Chapter 27: Home

They understood that today was the first day of the exam.

Although it was an exam, morning reading and evening self-study continued, which could be called sharpening the sword before battle.

Feng Yan and Chen Hao deliberately were late by half an hour, intending to wait for the Year Director to come over and stop them in front of the teaching building, but in front of them were only the class representative checking recitations and a group of students waiting to be checked on dictation. "The weather's cold; are they all in the office drinking tea and playing on their phones? Is that laughable or admirable?" Feng Yan thought. Then the two walked toward the stairs, stepping step by step toward the classroom, deliberately slowing their pace along the way, pat-pat, they could hear their own footsteps, but still no teacher came out, so they slowly arrived at the classroom.

Feng Yan pushed open the door; the homeroom teacher was sitting on the podium, saw the two arrive, nodded, gesturing them to enter the classroom and return to their seats.

"Everything seems too smooth," Feng Yan thought. Looking at the homeroom teacher sitting before him, he involuntarily clenched his fists, stared fixedly at him—his eyes showed anger, reluctance, but more so the sorrow of a student unable to take the exam. Feng Yan lowered his head, trying not to show that expression, restraining himself; after a long while, he took a deep breath, pulled out his textbook, and began to recite.

Until the bell rang, students began packing up, preparing to rush to the exam hall; Feng Yan and Chen Hao went up to the teacher, and Feng Yan stepped forward and said, "Teacher, please give us two leave slips; we need to go home today."

"'Alright, the leave slips are in the office; you two come with me,' said the homeroom teacher, and as they walked, the homeroom teacher, Feng Yan, and Chen Hao spoke."

In the office, the homeroom teacher took out three leave slips, wrote his name on them; Feng Yan and Chen Hao took the pens and wrote their names. "Alright, you now go get the Year Director to sign them," he said, "but I still have to ask: do you really want to go home?" the homeroom teacher asked.

"If we don't go home, where then?" Feng Yan countered. The homeroom teacher said nothing after being asked. Chen Hao said: "Let's just say we had a fever the day before the exam, and the homeroom teacher, to avoid affecting our scores, simply removed our names; now, during the exam, no matter what we say, we'll be scolded by our parents. Saying that also makes the homeroom teacher appear more considerate of students, caring about each student's grades, right?"

"'Let's go.' Feng Yan held the leave slips, opened the door, turned his head to the homeroom teacher and said, 'This is for our own benefit, and also for the class's quantification; we must understand our beloved homeroom teacher, after all he has painstakingly worked for our class's grades. Let's go, we must understand, the teacher is also doing it for the class's good.' After saying that, Feng Yan yanked the door shut with a bang."

"'Then are we no longer part of the class?' Chen Hao said, somewhat angrily, his voice trembling, 'If we go back now, how should I tell my family?'"

"'Either we don't go back, wait a couple days then return and stay at a hotel, or we go straight home.' Feng Yan, facing the problem, proposed and explained the solution."

"'Never mind all that; first go get the leave slip signed by the Year Director, then we'll talk,' Chen Hao said."

After saying that, the two arrived at the Year Director's office, saw the leave slips, and the Year Director was startled, then asked, "Suspending classes? What nonsense is this?" "To be exact, because the homeroom teacher forgot to submit our two names, it turned out like this." Feng Yan answered the Year Director's question helplessly, showing a relaxed expression. After hearing the explanation, the Year Director signed his name and returned the leave slips to the two students before him, saying, "Class 19? This homeroom teacher truly lacks any professional ethics as a teacher; does his head only contain those things?" Watching the two walk away, the Year Director felt moved.

"'So where are we going? Home, or what?' Chen Hao asked."

"'Let's go to my place together; if you go home, your family will surely scold you for skipping class; as for me, I'll just say it straight.' Feng Yan replied."

"'Say what directly?' Chen Hao didn't understand at first, then in an instant realized, 'You mean to say it like that!'"

"'Exactly, just say that! Anyway, he wouldn't sell his soul over such trivial things, so no matter what we do, it's not excessive.' Feng Yan said, picking up his phone, dialing a number; the line kept buzzing 'du~du~', but no one answered, and finally a polite yet cold voice came: 'Hello, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable; please leave a message after the tone.' Feng Yan didn't believe it, called again, got the same cold voice, he couldn't take it and shouted directly at the other end: 'You damn it, is this how you service? Is this what you call service? This is your attitude—what the hell? What does this mean? Every time I call, it's like this; you workers might as well be dead—no, wait, can't let you die, because if you died others would replace you, possibly even worse, maybe without even a recording; you're just parasites, bloodsuckers, a bunch of people who've lost their original hearts, you don't deserve to hold these positions—get the hell back home, you damn bastards!'"

Then Feng Yan hung up the phone, feeling dejected, and said to Chen Hao, "Let's go, to my place."

"'Mm, let's do that. Really, it's fine? Won't your family scold you?' Chen Hao asked."

"'It's fine; at home it's just me, or rather they haven't come back yet, so it's just me and my grandma.' Feng Yan answered Chen Hao's words, then continued, 'Don't talk about anything else; if there's anything, we'll discuss it when we get home.'"

They hailed a car; the driver asked, "Where are you two going?" They gave the destination, agreed on the fare, got in, and left. On the road, neither of them spoke.

Feng Yan looked at the earth covered in white snow; the snow had stopped last night, but today there was no sun, and the thick snow blanketed the earth's original color; all they saw was a pure, flawless white—purity, ignorance, perhaps a child's spirit, or a young person not yet worldly. Feng Yan thought: "What kind of existence are we? Pursuing what we love and striving for it is not wrong, but when someone else tries to take it from you, you feel, this is mine, I won't let anyone touch it! Is that not the law of the jungle?"

Chen Hao fell asleep, having a dream.

In the dream, a girl beckoned to him; he took her hand, half-knelt on the ground, and lightly kissed her; the girl shyly ran off, and Chen Hao chased after her. At that moment, the dream began to slowly collapse, revealing red magma; they were in the depths of a volcano. Chen Hao watched the girl step by step run toward the volcano's depths, then from that lecture a red dragon burst out—'No!' Chen Hao shouted, and at the same time he was pulled back to reality.

"'You had a good dream, and we've also arrived home.' Feng Yan said, 'Get ready; we're going to see my grandmother.'"

"'Mm, I got it.' Chen Hao replied."

This was not what Chen Hao had imagined; he had thought Feng Yan was very wealthy, yet Feng Yan lived in such a shabby house. Chen Hao widened his eyes, unable to believe what he saw. Feng Yan patted his shoulder, indicating this was real, and that he himself was not some so-called rich young master.

"'Little Feng is back!' Feng Yan's grandmother said."

"'I'm back.' Feng Yan said with a dim expression, 'This is my classmate; his parents have been busy these days, so he'll stay at our house for a few days. Alright, Grandma, I'll go cook first; you guys talk.'"

As for what Chen Hao and the grandmother talked about, Feng Yan still doesn't know to this day; Chen Hao wore the look of having gotten an answer, and the grandmother showed a smile she hadn't had in years, but Feng Yan understood that this was absolutely the happiest conversation the grandmother had ever had.

After they ate together, Feng Yan said, 'Well then, let's begin now.'