(1)
May 28, 2010, Friday.
Tomorrow is the weekend, but there’s no way to relax.
Because in these days before the Zhong Kao arrives, every day that passes means it’s getting closer and closer. It also means the students are about to face the first major challenge of their lives.
It’s now indoor lunch break. The fan in the classroom is spinning with a whoosh whoosh sound, the warm breeze making everyone drowsy. Teacher Wen Ye’s voice from the podium becomes the best lullaby.
An Jing yawned twice in a row. She slowly reached out and caught Zhu Ying’s chin right before it was about to slam onto the desk.
“Mmm…”
“If you’re sleepy, you can just lie down, right?”
“Mhm…” She didn’t pretend otherwise. After yawning, she rested her little face on An Jing’s palm and closed her eyes with complete peace of mind.
After all, what Wen Ye was saying didn’t really concern her much.
“Hey… don’t use my hand as a pillow… it’s so hot…”
Zhu Ying obviously heard her, but instead of letting go, she wrapped both arms around An Jing’s arm. Even with her eyes closed, the smug smile spilling out from her face was unmistakable.
An Jing helplessly pursed her lips, then simply propped her cheek on her hand and stared at Zhu Ying’s face.
The latter seemed to sense it and opened her eyes. “What are you looking at?”
“At how pretty you are.”
“Ew—so cheesy! Xiao Jing is being cheesy too—”
“Ahem!” Wen Ye on the podium finally couldn’t help but cough. “Those of you preparing for the Zhong Kao, you need to listen carefully. This is very important!”
An Jing met Wen Ye’s gaze and awkwardly pulled her hand back. But she wasn’t nervous. After all, besides their teacher-student relationship, she was also one of the few adults who knew Wen Ye’s secret.
With that shared secret between them, sometimes facing Wen Ye felt as relaxed as facing her own sister…
“The Zhong Kao is on June 15th and 16th. Morning of the first day is Chinese Language, afternoon is Science (three subjects combined). Second day morning is Math, afternoon is English. As for the three subjects of Geography, Government, and History, they’ll be tested early next Monday. Even though it’s an open-book exam, you still need to take it seriously. Especially some students—at least bring your textbooks…”
An Jing nodded lightly, mentally calculating the days until the Zhong Kao. But no matter how she calculated, it was only a little over two weeks away.
What you have to face, you have to face. The only thing that gave her some peace of mind was that she had prepared fairly well. Lately, she studied until midnight every night before sleeping, and in the mornings when she came to school with Zhu Ying, they didn’t waste time—they recited texts and vocabulary in the classroom.
If her grades were good enough, she could even get into a high school in the province capital without taking an entrance exam—just by submitting her Zhong Kao scores.
Otherwise, she’d have to retake another exam, and she might even need to use her father’s connections. That was the situation An Jing least wanted to face.
Given her father’s personality, it might turn into “Without me, you couldn’t even get into high school.” Even if her father didn’t say anything, she’d feel guilty for using privilege. Standing tall and proud on her own merits—that was naturally the best outcome.
After all, that’s what Grandfather had taught her since she was little.
“The exam location for this Zhong Kao is at our school, so you won’t need to go to other schools to familiarize yourselves with the environment. You won’t be too nervous during the exams either.” Wen Ye twisted the chalk in her fingers. “A week before the exams, the specific exam room assignments will come out. You’ll need to remember which classroom your exam room is in. Don’t make mistakes like going to the wrong classroom and wasting time…”
“I’ll wait at the school gate for Xiao Jing to come out.” Zhu Ying chuckled and lowered her voice. “Should I prepare some celebration mini-cakes or something?”
“We’ll talk about that when the Zhong Kao starts. Isn’t there still half a month left?”
“Half a month flies by fast.”
“Also, the school will arrange for everyone to have three days off before the exams. During that time, don’t let yourselves go at home. You still need to review. But by then, reviewing won’t bring much improvement, so use most of the time to rest. Especially those of you who are usually sleepy—use those three days to sleep well, until you’re fully refreshed…”
Just then, the school broadcast sounded in the classroom: “Students of Class 5, Grade 9, please assemble on the playground… Students of Class 5, Grade 9, please assemble on the playground…”
“Alright, now we’re going to take the graduation photo. Everyone line up at the door. Those of you who were sleeping and look messy, go wash your faces quickly. Sun Wei, I’m talking to you. Look at how greasy your face is.”
For most students, this was the only junior high school graduation in their lives. Even those who usually didn’t care about their appearance followed the crowd to the bathroom door, splashed their faces with water, and tried to use water as hair gel to slick their hair like adults.
An Jing leaned on the balcony railing, watching Class 2 students walking back from downstairs. She brushed her now longer hair behind her ear. “Class 2 already took their photo.”
“Yeah, they’re walking back laughing and talking.”
“When we took our elementary school graduation photo, it was like this too. We just laughed and got it done. Back then, graduation was also about half a month away. I thought half a month was a long time. Didn’t understand why we had to take the photo so early.”
“I remember, Xiao Jing was in the other class. When you took your graduation photo, wasn’t there a boy in your class whose pants ripped?”
“Hey, how do you even know about that?”
“Because everyone was talking about it at the time.”
“Yeah, his pants ripped. He had to have his parents bring another pair before he could take the photo with us. There was also a girl who didn’t come on photo day.”
“What happened then? When she got the graduation photo, did she just not take one? Since she wasn’t in the photo anyway.”
“I don’t know. She didn’t come for the next half month. Heard she transferred schools.”
“Pfft, transferring right before graduation?”
“Maybe she repeated sixth grade…”
“If I had to repeat elementary school back then, I absolutely couldn’t do it. I was just thinking every day about graduating and moving up to junior high.”
“What about now? Do you want to hurry up and go to high school?”
“No particular feeling.” Zhu Ying gently combed An Jing’s short hair that the wind had messed up. “It feels like a very plain and natural thing.”
“Maybe only when we look back later will we feel something special?” An Jing lightly tapped her forehead. “When I graduated elementary school, I didn’t really feel anything special either. At most, it was like being liberated.”
“I think it’s mainly because we know even after junior high graduation, we won’t be able to relax in high school.”
“Yeah. In elementary school, I thought junior high students got out at 2 PM…”
“Alright, is everyone here? Sports rep, call roll. Everyone line up. Boys and girls, each in one line—!”
Wen Ye’s voice interrupted their chat. The noisy corridor became even more chaotic.
Come to think of it, since they stopped having PE class, going downstairs for morning assemblies, and doing morning exercises, it had been a long time since they had lined up properly. Some people who used to stand in front were now clearly taller than the classmates behind them…
(2)
By the time Class 5 assembled downstairs, the neighboring Class 4 students were just being arranged to take their graduation photo.
The photo location wasn’t on the playground, but in a basketball court surrounded by a chain-link fence. Class 5 students watched from outside, occasionally pointing and laughing at someone from Class 4, shouting that their expression was weird or their zipper wasn’t done up.
At the vending machine nearby, a man was restocking it with a cart. The cans clinked softly as he loaded them, making an oddly pleasant sound.
“Xiao Jing should stand next to me, right?”
“Boys and girls aren’t standing together…” An Jing scratched her head. “Girls should be in the first row…”
“Then Xiao Jing can stand behind me. That way we can spot the two of us at a glance.”
“Okay.” An Jing nodded lightly. “They’re arranging by height from left to right. Some really tall girls are standing with the boys. Looks like I’ll be on the far left of the second row. After all, there don’t seem to be any boys shorter than me right now…”
“I’m not even the shortest among the girls!”
“You’re only a little taller than me. What are you so proud of, hey…”
“But I can switch positions a little, so I can be right in front of Xiao Jing. It won’t make much difference. Teacher Wen will be flexible, right?”
“I think she definitely wouldn’t mind that kind of request.”
“What, what? What kind of little request wouldn’t I mind?” Wen Ye teased as she leaned in.
“Ahem, A Wen, could you arrange for me and Xiao Ying to be on the same side? Like, me at the far left of the second row, her at the far left of the first row?”
“Oh~ such a small thing, no problem. I can even arrange for you two to stand together.”
“Guys standing in the first row…?”
“What does that matter? Besides, right now you’re only nominally a boy, right?” Wen Ye lowered her voice, giving An Jing a teasing once-over. “Stand together. I’ll grant you that little wish!”
“Thank you, Teacher Wen Wen~!” Zhu Ying winked playfully at An Jing. “Xiao Jing, stand close later, okay?”
“Great. Now I’m definitely going to get teased by A Wei and A Qiang…” An Jing sighed, covering her forehead.
“Next, the last class!”
“Class 5 students, come forward!”
While they were chatting, Class 4 had already finished their graduation photo. The teacher in charge of organizing the photos was now shouting for the students scattered around the basketball court to come in and assemble.
Wen Ye quickly called them over, even calling back a few students who were about to buy drinks from the vending machine.
“Wait until after the photo to buy them. Can’t you wait that long?”
“Class 5, hurry it up!”
“Quick, quick! When I call your name, stand where I’m pointing. First, Zhu Ying! Second, An Jing!”