Students who had been queuing for security checks outside exam room number one all entered the classroom, and the invigilators went in first to distribute the exam papers and answer sheets.
Seeing that the two had left, Xiang Yu was about to enter the examination room when Gu Chen grabbed her.
Gu Chen grinned and moved closer to him, saying, "Hey genius, I want a pen that brings me good luck too!"
Xiang Yu looked at him helplessly, "Don't call me that, aren't you the same?"
"Then I want my boyfriend's pen." Gu Chen said softly, secretly shaking Xiang Yu's fingertips, and asked with a smile, "Is that okay?"
"Can't."
Seeing Gu Chen's stunned expression and the look of disbelief on his face, Xiang Yu slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
Gu Chen then realized that her boyfriend had mischievously played a little joke on her.
"Why not?" Xiang Yu shoved her most frequently used pen into Gu Chen's hand. "Good luck on the exam—"
After saying that, she paused, leaned close to Gu Chen's ear, and whispered, "—Boyfriend."
Gu Chen's smile faltered for a moment, then the corners of his mouth widened, he narrowed his eyes, leaned closer and asked, "You can still enter the exam room fifteen minutes before the start of the college entrance exam, right?"
"Hmm." Xiang Yu was puzzled as to why the other person suddenly asked that question.
Gu Chen grinned and said, "Going to the restroom? I want to kiss my boyfriend."
"..." Kiss my ass.
Xiang Yu suppressed her smile, rolled her eyes at him, ignored the idiot, walked into the classroom, was swept clean, and sat in the first seat, switching into study mode.
Gu Chen's smile never faded as he held the pen Xiang Yu had given him and scribbled on the draft paper.
I love you a little.
More than just a little.
It's considered an auspicious number.
The boy across the aisle from Gu Chen was mentally devastated. He didn't know where the math problems for this year's final exams came from; they were insanely difficult.
But then, the guy next to me, Gu, did a problem and smiled.
Is this the difference between people?
After the final exams, the school immediately started winter break. The final exam results and rankings will be announced in the parents' group at noon seven days after the exams.
This is even more nerve-wracking for students than the parent-teacher conference after the midterm exams.
Students left messages on campus.
The school is inhumane.
Three minutes before the results were released, the group chat for Class 2 of Arts was flooded with messages of prayers and well wishes.
Wang Zehao: May Daddy bless me! (40% of the time, I'm disappointed)
Wang Zehao simply tagged Xiang Yu, and the female fans below immediately laughed at him.
Zhang Boyuan: Holy crap, the results are out.
- Zhang Boyuan: Yu Ge is once again the top student in both class and grade.
There was a brief interruption in the group chat. No one dared to check the grades in the parents' group immediately, but instead quickly followed suit and rejoined.
-Wang Airu: Daddy, please bless me! %40% Corner
Tang Yue: Daddy, please bless me! (40% of the text is incomplete and likely refers to a separate, unrelated sentence.)
Zhang Zitong: Daddy, please bless me! (40% of the time, I'm disappointed)
Yang Shuhuan: Daddy, please bless me! (40% of the time, I'm disappointed)
...
It quickly went viral, but the person in question has yet to respond.
Wang Zehao: Daddy! I've come to fulfill my vow!
Wang Zehao: My score is about the same as last time, but my ranking in the grade has improved!
Wang Zehao: [I'm kneeling before my dad].jpg
After being praised by his mother, Wang Zehao was overjoyed and opened his phone to send a private message to Xiang Yu to express his gratitude.
There was still no response.
Xiang Yu had no idea what was happening in the group chat. The transfer that her mother, Sun Xiaoli, had been talking about just a few months ago was suddenly confirmed yesterday.
I'll arrive today.
Upon learning this, Sun Xiaona immediately hired someone to clean their uninhabited house. This morning, she even took an unusual day off and drove with Xiang Yu to the train station to pick them up.
Xiang Yu hadn't seen her mother, Sun Xiaoli, for a long time and didn't know how to face her. When she was woken up at six in the morning, she was still in a daze and forgot to take her phone with her when she left the house.
I left home a little after six and arrived at the train station around seven-thirty. In winter, it was just getting light at this time. I imagine Li Yifan, who was fast asleep in bed and knew nothing at all, with his aunt wrapped in a scarf in front of him, her breath steaming in the cold air.
Xiang Yu always felt that his aunt was more excited than he was.
"Xiaoyu, your mother has already gotten off the train and will be leaving the station soon." Sun Xiaona was still holding the hot soy milk she had bought from the breakfast stall outside the train station, which cost twice as much as the regular breakfast stall.
"Are you happy?" Sun Xiaona asked, looking at her eldest nephew.
"Mm." Xiang Yu nodded.
“Your mother must be very tall too—” Sun Xiaona caught a glimpse of a figure walking slowly towards them from the station exit.
She was tall and slender, walked with a straight posture, had a neat, medium-length hairstyle, and carried a black briefcase.
Sun Xiaona waved, "Sister—over here—"
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: Time flies.]
Chapter 76: I Didn't Date
Chapter 76: In the Corner: I'm not in a relationship.
The two sisters hadn't seen each other for a long time. Sun Xiaona drove, talking non-stop the whole way, talking about the development of X City, and then about Xiang Yu's academic performance at school, praising him highly.
Sun Xiaoli showed little excitement throughout the event, slurping her soy milk, occasionally nodding as she listened to her sister's words, or glancing at Xiang Yu sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
When mother and son met, they had nothing to say to each other.
Seeing the awkward way the two were interacting, Sun Xiaona mouthed to Sun Xiaoli, signaling her to talk to Xiang Yu.
Sun Xiaoli kept her eyes straight ahead, her voice carrying the seriousness of her work, "Drive carefully, and don't keep turning this way at me."
Sun Xiaona: "..."
Well, maybe this is just how the mother and son usually interact.
Sun Xiaona stopped talking and focused on driving across the highway. She had to go back to the hospital to work when she got home.
There was no music playing inside the car; it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Xiang Yu didn't know how he felt at that moment. He should be happy to see his mother, but he didn't seem to be.
"Xiaoyu".
He was brought back from his reverie by a call, but the car remained silent, making him wonder if he had just hallucinated.
Just as he fell into deep thought again, Sun Xiaoli called his name once more.
"Xiao Yu." Sun Xiaoli turned her head slightly, but when she saw Xiang Yu looking over, she turned back.
“Your dad’s flight will land around noon.” Sun Xiaoli paused for a moment, then continued, “You two can go to %2FB%2F city together to pick up your grandma.”
Xiang Yu had no idea that his father, Xiang Jun, was returning to China today.
"Are we spending the Spring Festival here this year?" The whole family has always spent the Spring Festival at Grandma Hou's house in %2FB%2F City.
"Hmm." Sun Xiaoli checked the time on her phone; it was a little past eight.
As the car exited the highway and entered the city, it became clear that X City was striving to become a first-tier city, with its development accelerating year after year. The scenery along the way was quite different from what I had imagined.
Sun Xiaoli hadn't been back to X City for a long time, so she opened her phone's navigation app and told Sun Xiaona to turn left at the next intersection.
While waiting at the red light, Sun Xiaona mentally sketched out the map after turning left at the intersection and realized it was the road to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Understanding the other party's intention, she waited for the green light and drove straight ahead, ignoring Sun Xiaoli's request to turn left.
Sun Xiaona said, "Let's go home first, and we'll talk about other things later."
Sun Xiaona felt that it was already excessive for her and her husband to be too busy with work to take care of Li Yifan, but she didn't expect her sister and brother-in-law to be even more excessive.
One went straight to work after barely saying a few words to his son upon returning home, while the other didn't even tell his son about his return to China.
Sun Xiaona glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Xiang Yu sitting in his seat with his head down. Her eyes were filled with undisguised heartache.
I need to talk to her older sister about this later.
"Xiaoyu, you can go upstairs first." Sun Xiaona handed him the breakfast she had just bought from the roadside.
"Take these upstairs. Yifan is probably still asleep. Please wake him up for me."
"Okay." Xiang Yu nodded, and seeing that Sun Xiaoli had no intention of getting out of the car with him, he carried the breakfast upstairs by himself.
As Xiang Yu opened the door to enter the house, he happened to make eye contact with Li Yifan, who had come out to use the restroom.
Li Yifan looked so half-awake that it was obvious he planned to continue sleeping.
"Wake up." Xiang Yu waved the breakfast in her hand and placed everything on the table.
Li Yifan sniffed, then his half-closed eyes suddenly widened.
"Li's Spicy Soup!" After saying that, he immediately went into the bathroom to wash up, shouting before going in, "Wait for me to come out before you eat, bro!"
Xiang Yu had no interest in competing for food, so he poured himself a glass of water and sat down at the table to drink it slowly, waiting for Li Yifan to come out so they could start eating together.
"Brother, did Mom buy this?" Li Yifan finished washing up and rushed to the dining table, sat down, opened the hot and sour soup box, and started drinking straight from the bowl. "She knows I like this."
Li Yifan vaguely remembered that his mother knocked on the door in the morning to ask him to pick up his aunt, but he had stayed up all night and couldn't get up in the morning.
"Hmm." Xiang Yu drank his soy milk but didn't touch the spicy soup.
"Where's my aunt? Has she arrived yet?" Li Yifan wasn't very familiar with Sun Xiaoli; he only knew about his aunt's profession from his parents.
A female police officer, and supposedly a deputy director-level official, that sounds impressive.
Li Yifan really wanted to meet his aunt.