"Talk about catching me off guard."
Lu Ming started muttering to himself again, slumping back into his chair as though every bone had been pulled out of his body.
Wen Ning ignored him and picked up his cup to keep drinking tea, his expression calm. Lu Ming had brought it on himself.
Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor outside the examination room.
They were strange footsteps, nothing like the even, rhythmic tread of a normal person.
Instead, they alternated between light and heavy, fast and slow, as though every step were a battle with the floor.
"Tap—thud, tap—thud."
Then the door opened.
Lu Ming and Wen Ning both looked up toward the doorway.
The candidate who entered was, how should one put it, quite distinctive.
The first thought that popped into Wen Ning's head when he saw him was: Was this guy fighting himself as he walked?
The candidate was rather thin, with one shoulder higher than the other, and his whole center of gravity swayed as he walked.
He wore an excessively enthusiastic smile. His eyes were small, but opened very wide.
He was dressed in a suit that was clearly borrowed, with sleeves that were too long and trouser cuffs dragging on the floor.
Rather than wearing the clothes, he looked as though the clothes were wearing him.
As he entered, his left foot caught on the threshold and he stumbled forward. Then he somehow steadied himself in an extremely contorted pose and raised his head, his smile unchanged.
"Hello, big bro!"
His voice, at least, was full and powerful.
Lu Ming stared at him for two seconds, then turned to Wen Ning and said,
"Did this guy wander onto the wrong set? Why's he calling you big bro? Do you know each other?"
Wen Ning ignored