The other students chimed in one after another.
Linlin curled the corners of her lips into a faint smile. She had only just started learning the violin and was still practicing bowing on the four open strings. What could there be to call pleasant or unpleasant?
She patted Su Li on the shoulder. “That’s enough practice for today. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
Su Li hurriedly put down his trumpet.
Now that Su Li was on summer vacation too, he would normally have run outside to play the moment he was excused from trumpet practice.
But with his sister’s classmates visiting, he stayed home instead.
The siblings followed their parents’ usual way of entertaining guests. They brewed a pot of tea for the students and cut up a plate of watermelon to put on the table.
After finishing the watermelon, everyone took out paper and pens. They tried to reconstruct the exam questions one by one, discussing them and checking their answers.
Linlin had an excellent memory and remembered most of the questions.
She wrote out her answers. Those whose answers matched hers were secretly delighted. Those whose answers differed did not suspect that Linlin’s answers were wrong.
Su Li squeezed in beside his sister. He could not understand a thing, but he listened with great interest.
He could not understand the questions, but he understood the reactions of the people around him.
Such a smart, beautiful, and outstanding older sister belonged to him, Su Li.
The boy was immensely proud.
Gu Zhiyuan did not squeeze in with the others. Instead, he sat at the very edge of the group and barely spoke.
Every now and then, he glanced up at Linlin, only to quickly look away.
Once they had checked their answers, some people were happy while others were dismayed. Knowing they could not impose on the family for too long, they began leaving one after another.
Linlin took Su Li to wash the teapot and cups. Just then, someone knocked on the courtyard gate again.
Gu Zhiyuan stood at the entrance, looking somewhat awkward.
Linlin shook the water from her hands and asked calmly, “Is there something else?”
Gu Zhiyuan looked at her, his expression complicated. “Linlin, have I… ever offended you?”
Linlin was stunned for a moment, then shook her head. “No.”
“Then why do you…”
Gu Zhiyuan did not know how to continue.
Should he ask why she disliked him?
But not everyone in the world was obligated to like him.
Asking outright would only make him seem rather thick-skinned.
Gu Zhiyuan opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying, “I also applied to universities in the capital. When the time comes, can I go and visit you?”
Before Linlin could answer, he immediately added, “After all, we’ve been classmates for so many years.”
Linlin frowned slightly. After thinking for a moment, she slowly replied, “I can’t promise anything. If you all have a gathering, you can let me know. If I’m free, I’ll do my best to go.”
Gu Zhiyuan had said “we,” meaning “you and me.”
But Linlin answered with “you all,” instantly shattering any atmosphere that might have invited romantic speculation.
Gu Zhiyuan did not give up. He continued, “Then how can I contact you when the time comes?”
Linlin knew the addresses of her grandparents’ home in the capital and her second uncle’s family home, but she had no intention of telling Gu Zhiyuan.
She lowered her eyes slightly. “I don’t know yet. We’ll see when the time comes.”
Gu Zhiyuan was silent for several seconds. Without saying anything else, he turned and left.
Linlin did not take the matter to heart. She had only just begun learning the violin and was enjoying it immensely. As for Gu Zhiyuan, it did not matter whether he came or went. They would no longer be classmates in the future anyway.
After dinner, Linlin finished washing up and came out to find Su Li repeating his conversation with Gu Zhiyuan to their parents in the living room.
“Linlin, have I ever offended you?”
“Can I go visit you in the future?”
“…”
He reenacted the entire exchange between Linlin and Gu Zhiyuan. When imitating Linlin, he used a normal tone, but whenever he imitated Gu Zhiyuan, he made his voice bizarre and exaggerated.
Linlin’s face flushed with anger. She walked into the living room, intending to give her brother a beating.
Su Li reacted quickly. He hurried behind Lin Zhilan and poked half his head out from behind her. “I didn’t make anything up. That’s how you two really talked.”
“Mom, look at him!” Linlin stamped her foot in complaint.
Lin Zhilan was both amused and exasperated. She smacked Su Li lightly on the arm. “All right, stop being a pest. If your sister wants to hit you, I’m not getting involved.”
Su Li stuck out his tongue and held out his hand.
Linlin slapped his palm once. “Don’t say things like that in front of Mom and Dad again.”
“Oh…”
Su Li’s eyes darted around. “Sis, don’t date Gu Zhiyuan. He’s not a good person.”
Su Lang thought his son had finally said something clever for once and gave him an approving look.
Linlin did not like Gu Zhiyuan, but that did not stop her from being curious about why her brother disliked him too. “How do you know he’s not a good person?”
Su Li curled his lip. “He came to our house as a guest, and all the other brothers and sisters smiled. He was the only one who kept a straight face, as if we owed him something. He doesn’t have any manners.”
Su Li might be mischievous and constantly enjoy teasing his sister into a temper, but deep down, he was Linlin’s number-one fan.
When other people liked Linlin, he thought they had good taste. When they did not like her, he assumed there was something wrong with them.
As for Gu Zhiyuan, Su Li had no regard for him at all. He thought the man was pretentious and affected.
Lin Zhilan did not want Linlin getting involved with Gu Zhiyuan either. After hearing Su Li recount the conversation between her daughter and Gu Zhiyuan, she realized that Linlin did not like him either and quickly changed the subject.
“All right, enough talking about other people. You two should go to bed.”
Linlin said, “I still want to practice the violin for a while.”
Su Li immediately chimed in, “Then I’ll practice the trumpet for a while too.”
Practicing the trumpet late at night was practically asking to be beaten.
…
Linlin’s college entrance exam results were released soon afterward.
Her homeroom teacher personally came to the house to deliver the news.
The total score was 690, and Linlin had scored 668—the highest score in the province for the science stream!
When Su Li heard the news, he picked up his trumpet and played a charge call before running outside to brag about it.
Linlin had already estimated her own score, so she was not particularly surprised when she heard the number.
Still, she was delighted that all her hard work had paid off. As soon as her parents returned, she eagerly told them the news.
Lin Zhilan and Su Lang had already heard, but they pretended it was their first time finding out and put on suitably delighted expressions.
The news spread rapidly. Not only did everyone on the island hear about it, but reporters from the city and provincial newspapers came looking for her as well. They arrived with cameras slung over their shoulders and notebooks in hand, saying they wanted to interview the provincial top scorer.
When they saw Linlin, the reporter and photographer were both astonished.
The island was, after all, a remote place. They had never expected it to produce the provincial top scorer that year, much less one who was so…
The reporter found himself at a loss for words to describe Linlin’s appearance.
But he knew that once her photograph appeared in the newspaper, this year’s provincial top scorer would become a sensation.
Linlin herself, along with her parents, Lin Zhilan and Su Lang, did not want her appearance to become the focus of attention. They refused the reporter’s request to take photographs, answered a few simple questions, and then saw the reporters out.
Capital Aviation University was included among the key universities in the first admission tier. With a score of 668, Linlin was well above the cutoff and had no reason to worry about being rejected during the admissions process.
However, the major she had chosen was an aviation program involving confidential work, so its political screening and physical examination were more rigorous than those for other majors.
