It was a hot June day. The afternoon sun was scorching the road surface, and exam notes were pouring out of the teaching building.
Xie Lan followed the crowd out until he reached the gate of Yingzhong School, where he was grabbed by a hand.
"Finally found it." Dou Sheng followed him, "How is it?"
Xie Lan hesitated to speak, and after a long while he muttered, "I can't explain it, it feels a bit weird."
A banner was hung on the gate of Yingzhong West School: Good luck in the college entrance examination and may your name be on the honor roll.
After the examination room was counted and checked, the security guard received an order to open the telescopic door, and the examinees who were blocking the school gate immediately swarmed out like a flood.
Xie Lan and Dou Sheng were almost at the end of the group, but they were not in a hurry and moved slowly behind the team.
Dou Sheng couldn't help but ask, "Composition—"
"I just feel that the composition is a bit strange." Xie Lan hesitated, "I feel..."
Dou Sheng was nervous, "Does this feel like we're going off topic?"
"That's not the case, it's just a little hard to write." Xie Lan sighed, "How did you write it?"
This year's H Province College Entrance Examination Chinese composition topic is concise and to the point.
As a young person in the 21st century, how do you view the culture of mourning
Please write an argumentative essay of no less than 800 words. You are required to choose the right angle, determine the theme, and come up with your own title. Do not copy or plagiarize. Do not disclose personal information. It should be no less than 800 words.
Dou Sheng observed Xie Lan's expression and hesitated before speaking. Xie Lan frowned and asked in confusion, "Didn't Lao Qin say that the questions in the college entrance examination would be closely related to morality and values? Why... did they test such an unlucky thing? And I don't know much about this aspect, so I have no opinion to discuss it, which makes me a bit disadvantaged. But it's okay, I played that game with you back then, otherwise I would have been in trouble."
Dou Sheng's expression turned cold when he heard this, and he grabbed Xie Lan's hand.
"Which game are you talking about?" He asked in shock, "What on earth did you write about?"
Xie Lan hesitated. "When the word 'sorrow' appears alone, I feel a little confused. The words I can think of are depression, zombie, and funeral."
Dou Sheng stared at him: "Don't tell me you wrote this whole thing."
"No, isn't the test about mourning culture? Only funerals can be called culture, right? Traditional folk culture?" Xie Lan said, "But I haven't come into contact with this. I just remember the game I played with you last year. It was called "Paper Bride". Do you still remember it?"
"..." Dou Sheng remained silent and walked out slowly.
There was a hint of reluctance in his expression, as well as great shock.
Xie Lan hissed, "But I'm not sure. On the one hand, it's too strange to use funerals in the college entrance examination essay. On the other hand, I can't write less than 800 words just on this, so I extended it a little. Didn't Lao Qin say before that the solidity of the article can be improved in two directions? I broke down the topic this time. One is funeral, and the other is folk culture, so I extended it on both sides."
Dou Sheng's Adam's apple moved, "I'd like to hear the details."
"In the first paragraph, I still promoted traditional culture. China is a country of etiquette, and funerals are also very particular, showing great magnanimity." Xie Lan skillfully recited the set of words that Lao Qin had sorted out for him, counting on his fingers, "Then I spent a paragraph writing about all the little details of Chinese funerals and memorial services that I could think of, and then I stuck to the topic and discussed my point of view. Here I discussed the opposite side. On the one hand, I discussed the sorrow expressed by paper products that imitated living things, and the warm emotions expressed by relatives mourning. On the other hand, I broke the bad influence left by feudal culture, such as burning paper money is not environmentally friendly, ghost marriage is not acceptable, and on the other hand, the last time I played that game was full of bad things, and... what are you shivering about?"
Dou Sheng hugged himself tightly and looked up at the blazing sun.
"It's a bit cold all of a sudden." He murmured, "Then, what did it extend to?"
"Oh. When it comes to folk culture, I also extended it to happy events, such as weddings. When it comes to funerals, I'm not sure if my intention is right, so I extended it a little bit in the direction of depression."
As soon as Xie Lan finished speaking, Dou Sheng's eyes lit up, "How much is written about depression?"
"I only wrote a few sentences, and the core idea is that people's depression at funerals has become part of the culture," Xie Lan said. "We still have to take care of the integrity of the whole article."
"… "
The people walked out together again. Xie Lan sighed and said, "Just tell me, am I going off topic or digressing?"
"Don't think about it." Dou Sheng shook his head. "There are other subjects to take. Don't think about it after you finish the exam."
Xie Lan didn't give up, "Just tell me, it doesn't matter if I get a few points..."
Just as he finished speaking, he saw Lao Qin under the crooked sycamore tree outside the west gate not far away, surrounded by a group of classmates from Class 4.
Xie Lan came closer and heard Che Ziming mutter, "I wrote a long article about the example of milk tea. Is that vulgar?"
Lao Qin said, "It doesn't matter if it's vulgar, but I'm afraid it's biased. Milk tea is a very twisted cultural symbol. It's OK for media people to write articles for public accounts, but it's easy to lack a focus when writing argumentative essays."
Che Ziming sighed and lifted his schoolbag onto his shoulder. "Whatever. My Chinese has always been so-so. I'll prepare for math in the afternoon."
"Go back quickly." Old Qin said, and when he raised his head and saw Xie Lan, he immediately waved.
Xie Lan no longer wanted to go there.
—After he heard the incomprehensible “milk tea” example.
During the whole process of introducing his essay topic and arguments to Lao Qin, Yu Guangli and Dou Sheng were in a state of wanting to say something but hesitated. He pulled his sleeve several times, but finally turned away with forbearance.
"... So in the end, so..." Xie Lan couldn't continue, and sighed under the scorching sun, "So this essay is not about discussing funeral customs at all, right?"
Lao Qin covered his heart and said, "Why not bury me and give me a fight?"
Xie Lan: “…”
Dou Sheng sighed and couldn't help but say, "Sang culture is a hot word in recent years. It means that young people nowadays are always very 'sang', like to drink milk tea and stay at home, hate their jobs and quit their jobs, escape from the so-called internal competition, etc. You should have seen everyone's complaints in the comments and comments, right? For example, 'I'm so depressed', 'I'm depressed again today', this is the culture of sadness. This topic seems very broad, but it can be written very narrowly. If you point out these appearances and refute them with the actual struggles of young people, then... it has nothing to do with... those underworld things."
Xie Lan gradually opened his mouth wide.
“Can this be called culture?”
Old Qin looked at him with an old look, his fingers trembling slightly. If he had a cigarette in his pocket, he would almost take it out and light it.
Dou Sheng raised his hand and touched Xie Lan's head. "You have a very narrow understanding of culture. If it doesn't have traditional customs and civilization, it can't be called culture... But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter for the college entrance examination points."
"But..." Xie Lan was still dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that he had strayed so far from the topic, and he was also very sad about the racking of his brains in the examination room just now.
Dou Sheng pulled his hand and said, "Okay, let's go home."
"Okay..." Xie Lan turned around and looked at Lao Qin, "Teacher... I'm really sorry."
Lao Qin was silent for a long time, and tried hard to force a fragile smile.
"It's okay, come on this afternoon."
All those years of care and special treatment were ultimately in vain.
Xie Lan had no motivation to take the next exam because his composition was off-topic. He handed in his math paper as soon as he finished it, and when the time came for early submission of the paper, he immediately left the room and stared blankly at a group of parents outside.
A short-haired woman pulled him aside and said, "Xie Lan, huh? Are the questions difficult?"
Xie Lan was confused for a while, then recognized that it was the mother of Wen Zisen, the sports committee member.
He shook his head and said, "It's not difficult, about the same as the last week's mock exam."
"That's good, that's good." The woman breathed a sigh of relief. "Have you finished answering?"
"Um."
Old Ma was waiting under a tree. When he saw Xie Lan coming over, he didn't blame him for handing in the paper early, nor did he ask him about math. He just sighed.
"I heard about the composition incident." Old Ma paused, "My condolences."
"… "
Xie Lan stood under the tree with him, expressionless.
In June, the sycamore trees in Yingzhong bloomed again, and the air was filled with a delicate fragrance. The soft, wrinkled petals softened the scorching sun. Xie Lan stared at them for a long time, until a bead of sweat appeared in his hair, and he sighed softly.
"Teacher," he whispered, "Why is it so difficult to learn Chinese well?"
Lao Ma immediately said, "It's not difficult. In fact, you are already very good. Examinations can screen people, but they also have their drawbacks. For example, on the essay question this time, you may lose more than half of the points, but the root cause is not that your ideas are incorrect or your logic and expression skills are poor, but that you just don't understand a word."
Xie Lan let out a sigh of relief, and was about to nod and say that was true, when he heard Lao Ma say, "If the college entrance examination questions were really that tricky, most people wouldn't be able to pass it."
"… "
Xie Lan looked away expressionlessly, "Thank you, I feel comforted."
At 5:30 p.m. on the 8th, the English paper was handed in and the college entrance examination in H Province ended.
The moment the invigilator sealed the test paper into the file bag, Xie Lan miraculously felt that the feeling of disappointment over going off topic in the Chinese composition suddenly disappeared.
The teacher's hand grabbed one end of the cotton thread and wrapped it around the seal of the file, as if wrapping up the past ten months. Once the seal was affixed, a piece of the past was settled again.
He subconsciously turned his head to look out the window - it was almost evening, the sun was still bright outside, and the sky was filled with a large patch of red and purple clouds, which looked very sacred.
The invigilator ordered everyone to be released and said to everyone with a smile: "Congratulations, everyone. The college entrance examination is over."
In an instant, sighs and groans were heard from everyone in the examination room. Xie Lan still waited slowly until most people came in, then he packed up his documents and got up to leave. He walked along the corridor and passed by the back door of the examination room. The back door was half open, and he stared at the empty table for a while.
That was Chen Ge’s examination table.
Chen Ge finished his second and third year of high school in another city, but his student status was still here, so he went back to take the college entrance examination. As luck would have it, he and I were assigned to the same examination room.
When he was daydreaming after finishing the test paper that day, he would occasionally see the table and feel a little dazed.
When he first joined the fourth shift, Chen Ge also sat at the table guarding the back door. At that time, he was wearing unruly ripped jeans and a dirty T-shirt, his hair was messy, and he looked cruel.
A year ago, on the day Chen Ge left, he seemed to have shaved his hair very short, and looked a little dazed, yet with a desperate temperament.
This time when we met, his hair had grown back, and he looked clean and refreshed. He wore a simple white T-shirt and sky blue jeans, and he was answering questions seriously the whole day.
Xie Lan wanted to say hello to him, but their seats were too far apart, and they had no chance to talk during the day they took the exam together.
When Xie Lan came out of the teaching building, Dou Sheng was still waiting for him at the old place. When he saw him coming out from a distance, he opened his arms.
"Give me a hug, little Xie Lan." Dou Sheng said with a smile, "Our happiness is over."
Xie Lan hummed, went over to hug her boyfriend, their chests filled with each other's heartbeats, and they reached out to stroke each other's backs.
"Thank you for your hard work." Dou Sheng said, "You are my high school graduate, Xie Lan."
Xie Lan whispered, "Yeah, how did you do in the exam?"
“Just for fun.” Dou Sheng threw the card holder containing his ID card into the air, stretched out his hand to pinch it, and took out a thin and tough maple leaf from a grid behind his thumb, and handed it to Xie Lan, “Here.”
Xie Lan took the leaf as usual and put it in his pocket, feeling the veins on the leaf.
Looking at Dou Sheng's casual smile, his mood suddenly improved.
"So, this is a good test?"
"Yeah." Dou Sheng smiled in the sunshine and squeezed out of the school gate with him. "The provincial science champion, let's bet."
The group of parents around him looked at him with strange eyes. Dou Sheng couldn't help laughing and waved his hands, saying, "I was just kidding."
"This child is quite confident." A parent said with a smile: "Keep this attitude and keep smiling."
"Okay, I will." Dou Sheng nodded seriously.
Xie Lan couldn't stop laughing at the side. When the group of parents walked away, he whispered, "They are all betting on the same side. What's there to bet on?"
Zhao Wenying personally picked them up after the exam. The aunt at home cooked a table full of dishes, all of which were Xie Lan and Dou Sheng's favorites. Xie Lan ate until he was full, and then he lay on the bed, touching Wutong's chin and fell asleep for a while. When he opened his eyes, it was dark.
He was awakened by the group shock.
-Cherry: Are you coming out? Top-notch grilled food! I actually got a table! The boss is so nice!
-Dog Wangwang: I can! Who are they
-Cherry: It is assumed that everyone in this group is present, including Liu Yixuan and Chen Ge.
-Latte: Oh shit, the boat is back, I rushed over!
-Herring: Me too
Xie Lan sat up in a daze. Not long after, there was a knock on the door. Dou Sheng stood at the door and asked with a smile, "It's the night after the college entrance examination. Are you getting up?"
"Where are you going? Gaokao Champion?" Xie Lan asked.
Dou Sheng smiled and said, "Well, let's go and fulfill the tradition of Yingzhong."
What are the traditions between Britain and China
Xie Lan was stunned when he arrived outside the west gate.
Late at night after the college entrance examination, the Yingzhong West Gate Street, which was thought to be quiet and empty, was crowded with students. Small vendors set up their stalls enthusiastically, and tables selling high-quality products covered half of the street. At the door, a pile of broken wooden boards appeared from somewhere, with a thick hemp rope tied to the boards, and the hemp rope was covered with sticky notes hung on small pins.
Just four hours before the exam ended, Xie Lan was shocked to find that the girls had collectively transformed, with half of them wearing shoulder-length hair and half wearing big waves, and all of them wearing lipstick and dresses. The boys were holding beer bottles, clinking and calling each other brothers.
"What's going on?" Xie Lan was shocked. "The demon suppression talisman in Yingzhong was torn up by someone?"
Dou Sheng laughed out loud, "That's great. Now you are very skilled at sarcasm."
Xie Lan sneered, "Haha."
Even though I am very skilled in sarcasm, I still can’t write a good college entrance examination essay.
It's just too outrageous.
Che Ziming suddenly poked his head out of the house, "Here it is! We only need two more!"
Dou Sheng raised his eyebrows in amazement, "Sure, we can book a table inside the house with a fan."
They walked through the crowd and stepped into Gao Gaozhuangyuan's narrow little house.
There was a big table. I didn’t know anyone at the other table, but the one I knew was already full.
In addition to the people Che Ziming just mentioned, Dong Shuijing was also there, sitting next to Chen Ge. Liu Yixuan sat next to Dong Shuijing, next to Yu Fei, the other person was probably Che Ziming, and then there were Wang Gou and Dai You.
Dai You reserved a seat for Dou Sheng and Xie Lan on his right hand side. Xie Lan went over and sat next to him, and Dou Sheng sat down right next to Chen Ge.
It was the first time he had met Chen Ge in a long time. He didn't exchange pleasantries, but just asked casually, "How is it?"
"It's OK, no major surprises." Chen Ge casually handed over a can of cold beer and put it in front of him and Xie Lan, smiling at Xie Lan, "I was in the same examination room with Xie Lan. After the first exam, I wanted to say something to him, but he looked confused, so I didn't say it with good intentions."
"Ah." Xie Lan thought of his unlucky composition and wilted on the spot, "Don't mention it."
"Don't mention it." Dou Sheng smiled and rubbed his hands.
Chen Ge saw their intimate behavior with a very natural expression, and Dong Shuijing and Liu Yixuan beside them were also used to it.
Dong Shuijing wore a light blue off-shoulder gauze dress today with decorative sleeves on her arms. Her hair, which was short a few months ago, has now grown to below her shoulders, and she looks gentle and soft.
"What do you want to eat?" Chen Ge asked her, "Cartilage?"
She nodded, "Not spicy."
Chen Ge then stood up and found a skewer of non-spicy soft bone meat from the messy pile of skewers. He wiped the oil and cumin powder off the skewer with a tissue and handed it to her.
Liu Yixuan sighed and said, "There's a woman here."
Yu Fei sat up on the table in a daze, "I'm fine."
Everyone at the table burst into laughter. Che Ming slapped Yu Fei on the shoulder and said, "Can you please stop destroying your character?"
"Fuck, get out of here." Yu Fei pushed his hand away, "Are you done yet?"
Everyone was laughing, and by the time Xie Lan realized that he was laughing along, he had been grinning like an idiot for who knew how long.
After the college entrance examination, everyone was reluctant to talk about the exam, but the people at this table were in a very calm state of mind.
Dou Sheng once again casually said that he could probably get the top scorer in science. Everyone else said that they had done very well. Dong Shuijing's English listening skills were a little weak, but she had no fear because she had extra points from the math competition and the self-recruitment from a certain school.
After everyone finished asking questions, Dai You looked at Chen Ge, "How far have you gotten so far? What's your normal performance level?"
Chen Ge lowered his head to eat meat. Hearing this, he raised his head and glanced at him, "It's the same as before."
Although the room was so noisy, everyone at the table was silent for a few seconds.
Dou Sheng was the one who reacted calmest, "Can seven hundred be on it?"
"Yes." Chen Ge nodded. "Seven hundred, seven hundred and one, I estimate it to be around this price."
As soon as he finished speaking, Che Ziming punched him on the shoulder and slammed the wine bottle on the table, "Little Boat, awesome!"
Chen Ge hummed, chewed his food and swallowed it, then said, "The school I went to later wasn't very good. The teachers in the top class were just so-so. I relied on Douzi to feed me questions and materials in the second semester of my senior year, and I barely managed to get through it."
Che Ziming looked at Dou Sheng in shock, "You're still feeding him questions?"
"Paid knowledge." Dou Sheng said casually, "The life he bet on is with Xie Lan. Later, Xie Lan will go to record an outdoor scene. He has steady hands, so he can carry the camera for us when the time comes."
"May I ask how much I will be paid?"
"Just follow the industry price, 20% off." Dou Sheng glanced at him, "Are you interested?"
Che Ziming waved his hands quickly, "No, no, no, I'm just concerned. This guy is sending some information to his good brother and asking black people to pay for it. It's really unkind."
Chen Ge smiled and said, "But I feel like I made a lot of money. Douzi took photos one by one and sent them to me. My phone albums were all full."
Everyone at the table burst into laughter immediately, and the topic quickly shifted to complaining about the devil teachers.
Xie Lan didn't join in the fun, but just looked at Chen Ge for a few times.
Chen Ge was completely different from before, very cheerful and calm. He had never seen Chen Ge like this before, but he always felt a faint sense of familiarity.
If that's true, maybe he is a bit like Dou Sheng.
Seven men and women ordered a barbecue and wine meal worth more than 1,000 yuan. Xie Lan hadn't digested his dinner yet, but everyone coaxed him into a bellyful of beer and barbecue. He was drunk and bloated, feeling extremely dizzy. He looked at the noisy crowd outside in the night and saw them all spinning around.
He didn't know when he put his chin on Dou Sheng's shoulder. After putting it on his boyfriend's shoulder, his vision became much more stable, he didn't feel dizzy anymore, and he just kept it there.
After the college entrance examination, everyone had endless things to talk about. They talked about life, ideals, those difficult problems in mathematics and physics, choosing majors, and games. Dong Shuijing and Liu Yixuan even started talking about life and death.
Wang Gou will go back to his hometown tomorrow. This is the longest and most carefree summer vacation after the college entrance examination in this life. He will go back to help his family with some work and find a way to earn a living. The so-called "creditor" of Chen Ge's family was said to have been arrested for other cases a month ago. The trouble he got into was more complicated than he thought. He knew that the unfounded debts were gone, and he planned to buy a smaller house in H City. His mother still wanted to live in a familiar place.
Needless to say, Che Ziming spent his summer vacation accompanying his father to purchase goods and his grandmother. In the middle of the trip, he also wanted to grab Dai You and Yu Fei to go out for fun, and everyone also said they wanted to go together.
It didn't take long for them to decide on a place they wanted to go. Dai You even planned the travel route. When he asked Dou Sheng about it, Dou Sheng refused flatly.
"No, I'm busy." Dou Sheng peeled open a flower pod, took one for himself and passed the other over his shoulder to feed Xie Lan.
"I have such a long list of videos, but they are all debts." He stretched out his hand in the air to indicate the size of an A4 paper, and sighed, "I can't postpone it any longer. If I continue to postpone it, I will lose my place in the top 100 this year."
Che Ziming stared blankly, "So you want to win again?"
"How can a person live without dreams?" Dou Sheng yawned, raised his hand and gently patted Xie Lan's head on his shoulder, "Do you want to travel with them?"
Xie Lan struggled out of his drunkenness for a moment and shook his head.
"I have saved a lot of videos too." He said, "Girls' Generation 2 will be airing soon, there will be promotional activities, and Pei Qing has a follow-up collaboration to discuss."
Moreover, the School of Mathematics of the University of Science and Technology requires the players of the home team to "return" to school early.
Anyway, I'm very busy and don't seem to be in the mood to travel.
Xie Lan's mind was a little confused, but after being blown by the crackling fan in the room and the evening breeze outside, he felt very clear again.
Among the crowd outside, some people were still wearing the school uniform of Yingzhong. Usually no one wore it to school, but now they took out their best clothes from the bottom of the box.
The paulownia trees were in full bloom this year. People set up tables under the trees. The wind blew the petals and leaves down and dropped them on the tables, where they were then casually played with by everyone.
The evening breeze is very fragrant.
He rested his chin on Dou Sheng's shoulder, rubbed it, and took a deep breath.
Dou Sheng turned his head and asked gently, "Are you sleepy?"
"No." Xie Lan retracted his gaze and fell on the stacked wishing boards again, muttering: "What kind of tradition is that?"
"It seems that since the year before, the owner of this shop would put out these boards on the night after the college entrance examination and let candidates write down the school they want to go to or the score they want to get. It is said that it is quite effective." Dou Sheng said and turned to ask them, "Do you want to write?"
Everyone immediately stood up and said, "Write it."
They went over one after another to write, and after finishing they did not go back to sit down, but stood by the shop door to relax in the fresh air.
An old acquaintance who got A in all subjects greeted Chen Ge outside, so Chen Ge went over to chat. The group of guys followed Chen Ge to eavesdrop on the gossip.
Xie Lan and Dou Sheng were the only ones left at the table.
Xie Lan squinted his eyes and looked at the crowd outside for a while, then after a long while, he gently patted Dou Sheng's shoulder.
"We'll go write, too, and then go home after we're done."
Dou Sheng gently grasped his fingers and kissed them.
"Um."
…
…
The day of the college entrance examination was very long.
In and outside the examination room, it was like a dark world, a grand slow movie.
In the years that followed, Xie Lan gradually forgot his college entrance examination essay, forgot many test details, and even forgot his own college entrance examination score and the scores of most of his friends.
But he remembered the feeling that night, between being sober and drunk, he put his arm around Dou Sheng's shoulder, enjoying the evening breeze with him, listening to his friends chatting not far away, and writing down his wishes stroke by stroke.
The other wishes on that board were all colorful sticky notes.
For example, the "J Da" written by Dong Shuijing on the sky blue sticky note, and the one next to her that was the same color and had an anonymous drawing of a small boat with the words "Together" written on it.
For example, Liu Yixuan did not make a wish for the college entrance examination that day. Her wish was to "have 500,000 fans this year", which she wrote on a piece of pink paper.
And also his and Dou Sheng’s.
Instead of tearing off the sticky note, they picked a sycamore leaf and wrote small words on it, which floated gently in the evening breeze.
He wrote: "Douzi is going to be the top scorer in the provincial science exam."
However, Dou Sheng, who was revealed to be the provincial champion in science not long after, wrote at that moment: "Go to the same school as Xie Lan, and then study a major that interests me. Let's graduate together and make money together."