I slept with my sister's classmate, and she turned out to be my boss.

Over the next few days, Chen Dapeng was busy on two fronts—

During the day, I worked on case materials in the special task force, and at night I returned to my residence to review and prepare for the exam.

He kept He Ying's advice to "do one set of past exam questions and analyze it one by one" in mind.

Every night I do a practice test, and after finishing, I analyze each question against the answer key and categorize and organize the wrong questions.

The most mistakes were in the policy theory category.

He compiled a separate comparison table of easily confused conceptual boundaries and posted it on the wall in front of his desk.

Read it once every night, and then recite it from memory before going to bed.

Gradually, those blurry boundaries began to become clear.

On Wednesday afternoon, he was compiling supplementary materials on fund flows when his phone vibrated.

He picked it up and saw it was a short notification from the Personnel Department of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection:

"Comrade Chen Dapeng, the written examination for the open selection of personnel for the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection is scheduled for 9:00 AM this Saturday at the Third Middle School of the Provincial Capital. Please bring your ID card and admission ticket and arrive on time. Please print your admission ticket yourself from the system the day before the exam."

After reading the text message, he put his phone on the table, leaned back in his chair, and stood there for two seconds, stunned.

The written test date has finally been set for three days from now.

He glanced down at the notebook of wrong answers spread out on the table.

I glanced again at the comparison chart that had been posted on the wall for almost two weeks.

Then I picked up my phone again, scrolled to He Ying's chat window, took a screenshot of the notification message, and sent it to her with a note:

"Sister Ying, the written test time has been released. This Saturday morning."

After sending it, he waited for a while.

He Ying did not reply immediately; about ten minutes later...

Her message popped up:

"Don't do any new problems these next couple of days. Just go through the problems you made wrong and the comparison table again, and maintain your current level."

Chen Dapeng replied with one word:

"it is good."

He locked his phone and put away the practice questions spread out on the table.

I pulled out the stack of error notebooks and comparison tables from the file bag and flipped through them again from beginning to end.

When I turned to that policy analysis question that I had repeatedly gotten wrong before.

He stopped, silently recited the corresponding conceptual boundaries to make sure he hadn't confused them, and then continued flipping through the pages.

Thursday all day.

His work pace was similar to usual, but his mind was more somber than usual.

During his lunch break, he sat in his seat and flipped through his error notebook again, going over the easily confused concepts in his mind.

As Liu Chang, who was sitting diagonally opposite, passed by.

I glanced at the notebook of wrong answers spread out on his desk and casually asked:

"Dapeng, do you have an exam this Saturday?"

Chen Dapeng looked up and nodded.

"Um."

Liu Chang smiled and said, "No wonder you haven't been resting much at noon these past few days; you've been reading."

She didn't ask any more questions and turned back to her seat.

……

Before leaving get off work on Friday, he printed out his exam admission ticket, folded it, and put it in his file folder.

After returning to his lodgings, he checked the things he needed to bring for tomorrow one last time.

ID card, admission ticket, black ballpoint pen, 2B pencil, eraser.

He placed the document bag on the shoe cabinet by the door to make sure he wouldn't forget it when he left the house tomorrow.

That evening, he sat at his desk and didn't look at any new questions. Instead, he silently read through his notebook of incorrect answers from beginning to end.

When reading the type of policy analysis questions that He Ying had previously reminded me about.

He paused and mentally reviewed the corresponding comparison table again, only turning to the next page after confirming it was clear.

Around ten o'clock, he closed his notebook, stood up, and stretched his shoulders.

Then I sent He Ying a message:

"Ying-jie, it's time to sleep. You have an exam tomorrow."

He Ying didn't reply with a text message, but instead made a video call.

Chen Dapeng answered the call.

He saw her leaning against the headboard, wearing a light-colored nightgown, her hair loose, as if she was waiting for his message.

She held her phone up to her face and glanced at him:

"Dapeng, are you nervous?"

"Of course... after all, whether I can pass the exam or not determines a major part of my life."

He Ying chuckled softly: "A major life event?"

"Yes, I'm getting married."

He Ying glared at him: "Is that all you've got?"

Chen Dapeng smiled and asked in return.

"Isn't this a huge burden?"

He Ying didn't respond to his words, but instead offered a reminder:

"Bring everything you need. When you arrive at the exam venue tomorrow, familiarize yourself with the environment before sitting down. Do the questions you know first, skip the ones you don't know, and come back to them at the end."

Chen Dapeng nodded: "I've got it."

He Ying looked at him for a few more seconds, then didn't say anything more, only saying:

"Dapeng, go to sleep early. Message me after you finish the exam."

"Okay, Sister Ying."

After hanging up the video call.

Chen Dapeng put his phone on the bedside table, turned off the light, and lay down.

He lay there for a while, mentally going over tomorrow's timeline—

Go out, take a taxi, arrive at the exam venue, find the classroom, sit down, and wait for your hair to curl.

After going through it once, he closed his eyes and fell asleep not long after.

……

The next morning, at 7:30.

Chen Dapeng woke up on time.

He got up, washed up, changed his clothes, checked the contents of the file folder, and then went out.

I bought breakfast from a roadside vendor downstairs, ate it standing on the street, and then hailed a taxi and gave them the address of the Third Middle School of the Provincial Capital.

There weren't many cars on the road, and the car stopped at the school gate about ten minutes later.

The examination venue was a teaching building, with a cordon set up at the entrance, and candidates were already walking in one after another.

Chen Dapeng found his examination room and seat and sat down.

His exam admission ticket number was affixed to the table, which was flat and without any unusual markings.

He placed his ID card and examination admission ticket in the upper right corner of the desk, put his pencil case on the desk, and then sat quietly in his seat to wait.

The bell rang, and the proctor started curling his hair.

He took the paper and first glanced through it, reviewing the general content and marks of each question in his mind, before starting with the first question.

He did well on the multiple-choice questions earlier.

Several policy theory questions were precisely in the areas we had repeatedly analyzed before.

He can determine the answer after looking at the options.

When I got to the third big question, I got stuck on one part—

The question involves a specific rule that he had seen during his review but was not very familiar with.

He didn't spend too long; he eliminated all the possible options on the draft paper, chose the closest one, and then continued working on it.

He did the later questions more steadily than the earlier ones, writing at a moderate pace. After finishing each question, he would quickly review it to make sure he hadn't missed any key points.

When the bell rings to signal the end of the exam.

He had just finished writing the closing sentence for the last question.

He put down his pen, tidied up the exam paper and placed it on the table, then sat down and waited for the invigilator to collect the papers.

When I walked out of the examination room, the sun had already risen, shining brightly on the open space in front of the teaching building.

He stood on the steps, took out his phone, and sent a message to He Ying:

"Sister Ying, the exam is over."

He waited a while, then his phone vibrated. He Ying replied:

"How are you feeling?"

Chen Dapeng thought for a moment and typed a line:

"It's alright. There were a few questions I wasn't sure about, but I could do most of them. I finished the last big question."

He pressed send, then walked down the steps, out of the school gate, and hailed a taxi on the roadside.

After getting into the car, he leaned back in his seat, watched the street slowly receding outside the window, and let out a long sigh of relief.

The exam is finally over.

The rest is up to the outcome.

"Hopefully I pass the written exam; it's a crucial step in getting married..."