BSS - Chapter 35
Chapter 35
June 6th was a day that sounded very auspicious.
Even though Deng Chuan wasn't a superstitious person, she couldn't help but pray silently before bed the night before: Good luck and smooth sailing.
Deng Chuan slept particularly well the night before the Gaokao, without a single dream. She had always been good at maintaining a steady and calm state of mind at times like these. She didn't think about anything, just single-mindedly closed her eyes and immediately fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, the sky was bright.
Walking on the road, it felt exceptionally quiet. Except for the third-year seniors, all other grades had already gone home for the holidays. There were security guards stationed near the school, and a silent, uniform sense of solemnity permeated the quiet air.
The time before the exam was spent in a new classroom.
Deng Chuan had already gone to see the exam hall with her classmates beforehand. That was the good thing about taking the exam at your own school-it was convenient. Unlike some schools, where you had to make a special trip just to see the location.
The sun gradually rose, and the time for morning reading passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was time to head to the exam hall.
When they were setting off, Xu Wei arrived. She stood at the door with the Chinese teacher. As the students walked past, they greeted them one by one. Some whined about being nervous, while others declared their determination.
When Deng Chuan passed by, she also called out to her softly, "Teacher Xu."
Xu Wei looked at her, her gaze very gentle. She rarely showed her emotions so directly. Just being looked at by her like that, Deng Chuan's heart felt as if it were soaking in warm water, and she couldn't say another word.
She only called her name and said nothing more.
Just as she was hesitating, the Chinese teacher, on the other hand, laughed brightly and said to her in a raised voice, "Check your things carefully, make sure you have everything, and don't be nervous! I'll be waiting for your good news!"
Deng Chuan hummed in acknowledgment, not daring to linger any longer, and turned to leave the classroom.
The chirping of cicadas sounded, one after another, outside the window.
Sitting in the exam hall, that sense of solemnity became even stronger, so strong that Deng Chuan couldn't ignore its presence. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.
The exam rules were being read over the broadcast, the announcer's standard, articulate female voice echoing through the classroom.
When she opened her eyes again, she had become calm and resolute once more, like a sword about to be unsheathed, waiting quietly.
The pre-exam procedures proceeded in an orderly manner.
The test papers were distributed one by one. Dictation of poetry, reading comprehension, questions on grammatically incorrect sentences, the essay prompt-Deng Chuan worked her way through it all smoothly.
This was a test paper within the standards of the Gaokao, and for this paper, Deng Chuan had already done more than enough mock tests and practice exercises.
She was fully prepared. Every word she wrote carried the weight of all the past days and nights, and the infinite future ahead.
The time allotted for the Chinese exam was always just enough. Just as she finished the last stroke of her essay and checked her answers to the objective questions one more time, the exam time was quickly up.
The students could only leave after the proctors had collected and verified all the test papers. The moment the teachers at the front of the room stepped out of the classroom, the students, who had been waiting for a long time, poured out in a stream. Deng Chuan didn't rush out. She unhurriedly packed her things before leaving the exam hall.
Walking down the stairs, with the first subject finished, everyone was a bit more relaxed, with smiles on their faces.
Although the teachers had instructed them to forget each exam after it was over and not to check answers, most people couldn't resist. As Deng Chuan walked, she could hear people all around her discussing the multiple-choice questions. But their tones were all gentle, not as agitated as after previous exams, as if it were just a way to vent their emotions. Wu Fuwu and the others didn't come to ask her either, afraid that asking and finding out they lost points would affect their morale.
She ran into Pei Qingyu on the way. She seemed to be in a good mood too. Her ranking in the art proficiency exam was good, so the pressure from her academic subjects wasn't as great. She came over and tapped Deng Chuan. "What are you having for lunch?"
"What do you want to eat?" Deng Chuan asked her.
Ever since Pei Qingyu returned to school for classes, Deng Chuan's three meals a day had been meticulously arranged by her. According to Pei Qingyu herself, she had already decided what she wanted to eat for the day the moment she woke up in the morning.
Sure enough, Pei Qingyu said, "Let's go eat!"
She was referring to the food from the regular windows in the cafeteria.
She explained, "Let's eat something light during the exams. We'll go have a big feast when it's over!"
Deng Chuan laughed. "Okay."
After lunch and a short rest, the afternoon exam soon arrived.
The afternoon subject was math. Compared to other subjects, Deng Chuan felt she had the firmest grasp on math, so she walked into the exam hall with composure and sat down calmly in her seat.
There was still some time before the papers would be distributed. Deng Chuan fiddled with the black pen in her hand, staring at the clock on the wall. The second hand ticked along, making a very faint, monotonous sound that was particularly noticeable in the quiet exam hall.
The proctor checked everyone's personal information and then waited for instructions from the broadcast. The test papers were handed out one by one, and a rustling sound of flipping pages filled the room.
Everyone was looking at the long-answer questions at the end, and some people already had expressions of frustration.
Deng Chuan also briefly scanned the entire paper, got a sense of it, and began answering with great confidence.
After a brief flurry of activity, the exam hall fell silent again.
If Deng Chuan were to evaluate it, this test paper wasn't very difficult, but its assessment of knowledge points was extremely detailed. It was clear that the points that would create a gap in scores lay in the specific direction of certain questions.
She went through it once, then checked it again, and she actually found a few small mistakes.
Not a single second of the math exam could be wasted. Deng Chuan seized the time to recheck the calculations for several of the major questions. It was too fast; it felt like just a blink of an eye before the bell signaling the end of the exam rang.
The proctors collected and verified the papers, and the students gradually left.
When she walked out of the classroom, the relatively low difficulty of the math paper had given many people a confidence boost. The atmosphere outside the exam hall was quite relaxed, and everyone headed back to their classrooms to put their things away.
Deng Chuan moved slowly. By the time she finished packing, Pei Qingyu was already waiting for her at the classroom door.
After dinner, evening had arrived. The sky hadn't completely darkened yet; the sun was still bright above the horizon, dyeing the clouds a spectacular orange-red.
Su Mian's mom had brought them a box of cut watermelon. Deng Chuan took the watermelon to the classroom to share, then sat down to look over her review materials.
As usual, Xu Wei was supervising the evening self-study session. It was Deng Chuan's last evening self-study of high school. She sat at the teacher's desk, her fair fingers stroking her hair as she lowered her head to quietly flip through a book.
A refreshing scent, from everyone having washed up, filled the classroom. The air conditioner blew out cool air. The math exam was over, and no one crowded around Xu Wei during self-study anymore. At this moment, Xu Wei's rare, leisurely appearance, a posture of simple companionship, made Deng Chuan feel exceptionally at ease.
After the liberal arts comprehensive exam the next day, only the final subject, English, remained. Deng Chuan felt she had performed even better than in her usual mock exams. But what she wanted was to be foolproof, flawless, and without regrets. To make no mistakes, she needed to be even more composed than usual.
Half an hour before the end of the English exam, most people in the hall were already finished. There was a faint restlessness in the air. Many eyes were fixed on the clock, or turning to look out the window again and again.
The proctor walked down from the podium, patrolling the aisles between the desks. With a silent posture, he reminded the students that the exam wasn't completely over yet, that they should savor these last few short minutes of high school.
Deng Chuan was also finished. Checking an English exam wasn't like with other subjects; no matter how much you checked, you wouldn't find much more to change. She placed her test paper under her scratch paper and glanced out the window. Through the dense green foliage, she could almost see the crowd of people at the school gate.
Those were all parents waiting for their children to finish the exam. Tang Lijuan and Lao Deng had come too. They were very open-minded, saying they were just there to help her move her things. As for where she wanted to go and have fun after the exam, they wouldn't interfere, as long as she reported back home.
Even Deng Chuan, at this very moment, couldn't help but wonder: How would she spend the summer vacation? What path would her future take? What had once been a blurry, shimmering image in the distance was suddenly within reach.
The clock on the wall continued to tick quietly, as if silently counting down the time. Deng Chuan watched it quietly, thinking about this time yesterday afternoon, when she was nervously checking her calculations. For countless afternoons before today, she had been preparing for the arrival of this very moment.
In the seconds before the bell rang, Deng Chuan could almost hear the countdowns in the minds of her fellow students in the exam hall. The moment the bell rang, the relief on everyone's face was visible to the naked eye, followed by an irrepressible excitement.
The teachers collected the answer sheets, test papers, and scratch paper. The instant the words "students may now leave" were spoken, a huge cheer erupted in the exam room. The sound of desks and chairs being pushed back still echoed in the air as most people had already rushed out.
Deng Chuan didn't join the rush. She slung her bag over one shoulder, preparing to go back to the classroom to pack her things. The corridor was noisy, with a smile on everyone's face. Pei Qingyu darted over to find her, asking if she wanted some fruit. Before she could answer, Pei Qingyu had stuffed two oranges into her hands.
The orange peels were warm from the sun, feeling very cozy in her hand. Pei Qingyu turned and stuffed a few more into someone else's hands. Deng Chuan figured she couldn't finish them all and didn't want to take them back, so she was distributing them one by one to lighten her load.
Holding the oranges, Deng Chuan walked down the familiar corridor. It was noisy all around her. Everyone was talking loudly and freely, planning where to go and have fun that night.
It's finally over! This was the consensus among everyone. No more packing every day to the brim, no more endless test papers that seemed impossible to finish. All of it, everything, had come to its final conclusion today.
But the youths of this moment would never know that they had only just jumped out of a cage made of lead type. As for the future-whether it would be a concrete jungle or a field of flowers-that was still unknown.
Deng Chuan was in the midst of this tremendous excitement. She was still young, and even though she had never found high school to be painful, her heart was stirred by the cheering crowd, and even her steps became lighter.
Xu Wei was standing at the classroom door, surrounded by students talking to her. Usually, Xu Wei seemed cool and distant, with the particular seriousness of a science teacher, so students didn't dare joke with her much. Now, all the things they hadn't dared to say before burst out all at once.
One girl complimented her on her looks, asked for her lipstick shade, and said, "Teacher, I really, really like you. Thank you for nurturing me throughout my senior year." An even more mischievous student pushed the girl who said this towards Xu Wei. The girl wasn't shy and asked magnanimously, "Teacher Xu, can I have a hug?"
Xu Wei kept a faint smile, tolerating the children's excitement. She was bumped back a small step, and before she could answer, she was enthusiastically embraced.
Perhaps the excitement of finishing the Gaokao had overcome their sense of distance from their teacher. The students swarmed forward, clamoring for hugs.
More and more students gathered around Xu Wei. She was embraced by one young body after another. The students' smiles were so sincere. Xu Wei felt that this was the joy of being a teacher-watching batch after batch of children pass through a crossroads in their lives. They had been completely tense in the past, and now they were completely relaxed, rushing towards their own tomorrows.
And she, being a part of it, gained a bit of satisfaction from being a teacher.
Suddenly, the noisy crowd quieted down a bit. Someone said with a light laugh, "It's so lively."
That voice was exceptionally familiar.
Xu Wei looked up and saw Deng Chuan standing in front of her. Her schoolbag was slung over one of her straight, proper shoulders, giving her a slightly roguish air. She held two bright yellow oranges in her hand. The sunlight fell on her, so beautiful she seemed like the personification of summer itself.
Deng Chuan smiled, half-joking, half-sincere, and said, word by word, "They all get to hug you, Teacher Xu. I want a hug too."
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