bustling with activity early in the morning.
Some people are making breakfast, taking a moment to yell at their children to get up quickly so they won't be late; others are washing clothes and wringing out mops in the courtyard on the first floor, exchanging a few words with each other; still others are hurrying to the bike shed to push their bikes, getting ready to go to work.
Upon seeing Chi Jun and Xu Qingzhou, they would either nod and smile in greeting, or say a few more words.
"Taking Xiao Xu to school?"
"Um."
"In less than a week, Xiao Xu will be free."
"Yes."
"With such good grades, Xiao Xu will definitely get into a good university!"
"Thank you for your kind words."
When Chi Jun responded, Xu Qingzhou was sitting on the back of the electric scooter, looking at the speaker with a shy smile.
A week before the college entrance examination, the intense pace of senior high school students, who had been working hard for almost a year, began to ease. At seven o'clock in the morning, senior high school students mingled with junior and sophomore students as they walked to their classrooms.
As Xu Qingzhou was about to get out of the car, he saw Zheng Yangshu, who had just closed the car door by the roadside.
When their eyes met, Xu Qingzhou smiled and waved.
Zheng Yangshu, who had intended to pretend not to see it, hesitated for a moment and had no choice but to walk over.
Facing Chi Jun, she wanted to call him "brother," but she couldn't bring herself to say it and could only give an awkward smile.
【Then let's go in】
Chi Jun nodded: "Mm."
Xu Qingzhou turned around.
Zheng Yangshu followed and waved to Chi Jun.
The two merged into the crowd and quickly walked away.
Chi Jun sat on the electric scooter, watching the backs of a man and a woman, lost in thought, and didn't move for a long time.
After a long while, the car was suddenly bumped.
Chi Jun snapped out of his daze.
Two girls were standing nearby, one of them pushing an electric scooter, looking at him shyly.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, are you alright?"
Chi Jun frowned and said calmly:
"fine."
He turned the car around.
"It looks like your car has a dent. Do you need it repaired?"
"Need not."
Seeing that Chi Jun was about to leave, the girl quickly pushed her cart and took two more steps to catch up.
"How about this, let's add each other on WeChat. When you have time, you can come and fix it. How much will it cost? I'll pay you—"
Before he could finish speaking, Chi Jun had already driven away without looking back.
girl:"……"
She blushed, pouted, and turned to her friend behind her, saying:
"See? I told you handsome guys are all aloof."
My friend shrugged.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. At least we've tried our best."
"Maybe he has a girlfriend."
"It doesn't matter whether you have it or not, since you've already been rejected anyway."
"..."
*
On his way back, Chi Jun stopped by the market and bought some vegetables.
As I parked my car under the carport in the courtyard of the rental house and picked up the groceries from the basket, my phone rang several times in a row.
Chi Jun took out his phone.
Li Rui: [I'd like to visit Wang Shuai today, do you have time?]
Li Rui: [After thinking about it, I really felt bad if I didn't go.]
Li Rui: [I always heard people say, "Every time you see an elderly person, it's the last time you'll see them." Damn it, how come I understand that feeling at such a young age, like Wang Shuai? /crying/crying]
Li Rui: [I used to be secretly jealous that you gave him one of your treasured game consoles. Now that I think about it, I was such a jerk.]
A treasured game console.
When Chi Jun saw those words, he couldn't help but clench his fist tightly around his phone.
Perhaps it was precisely that game console, so heavily imbued with his aura, that brought Wang Shuai such enormous trouble…
Perhaps because he was a little anxious about not getting a timely response, Li Rui simply made a video call.
"What are you doing?"
His eyes appeared slightly red in the footage.
Chi Jun looked away.
"Just got back from taking Zhouzhou to school."
"Are you going or not? To Wang Shuai's place."
Chi Jun carried the groceries up the stairs.
"I'm not going."
Li Rui was somewhat surprised:
Are you busy?
"It's alright, nothing's wrong."
"That--"
Chi Jun suddenly stared at Li Rui in the camera lens:
Are you feeling unwell?
Li Rui was stunned for a moment.
"I'm perfectly fine. What's wrong with me? I'm perfectly healthy."
“I heard you coughing a bit when you left the hospital yesterday.”
"Oh, that must be because the air conditioning in the hospital was too strong, and I caught a chill. Speaking of which, do they think the air conditioning in hospitals is free? I was freezing in the ward yesterday..."
Chi Jun: "You shouldn't go yet."
Li Rui paused.
“I went to the hospital early this morning,” Chi Jun said. “My aunt and uncle said that they used their connections to find a specialist this time. The treatment plan the specialist prescribed seems to be working. When I went there this morning, Wang Shuai looked much better than yesterday. He ate two big meat buns and drank a bowl of soy milk in one go.”
"real?!"
Li Rui's eyes lit up.
"Yes, that expert said being able to eat is a good omen."
"Awesome, awesome!" Li Rui was clearly excited, unable to suppress his smile. "Then, then I won't bother him for now. I imagine rest is more important for him during this time. I'll just have to...just a little longer..."
Chi Jun smiled slightly as he watched him so happy that he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet.
"Wait a few more days, until Zhouzhou finishes her college entrance exam, then I'll go with you."
"Okay, it's settled then."
"Um."
This phone call put Li Rui's mind at ease.
He hung up the phone with great joy, and for a moment he felt that the air around him had become much brighter and lighter.
In the rental housing compound, the sunlight was blocked by a cloud.
The entrance to the small rental room in the corridor was deserted and looked rather bleak.
Chi Jun stared down at his phone, the smile on his face long gone. After a long while, he lowered his hand holding the phone, took a deep breath, and took out his keys to open the door.
Put the groceries you bought aside.
Chi Jun walked to the bedside and picked up a small red bell hanging on the bedpost.
Just as she was about to summon the male ghost by pinching it in her hand, she paused, and then put it back.
Finally, he sent a telepathic message.
"With the college entrance exam approaching, I need to help Zhouzhou prepare. Please don't bother me unless it's absolutely necessary."
Less than twenty seconds after the sound was emitted, the male ghost's echo returned—
"Tch, I'm about to have a great love life, who's going to bother with you? Don't be delusional."
His tone was arrogant, but it was full of disdain.
Upon hearing this voice, Chi Jun lowered his eyelashes and chuckled softly.
*
The days leading up to the college entrance examination are the most relaxed for almost all senior high school students in terms of both mind and body throughout the entire year.
In the morning, they arrived at school at seven o'clock, just like the first and second year high school students.
In the evening, there is no longer a need for evening self-study; school ends promptly at six o'clock.
Even the teachers of each subject stopped assigning homework, and basically just said one sentence:
"I flipped through my collection of wrong questions and felt there were still some areas I wasn't familiar with, so I practiced a few specific questions on those areas."
All teachers, students, and parents understand that this is no longer the time to cram for practice problems. Their abilities are largely determined, and their mindset has become the most important factor.
Fortunately, Xu Qingzhou has always maintained a relatively stable mindset when it comes to studying.
When the teacher stopped assigning homework, she would do a practice test every night to practice her writing skills and rhythm.
To ensure she gets enough sleep, she goes to bed promptly at 10:30 p.m., nestled in Chi Jun's arms, and sleeps soundly every night.
However, it seems that Chi Jun hasn't been sleeping well lately.
Even with an extra curtain hanging in front of the window for privacy, Xu Qingzhou always woke up early in the morning when Chi Jun was already up.
Or they've just come back from outside carrying breakfast;
Either the door was open, or he was leaning against the railing gazing into the distance, seemingly looking at something.
One night, Xu Qingzhou woke up groggily and found that Chi Jun was not there.
However, she was too tired to think much about it.
Chi Jun is a grown man, not an ordinary person, so he shouldn't be in any danger. He must have gone to the restroom.
Xu Qingzhou fell asleep again.
June 5th arrived in the blink of an eye.
Over the past few days, all the senior high school students have been gradually moving their books from their desks to their homes. Xu Qingzhou was no exception. Even though he had already moved his books many times before, his schoolbag was still bulging with a bunch of stuff when he got out of school at noon that day.
As is customary, the school gave students a holiday on the afternoon of the 5th, specifically allocating this half-day for them to visit the examination venue.
Xu Qingzhou was quite lucky; the exam room he was assigned to was right on campus, and in the next classroom, so the environment was very familiar.
She had already checked her seat when school ended in the morning, so she could focus on studying and reviewing at home in the afternoon.
"So we don't need to go at all tomorrow?"
After parking the car, Chi Jun turned around and asked.
Xu Qingzhou nodded and got out of the back seat.
Chi Jun took the backpack from her hand, slung it over one shoulder, and asked as he walked towards the stairwell:
What time does the exam start the day after tomorrow?
Xu Qingzhou: [9 o'clock]
Three days?
Xu Qingzhou nodded.
"I see that other provinces have two days for the exam?"
Our province sets its own exam questions, so they are different from those in other regions.
Chi Jun said "Oh," turned onto the stairs to the second floor, and then suddenly stopped.
At the end, Xuanli was standing there.
Meeting Xu Qingzhou's gaze, she waved with a smile: "You're back."
The way she said it made it sound like she was the owner of the small rented room.
Xu Qingzhou didn't mind and greeted him with a smile.
How long have I been waiting?
If we had known you were coming, we would have left sooner.
Xuanli waved her hand and, as usual, handed over a serving of fried chicken she had brought.
"It didn't take long; the time just flew by while I was playing on my phone."
On the surface, Xuan Li came here today to lend Xu Qingzhou a helping hand.
She brought a specially developed pill, which she said could calm the mind while optimizing brain activity, making it especially suitable for exams.
Xu Qingzhou believed that Xuanli's products must be effective, but thinking about it again, it seemed unfair to other candidates to take this kind of medicine.
Therefore, she simply accepted the medicine, thanked her properly, and put it away without intending to take it.
I plan to make a simple lunch of two dishes and a soup, and then buy a roast goose to make it three dishes and a soup.
Chi Jun volunteered.
"I'll go buy it."
He changed his shoes and was about to go out when Xuanli put away her phone and followed closely behind.
"I'll go too."
After saying that, he turned to look at Xu Qingzhou and said, "We'll be back soon."
Xu Qingzhou smiled and nodded.
Xuanli followed Chi Jun downstairs.
Chi Jun walked ahead without saying a word the whole way.
Xuanli watched his retreating figure in silence until they turned onto the east-west road behind the compound. Suddenly, she asked, "Do you go to the hospital every night?"
Chi Jun stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
Xuanli sighed and stepped forward.
"It's no use. Chi Jun, doing this will only waste your spiritual energy and won't achieve any results."
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