Chapter 68:

  Top Scorer in the College Entrance Examination Fang's mother rolled her eyes at her daughter. "What do you know, living on campus every day? While you were gone, Xiao Ning would come over to talk to me whenever she had nothing to do, and occasionally help me with some chores, unlike you who just sleeps in when you get home."

  Seeing Wen Ning sitting there with a faint smile, Fang Qing felt as if her mother had exposed all her little secrets. She quickly winked at her, signaling her to stop.

  But Fang's mother seemed to be addicted to it. While she ordered Fang Qing to wash the fruit, she would drag Wen Ning along, recounting embarrassing childhood memories. She recounted stories

  about how the goose chased her for stealing goose eggs, how she fell into a hole while skating on the glacier, and how she helped her cat fight someone else's dog. She recounted everything. Fang Qing finally interrupted her mother's rants when she returned with some fruit. After

  talking to Wen Ning for a while, Fang's mother got up to finish preparing dinner, letting Fang Qing and Wen Ning talk first.

  The two of them felt awkward once again alone. Wen Ning put down the fruit in his hand. "I came here to borrow that book from you."

  Fang Qing breathed a sigh of relief and led Wen Ning to her small bookcase. "Everything is here. Just take whatever you need."

  "But you have an exam tomorrow, and reading these books...will it affect the exam?"

  Wen Ning smiled. "I'll read them after the exam. I guess my house will be very busy after the exam, and I won't have time to borrow books."

  Fang Qing didn't suspect anything and enthusiastically recommended several interesting books she had read before, stuffing them all at once. "Is that enough? If not, I'll find you a few more."

  Wen Ning nodded helplessly, "Come next time."

  After walking Wen Ning to the door, Fang Qing felt like she had to say something, so she pumped her fist and shouted, "Good luck! I'll be waiting for your good news!"

  Wen Ning turned around with a bright smile, nodded, and strode away.

  ...

  The college entrance examination ended successfully.

  Unlike the worried parents waiting outside the exam hall, Fang Qing happily began her pig-like summer vacation.

  Over half a month passed, and the day the exam results were released arrived. Fang Qing wanted to ask Wen Ning how many points he'd gotten, but she was afraid of running into Aunt Wen, so she just rode her bike and pretended to pass by the Wens' house.

  Not long after, Wen Ling, taking the opportunity to return a book, came to visit.

  "Qingqing, my brother might be the top scorer!"

  Fang's mother was thrilled by the news. "Really? How many points did your brother get?"

  Wen Ling beamed with pride. "729! When we checked the scores, we thought we'd misheard. We checked them three times before we were sure. My brother is definitely first place, but we don't know which university he'll be accepted to!"

  Fang Qing took a moment to react. "He's truly inhuman. He got perfect scores in almost every subject. By the way, where's your brother? Why haven't I seen him?"

  Wen Ling pouted. "The results are out now! The county and the TV station know about it, and they're interviewing him!"

  That evening, Fang Qing saw Wen Ning being interviewed on TV. The gentle young man faced the camera with composure, answering the reporter's questions fluently, earning praise from Fang's mother, who was watching from the TV.

  "Although Sister Wen may have a bad temper, she's raised a son so well. If I had a son like him, I'd wake up happy every day!"

  But Fang Qing's face suddenly paled as she watched the screen on the television.

  As she watched, distant memories suddenly flooded her mind: the young man being interviewed, the blanket of blank papers, Wen's weeping mother, and the huge headline about a talent being envied by the gods...

  Fang Qing's breath quickened, and she hurried back to her room to calm herself.

  What had just happened? How could she have such a memory? Had she forgotten it again?
  Puzzled, Fang Qing ate dinner and went to bed early. Moonlight streamed in from the window, slowly enveloping Fang Qing's head, but even in her sleep, a frown formed on her face.

  Fang Qing felt herself once again in that white mist, but this time she saw Wen Ning instead of herself.

  In her dream, Wen Ning was being interviewed on television. Then the scene shifted to show him following a group into a verdant hillside, stopping beside a deep, emerald pool.

  Fang Qing watched Wen Ning and the other teenagers playing and frolicking by the water, then jumping in one after another. Wen Ning darted through the water like a fish, but something unexpected happened.

  One of the teenagers suddenly thrashed about, and Wen Ning and the others swam over to help. Wen Ning dove in to untangle the weeds tangled around the teenager's feet, but as he surfaced, he was kicked back in. His breath drained out, and he sank completely to the bottom...

  "Wen Ning!" Fang Qing sat up abruptly, gasping for air, her whole body shaking from the dream.

  No, no, how could something like that happen? It was just my imagination. Isn't Wen Ning fine?

  Fang Qing gasped, trying to comfort herself as she slowly lay back down. But she couldn't fall asleep.

  She didn't understand why she had such a dream, but the thought of Wen Ning getting hurt kept her awake. She sat up, turned on the desk lamp, spread out some rice paper, and began practicing calligraphy.

  Fang Qing held the brush with trembling hands, writing three or four large pages in one breath before he finally calmed down. Putting down the brush, Fang Qing looked out the window at the pale sky and let out a long breath.

  "I should go see him and give him some advice."

  After making up his mind, Fang Qing changed his clothes, washed up, made breakfast for his parents, and walked out.

  Fang Qing's house was not far from Wen Ning's. Just across the street, he could see the alley where Wen's family lived.

  At this time, there was a small stall selling fried dough sticks on the street, and people were lining up to buy breakfast.

  Fang Qing walked into the alley and saw Wen's mother carrying a basket of groceries. She instinctively wanted to hide, but there was no shelter around her, and Wen's mother had already turned and seen her.

  "Fang Qing? What are you doing here?" Wen's mother glanced at Fang Qing with a scrutinizing look.

  Fang Qing hadn't seen Wen's mother since that unpleasant encounter. She knew Aunt Wen disliked her, but now that they were together, she still had to observe proper etiquette.

  "Hello, Aunt Wen, I... I'm here to buy you dough sticks.

  The place at the entrance of the alley is delicious." Wen's mother nodded in confusion, not wanting to say anything more to Fang Qing. She picked up the basket and started to leave, but stopped as she passed Fang Qing.

  "Fang Qing, Aunt Wen was rude before, so don't take it personally. But, I'm also not letting you two play together for your own good. Playing together every day will only delay your studies, right?"

  Fang Qing nodded. "I know you mean well. It's okay. Don't worry about it."

  Pleased with Fang Qing's understanding, Wen's mother nodded and left. Fang Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Wen's mother walk away, he immediately went to the door of the Wen family's house and whispered across the courtyard wall, "Wen Ling, Wen Ling!"

  The door opened and Wen Ling came out, rubbing her eyes. "Who is it? Qingqing? Why are you here? Come in!"

  Fang Qing couldn't wait any longer and grabbed her hand and asked anxiously, "Where's your brother? I have something urgent to talk to him about."

  (End of this chapter)