64 | Final Year
This year might change the rest of our lives.

That day, the whether was very nice. E City hadn’t entered the rainy season yet, so every day was clear with high temperatures.

Thy sky was bright blue. The trees in the park were lush and green, and the cicadas were singing loudly. Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian had spent most of the afternoon playing around, so their bodies were covered in sweat. After the sweat dried off, their clothes were soaked again from the water ride. At this point in time, their hair both stuck to their foreheads, their bodies were sticky and kind of dirty. It was a bit embarra.s.sing, but also a bit comical.

Younger students who were buying meat skewers and sausages walked past them. As they ate their snacks, they also looked at the pair curiously. That older boy and girl in school uniforms, were they just kissing?

The young girls were gathering and whispering to each other about it. Gu Mingxi lifted his head, looked over at them, and gave a gentle smile. A few of the girls panicked, their faces turning red, as they immediately ran off.

Pang Qian was still sitting stunned on the bench in front of him. She had two ice cream wrappers in her hands, a bit of chocolate still in them.

She seemed unable to react. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, nor what she should be doing now. From Gu Mingxi’s tone, a kiss really did seem as ordinary as eating food and sleeping, nothing special at all.

But that was her first kiss!

Although it was only a moment’s thing, but the moment his lips touched hers was very obvious. His lips were soft and carried the slight scent of his breath. It made Pang Qian stiffen as her heart nearly jumped out of her chest.

She felt that she ought to get angry, just like the main character in all the serial dramas. When the male steals a kiss from the female, doesn’t she always slap him on the face? But when she stole a glance at Gu Mingxi, she quickly got rid of that idea. He was Gu Mingxi, how could she bear to hit him?

Then was just the end of it? No, no, no. That would make it seem like she was okay with it. She wasn’t okay with it! Pang Qian recalled Xiao Yujing’s reaction earlier that afternoon to a similar situation. She calmly wiped her lips, and then turned around and went back to the cla.s.sroom.

Should she follow Xiao Yujing and wipe her lips to show that she was unhappy?

Then she also recalled Xie Yi’s reaction afterwards. Seeing Xiao Yujing wipe her lips, his entire face dimmed. His expression changed, showing an obvious disappointment. Pang Qian didn’t want to see Gu Mingxi hurt. Although she didn’t know why he acted this way, she felt that doing nothing was the most appropriate reaction.

But this was really her first kiss! Would her first kiss just disappear like that?

Lots of different thoughts ran through her head, and her expression also changed greatly. Gu Mingxi didn’t say a word, and only watched her silently. Finally, after her entire face was red, Gu Mingxi started, “What are you thinking about? We just touched briefly. When foreigners meet, they all do that to greet each other.”

Did he really think she was such a b.u.mpkin? Pang Qian clenched her teeth, “Don’t lie to me. Foreigners all kiss each others’ cheeks. They don’t just randomly kiss each other on the lips.”

“A kiss on the cheek is nearly a kiss on the lips,” Gu Mingxi said. “If you mind, you can forget what just happened. Strictly speaking, this doesn’t count as a kiss. You can just say it didn’t happen.”

“Ah?” Pang Qian’s eyes widened. “Pretend it didn’t happen?”

Gu Mingxi nodded. “Yeah, so, you can still have your first kiss.”

Pang Qian’s face reddened again. Gu Mingxi stood up and said, “Pang Pang, it’s almost time for school to let out. We should go back, otherwise the teacher might report this to the police.”

Hearing him say that, Pang Qian finally remembered this. She made Gu Mingxi cut cla.s.s. She didn’t know what kind of situation they would face when they returned.

Pang Qian, who had boldly left school earlier that afternoon, was now terrified of returning to school. Gu Mingxi comforted her, “Don’t be afraid. Just tell them what I told you, and the teachers won’t be too hard on you. At worst, they’ll blame you for not giving them a call to notify them. Then you just tell that that you were afraid calling would waste time and you’d lose me.”

When did he think up all these things? Pang Qian asked, “Then what if you get in trouble?”

Gu Mingxi said, “Then I’ll just get scolded. Usually, the teachers all take good care of me. They probably won’t scold me.”

When they returned to the school, the guard rushed out and called, “Aiya! You two are finally back!”

The school was in utter chaos. Year 2 Cla.s.s 1’s Gu Mingxi and Cla.s.s 2’s Pang Qian randomly disappeared during the lunch break. Their belongings were still at their desks, and they hadn’t left any notes. It seemed like they’d just gone to the restroom, and then they just disappeared without warning.

Their head teachers were thrown into a frenzy, especially since Gu Mingxi was a handicapped student. They called the kids’ parents, but Pang Shuisheng and Li Han returned home without finding a trace of their kids.

In the afternoon, Teachers Dai and Zhong, along with some student council members and Pang Shuisheng and Li Han, started searching around the school. Xie Yi even went to Shark’s barbecue shop, but it wasn’t open yet. He ran around to check some internet bars in the area, but he still didn’t find and trace Gu Mingxi or Pang Qian.

Xiao Yujing went to check the small park nearby the school. After being deskmates with Gu Mingxi for a year, she knew that Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian sometimes sat at that park for awhile to eat snacks before heading home. Of course, she didn’t find anything.

When it was nearly time for school to let out, everyone met back up at the school. Jin Ai’hua stayed at home, waiting for any news. Pang Shuisheng was extremely confused by the fact that Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi left their bags behind. Li Han was already weeping quietly. Gu Mingxi was a very sensible person. Even if he was feeling some pressure at school, he’d never skipped cla.s.s before, especially without leaving any notes before disappearing.

As the group of people were discussing whether they should make a police report, Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian returned.

In front of her teachers, cla.s.smates, and parents, Pang Qian couldn’t lie. But neither did she speak the truth. She just stood there silently with her head down. Gu Mingxi stood beside her, slightly blocking her. Then he methodically went over “the happenings of the day” with everyone.

He saw a flash of suspicious cross Xiao Yujing’s eyes. Teacher Dai stared at Gu Mingxi and said, “Gu Mingxi, if you felt pressure, you could have come talk to me. If you just disappear without a sound, everyone will worry about you, don’t you know?”

“Teacher Dai, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” Gu Mingxi chuckled lightly. “Pang Qian kept trying to make me come back. Thanks to her, I’m fine now.”

Since Gu Mingxi had taken all the responsibility, no one was going to give out any blame. Teacher Dai and Teacher Zhong let out sighs and even praised Pang Qian with a few lines. Pang Shuisheng and Li Han apologized to the teachers and students, and then took their kids home.

That evening, Jin Ai’hua scolded Pang Qian a lot. Pang Shuisheng couldn’t hold her back. Jin Ai’hua was angry to death. As she yelled, she smacked Pang Qian’s head with a pa! pa!

She said, “Are you crazy? Have you gone crazy?! Do you like Gu Mingxi that much?! Ah?! He was in a bad mood, he was feeling too much pressure! So he skipped cla.s.s to go play! And you just followed him?! You’ve never skipped cla.s.s before! Gu Mingxi started acting badly last year. Now he’s dragged you along with him!”

Pang Qian retorted loudly, “He hasn’t gone bad! His grades are still great!”

“Who gives a d.a.m.n about his grades?!” Jin Ai’hua sat down beside the table and angrily slammed her hand down. “Pang Qian, let me tell you. It’s best if you cut off this relations.h.i.+p. I won’t agree to you and Gu Mingxi being together! It doesn’t matter how much you like him, I won’t agree to it!”

Pang Qian had been beaten until her head hurt, but she shouted out again, “Who said I like him?! Who said I want to be together with him?!”

Jin Ai’hua knocked on Pang Qian’s head again and made herself clear. “You think I’m a fool?! If you didn’t like him, why would you skip cla.s.s to go out and play with him all afternoon?!”

Pang Qian lowered her head and covered it with her arms. Gasping for air, she was unable to refute.

In the next few days, Jin Ai’hua didn’t allow Pang Qian to go over to Gu Mingxi’s house to do homework. Pang Qian didn’t care. In any case, the final exams were coming up. She didn’t mind relaxing a bit.

The first order of business was the high school certification exam. For students attending advanced high schools, this exam was merely a formality. Pang Qian easily finished the exam, thinking to herself that she never wanted to touch history or politics again.

Following that were the final exams. Since this exam marked the end of the liberal arts and science materials, Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi wouldn’t need to test in those again. This final exam would determine the cla.s.s rearrangements for the final year’s cla.s.ses. The school made the exam more difficult, and Pang Qian could feel that after she finished.

Without the language cla.s.ses, Gu Mingxi’s grades rose up. He was 4th in the year for science, keeping his promise to his mother. Xiao Yujing was still first. Xie Yi’s rank also rose to first in Cla.s.s 7, and his grades qualified him to move into the advanced cla.s.s next semester.

Zheng Qiaoqiao improced, Li Xiaoyan improved, w.a.n.g Song and Zhou Nanzhong improved. Only Pang Qian’s grades dropped.

In all of the 297 students who took the science exam, Pang Qian’s scores only ranked her 245. Seeing the mess of her exam paper, she just sat in her chair zoning out.

When it was time for the parent-teacher meeting, Pang Qian snuck over to Gu Mingxi’s. He was home alone, watching TV.

Pang Qian sat down beside him. Gu Mingxi said, “There are drinks in the refrigerator if you want any.”

Pang Qian lowered and shook her head. Gu Mingxi turned to her. “You just did poorly on one final exam. Why are you so downcast? There’s still one more year. There’st still time if you try really hard.”

Pang Qian pulled at her s.h.i.+rt hem. In a low voice, she said, “Gu Mingxi, I don’t think I can go to the same university as you. You’ll definitely get into a top-tier school. I probably won’t even get into a third-rank school.”

“No.” Gu Mingxi comforted her, “I know that you’re feeling down recently. It’s normal that you’d have tested poorly. There’s still another year. I’ll work hard together with you. I’m sure you’ll get into a four-year university, at least second-ranked.”

Pang Qian felt that he was spewing nonsense, so she didn’t take his words to heart. She sat down a bit, and then suddenly said, “Why is Xiao Yujing so good at studying?”

“Xiao Yujing?” Gu Mingxi was startled. “You only see that she’s doing well now, but you don’t know all the efforts she put into it before.”

Pang Qian lifted her head, “How do you know?”

“She said so herself. She lived in South Africa when she was younger, so her Chinese wasn’t very good. Her mother had to go over a lot of cla.s.ses with her at home. After primary school, she returned (to China) with her parents. Aside from English, her grades in other cla.s.ses were all rotten.”

Pang Qian would never have imagined that Xiao Yujing had done through such a period.

Gu Mingxi continued, “After her first year of junior high, she retook the year. When it was time for the final exams, she finally caught up with the others in her cla.s.s. By the end of her second year, she was first in her cla.s.s. After her third year, she became first in the year.”

Pang Qian was shocked.

“She’s definitely very smart, but most importantly, she worked really hard.” Gu Mingxi looked at Pang Qian. “Xiao Yujing told me that you only live once. Human society is much like that of the African savanna. Like the law of the jungle, the strong prey on the weak. If you don’t want to be the prey to someone else, you just have to put all your efforts into running forward. As long as you do your best, even if you don’t achieve what you had planned, at least you won’t have any regrets in your life.”

Pang Qian’s eyes dropped as she considered Gu Mingxi’s words.

“Pang Pang, there’s still one year. One whole year.” Gu Mingxi sat up straight, staring at Pang Qian’s eyes. “Listen to me. In this final year, let’s not think about any nonsense. Just work hard on studying. This year might change the rest of our lives. I hope we can work hard together, get rid of any obstructions, and both get into a good school. Don’t be afraid, I’ll always be by your side. Look, Xiao Yujing could push into first with one year. Xie Yi got into the advanced cla.s.s after one semester. You can try to use this semester to get into the top 20. Nothing is impossible. Pang Pang, I hope that you can trust me, and push through this final year together with me. Okay?”

Pang Qian looked at him with red eyes. Then with some effort, she nodded. “Okay.”