Chapter 75 - Enthusiastic Candidate
The Lively Family chat group.
A Blossoming Voice: @Yan Ting 100 days have passed.
After saying one month, a few months had actually passed. Zhao Zhao was about to take the university entrance examination and Yan Ting hadn’t told Zhao Zhao his true identity yet.
This big boss, why didn’t he have the nerve to speak?
The person who usually found time to reply to Li Zhao’s messages actually didn’t show up in the group for two hours this time. Zhu Xia knew that he was deliberately avoiding her but her courage wasn’t big enough to find him for a private chat.
A Better Tomorrow: Sister Xia, what do you mean by 100 days? Are you talking about Zhao Zhao’s university entrance examination? There is only a week left and Xiao Yan is accompanying Zhao Zhao to do papers every day. I know you are worried about the test scores but you can’t pressure him like this.
First Make 100 Million: Yes Sister Xia, we are parents and we can’t place too much psychological pressure on the candidate.
Lin Lin: Sister Xia, the university entrance examination is approaching. Mr Ting might be accompanying Zhao Zhao to do homework and doesn’t have time to read the group messages.
The Lively Family chat group was built after the barbecue party. The six people gathered in the group every day to chat about some small things. They were never lacking topics.
In the morning, they talked about the price of pork and at night, it was possible to talk about the price/performance ratio of cars. It was very lively. By the time Li Zhao looked at the group, Sister Xia’s message to Yan Ting had long been drowned out by hundreds of chat records.
“Sister Xia is chatting with Lin Lin about a new red lipstick again.” Li Zhao really couldn’t tell what the difference between rouge red and sunset red was and put the simulation questions on the table. “I will answer some more questions.”
In the past few days, there had been mainly shoots with supporting roles. Li Zhao suspected that Director Yang knew he was taking the university entrance examination and deliberately vacated the time before the examination, but there was no evidence for this speculation.
Yan Ting nodded to Li Zhao and while Li Zhao wasn’t paying attention, he opened Zhu Xia’s chat box.
Yan Ting: I’ll do it once the university entrance examination is over. I don’t want to influence Zhao Zhao’s performance because of something less important.
The world was big and the university entrance examination was the biggest. Yan Ting’s reasoning was impeccable and Zhu Xia couldn’t refute it.
Most importantly, she heard Li Zhao bragging every day in the group about how powerful Yan Ting was when answering questions. Zhu Xia felt that it wasn’t good to have a showdown so early. If Zhao Zhao fell out with Yan Ting because of this, where could he find such an excellent free tutor?
For the sake of his children’s achievements, Sister Xia became an unscrupulous parent.
On the evening of June 5th, Li Zhao only shot two or three scenes before being rushed home by Director Yang, who asked him to return to filming on the 10th.
“Zhao Zhao, wait.” Xiang Zhen called out to Li Zhao. When the rest of the crew weren’t paying attention, he handed Li Zhao an eraser. “Take this. This is what I asked my assistant to buy from a Taoist monastery.”
Li Zhao looked at it. The eraser was covered with poor quality paint and there was the words ‘high school champion’ printed on them.
“Thank you Brother.” It might be superstitious but the heart was the most important thing.
“Zhao Zhao, I’ll cheer for you.” Director Yang came over and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be too stressed. Your acting is good and your future is endless. Things such as the entrance examination results are just icing on the cake.”
“Rest assured, the people in the crew are the only ones who know you are taking the university entrance examination.”
The implication was that even if he did badly on the exam, the outside world wouldn’t know and he shouldn’t feel ashamed.
“Thank you, Director Yang.” Li Zhao received the blessings of the crew and returned home.
That night, Yan Ting didn’t give him any papers to do but had him rest early. The next day, all the meals he ate were light.
“The weather is hot and eating things with a heavy taste can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort.” The chef auntie was extremely creative and the food she cooked for him were all auspicious. Many dishes related to being poor or falling had disappeared from the table.
The most exaggerated thing was that a housekeeping staff surnamed Sun asked for leave. It was because his surnamed called to mind Sun Shan (who came in last in the imperial examination) and the meaning wasn’t good.
The entire household was feeling tension and Li Zhao didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. He even doubted who was the one going to take the university entrance examination.
Compared with these people, Ting Ting was more normal. He didn’t give strange things or take him to worship God or Buddha. he was the calmest and most scientific parent.
The night before the entrance examination, Zhu Xia asked for leave and it was soon approved.
“Sister Xia, are you taking two days off?” After witnessing the boss calling Zhu Xia by ‘Sister Xia’, this colleague was extremely affectionate and warm to Zhu Xia. She saw that the workaholic Zhu Xia actually took time off and was surprised.
“My brother will take the university entrance examination tomorrow. I want to wait outside the examination room.”
“Special Assistant Qin said that the boss won’t come to the company tomorrow.” The colleague whispered. “Are you and the boss sending the same person to the exam?”
Zhu Xia smiled and didn’t speak.
The colleague didn’t ask again and smiled. “I wish for your brother to get top marks in the examination.”
***
On June 7th, people all over the country were waiting for the annual university entrance examination.
Cars passing near the major examination rooms didn’t dare press on their horns and there were enthusiastic drivers sending the candidates to the examination rooms for free.
The media crouched around to see if any strange candidates would appear this year.
The marketing account employees were sitting in front of their computers and started to write articles related to the university entrance examination, fighting for traffic and striving to win the high ground.
The moment Li Zhao woke up, the housekeeper uncle was nagging and checking the examination documents a few times to avoid forgetting important items.
After breakfast, Yan Ting personally sent him to the examination room.
“Today’s car seems a bit different.”
“Yes.”
The car to drive to the examination room was waiting outside. Li Zhao looked at the license plate and the three 6s. The car brand was a red flag.
Winning a victory by raising the flag and 666?
He was wrong. He thought Ting Ting was the only normal person regarding the university entrance examination. He didn’t expect Ting Ting to be unusually low-key so that Li Zhao didn’t discover it for a while.
There were many parents sending the candidates and vehicles coming and going. After Yan Ting got out of the car, he was submerged in the tide of parents.
“Mr Ting.” Zhu Xia’s cry could be heard from among the crowd. Yan Ting headed to a corner and found Zhu Xia.
“Mr Ting, Zhao Zhao has entered the examination room?” Zhu Xia stood on tiptoes, trying to see Li Zhao’s back among the countless candidates.
“Yes.”
“Then let’s sit nearby for a while. “ Zhu Xia took Yan Ting to the tea house across the street. The decorations of the tea house carried an obvious student style and the major consumer group should be students.
However, today the store mainly consisted of anxious parents.
“Zhou Ming couldn’t ask for leave and Chen Xiaojun is coming at noon.” Zhu Xia helped Yan Ting order a cup of hot milk. “Zhao Zhao doesn’t like you drinking tea or coffee so I can only order this for you.”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s fine.”
In terms of eating and drinking, Yan Ting wasn’t picky about food because he wasn’t hungry for food.
“Thank you for encouraging Zhao Zhao to take the university entrance examination.” After a moment of silence, Zhu Xia took the initiative to speak. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, I wanted to do it.”
“Zhao Zhao is taking the university entrance examination. “Zhu Xia took a sip of water. “In school, his grades were always very good. Every time there was a test, he was in the top three. If it wasn’t for my illness, he would’ve been in university now.”
“For the past three months, I have been thinking that maybe everything is predestined by heaven.” Zhu Xia laughed at herself. “Everyone’s encounters and fate are destined.”
If it wasn’t for fate, how could two people with such different identities be as close as they were today?
Yan Ting heard the bell ringing. It was the bell to remind candidates that the exam was about to begin and the teacher was going to check the candidates’ credentials.
***
Li Zhao sat in the examination room and put on a mask. The reason was that he had a cold and didn’t want to infect other candidates.
The invigilators need to examine the documents and check if the appearance of the student was consistent with the admission tickets. Thus, once the preparation bell rang, all candidates needed to remove anything that covered their facial features.
The invigilator stared at Li Zhao’s face for a few seconds. After confirming that the candidate was an actor on TV, he took a deep breath and continued to check the next candidate’s ID.
Fortunately, candidates could now wear masks when entering the examination room and Li Zhao had no intention of attracting other candidates’ attention. Otherwise, it was unknown how many students would be affected in today’s examination room.
In the first language test, the candidates filled out the paper regardless of whether they were capable of not.
The invigilator secretly watched Li Zhao wearing the mask and bowing his head to answer the question. He couldn’t help wondering how Li Zhao, a big star, had come to do the university entrance examination?
There were several young artists taking the examination this year but the reporter’s list didn’t have Li Zhao’s name.
Perhaps he didn’t dare to speak because he was afraid the test result would be too bad?
At the end of the language exam, Li Zhao adjusted his mask and the candidate next to him asked, “Dude, you answer the questions very quickly just now. Why school did this top student come from?”
Li Zhao shook his head and hurried out.
“Hey, wait, we can discuss the questions…” Before he finished, the other person had already gone.
The candidate, “……”
It seemed that this classmate didn’t do very well and he shouldn’t bother the classmate.
***
Li Zhao was walking towards the gate when he was stopped by a reporter. It was presumably because he was wearing a mask that appeared out of line with the students around him. As an enthusiastic citizen and an enthusiastic trash collector, it wasn’t a big step to become an enthusiastic candidate. Li Zhao adapted well.
“This classmate, excuse me, are you a student taking the university entrance examination?”
Li Zhao looked at the transparent bag with the entrance examination stationery in his hand and then back at the reporter. He felt that the other person had asked a very useless question.
“There are many candidates who said that the essay question this time is very difficult and it is easy to get the central idea confused in the reading comprehension. What do you think?”
“It’s okay, the main line was quite clear.” The candidate wearing the mask nodded. “If this is the difficulty of this year’s university entrance examination then I think it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
The reporter, “……”
Young man, you are so pretentious that I can’t refute it.
Fortunately, the reporter was anxious about the candidate’s mentality and didn’t dare ask too much. He soon ended the interview. In the crowd, Li Zhao saw Yan Ting standing under the hot sun with Zhu Xia and Chen Xiaojun.
The three of them stood there in the sun and didn’t feel hot. They all smiled as soon as they saw him. Even Ting Ting, who never laughed, waved at him. The moment Li Zhao saw them, he didn’t feel hot at all and he ran towards them.
The three of them didn’t ask Li Zhao how he didn’t on the test. They accompanied Li Zhao to the nearest hotel to eat and sleep. The three of them set the alarm clocks on their phones in order to not be late.
Before the afternoon mathematics exam was over, some candidates fainted in the examination room and were carried out by the invigilator. The doctor and nurse then carried them to the ambulance.
Looking at this scene, many parents had white faces. The examination time wasn’t over but some candidates left one after another. Some people were frustrated and some were confident. The TV reporter waited at the gates and questioned the first students to leave the school.
Then he met a candidate wearing a mask. Although the other person had changed clothes and even his mask was changed to a white one, the reporter recognized the candidate when their eyes met.
“Student, what a coincidence.” The reporter came to him. “The moment the examination room opens, you came outside. Are you in a hurry to go home instead of reviewing the question?”
“Today’s weather is hot and my family is still waiting outside. “ The candidate’s tone is sincere. “It is too late to review now. I just want to finish faster and come out early so I can go back with my family who are waiting outside. This way, they don’t have to suffer as much.”
“It seems that your parents are very concerned about you. Do you have confidence in your math scores?”
“It should be okay. In any case, it is already done.” The candidate sighed. “I did my best and will listen to destiny.”
I did my best and will listen to destiny.
It was either a learning scum or a learning tyrant who could say this. The former was shameless while the latter was strong enough.
The author has something to say:
The kindergarten teacher found Baby Ting Ting carrying a small school bag and crouching in the sun so she went up to him and inquired about the reason.
Baby Ting Ting: Zhao Zhao is taking a test. I have to wait for him outside or he will be afraid alone.