Chapter 8 Graduation

's silence, Cheng Yun and her sister, who had initially been half-believing and half-doubting, lowered their opinions of him even further; they thought he might have pulled off a miracle and solved th...The Eighth Chapter: Graduation

The slanting, warm sunlight hanging in the western sky gently bathed the campus. Even the edges of the green grass were tinged with a pale yellow hue. The final day of school review for the graduating class from the junior high department of Third Middle School was drawing to a close.

There was only one last class left, and teachers from each subject had arrived as well. Apart from concluding their teachings, they also went over the procedures for the upcoming city-wide middle school entrance exam scheduled two days later. Each student had been assigned an identification number on their admission card. Back then, these weren't yet made into cards like in later years, but were still printed on white strips of paper with bold black letters listing names and ID numbers, which would be used to determine the school, class, and seat arrangement based on the last digit.

On the day of the exam, all students across the city would be given a holiday. Schools would arrange their classrooms as examination venues, and each student's testing location would be randomly assigned. To his memory, Su Chen was allotted to take the exam at First High School, which was the best school in the city at that time. The facilities and environment there were indeed much better than those of Third Middle School.

"With the test venues being shuffled around so randomly, I wonder where I'll end up! If I get assigned to take the exam at First High School, does it mean my luck is going to be quite good" His desk mate muttered a prayer subconsciously when they were discussing the assignment of admission cards and examination sites.

Back then, First High was an idolized institution. Su Chen recalled hearing someone discuss a pretty class beauty in another group, only for someone in the crowd to suddenly pipe up, "Save your breath. She's got a boyfriend at First High!" Such remarks would usually make any overly enthusiastic admirers back off.

Hearing his desk mate's whispered prayer, Su Chen couldn't help but chuckle and said with a smile, "Don’t worry. If everything goes as it should, you’ll be taking the exam at First High."

The female desk mate beside him was nicknamed "owl" because of her resemblance to an owl. Thus, Su Can secretly gave her this nickname and consequently remembered his desk mate many years later. If nothing had changed from the events that transpired eleven years ago when he reincarnated back into his past life, then it would mean that his desk mate's admission notice was issued for the First High School but it didn’t seem to bring her any luck as she still failed the entrance exam and ended up attending high school at the Third Middle School.

"Really at First High How did you know this!" The desk mate walked down from receiving her admission number, looking surprised when she saw Su Can. Her admission notice was indeed for the First High School as expected.

"I guessed," Su Can smiled. Afterward, their homeroom teacher called out his name and he received his own admission notice. The development of events eleven years ago did indeed conform to historical records; Su Can still ended up taking the entrance exam at the First High School.

Su Can knew what this meant. Since the selection process for admission numbers was random, but even such a random pattern conformed to history, it indicated that the events that occurred eleven years later would probably also manifest as they did in reality, like lottery numbers and stock market fluctuations...

Alright, Su Can admitted that this was a clichéd plot. The critical issue was that he never paid attention to lotteries and had no idea about specific dates or figures for any given draw. His recollection of stocks was also disorganized since who would have thought he'd suddenly go back eleven years in the past

"Su Can, I notice you've changed from how you used to be," said his desk mate suddenly. From when she saw Su Can arguing with Deputy Class Leader Dong Qingyun earlier, up until now, she was impressed by his confident demeanor regarding the entrance exam results. She couldn't help but have a new opinion of him since her grades were usually higher than his and she didn’t think much of him.

"Oh In what way am I different from before"

The desk mate stared blankly at Su Cen a few times, then shook his head. "I don't know. Anyway... you seem like a totally different person now."

Su Cen sighed inwardly. It wasn’t that he had become a different person; rather, it was because of all the experiences from the future that he had gone through without any cause. He had gained over ten years' worth of experience in an era where information exploded due to knowledge proliferation. Now when looking at many things and considering them, there were more aspects he would take into account... Of course, his biggest change was that he now had hope for the future.

Under the lead of their class advisor, the class song was sung again at last. On the slightly outdated third floor teaching building, the setting sun’s rays pierced through the glass window and formed beams of light inside the classroom, shining on the faces of those who looked young yet somewhat naive to Su Cen—faces that belonged to his classmates from ten years ago. Dust floated in the air inside the classroom as the ceiling fans and incandescent bulbs were coated with a layer of golden hue; everything appeared so nostalgic and outdated but also clear and real.

"Without going through the storms, how can we see the rainbow No one can achieve success without putting in effort... Grasp every moment that moves you and give your dear friends warm embraces..." At that time, "True Heroes" was one of the most popular songs. It was also their class song when Su Cen was in junior high school. The song echoed out, and many shed tears, including Dong Qingyun, who had been the most despised person at the beginning; he looked up to his teachers with yearning eyes, brimming with emotion.

A few female teachers’ eye sockets were red. This was their first batch of junior high students after they graduated from university, and this group was also the one they had the deepest connection with; feelings for later batches gradually faded away.

In memory, everything about graduation was filled with an indescribable sense of beauty—nostalgia and anticipation towards the future, regrets over unexpressed affections, all blending into a fine wine that would be savored throughout life.

This was also the best time. When it came to picking up their graduation notices, there were both joy and sadness; this moment of beauty couldn’t be returned to anymore.

The other classes also sounded very noisy, with faint sobs heard from time to time. It seemed that the beautiful days of junior high were coming to an end.

...

The entire second year of junior high watched enviously as these students, who finished their final exams a few periods earlier than them, bid farewell to their junior high school lives, and they began to look forward to and long for graduation.

But what they didn't know was that the third-year junior high students, who were accustomed to extra classes, used to envy these students who left school punctually every day after class.

Vice Principal Miss Zhou wished her entire class success in the upcoming exams that would determine their future and announced dismissal. Su Can only then realized his desk was piled high with books.

Originally, Su Can's junior high grades were not good; this was also related to him being playful and carefree during his time at school. He used to pile a large number of books on his desk every day, carrying away only the ones relevant to the homework he needed to do that day. Now, when it came time for graduation, Su Can found himself struggling to stuff all the remaining books into his bag. When he finally shouldered his heavy backpack and looked around the classroom, he realized it was already empty except for a few classmates who were also packing up—Tang Wu had left long ago.

Su Can's heart sank; if Tang Wu forgot about their morning agreement, Su Can wouldn't be able to get those internal practice questions from each subject. If he had to study on his own and review the difficult points of three years of junior high school knowledge, the results would definitely be far less effective. Without that assurance, Su Can felt he couldn't guarantee getting into a top-tier high school like No.1 Middle School.an was just a high school student, how he chose to deal with a student brought into the class by Tian Feng was entirely up to him. It could also be seen as an indirect act of defiance towards Tian Fen...