Don't underestimate the poor and elderly; I was thrilled to refuse the class beauty's adva

As soon as Zhang Yifan stepped into the school gate, Zong Wen nudged him with his elbow.

"Brother Fan, look ahead."

Zhang Yifan looked up.

Shen Zhiyi stood next to the stone pillar at the entrance of the teaching building, holding a transparent pencil case in her hand, looking down at her phone.

She was probably checking the time, or the exam room arrangements, or maybe she wasn't looking at anything and was just waiting for someone.

Zongwen nudged him again, this time with more force, and added a drawn-out "Oh—".

Guo Hao also let out a cough that had an ambiguous meaning.

Zhang Yifan ignored them.

He quickened his pace and walked over to Shen Zhiyi.

"You're here quite early."

"You're up early too." Shen Zhiyi put her phone in her pocket and looked him up and down. "You didn't lose your exam admission ticket, did you?"

"no."

"Where's the pencil case?"

"I brought it."

"ID card."

"I brought it too." Zhang Yifan looked at her. "Are you here to take the exam or to check my stationery?"

"I'm here to make sure you won't automatically withdraw because you forgot your admission ticket," Shen Zhiyi said. "That way, I'll have one less competitor."

"Then you're probably going to be disappointed."

"I'm never disappointed." Shen Zhiyi switched the pencil case to her other hand. "Guess what the essay will be about."

"It's most likely an argumentative essay, and the topic should be related to growth, choices, and responsibility."

"That's too empty..."

She stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence, her gaze passing over Zhang Yifan's shoulder and landing on a person walking out of the teaching building not far away.

Lin Wanqing passed by them.

She walked slowly, and the strap of her backpack slipped down her shoulder, but she didn't pay attention.

Her face was very pale, and she looked as if something had drained her of her energy.

Her eyes were sunken, her lips were dry, and her hair was casually tied up, with several stray strands falling around her face, which she didn't bother to gather back up.

She walked straight ahead, her eyes vacant, like a walking corpse.

Zhang Yifan and Shen Zhiyi were standing on the path she was walking, less than two meters away from her.

She walked past without looking at Zhang Yifan or Shen Zhiyi.

She didn't stop walking, and her expression didn't change at all, as if she didn't even notice the two people.

Shen Zhiyi watched Lin Wanqing's figure disappear into the entrance of the examination building, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Lin Wanqing seems a bit off."

Zhang Yifan was also looking in that direction.

He remembered Lin Wanqing stopping him in the alley yesterday, her eyes red, saying, "I really like you."

That was probably the last time Lin Wanqing showed her true emotions in front of him.

Now she has no emotions left.

"Don't worry about other people's business." Zhang Yifan turned his gaze to Shen Zhiyi. "The most important thing now is to do well on the exam. Have you adjusted your own mindset?"

Shen Zhiyi glanced at the entrance of the examination building again, then nodded.

"You're all set, too."

Zhang Yifan responded.

The two were silent for a moment, and then Shen Zhiyi brought up the possible directions for the essay exam.

The two chatted back and forth, neither of them mentioning the person who had just walked past them.

In the examination room, Lin Wanqing received the test paper.

Her fingers trembled slightly when they touched the edge of the paper. She flattened her hand and pressed down firmly on one corner of the exam paper to stop her fingertips from shaking.

She wrote down her name and examination number, turned the answer sheet over, and checked the filling in of the examination number.

She had done these movements countless times, in every mock exam and every practice test; her body had developed muscle memory for them.

No need to think, your hands can do it on their own.

She opened the exam paper and began to look at the first question, a modern text reading comprehension exercise.

She read it once, but couldn't get into it.

I read it again, but I still couldn't get into it.

She recognized all the words, but when put together, they became a blurry noise, swirling in front of her eyes, but refusing to register in her brain.

She put down her pen and rubbed her temples vigorously.

She heard them arguing again last night.

Every word seemed to be squeezed out from the deepest part of his chest, carrying the resentment and exhaustion accumulated over more than a decade.

In the end, they said they would get a divorce after their daughter finished her college entrance exam.

She leaned against the bedroom door, listening to the sounds leaking from the living room, with only one thought running through her mind.

The reason they didn't get a divorce was actually because of her.

Her father said, "If it weren't for the children, I would have left long ago." Her mother replied, "Do you think I didn't want to leave? I've put up with you for so many years because of the children."

They used a reason she couldn't refute to turn her into a rope binding their marriage.

They said they would endure it, saying it was for the sake of the child, but she never felt the love behind that endurance.

They believed that not getting a divorce was a sacrifice, a great deed, and something done for the good of the children.

They never asked her if she needed to make this sacrifice.

She looked at the exam paper in front of her and gripped the pen tightly.

The pen tip landed on the answer sheet, and I began to write.

She didn't know what she was writing; she only knew she had to write...

Zhang Yifan felt pretty good when he came out of the exam room.

The overall difficulty of the paper was slightly higher than last year. One question in the modern text reading section was quite obscure, but he had read relevant literary reviews before the exam and happened to come across it.

Shen Zhiyi actually guessed the essay prompt correctly: it asked her to explain which word's understanding had changed based on her personal experience.

He almost burst out laughing when he saw the materials.

Shen Zhiyi's indifferent face flashed in his mind; he guessed she had the same expression in the exam room.

From a distance, he saw Shen Zhiyi emerge from the examination building across the street.

She spotted him precisely in the crowd, waved, and a barely perceptible smile played on her lips.

He nodded to her, and she nodded back.

Neither of them spoke. They greeted each other with smiles from half a playground away, then turned and walked away.

Just as Zhang Yifan looked away, Zong Wen appeared from the side.

His face was scrunched up, his steps were heavy, and he exuded a dejected aura that said, "I'm ready to repeat a year."

He walked up to Zhang Yifan, stopped, and spoke in a very serious tone, as if he were confessing some irreparable mistake.

"Brother Fan, I think I went off-topic in my essay."

"What did you write?"

"When I saw that material, the first word that popped into my mind was 'Mom'."

"Mom?" Zhang Yifan thought for a moment. "You're approaching this from the perspective of 'language and growth,' writing about the impact of your mother's language on your development?"

"no."

"So what did you write?"

"Brother Fan, listen to me."

Zong Wen took a deep breath.

When I was little, "Mom" was a term of respect, a symbol of warmth, and a haven of home.

Now... when I see those long-legged beauties in black stockings in short videos, my first reaction is to blurt out "Mom".

Do you think the word "mother" is a linguistic phenomenon where its meaning has evolved during childhood?

I think it fully meets the requirements of the material. The same word carries completely different emotional connotations at different stages of my growth.

From 'mother' to 'mom,' from a title of respect to a compliment, isn't this the relationship between language and growth?

Zhang Yifan fell silent.

He reached out and patted Zongwen on the shoulder.

"Did you knock some tiles and make yourself stupid?! Did you really write this in your essay?"

......

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