Liu Chen stopped writing, holding the pen in his hand and looking at Lai Jielun:
“How was it? How was it?”
“Phew, 300 points, just enough to pass the line! At least this way I have the qualifications to apply for the Beijing Film Academy’s entrance exam!”
Because passing the line made him so happy, Lai Jielun accidentally blurted out the name of the school he wanted to apply to. He regretted it a little, after all…
His unified exam score was only 300, barely passing. And he dared to fantasize about the renowned Beijing Film Academy in his heart! If he said it out loud, even his sister Chen and the others would laugh at him, right?
“Wow, then when you go to Beijing Film Academy, can you bring back a few down jackets from there?” Liu Chen suddenly remembered a female colleague in his previous life who wore a black down jacket, which looked quite nice. She even let him try it on.
In the cold winter, he took off the old down jacket he had managed to buy at a 70% discount and put on that pure black down jacket. The moment he did, he felt warm all over. It couldn’t even be described as just warm; more accurately, it was scorching hot.
However, after asking about the price, which was over 800 yuan, and that he could only buy it at the Beijing Film Academy, Liu Chen could only smile and take off the jacket.
He thought to himself, so, coldness could truly be offset by money.
Now, if Lai Jielun were to take the exam, it would be the perfect opportunity to bring one back.
“Huh? Down jackets from Beijing Film Academy? Does Beijing Film Academy even sell down jackets? Should I search the forums tonight when I get back?” Lai Jielun suddenly felt a bit ashamed. He claimed he wanted to apply to Beijing Film Academy, yet he didn’t even know something his sister Chen knew?
“Oh right, Qiao Yang was selected for our school’s and Tsinghua University’s seed plan. He said he’d go home to rest after class today, and starting next semester, he’ll be attending classes at Tsinghua University.”
Lai Jielun’s words reminded Liu Chen of that shy boy who had come to confess to him with a blushing face.
If that were the case, perhaps they would be classmates in the future?
Qiao Yang’s departure cast a somber mood over Class 6 of Grade 3 for several days. Everyone was working hard towards a common goal, and yet someone had directly overtaken them and finished the race. It was bound to be a little disheartening.
However, this feeling gradually dissipated when they saw that the top student, Liu Chen, still arrived at school early every day and studied diligently.
If the top student in the entire school was working this hard, what right did they have to be sad here?!
As test papers piled up one after another, the final exams arrived as scheduled. Lai Jing, wearing a long, off-white down jacket, stood on the podium and looked at the students below, their faces all sporting dark circles.
“This is still a city-wide joint exam. The difficulty of the papers has been adjusted based on previous years to be as close as possible to the college entrance exam difficulty. After the exam, you’ll directly go on holiday. It will be eight days, and classes will resume as normal on January 28th, the third day of the Lunar New Year.”
Eight days of holiday!
A wave of cheers erupted in the classroom.
Liu Chen, however, calculated in his mind and sent a message to Guo Da that evening.
‘I’m flying to Beijing for a contract signing on January 21st.’
‘Alright. Send me your flight landing time then. I’ll pick you up outside. It’s close to New Year’s during those days, and you might not find a taxi waiting for you after you land.’
Knowing that the final exams were approaching, Liu Fang specifically told Liu Chen:
“You’ve already gotten first place in the whole school once, and your mom has had her moment of glory. So, just relax and take this exam. We don’t care who gets first place!”
Liu Chen, while eating the egg noodles his mother had cooked, responded with a few “uh-huhs” to acknowledge.
For this final exam, Liu Chen finished the papers and checked them repeatedly. When he checked for the fourth time and could find no more issues, he submitted his paper early.
Having submitted early for all four exams, some invigilating teachers thought that Liu Chen, being the top student, might have gotten too much praise and was feeling uneasy.
But only the classmates and teachers of Class 6 of Grade 3 offered no opinion on this. If Liu Chen, who spent all his time at his desk, wishing he could complete every test paper in the world, was feeling uneasy, then what about them? Had they floated to the clouds?
After the last exam, science comprehensive, the boarding students practically sprinted to the classrooms to collect their last few belongings and take them home.
Private cars filled the area outside the school, waiting to pick up students. Liu Chen and Ren Mo walked two blocks before finally getting into a car that was picking someone up.
Upon arriving home, Liu Chen organized the money his mother had given him recently, which, including previous exam bonuses, amounted to over ten thousand yuan.
That evening, when Liu Fang returned, Liu Chen told her he was going out to play for a day. Liu Fang gave him another thousand yuan and lectured him for a long time about staying warm, warning him that thieves would be looking for New Year’s money as it was close to the holiday.
If he was targeted by a thief, he shouldn’t make a sound, but walk towards a crowded area, and the thief would likely be scared away on their own.
After massaging his mother’s shoulders for ten minutes, Liu Chen went into his room, turned on the air conditioning, skillfully set it to 26 degrees Celsius for heating, then locked the bedroom door, lay on the bed, and started to draw prizes while facing the ceiling.
Tomorrow, he was going to buy a house. Because it was close to the New Year, Liu Chen had suggested his mother sell small packs of hand-grabbed pancakes and meatballs. He had managed to accumulate a thousand drawing tickets solely from individual customers.
“Start drawing.”
He silently chanted in his mind, and the familiar small roulette wheel appeared, spinning rapidly.
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“Received a warm scarf.”
“Received a pair of warm gloves.”
“Received a pair of warm snow boots.”
“Received a voucher for one additional sales assistant.”
“Received ten pounds of S province specialty sausage (ancient craftsmanship, only one thousand pounds produced annually).”
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“Received a set of bright red thermal underwear.”
“Received a bright red down jacket.”
“Received a pair of bright red snow boots.”
“Received a bright red woolen hat.”
“Received seven pairs of bright red cotton socks.”
“Received seven pairs of bright red woolen socks.”
“Received 1,100 yuan in cash.”
“…”
Liu Chen felt his vision constantly flashing with bright red prizes. When it finally stopped, there was a cumulative total of 990,000 yuan in cash in the bottom left corner, and a pile of red prizes in the system’s storage grid in the bottom right corner.
Liu Chen got up, took a notebook and pen to bed, and began calculating how much money he could use this time.
“I have saved 3.42 million yuan myself. The dividends from the farm online for five days last month were about 40,000 yuan. Guo Da’s share is 140,000 yuan. I’ll keep 200,000 yuan on hand for emergencies. The total money I can use tomorrow is 3.4 million yuan.
I wonder if this money will be enough to buy the spacious apartment I want…”
Since he had to get up early tomorrow, Liu Chen went to bed at 9 PM. In his dream, he, carrying a large sum of 3.4 million yuan, bought a 200-square-meter spacious apartment in Beijing…