Chapter 17 Test Results
The results of the entrance examination are out.
An Yuan stared at Xiao Zhen's report card for a long time, thinking to herself that no miracle had happened.
Xiaozhen's grades were the same as last semester's final exam, and even the score was not much different. It was neither high nor low, firmly in the middle of the class, and even her ranking did not change.
This child, doesn’t he want to give his mother a little surprise?
She didn't give up, so she took Xiaozhen's test paper again, carefully checked the answers three times, and added and subtracted three times with a calculator. There was no surprise, the teacher's scoring was flawless, and Xiaozhen's score was just this mediocre one.
The parent group on the phone was flashing. An Yuan clicked on it.
"Liu Xingquan was amazing this time, he got first place in the grade."
"I know Liu Xingquan's grades are not worth looking at."
"Song Jiarui from our family still needs to work hard and strive to be in the top 20 in her grade."
"My son, let alone being in the top 20 in the grade, I would be satisfied if he could be in the top 20 in the class."
"Xiao Luo, when will you share your experience with us? Your child is so outstanding, how do you usually educate him?"
"Yes, Xiao Luo, let me teach you some parenting tips!!"
"My son is born smart."
Luo Qingxi sent a blushing emoji. She said, "Xingquan has always been very self-controlled. I actually did very little."
Parents sighed and lamented their children's lack of ambition.
"If my child were half as self-aware as Liu Xingquan, I would wake up laughing in my dreams."
"My child is content with himself if he gets a mid-level score. But now the situation of going to higher education is getting more and more tense. Even if he is in the top 20 in the class, he may not be sure of passing the high school entrance exam."
An Yuan was a little uneasy watching the parents' discussion. Her Xiaozhen was ranked 18th in the class again, which was neither high nor low. Although 18th was not a bad result, as other parents in the group said, being in the top 20 in the class was too difficult for a student to enter a key middle school in the high school entrance examination.
Given the family background of the Yan family, it is not important whether Yan Zhen's academic performance is good or not. In addition to studying, the child's physical and mental health and happiness are the top priority. But An Yuan admitted that every time she saw the discussion in the parent group, she was always a little unwilling.
The invisible competition among parents makes An Yuan secretly compete. My little Zhen is obviously not stupid at all. If he can realize his potential normally, I guarantee you will be impressed.
This time, Xiao Zhen's performance in the exam was just average. In An Yuan's eyes, she was neither good nor bad, with no progress at all. An Yuan stared at the results for a while, saying that boys start to work hard when they reach middle school, but when will our Xiao Zhen start to work hard?
Should I hire a tutor?
Her husband must think that it is not the right time to hire a tutor.
There are 36 students in the class, and Xiaozhen is 18th. Well, 18 is a lucky number. An Yuan had to comfort herself.
She looked at the parent group for a while, then ran into Xiaozhen's room: "Have you seen all the test results this time?"
Xiao Zhen nodded.
"Choi Ming-chi actually got third place. He's not even third in the class, he's third in the grade!!" An Yuan shouted, "Choi Ming-chi who comes here to play games every day!"
“I know who Choi Myung-ji is. ”
"Xiaozhen, look at your two good friends. Liu Xingquan and Cui Mingzhi, one is first in the grade and the other is third." An Yuan showed a stiff smile, "Don't you have any ideas?"
"I know they have good results," Xiaozhen replied. "Liu Xingquan and Cui Mingzhi both performed steadily."
"..." An Yuan decided to ask directly, "What about you?"
Xiao Zhen replied: "I also performed steadily and well." God knows how much effort he put in to get the same ranking as the host last semester.
"..." An Yuan felt that she couldn't catch her breath.
Luo Qingxi glanced out the window. It was a gloomy sky and raining.
The school was empty, and the students had gone home.
She glanced at her watch, which showed 6:10. She put down her book and wandered into the women's restroom. Luo Qingxi in the restroom mirror was a beautiful high school girl. She looked at herself in the mirror for a long time, slapped her cheeks with her palms, and a light blush appeared on her face. Then she muttered: What am I doing?
She counted the stairs slowly as she went down the stairs. Time passed by with her heartbeat. After finally moving to the corridor, she looked at her watch again. It was 6:20.
Ten minutes left.
The rain was falling gently.
It's another rainy day.
Three years ago, Ding Muli disappeared on a rainy day. She still remembered how Ding Muli ran out of the classroom at that time. She was in a hurry to go back to watch a cartoon. The TV station broadcast it on time at 5:45 every night. Ding Muli was a fanatical fan of this animation series and didn't even want to miss the opening credits. She ran so fast that she even dropped her notebook. Luo Qingxi called her. She turned around and gave Luo Qingxi a bright smile: "Xixi, bring it to me when you pass by my house, I'm in a hurry!"
After that, Luo Qingxi never saw her again.
Her disappearance caused a great shock to the school. The police investigated for a long time but found nothing. She evaporated like a drop of water, leaving no trace. Her parents searched for her almost frantically. For a while, parents and students were in a panic. For a long time, all primary and secondary schools in the city had mandatory regulations that either three people went home after school, or parents had to pick them up in person.
She still remembers the way Ding Muli turned around to talk to her for the last time. Her eyes were slightly narrowed on her brown face, revealing a cunning light. Every time she was thinking something, she looked like this. She has always been Luo Qingxi's closest friend. Luo Qingxi believes that they will always love each other until they become adults. They once crossed their fingers and promised that even if they have their own families in the future, they will still be friends forever.
Then she disappeared, like a breeze through the alley.
It’s been three years, Luo Qingxi thought, and I’m already a high school student.
The clock showed six-thirty.
Yan An appeared at the entrance of the teaching building. It was raining heavily. The boy reached out to catch the raindrops outside, revealing a childish smile. He always looked good when he smiled. When he turned to look at Luo Qingxi, his eyes were shining with the light of the sky.
"Luo Qingxi? You're leaving now?"
"Well, I lost track of time while reading in the library."
Luo Qingxi walked over, as if it was an everyday encounter. She opened her umbrella, and the boy next to her also opened his black umbrella. They walked into the rain in silence. Next, they would spend 23 minutes walking together.
No more, no less, at most there will be a fluctuation of two minutes.
This is the result of Luo Qingxi's countless calculations.
They silently distanced themselves from each other, but kept walking together. Luo Qingxi stepped carefully on the stone road, and ripples playfully spread under her feet. The sound of raindrops hit the boy and girl's umbrellas. Her depressed mood due to the rainy day gradually relaxed.
Under the umbrella was a quiet, isolated little world. She saw the rain that flew into the umbrella hit Yan An's dark hair, condensing into crystal drops that swayed at the ends of his hair, struggling between dripping and sliding through his hair.
Yan An walked faster than her. His straight nose was exposed . Although he was wearing a loose school uniform, he still looked as slender as a cypress tree. Luo Qingxi stared at him, thinking about what she wanted to say. She had been asking the question in her heart for three years.
But the words rose to her throat, swirled around and sank again. All around her was the sound of dripping water and the sound of the boy and girl stepping on the water.
"What do you want to ask me?"
Luo Qingxi was stunned for a few seconds before she realized that it was Yan An who was asking her a question. Her expression had revealed her intention, so Yan An asked her a question. All the words she had planned in her mind disappeared, and she blurted out: "Yan An, do you know what day it is today?"
Yan An did not look back at her. The boy's eyes were fixed on the road ahead. He replied, "I know."
“…”
"Three years ago today, Ding Muli disappeared."
Ding Muli was their classmate in junior high school.
Luo Qingxi bit her lip and whispered, "I miss her."
“She is missed by everyone.”
She looked at the small ripples forming in circles under her feet, which reflected the girl's face, hesitant and sad.
"Do you have anything else to ask me?" Yan An didn't turn around, but seemed to have seen her expression.
"I want to ask you, three years ago, when Ding Muli left." Luo Qingxi found that he had opened his mouth and said cold words, "Someone saw you talking to Muli."
“…”
"What did Mu Li say at that time?" After pouring out the questions in his mind, Luo Qingxi suddenly felt a sense of emptiness and regret.
Yan An stopped.
Is he angry? Luo Qingxi tightly gripped the umbrella handle, his palms sweating.
“That was three years ago.”
“…”
"Ding Muli asked me if I could give her a ride on my bike. She was in a hurry to go home." Yan An turned around. Luo Qingxi saw the sadness and regret in the boy's eyes. "I refused. This was the last time I talked to her."
“…”
"If I agreed to give her a ride on my bike, maybe she wouldn't..." Yan An's voice fell silent.
"This is not your fault." Luo Qingxi said, "I just... I have been thinking over and over again for the past three years, what happened to Ding Muli..."
"I should give her a ride."
"Middle school students shouldn't bring anyone with them." Luo Qingxi interrupted Yan An, "If I had called her and left school with her, she wouldn't have disappeared at all."
"…Maybe you two disappeared together."
"That's hard to say. I think it's more dangerous for a junior high school student to take someone home on a bike."
The two looked at each other for a while. Yan An said slowly: "Have you been holding this question in your heart for three years?"
"Yes." Luo Qingxi felt relieved, and the knot that had been in his heart for a long time was finally untied.
"I say, you didn't think I was the murderer of Ding Muli's disappearance during these three years, did you?"
"Of course not!!"
The two of them continued to move forward. Luo Qingxi's mood became lighter because he had untied the knot in his heart. The topic was opened from then on, and they talked about Ding Muli's past and the little things that happened three years ago.
Where did Ding Muli go?
She and Yan An both firmly believed in one thing, that is, Ding Muli must still be alive.
Luo Qingxi said: "I now think that maybe she was taken away by aliens."
"ah?"
Luo Qingxi pointed to the sky and said, "There are so many stars in the sky. Maybe she is living happily on one of them now."
"...Do you know how difficult it is to evolve a planet that can support biological systems?"
"There are trillions of stars in the sky, maybe there is one!"
“The stars you see at night are from tens of thousands of years ago.”
"Don't use your poor imagination to speculate on the aliens' technology. She must be alive and well on a planet." Luo Qingxi strode to Yan An's side, his face flushed. "She must be alive, maybe on the other side of the galaxy that we don't know about."
Yan An looked at her serious expression and smiled: "Yes, she is alive, and she lives in a place called Twinkle Star."
"What the hell is Twinkle Star?"
"Twinkle Twinkle Star selects its citizens who are eligible to enter every year. The qualification for selection is that everyone must make a 10cm tall pony. Whoever makes the best one will be eligible to enter."
"Wait, why is it such a strange selection criteria?"
"The selection is divided into groups, with ten contestants in a group. In the end, the best horse king will be selected. Then the person with the best pinch will become the current Shining King. The winner will be appointed to build a huge shining horse statue. This is the miracle of this planet. All Shining people will offer sacrifices to the latest horse statue and worship it."
"What kind of confusing planet is this??? Why is it a horse!!"
"Ding Muli will live happily there, and she will return when the shining horse is completed."
They chatted about trivial topics as they walked along. The drizzle began to fade, and Luo Qingxi simply put away her umbrella. The tiny raindrops rubbed against her skin, and she always enjoyed the soft feather-like touch. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, casting a fine golden light, and even the tiny raindrops seemed to bring a little gentle warmth.
At the intersection, they both stopped and waited for the traffic light.
Yan An suddenly threw the umbrella aside and rushed to the middle of the road.
Luo Qingxi didn't react. She saw Yan An picking up something in the middle of the road. A car passed by Yan An, and the driver showed his head and yelled, "Are you going to die!!!"
Yan An apologized to the driver and quickly ran back to the sidewalk.
He opened his hand, and on his hand lay a little bird. The bird had beautiful green wings, and was soaked by the rain, looking very miserable.
"It's injured." Yan An said.
"Yan An, what kind of bird is this?" Luo Qingxi asked curiously.
Yan An shook his head.
They moved the bird, and it looked dying. It trembled in Yan An's palm, and its little belly rose and fell.
They took the bird to the nearest veterinary hospital, where the doctor took one look at it, shook his head and pronounced it a death sentence: "It won't survive the night."
Yan An and Luo Qingxi didn't want to throw the bird away. It had warmth, it chirped softly from time to time, and its heart was beating.
Finally Yan An decided to take it home.
They parted at the street corner and went home.
That night, Luo Qingxi was doing her homework at her desk. She remembered Yan An's decisiveness in throwing the umbrella aside. He saw the bird, and he rushed to the road to pick it up. Without any hesitation.
A normal person would think for a few minutes before considering whether to save the bird.
Yan An is really a weird person.
She pushed aside her homework book and thought about the bird. She picked up a small wooden sign and subconsciously turned it in her hand. This was a small wooden sign she got by accident. The wooden sign was smooth and shiny, with a wonderful and beautiful pattern printed on it, delicate leaf patterns and stars surrounding four flowers. Luo Qingxi fell in love with this small wooden sign the first time she saw it. The person who sold it said that this wood has a calming effect, so she hung it on her chest. Whenever she touched it, the smooth and delicate touch always calmed her mood.
"Yan An, this bastard, could lose his life if he's not careful." Luo Qingxi thought, "Then I would become a witness to my classmate's death. This is too scary!"
So the bird was bought at the cost of his life.
At the end, she prayed silently, hoping that the bird would be safe and sound, because it almost carried Yan An's life.
I hope the little bird can recover and fly into the sky freely soon.
the next day.
During the daytime class breaks.
Yan An took out a paper box with a smile. The green-winged bird was jumping around in the box, looking full of energy, not at all like the weak it was yesterday.
“This bird is alive…”
"It's all thanks to me filling the hot water bottle for it." Yan An was very proud. "By the way, I checked the book and know what this bird is called."
"Yan An, what kind of bird is this?"
"It's called the Green-winged Bulbul."
