Liu Chen wasn't entirely sure how Chen Long had managed to appease his father and get back home, but he did know that his mother's smiles had become more frequent over the past month.
Even his godmother had mentioned it privately.
"Your mother's anxiety about the future isn't as severe as it was at the beginning."
After a month of Liu Chen's overt and covert tutoring, he felt confident that the class's average score would definitely improve. For those with weaker foundations, targeted improvement of fifty to sixty points was certainly achievable.
On the podium, Lai Jing surveyed the children seated below.
Over these three years, she had watched these children grow from little sprouts to tall teenagers. Their faces gradually transitioned from the lingering immaturity of childhood to the vibrant energy of adolescence.
Below the podium, the students of Class Six, Grade Three, also quietly looked at their homeroom teacher, Lai, their minds flooded with memories from their three years together.
"Ahem."
Lai Jing coughed lightly, composing herself and trying to make her voice sound steady.
"Before the college entrance examination, you'll have two days off to go home and adjust your state. Two days later, at precisely eight-thirty in the morning, you will arrive at your respective examination venues. During these two days, do not go wild playing. You can relax, but you cannot slack off, do you understand?!"
"Understood!"
"Good, dismissed!"
With a command from homeroom teacher Lai, the students, unlike their usual behavior, did not rush towards the school gate upon hearing the dismissal. They knew that starting today, this classroom would no longer belong to their collective, Class Six, Grade Three.
And from this moment on, Class Six, Grade Three, would become just a name in their memories.
Unsure who started it, someone began to cry, and the classroom was like a contagion. Tears spread rapidly like a virus to everyone.
Even Liu Chen, who, with two lifetimes combined, was already thirty years old, didn't want to leave the seat he had occupied for two semesters.
He felt that if he left this spot and walked out of this classroom door, his high school life would truly be over.
Looking at the tear-streaked faces of the children below, Lai Jing's eyes also welled up. But she knew she had to be like an eagle, teaching these eaglets to fly. No matter how reluctant, all feasts must eventually end.
"Alright, alright, why are you rushing to cry? When you finish your exams and the results come out, I'll be too busy celebrating."
Upon hearing Lai Jing's words, some of the children secretly wiped away their tears and looked up at their homeroom teacher standing on the podium.
"Homeroom teacher Lai, we won't disappoint you!"
"Yes! Homeroom teacher Lai, we will definitely hand in a satisfactory answer sheet!"
"That's right!"
After everyone had vented their emotions, the young men who had been crying felt a little embarrassed. With renewed determination, the students of Class Six, Grade Three, left the classroom they had worked so hard in for a year.
Stepping out of the school at three in the afternoon, the scorching sun overhead made sweat stream down Liu Chen's face. It was only then that Liu Chen began to emerge from his sense of loss.
Mi Zhuzhu's head poked out from the car window that had been rolled down, urging the fast-walking Liu Chen, "Chen Chen! Hurry up and get in! The air conditioning will escape!"
Liu Chen quickened his pace. Just as he sat in the car and was about to close the door, Lai Jielun and Ren Mo caught up from behind.
"Hey! Wait! Give us a ride!"
Liu Chen moved to the innermost seat and, looking at the two who had gotten in, curiously asked, "It's normal for Ren Mo to get a ride, but what about you, Lai Jielun?"
Lai Jielun closed the car door, fanning himself with his collar. Hearing his sister Chen's confusion, he put on a wry smile.
"My Madam Lai thinks that ever since you all bought houses in 'Phoenix City,' your businesses and academic performances have been going smoothly. Coincidentally, I asked the security guard earlier, and he said someone was returning a house, so my mom bought it."
Liu Chen nodded. "That's a good thing, isn't it? Why the long face?"
Lai Jielun sighed. "Madam Lai used her savings to buy the house. She still needs money for my university education, so she only paid the down payment, and now she has monthly mortgage payments. My dad thinks the pressure is too much, and they've been arguing about it lately."
Liu Chen thought for a moment, unsure how to comfort him, and could only say, "Once the housing prices go up, your dad will probably stop complaining."
However, after Lai Jielun's complaint, Liu Chen felt like he was less nervous about the college entrance exam in three days?
As it turned out, Liu Chen's feeling was wrong.
June sixth, a clear blue sky.
Liu Chen woke up just after seven in the morning, as usual. However, today he didn't need to rush with washing up and then get into a car to go to school.
Just like yesterday, he took out the practice tests he had done throughout the year, reviewing them one by one, trying to recall everything.
But the sense of unease in his heart grew stronger, like a ferocious beast about to be unleashed from his chest.
Liu Chen could only try his best to suppress his growing frustration and anxiety. Until late at night, when his mother persuaded him to go to his room to sleep at nine o'clock, Liu Chen lay alone in bed.
Accustomed to doing practice problems until midnight every day, Liu Chen found he couldn't sleep.
He closed his eyes and counted sheep until he reached 734, then despairingly realized he was even more awake!
He simply sat up in bed and did the "Eight Brocades" exercise three times in his room, only to find that the more he practiced, the more energetic he became.
With a light sweat on his brow, Liu Chen went to the bathroom to take a bath, having heard that baths could promote sleepiness.
To encourage sleepiness, Liu Chen didn't listen to the radio while bathing as he usually did.
He stayed in the bathtub for a full twenty minutes, his entire body turning red, before finally getting out. He wrapped himself in a bath towel, blow-dried his hair, changed into clean, soft pajamas, and lay back down in bed, turning off the light and closing his eyes.
Three minutes later.
Liu Chen's eyes widened as he stared at his ceiling.
He then looked at the time on his phone. After all the fuss, it was only eleven o'clock at night. Liu Chen lay in bed, contemplating whether he should get up again to review the exam questions for tomorrow.
In the quiet room, his phone suddenly rang.
Liu Chen felt his heart skip a beat.
Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone from the bedside table. The caller ID showed Ren Yu.
"Oh, right. We haven't video chatted these past two days. Isn't it normal not to be studying at night when I'm about to take the college entrance exam?"
While muttering, Liu Chen pressed the answer button.
Ren Yu's voice came from the other end of the line, "Are you home."
"Yes."
It's the college entrance exam tomorrow, so it would be strange if I wasn't home late at night, right?
"Come downstairs, I brought supper."
???
Liu Chen held his phone and got out of bed, walking barefoot on the wooden floor to the bay window. He leaned over the bay window and looked down. "What did you say?"
"I'm at the downstairs of your apartment building. Come down for supper." After speaking, Ren Yu seemed to remember something and added, "Don't call those few."
Hearing Ren Yu's words on the phone, a smile spread across Liu Chen's face.
"Oh, why not?"
Ren Yu's breathing on the other end of the phone seemed to pause.
"I'll tell you after your exam."
Hearing this, Liu Chen felt his heartbeat pound even louder than before.
What did this mean?
Did Ren Yu want to confess to me after the college entrance exam?
While lost in thought, Liu Chen remembered that Ren Yu was standing downstairs.
"Alright, I'm coming down."
After saying this, Liu Chen hopped to the bathroom, picked up a comb, and smoothed his hair, which had become disheveled from lying in bed. Then, he opened his bedroom door, intending to sneak out.
He heard his mother's faint snoring from the bedroom opposite. Liu Chen tiptoed in socks down the corridor, reached the anti-theft door, put on a pair of sneakers, and then unlatched the anti-theft door.
The newly installed anti-theft door opened slowly, without the creaking sound of the old one, helping Liu Chen to slip out unnoticed.
At this moment, Liu Chen suddenly realized the awkwardness of living on the same floor as relatives and friends. If he wanted to sneak out at night, he had to worry about them being outside their doors too.
Fortunately, Liu Chen was lucky enough and smoothly took the elevator down.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Liu Chen saw Ren Yu standing outside the door.
Perhaps due to the warm weather, he was wearing a dark blue short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, looking quite casual.
Liu Chen noticed the faint sweat on Ren Yu's forehead and asked sheepishly, "Have you been waiting long?"
"No, I just arrived. Let's go."
Ren Yu extended his right hand, bringing the plastic bag he was holding closer. Liu Chen then saw it.
A bag full of snacks. A quick glance revealed his favorites: Youyou pickled chicken feet and Wangzai milk candy. There were even two bags of Wangwang's Ice Pops.
"Where are we going?"
Liu Chen followed behind Ren Yu and only remembered to ask as they walked out of the unit building.
"We'll eat supper."
Ren Yu's voice came from ahead. Liu Chen could only follow. Honestly, he hadn't eaten pickled chicken feet in a long time and was really craving them.
The two walked to the community's recreational pavilion and sat down. Ren Yu took out all the items from the plastic bag. Liu Chen then realized that not only were there his favorite snacks, but also two small bottles of rice wine.
"I thought you might be nervous, so I brought some wine to help you relax."
Liu Chen's gaze fell on the two glass bottles of rice wine, which stated a 2% alcohol content.
Alright, at this concentration, he felt the psychological effect of alcohol would be stronger than the physical one.
Liu Chen didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down, folded his legs on the pavilion seat, unscrewed the rice wine cap, and then tore open the pickled chicken feet. A spicy aroma wafted from the plastic bag, making Liu Chen involuntarily swallow.
He picked out a tender, white pickled chicken foot, ate it in his left hand, and occasionally took a sip of rice wine with his right.
Just as he was happily eating, his eyes squinting, he felt his phone in his pocket vibrate.
He put down the rice wine he was holding and was about to press the answer button when the vibration suddenly stopped.
Immediately after, Lai Jielun's voice came from not far behind him.
"See, Zhuzhu, I told you Sister Chen must be asleep. Ren Mo is also asleep."