The end of the monthly exams usually heralded the joy of the National Day holiday, but the exam-setters at No. 1 High School seemed loath to let the youngsters head off in high spirits. The questions they had prepared were exceptionally difficult.
After the mathematics exam, a large portion of the student body looked utterly wilted. The following day, they endured the further devastation of the English and Comprehensive Arts exams, leaving the entirety of Class 2 shrouded in a gloom of misery.
"Lin Murun, how did you do?" Li Qian asked listlessly.
"Not too well," Lin Murun replied as he organized his holiday assignments.
"But you don't look panicked at all. That doesn't seem like someone who did poorly." Li Qian thought for a moment and asked, "Did you manage to solve the math bonus question? I didn't even know where to start!"
"I didn't do the very last sub-question," Lin Murun answered.
"What about the rest?" Hearing that even Lin Murun hadn't finished it, Li Qian’s spirits instantly lifted.
Lin Murun recalled for a moment. "The rest were standard question types."
Well then. It seemed there was a significant gap between what a top student meant by "not too well" and what an ordinary person understood by the phrase.
Li Qian slumped against her desk and sighed for a while, having lost all motivation to do her homework.
In the back row, although Yu Qianyi was holding a pen, she was looking around like a restless monkey. She checked the wall clock every three minutes, her heart having long since flown out of the classroom.
When the bell finally rang, the two girls instantly energized, grabbed their pre-packed bags, and bolted.
The moment the bell finished tolling, the classroom and the corridors erupted like a boiling pot.
"Be careful on your way home!" their homeroom teacher, Mr. Li, stood at the door to remind the students. "The holiday is only three days long. If you just play and don't do your homework, see how I deal with you!"
"We know, we know!" the students answered with laughs and jests as they packed their things.
"I'm treating everyone to BBQ tomorrow. Are you coming?" Shen Hao turned to ask Zhou Xuan.
"Huh?" Zhou Xuan took off his headphones. "Yeah, I'm in. Why wouldn't I come if there's food?"
"Perfect. Including you, that's twelve people. We can get a private room at that new BBQ place." Shen Hao calculated as he reminded him, "Seven o'clock tomorrow night, don't be late!"
"Thanks." Zhou Xuan looked up and happened to meet Lin Murun's gaze.
"Is Lin Murun going?" Zhou Xuan asked Shen Hao.
Shen Hao seemed to only just remember the transfer student. He scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Look at my memory. Lin Murun, are you free tomorrow night?"
"I have to go to a music store tomorrow evening," Lin Murun replied politely. "I'll treat you guys next time."
"Sure thing!" Shen Hao replied with a smile. "We'll be waiting for your treat then!"
The classroom was chaotic. Interrupted by the small episode of the invitation, Lin Murun’s mind was no longer on his studies. Since staying would be a waste of time, he simply packed his bag, said goodbye to Shen Hao and Zhou Xuan, and prepared to leave. Just as he stood up, he received a WeChat message from Lin Qingqing.
The gist of the message was that Uncle Lin had evening self-study duty today, and Aunt Lin happened to be working overtime, so the two cousins would likely have to take the bus home by themselves.
Lin Murun replied to her, then carried his bag to Science Class 1 at the other end of the corridor.
The hallway was crowded with students who had just finished their evening session. When Lin Murun arrived outside Science Class 1, Lin Qingqing hadn't come out yet. He peeked inside and saw her still packing her bag, so he stood outside the door to wait.
Lin Murun had very fair skin and refined features. Even standing expressionless in the corridor, he drew the attention of several girls from Science Class 1. They whispered and giggled among themselves, only to realize that none of them knew who this handsome guy was.
"Excuse me, who are you looking for?" one girl asked boldly, stepping forward.
"Lin Qingqing," Lin Murun replied.
"She found a new boyfriend that fast?" one girl muttered.
Lin Murun glanced at her and said calmly, "I'm her cousin."
"Ah?" The girl’s face turned beet red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
Just then, Lin Qingqing came out with her backpack. As soon as she stepped out of the classroom, she saw Lin Murun in the corridor and waved to him with a smile. "Hi! Handsome, I'm here!"
One of the bolder girls asked, "Qingqing, how come we've never heard you mention your cousin before?"
"I'm not helping anyone pass notes!" Lin Qingqing saw through her intentions and joked, "If you want to be my sister-in-law, go ask for his contact info yourself." With that, she grabbed Lin Murun and ran off like a gust of wind.
"Hahahahaha!" After walking out of the school gates, the girl laughed loudly while looking at her phone. "Brother! Someone took a secret photo of you! You're on the school's Confession Wall!"
"Are you in a relationship?" Lin Murun turned and asked.
"Uh..." Lin Qingqing’s laughter suddenly cut short. She looked left and right, then said sheepishly, "More or less..."
Lin Murun nodded and then asked, "Which class is he in?"
"He's not from our school..." The girl blushed and stammered, "It's Wu Yichen from Liberal Arts Class A at the Experimental High School. We met at a birthday party."
"You only met once?" Lin Murun frowned slightly.
"No, no, no!" Lin Qingqing explained hurriedly. "We've known each other since tenth grade. we only got together last week. He's a really good person, truly! And he's very handsome."
"And... and..." Lin Qingqing hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Even though we haven't told anyone else, we've promised to get into the same university. I'm going to study medicine, and he's going to study law."
"Brother, we're serious, it's not just kids playing around." Seeing that Lin Murun remained silent, Lin Qingqing pleaded in a low voice, "Please don't tell Mom and Dad, okay? I won't let the relationship affect my studies."
"Okay." Lin Murun patted her hair. "I won't say anything, but you must protect yourself. If anything makes you unhappy, you can tell me."
"Brother, you're the best!" Lin Qingqing’s eyes lit up, and she began to chatter away, listing all her boyfriend's good qualities.
She talked the whole way, and Lin Murun listened the whole way, offering his own advice from time to time.
By the time they reached the entrance of their residential complex, it was nearly nine-thirty. In a great mood, Lin Qingqing bought a bunch of grilled skewers and a bowl of shredded chicken porridge for Uncle Lin to take home.
Uncle Lin was already home. As soon as he opened the door and saw Lin Qingqing still talking non-stop, he asked with a smile, "What's made you so happy?"
"It's the holiday! We have three days off." Lin Qingqing handed the porridge to Uncle Lin. "For you."
Uncle Lin took the porridge and stepped aside to let the two children in to change their shoes.
"I heard your monthly exams are over?" Uncle Lin asked as they entered.
It was fine until he mentioned it; the moment he did, Lin Qingqing’s face fell. "Dad, we were just being happy. Can we not mention the monthly exams?"
"What's the matter? Did you not do well?" Uncle Lin asked.
"The questions were quite difficult," Lin Murun replied.
"Not 'quite' difficult, they were 'extremely' difficult!" Lin Qingqing corrected.
Uncle Lin nodded and asked again, "Did you finish all the questions you knew how to do?"
"Well, I finished those. For the ones I didn't know, I just had to guess," Lin Qingqing sighed. "The multiple-choice ones were okay, but for the fill-in-the-blanks and the big problems, I can only leave it to fate."
Uncle Lin laughed and patted the two children on the shoulders, leading them to sit on the sofa. "Then let's not talk about studies today. You two top students work hard usually; let's relax tonight. We'll have a late-night snack and watch a movie, how about that?"
Lin Qingqing gave Uncle Lin a loud "mwah" on the cheek and shuffled off in her slippers to the kitchen to get chopsticks and disposable gloves.
"What do you want to watch, Runrun?" Uncle Lin asked as he turned on the TV.
"Anything is fine with me," Lin Murun replied.
"Then you choose." Uncle Lin smiled and handed him the remote.
Lin Murun searched for a bit and clicked on one. "Let's watch this."
It was a movie Lin Qingqing had been constantly mentioning she wanted to see.
The three of them turned off the lights and sat on the sofa, eating and watching the film.
It was an arthouse film with a very slow narrative pace. By the end, Uncle Lin had drifted off to sleep. Lin Qingqing, however, was wide awake, skewers in hand, her eyes glued to the screen.
Lin Murun’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a WeChat message from Si Bin:
"A classmate is having a birthday on the 2nd. Do you want to come over and hang out?"
"Which classmate?" Lin Murun replied.
"Wu Yichen from Experimental High School. You probably don't know him," Si Bin replied.
Lin Murun looked at Lin Qingqing beside him, typed "Okay," and hit send.
