High school life officially came to an end!

With their university choices submitted, there was now less than a month left until the Gaokao.

During this stretch, the seniors still did practice papers every day to stay sharp. When the teachers went over the papers, they had begun sharing little tips for answering questions quickly, such as:

If you couldn't solve a fill-in-the-blank question on the math paper, never leave it empty. Just pick one of "0, 1, -1" and write it down.

Based on past experience, the more complicated the question, the simpler the answer.

On the physics paper, B and C generally accounted for most of the multiple-choice answers. If you really couldn't understand a question, guess B or C, and try not to pick A.

For English cloze tests and reading comprehension, it was best not to change an answer once you had chosen it, because that first choice was when your feel for the language was strongest.

As for tricks like "if three options are short and one is long, pick the longest; if three are long and one is short, pick the shortest; if they're all equally long, pick C; if they're all equally short, pick B..." the teachers of practically every subject had repeated them to death.

These tricks couldn't be emphasized too early, or they would undermine the students' commitment to thorough revision.

Now that only ten days or so remained, the teachers could share them. Every extra point counted.

With over 550,000 candidates across the province, a single point could move someone up more than a thousand places.

Yin Yanqiu's hair had noticeably lost much of its luster. As their homeroom teacher, she not only taught her regular lessons but also had to keep encouraging the students to stay calm.

Often speaking in a hoarse voice, Abbess Yin would say:

"Everyone, please don't lose heart! This stretch will become a treasure in your lives! No matter how great a difficulty you face in the future, just think back to that month before the Gaokao, and it will all melt away..."

Before they knew it, early June had arrived.

There was now less than a week until the Gaokao. Just looking at the red words on the blackboard, "6 days until the Gaokao," was enough to make them anxious.

On June 1, Children's Day, the school handed out their admission tickets. Along with their personal information, these listed their candidate numbers and exam locations.

"Holy shit! My exam room is 116, at Guangya High School. What about you, Chen Zhu?"

Huang Bohan still hoped he could be with his good friend. At least that would make him less nervous.

Chen Zhu shrugged and showed his admission ticket. He was in exam room 177, at Provincial Experimental High School.

They were among the "not-so-lucky" candidates. The "lucky" ones were generally assigned to their own school, since people said being in familiar surroundings made them less likely to underperform.

Some of their classmates had also been assigned to Provincial Experimental High School, but Chen Zhu wasn't particularly close to them. He later learned that Song Shiwei was at No. 2 Middle School and Yu Xian was at the Foreign Languages School. Basically, none of them had been assigned to the same school.

Still, these were minor matters. The graduating seniors had been tempered by endless practice, doing papers almost every day. The moment they picked up a pen, muscle memory would kick in. Their surroundings didn't actually make that much difference.

On the afternoon of June 3, the timetable had only two lessons scheduled.

After that, they would no longer need to come to the classroom. Before the Gaokao, boarding students would revise in their dorms, while day students would revise at home.

So these were the final two lessons for Zhixin Middle School's graduating class of 2007, and the final stretch of their high school lives.

The school had been very considerate, giving both periods to their homeroom teachers.

As usual, Yin Yanqiu came into the classroom carrying a set square, only to find a bouquet of flowers and a cake on the teacher's desk.

After so many years as a homeroom teacher, and so many graduating classes, Yin Yanqiu had already guessed there would be something like this while she was still in the corridor.

Still, people were always creatures of emotion.

Over these three years, Yin Yanqiu had spent far more time with her students than with her own husband and child. At the thought that she would no longer see these familiar faces tomorrow, Abbess Yin tried to sound stern. "If you had time to prepare all this, you would have been better off..."

Suddenly, she couldn't go on. She turned away, took off her glasses, and silently wiped her tears.

Once Abbess Yin started crying, it was as though a reservoir's floodgates had opened. Soon, sniffles rose from every corner of the classroom.

Those who were close embraced one another, promising to get together every year from then on.

Even those who weren't particularly close nodded to each other with reddened eyes.

In truth, high school friendships were more like a binding arrangement. Within the group, everyone unconsciously paired up, as though being alone meant not fitting in.

After graduation, as their lives took different paths, if one person stopped making the effort to maintain the relationship, that friendship would begin to come undone.

But so what? After all, they had spent so long as companions for meals, toilet breaks, hair washing...

Of course, there were also friends like Chen Zhu and Huang Bohan, whose bond wouldn't change just because their circumstances did. Friends like that were rare. Having even one was enough to feel content.

Before long, Yin Yanqiu gathered herself and clapped her hands. "Everyone, it has been an honor to accompany you through the three most important years of your lives. From the moment our hundred-day countdown began, I knew this goodbye would eventually come..."

Abbess Yin choked up again, then took a deep breath and continued in a heavily nasal voice. "I feel quite guilty, because I've always been suppressing your natural inclinations. But I really had no other motive. I only hoped you could get into good universities and make these three years of hard work worthwhile..."

"In another three months, you'll have new identities. I hope you'll take my eyes with you as you go farther and reach greater heights, and become people who contribute to society, your country, and your families..."

"Finally, there are a few things I need to remind you of again."

Until the actual exam was over, Yin Yanqiu would never truly feel at ease. Without even realizing it, she began giving instructions again. "If you encounter a very difficult question during the exam, don't waste time getting stuck on it... and absolutely, absolutely do not hand in your paper early..."

Chen Zhu could feel that, if she could, Abbess Yin would have passed on every possible way of improving their scores to her students.

As we grow up, perhaps our homeroom teachers are the only people unrelated to us by blood who still hope we will stand out from the crowd.

"Riiing~"

Soon, the bell rang.

That sound they had always longed for so desperately was now something they wished could have come a little later.

"Everyone, may you leap through the dragon gate and see your names on the honors list!"

Yin Yanqiu officially dismissed the class, then couldn't help wiping away her tears again.

Some of the more emotional girls rushed up to hug Abbess Yin, while boys like Chen Zhu and Huang Bohan packed their books.

This wasn't like the holidays before, when they only needed to take a few books home to read. Now they had to clear everything out, and almost everyone's schoolbag was stuffed full.

As the saying went, every gathering must eventually end. Soon, some students were already wheeling their suitcases out of the classroom.

At that moment, perhaps none of them realized that after this farewell, some of them would probably never meet again.

"Chen Zhu, shall we go?"

Big Huang asked.

Chen Zhu narrowed his eyes. Outside the window, the honey-colored setting sun cast golden light. Books lay scattered throughout the classroom, desks stood at crooked angles, and the corridors were filled with graduating seniors heading home to await the exam.

On campus, the kapok flowers bloomed in a fiery blaze. At some point, someone had also hung up a banner that read, "Stay calm, never lose heart, never give up, give it your all, and seize victory."

"That definitely wasn't there at noon."

Huang Bohan sounded puzzled beside him.

"Big Huang."

Chen Zhu suddenly asked, "Do you remember the first thing we said when we were assigned to the same class in our first year?"

Huang Bohan thought for a moment. "Once we've finished unpacking... let's take a walk around the school?"

"Right!"

Chen Zhu nodded. "Once we've finished packing... let's take a walk around the school."

The two sentences were exactly the same, but:

One represented a beginning and anticipation; the other, an ending and a wish to linger.

The curtain had fallen on high school life!

(High school is officially over. Chen Zhu's personality and abilities are destined to come into their own only once he reaches university. My editor said the novel will go premium at midnight on April 1. There will definitely be extra updates then, and I'll probably post an author's note too.)

(End of chapter)