Chapter Ch95 - [Extra: The High School Exams] Second stop, the podium.
Translator: reiyu; Editor: GlitteryPanda
after Wang Zhuo and He Hao’s love story we’re back to Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng!
A year had passed in the blink of an eye and Lin Feiran’s class of third-year students were now preparing for the high school exams.
Throughout the year, Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng both studied their hardest. During the second and third mock exams, they both passed the cutoff grade for S University, so they were clearly more than capable enough. But no one could be absolutely sure that they could demonstrate this prowess in the actual exam hall, and their goal was to get into the same university, so Lin Feiran decided to borrow the power of the Yin-Yang Eyes at this critical juncture!
A week before the exams, the exam admission tickets were passed out. Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng had been assigned the same exam location, but different exam rooms. So, on the first day of their study leave, they went to the exam venue and found a nearby ghost who seemed well-read and amiable to conversation.
Gu Kaifeng charmed the ghost until the ghost’s head spun in circles, and Lin Feiran promised to help the ghost fulfill wishes they could help with, on the condition that the ghost helped them match up their answers. The ghost agreed to help them with everything.
Lin Feiran said embarrassedly, “Just the multiple choice and the fill-in-the-blanks. For the long-answer questions, just the final answer is fine.”
The ghost, having found a rare opportunity to fulfill his wishes, threw away all semblance of propriety. “Do you need me to look at someone else’s? When the time comes, just tell me who’s a good student and I’ll go look.”
Gu Kaifeng folded his arms and said proudly, “We’re the good students.”
The ghost side-eyed them suspiciously. “……”
Even good students wanted to cheat?!
Lin Feiran waved a hand dismissively. “We don’t need other people’s answers. That’s too unfair. I just want to make sure our grades are about the same, because we want to get into the same university. It won’t do for our scores to be too different.”
Although this was not exactly the right thing to do, between their own conscience and the notion of going to the same university as their boyfriend, they both decisively picked their boyfriend.
Actually, Lin Feiran had come up with the idea of getting a ghost to check answers when he was still in second year and had discussed it with Gu Kaifeng, too. But after struggling with it for a while, they decided to study hard as if the idea had not occurred to them. Firstly, because the old school principal’s severe observation really was terrifying, and using the Yin-Yang Eyes to take shortcuts might have made him grow closer to becoming a fierce ghost every minute. Secondly, they could not cheat all their lives. If they cheated on the high school exams, would they have to cheat in the university exams, too? They would not get a proper education, and how would they continue to cheat once they entered society? In the end, they would only harm themselves. So they had to study, after all.
The ghost agreed to this errand, licked his lips, and said with anticipation, “I want to eat a bucket of fried chicken.”
“All right, I’ll buy it later.” Lin Feiran wrote it down. “Anything else?”
The ghost thought about it, then said, “Burn me a set of Detective Conan comics, too.”
“I’ll go to the bookstore and buy them later,” Lin Feiran said, then gave a friendly reminder. “Conan hasn’t ended yet.”
The ghost nodded, his face somber. “I’ll just pass the time with it. As for the ending, I’ll wait until I reincarnate and read it in my next life.”
Lin Feiran: “……”
This Mr. Ghost was very enlightened.
The ghost made another few small requests, all easy to carry out. Lin Feiran wrote them all down, then went shopping during the afternoon to fulfill the ghost’s checklist of wishes.
When the three days of vacation ended, the high school exams were upon them.
The first subject was literature. In the past, Lin Feiran was most worried about this subject. But in his third year of high school he had improved a lot, and the only headache remaining was his chicken-scratch handwriting. Before they entered their respective exam venues, Gu Kaifeng pulled Lin Feiran into a tight hug and gazed passionately at him. “RanRan.”
Lin Feiran anticipated that his boyfriend was going to make a passionate declaration of love. His little tail wagged hopefully and his eyes were bright.
But Gu Kaifeng said in a somber voice, “Write your essay slowly. Don’t rush. I’ll write an outline for you on scratch paper and let the ghost tell you. Just write according to the outline.”
Lin Feiran: “Mm, all right.”
Gu Kaifeng repeated for emphasis, one word at a time, “Write–your–letters–neatly, baby.”
Lin Feiran glared at him with resentment. “……”
If people could puff themselves up like cats, Lin Feiran’s hair would be sticking straight up.
Gu Kaifeng smiled and ruffled Lin Feiran’s hair, saying gently, “See you in S University.”
Lin Feiran nodded seriously. “Of course.”
In the exam hall, the bribed ghost drifted at Gu Kaifeng’s side, looking at Gu Kaifeng’s paper and reciting, “AACDA……”
After reciting it, Mr. Ghost passed through walls and ceilings to Lin Feiran’s exam hall and said to Lin Feiran, “For questions 1 to 5, he wrote AACDA.”
Money could make the ghost world go round.
Lin Feiran compared them to his own answer sheet; the answers were all the same. So he continued attentively writing his essay, using enough force in every stroke it could be felt on the back of the paper. Unbelievably neatly.
The two nerve-wracking days of exams quickly passed. With Mr. Ghost’s help, Lin Feiran was nearly certain that he and Gu Kaifeng would get into the same university. When he left the exam venue, his spirits were especially high. He rushed downstairs like a gust of wind and saw Gu Kaifeng waiting in the doorway of the classroom building, looking at him. A warm breeze passed through the doorway, carrying with it the scent of grass and trees, making the clothes on Gu Kaifeng’s handsome silhouette drift in the breeze.
Gu Kaifeng opened his arms, very eye-catching in the crowd, his expression open and honest.
Lin Feiran froze in the stairwell. His eyes burned, and something seemed to blossom in his chest as Gu Kaifeng opened his arms. All the blood in his body ran hot, and he dashed over with the speed of a 100m sprint, throwing himself headfirst into Gu Kaifeng’s arms, the impact sending Gu Kaifeng reeling back.
The other exam-taking students did not pay much attention to them. After finishing the high school exams, all sorts of emotions ran high, and a hug was not much. So they kept hugging stubbornly for a long time.
“All right, baby. Mom and dad are waiting anxiously outside.” Daringly, Gu Kaifeng kissed Lin Feiran’s hair lightly amidst the crowd.
“Let’s hug for another count to ten,” Lin Feiran whispered.”
He thought: being able to hug Gu Kaifeng openly felt very good.
Outside the exam venue, both their parents were waiting. Seeing their children walk out side by side was an unexpectedly pleasing sight. Lin Feiran’s mom and Gu Kaifeng’s mom exchanged a friendly look that seemed to see through everything, then each smiled and waved to their child. Due to dorm rules, the students had to pack up their things today, too. Tomorrow morning was the graduation ceremony, so they had to go back to school after finishing their exams.
The classroom building was a mess. The whole floor belonging to the third-year students was unbearable to look at. The corridors and the little garden outside were all covered with torn-up pieces of textbooks and worksheets. From the distant rooftop came the shouts of students venting their feelings. A thunderous cheer suddenly came from one of the classrooms. This was the atmosphere of a country that had overturned their situation and was now liberated.
Lin Feiran returned to the classroom to pack up his remaining things. Seeing him put his notebook into his schoolbag, Gu Kaifeng said, “Shall we tear it up?”
“Let’s not.” Lin Feiran straightened the dog-eared corner of his notebook. His eyes were gentle and held a peaceful happiness. “I actually don’t have that feeling of… being so happy I can’t bear it.”
Gu Kaifeng understood and smiled. “Me too.”
He packed up all his books as he spoke.
When they saw these things again in the future they might even feel some fondness.
They packed up their things. Carrying their respective bags, they walked out of the classroom. When they got to the doorway, Lin Feiran suddenly stopped, turned, and gazed at one last time at every detail of Class 3.4’s classroom. On the blackboard in front of the classroom were written Old Zheng’s class notes. Although everyone complained that he was too strict with his students, no one in Class 4 could bear to erase the notes from his last English class. Childishly and in unison, they wanted to keep the remnants of this last class until they could not be kept any longer. And on the small blackboard at the back of the classroom was Gu Kaifeng’s last board report. His beautiful handwriting still carried a playful and irreverent air, yet the content was unbearably formal. “By scoring a single point higher, we’ll subdue a thousand! Without fighting and striving, Year Three is boring!”
Lin Feiran took a photo of the blackboard with his phone.
Gu Kaifeng’s arm tightened on his waist and he teased, “Taking blackmail photos?”
“Not for blackmail at all. You wrote very well.” Lin Feiran pulled Gu Kaifeng over and took a selfie with him with the classroom as a background.
After taking the photo, Lin Feiran leaned over and kissed Gu Kaifeng’s face, saying, “As long as you’re around, I’m happy every day.”
After the freedom of leaving the exam venue had passed, they weren’t very excited or joyous, but were instead even a little sad.
“Me too.” Gu Kaifeng pulled Lin Feiran into his arms and made him take two steps backward. He pushed Lin Feiran against the podium, caught hold of his chin, and kissed him.
“You…” Lin Feiran’s eyes went wide.
Several classmates were still chatting in the classroom, and they almost screamed out loud at this sudden scene.
“Do you remember.” Gu Kaifeng was worried Lin Feiran would be embarrassed, so after the swift kiss, they separated. With a wicked grin, he bent close to Lin Feiran’s ear and whispered, “Last term, in year two, you kept teasing me knowing I wouldn’t dare touch you in the classroom, and I said that when we’ve graduated I’d press you against the podium and kiss you.”
Lin Feiran instantly recalled it. But he had been wronged. “Who was teasing you? You know that I was doing that for the Yang energy…”
Gu Kaifeng thickened his face and started to be underhanded. “I don’t care.”
Lin Feiran: “……”
Gu Kaifeng added leisurely, “Also, when I was done saying that, you retorted asking why we didn’t go kiss in the principal’s office.”
Lin Feiran calmly started plotting an escape route, then realized sorrowfully that he could not outrun Gu Kaifeng no matter how he tried.
Gu Kaifeng caught his wrist and pulled him outside. “Come on. Second stop: the podium.”
Lin Feiran’s eyes went wide and he shrank back in fright. “Wake up!”
Gu Kaifeng laughed. “Just playing with you.”
Lin Feiran caught hold of Gu Kaifeng’s handsome face and rubbed it thoroughly as if he were kneading flour.