As the college entrance exam drew closer, Ji Huaichuan still prayed every day, still banged away in his room every day, only studying after he finished banging around.
Ji Zhaoxi also kept to her routine of studying, her state much better than before.
In truth, she felt that no matter how much she studied during this period, she wouldn't improve much—she knew where her limits were.
The Zhou family had started preparing materials for Zhou Chiye to study abroad. From the first year of high school, the international class had been learning things different from other classes, all geared toward going abroad later.
Ji Huaichuan, knowing that Zhou Chiye was going to study abroad, silently shed tears of envy. He wanted to study abroad too, to stop slaving away at studying here every day.
"You busybody, finally back," Zhou's mother said, raising an eyebrow as she watched Zhou Chiye stroll in unhurriedly from outside.
Zhou Chiye patted his mom on the shoulder. "Mom, you've gotten prettier again."
Zhou's mother snorted. "Go to the study. Your dad's looking for you."
Zhou Chiye went to the study. He sat across from his father, looking at the documents on the desk. The two of them had never had much to say to each other.
"Are you still planning to be with that female classmate?" Father Zhou suddenly spoke.
Zhou Chiye frowned. "Dad, don't pull that nasty father-in-law routine. It's embarrassing."
Father Zhou was about to be furious with this rebellious son. "I just asked a question, and now I'm a nasty father-in-law?" he said gruffly.
Just seeing Zhou Chiye gave him a headache.
"During the holidays, get into the company and learn properly. You're old enough now, and you'd better cut down on the racing stuff."
The heir of the Zhou family couldn't race forever.
Zhou Chiye said lazily, "Got it."
The sun hung high in the sky, the harsh light blinding everyone. The air was stifling, traffic police were everywhere, and many parents were waiting at the school gates.
Though the roads were crowded, it was very quiet. Candidates filed into the exam halls one by one, carrying test pouches and some study materials, with a few still discussing exam points.
"Did you memorize it all? I didn't look at the later parts."
"I didn't either—there was so much. Hey, that formula the math teacher mentioned the other day…"
"Oh, come on! Can you all stop talking? We're about to take the exam, and you're making me so nervous!"
"What if it shows up on the test?"
"Fine, you keep talking. I'm out of here. I can't listen anymore."
Scenes like this were common that day. Ji Zhaoxi was also the type who disliked discussing questions before or after exams.
That's why she deliberately avoided people who liked to discuss questions that day.
They were taking the exam at their own school, which was a good thing for Ji Zhaoxi. She was very familiar with A High School, which gave her a sense of security.
The surrounding students were whispering, and Ji Zhaoxi looked at the empty seats in the classroom, counting her own spot.
Her mood was incredibly calm at the moment. Three years of hard work had all been for this moment. She felt she had truly worked hard, and she would accept whatever outcome came.
But even as she comforted herself that way, she knew she would still cry for a while if she didn't get into A University.
The morning exam went smoothly. But during the afternoon math exam, Ji Zhaoxi heard someone crying.
Hearing that cry, she breathed a sigh of relief. She felt a bit embarrassed about this reaction, but it at least confirmed that the math questions weren't just tricky for her alone.
After the exam, Ji Zhaoxi waited for Zhou Chiye and Ji Huaichuan.
"I'm doomed. I won't get in. It was way too hard." Ji Huaichuan was crying—for real this time.
He'd written the exam while crying.
He asked Ji Zhaoxi tearfully, "Did you think it was hard?"
Ji Zhaoxi nodded.
Ji Huaichuan breathed a sigh of relief. When he saw more than a dozen people crying on the road, his sadness gradually turned into calm.
Thank goodness it wasn't just him who thought it was hard.
Ji Huaichuan kept asking Ji Zhaoxi for the multiple-choice answers, but Ji Zhaoxi just held Zhou Chiye's hand, ignoring him completely.
Ji Huaichuan was exactly the kind of person Ji Zhaoxi hated—starting to check answers as soon as the exam was over.
Previously, his classmates had suffered terribly from his habit, and now he was tormenting Ji Zhaoxi.
Now that the college entrance exam was happening, Zhou Chiye was afraid of affecting Ji Zhaoxi, so he didn't dare even to take her bear. According to their agreement, tonight her bear should have been on his bed.
The chef had also been extra cautious these days, even stricter than usual with ingredient selection. He was terrified they would eat something wrong and get diarrhea during the exam—then he would be a sinner for all time.
Zhou Chiye was incredibly sleepy, with another early start tomorrow. After his shower, he lay on the sofa in his bathrobe, already planning where he'd take Ji Zhaoxi after the exam.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
The door pushed open gently, and Ji Zhaoxi poked her head in, asking softly, "Zhou Chiye, don't you want the bear?"
Zhou Chiye hadn't expected Ji Zhaoxi to come to him. He moved close to her, pulled her out from behind the door, closed it, and held her in his arms.
Ji Zhaoxi sat on his lap and stuffed the bear into his arms.
Zhou Chiye rubbed the bear's head a couple of times, then leaned into Ji Zhaoxi, burying his face in her scent. He murmured, "You can give it to me tomorrow instead. I'm afraid you won't sleep well."
Ji Zhaoxi said generously, "It's fine. We already agreed."
She knew Zhou Chiye was too embarrassed to take it from her.
After all, before this, whenever it was Zhou Chiye's turn to hold the bear, as soon as Ji Zhaoxi opened her door, he'd snatch it up in a flash—couldn't wait a second.
She didn't understand why Zhou Chiye wouldn't let her just give the bear to him; he seemed to really love it.
After Ji Zhaoxi left the room, Zhou Chiye burrowed his face into the bear, inhaling its scent deeply.
Today was satisfying.
The next day's subjects were about the same difficulty as usual.
But that meant the scores probably wouldn't widen the gap.
By evening, some answer keys for certain questions had already appeared online. Ji Zhaoxi still didn't look at them. Ji Huaichuan did, and he cried again.
That night, the chef prepared a rich, abundant meal for the three kids who had just finished the college entrance exam.
At the Zhou residence:
"Is he not coming home on such an important day as the end of the college entrance exam?"
Zhou's mother, with a face mask on, rolled her eyes at Father Zhou. "Do you think there's any difference between the exam and regular school days for your son?"
Apart from math and English, he barely listened to anything else at school.
Every day, he did the things Father Zhou called "mindless activities."
That evening, Ji Zhaoxi video-called her mom. Ji Huaichuan didn't call—he was still crying.
Crying while praying, crying while checking answers online. When he found out that several different versions were circulating online, he breathed a sigh of relief.
What if the version he had was the correct one?
After hanging up the video call, Ji Zhaoxi was overjoyed. She was already looking forward to college life.
She would study at school during the week, and when she had time, she'd go to the race track to blow off steam. She wouldn't have to get up so early anymore.
Looking at Ji Zhaoxi leaning in his arms, Zhou Chiye was still a little taken aback by her closeness.
But she was always like this—happy and she’d nuzzle up to him and hug him, unhappy and she’d bite him or step on him. She definitely only acted this way with him alone.
Cough, he actually really liked it about her.
Zhou Chiye pinched her cheek and took a bite out of her shoulder. “You can’t forget me in the future. I’ll come back often, and you’re not allowed to like anyone else.”
Ji Zhaoxi looked at him seriously. “Don’t worry, I won’t forget you. My memory is very good.”
After all, they had spent this much time together, right?
She deliberately teased him again. Zhou Chiye bit her once more, quietly.
Zhou Chiye had long noticed that a lot of the time Ji Zhaoxi would put on an innocent, aggrieved look, then say things he didn’t like, and when he got upset, she’d secretly laugh…
A black-hearted simpleton.
As soon as the holiday started, Ji Huaichuan immediately went to work as a tutor. The reputation of being in A High School’s competitive class came out, and soon many parents came to find him.
When Ji Huaichuan’s grades came out, he used that report card to hike up his prices drastically. In just a few days, he earned more money than he had from his previous scamming schemes.
Ji Huaichuan was thrilled. He packed his schedule tight, from eight in the morning to ten at night. With that kind of drive, there was no way he wouldn’t get rich.
Ji Zhaoxi didn’t want to travel. She wanted to try different extreme sports, but she didn’t dare go alone, so Zhou Chiye went with her.
At first, Zhou Chiye thought it was no big deal. But later on, he fell completely silent. He had never imagined that the person who once was too scared to race a car would now have such a high threshold…
Ordinary extreme sports couldn’t satisfy her anymore.
But after Ji Zhaoxi witnessed an accident firsthand, she suddenly went back to the way she was before. Zhou Chiye breathed a sigh of relief.
Because, truth be told, he was actually scared of a lot of those sports, too.
He was just toughing it out…
