From Beginning to End

Pu Shougeng seemed to be stung by the woman's light laugh. He raised his firm eyebrows and noticed the change in her expression out of the corner of his eye. He kept his eyes on Gao Cunyi without showing any emotion.

This disciple was ultimately too dull-witted. Sending him to deliver a message was also a way of testing the waters. If the other party refused, would you just rush back to deliver the message? You should at least have to fight with them.

"They can't even handle something this bad," Pu Shougeng thought to himself with a snort, and said indifferently, "Then let's discuss it again."

"Looks like you'll have to make the trip yourself." The woman picked up the teacup, tapped the rim lightly with her fingers, the sound not so crisp, and immediately put it down as if she had lost interest in the tea. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her eyes appeared somewhat narrow and alluring.

"Is it necessary?" Pu Shougeng straightened his posture and said with a hint of disapproval.

The woman's lips curled up again as she coldly stared at Pu Shougeng.

Pu Shougeng forced a smile; after all, with Gao Cunyi, she couldn't possibly leave him no face at all.

"Thank you for your trouble." The woman stood up and said calmly, then got up and left, her meaning clear and unquestionable.

Only after the woman's figure disappeared into the flower bushes did Gao Cunyi reveal his anger. "Master, who is this young lady? How dare she be so arrogant?"

"Miss?"

"I... that's not what I meant..." Gao Cunyi stammered, remembering the ambiguity of the title.

"She's just well-preserved. She looked exactly the same when I saw her more than ten years ago." Pu Shougeng patted Gao Cunyi on the shoulder. "Make another trip another day."

Gao Cunyi was stunned. Did his master mean that if Gao Cunyi couldn't handle it, he would have to personally take action? That would be so undignified! What kind of logic is it for a renowned senior to personally challenge a junior to a duel?

It seems Master was unwilling too, yet that woman forcefully compelled him to compromise?

Liu Chang'an had been playing mahjong for a long time. He started strong and had great luck, winning several hands in a row. Auntie Xie said he was just lucky and must have done well in the college entrance exam. But when the game ended, Liu Chang'an lost all his winnings. It was a classic case of starting strong but ending weak. Old Man Qian patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "If you're unlucky at mahjong, you'll be lucky in the exam. That's always been true."

In short, his college entrance exams always seemed to be blessed with good fortune and he always performed well.

In reality, these old neighborhood mahjong parlors, despite the heated arguments and shrewd calculations that often occur, everyone knows that it's pretty much the same people playing every day. After a while, the wins and losses are minimal, and the money all ends up in these same people's pockets... until one day a fellow player stops playing, and then someone laments, "That old bastard still owes me a winning hand!"

Liu Chang'an never owed anyone money or debts. Even if he couldn't settle them at the time, he could always repay the debtor's family or descendants in the future. The only debts others owed him were those debts that they would never repay.

I went home and drank a few cups of realgar wine. It was very strong and toxic, so I went to sleep.

On June 8th, the last day of the college entrance examination in South Hunan, the weather was perfect. The sun shone brightly, birds chirped and flew around defecating, startling passersby who started cursing.

Science subjects in the morning, English in the afternoon.

Liu Chang'an has some opinions about this year's English essay topic: Imagine you are Li Hua, teaching your Britain friend Leslie Chinese, specifically Tang Dynasty poetry.

Isn't this utter nonsense? Do you even know what level of Chinese proficiency foreigners need to be to learn Tang poetry? Let alone Tang poetry, aside from children who have been learning Chinese since childhood, most foreigners with average language talent can struggle to even learn the Three Character Classic, let alone Tang poetry. Most eloquent sinologists who can read Chinese books without difficulty don't dare to easily touch poetry and prose, because recognizing the characters is easy, and understanding them isn't difficult either, but appreciating the beauty of the poetic imagery is simply too difficult.

This must be some kind of lame joke essay topic, Liu Chang'an thought. Anyway, it's a short essay, so he'll just write something casual.

After finishing this last English exam, my three years of high school have officially come to an end. Next, the results will be released at the end of the month, then I'll fill out my college applications and wait for the acceptance letters in July and August... How this summer vacation went really depends on these last two days.

For many, this is truly a watershed test. With the increasing number of college students, the choice of which university to attend, what major to choose, and what classmates and teachers to meet becomes increasingly important, especially for those with ability, ambition, confidence, and perseverance.

If you don't have high expectations for the future, or if you have confidence in other aspects, then it doesn't matter which school you attend. If you don't worry about tuition and living expenses, these four years can be quite fun, and getting a degree isn't too difficult.

The exam is over. The red sun is approaching Mount Lu, neither too close nor too far.

"Let's take a group photo," An Nuan said to Liu Chang'an and Gao Dewei.

"I don't like taking pictures," Gao Dewei said self-awarely, "It makes my face look bigger."

"It's already big, it's just that it looks big in photos," Liu Chang'an said.

"I plan to practice rowing this summer to lose weight," Gao Dewei said, shaking his chest.

"Come play volleyball with us..."

"Why are you talking so much nonsense!" An Nuan revealed a fierce expression, tapped Gao Dewei with her pen, and poked Liu Chang'an.

Gao Dewei and Liu Chang'an stood on either side of An Nuan. Gao Dewei made a peace sign, and Liu Chang'an made the same peace sign. An Nuan adjusted her poses and expressions several times, ordering them not to move, and took several pictures.

It doesn't matter whether they're good-looking or not, as long as they look presentable in photos. The key is for them to look beautiful; that's a girl's privilege.

After taking the photos, Gao Dewei went back first. An Nuan turned her head to look at Liu Chang'an. On the first day of school, she didn't go to the classroom but waited for her mother downstairs. She saw Liu Chang'an tumbling down the stairs. Today is the last day of high school, Liu Chang'an is still by her side.

The bits and pieces of the past three years, the interplay of light and shadow, seem to be condensed into a film between two segments, a story from the first meeting to the end of companionship.

Sometimes, relationships between people are just so wonderful. At the time, she never expected that her heart would flutter because of such a naive and innocent boy. An Nuan wondered what it would be like if she went back to the first day of her first year of high school. She would probably say to Bai Hui: Don't misunderstand, he was looking at me just now.

Thinking of this, An Nuan couldn't help but chuckle. What a pathetic sight!

"We'll start practicing tomorrow." An Nuan said seriously to Liu Chang'an with a stern face, having already promised her.

"Shouldn't you be paralyzed at home for a few days after the college entrance exam, doing nothing, playing cards and mahjong, drinking beer and eating frozen crayfish, and gaining a few pounds before going out?" Liu Chang'an said in confusion, An Nuan was actually disrupting someone else's perfectly reasonable plan.

"You're always doing nothing." An Nuan touched the hem of her skirt and ran forward, saying to Liu Chang'an, "My mom's car is here, see you tomorrow!"

An Nuan had a subtle feeling that she didn't want Liu Chang'an to meet her mother.

Liu Chang'an watched An Nuan get into her mother's red Volvo, waved, and An Nuan rolled down the window, stuck her tongue out at him. A gust of wind blew her hair into her mouth, and she quickly pulled her head back. Liu Chang'an saw her disheveled appearance and stomped his feet repeatedly in the car.