Chapter 101 #2
“Head stylist my ass,” Li Yan scoffed as he shaped Jiang Cheng’s bangs. “I’m not done enjoying myself yet.”
“Oh.” Jiang Cheng thought that was a perfectly valid reason.
“You sure have great skin, Jiang Cheng,” Li Yan said. “How come you don’t get any acne with all this stress?”
“Just goes to show that I’m not that stressed.”
“Sure, go ahead and brag,” Li Yan said. “The way you’ve been studying every second of every day, I bet your eyes can’t even focus anymore. I ran into you on the street last week—did you see me?”
“Nope. You didn’t call out to me?” Jiang Cheng chuckled.
“I didn’t have the heart to, seeing you all dazed like that,” Li Yan said. “But you seem okay today. Are you managing to relax a little more now that the exam is so close?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Go ace that test and get an amazing score. In all my life here, I’ve never heard of anyone from this place doing well on the exams. They thank their ancestors just for getting into second-tier universities.” 1
Jiang Cheng nodded. “All right.”
“Don’t move, or you’re gonna wind up with a bald spot.” Li Yan mulled it over for a moment, then sighed. “Though when I think about it, you don’t really count as someone ‘from here.’ If you really do get a top score, it’ll be the Steelworks neighborhood and Fourth High that lucked out.”
“If I’m not from here, then where am I from?” Jiang Cheng gave a little smile.
Li Yan didn’t answer, just continued to snip away at his hair little by little. After a long time, he spoke again, out of nowhere. “Gu Fei is a really good guy.”
“Mm-hm,” Jiang Cheng agreed.
“He’s had it pretty rough ever since he was little.
Hell, he has it rough even now.” Li Yan spoke quickly, like he was trying to get all this out before Gu Fei came back in.
“I don’t know why he agreed to be with… Anyway, I just wanted to say that if you go off to school and start having second thoughts or something, we won’t let you off easy. ”
“Hm?” Jiang Cheng opened his eyes just a crack.
“We’ll team up and demolish you,” Li Yan said.
“…Got it.” For a moment, Jiang Cheng was stunned, but then he chuckled and said, “I understand.”
***
The last handful of days before the exam went by slower than the earlier days of endless, round-the-clock studying. Perhaps it was because by now, for better or worse, everyone was counting the seconds and hoping for June seventh to arrive sooner. The more they hoped, the slower the hours passed.
But when the time came for the preliminary visit to the examination halls, anxiety and nerves suddenly filled the air once again.
“I don’t even care anymore,” said Wang Xu, his face resolute. “I just want to get it over with. The sooner we die, the sooner our souls will move on.”
He’d always hoped he’d be put in the same examination hall as Jiang Cheng or Gu Fei—he said their presence would reassure him—but since he’d found out he wasn’t getting his wish, he repeated this mantra of resignation at least five times a day, pretty much every time he saw Jiang Cheng and Gu Fei.
Jiang Cheng might not have said anything, but his own thoughts weren’t that far from Wang Xu’s. The difference was that his wish only included Gu Fei, not Captain Wang Jiuri.
This wasn’t a big city with a lot of high schools, but the chances of them being grouped in the same exam location were still very low.
Jiang Cheng was overjoyed when he found out he and Gu Fei had been assigned to the same testing center and the same floor, even though they were in different halls.
The organized preliminary visit to the examination halls painted a new layer of nervousness over everyone’s hearts.
It was probably because they’d all been leading the same monotonous lives for so long.
When they were faced abruptly with a completely unfamiliar new battleground—the strange environment, the silent peers, the stern-faced teachers, the proctors already stationed in their places—everything about it unnerved them.
As they rode their bikes home from the testing center, Jiang Cheng suddenly squeezed on his brakes. “You have to stay with me tonight,” he said. “You can’t leave my side for even a minute. I’m a little scared.”
Gu Fei nodded. “Mm. I’ll stay with you.”
“Are you scared? Panicked?” Jiang Cheng looked at him.
“No shit! Of course I’m scared.” Gu Fei laughed. “That’s why I’m sticking by your side, too. It’ll make me feel more grounded.”
“I said it before: I can prove myself, no matter where I am,” Jiang Cheng said. “And right now, the only way I can prove myself is to ace these exams. I have to.”
“You don’t even have to perform above your usual level. Just do what you’ve always done. Don’t you know yourself after all this time?”
“No.” Jiang Cheng frowned. “Do you?”
Gu Fei smiled at him. “I’d say so.”
“That’s good enough for me, then. As long as you know me, I’m not going to worry about anything else.” Jiang Cheng continued pedaling forward. “If you know me, that’s enough.”
“You’re not gonna study tonight, are you?” Gu Fei caught up to him.
“Nah, I’m not going to touch the books,” Jiang Cheng said. “I’m going to meditate.”
“Meditate on what?”
“I want to sort through everything once in my mind,” Jiang Cheng replied. “Sit there with my legs crossed, and whoosh ! Play the whole thing through like a movie. That way it’ll be easier to search for what I need during the exam tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll meditate too,” said Gu Fei. “Sit there with my legs crossed, and whoosh ! Play back the images of you memorizing stuff for the past year in my mind. That way it’ll be easier to guess the answers tomorrow.”
“Maybe you should…perform above your usual level tomorrow,” Jiang Cheng said with a smile.
Gu Fei nodded. “All right.”
***
That evening was not so different from any other evening. Gu Fei went home to see Gu Miao, played with her for a while, then headed over to Jiang Cheng’s place.
Jiang Cheng had already taken the vegetables out of the fridge and very diligently washed and chopped them.
“What do you think?” With his other hand on his hip, Jiang Cheng swept a dramatic gesture over the vegetables. “Isn’t this perfect?!”
“Yes, very perfect.” Gu Fei hugged him from behind, nuzzling the crook of his neck. “Just one question, though: We got celery, napa cabbage, onions, and bell peppers. How do you plan on putting them together?”
“Celery stir-fried with meat, napa cabbage stir-fried with meat, onions stir-fried with meat, and bell peppers stir-fried with meat,” Jiang Cheng answered without even batting an eye. “Top it off with a napa cabbage and mince soup. Four dishes and one soup, a good balance of veggies and protein.”
“All righty, sir, we’ll do what you said. It’s not a bad idea to keep it light tonight.” Gu Fei released him, walked to the counter, and got to work.
Jiang Cheng stepped back and leaned against the wall, watching Gu Fei’s back.
He actually hadn’t been thinking very much about the exam for the last couple of days. Instead, thoughts about what was going to happen after this summer kept flitting through his mind.
After this summer ended, he would have a new school, a new environment, a new life, and the unsettling new feeling of not having Gu Fei by his side.
Jiang Cheng wasn’t one to get anxious easily.
But so much had happened in the past year; if it hadn’t been for Gu Fei, he didn’t know how he could’ve come out the other side.
Besides, he was used to having Gu Fei next to him.
He only needed to look up to see Gu Fei, turn around to find Gu Fei, to reach out and touch Gu Fei.
Whether his eyes were open or closed, Gu Fei would always be there.
If this stability were to be broken, he didn’t know how long it would take him to get used to it.
And as for the warm comfort of the present, he did not want to miss even a second of it.
Gu Fei’s cooking really wasn’t that great.
Even after so much practice, he saw no improvement.
Just by his movements as he cooked, it was clear that he was not exactly a talented chef.
Tsk, tsk, Jiang Cheng thought, how have I coped eating only Gu Fei’s cooking all this time—and not just coped, but thoroughly enjoyed it too?
It was true: Love wasn’t just blind, it also had no sense of taste.
They didn’t bother doing anything else after dinner. They went straight into the bedroom, opened the curtains, sat on the bed, faced the dark night sky outside, and started to meditate.
They were completely serious about it—eyes closed, legs crossed, everything.
At first, Gu Fei even pressed his palms together in front of his chest, as if in prayer.
But after he took a glance in Jiang Cheng’s direction, he burst out laughing and said, “Oh, so meditation isn’t the same as praying to Buddha? ”
“…If you want to pray, that’s fine too,” Jiang Cheng said, cracking up. “I call it meditating, but I’m really just closing my eyes and quietly going over everything I studied in the last year.”
“All righty.” Gu Fei rested his hands on his knees and closed his eyes.
Jiang Cheng continued his mental review, remembering every essential point in each subject one by one. The gears of the human brain turned very quickly, but going over every single point in a subject still took a lot of time.
Jiang Cheng had just started reviewing History when he heard a thump beside him, followed by the mattress bouncing a few times. He turned to see Gu Fei asleep on his side, one leg still curled in a cross-legged position.
“Oh, shit.” Jiang Cheng cackled at him for a while. He kept laughing as he pulled out his phone and snapped a few photos.
Even with him laughing like this, Gu Fei still didn’t wake up; he was in a deep slumber. Jiang Cheng put his phone away and let out a soft sigh. He reached over and stuffed a pillow under Gu Fei’s head, then pulled a thin towel blanket over him.
“You’ve worked hard, boyfriend.” He planted a kiss on Gu Fei’s lips.
Gu Fei might not have spent much energy on studying these past several months, but Jiang Cheng knew how much energy he’d spent on taking care of him while he studied. Now that exams were finally here, the last tightly wound nerve in Gu Fei’s system was able to relax.
It was the first time he’d seen Gu Fei just pass out like that. Jiang Cheng spent quite a while just staring at him.
Handsome indeed. Tsk, tsk.
Jiang Cheng also slept very soundly that night. He felt serene, as if he had spent a thousand days sharpening his blades and now he was about to finally take out the enemy with his own two hands.
Perhaps he was too serene—so serene that he didn’t even hear the alarm on his phone go off in the morning. Gu Fei had to shove him and roll him over before he suddenly jolted awake and leaped straight from his prone position on the bed to stand on the floor.
Gu Fei sat stunned at the edge of the bed. “…How limber of you, young hero.”
Jiang Cheng stared at him. “Are we late?”
“Nahh, babe.” Gu Fei rose and pulled him into his arms, rubbing his back for a while. “We have enough time to wash up and eat breakfast, and even to walk to the exam center afterward.”
“Oh.” Jiang Cheng let out a breath of relief and leaned into Gu Fei’s embrace. “Scared me.”
Gu Fei had already bought breakfast—meat buns, dough fritters, and tofu pudding. They were all things they ate all the time, to prevent any digestive mishaps.
After breakfast, just as they were about to leave, Jiang Cheng’s phone rang. It was a call from Lao-Xu. “Don’t rush. I’m waiting for you guys outside the examination center. Don’t forget your IDs. Don’t stuff yourself at breakfast. Don’t eat anything cold…”
“Yes, got it,” said Jiang Cheng. “Lao-Xu, are you calling to remind everyone one by one?”
“Yeah,” Lao-Xu said. “Mr. Lu is at the other examination center doing the same thing. Every year we have people forgetting or misplacing one thing or another.”
There was no way they would have forgotten anything—Jiang Cheng had prepared all of his and Gu Fei’s things the night before. Even though it was just their IDs and two small bottles of water with the labels removed, he’d still checked over everything at least three times.
“Did you wanna bring a book to review on the way there?” Gu Fei asked him at the door.
“Nope.” Jiang Cheng pulled open the door and bounded out. “I can’t take in any more information at this point. It’ll just disorient me.”
“Okay.” Gu Fei locked the door behind them. “Let’s go. We’ll take a cab over.”
The two of them strolled together to the end of the block. Jiang Cheng was just about to check and see if there were any taxis coming in the distance when he heard a voice call out from behind him: “Jiang Cheng?”
For a few seconds, he was a little confused. He didn’t recognize the voice, yet he somehow felt he had heard it before. He turned around, and was shocked to see Li Qian standing a dozen feet behind him.
“What…are you doing here?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“I’ve been hanging around here for a while. You changed your number, so I couldn’t call you.” Li Qian gave him a little smile. “I’ve been coming here for a couple days but I never ran into you. I didn’t think it’d be appropriate to ask Da-Fei.”
“Did something happen?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“No, nothing.” Li Qian was holding a plastic bag in her hand. She hesitated for a moment before handing it to him. “You’re starting the exams today, aren’t you? I brought this for you. I wanted to cheer you on.”
Jiang Cheng was so taken aback he couldn’t get a single word out.
“Thank you.” Gu Fei accepted the bag for him.
Only then did Jiang Cheng come back to his senses. “Thank you.”
“You guys should get going, then,” Li Qian said. “Hey Xiao-Cheng, good luck today. Break a leg.”
“Mm,” Jiang Cheng answered.
Once they got in the taxi, he opened the bag Li Qian had given him. Inside was a box of North American ginseng tablets.
“You should put one in your mouth now to wake yourself up,” Gu Fei said.
Jiang Cheng smiled and put a tab in his mouth, then handed one to Gu Fei too. “I never would’ve expected Li Qian to come see me off.”
“Li Qian never even went to high school,” said Gu Fei. “Li Baoguo only ever cared about Li Hui. Back then she wanted to go to a vocational school or something, just to get away from this place, but Li Baoguo wouldn’t let her… Seeing you write your way out is probably a kind of solace for her.”
“Yeah.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t say anything more. He took Gu Fei’s hand and squeezed it tight.