North Entrance of Heping Street.
In front of their apartment building.
Dong Xuebin had taken a taxi from Fifteenth Middle School to the hospital, then another taxi home from the hospital, so he arrived at roughly the same time as Qu Yunxuan and the others, who had taken the bus. As soon as he turned into the residential complex, he saw Mom, Aunt Xu, and the others walking ahead. He called out to them, quickened his pace, and explained, "Mom, Aunt Xuan, I'm really sorry about earlier. Something really came up on my end, and I couldn't get away."
"Xuebin..." Mom hesitated, sighed, but did not ask anything.
At the entrance to the building, Section Chief Xu, who had just returned from work with a briefcase tucked under his arm, approached from the other side. "Just finished the exam? The written test went okay, right?"
"I... I..." Compared to his confident declarations before entering the examination hall, Xiao Dong now looked utterly dejected.
Dong Xuebin found it a little funny, and he felt somewhat satisfied as well.
"Say something!" Section Chief Xu's face darkened. "I already pulled some strings with Customs!"
Aunt Xu's expression was not very pleasant as she tugged at her son. Only then did Xiao Dong stammer, "This year's essay test was too hard, and the questions were especially obscure. They were practically impossible. I think... well, I think I only had some confidence in one question. The others... I probably answered all the others in the wrong direction. I won't get many points. My combined Administrative Aptitude Test and essay scores might not even clear the cutoff line."
Section Chief Xu's face turned grim. "What happened to you? Huh? Didn't you finish preparing? Didn't you say there wouldn't be a problem?"
Xiao Dong was in an