Chapter 286: Chapter 279: College Entrance Exam

It was the day of the national college entrance examination.

Ren Li had entrusted Chengcheng to Zhang Xiangcao’s care and had come over to keep Tang Yuxin company during the exam. This test was a big event and held implications for the child’s entire life.

“Sister, why are you here?”

Tang Yuxin still called Ren Li ‘sister’. She had gotten used to it and couldn’t change the habit now.

“Everyone else’s parents are here. Of course I have to be here too, I am your mother.”

Ren Li pronounced the word ‘mother’ with a great deal of satisfaction.

Tang Yuxin felt somewhat helpless. She didn’t want to call Ren Li ‘mother’. After all, Ren Li was about the same age as she had been in her previous life, and it just didn’t feel right.

“Did you bring everything?” Ren Li asked as she looked through Tang Yuxin’s bag, “Are there enough pens and everything? Do I need to buy some more? There’s still more than an hour before the exam. We have time.”

“It’s enough,” Tang Yuxin had brought three pens. It wasn’t as scary as it seemed. This was her second time taking the college entrance exam, and she felt confident. She still remembered the exam questions. She could get a perfect score if she wanted to, but she had not considered doing so.

After all, that would mean cheating. However, when she saw Tang Zhinian’s hopeful look and Ren Li’s smiling face, and when she remembered her little brother and everything Ren Li had talked about, she knew they all wanted to protect their little brother. To do so, she had to do well in the exam. She wanted her father to be able to hold his head high and her little brother to be proud of her.

With that thought, some things seemed to lighten and clear up. It was as if she had reached a state of enlightenment.

When it was close to the time for the examination, she checked whether she had taken everything. Then, with a cup of herbal tea to refresh her mind, she went in and sat down in the examination hall for the second time.

In her previous life, she was nervous, scared about doing poorly and even scared about doing well for fear she couldn’t pay the tuition.

But things were different this time. She was relaxed. She took a sip of her herbal tea, and the faint fragrance lingered on her lips. The morning sun seemed to fill her eyes with light.

When the test papers were distributed, the familiar sensation returned. She picked up her pen and started answering the questions.

Her pen moved swiftly across the paper, forming words, sentences, and eventually entire essays without much thought. When she had finished the paper, only about half an hour had passed. She checked her answers carefully and handed in the paper without hesitation, then left the examination room.

She was one of the first to leave the room. She immediately noticed Tang Zhinian and Ren Li sitting on the steps. Each student had been assigned to different examination rooms in the school.

Maybe it was her bad luck or the other’s good luck, but not many people had been assigned to this location.

There were a lot of parents sitting on the steps waiting for their children to finish their exams. Some were alone, while others had brought the whole family.

In her previous life, Tang Yuxin had taken the exam on her own, hidden in a deserted corner with a bread roll to eat. If she choked, she would find a water faucet to drink from. Thinking about her past life made her feel pitiful.

“She’s out,” Ren Li pointed to Tang Yuxin who was walking towards them. “How come she’s out this early?”

Tang Zhinian quickly checked the time. It had been slightly over an hour; no other students had come out yet.

After this test, there would be a short rest followed by the next one. Tang Yuxin hadn’t stayed in the examination room. Once she had finished one test, she wanted leave early. Otherwise, she might not even have time to eat.

“How was it, difficult?” Tang Zhinian anxiously asked his daughter. “Did you come out early because it was too hard and you didn’t finish?”

Other students’ parents also couldn’t help pricking their ears up to listen. Some of them were worried about whether this year’s exam was particularly difficult. Others were considering whether the fact that their children had not left the room yet meant that they weren’t doing well.

“It was okay,” Tang Yuxin didn’t express any particular thoughts. She seemed to be in a great state of mind. To her, the college entrance examination was just like any other test. Once she had finished answering the questions, she left without doing much checking.

When Tang Zhinian was about to say something, Ren Li quickly grabbed his sleeve. She suggested they go eat first; otherwise, there would be no places to eat later. Then, they could find a place to rest so that Yuxin could revise her other subjects.

Tang Zhinian knew Ren Li was right, so he didn’t ask any more questions. He quickly looked for a place to eat since they were ahead of most other people. By the time they had finished eating, the place had started to fill up.

Originally, they wanted to find a hotel or something to rest in, but all the rooms were booked. After asking around, they realized there were no vacancies.

Some students lived far from this school, so traveling back and forth was inconvenient. They had thus booked rooms early on.

This was the first time that Tang Zhinian was experiencing the college examination period, so he hadn’t thought of many things ahead of time and felt guilty about it now.

“That’s okay, Dad. We can just sit over there near the examination room.”

Tang Yuxin didn’t really need to revise anymore. She had already done enough revision and just wanted to rest her eyes.

“Alright then,” Since Tang Zhinian had no other options, they went and sat on the steps near the examination room. He took off his coat and laid it on the steps for his daughter to sit on.

“Thank you, Dad.” Tang Yuxin didn’t decline. She sat on Tang Zhinian’s coat, and soon after, she started to feel drowsy. Shortly after, she leaned onto Ren Li’s lap and fell asleep.

She was really tired.

Tang Zhinian was considering whether to wake his daughter and insist she do some more revision. There were so many students here, and every one of them was feverishly studying. Meanwhile, Tang Yuxin was sleeping.

“Don’t wake her,” Ren Li whispered.

“Don’t you understand your own daughter’s character? She has had a plan for every day these past few years. If she can sleep now, it means her revision is solid and she doesn’t need to keep studying.”

Perhaps Tang Zhinian was just over worrying, while Ren Li had a better understanding of Tang Yuxin after their short time together.

Tang Yuxin woke up about half an hour before the examination was scheduled to begin. She rubbed her eyes. She felt rested now. As for studying, she hadn’t even taken out her books and was just waiting for the next exam.