Chapter 610: Publicly Doting on Both Sides in the Classroom

June 6, the final day before the college entrance exam, in Class 8 of Gao San.

Although it was the same as the past few days—still a self-study period—some students could no longer focus on their books.

Solving problems at this point no longer held much meaning.

During class, the teachers no longer simply sat at the podium waiting for students to ask questions; instead, they chatted briefly with the students and repeatedly reminded them of things they'd said countless times before.

"When you get the English exam paper, always skim through it first."

Ding Xiang leaned against the edge of the podium, earnestly warning, "Especially Zhang Guohuang—do you remember? During your midterm in Gao Er, you skipped an entire page of reading comprehension!"

"I was sick with a fever back then, my head was fuzzy!" Zhang Guohuang protested quickly, "Ding teacher, how many times have you said this already? Can't you let it go?"

"Just remember not to make the same mistake again," Ding Xiang said, then continued, "Then, glance at the essay prompt first and form a rough idea."

"Especially for students with limited vocabulary who often misspell words."

"Do you still remember the trick I taught you?"

"First, sketch out a simple outline of your essay and identify the words you want to use."

"Even if you can't spell them, if you spot one of those words in the question stem while doing earlier sections, circle it immediately—you'll have it ready when you write the essay."

This trick was useless for Li Luo, but it did help some students who rarely memorized vocabulary.

"Also, some of you, when writing essays, try to write more neatly."

Ding Xiang paused here and called out to the front row: "Lin Yuan, I'm talking to you—learn from Xiang Huaxiu, look how beautifully she writes."

"Got it, Ding teacher," Lin Yuan sighed helplessly, then changed the subject: "You've said this so many times already. All I want to know now—is there still a chance we'll get to eat at your and Kong Jun's wedding banquet?"

Asked this by her own student, Ding Xiang couldn't help blushing: "Tomorrow's the college exam—do you still have time to care about this?"

"Ding teacher, we're curious too!" Zhu Yufei raised his hand from the back, grinning.

The whole class erupted in laughter, instantly dispelling the previously heavy atmosphere.

Ding Xiang had no way to stop them, helplessly rubbed her forehead and sighed, then smiled faintly, still blushing: "Fine, fine—the wedding date is almost settled, we just haven't told you yet."

"When is it?" Ren Zheng in the front row asked eagerly, "Ding teacher, tell us—we want to prepare your wedding gift in advance!"

"Your good wishes are enough," Ding Xiang smiled. "Right now, your college exam matters most. As for the date, it'll probably be at the end of August this year."

The classroom erupted again with cheers, some even declaring they'd attend the banquet, all offering congratulations.

So when Kong Jun entered the classroom for Chinese class, he found many students grinning at him with mischievous eyes, making him feel deeply uneasy.

"What's with that look?" Kong Jun asked, startled. "Did I put my shirt on backward?"

He glanced doubtfully at his shirt, confirmed it wasn't reversed, then used the podium to hide his crotch and checked if his zipper was up.

Finally, Xiang Huaxiu kindly reminded him: "Teacher Kong, aren't you getting married in August?"

"Huh?" Kong Jun finally realized. "Ding Xiang told you?"

"She did~" Ren Zheng grinned. "She even promised I could be a flower girl!"

Kong Jun chuckled and shook his head, chatted briefly with them, then steered the conversation back to exam tips and gave final reminders.

Soon, near noon, the dismissal bell rang.

The cafeteria was unusually empty because Gao Yi and Gao Er students had all gone home for vacation.

Unlike previous years' college exams, this year's was the first under Qianjiang Province's new exam reform, and the Ministry of Education placed great emphasis on it.

So as the exam venue, Fuyi High School didn't just designate the Gao San building as the testing area—it also allocated the Gao Yi and Gao Er buildings.

The Gao San classrooms were kept for the students to review in.

Otherwise, at this time, they'd normally have moved to the school library to study.

But what Li Luo hadn't expected was—

Just as they were eating lunch, the music playing over the loudspeaker suddenly cut off, replaced by two coughs.

The next second, a familiar voice came through the speaker.

"Hello." The announcer cleared his throat, then said, "Hi everyone, I'm Jiang Songhe from Class 8 of Gao Er, and currently the president of the Rock Club."

"Tomorrow is the college exam, and our Rock Club members would like to dedicate a song to our senior classmates."

"Hope you don't mind."

Li Luo raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Yan Zhusheng beside him.

Yan Zhusheng was already looking at Li Luo, blinking innocently, clearly as clueless as he was.

So it seemed this was purely the idea of the younger students in the Rock Club.

And the song they'd chosen was familiar indeed—it was "Bu Fu Shao Guang," the very song Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng had performed at the concert just a while ago.

I have to say, hearing the underclassmen from the rock club personally sing "Don't Let the Years Go to Waste" right before the exam is really inspiring.

"Time flies so fast," Xu Yinghuan sighed as she listened, resting her head on Qiao Xinyan's shoulder. "Feels like three years vanished in the blink of an eye."

"Who was the one constantly complaining about how slow the exam was coming?" Yan Zhusheng said flatly.

"Zhusheng, you're so annoying~" Xu Yinghuan squinted at Yan Zhusheng. "Don't you feel any sadness or regret?"

"We'll all be studying at Qianjiang University anyway—we won't be separated," Yan Zhusheng tilted her head, confused by Xu Yinghuan's melancholy.

"But there will still be students who don't pass."

"As long as you pass, that's enough."

"Huh… I never thought I'd hear something touching come out of your mouth."

"Because Li Luo and the others don't even need to worry—they'll pass anyway."

"... Then just don't talk anymore."

After the midday interlude, the afternoon was math class.

Li Luo took this opportunity to pick out a few difficult problems from last year's math college exam, match them with similar problem types from their regular practice sets, mix them into other questions, and give them to Yan Zhusheng to solve.

Yan Zhusheng didn't think twice—she completed them obediently, then listened as Li Luo explained the solutions.

As for Chanxi, forget it.

This is already the final day; if I make it too obvious, she might notice something strange when she encounters familiar questions during the exam.

Anyway, Li Luo has already done this to some extent in the past.

Today, just reinforcing Yan Zhusheng is merely a precaution—a double safeguard.

Zhusheng is relatively slow when it comes to exams; he definitely won't notice anything suspicious.

……

After the two afternoon math classes ended, Kong Jun arrived at the classroom again.

"Everyone, remember to check your transparent pencil cases and confirm you've brought everything."

"Bring three black pens; make sure they all write smoothly."

"Two 2B pencils—don't sharpen the tips too pointy, or it'll be slower to fill in the answer sheet."

"Check if your erasers work well, and your ruler and compass."

"No writing on your water bottles; if you catch a cold during the exam and need to blow your nose, just raise your hand and ask the teacher."

"There are clocks on the wall directly in front of our classroom—you're not allowed to wear any digital watches."

"As for your admission tickets, I have them all here; I'll hand them out to you right here in the classroom before tomorrow's exam, so no one forgets theirs."

"If anyone is late and doesn't make it to the classroom in the morning, I'll be waiting at the entrance of the notice board on the first-floor building—remember to come find me for your ticket."

Kong Jun listed a long series of reminders on the podium—all things he'd already repeated many times before.

But on this final class of Gao San, he still went over every detail again and again.

He even stepped down from the podium to personally check the pencil cases of students who were usually careless, ensuring nothing was missed.

After finishing all this, Kong Jun returned to the podium, took a deep breath, and gazed with a touch of emotion at the students below.

"For our last class, I won't say much else."

"Go home early today, get a good night's sleep, and rest up."

"We'll save the rest of our words for after the exam."

"Save them for the wedding banquet," Zhang Guohuang chimed in with a grin from the back row.

Kong Jun chuckled: "Do well on your exams, don't embarrass me. When the time comes, all of you come to my wedding with Ms. Ding."

"Teacher Kong, do we have to give red envelopes?" Zhu Yufei asked with a chuckle.

"Just do well on your exams," Kong Jun sighed deeply. "Bring me your university acceptance letters—that'll be the best red envelope."

……

The bell for the final class finally rang.

But for once, no one stood up; they didn't rush out the door as they usually did after class.

Kong Jun smiled and said, "Go on, we'll see each other tomorrow."

Ying Chanxi was the first to stand, but instead of leaving, she walked straight to the podium, stepped to the edge of the blackboard, and tiptoed lightly.

She picked up the eraser and vigorously wiped away the digit "1" from the college entrance exam countdown, then took chalk and drew a "0" in its place.

Li Luo followed Ying Chanxi to the blackboard, thought for a moment, then picked up chalk and wrote his name on it.

Looking at the two large characters "Li Luo," he smiled at Kong Jun: "We've got to leave something behind."

Soon after, everyone lined up to write their names on the blackboard.

"What the hell, Zhu Yufei? What's your deal? Writing so big and covering mine?" Zhang Guohuang groaned.

"Dad's just shielding you from the storm—don't you owe me thanks?"

The two class clowns of Class Eight started fooling around again.

Lin Yuan stood before the blackboard, glanced at where Hua Xiuxiu had written her name, then quietly walked over and wrote his own beside hers.

Unfortunately, Ren Zheng happened to see this, grinned, and came over to draw a huge heart around both names, making Hua Xiuxiu blush.

Lin Yuan quickly grabbed the eraser, wanting to wipe off the heart—but ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it.

Seeing that Hua Xiuxiu also had no intention of erasing it, the heart remained.

Nearby, Yan Zhusheng immediately copied the act: he wrote his name beside Li Luo's and secretly drew a heart enclosing it.

"Where should I write, then?" Ying Chanxi narrowed her eyes and asked Yan Zhusheng.

"Sister, write here," Yan Zhusheng pointed to the empty space on Li Luo's right, then drew another heart, enclosing Li Luo as well. "There—better?"

Looking at the two half-overlapping hearts on the board, Ying Chanxi fell silent for a moment, then finally wrote her name in the right half of the empty space.

Seeing how the class monitor's name, even on the blackboard, was being hugged on both sides, the other students fell silent, pretending not to notice.

Including Kong Jun.

"Cough…" Li Luo felt awkward under all those stares and quickly pulled Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng toward the door. "Good luck tomorrow, everyone!"

"I haven't drawn hearts for Yinghuan and Zhao Rongjun yet…" Yan Zhusheng still held the chalk in hand as Li Luo dragged him away, muttering under his breath, slightly dissatisfied.

Xu Yinghuan heard this and blinked, turning to look at Zhao Rongjun beside her, her gaze thoughtful.

But Zhao Rongjun was a straightforward guy, and Qiao Xinyan was quiet by nature; Xu Yinghuan hadn't reached Yan Zhusheng's level yet.

So the three of them simply found an empty spot and wrote their names down.

Looking at the blackboard now completely filled, Xu Yinghuan sighed deeply and turned to Qiao Xinyan and Zhao Rongjun: "Good luck on tomorrow's exam!"

"Mm," Qiao Xinyan nodded firmly. "You too, Yinghuan."

"I'll do my best~" Xu Yinghuan smiled happily. "I'll try to get into Qian University with you two!"

"Go," Zhao Rongjun mustered rare courage and raised his fist.

The two girls exchanged glances, then silently raised their fists and bumped them against Zhao Rongjun's.

On the way out of school after class, Qiao Xinyan was the first to say goodbye to them and was taken away by her mother.

The car sent to pick up Xu Yinghuan had already parked by the roadside.

Seeing this, Zhao Rongjun prepared to say goodbye.

But at that moment, Xu Yinghuan suddenly called out to him: "Jun-ge."

"Hm? What is it?" Zhao Rongjun had just watched Qiao Xinyan's back disappear around the corner, and now he turned to Xu Yinghuan, asking in confusion.

"After the exam, once the results come out…" Xu Yinghuan held her hands behind her back, her toes unconsciously tapping the ground, head lowered as she spoke softly, "I have something I want to tell you alone."

"Huh?"

"I-it's not really anything important," Xu Yinghuan suddenly scratched the back of her head, then turned and hurried off in a light run toward her car, "Bye! See you tomorrow!"

Zhao Rongjun blinked, still standing there dazed and confused, not quite understanding what Xu Yinghuan wanted to say.

After a moment, he suddenly guessed a possible meaning—but immediately shook his head hard, thinking it unlikely.

Should he ask Li Luo?

Nah… better wait until after the exam.

(End of Chapter)