Azure Sky

"Who was that?"

After the car drove away from the assessment center, Zhao Rui spoke over the hot wind pouring into his mouth.

"A cousin. You know how it is—the bigger the Lineage, the more every kind of bird-brain you get!"

"Oh? Then I have to hear this!"

"Hear my ass. Just train properly. Once you become a Grandmaster someday, I'll have someone to lean on. Let's see if they can still act so arrogant then!"

"Haha, I've got a Level Six pact too. We really are a pair of brothers in misery."

"Fuck it, don't bring it up. Hurry up and finish the Gaokao. Out of sight, out of mind!"

Yang Fan spat.

His frustration had nowhere to go!

More than ten minutes later, the two arrived at the barbecue restaurant. Determined to turn humiliation into appetite, they ruthlessly ordered ten plates of grilled meat.

Then they wolfed it all down.

Zhao Rui's family was fairly ordinary. When they came out for barbecue, his whole family would usually order only four or five plates of beef and lamb, with the rest being vegetables.

Only when he was with Yang Fan, who never lacked money, could he eat and drink with such abandon.

Meeting a brother who did not lack money when you were young really let you enjoy plenty of quality living ahead of time.

The two ate for over an hour, finally stopping only when their bellies were stuffed to bursting.

"Other than women, if your brother has it, you can take it!"

After leaving the barbecue restaurant, Yang Fan spoke into the slanting sunset. Mottled light and shadow fell across him, making him look rather stylish.

"Quit showing off. You don't have that flirtatious aura! Other than women, I don't want anything from you!"

Zhao Rui chuckled.

"Fuck, you bastard. I knew you had your eye on my sister. Let me tell you, no chance!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Hanhan is my sister too! I was joking, so stop dragging Hanhan into this."

"Actually, it's not impossible. If you became my brother-in-law, I could reluctantly accept it."

Yang Fan raised a brow as he spoke.

"Get lost!"

Zhao Rui patted Yang Fan on the shoulder, then headed straight for the motorcycle.

"Now I'm relieved. Other people may not know you, but don't I? You're the repressed flirtatious type—horny as hell!"

"Get the fuck out of here!"

The two rode off on their motorcycles amid laughter.

Over the following month, Zhao Rui threw himself wholeheartedly into the Gaokao. Having reached Level Four, his specialty course was basically a sure thing, so he no longer needed to worry about it.

The only thing he needed to focus on was his academic subjects.

Zhao Rui was slightly above average in academics. If he wanted to get into a key university, he still needed to study hard, plus a tiny bit of luck.

In his previous life, Zhao Rui had missed too many things because of playing pool, leaving him with regrets that lasted a lifetime.

Now that he had been given another chance, even the Gaokao, which others found painful and agonizing, tasted sweet as honey to him.

Flowers do not bloom for a hundred days, and people are never young twice!

With the chance to start over, and in such a similar modern city life at that, he had to seize this rare opportunity and enjoy a different kind of youth.

With youth came memories. During that final month, the school specially set aside a day for the graduating students to take commemorative photos.

Besides the class photos arranged by the school, many students brought cameras or simply used their phones to leave traces of time with familiar classmates and teachers.

Zhao Rui was not outstanding in class, but neither was he unknown.

He was fairly handsome, skilled in martial arts, and one of the few Level Four Martial Artists in the class.

That day, quite a few classmates came over to take individual photos with him and write messages in his autograph book.

Especially some boys and girls who usually had little interaction with him; they all took the initiative to come over and greet him.

Who said student groups were pure and simple?

Nobody was stupid!

"Zhao Rui, look. Who's here?"

As everyone took photos of one another and gathered around the campus to find scenery, Yang Fan nudged him and gestured for him to look ahead.

Zhao Rui looked up at his words and saw a girl walking toward them amid the crowd of students. Her clothes fluttered gracefully, and her temperament was extraordinary.

Her delicate oval face was touched with light makeup, her skin as fair as snow and smooth as jade. Every smile and frown carried its own charm, while her manner of speaking was elegant and poised.

Compared to the boys and girls around her, she had the feeling of a crane standing among chickens.

"Luo Min!"

Zhao Rui took two looks, then paid her no further attention. She was not his type.

"She really is pretty! Too bad she's a tigress!"

Yang Fan clicked his tongue beside him. Although the girl was beautiful, hardly anyone in the class—or even the school—dared provoke her.

There was no helping it. She had already been a Level Five Martial Artist last year, then gone out for further study for a year. Who knew what level she was now!

Maybe she had already reached Level Six!

"Tiantian, Xiao Xue, over here!"

Yang Fan immediately spotted the two girls from the front row not far away, their lips pursed and their faces full of jealousy and annoyance.

He quickly waved them over.

"What do you want? Why are you calling us when you should be looking at the beautiful woman?"

Xiao Xue snorted coldly.

"All I can see is you!"

"Ptui, who cares!"

The two instantly launched into bickering mode. Zhao Rui found it amusing as he listened, then relaxed and lay back on the lawn, gazing at the azure sky.

A blade of grass hung from his mouth as he lounged at ease!

"Zhao Rui! Luo Min is here!"

At that moment, a familiar fragrance drifted over from his side. There was no need to guess; Bai Xuening had sat down beside him.

"I know!"

"Why didn't you go say hello? You really don't like her?"

"So many people like her. She doesn't need one more."

"All right!"

Hearing Zhao Rui's words, a smile appeared on Bai Xuening's sweet, pretty face.

"Where's your autograph book? Give it to me!"

"Right here. What for?"

"Don't you want me to leave you a message?"

"I do!"

Zhao Rui answered with simple brevity, casually tossing over the autograph book he had been using as a pillow.

Bai Xuening rolled her eyes at him. So careless and unruly. Since you don't like Luo Min, I'll let it slide!

Taking the autograph book, she wrote a short passage in delicate handwriting.

Then she quickly sketched a simple portrait of herself, about sixty or seventy percent alike.

"Here!"

After Bai Xuening finished writing, she handed the autograph book back.

Zhao Rui flipped it open and glanced at the sketch, unable to stop himself from smiling. "Not bad!"

With that, he placed it beneath his head again.

"Too lazy to bother with you!"

Bai Xuening glared at him, rose from the lawn in annoyance, and left.

Zhao Rui chuckled but said nothing more. The sky in his eyes grew ever more azure.

The sun and moon turned, time flew like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Like countless other third-year high school students, Zhao Rui welcomed the most important turning point of his life—the Gaokao.

In the blazing summer heat, Gaokao students arrived outside the examination site surrounded by their parents.

Then, once the entrance time came, they streamed through the school gates like sturgeon swimming back upstream.

"After holding on for so long, there are only these last three days left. Go for it, son!"

Outside the school gates, Zhao Jincheng silently prayed for his son.

During this period, Zhao Rui's hard work had been plain for his parents to see. They were both distressed and gratified.

They also hoped that their son would achieve good results.

"The younger one is still at home. Go back and make dinner—I'll wait here!"

Zhao Jincheng composed himself, turned, and spoke to his wife, Xue Wenhui.