June 26. Sunny, turning cloudy.
Yunqi No. 1 High School's graduation ceremony for the class of 2025 took place as scheduled, the day after the Gaokao results came out.
It was called a graduation ceremony, but it was really more like a grand farewell.
Early that morning, figures in school uniforms began arriving at the school gates.
Although the school no longer required everyone to wear their uniforms on this last day, quite a few students had dug theirs out and put them on, including Chen Shi'an, Wen Zhixia, and Lin Meng Qiu.
After all, this was their last time wearing those blue-and-white uniforms.
Wen Zhixia and Lin Meng Qiu were even thinking that they absolutely had to keep their uniforms safe afterward. After all, whenever they visited the Taoist these days, they would occasionally see that black-and-white school uniform Sister Wanyin had hung out to dry on the balcony...
That Stinking Taoist definitely had a thing for this...!!
Some people arrived early and gathered in twos and threes to take pictures at the school gates, or strolled along familiar paths.
Looking at the emptied Senior Year Three classrooms, then at the Senior Year One and Senior Year Two students still in class, they felt an unreal sense of disorientation wash over them. It seemed so very long ago, yet also felt like only yesterday.
In the midsummer heat, the plane trees' leaves gleamed green. Sunlight passed through their overlapping layers, casting dappled light and shadows on the ground.
Chen Shi'an had not ridden his bike that morning. Instead, he had walked over with Little Cicada and the Class Monitor.
"Taoist, Taoist...! Look...!"
Lowering her voice, Wen Zhixia hurriedly tugged Chen Shi'an's sleeve and pointed toward the school gates, having discovered something incredible.
"Isn't that Xu Zihan? He's holding hands