After dinner, Zhou Shiyi and Gu Sheng were curled up in Zhou Shiyi’s bedroom.

Zhou Shiyi sat in front of his computer, looking at the simulated chart on the screen.

The computer was bought this semester with Zhou Shiyi’s scholarship. After he bought it, he used a virtual stock trading simulator to practice trading. Without complete confidence, he mostly took a wait-and-see approach.

His scholarship was almost enough to cover his university expenses for the next few years, so he wasn’t in a hurry to make money and kept his focus on studying.

Gu Sheng was hunched over the small desk in front of Zhou Shiyi, beginning to work on a test paper.

The teacher of Senior Year Class 1 didn’t demand much from Zhou Shiyi — as long as he stayed quiet in class, whether he did his homework or not didn’t matter.

Gu Sheng was different; every night he stayed up late writing, sometimes pulling all-nighters.

Sometimes, before Zhou Shiyi fell asleep, Gu Sheng would be working on test papers; when Zhou Shiyi woke groggy in the middle of the night, he’d find Gu Sheng still doing homework.

Gu Sheng’s sleep schedule had already been completely reversed; now he was sleeping only three hours a day.

Zhou Shiyi was also careful not to disturb Gu Sheng’s studying, usually doing even his washing and grooming as quietly as possible.

“Gu Sheng, I’m going to bed first. I’ve made up the bed for you.”

Gu Sheng replied without lifting his head.

Zhou Shiyi looked at the test papers on Gu Sheng’s desk and could only lie on the floor mattress, closing his eyes to rest.

Not wanting to disturb Zhou Shiyi’s rest, Gu Sheng turned on the desk lamp, dimmed the room light, and kept fighting on.

When you’re a senior in high school, some people push themselves hard for the Gaokao; Zhou Shiyi had been through a high school once, so he understood very well the effort Gu Sheng was putting in to get into a good university.

It wasn’t until three in the morning that Gu Sheng finally lifted his head from the sea of problems.

He stood up to stretch his body and saw Zhou Shiyi fallen into a deep sleep with a very peaceful expression.

After Zhou Shiyi fell asleep, he rarely moved; usually whatever position he fell asleep in was the same one he’d wake up in.

Gu Sheng gently pulled the duvet back up over Zhou Shiyi and then went into the bathroom to wash up, moving quietly.

By the time Zhou Shiyi woke up, Gu Sheng had already tidied up; he splashed cold water on his face to keep his mind clear.

As the numbers on the blackboard dwindled, Gu Sheng pushed himself harder.

For the most part, Gu Sheng was practically always at Zhou Shiyi’s place, sitting at that small desk in the little bedroom for hours on end without moving.

Zhou Shiyi often helped him go over tests; one of them would write while the other explained. Usually just after Gu Sheng finished a test, Zhou Shiyi would correct it for him — while the material was still fresh in his mind, learning was more efficient.

A senior year student essentially had no weekends — not only were the hours short, but there were so many practice exams.

In the final two months, the pressure of time became palpably urgent; sometimes there simply wasn’t enough time to finish an entire exam paper.

Aside from the more important tests, the teacher even forgot some of the worksheets he himself had handed out.

In the last sprint, weekends were just for students to go home and pick up clean clothes and living expenses.

Zhou Shiyi finished revising a test paper for Gu Sheng and found him asleep with his head on the desk, an empty cup of coffee sitting beside him.

The coffee was drunk before Gu Sheng fell asleep; after he slept for a while and woke up, his mind would be clearer.

Zhou Shiyi put the revised exam paper next to Gu Sheng and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

When there’s someone at home preparing for the gaokao, everyone else will make room for that student, making sure they don’t disturb them.

Just like treating some fragile treasure.

Zhou Shiyi sent Nian Meilan a message saying Gu Sheng was doing fine, and Nian Meilan replied quickly, thanking Zhou Shiyi for taking care of Gu Sheng.

Zhou Shiyi was also a senior, but because he’d already been recommended and admitted early, he was one of the few students in the grade who was relatively relaxed.

Nian Meilan here put down her phone and rubbed her temples anxiously.

Gu Sheng had been spending a lot of time lately with Zhou Shiyi, and could only receive things through Zhou Shiyi delivering them.

Every time Gu Sheng went back to his family’s place it was just to pick something up; after grabbing what he needed he left, barely having time to say two words before he was gone.

Came in a hurry, left in a hurry — Nian Meilan didn’t even have the sense of someone who has a senior in high school at home.

Only when she was having afternoon tea with the other society ladies and heard them complain about how hard their children were studying in their senior year—saying it might have been better to send them abroad earlier—did she feel a momentary haze.

For a single instant, Nian Meilan’s mind went blank. She did have a child who was supposed to be taking the gaokao, but she hadn’t seen him in a very long time.

When Zhou Shiyi returned to the room, he found Gu Sheng already awake.

Unusually, he hadn’t gone straight back to working on problems. He had only just woken and was still a little sluggish. Staring at the sunlight streaming through the window, he wondered if he was dreaming.

When the door clicked, he turned and saw Zhou Shiyi walking in, and for a moment everything felt real.

He really had gone back to high school—and run into the younger Zhou Shiyi.

Zhou Shiyi saw Gu Sheng staring at him blankly, walked over, and poured him a cup of warm water.

“What’s wrong? Feeling sleepy? If you’re tired, go back to sleep for a bit.”

Gu Sheng kept his eyes half-closed, knowing he couldn’t let that breath out. He’d been holding onto it, a forward-facing determination; without that drive, he would find it very hard to keep going.

He shook his head, smiled, and reached out his hand to Zhou Shiyi.

“Zhou Shen, hold my hand.”

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Shiyi didn’t understand but still reached out his hand. Gu Sheng grabbed it and held on tight.

“Let me borrow some of your genius aura to recharge.”

After holding his hand for a while, Gu Sheng let go and turned to Zhou Shiyi’s revised exam paper, beginning to check for missing points and make corrections.

In the second mock exam, Gu Sheng managed to break into the province’s top fifty; later on, his rate of improvement slowed down.

Because everyone else was working hard too, his own progress no longer seemed as significant.

After class, the whole class collapsed onto their desks—not because they didn’t want to study, but because they were utterly exhausted.

Gu Sheng fell asleep faster than the rest after class, and his dozing down had an extra ritual to it: he was so tired he reached for Zhou Shiyi’s hand and lay down to rest for a bit.

Once, Qin Shu bent down to pick up a pen and saw their hands clasped together under the desk; something about it felt off to him.

Strictly speaking, their fingers weren’t interlaced, but the posture felt very intimate. Before long, the exam paper that was handed out pressed down on him and he couldn’t remember what he had been about to say.

It was only later that Qin Shu finally remembered: these two had already shown signs back in high school, he had just been too young then to think in that direction.

When the pale sheets of test paper were handed out, they were no longer able to tell which was which; they could only sort them by the different paper textures to tell whether they were copies of the same exam.

Sometimes he didn’t even realize there was another paper; the exams never seemed to end, and through one test after another they grew numb.

By the third mock exam, which was a provincial-level test, the papers were generally easier overall—meant to boost the candidates’ morale.

After arranging the exam room, Gu Sheng walked over to Zhou Shiyi, smiling as he reached out his hand.

Zhou Shiyi instinctively offered his hand.

“Study god, lend me some of your ‘study god’ aura—wish me good results.”

After that Gu Sheng went into the exam room. Zhou Shiyi was comparatively relaxed; he had no pressure about advancing to university, so he helped the students who hadn’t finished setting up their room by sticking up photos with them.

As time went on, it was already June.

In the last three days, the school treated these examinees with kid gloves, worried that any sudden incident might affect the exams.

Students passing by the senior year building unconsciously lowered their voices.

Under Grandma Zhou’s urging, Zhou Shiyi moved in with Gu Sheng at Gu Sheng’s villa. Although Zhou Shiyi no longer had to take the college entrance exam, Grandma Zhou still took it very seriously, treating Gu Sheng like a second grandson.

The Gu family arranged a live-in housekeeper at the villa to take care of their meals and daily needs for the three of them.

The day before the Gaokao, Zhou Shiyi and their homeroom teacher, Teacher Wu, handed out the admission tickets and reminded them to check their personal belongings.

Around the same time, Teacher Wu said his goodbyes and wished them success on the exam.

The other subject teachers also cheered on the students in their classes, taking turns to come by and bid them farewell.

Nobody knew who started crying first; everyone’s eyes were a little red.

“What are you doing, what are you doing? After the exams, we’ll have a get-together. Go home and sleep if you need to—after the exams, I’ll treat you all to a big meal!” Teacher Wu stepped in to smooth things over.

While Zhou Shiyi was packing his things, someone behind him suddenly grabbed him in a hug.

“Zhou God!!! Please bless me with a good score!” I don’t know who started it, but that day Zhou Shiyi stood there and became the class treasure of Senior Three Class One—everyone wanted to hug him for a bit, rubbing off some of the “god of studies” aura.

Zhou Shiyi smiled too and stood there, giving them each a hug.

When he got to the last one, he saw Gu Sheng looking at them with a face full of disdain.

Zhou Shiyi stepped forward on his own: “Aren’t you going to pick one up too?”

Gu Sheng pretended to be disdainful and said, “I don’t need it. Out of twenty-four hours a day, I spend about twenty of them with you—I’ve already absorbed all your study-god aura.”

Zhou Shiyi smiled and ruffled his hair; the two of them horsed around for a while, dissolving the pre-exam tension.

The next morning, Zhou Shiyi was already waiting at the door and checked Gu Sheng’s backpack for him.

“I’ve already prepared everything.” Gu Sheng stood to the side, changing his shoes.

“That’s different — I won’t feel at ease unless I check.” Zhou Shiyi only relaxed after seeing that Gu Sheng had packed everything he needed.

Just as they were about to leave, Zhou Shiyi grabbed Gu Sheng’s arm.

He raised his hand on his own: “Need a recharge?”

It was their code between the two of them—”recharge” meant they were going to hold hands.

Unexpectedly, Gu Sheng dove straight into Zhou Shiyi’s arms, nuzzling against him as he said, “Zhou god! Bless me to know everything on the test and have all my guesses be right.”

Zhou Shiyi smiled and hugged him back, “Mm, I definitely will.”

Zhou Shiyi followed Gu Sheng to the test site where he was assigned.

Because most of the students were assigned to No. 1 High School for this exam, homeroom teacher Mr. Wu came along as well.

Everything that needed to be said had been said countless times; standing there, Teacher Wu could only cheer on these kids.

After sending everyone into the exam hall, Zhou Shiyi and Teacher Wu stood under a tree’s shade, waiting for them to finish and come out.

When Gu Sheng entered the exam hall, the first test was Chinese.

Within the allotted time he filled in his candidate information; when the exam bell rang he flipped to the back of the paper to glance at the essay, formed a rough plan, and then began answering the questions.

Nian Meilan came again today, but worried about putting any pressure on Gu Sheng, she stayed in the car the whole time and didn’t get out.

Every year during the Gaokao, if it didn’t rain, it felt like there was no sense of ceremony.

By the time they reached the last exam, the sky was still drizzling.

Luckily, within fifteen minutes of the students entering the classroom, the rain stopped.

By the time the exam bell rang, Zhou Shiyi was back to himself. Watching the gates of No.1 High School swing open and the students pour out like a startled swarm of bees, scattering in every direction, he felt a lift.

Zhou Shiyi held Gu Sheng’s things, and in the crowd he spotted Gu Sheng immediately.

He smiled at Zhou Shiyi, then was stopped by the others. He silently mouthed to Zhou Shiyi, “Wait for me.”

Zhou Shiyi waved back at him.