Chapter 8 (2)

  Lin Yuxiang was shocked after reading the letter, he himself had not been educated, but simply didn't like it. He only belonged to the Montesquieu type of person. Didn't like education, but his ideological awareness hadn't reached the height of overthrowing the current educational system. Because once he reached this height, he would immediately be overthrown by the educational system.

  Lin Yuxiang is holding a letter, thinking that wishes are beautiful, but hopes are non-existent. Lin Yuxiang is now in his prime and does not want to give up his prosperous life to read books. He doesn't know that many times "prosperity falls" is like the stripper's "clothes fall", which can bring people a more beautiful realm.

  Four months later.

  The day before the high school entrance exam.

  Lin Yuxiang was still reciting "Chu Shi Biao", a classic Chinese text. The characteristic of this kind of ancient text is that once you memorize the front part, you forget the back part, and vice versa. Lin Yuxiang remembered that before dinner, he could recite it fluently, but after dinner, he couldn't even remember the first sentence. His mother had just praised him for his good memory earlier, but now she scolded him for being stupid. With the middle school entrance exam approaching the next day, Lin Yuxiang was getting anxious as he had forgotten most of what he had prepared in the past few days. In desperation, he decided to prioritize what he needed to memorize and use the "eleven kills law" of ancient Rome, where every tenth item would be skipped to reduce his burden. His mother, worried about him, brought over a cup of water and two pills. The water seemed like the "Forgetful River Water", and after drinking it, Lin Yuxiang couldn't even remember who wrote "Chu Shi Biao".

  Lin's mother wanted to calm Rain's nerves, so she dialed a psychological counseling hotline. The old man on the other end was overly casual and fell into a passive state, causing Rain to ask questions that didn't make sense. Rain asked how to stabilize his pre-exam emotions, and the old man went off on a tangent for half a day, with the sound of rustling papers constantly coming from the receiver. In the end, the old man was even more forgetful and concluded by saying, "So, the most important thing is to have a calm mind." After Rain hung up the phone, Lin's mother anxiously asked, "Did you understand?"

  "I don't understand."

  "You didn't listen carefully, you didn't even listen to what the expert said."

  "But he didn't say anything."

  “Wha...” Lin's mother didn't finish her sentence, and the six dots weren't a sign of extreme anger, but rather that she really didn't know what was wrong with "you". The two glared at each other when the phone rang again. Lin's mother wanted to answer it, but Yu Xiang beat her to it. Lin's mother could only stand by and listen to see if the person on the phone was male or female. After Yu Xiang responded, the person on the other end asked him to guess who he was. Yu Xiang hated hearing this kind of thing over the phone - the voice was unfamiliar, and after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't get a clear impression of the speaker. He didn't dare to make a rash judgment, so he just went along with it, waiting for the other person's curiosity to dissipate, their vanity to be satisfied, and their conscience to awaken, at which point they would slowly reveal their name. Yu Xiang could only respond with a surprised and delighted cry. But today was different - the voice on the phone was male, and Yu Xiang was ready to surrender. However, the other person couldn't contain himself and said, "I'm Liang Zijun! You little scoundrel, you have no conscience!"

  Yu Xiang let out a loud "ah" from the bottom of his heart and asked: "Liang Zijun, I didn't expect it! Where are you now?"

  Liang Zijun's education in a private middle school was indeed different from that of traditional Chinese schools, and her way of thinking about problems was also different. She replied casually: "I'm by the phone."

  Yu Xiang was taken aback for a moment, thinking this was right, and then asked: "What are you doing?"

  "I'll give you a call."

  "You have your college entrance exam tomorrow."

  "Yes, and also to put on a show." The implication is that he should sacrifice his body to the examination hall. Yǔ Xiǎng also understood: Liáng Zǐ Jūn must have already chosen which high school to attend with money, even if he scored zero in math like Wú Hàn did back then, a first-rate school would still accept him.

  Liang Zijun and Yu Xiangkuan met for a moment, lowering their voices, saying: "I'll tell you a secret, I already know this year's middle school entrance examination Chinese composition topic."

  Yu Xiang smiled faintly and thought it was impossible. But on the surface, he had to cooperate with Liang Zijun, so he pretended to be urgent and asked: "What is it?"

  "Shh, listen, yes, yes, listen - 'A Magical Night'."

  "What, hahaha! The first three "ha"s were to express the desire to laugh in his heart; the fourth "ha" was to increase the absurdity and ridiculousness of this topic after he had already laughed at what he wanted to laugh at; the fifth "ha" was out of habit."

  Liang Zi Jun on the other end was a bit anxious: "Really, you mustn't speak nonsense, I'm only telling you this, it's true, my dad found out about this topic."

  "How do I write this topic?"

  "Ah, it's precisely because it's hard to write, so that nobody can copy the topic this year, that's why it came out."

  Yu Xiang still didn't believe it, because in previous years they also said they would prevent plagiarism, but every year people plagiarized and the exam creators seemed to have no shame like Zeng Guofan's "repeated defeats and repeated battles". The topics that came out every year were scolded by people, and their confidence should have been lost. They wouldn't be so evil as to come up with this topic. Moreover, this topic is very difficult to write about. Writing about this topic can't even get you a pencil case or a pushcart or a seat, let alone the so-called writing masters in the city who would all fall down. Think about it - "A Magical Night", this topic is easy to make people's imagination run wild, and if they wrote the truth, China would suddenly have many more Li Bai Chuan, although China is "opening up", but not to the point of opening up to this extent.

  Thinking it was so profound, Yu Xiang was certain that Liang Zi Jun had gotten the date of April Fool's Day wrong and thanked him before hanging up the phone, not taking the matter to heart. As soon as he hung up, the ringing started again, and Yu Xiang thought it was Liang Zi Jun causing trouble again, so he absent-mindedly responded with a single word, but the other end fell silent. It seemed like a thought flashed before Yu Xiang's eyes, this silence felt familiar. Yu Xiang suddenly tensed up, and indeed it was Susan. Yu Xiang gripped the receiver tightly and turned his back to his mother. On the other end, Susan asked: "Do you have confidence in getting into which school?"

  "I think - I will take the county key school, the municipal key school, hum -"

  "Alright, county key is also good, study hard and take your exam, I wish you a very smooth... um... very smooth exam! See you later!"

  On the eve of the exam, Yuxiang couldn't fall asleep for a long time. It's said that this is pre-exam excitement, and the consequence of pre-exam excitement is not being excited during the exam. Yuxiang usually sleeps well in class like the good sleeper in "Idle Thoughts", but when it's time to sleep, his eyelids just can't close. A forced melon isn't sweet, and a forced sleep won't be fragrant either. Yuxiang sat up and flipped through his books with his hands, trying to boost his confidence. His pen pal also sent him an encouraging letter, but in fact, when someone is at the critical moment of life and death, encouragement can only increase their pressure. In his reply, Yuxiang boasted that he had reviewed so much that he could answer questions even with his eyes closed and using his knees. As soon as he said this, it became a do-or-die battle. For several months, Yuxiang took supplementary classes everywhere. Every time summer was approaching, private tutors were hard to find like plum blossoms in winter, and rare like giant pandas. Lin's father spent over 5,000 yuan on tutoring, which pushed Yuxiang to the edge of desperation.

  Under the lamp, those ten or so exercise books were still on the most conspicuous part of the table. Yuxiang had done most of the questions and his heart was full of unsteady confidence. Yuxiang felt grateful to Susan. Half a year ago, Lin Yuxiang couldn't even count how many stars were on the American flag, but now he was confident and had his sights set on becoming one of the top students in the city.

  People can't help but fall asleep when they want to sleep. That night, Yu Xiang slept for six hours and woke up with a start, thinking about the upcoming middle school entrance exam. He quickly grabbed his pen case and headed to the examination room. The weather outside was unusually hot, even though it was early morning, the wind blowing in his face made him feel irritable. There were more parents than students at the school gate, all of whom were giving last-minute instructions. Yu Xiang found the examination room on the lowest floor, where the ventilation was poor, and as soon as he entered, he was hit with a wave of stench. His seat was in the back row, in a corner where the smell seemed to converge, making his heart feel like it was being pierced by the odor. It was the first time Yu Xiang had encountered such a strong smell, and compared to the smell at the entrance, this one was much worse. However, the smell could only cause physical discomfort, but what was more unbearable was that the desk was as uneven as the surface of the moon, with papers laid flat unable to stay straight. But what was even more astonishing was that there were people who could write on such a desk.