(1)
June 15, 2010, Tuesday.
It wasn’t too early, at least not for An Jing, who usually arrived at school at six o’clock.
It was nearly seven, and the school, serving as an exam venue, hadn’t opened yet. The usually newspaper-reading Uncle Security Guard was uncharacteristically fully armed, holding a rubber baton and a riot shield behind the electric sliding door. Every time a teacher passed by, he would bow attentively and say with a smiling face, “Good morning, Teacher.”
A few students were scattered at the gate. Some held foam lunch boxes, slurping chow mein; some swung plastic bags of steamed buns vigorously but didn’t eat; others sat on the flower bed at the entrance, staring blankly at the familiar classroom building, not knowing whether they were thinking about the exam points or what would happen after the exam.
An Jing’s breakfast today was made by Minghui Yu herself—a rye sandwich with beef. The texture was coarse, and the portion wasn’t large, but for An Jing, who had little appetite today, it was just right.
“Is this enough to eat?” Zhu Ying, holding a yogurt, was *slurping* it loudly and tilted her head in confusion.
“Huihui Jie said this is enough. If I eat too much, I’ll get sleepy later…” An Jing put the last piece of the sandwich into her mouth and very naturally took the other yogurt that Zhu Ying handed over. “More and more people are gathering.”
“However, it’s not open until eight. Even if we come early, we just have to wait around here.”
“Are you going back later?”
“Yeah, and I’ll bring you the lunch that Huihui Jie made.” Zhu Ying stretched lazily, tilted her head to look at An Jing who was slurping the yogurt, and gently smoothed the disheveled hair at her temples.
“Are you sleepy? If you are, sleep on my lap for a while.”
“Not really. I think it’s better to review some classical Chinese texts to warm up.” An Jing said, taking out a textbook from her bag. Studying at this point had little effect, but it was more to put her mind at ease.
Although the surroundings gradually became noisy, An Jing, sitting with Zhu Ying, felt as if she had entered a small world just for the two of them, completely unaffected by the outside noise.
“Yo, here early?” Soon, a voice brought An Jing, immersed in her small world, back to reality. She looked up and saw a spirited young woman with a cheerful tone standing beside her, blocking half the sunlight.
“Teacher Wen, you’re here.”
“Yeah, I’m checking if you guys forgot anything before entering the exam venue, like admission tickets and stationery.” Wen Ye smiled and nodded. “You shouldn’t have forgotten anything, right?”
“I don’t think so… but I’d better check. If I really forgot, I can still buy it at the store.” An Jing muttered, put her bag on her lap, opened the zipper, and carefully checked several times. After confirming it was fine, she nodded. “I think I have everything…”
“What, a little nervous?”
“A little…”
“Being a bit nervous before the exam is good, as long as you don’t overdo it.” Wen Ye chewed gum and casually brushed her bangs. “After the exam, you can relax. It won’t be as carefree as high school seniors—but it’ll definitely be a summer break to remember.”
“Thinking I’ll have to take this exam again in three years…” An Jing rubbed her temples. “I wish I could finish all the exams at once. Ideally, this would be the college entrance exam…”
“The path is walked step by step. Once you’ve gone through it, you’ll realize how fast these years pass—well, of course, they’re also fulfilling.”
Zhu Ying tilted her head, about to say something, when a harsh voice came from not far away.
The three of them simultaneously turned to look. They saw a mother standing beside an electric scooter, pointing at her son and shouting, spraying spittle: “Do you know today is your most important day? So what if the gate isn’t open? Will it kill you to come early and wait? Can you take it seriously? This is a day that decides your fate! I’ve worried myself sick for you, yet you don’t care at all!”
Such parents are actually common. After listening for a moment, everyone turned their attention elsewhere.
Wen Ye shook her head helplessly: “Fate isn’t decided that easily.”
“Yeah.” Qiu Yi, carrying the class sign, walked over. His ordinary face wore a kind smile. “If failing the high school entrance exam means the rest of your life is a failure, then that life is too pathetic—it’s a single-plank bridge with no choices.”
“Ah, Teacher Qiu, hello…” “Hello, Teacher Qiu~”
“Haha, I’m not a teacher anymore, so it feels weird to be called that.” Qiu Yi put the class sign on the ground and glanced back at the junior high student being scolded into a corner. “Kids these days are really having a tougher time.”
“Yeah, teaching has become less interesting too. It’s like being a worker on an assembly line.” Wen Ye shook her head. “I wonder if Mo Kong’s place is still the same as before.”
“Under the pressure of reality, it’s not easy to maintain that kind of teaching philosophy, right?” “Yeah, it’s not easy for anyone…”
An Jing blinked but didn’t ask who they were talking about. She needed to use her brain to remember exam-related things and avoid being “polluted” by other things.
“Good morning, Teacher Ye!”
“Zhou Chao, you’re here.”
“Yeah.” “Looking energetic?”
“I slept at four yesterday and woke up at seven. I’ve never been this energetic.” “Zhou Chao! We’re in the same exam room.”
“Yeah, what, you want to copy? That’s probably not going to happen.” Zhou Chao glanced sideways at Sun Wei, who was running over.
“Hey, what if there’s a chance…”
“Forget it, I don’t want to repeat the year with you.”
“Damn, that’s not loyal!”
“A Qiang is here too.” An Jing looked at Fang Qiang walking over. He didn’t even carry a bag, his hair was a mess, hands in his pockets. He didn’t look like he was here for an exam, more like passing by to buy breakfast.
But honestly, he was just here to participate. Whether he came or not didn’t matter much, since he wouldn’t get into any high school anyway.
To go to a vocational school or technical school, he didn’t need the exam scores.
“Yo, here for the excitement?” Zhou Chao patted his shoulder.
“Yeah, just for the excitement, to experience the atmosphere.” “Have you decided what to do after graduation?”
“Work at a construction site, maybe learn a trade while at it.” Fang Qiang yawned, making his nose hair more noticeable. “I might go with my dad.”
“Father and son fight together on the battlefield.” Sun Wei joked.
“Working with your own dad might not be so bad.” Zhou Chao turned to look at the increasingly busy road. “Haven’t they opened the gate yet? It’s about to get crowded.”
“Opens at eight, we just wait.”
“So annoying…”
As they spoke, a few more electric scooters sped up and stopped at the school gate. A car slowly approached. Even after stopping, it didn’t turn off the rumbling engine, adding more heat to the already warm morning.
“I’m even feeling a bit nervous. Good thing I don’t have to take the exam anymore…”
“High school entrance exam… It’s been years since I felt this atmosphere.” Wen Ye sighed softly. “Time flies. Every year new people come. New people replace the old.”
“Who says it isn’t?”
(2)
Outside the classroom, the proctor was standing at the door checking each student’s ID and having them place their bags together by the podium.
Students lined up orderly, moving forward bit by bit.
An Jing’s exam room was in Class Five, but standing in the hallway, she felt everything in front of her was so unfamiliar.
She let her gaze cross the railing, landing on the camphor trees outside the building, on the flowerless flowerbeds, on the bustling crowd outside the sliding gate, and on the police cars farther away maintaining order…
The first day of exams was about to begin.
But she felt as if she no longer belonged here.
The electric sliding gate looked unfamiliar no matter how she looked at it, but she couldn’t recall what the old iron gate looked like.
The paint that was just applied during winter break seemed dirty and peeling again.
Some corners of the new tiles were chipped, the sign for Class Five was a bit crooked, and the window above the door was covered with handprints from boys jumping to slap them… In front of adolescent children, everything in the school seemed especially fragile.
“ID, please.”
“Ah…” An Jing snapped out of her daze and quickly handed over the prepared ID.
After carefully comparing the information on the document, the other person asked with some doubt, “…Male?”
“Yeah…”
“Hmm… go on in.” The person nodded and drew a circle after An Jing’s name on the list, probably meaning to have someone double-check later.
An Jing slowly moved into the exam room. There were some students from other schools around her.
Yes, not only students from No. 2 Middle School were taking exams here; some students from other schools were also here.
She quickly glanced at the students already seated, only recognizing a few familiar faces from the neighboring classes, but they were just familiar.
“There’s no one from my own class…” An Jing muttered as she sat down, spreading her stationery on the desk. The exam hadn’t started yet; another proctor was unsealing the test papers on the podium.
There were still ten-odd minutes… These ten minutes seemed exceptionally long.
Then, everything changed the moment the exam bell rang.
The originally slow-flowing time became fast, like a faucet valve twisted several extra turns. When An Jing came back from that tense and focused state—
She had already put a… not-so-round period on the last sentence of her essay.