Chapter 18 of Volume 1: That year we graduated

  The countdown to the college entrance exam is already on the blackboard every day, and there are only seven days left before the exam. The students in Class 18 are numb, and nothing can stimulate their desire for scores. Even the classmate responsible for turning the page doesn't want to take a second look at the countdown. Sometimes, even if the days pass by, no one will care. The head teacher is very dissatisfied with their lack of motivation. Every day, she says that there is still a chance to work hard now, and after the exam, everything will be settled, and it will be too late to regret. Fang Li thinks that what will be settled is not only the scores and universities, but also the future days, which will be just a repetition of the past, year after year.

  The weather is sweltering, everyone is lethargic and can't muster up the energy. Fang Li has recently spent less time thinking about An Junli because nobody wants to do anything that hurts their brain cells in such hot weather.

  The head teacher, without the pressure of the college entrance examination, has always been very calm and even made a sign with "heart quiet natural cool" hanging on the blackboard, and arranged for the duty student to wipe it regularly. The only effect of this sign is to occupy part of the blackboard, allowing the hateful math teacher to leave fewer math problems, otherwise it is useless. Some classmates even take it down to fan themselves during other classes.

  Before the college entrance examination, Fang Li couldn't watch the movies she wanted to watch. Even watching TV while eating was a luxury. Su Xia's box of comic books were all locked away by her mother, never seeing the light of day.

  Meng Xi's situation is even more miserable. As soon as school let out at noon, he found that his dear mother had already delivered lunch. "Good boy, finish eating and start studying right away. Mom calculated that this way, you can save an hour of time for studying every day. Put your books beside you while you eat, so you can take a glance at them too." With that, Meng Xi's hope of relaxing during lunch was also shattered.

  At that time, Fang Li thought that after the college entrance examination, she would book a midnight screening to watch movies all night, and then go home to sleep for seven days and seven nights without eating or drinking. After waking up, she would eat and drink wildly, eating whatever she wanted.

  Meng Xi was planning to put on a backpack, leave home and go out, do something truly rebellious, and then ask fate for a passionate love affair, find a boyfriend to love herself well. Meng Xi said, "So many years have not had time to learn bad things, nor have they had time to fall in love early, now thinking about running two horses and soon to be three, time is always passing quickly, if you don't become happy it will be too late."

  Su Xia said, "I don't know what to do yet, so I'll just sleep and eat when I wake up, play when I'm full, and sleep when I'm tired. If all else fails, I'll take out the comic books from middle school and look at the handsome guys I used to chase."

  That day of the real college entrance examination, everyone had different emotions. Some people were so anxious that they cried because they couldn't finish writing their Chinese composition, while others were so frustrated with the abnormal difficulty of the math questions that they fainted when leaving the exam room, causing a commotion. Outside the exam room, there were parents waiting anxiously, mothers hugging their children and crying, fathers scolding their sons one minute and then punching and kicking them the next, and also happy parents who were overjoyed and busy arranging food, drink, and entertainment, finally able to eat hot pot without worrying about getting a stomachache.

  That day, Fang walked away from them, arm in arm with each other, taking big strides forward. They sang together, "Dong, dongdong, dongdongdongdong." They danced and gestured, making a scene on the bustling street.

  They were splashing water under the fountain in the square, like a duck but still had to line up in a row of sardine cans singing songs on their way back. At that time, they thought this was their youth liberation symphony, they thought they had survived the college entrance examination and won a victory for their youth. But they didn't know it was their youth sacrifice, an irretrievable past.

  Anyway, some things have finally come to an end, no matter what the outcome is, everyone has their own world.

  The day of graduation, everyone went crazy and had a wild party. Fang and her friends ran to a remote and empty place in one breath. Then, they tore up the books in their backpacks into pieces, shouting wildly as they threw them into the sky. They held the most memorable bonfire party, with flames coming from the opened books. Wherever there were unclear words on the pages, there might be their hastily written Chinese compositions, or math problems that they had racked their brains to solve, or cartoons they had drawn, or passionate writings without any reason.

  Those sheets of paper, burning bodies spinning in the air, turned into ashes, quietly falling to the ground and shattering, then under their dancing feet, they were crushed to pieces, just like their youthful dreams. They sang and danced excitedly until all the books were burned out, then sat down and smiled foolishly at each other, laughing and crying for their most beautiful lost time.

  Fang Li was quietly thinking, high school had already ended, An Jun Lei still disliked himself as usual, he was still entangled with many beautiful girls, Fang Li's tears sparkled under the moonlight. This moment was not for love, but for youth.

  They never understood that yesterday they were still sighing about how fast their high school life was passing, and in the blink of an eye it had ended before they even had a chance to complain.

  But high school really ended like this, it ended in the blank space they had been day and night but were not prepared for. In fact, none of them did what they planned to do, only Su Xia, who was most uncertain about what to do, did what she said she would do, and each of them lived a pig-like life, as if they had been sentenced to life imprisonment by boredom.

  Sometimes people are meticulous in planning something, making all the preparations and pouring all their determination into it. But when the time comes, they can only prepare to miss the opportunity.

  In the end, I still have to consider going back to school. At first, Su Xia threw her backpack into the sky and jumped up, saying let the key university go to hell! But now every day she has to suffer from her parents' cold words and evil language, it's also depressing.

  Meng Xi originally planned to leave far away after the college entrance examination, but now her mother said that if she can't get into a key university, she still wants to leave far away. If not, go back and review, take the exam again next year and get into a key university. Or go to that university in our city, your father has acquaintances there who will help take care of you. Otherwise, the third option is for you to hang yourself, I didn't give birth to such a daughter.

  The situation in Fang Li's place is a bit better, Mom just sadly said, you're on your own, Dad means the same thing, anyway, it's all useless, going to school anywhere is the same.

  So they all decided to go to that third-rate university. Basically, children in this city who can't get into a second-tier university will all go to that school, because if that school can barely be called a third-rate school, then those other unknown schools are already gone with the east wind and won't come back, so it's better not to go if you don't know how to swim. (Download this book by entering or searching for "book name + Ha Shi Ba") You can search for "Youth Song Ha Shi Ba" on Baidu to find the latest updates of this book!