TMISIU- chapter 30

The mid-term exam lasted for two days.

After the math exam was finished on the first afternoon, Wei Ying saw Nei Huaisang gather a group of people to discuss answers as soon as he entered the classroom, as if he couldn’t wait to tell the world.

“I chose C for the last multiple-choice question. What did you choose?”

“Absolutely B, the class monitor also chose B!”

“It’s over, I’m dead!”

…

Wei Ying covered his ears and returned to his seat.

He was the most annoyed to discuss answers after the exam. The exam was like spilled water and discussing answers would only add to the anxiety.

Wei Ying was lying on the table to cover his ears, though, the effect was not good.

He looked at tomorrow’s subject review materials while silently reciting “not listening, not listening, the tortoise chant Buddhist scripture”, and suddenly, a hand bent its finger and knocked on his desk twice.

He suddenly looked up and found that Lan Zhan was standing by his desk, looking at him with his head down and knitted eyebrows, and asked in a low voice: “Did you have a problem with the exam?”

The look and tone seemed a bit nervous.

Wei Ying’s eyes lit up and he hurriedly stood up, whispering quietly to Lan Zhan, “I seem to do it well.”

He did feel he did okay in both the Mathematics and Language exam today.

“But I’m so nervous listening to their answers to the questions, I’m afraid it’s an illusion that I feel good.” Wei Ying raised his chin in the direction of Nei Huaisang not far away, complained to Lan Zhan, and then covered his ears again.

Lan Zhan’s slightly wrinkled brow stretched out, he looked at Wei Ying who was covering his ears for a while, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and said to him, “Put your hands down.”

Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan blankly and obediently put down the hand covering his ears.

Then Lan Zhan suddenly took a step closer to him, and the distance abruptly narrowed.

His breathing was stagnant, and his eyelashes trembled lightly as he looked at Lan Zhan’s face close at hand.

Lan Zhan lowered his head, raised his hand to insert his white wireless earphones into his ears.

His cool fingertips touched his earlobe during the action.

The rhythm of the music soon began to slap on the eardrums.

Wei Ying was dumbfounded. He felt his right earlobe was gently pinched, and immediately trembled like a frightened rabbit.

He stared at Lan Zhan with his eyes wide open, but he couldn’t say anything.

Lan Zhan withdrew his hand, rubbed his index finger and thumb together and asked Wei Ying calmly, “Can you still hear it?”

Wei Ying shook his head ignorantly.

He couldn’t hear the voice of Nei Huaisang’s group discussing the answers, nor could he hear the music coming from the earphones, he could only hear the increasingly violent beating in his chest.

He didn’t need to cover his ears, but he wanted to cover his hot face.

Wei Ying lowered his gaze in a panic, whispered a “thank you” and quickly sat backin his seat, lying on his desk and continuing to read the notes, his head buried very low.

Lan Zhan looked down at Wei Ying’s red ears and returned to his seat. He smiled silently, took out his phone and changed to a more cheerful song, turning the volume up a bit.

Then, as expected, the person sitting over there trembled.

---

The two-day exam soon ended.

The paper grading efficiency of Gusu High School was not generally high. The score would be available on the third day after the exam, and the complete score ranking would be posted in the first floor hallway of the teaching building early in the morning.

Of course, many parents who were eagerly concerned about their grades would ask the head teacher about their grades and rankings in advance.

The night before the announcement of the results, Shen Xiao Hai worked overtime in the office until ten o’clock, during which he received at least twenty phone calls from the parents of Class 1 students, including one from Lan Zhan, who had never called him before.

That night, Wen Xu also called his mother in the dormitory.

Wei Ying was sitting and working on a question.

He raised his eyes to look at Wen Xu and saw that the expression on his face went from anxiety to shock to frustration in a way that was visible to the naked eye, as fast as a change of face in a Peking Opera.

“What? How could this happen?!” Wen Xu’s face looked angry as he flew out of the dormitory door.

Guo Cheng snorted, took out his cell phone and played a song “A Spray of Plum Blossom” publicly, very gloating.

Wei Ying was not in the mood to be happy. His face was calm, he turned the pen in his hand, turning faster and faster, and finally flew out directly.

He was going to die of nervousness.

Even more nervous than when he was waiting for Yanping County’s final entrance exam results.

He had a dream that night, dreaming that he had not entered the top fifty, and went to the second class with Wen Xu, and then saw Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng walking into Class 1 together, laughing and talking.

In the dream, he shouted out to Lan Zhan, who turned around and said indifferently to him, “You’re not worthy to be my tablemate.”

Wei Ying woke up feeling cold and sweaty.

After washing, he rushed to the score list in the first floor hallway of the teaching building without eating breakfast.

There were already many students huddling in front, and there were bursts of ghost crying and howling and shouting for joy.

Wei Ying had a hard time squeezing in, and the first thing he saw was the name of Lan Zhan hanging high on the achievement list, 27 points higher than the second place Wen Qing.

Someone exclaimed, “Lan Zhan is really perverted, it’s scary enough that he scored 20 points higher than the second last time, but this time he is even higher!”

Another person tsk-ed, “This is too much to give face to the second place, is there any grudge?”

After confirming that Lan Zhan was the first, Wei Ying began to look for his own name.

Starting from Lan Zhan’s name, he looked down, his breath breaking with nervousness.

No. 42 was Wei Ying.

The moment he saw the ranking, Wei Ying first did not catch his breath, and then he took a long breath out, his heart was beating painfully.

He could continue to be Lan Zhan’s tablemate!

Wei Ying completely relaxed and continued to see Nei Huaisang ranked 50th, the lucky bottom.

Jiang Cheng, 51st.

Wei Ying left the results list expressionlessly, but couldn’t hold back a gloating laugh as he went up the stairs.

As soon as Lan Zhan entered the classroom in the morning, he saw Wei Ying’s two eyes looking at him like a light bulb, almost like a tail wagging behind him. He paused in his steps and walked in at a slower pace.

Wei Ying diligently helped Lan Zhan pull out his chair, and as soon as he sat down, he leaned over and grabbed Lan Zhan’s arm and shook it excitedly, “Lan Zhan, I can stay in Class 1 now!”

After saying that, he suddenly realized that he was too excited, and immediately put down his hand in embarrassment and stepped back a bit.

Lan Zhan glanced at Wei Ying’s retracted hand, his expression remained unchanged. He asked: “How many?”

Wei Ying knew that Lan Zhan hadn’t looked at the results list. He pursed his lips and said, “42, much better than I expected.”

Lan Zhan nodded and said calmly: “You did a good job on the exam, congratulations.”

After he finished, he took a pile of papers out of his bag and put them on the desk.

Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan, the light in his eyes dimmed. He felt that Lan Zhan’s reaction to his results was too flat, and couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

He suddenly thought that he was so excited to continue to be Lan Zhan’s tablemate, but it might not be a big deal to Lan Zhan.

Moreover, would Lan Zhan be upset because Jiang Cheng dropped out of Class 1?

After all, they were friends who had been like brothers for so many years.

And he and Lan Zhan had only known each other for a little over two months.

Wei Ying simply can’t control himself to think about this problem. Once Jiang Cheng was involved, he was like a frightened bird suffering from gains and losses, and his joyous excitement instantly sank to the bottom of the lake.

He lowered his eyelashes, was silent for a while and still couldn’t help but tentatively asked Lan Zhan:

“I saw Jiang Cheng ranked 51th, will you be angry? If it weren’t for me coming here, he would be exactly fiftieth.”

“Why should I be angry?” Lan Zhan asked almost immediately.

Looking at Wei Ying whose eyebrows were drooping, he put down his hand that was getting something from his school bag and continued.

“You can stay, he can’t. It only means that you work harder and better than him, doesn’t it?”

Stunned, Wei Ying lifted her eyelashes to look at Lan Zhan and heard him say in a softer voice.

“And, you don’t have to compare yourself to anyone. I only know that you can stay in the first class and continue to sit next to me. I am very happy.”

I am very happy.

Wei Ying breathed lightly, looking at Lan Zhan, his throat seemed to be blocked by a ball of wet cotton, the corners of his mouth gradually rose up, but his eyes were a little sour.

Lan Zhan was always like this, making him want to cry and laugh at the same time.

A heart would go from left to right, go up and down, and eventually fall into the warm water, soaking it sour and swelling.

Wei Ying bit his inner lip and was speechless.

He saw Lan Zhan take out a black velvet quadrilateral box from his bag, put it in his hand and said to him:

“This is the midterm reward I promised you.”

Wei Ying was startled.

Looking down at the exquisite gift box in his hand and carefully rubbing the soft velvet with his fingers, as if his heart was scratched by the fluff, he whispered:

“But haven’t I already…”

Asked for a self-initiated hug in advance.

“That doesn’t count.” Lan Zhan said firmly, then lowered his voice again, “You open it and see, do you like it?”

Wei Ying listened and opened the box. Inside the box was a bracelet woven with red rope, strung with a candy-sized turquoise stone.

The turquoise stone was carved into a small planet, as if the unique blue and green light shines in the bright galaxy.

Even if Wei Ying didn’t understand gems, he knew that this turquoise must be very expensive. He stared at the turquoise for a long time, and heard the heart beating in his chest, and a sour feeling welled up in his nose.

“Don’t like it?” Lan Zhan asked him softly.

Wei Ying immediately shook his head. He took out the bracelet and tried to wear it on his right wrist, but his left hand was a little inflexible, and it took a while for him to wear it.

Lan Zhan stretched out his hand and put the bracelet on Wei Ying’s right wrist.

The red rope was brighter on his white, slim wrist, and the turquoise seemed like a star flying in orbit around his wrist.

Wei Ying looked at the bracelet on his right wrist, blinked a few times before raising his head and smiling at Lan Zhan:

“Thank you, I like it very much.”

As long as it is from you, I like it all and can’t let go of it.

Lan Zhan glanced at the red rope and turquoise stone on Wei Ying’s wrist.

He had noticed that Wei Ying cared too much about the red string with a peace knot on Jiang Cheng’s right hand. Thinking he liked the red string bracelet, he used the red string to string the turquoise stone together.

He looked at Wei Ying’s eyes that fell full of stars again and whispered, “I heard that turquoise signifies peace and good luck, can you do well in the next final exam?”

In fact, he did not say that turquoise was also the birthstone of December, and he not only wanted to wish him a smooth ending, he also wanted to wish him who was born in December a peaceful life, good luck and worry-free.

Wei Ying nodded vigorously and raised his chin slightly, looking satisfied and confident: “Don’t worry, now that I have a good luck bracelet, I will definitely do well in my exams every time!”

In fact, he wanted to say that he had used almost all his luck to meet him.

Didn’t dare to ask for more good luck.

Sixteen years ago, when his mother was pregnant with him in Lotus Pillar Bay, she weaved a string of red peace knots for him, wishing him no illness, no disaster, and happiness.

But he failed to get the string of peace knots.

Now, the person he liked, gave him a string of red rope woven turquoise, wishing him peace and good luck.

Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan, obviously very close, but he seemed to be looking at this person with great effort, as if many, many years have passed, and he missed him all those years.

He was thinking that there would be someone in this world who would be willing to bless him besides his mother.

He liked this person so much.

This person might also like him.

Wei Ying’s left fingers gently fiddled with the turquoise stone on his right wrist, he took a deep breath and suddenly asked Lan Zhan, “Can I take a college entrance exam with you in the future?”

He pressed his lower lip nervously, and continued to add: “I mean, I want to go to the same university as you, I’ll apply for whichever one you apply for, no matter how hard it is, I’ll definitely try my best to get in, okay?”

I can work hard for you to enter Gusu High School and work hard enough to stay in Class 1, and I can definitely work hard enough to go to the same university as you.

He did not say, not only the university, I want to work hard to walk into your life and hold hands with you on the same path for the rest of your life.

Lan Zhan looked at Wei Ying’s eyes that were so nervous that his eyelashes fluttered lightly, he curled his fingers into his palm and was silent for a while, as if he had made a big decision in this very short period of time, and whispered.

“Okay.”

Wei Ying’s face instantly blossomed into a smile, his eyes were as bright as evening stars, and the corners of his eyes and eyelashes were adorned with smiles.

Lan Zhan looked at those smiling eyes for a while, turned his face sideways and retracted his gaze.

He lowered his head and took out the pen and put it in his hand to play with, rubbing the cold pen with his fingers.

But Wei Ying obviously didn’t intend to let him go, and leaned close to him again, so close that he could smell the faint smell of shower gel on his body, he turned his head and asked him:

“So, do you prefer TG or PK University now? When the time comes, the two schools will definitely fight for you, right. If it is me, I’ll go to whoever gives me more bonuses.”

Lan Zhan looked at the pen in his hand and said, “I haven’t thought about it yet.”

Wei Ying let out an “Oh” and could not resist grabbing Lan Zhan’s arm again, he anxiously said: “Then you must tell me in advance when you have thought about it!”

Lan Zhan glanced at Wei Ying holding his hand. The wrist of that hand was wrapped around the bracelet he had given him. He turned his face back and smiled:

“Yes, but you have to continue to improve your grades. Only then will there be more choices.”

Wei Ying was stunned, and immediately nodded and said: “No problem, I’ll definitely do better next time!”

Then Wei Ying saw Lan Zhan put a stack of papers that he had taken out of his school bag on his desk, and said to him, “This is another midterm reward. Give it to me when you finish it.”

Wei Ying was dumbfounded.

Could it be that Lan Zhan promised to give him three midterm rewards in wholesale?

He took a deep breath, clenched his fist and said, “Okay! No problem! Isn’t it just the paper? I can definitely finish it!”

Without saying anything, Wei Ying began to write papers with a pen.

Being able to go to the same university as Lan Zhan made his whole heart fly, as if soaked in a soft bubble, and when he thought of it, he was so happy that he wanted to spit out bubbles too.

He buried his head in writing the papers, writing a question and looking at the turquoise stone on his right wrist for a few seconds, and then starting to do the paper again after a few seconds.

After repeatedly being distracted, a sudden burst of happiness came to his mind.

Wei Ying suddenly turned his head to look at Lan Zhan who was reading a book, squinted his eyes and asked, “Since you don’t know my ranking, how come you still have a gift for me?”

Lan Zhan’s hand flipping through the book paused, and after a few seconds of silence, he said flatly: “Even if you didn’t get in, I still want to give it to you.”

Wei Ying was startled, and his ears began to redden uncontrollably.

He uttered an “Oh”, quickly lowered his head, and began to write the paper for a while, then watching the turquoise for a few seconds.

But the heartbeat seemed to be more irregular.

---

Wei Ying didn’t know that his achievements had caused a stir in Yanping County.

The principal of Yanping High School excitedly pulled a banner of warm celebration and hung it on the school gate.

Some students who had a negative attitude towards the live class were inspired to start attending classes seriously, and all the students were devoted to live class study, keeping exactly the same learning pace as Gusu No.1 High School.

While the principal had seen the glorious future of education in Yanping County, Wei Ying was very confused about his own romantic future.

Since knowing that Zhou Lusi and Lan Zhan knew each other, Wei Ying did not dare to seek her out to continue asking questions about how to chase people.

But he remembered that Zhou Lusi had told him that once he found out that the person he liked might like him too, he could find a time to confess his feelings.

As a result, he was dizzy every day in the uncertain ambiguity, swaying between “he seemed to like me” and “he didn’t seem to like me”.

Secret love might be like this, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy.