As the temperature rose with the warming weather, the NCEE* also drew closer .
* 高考 = National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) also known as Gaokao
After once again collecting the university preference selection form, the form teacher left, sighing . Though she knew that the majority of the students had no idea where they wanted to go or do in the future, they shouldn’t be this clueless . They’ve had at least ten such sessions and countless other individual consultations with the students, yet the majority of the them can still come up with a completely different list every time they have this exercise, and these universities were located all over the country at that…
What’s surprising though wasn’t the fact that Xuan Mo left hers blank, but Lu Yu Chen’s determination and perseverance in wanting to get into the Police University in the capital . As a technical university, students would be recruited in advance . Apparently he’s already applied for the application and was now at the appraisal stage .
While the form teacher could understand that he wanted to study at the capital with his little sister, why did he want to be a police officer? He wasn’t particularly righteous nor did he like to fight the evil or help the weak . Not only so, while his results weren’t impressive, he could still get into an above-average university in the capital city, why did he choose this technical institute instead… what a waste really .
What’s more frustrating was that his parents didn’t seem to think otherwise, in fact, they seemed really supportive .
“Aye . ” Forget it, she was leaving this up to fate . The students in Class Thirteen had finally pulled up their socks this semester, but this didn’t seem to be able to help them much .
“Why, Xiao Li, looks like your class did it again?” The teacher seated beside teacher Xiao Zhang joked when he saw her pained expression .
“Yeah… what a worrying bunch honestly . ”
“You don’t need to worry this year, with Xuan Mo in your class, you’re definitely appearing in the news after NCEE’s over . ”
Speaking of Xuan Mo, teacher Xiao Zhang’s painful expression deepened: “Aye, how, how should I put it, fortune and misfortune are two buckets in the same well . ”
“Why? I hear that she’s really doing really well motivating the students in your class . ”
“Motivating… the way she’s doing it, she’s not motivating them…” Xiao Zhang groaned as she pressed her forehead, “when she first arrived, it was quite a motivation for them indeed, but as time passed, she’s completely destroying them…”
“I heard something along the lines of her having a godly photographic memory, and that she managed to get this far by memorising everything?”
“Enh, she got seventy-two for the first Language test on Monday . I suggested she take a look at the model answers, reference texts and Classical Chinese dictionary . The next day, she scored ninety-seven in the Language test in the afternoon, and she’s passed the hundredth mark from then onwards . Even if you do improve, you don’t improve at this speed . ”
The other teacher listening to her paused in shock for a moment before tutting: “Right, this is frightening . ”
“I can’t possibly force them to follow after such a genius can I… photographic memory, that’s some hard skills there, it’s not like I can have the rest change their brains and follow suit . ” Teacher Xiao Zhang shook her head, “the last monthly test ended, we can’t help them any further, it’s up to them in the next two break days . ”
After the monthly tests ended, they had one week of break before it was NCEE .
Lu Yu Chen stayed over at Xuan Mo’s house during this last week to do some last minute revision .
After deciding that he was applying for the technical institute, he wasn’t particularly stressed . Even so, he still hoped that he score as high as possible, of course if he could score well enough to… cough cough, reach the entrance score to Nat Def… while he knew this wasn’t realistic, he was still serious giving it his all .
Xuan Mo had no idea what he had going on in his mind, neither did she know what’s so controversial about the choice he selected, or how special this university was . All she knew was that he wanted to be a police officer in the future . This was enough to garner her support for him .
Xuan Mo’s mother had pretty much recovered . She’d originally wanted to extend her break and take up the task of looking after her daughter in the next few days, and settle the household matters while she was at it . In the end however, she couldn’t cook as well as the housekeeper, and she wasn’t the one doing household chores usually to begin with, so she was unfamiliar . Not only so, her daughter summarised her existence as being an “obstruction” . And so, she could only return to work with a broken heart .
In fact, Xuan Mo even found the housekeeper a hindrance . She wasn’t accustomed to having a stranger hanging around her personal territory in the long term . And so, she told the housekeeper to leave after preparing food in the morning; they would heat the food up on their own for lunch and dinner .
And so, for the entire week from at least eight in the morning till nine at night, Lu Yu Chen happily stayed with Xuan Mo in their own world .
NCEE came very quickly .
The last examination was Integrated Humanities .
After Xuan Mo filled in the last blank, Xuan Mo paused for a moment as she looked at the page, suddenly recalling the first time she’d gripped a pen and wrote her name in the name field . The words she’d scrawled were ugly, and she’d been incredibly unhappy and aggrieved . In the end, not only did she break the pen, she’d even realised that she had to relearn the knowledge she already knew according to this world .
Her glumness followed her after that . Now, she sat here obediently, in accordance to how humans lived their life – study, take exams, go shopping… and now, take the NCEE .
Alright, she’s temporarily giving in to fate . There will be a time where she won’t have to follow through step by step with the things the people here have to do, and no one would be able to stop her then .
Xuan Mo submitted her paper, turning to leave quietly as she listened to the excited cheers around her .
Lu Yu Chen wasn’t in the same examination hall as her . Xuan Mo’s mother drove over to pick her up . At the entrance, she saw Yi Hai Lan, Tang Jing Ze, Tian Jing Jing, Qi Shan, and Tian Jing Jing’s boyfriend Chen Jun Jie .
When they saw Xuan Mo, they walked forward, asking: “How’s the NCEE?”
Xuan Mo was a little puzzled: “Why are you guys here?”
“C’mon, don’t tell me you’re not gonna allow us to come to your NCEE?” Qi Shan smiled and pulled Tian Jing Jing: “And Jing Jing, c’mon, don’t be awkard, c’mere, say something . ”
Tian Jing Jing minced her lips, not speaking . She walked forward and grabbed Xuan Mo’s hands: “Mo Mo…”
“Enh?”
“…Let’s go sing karaoke during the holidays . ”
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