After the school sports meet ended, it was vacation.

The blackboard in Senior Three, Class One, was plastered with award certificates; those that wouldn’t fit had been stuck on the back wall.

The students were all excited; even the thick test booklets couldn’t dampen their enthusiasm.

What followed was the first monthly exam.

Because of the sports meet, the monthly exam was pushed back to after the holiday.

“Ahhh~”

“Stop yelling, you’ll review when you get back. The first monthly exam of senior year—prepare properly, understood?”

Once the homeroom teacher announced this bit of bad news, it meant they were dismissed for the break.

The excitement of the holiday had already faded; even though they were home, they still faced mountains of graded papers and the pressure of the upcoming monthly exams.

Zhou Shiyi had already been through the gaokao once, so he had long since anticipated the life ahead.

During the break, the results of the biology competition semi-finals also came out.

Zhou Shiyi achieved full marks in both theory and practicals, successfully advancing to Provincial Tier One.

Two perfect scores: Zhou Shiyi was without a doubt chosen to prepare for the upcoming national competition.

Mingde High hadn’t produced a national first-place in years.

Before the holiday was even over, Zhou Shiyi had already packed and headed north to prepare for the national contest.

The Class 1 senior chat group at Gao San was lively once again.

“Zhou Shen really is our Zhou Shen; of the only two perfect scores, one is ours.”

“When others get perfect scores it’s because the test is perfect; for the points I got, Old Wu says if you let a dog step on my answer sheet it’d do better than me.”

Old Wu was their class math teacher, usually very strict, a lively, interesting balding Mediterranean-looking fat man.

During break, Gu Sheng took out his phone and saw this message; his hand paused.

In his last life, Zhou Shiyi basically relied on being reported in; this life probably wasn’t much different.

Gu Sheng sent Zhou Shiyi a message: “Congratulations.”

Zhou Shiyi didn’t reply.

Gu Sheng knew they were under a lot of pressure during the training camp and almost never used their phones. He put his phone down too and took a big gulp of coffee.

If nothing went wrong, Zhou Shiyi was slated to go to B University in the future; he couldn’t fall too far behind.

After entering the intensive training, Zhou Shiyi’s life became very full.

Here, he met basically the best people from around the country. Sparring and learning with them reignited Zhou Shiyi’s fighting spirit.

Competing on the same stage with people of similar ability was as thrilling as meeting a kindred spirit.

The training camp lasted a long time and was in an enclosed setting; it wasn’t until the camp ended that Zhou Shiyi had a chance to get his phone.

Zhou Shiyi picked a few congratulatory messages to reply to and let his family know he was safe.

When Zhou Shiyi returned to the chat app, he saw the class group discussing He Yanqing going abroad to study.

Zhou Shiyi paused for a moment, noticing that the date did indeed match the day in the original story when He Yanqing left to study overseas.

He Yanqing’s scores from the math competition semifinals were also released; with his results he could have easily made the provincial team, but He Yanqing chose to go abroad and politely declined the invitation to join the provincial squad.

Having stayed in the training camp the whole time, Zhou Shiyi lost touch with outside news. He thought for a bit and finally remembered there were other matters.

Gu Sheng had also sent Zhou Shiyi several messages, almost one every day.

He scrolled through the chat history; Gu Sheng messaged him daily, mostly using Zhou Shiyi as a sounding board — sometimes when studying got exhausting, he’d come vent to Zhou Shiyi.

From the messages he sent, it seemed he wasn’t affected by He Yanqing going abroad to study; every so often he’d send Zhou Shiyi a message in the middle of the night, accompanied by a picture of coffee.

The most recent message arrived at two in the morning last night.

“This question is so hard. When will you be back?”

Attached was a picture of a test paper.

Zhou Shiyi opened the picture, zoomed in, did the calculations in his head, and started typing on his phone beside her.

“I worked it out—see if it’s correct.”

Typing on a phone and having to look up math symbols, so it wasn’t that fast.

Teacher Li, who was leading the group, saw Zhou Shiyi come out clutching his phone and didn’t know what he was chatting about; he shook his head, thinking about young people these days.

After more than half an hour, Gu Sheng finally replied to his message.

“!!!”

“Your training camp has ended?”

Zhou Shiyi: “Mm.”

“I looked over your solution approach and have finished it. Take a look and tell me if mine is correct.”

Zhou Shiyi: “Mm.”

“Have you finished your exams now? When are you going back to school?”

Zhou Shiyi: “I’ll be back in a few days. I’m going to a dinner with them now, can’t talk.”

Zhou Shiyi wasn’t lying. He went to dinner with the provincial team members. After this parting, those who needed to file reports already had, and those who needed to return to continue preparing for the gaokao would go back to school. The next time they met might be in university.

Gu Sheng reluctantly put down her phone and picked up a blank exam paper, beginning to write furiously.

If Zhou Shiyi performed well in this exam, he could definitely be recommended; she didn’t want to be too far from him.

After finishing the test, Zhou Shiyi unusually allowed himself a brief moment of relaxation.

In the meantime, people from the provincial team kept coming over to pour Coke for Zhou Shiyi; Zhou Shiyi smiled and took a small sip.

“Come on, come on, everyone look at the camera!”

The teacher leading the team took out his phone and handed it to the waiter, asking them to capture this moment.

With the sound of the shutters, this competition could be said to have come to an end.

Zhou Shiyi went back just in time to catch the midterm exams results; Yu Yanyu took the exam and once again claimed the top spot in the grade.

“Ahhh, Zhou Shen isn’t even at school and he still does so well—I’m so jealous.”

“Oh my god, is there any hope for the rest of us?”

Zhou Shiyi noticed that the student who placed second in the grade wasn’t from Class 1, but was a very well-known academic ace from Class 2.

Before Zhou Shiyi rose to prominence, he had always been first in the grade. But in the first midterm exam, there happened to be a He Yanqing who pushed him off the top spot and knocked him down to third in the grade.

He Yanqing had already been admitted to a top university abroad and no longer needed to sit in class with them, so when Zhou Shiyi returned he never saw He Yanqing.

The most unexpected thing was seeing Gu Sheng’s name in the top ten of the class.

Zhou Shiyi turned his head; Gu Sheng was frowning, wrestling with a difficult physics problem, with no time to look at anyone else.

In the first semester of senior year, they were already feeling the pressure that the gaokao brought them.

The numbers on the back blackboard dwindled day by day, and there were piles of homework and stacks of endless test papers.

Usually I’d just catch a nap after class, and when I woke up I’d find myself buried under exam papers, not knowing where to even begin writing.

Exam frequency went from once a month to once every two weeks.

The teacher grew stricter in class, and before they knew it, she was putting some pressure on the senior year students.

Those who had been slow to realize they were already in their final year began to scramble to catch up.

Senior year was the final sprint. Every morning the students came into the classroom looking bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, and it wasn’t until after evening study that they dragged their exhausted bodies back to the dorms, quickly washed up and collapsed into sleep.

That day, just after finishing the exam, I returned to the classroom to review and planned to take another test that evening when the classroom suddenly lost power.

For a moment everything plunged into darkness, and the students in the classroom grew restless.

“Look, what a beautiful sunset.”

Indeed, on winter evenings the sky always feels especially heavy. The sunset at this moment was like it had passed through layers of clouds and come to rest on the back hill outside the classroom.

Those with phones started turning on their flashlights; some took out their phones to photograph the sunset outside the window.

Zhou Shiyi took the chance to put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and looked out at the view beyond the window.

Every evening sun was different, as if the world’s best painter mixed colors according to their mood to make them look so beautiful.

In the classroom, there was a rare stir, bringing a hint of life to the dull, oppressive final year.

A few students sat at their desks using their phone flashlights, racing against time to finish problems.

Gu Sheng sat by the window, clearly closest to the view, yet he didn’t spare more than a passing glance. He turned on his phone’s flashlight, set it on a tall stack of books, and used it to light himself.

Maybe from exhaustion, Zhou Shiyi saw Gu Sheng open a bottle of coffee and tilt his head back to gulp it down.

Zhou Shiyi glanced at the time — it was already 7:30 in the evening. If Gu Sheng drank now, his bedtime would have to be pushed back.

Gu Sheng seemed to have been suddenly jolted, as if struck by a stimulus; he began working desperately, spurring the other students to put in effort as well. During breaks, they’d all try to solve a few problems.

Soon, the classroom was powered up, and they each headed off to their respective exam halls.

Stepping out of the classroom, they saw that the buildings across—first and second year high school—were still without power.

The school was using a generator to supply electricity to the third-year students, ensuring they could finish their exams at night without interruption.

After the exam, they wandered home at a leisurely pace.

When Gu Sheng left the exam hall, he saw Zhou Shiyi already waiting for him outside; they’d been going to and from school together lately.

When Granny Zhou found out, she felt better knowing they had company on the way to and from school and could relax a bit.

Nian Meilan knew Gu Sheng was truly studying his hardest. Even after the tutor left, Gu Sheng would follow his study plan and work into the late night.

Nian Meilan hesitated, then could only focus on the practicalities of daily life, making sure Gu Sheng could live more comfortably during this time.

After a whole day of studying, even Zhou Shiyi was feeling a bit weary, but Gu Sheng still looked lively and spirited.

“Are you going to study more when you get home tonight?”

Gu Sheng’s eyes flickered: “Mm, I’m not tired yet, I’ll read a little longer.”

Zhou Shiyi shot him a suspicious glance; if he hadn’t accidentally seen Gu Sheng pouring coffee, he might actually have believed his lie about not being tired.

“Just pace yourself. It’s a long race—don’t sprint too hard at the start. There was someone in Class Two next door who pulled an all-nighter and suddenly passed out. Don’t repeat that mistake.”

Gu Sheng laughed and said, “I’m definitely different from him, and I have reasons I must work hard. Besides, don’t I still have you?”

The two of them walked home like that.

“By the way, are the competition results coming out soon?”

“Mm, it’s tomorrow.”

“Ah, that’s great.”

Zhou Shiyi chuckled, “What’s so great?”

“When your grades come out, you won’t have to work hard with us anymore.”

“How can you be sure I’ll definitely report it?”

Gu Sheng: “Well of course I know—I’m just congratulating you in advance.”

For some reason, Gu Sheng couldn’t help but chuckle: “Tell me, am I the first person to congratulate you?”

Zhou Shiyi smiled helplessly, “Yes.”

The next day, just before the grades were released, Zhou Shiyi specifically went to Gu Sheng’s house to borrow his computer.

Gu Sheng deliberately left the door open for Zhou Shiyi and went outside to wait.

At ten o’clock sharp, Zhou Shiyi typed in the website, entered his exam number, and checked his grades online.

After the little loading chrysanthemum on the page spun once, Zhou Shiyi saw his name.

The moment he saw the results, a huge weight lifted from Zhou Shiyi’s heart.

Although it wasn’t like Gu Sheng had said—that he’d never have to share a classroom with them again—based on Zhou Shiyi’s grades, he could easily secure a guaranteed admission slot.