Back to 17, My Brother is the Cult Leader

Chapter Fourteen Holiday 2

Fang Yuan continued writing.

After Class 8 of Grade 3 achieved the highest score in the grade, the school was quiet for a while.

Director Ling didn't say anything more, and the parents stopped making a fuss.

Gu Yuetao is still the same as ever.

He would throw a coin into the bottle every morning, and during class he would laugh and joke around with the students.

Pei Pei and he still argued every day. But after the argument, they would still eat together and prepare lessons together.

Fang Yuan wrote up to the seventeenth episode.

The matter between Shi Yanfeng and Lan Feilin has finally come to the forefront.

Someone saw them walking home together after school, and the news reached Director Ling's ears.

Director Ling spoke with Gu Yuetao, saying, "Your students are dating early, and you have to take care of it."

Gu Yuetao said, "Let me find out what's going on first."

He approached Shi Yanfeng. Instead of criticizing him, he simply asked, "Do you like Lan Feilin?"

Shi Yanfeng did not deny it, and said "yes".

Gu Yuetao said, "Liking someone is not a bad thing, but you are a senior in high school now, so don't let it interfere with your studies."

Shi Yanfeng said, "I won't delay."

Gu Yuetao then approached Lan Feilin. Lan Feilin kept her head down and remained silent.

Gu Yuetao said, "Shi Yanfeng is a good student, and so are you. You can encourage each other, no problem. Just don't do anything messy."

Lan Feilin nodded.

Gu Yuetao stopped paying attention.

As Fang Yuan wrote this, he felt that Gu Yuetao's greatest skill was not teaching, but knowing when to intervene and when not to.

Having written this far, I already have an idea for my next novel.

Wang Junze has good athletic performance and was selected by the provincial team to participate in training.

But when I went to the training camp, my academic studies suffered.

Wang Junze consulted with his father, who said, "You decide for yourself."

Unable to make up his mind, Wang Junze went to Gu Yuetao for advice.

Gu Yuetao asked, "Do you want to go?"

Wang Junze said, "I want to go."

Gu Yuetao said, "Then go. You can catch up on your academic subjects when you get back. If you can't catch up, I'll help you."

Wang Junze went. When he returned from training camp, he had lost weight and was tanned, but he looked much more energetic.

His academic studies had indeed fallen behind, and Gu Yuetao kept his word, giving him an hour of extra tutoring every day after school.

Wang Junze has a poor foundation in academic subjects, but he is willing to learn.

After two weeks of tutoring, my grades improved significantly.

Episode 19, about the Tang and Song dynasties.

After Tang Song became the class monitor, he gradually dared to speak up.

But during one class meeting, he stuttered again, and some people laughed at him.

Tang Song sat down with a flushed face, and it took him several days to recover.

Gu Yuetao approached him and said, "I heard what you said at the last class meeting, and it was quite good. People laugh at you because they can't do it themselves."

Tang Song said, "I really didn't speak well."

Gu Yuetao said, "You didn't say it well, but you did. None of the others said anything good."

Tang Song thought about it for a long time, and later wrote a sentence in his diary: "I am not afraid of speaking poorly, I am afraid of never speaking at all."

When Fang Yuan wrote that sentence in, he felt quite empowered.

In episode 20, Qi Jia's troubles resurface.

The group of people who had bullied Qi Jia before quieted down for a while, but then started again. This time they went even further, throwing Qi Jia's schoolbag downstairs.

Qi Jia ran out of the classroom crying.

Gu Yuetao found Qi Jia and asked her what she wanted to do. Qi Jia said, "I want to transfer schools."

Gu Yuetao said, "If you transfer schools, will they stop bullying others?"

Qi Jia remained silent.

Gu Yuetao said, "I will handle this matter."

He spoke to the parents of those students, and said very sternly, "If your children continue like this, I will recommend that the school expel them." The parents panicked and went back to discipline their children. From then on, no one bullied Qi Jia anymore.

On the day Qi Jia returned to class, Gu Yuetao said to the whole class, "In this class, whoever bullies someone, I'll kick them out."

The whole class fell silent.

Episode 21, one month before the college entrance examination.

The students in Class 8, Grade 3 are all studying hard.

Gu Yuetao arrives earliest and leaves latest every day.

Pei Pei has also lost a lot of weight.

One evening, Gu Yuetao and Pei Pei were eating instant noodles in their shared apartment.

Pei Pei asked, "What do you want to do after the college entrance exam?"

Gu Yuetao said, "Sleep."

Pei Pei said, "Just to sleep?" Gu Yuetao glanced at her, smiled, and said, "What do you want to do?"

Pei Pei didn't reply and lowered her head to eat her noodles.

As Fang Yuan wrote this, he felt that the relationship between the two people had never been explicitly stated, but the reader could tell.

Episode 22, College Entrance Examination.

On the day of the college entrance examination, Gu Yuetao stood at the school gate and shook hands with each student one by one.

He said, "Don't be nervous, you're all ready."

When Shi Yanfeng walked over, Gu Yuetao patted him on the shoulder.

Shi Yanfeng said, "Thank you, Teacher Gu."

Gu Yuetao said, "We'll talk about it after the exam."

Lan Feilin walked over, and Gu Yuetao said, "You're fine."

Lan Feilin smiled and went inside.

Tang Song, Wang Junze, Yu Yifei, Lin Keyu, Qi Jia, and Xu Tianxiang went in one by one.

Gu Yuetao stood at the school gate, watching their backs as they walked away.

Pei Pei walked over and stood next to him.

"Do you think they can do well on the exam?" Pei Pei asked.

"Yes," Gu Yuetao said, "no matter how they did on the exam, they're all better than before."

Pei Pei glanced at him.

"That sounds like something the principal would say," she said.

Gu Yuetao smiled.

The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) is over.

Students from Class 8, Grade 3, returned to school to collect their graduation certificates.

Gu Yuetao stood in the classroom, looking at the students sitting below.

Shi Yanfeng was admitted to a prestigious university. Lan Feilin was also admitted.

Tang Song got the best score and went to Beijing.

Wang Junze was accepted into the provincial team as a sports specialist.

Yu Yifei got into a regular undergraduate program and was overjoyed.

Lin Keyu was admitted to a teacher's college and said she wanted to be a teacher in the future.

Qi Jia got into a local university because it was close to home.

Xu Tianxiang was admitted to Tsinghua University with the highest score in the entire grade.

Gu Yuetao read out their destinations one by one.

After he finished reading, he said, "You have a long road ahead of you, walk it well."

Shi Yanfeng stood up and said, "Teacher Gu, let's take a group photo."

The whole class stood up.

Fang Yuan paused here.

He knew the ending of the original play.

The relationship between Gu Yuetao and Pei Pei was not explicitly stated, and the students went their separate ways.

Gu Yuetao kept that glass bottle that held the coins.

Fang Yuan wrote the last paragraph.

Gu Yuetao stood in the empty classroom, looking at the blackboard on the wall. It read: "Countdown to the College Entrance Examination: Last Day."

He picked up the blackboard eraser and wiped away the countdown.

Then he took the coin out of his pocket and dropped it into the glass bottle. The coin landed on the bottom with a crisp sound.

He turned and walked out of the classroom without looking back.

Fang Yuan put down his pen.

It's finished.

He glanced at the printed manuscript papers on the table; there was a thick stack of them.

I wrote from mid-July to the end of the month, a little over half a month, and wrote nearly 100,000 words.

It's a bit longer than "Flying Colors".

Fang Yuan leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

It was already dark outside the window.

The cicadas have stopped chirping.

He stood up, went to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it all in one gulp.

Then I returned to my desk, turned to the first page of the manuscript, and began to read.

Gu Yuetao and Pei Pei were fighting over soy sauce at the supermarket.

All the way up to the college entrance exam.

Graduation. The party's over.

Fang Yuan read it from beginning to end, which took him more than two hours.

He felt that his writing was alright.

I've written everything that needed to be written, and it hasn't gone too far off track.

The original series had 22 episodes, and he wrote a little over 100,000 words. That's about 4,000 words per episode.

The next day, Fang Yuan began revising the manuscript, and after two days, he finished.

He put the manuscript into a kraft paper envelope and put it away.

Another set was printed for backup.

When Chen Xia came to get her English tutoring, she was startled to see him lying on the sofa.

"Are you sick?" she asked.

"No. I'm done writing, let's take a break."

"Finished writing?" Chen Xia put down her bag and walked over. "《Eighteen-Year-Old Sky》?"

"Um."

"show me."

"Study first, then look at the material."

Chen Xia's English has improved quite a bit, and she mentioned that she's also making time for extra study in her other subjects, which is a good thing.

Learning can help you forget some of your worries.

After Chen Xia left, Fang Yuan sat back down at his desk.

I've finished writing the novel, and I don't have much to do for the time being.

There's no rush with "Sprout" magazine; the previous issue hasn't even been published yet.

He thought for a moment, then opened a new notebook and wrote a few words on the first page.

I haven't decided what to write yet.

It closed again.

There's still a month left in summer vacation.