Lu Mingfei walked down the street with his head hanging low, the afternoon sun so dazzling he could barely keep his eyes open.
A bright red countdown sign for the college entrance exams hung at the back of the senior-year classroom. Each day, one page was torn away, like the blade of a guillotine slowly descending.
These days, everyone who saw him earnestly lectured him, telling him the end of the world was coming and that he ought to rise up with fighting spirit. But he did not feel like the end was approaching at all. All that remained was confusion, confusion, and more confusion.
His classmates were all discussing which universities to apply to, while the teachers talked about the secrets to a final sprint. Even Uncle and Aunt would occasionally nag, "If you can't get into a first-tier university, your life is over." Only he seemed cut off behind a transparent film, watching the outside world bustle about while not even knowing which direction he should push himself in.
If the future was a blank test paper, then he was the student staring at it without even being able to understand the questions.
He looked up at the sky, divided into patches by power lines, and gently breathed out a puff of white vapor...
He entered a convenience store and, as Aunt had instructed, bought a case of discounted bagged milk and half a pound of Guangdong sausage. On the way back, he took a slight detour to buy Lu Mingze the latest issue of Story Drawing. Then he swayed his way home... if that place could even be called home.
Lu Mingfei's grades were not very good, and getting into a first-tier university was probably hopeless. But his English was decent, so Aunt had a sudden idea