Xin Hexue felt that his blood type was somewhat annoying, as it attracted mosquitoes too much.
“Buzz buzz buzz…”
“Buzz buzz buzz…”
All-around, surround-sound buzzing.
He brandished the weapon in his hand.
“Pa! Pa! Pa!
Blue-purple electric currents flashed, frying the annoying mosquitoes to a crisp.
Xin Hexue breathed a sigh of relief, stopped, and plucked two purple grapes from the fruit plate. With fewer pests, even the fruit tasted sweeter.
“Buzz buzz buzz…”
Unnoticed, they came back.
The grape between his fingertips was suddenly squeezed until it split, juicy pulp dripping stickily over his knuckles.
He went to the kitchen, washed his hands thoroughly, dried them with a towel, and ran to Zhuang Tongguang’s door. “Big Brother…”
Suddenly, he noticed something wrong. “Huh?”
Xin Hexue’s movements paused. The doorknob in his hand actually made a click-clack sound of the lock not turning.
Zhuang Tongguang had locked the door?
Because of what those classmates said?
But he wouldn’t sneak in to play with Zhuang Tongguang’s game cartridges and break them.
Besides, Zhuang Tongguang didn’t even play games.
Xin Hexue knew very well that his brother was a serious, steady child whose only hobbies besides reading were kicking a soccer ball around.
“I’m here.”
Zhuang Tongguang responded quickly.
Faint rustling sounds came from inside the room, sounding somewhat flustered, like hastily covering a book.
The next second, Zhuang Tongguang pulled the door open from inside. Appearing before him was a face wearing black, square-framed glasses, combining the best features of both parents’ appearances, with sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, and a tall, straight nose bridge. The glasses were fitted on the spot at an optical shop in the mall during the New Year.
After starting high school, Zhuang Tongguang’s uncorrected vision had declined. Plus, because of his height, his seat was assigned in the back row of the classroom, and he couldn’t see the teacher’s writing on the blackboard clearly.
Zhuang Tongguang’s throat tightened, his jawline sharp and distinct. He explained to Xin Hexue, “I was just changing clothes.”
Regarding the locked door.
Xin Hexue’s sensitive nerves had already detected that something was wrong.
If he was hurriedly opening the door while changing clothes, why was he wearing his glasses?
And the sounds he heard weren’t consistent with that.
However, he didn’t expose his brother’s lie. Xin Hexue glanced into the room, “Big Brother, is the electric mosquito repellent liquid in your room? I couldn’t find it in the living room.”
Zhuang Tongguang frowned, “Isn’t it in the cupboard?”
He came out of his room. The TV in the living room, covered with a fine white crocheted lace dust cover, was still playing programs incessantly.
Zhuang Tongguang rummaged through the cabinets for a while and finally found the mosquito repellent liquid in a basket under the low table that held medicines.
It was unknown who stuffed it in there.
“Found it.” Zhuang Tongguang smiled faintly.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his younger brother coming out of his room holding a book and momentarily forgot he was still leaning under the table, bumping the back of his head.
“Big Brother?” Xin Hexue asked worriedly, “Are you okay?”
He waved the book in his hand, “I couldn’t find a book. Turns out I left it in your room the other day when I took a nap.”
Xin Hexue’s room got a lot of afternoon sun, heating the walls until they seemed to breathe heat, so he often sneaked into Zhuang Tongguang’s room to cool off.
“Mm.” Zhuang Tongguang seemed to relax, patting the dust off his pants. “It’s good that you found it. I also found the electric mosquito repellent liquid.”
He then reminded, “School starts tomorrow. You should go to bed early.”
It was almost 11 PM now, and Xin Zhiying and Zhuang Ping had already gone back to their rooms to sleep. According to usual habits, Xin Hexue shouldn’t still be up this late either.
Zhuang Tongguang sensed something unusual.
‘Could it be that the news about Father being laid off hadn’t been kept from Xin Hexue?’
Xin Hexue was young, and with the high school entrance exam coming up, the family didn’t intend to distract him with these matters.
Zhuang Tongguang asked tentatively, “Is there something on your mind?”
Xin Hexue shook his head, thought for a moment, then confessed, “I haven’t told Lu Yang yet… about going to No. 1 High School.”
After all, this was a big deal. He and Lu Yang hadn’t been separated for long periods since kindergarten, let alone for three years of high school in different schools. Xin Hexue was worried that telling him would make his good friend sad. There was a bit of an escapist mentality, so he hadn’t gone to find Lu Yang.
Plus, Lu Yang was probably catching up on homework at home these past few days and hadn’t come looking for him either. With school starting tomorrow, he felt a wave of anxiety tonight and couldn’t sleep.
For people their age, besides family relationships and academic performance, any ripple in friendship was a big event.
Zhuang Tongguang didn’t know how to advise him, he was also just a teenager. After thinking it over, he said, “Do you want me to go talk to him for you?”
Xin Hexue shook his head, “I’ll find a chance to tell him tomorrow.”
“Big Brother, you should go to sleep.”
“Mm,good night.”
“Good night.”
Lying in bed, with the lights off and eyes closed, he could faintly hear the croaking of frogs from the distant suburbs, hidden in the vast rice paddies of the eastern outskirts.
Xin Hexue felt a sense of foreboding in his heart. His intuition had always been accurate, and a feeling of unease rose within him.
Will something happen tomorrow?
………
On the first day of school, Xin Hexue and Zhuang Tongguang ate the plain noodle soup made by Xin Zhiying, put on their backpacks, and changed their shoes at the entrance.
“Mom, I’m going to school.”
“Auntie, goodbye.”
As soon as Xin Hexue stepped into the corridor, he heard Lu Yang shouting his name excitedly from downstairs, “Xin Hexue, school’s starting, come down quickly!”
The door of the neighbor’s house next door opened, and Lin Oufei’s mother reminded from inside, “Don’t forget the milk on the cabinet by the door.”
Lin Oufei grabbed a carton of milk and said calmly, “Okay, Mom, I’m leaving now.”
He turned and closed the door, directly shoved the milk into Xin Hexue’s hand, and went down the stairs two or three steps at a time in his sneakers.
Xin Hexue stared blankly at the Guangming milk in his hand: “Lin Oufei, I’ve already had breakfast.”
He hurriedly chased after him, grabbing the other party’s backpack strap.
Lin Oufei glanced at him, “I’m already tall enough, and I’ll keep growing even without drinking milk.”
Xin Hexue: “…?”
Lin Oufei was really rude.
It was just that he couldn’t do strenuous exercise, unlike them who played basketball all the time during P.E. class, so he grew a bit slower.
Xin Hexue was already 1.7 meters tall. Objectively speaking, among boys his age excluding Lin Oufei and Lu Yang, he couldn’t be considered short by any means.
Moreover, his bones were flexible and he hadn’t finished growing yet, so he would definitely continue to get taller.
Lu Yang saw them coming downstairs and rushed forward like a gust of wind, slinging his arms around their shoulders, “What are you two dawdling for? Let’s go.”
The tube-shaped buildings faced each other, sandwiching a bright, wide avenue in between. Every morning at this time, the street was filled with the constant ringing of bicycle bells.
It only took a ten-minute walk from home to the affiliated middle school. Even walking leisurely, Xin Hexue and the others arrived early. However, the high school section of Lingzhou City No.1 Middle School was much farther away. Zhuang Tongguang had to ride his bike for over half an hour, so he left ahead of them on his bicycle.
The blue-and-white uniform of No.1 Middle School gradually disappeared into the flowing crowd filled with green-and-white uniforms.
Lu Yang suddenly realized, “Why does No.1 Middle School’s uniform look so much better in comparison?”
Xin Hexue’s expression froze for a moment, his eyes flickering, and he mumbled: “Hmm… they seem about the same.”
“Not at all!” Lu Yang said, stroking his chin in thought, “Don’t you think we look like scallions in the affiliated middle school uniforms.”
Xin Hexue frowned, his face showing difficulty, “…”
Lu Yang: “Looking at it this way, the classroom is a vegetable garden.”
Lin Oufei interrupted his imagination, “Did you finish all your homework?”
“Of course.” Lu Yang said confidently, “I didn’t copy the answers, I finished it all myself and even checked and graded it myself. Just wait, in this crucial semester, I’m going to make a comeback!”
His dark eyes were fixed on Xin Hexue, like a puppy waiting for praise, ready to shake hands, sit, and spin.
Xin Hexue patted him on the shoulder, “Good job.”
Lu Yang walked forward in high spirits.
The thick eyelashes drooped down, casting long shadows over the complex emotions in Xin Hexue’s eyes.
Given Lu Yang’s grades, even racing over a cliff couldn’t guarantee he’d get into No.1 Middle School. The teaching quality at the affiliated middle school was decent in their small area, but it was completely insignificant when compared to the district or city level. In previous years, usually only one or two students could make it to City No.1 Middle School.
Zhuang Tongguang was the only one in his grade of a hundred and twenty students.
Xin Hexue had analyzed it: Lu Yang’s current scores in each subject floated around 60, whether the subject was out of 120 or 100. The subjects that concluded with the junior high end-of-year exams were all a string of C’s.
The high school entrance exam in Lingzhou City only included Chinese, Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, and Politics in the total score. Other subjects like History, Biology, and Geography were graded pass/fail for graduation. P.E. only required meeting a passing standard and didn’t count toward the score. Xin Hexue was exempt from this one.
In short, their middle school entrance exam was a total of 660 points, but last year’s cutoff score for No.1 Middle School was 590. Lu Yang wasn’t doing too badly; he had 360 points, which was more than half.
With such a large room for improvement, raising each subject by about 38.5 points… shouldn’t be that difficult, right?
Xin Hexue sighed.
“Xin Hexue, if it turns out I’ve actually had something wrong with my brain all along, would you discriminate against me?”
Lu Yang asked anxiously.
Lin Oufei interjected coldly: “Don’t you already?”
“Hmm…” Xin Hexue pretended to ponder, his cheek in hand. Seeing Lu Yang staring at him expectantly, he couldn’t help but smile, “I’ve always known you. Since you’re still you, what does it matter?”
Lu Yang was deeply moved, thinking that he and Xin Hexue were truly inseparable brothers, unlike that plastic brother, Lin Oufei.
He took a deep breath and confessed, “I went for a check-up. The doctor said I have appl… no, add… no, alph…”
Xin Hexue was already confused by what he was saying.
“……” Lin Oufei was silent for a long moment, “You don’t mean ADHD, do you?”
Lu Yang: “Yes! That’s exactly what the doctor said.”
As expected.
Many children who are unusually mischievous from a young age have a high probability of having conditions like dyslexia, inability to concentrate, inability to stay quiet, hyperactivity…
Xin Hexue was very surprised that Lin Oufei knew so much about it.
Lin Oufei said that his deskmate before he transferred schools had these symptoms. He couldn’t take it anymore and told the teacher to change seats. As a result, when the student’s parents took him for a check-up, it was found that he was indeed an ADHD patient.
The provincial capital was located at the coast and was relatively developed economically, so people are more open to new ideas. Some families were already realizing the importance of paying attention to their children’s mental health. In contrast, parents in Lingzhou City stubbornly believed those symptoms were just the child being too naughty. The older generation would even say, it’s good for a grandson to be naughty, aren’t boys just like that? It means he’ll achieve great things later.
At least Zhu Cuifeng and Lu Guoxing dragged Lu Yang for a check-up before it was too late.
But…
Lin Oufei poured cold water over him: “With your level of English, you should just go home.”
Lu Yang objected, “Can’t you speak less harshly? I still have talent.”
A student walked past them, muttering vocabulary words: “capital, communicate, conditional…”
“I know the meanings of all these words.” Lu Yang said confidently, “Capital, communicate, conditional.”
Just as Lu Yang said, he indeed had some talent. He correctly stated the meanings of the next ten words as well.
“Complain, complain, complain…” The student repeated over and over.
Lu Yang fell silent.
Xin Hexue asked: “You don’t know this one?”
Lu Yang hung his head dejectedly, admitting defeat: “I haven’t heard you recite this word before.”
Hearing this, Xin Hexue remembered that last semester, the English class representative had fallen and injured his leg, taking two weeks off. The homeroom teacher had asked him to lead the English morning reading a few times.
Lin Oufei crossed his arms: “It means to complain, to say that you are annoyed, unhappy or not satisfied about somebody or something. You don’t even know that?”
Lu Yang often let things go in one ear and out the other in class, how could he remember?
He picked his ear and said stubbornly: “It’s gibberish, I don’t know what kind of bird language you’re speaking. I rely on intuition for exams. Only fools memorize vocabulary.”
The student in front, whom Lu Yang had been following and testing on word meanings constantly, finally couldn’t take it anymore and turned around: “Will you stop being so annoying!”
The three of them: “…”
Xin Hexue quietly took a step aside to indicate he wasn’t walking with them.
………
Even though it was only the very beginning of the third year of junior high, not even the end of the graduation season yet, someone in the class had already brought a yearbook and was asking other students to fill it out.
The campus broadcast came on, “Each class, please send ten students to the main office in the administration building to collect the new textbooks and workbooks.”
As the class monitor, Xin Hexue stood up, pointed out a few boys to go with him to move things, while the other students waited in the classroom.
Crossing the central playground, the main office was on the first floor of the administration building.
Stacks of books and workbooks were piled together. After clarifying the numbers for their class and the other two third-year classes based on their respective class sizes, each person carried half a stack.
Lin Oufei snatched half of the textbooks from Xin Hexue’s hands and stacked them on top of the workbooks he was already carrying.
“No need, I can carry them.”
Xin Hexue wanted to take them back, but caught off guard, the remaining half in the crook of his arm was snatched by Lu Yang, who dodged nimbly, not letting Xin Hexue retrieve them.
He sighed, “This makes me look like a hands-off manager.”
Lu Yang said seriously: “No, you’re the princess.”
Lin Oufei chuckled and rarely teased, “Princesses don’t do manual labor. That’s Newton’s fourth law.”
Lu Yang: “Then this Newton guy seems quite authoritative.”
Xin Hexue parted his lips, but before he could speak, a classmate ran over and said to him, “Xin Hexue, the homeroom teacher wants you and Lin Oufei to come to the office.”
“Okay, thank you for telling me.”
Xin Hexue and Lin Oufei exchanged a look.
Lin Oufei piled the thick stack in front of Lu Yang, so high that Lu Yang couldn’t see over it. “Hey hey, you’re leaving? Just like that?”
………
“Take these test papers back and do them. Time yourselves according to the standard high school entrance exam time. After you’ve finished all of them, hand them in to me before school ends this Friday.”
The homeroom teacher handed them two separate stacks of test papers. Xin Hexue looked down and saw that each stack had one test paper for each of the six subjects.
“These are questions compiled by the various subject teachers based on previous years’ actual exam questions and referencing the three internal mock exams from No.1 Middle School’s junior high section last year. We didn’t organize an entrance exam this time at the start of school. The purpose of this set of papers is to see your level. Of course, we’ve also given this set to the top students in other classes.”
There were no other students in the office, only teachers. The homeroom teacher said frankly: “However, the main purpose is to test your foundations. You two are the most promising, and both want to go into No.1 Middle School, right?”
Lin Oufei looked at Xin Hexue, and seeing him nod, he also responded to the homeroom teacher: “Mmm.”
The homeroom teacher offered some more encouragement and urged them to pay attention to their review pace, and to balance work and rest.
When Xin Hexue and Lin Oufei came out of the office, they bumped right into Lu Yang.
The boy’s hands hanging at his side were clenched into his fists, his face full of gloom.
It was unknown how long he had been listening outside the door.
“Lu Yang…?” Xin Hexue was a little worried, “You heard everything?”
Lu Yang’s face was completely devoid of its usual smile, and the sunshine had been completely replaced by dark clouds. He originally had somewhat fierce features with his eyebrows being close to his eyes, but his usual smile made people not notice. Now that he wasn’t smiling, it suddenly gave off a hint of oppressiveness.
“Yes, I heard everything.”
Lu Yang couldn’t quite describe the feeling in his heart, it felt like his heart was being squeezed. He hadn’t felt this sad even when he heard his parents had lost their jobs, because he was an optimistic person and he believed that even if you face difficulties, you just have to pass through them and that things will work out.
But when he saw Xin Hexue and Lin Oufei nodding together, agreeing to go to No.1 Middle School together, the scene stabbed Lu Yang’s eyes.
Zhuang Tongguang attended No.1 Middle School. When Lu Yang heard from his parents that Xin Hexue wanted to go to No.1 Middle School, he wasn’t surprised. He felt it was only natural.
No.1 Middle School…the name was truly befitting of the world’s number one Princess Xin Hexue.
Lu Yang spoke with difficulty: “Actually, I’ve been waiting for you to tell me that you want to go to No.1 for high school.”
He had already convinced himself a hundred times, rehearsed a 100% smiling response in front of the mirror.
“It’s okay, not being in the same high school doesn’t mean we can’t see each other on weekends. I bought a bicycle, I can pedal to your school on Friday to pick you up after school, and then we can go play arcade games together.”
Lu Yang’s smile at this moment was uglier than crying.
Lin Oufei was suddenly pointed at by an index finger. Lu Yang said with righteous indignation: “But why didn’t you tell me first? Why did you make a pact with Lin Oufei to test into No.1 together? You don’t need me at all. You have Lin Oufei, that’s enough!”
Xin Hexue slowly pursed his lips, “Lu Yang, listen to me…”
“I won’t listen.”
Lu Yang ran away with a force that seemed like it would knock over everyone in the corridor.
………
When class time arrived, Xin Hexue looked back at an empty seat against the wall worriedly. Lu Yang still hadn’t returned.
The subject teacher had already entered the classroom. Lin Oufei reminded him.
Xin Hexue took out his textbook. His clear, pleasant voice was a bit hoarse today. “Stand up.”
“Good morning, teacher!”
The unified greeting rang out.
The sound of students reading aloud echoed through the teaching building.
Lu Yang squatted at the base of the wall, plucking flowers from the flower bed dejectedly. A small pile of petals had accumulated beside him. “I’m important, Lin Oufei is important, I’m important, Lin Oufei is important, I’m important, Lin Oufei is important.”
“What kind of ugly flower is this? So ugly with six petals.”
Lu Yang had a sudden inspiration, “Lin Oufei is important, I’m important, Lin Oufei is important… I’m important!”
Even after getting the answer he wanted, he still threw the flower away. He stretched his legs and simply sat on the ground, his hands propping him up from behind as he looked at the sky.
Lu Yang felt he was as pitiful as his father. They were both pitiful people ‘reduced’ in the effort to ‘reduce staff and increase efficiency’. Xin Hexue was going to fly away together with Lin Oufei.
And he had even seriously finished his summer vacation workbook.
His efforts were like little dog farts.
