The Gaokao Ends

Prices in 2015 were really cheap. A bowl of rice noodles cost five yuan, so five bowls came to only twenty-five yuan.

After finishing his noodles, Zhou Yuwen paid the bill and said he had something to do, so he would be leaving first.

"Hey, you don't have to treat us. We all pay for ourselves." When Chen Rongrong saw Zhou Yuwen settling the bill, she looked worried that he was getting the short end of the stick.

How nostalgic. Back in high school, when they went out to eat with others, everyone paid for themselves even when things cost only five or eight yuan. Yet at the time, nothing about it had seemed odd.

"No need. It's my treat. Consider it our graduation farewell meal."

Zhou Yuwen smiled.

"Your family eats rice noodles for a graduation farewell meal?" Shen Ding thought Zhou Yuwen was really putting on airs.

Chen Rongrong shot Shen Ding a glare, still unwilling to let Zhou Yuwen pay for her.

But Zhou Yuwen couldn't be bothered to quibble over a dozen or so yuan. He paid and left.

After Zhou Yuwen left, Dong Xue, a girl in the group who wore glasses, spoke up. "I never noticed before, but Zhou Yuwen's family is pretty well-off."

"Yeah. Dong Xue, did you notice? His phone looked like an Apple, and it was the latest model!" another girl, Shi Zhenzhen, who had somewhat dark skin, agreed.

These high school students were still very sharp when it came to the things around them. The girls had long since noticed that Zhou Yuwen had been using the latest Apple phone. Though they wouldn't say anything openly, they took a few extra looks when they noticed it.

"Hey, do you know what Zhou Yuwen's family does?"

Everyone had become very interested in Zhou Yuwen, but he usually kept a low profile in class, and the girls knew nothing about him.

Of course, if they took the trouble to ask around, they could still find out a little.

For now, though, their impression of Zhou Yuwen was that his family was rich, he had kept a low profile before, and now that he had graduated, he had stopped pretending.

Shi Zhenzhen was missing a wire when she spoke. She said outright that Zhou Yuwen was a good match for Chen Rongrong.

"Haven't you always wanted to find someone handsome and rich? I think Zhou Yuwen is really handsome."

"When did I ever say I wanted someone handsome and rich? Besides, he might not even be interested in me!"

"Oh, come on."

Hearing Chen Rongrong say that, Dong Xue and Shi Zhenzhen both thought she was really putting on an act. Was it a secret that Zhou Yuwen liked Chen Rongrong?

But Chen Rongrong had only said it. In her heart, she had begun to give Zhou Yuwen a little more thought.

That evening, Chen Rongrong took the initiative to message Zhou Yuwen.

But once again, he read her message without replying.

At ten that night, Chen Rongrong couldn't resist sending a second message: "Did you see it?"

Only then did Zhou Yuwen reply. "I was reviewing just now."

"What a good student~" Chen Rongrong teased.

"Clasping Buddha's feet at the last minute is always useful."

"(Covers mouth)"

Chen Rongrong said, "Thanks for treating me to the meal today. Once the gaokao is over, I'll treat you to a meal too."

"We'll talk about it then."

"..."

Chen Rongrong felt that Zhou Yuwen wasn't much of a conversationalist, so she asked which school in Nanjing he planned to attend.

Zhou Yuwen's answer was still the same: "We'll talk about it then. I'm going to sleep now. Hope you get a good score."

"Good night."

Chen Rongrong looked at the two icy words and didn't reply.

The room was pitch-dark.

Noisy voices came from outside.

"I want to play! I want to play!"

"Keep your voice down. Your sister has the gaokao tomorrow!"

"What's her gaokao got to do with me? She's not even part of our family!"

Chen Rongrong showed no expression when she heard that. She simply lay flat and pulled the covers over her face.

In a few more days, anyway...

She could leave this home.

The gaokao lasted three days in all. For every senior in high school, this was the most important day. Outside the exam site, mothers in all kinds of qipaos held umbrellas and gazed longingly toward the entrance.

It had to be said, these mothers really had great figures. Their faces were well cared for, and their figures were graceful and curvy.

The slits in their qipaos revealed shapely legs in stockings.

For the other students, this really was the most important day of their lives.

But for Zhou Yuwen, it didn't feel particularly special.

The midsummer sun blazed like fire, and the examination room was silent.

All that could be heard was the tapping of pen tips against exam papers.

Although it had been ten years, the moment Zhou Yuwen got his exam paper and looked through it again, he could still remember the answers to the multiple-choice questions at the beginning. But he had to write the reading comprehension answers and the like later on from scratch.

Even so, Zhou Yuwen was satisfied. At the very least, he didn't have to hand in a blank paper.

Chinese was in the morning and math in the afternoon. The second day had English along with the minor subjects.

Three days passed, and all the exams were over.

The gates of the exam site opened, and the students all poured out in a swarm.

Some were full of fighting spirit and looked forward to the future.

Their mothers, dressed in qipaos, wiped their sweat, held umbrellas over them, and asked how they thought they had done.

"I've got this, Mom!" A child happily threw their arms around their mother.

Others had nothing but worried frowns on their faces and burst into tears the moment they saw their mothers.

"It's over! It's all over!"

"The exams are over! They're really over! I'm going on a trip! I'm going to eat lots of delicious food!"

"I'm going to sing!"

"I'm going online!"

The students held one another and wept.

Chen Rongrong's little group was also very happy. Shen Ding said proudly, "My dad's taking me on a trip to the Capital!"

"My family's planning to take me to Guilin!"

"I'm going to Xi'an!"

Each of the three had somewhere to go. Shen Ding asked Chen Rongrong, "Chen Rongrong, where's your family planning to take you?"

"Oh, we haven't decided yet." Chen Rongrong was distracted.

Everyone was immersed in the joy of the gaokao being over and didn't notice anything strange about Chen Rongrong. Even if someone knew about her family situation, they merely laughed at her in their hearts.

After the gaokao ended, there was no end to the gatherings over food.

Class gatherings, little group gatherings, and meals among brothers and friends.

They sang, went online, and played pool.

They quickly occupied every entertainment venue in the small county town.

As they came out of the exam site, Shen Ding and the others were already discussing where to eat.

They discussed it enthusiastically.

Chen Rongrong couldn't get a word in, and only glanced toward the exam site from time to time. Puzzled, she asked, "Hey, hasn't Zhou Yuwen come out yet?"

"Zhou Yuwen came out ages ago." Shen Ding rather disliked how Chen Rongrong kept bringing up Zhou Yuwen.

"He came out?" Chen Rongrong was confused.

"Yeah, he came out when the teacher called for the papers. Think about it: he didn't come for the last few days of the gaokao, so how could he get a good score? I bet he gave up a long time ago! Chen Rongrong, where do you want to eat? My treat today."

For some reason, not seeing Zhou Yuwen left Chen Rongrong with a subtle feeling.

The feeling was strange; perhaps even she couldn't have put it into words.

To be specific, although Chen Rongrong was part of this little group, she was fundamentally different from them. She was like a square peg in a round hole among them.

And although she hadn't spent much time with Zhou Yuwen, there was something about him that attracted Chen Rongrong.

As though he and she were the ones who were alike.