FQ chapter 19

Luan Ye didn’t answer immediately.

At first, he’d impulsively called because he remembered Fan Qing was taking the college entrance exam this year. Since Fan Qing’s parents weren’t around and his grandmother was elderly, Luan Ye wasn’t sure if anyone else would remember this for him.

Now that he’d calmed down, he somewhat regretted it.

The school teachers would definitely notify the students, and Fan Qing didn’t seem like someone careless enough to forget. Why was he, an outsider, getting so worked up?

But now, Fan Qing had asked him to check the results…

The people traveling with Fan Qing were resting on a nearby hillside. The mountain breeze made the rhododendrons sway. The other end of the call fell silent, leaving only the sound of the wind.

After waiting a long time without hearing a response, Fan Qing lowered his gaze to the weeds growing at his feet.

Sometimes, he felt like Luan Ye treated the world like a snail would. Occasionally, he’d get curious and stretch out his antennae to touch something, but he’d quickly retreat into his shell whenever his mood took a sudden dip.

Just now, when he asked whether he had checked his results, he seemed pretty eager. The next second, he went silent.

So Fan Qing just said it plainly.

Just like the photos he’d sent these past few days—he couldn’t help but want to gently tug at Luan Ye.

Having someone help you check your college entrance exam results… it felt kind of meaningful.

But now that Luan Ye hadn’t spoken for a while, Fan Qing quietly sighed.

“Or just wait until I get back. About two hours.” Fan Qing spoke first. “We can check it together.”

“…You’d already be back—why would we check it together?”

Luan Ye finally responded. “Just check it yourself.”

“I’m nervous,” Fan Qing replied immediately. “I don’t want to check it alone.”

Luan Ye was a bit shocked. “You actually get nervous?”

He’d always thought Fan Qing was the calm and collected type.

“Most people get nervous checking college entrance exam results, right? One of my classmates in the group chat was so nervous his hands were shaking. He couldn’t type his admission number in for ages and ended up crying from frustration.”

Luan Ye laughed. “You’re not going to be that nervous.”

“I won’t be, but—” Fan Qing paused. “I just don’t want to check it alone.”

The wind was the only sound again. The five-minute break was almost over, but Fan Qing didn’t move.

After walking another five or six meters, Luan Ye spoke again.

“You did pretty well in school, right?”

It was a bit hot. Fan Qing unzipped his jacket a little. “Yeah, I was decent.”

“How did you feel after the exams?”

“Pretty good,” Fan Qing answered.

Luan Ye let out an “oh.”

Another few seconds of silence passed. This time, Fan Qing wasn’t in a rush—he patiently waited for Luan Ye to speak again.

“Two hours?” Luan Ye asked.

“Maybe an hour and a half,” Fan Qing replied, clearly a bit more relaxed. “I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Don’t bother calling. Just come straight here,” Luan Ye said.

After hanging up, Luan Ye didn’t go upstairs right away. He sat in the courtyard for a while.

He had just meant to give a casual reminder—how did this turn into him waiting two hours to check the results with someone?

He sighed.

Would checking on a computer feel more official? What if the phone results weren’t accurate?

He hadn’t brought his own laptop, and he hadn’t seen one in Fan Qing’s room when he visited. But Qiao Feibai had both a desktop and a laptop for making music and gaming.

Qiao Feibai had the day off and was probably holed up in his room doing who-knows-what. Luan Ye knocked twice. When Qiao Feibai opened the door, his hair and pajamas were all a mess, and he was a little out of breath.

“Ye-ge.”

“Were you… busy?” Luan Ye asked.

“Writing music,” Qiao Feibai said miserably, wiping his face. “I can’t come up with anything, so I was doing push-ups to find inspiration.”

“…Okay.” Luan Ye nodded. “Good luck.”

Qiao Feibai’s room was set up similarly to the upstairs ones, with a big living area filled with what looked like expensive recording and electronic equipment. His desk faced the door, and his laptop was buried under a pile of draft papers and pens. Luan Ye asked, “Can I borrow your laptop?”

“Sure.”

Qiao Feibai quickly turned around and dug the laptop out from under the papers, handing it over with the charging cable wrapped up in a bundle.

“Use it however you like.”

“Thanks. I’ll bring it back when I’m done.”

“It’s fine, just keep it for now,” Qiao Feibai said carelessly. “I mostly use the desktop anyway. You gonna play games?”

“Just… research.” Luan Ye glanced at the easygoing Qiao Feibai and suddenly asked, “You studied medicine in college, right?”

Qiao Feibai was a little surprised. “Yeah.”

“Then—” Luan Ye felt he was being a bit nosy, but asked anyway. “How did you do in your college entrance exams?”

“Can’t remember, but I think I did pretty well—first-tier university,” Qiao Feibai scratched his head, thinking. “I guess I got lucky and just barely hit the cut-off for the school my parents wanted me to go to.”

Luck is good enough.

Luan Ye nodded, holding the laptop. “Thanks.”

Qiao Feibai looked confused. “Oh, no problem.”

Luan Ye carried the laptop upstairs, sat at his desk, and turned it on. It connected to the internet automatically. The battery showed 30% remaining.

He plugged it in and let out a long breath.

Two hours actually wasn’t that long. In the meantime, Granny Mu called them down for dinner. After eating, Luan Ye strolled around the courtyard a couple of times. There was an old-fashioned tear-off calendar hanging on the pillar at the teahouse entrance. Granny Mu would always burn incense and check it before going out to play cards.

Luan Ye had never paid it much attention before, but this time he took a serious look.

An auspicious day. Good for weddings, travel, moving, making money, and… studying.

Studying.

He kept strolling around the courtyard.

After two laps, the front door swung open. Fan Qing peeked in and paused when he saw Luan Ye.

“You… taking a walk?”

“Digesting.”

Luan Ye stopped and turned to head upstairs. As he pushed open the door, he looked back at Fan Qing. “Come in.”

Fan Qing followed, only now realizing this was Luan Ye’s room.

It was very clean, minimalist wood decor. Very few personal items, giving the place an empty, un-lived-in feeling. The camera from last time was on the desk, next to a laptop.

It was fully charged. Luan Ye pushed it toward Fan Qing.

“Check it.”

There was only one chair by the desk, so Luan Ye gave it to Fan Qing. He typed in the website and navigated to the results page, where it asked for his exam number and ID.

Fan Qing paused and asked, “Didn’t you say you’d check it for me?”

“…You’re really pushing your luck.” Luan Ye glanced at him. “When did I say that?”

“On the phone. I said I wanted you to check it for me.”

“I didn’t agree.”

“But you didn’t say no.”

Luan Ye frowned at him for a while. Fan Qing’s voice was calm and pleasant. “I’m a little nervous.”

After a moment, Luan Ye went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

Fan Qing was momentarily stunned, then almost laughed but held it in. Luan Ye looked quite annoyed at the moment.

When he returned to the computer, Fan Qing automatically stepped aside. Luan Ye glanced at him, sat down, and said, “Exam number and ID.”

Standing next to him, Fan Qing leaned down slightly and recited the numbers one by one. Luan Ye entered all the information and clicked ‘search.’ The loading circle spun for about five or six seconds. Luan Ye felt himself stiffen a bit before the results finally popped up.

National College Entrance Examination. Name: Fan Qing. Chinese: 127. Math: 132. English: 102. Science Composite: 251. Total: 612.

Luan Ye had never taken the exam himself and had been away from the system for too long. He wasn’t sure if that was a good score or not and quickly turned to look at Fan Qing.

“How is it?”

It should be considered good. Each subject looked pretty high—why was English only 102 though?

Well, the math score looked solid.

Fan Qing stared at the score page for a few seconds, then turned to meet Luan Ye’s gaze, the smile on his face growing more obvious. He was clearly very happy.

“Pretty good. Better than I expected,” Fan Qing said with a light tone. “This year’s cutoff for first-tier universities is 505.”

He was over it by about a hundred points.

Luan Ye visibly relaxed, slumping into the chair. Seeing Fan Qing’s expression, he couldn’t help but smile too.

“After the exam, I estimated my score would be between 590 and 600,” Fan Qing said, lowering his head again to look carefully at the scores.

“It’s more than ten points higher than I expected.”

“…”

Luan Ye lifted his head to look at Fan Qing, narrowing his eyes: “You already estimated your score and were still nervous? You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

Fan Qing responded quickly: “I was afraid I overestimated.”

Luan Ye laughed in exasperation: “Get lost.”

But Fan Qing didn’t leave. He rested one hand on the table, eyes shifting from the screen to Luan Ye’s face, and met his gaze.

When he had looked at the results just now, he had leaned in a bit—now that he turned his head, the two of them were very close. Fan Qing could see the smile in Luan Ye’s eyes; he looked just as happy.

“Really,” Fan Qing said.

“Our teacher always says 90% of exams are effort, 10% luck, so I always deduct ten points myself.”

Luan Ye laughed: “Your luck’s pretty good. Don’t deduct points next time.”

“You too,” Fan Qing replied.

After that, the room fell into a momentary silence.

The screen went dark from inactivity. It was already getting dark outside, and the room lights weren’t on. In the dimness, Fan Qing’s eyes close by looked bright and clear.

Luan Ye smiled faintly, nudged the floor with his foot, and rolled the chair back slightly, increasing the distance between them. Then he stood up and stretched.

“Call your grandma and aunt,” Luan Ye said. “Share the good news.”