Chapter Eighteen: Separation

  Sometimes things are simple, it's just us who make them complicated.

  "Fifteenth place, Ouyang Chenxi, math 100, Chinese 110, English 110." With Mr. Pan's words, Ouyang's hanging heart finally put down, on the one hand, he felt that he had finally reached his expected goal. On the other hand, he also felt a lot of pressure, he worked very hard, and even with math scores reaching 100%, he was still only ranked fifteenth in Fongmao School? Ouyang thought to himself: It's just like this, no matter what, I have an account with my mother. In the following time, Mr. Pan continued to announce the class rankings, Xu Yuqian didn't need to be said, she was already in the top ten, Mu Yuheng was eighteenth, Wang Lin was twentieth, as expected by Ouyang, Wang Lin's English score was just over 100%, in Fongmao Middle School, a test with 120 points, there were countless people with scores above 110%, if you scored below 100%, you would definitely be ranked after the twentieth. And Ouyang's deskmate, Chen Juan, unexpectedly got thirty-fifth place in the class, Ouyang couldn't believe his ears, because in the mid-term exam, Chen Juan was still eighth in the class. It could be seen that Mr. Pan seemed to be very dissatisfied with Chen Juan's score, when announcing the scores, he frowned and didn't relax. Zhao Junyi was still ranked around fiftieth place, Ouyang didn't count exactly how many. Ouyang turned his head, looking at Chen Juan, Chen Juan's reaction was very calm, like nothing had happened, so Ouyang said: "Is it because I brought you extracurricular books that affected your studies? I'm really sorry." Chen Juan turned her head and looked at Ouyang, saying: "It's okay, it has nothing to do with you, Ouyang, being your deskmate for a semester, I feel very happy, I think I will miss this period of time."

  Ouyang was shocked and asked, "What's wrong? Are you dropping out of school?" Chen Juan didn't know whether to nod or shake her head, saying, "I'm moving to Beijing for school. I'll give you a gift before I leave." She then took out a keychain from her bag and threw it over to Ouyang. Ouyang caught it and saw that it was a figurine of his favorite game character from CS. Chen Juan said, "I've never given gifts to anyone else in our class. As for the extracurricular books, I'll bring them back this afternoon during the big cleanup. You can just take them home then." Ouyang thought for a moment and said, "No need, there aren't many books anyway. Just consider it my gift to you."

  Ouyang didn't know why Chen Juan was going to Beijing - whether it was because of her family, Liu teacher's departure, or the pressure of studying here. Whatever the reason, things were set in motion and leaving was inevitable. Ouyang finally understood Chen Juan's unusual behavior before the semester ended, but he felt that everything was happening too suddenly and it was hard to bear.

  Chen Juan seemed to see through Ouyang's thoughts and said, "Don't be sad, I don't feel good when you're sad either. You'll still have desk mates in the future and meet many people. I'll continue studying in Beijing, even if I were still here, we could only stay together for 4 years at most. Everyone is just a passerby, it's impossible to stay together forever. The only difference is the length of time." Ouyang listened and fell silent for a long time.

  Teacher Pan said some other things and then dismissed class. In the afternoon, they had to return to school for the big cleanup. Ouyang, Wang Lin, and Xu Xue Mei didn't have to stay behind as usual, thanks to their special permit as students from District D. The three of them always went out to eat together during these occasions, with the person who came in last or the one who scored the highest on the exam treating the others. This time, it was Xu Xue Mei's turn to treat since she had come in first place. So Ouyang and Wang Lin chose a small wonton restaurant in their neighborhood, knowing that Wang Lin loved eating wontons and could finish two or three bowls at once. Xu Xue Mei happily accepted the invitation.

  Three people came to the restaurant, and after ordering food, Ouyang told them about Chen Juan's transfer. Xu Xue Mei listened calmly and said, "It's normal, maybe there's something going on at home, don't think too much about it." Wang Lin nodded in agreement with Xu Xue Mei's opinion. Wang Lin then asked Ouyang, "If Chen Juan transfers, you'll have a new deskmate." Ouyang shook his head and said, "Unless someone transfers in, there shouldn't be a new deskmate."

  The three people ate happily and chatted about what to do during the holidays, as well as things from elementary school. Ouyang didn't expect that Wang Lin and Xu Xue Mei had both gone to the recreational plaza built after the school was demolished. Wang Lin planned to sign up for an English tutoring class during the holidays, while Xu Xue Mei said she wanted to relax a bit. The two asked Ouyang about his plans, but he shook his head, saying he hadn't thought of anything yet.

  Wang Lin suggested that Ouyang take it easy and relax, while Xu Xue Mei recommended that Ouyang sign up for a math extracurricular class. Ouyang smiled wryly and said, "If I told my mom about my grades, she'd definitely arrange a bunch of plans for me, like extracurricular classes and studying for several hours every day. But it's okay, at least I got my phone."

  Just then, a voice came from behind them, saying, "Don't you want to do something you like?" The group turned around, but Ouyang didn't recognize the speaker at first and asked, "Huh, who are you?" The speaker was a girl, and after looking carefully, Ouyang realized it was Xiaozhu. Xu Xue Mei smiled and said, "You two don't even know your own classmates."

  Ouyang only remembered that there was someone in his class with the same four-character name as him, and that one had single eyelids while the other had double eyelids. Wang Lin clearly didn't recognize Xiaozhu either, so to avoid awkwardness, he lowered his head and picked up three siu mai, stuffing them directly into his mouth and pretending he couldn't speak.

  Xiaozhu saw Wang Lin's expression and laughed even harder. Ouyang noticed that Xiaozhu was different from Xu Yue Jie - she didn't have dimples, and her figure was a bit thinner, but both gave Ouyang a feeling of pressure, being slightly taller than him.

  "Hey, there are many things I like to do, but no time, after all, studying is the most important thing." Ouyang said while looking around and saw a person standing next to Xiaozhu. "Let me introduce you, my best friend, Ma Yinglong." Ouyang and the other two waved at him without taking a closer look, then Xiaozhu took Ma Yinglong to sit down in the back. On this side, Wang Lin asked Ouyang and Xu Xue Mei: "Do you think they are boyfriend and girlfriend?" Ouyang said: "Impossible, have you ever seen any junior high school students dating?"

  "That's not necessarily true, I was on the bus that day and saw two people wearing our school uniform kissing. "Ouyang looked at Xu Xue Mei coldly and said this sentence, then asked: "I've been wanting to ask you, it seems like you have a prejudice against students from the city."

  Xu Xue Mei picked up a piece of siu mai, listened to Ouyang's words, put down her chopsticks and said: "It's not that I have prejudices against them, it's just that city students always look down on D district people. I want to show them that D district people are the best." Ouyang said: "You've already done it, at least you got first place in class this time." Xu Xue Mei ate the siu mai and said: "It's still not enough, I also want to get first place in grade. Then let's see who can still point fingers at us." Ouyang didn't say anything, compared to Xu Xue Mei, he felt a bit ashamed of his own goal of getting 15th place.

  After dinner, Ou Yang and his friends said goodbye to Xiao Zhu and the others, and then they took a car back home. As soon as they arrived home, Ou Yang immediately called his mother and told her that he had ranked 15th in the exam. Feng Hongyan was very happy when she heard the news on the phone and said that she would take Ou Yang out for dinner tonight. Ou Yang was also very happy.

  Not long after, Mai Si returned home too. Because of the school's system, they officially started their summer vacation on the 15th. Ou Yang and Mai Si's daily routines were similar, even their parent-teacher conferences were held on the same day in the morning and afternoon.

  As soon as Ou Yang saw Mai Si return, he ran over to him and asked: "How did you do on your exam?" Mai Si smiled and said: "It was okay, better than last time. I ranked 25th." After hearing this, Ou Yang said: "My mom is taking us out for dinner tonight. I just told my grandma about it. Let's go play computer games."

  Mai Si said: "This parent-teacher conference still needs your mom to attend. I feel like my dad won't be satisfied with my score." Ou Yang nodded and said: "You've already done your best, don't worry about it. Let's go have some fun." Ou Yang wanted to comfort Mai Si a bit more, but Mai Si suddenly changed the subject and said: "It's boring playing at home. Let's go out and play instead."

  After saying that, he pulled Ou Yang towards the door, with Feng Qinglian's voice coming from behind them: "You two come back early, don't go to the internet cafe. If you do, you'll see how I deal with you, Mai Si."

  After walking out the door, Ouyang asked Mais: "Are we really going to the internet cafe? Grandma knows all about those places, let's not go." Mais smiled and said: "Who told you we were going to the internet cafe? I'm taking you to play console games." Ouyang thought for a moment and said: "Isn't that just a Super Mario machine? Can't we just play it at home?" Mais said: "No way, it's a kind of game console called PS, let's go."

  Then, Ouyang and Mai Si arrived at the game console room, which was a household not far from the original Feng's house, but it took 15 minutes to get to Ouyang's house. The two played until 4 pm because Ouyang knew that his mother would be off work at 5 pm. They set off walking home, and after a while, Ouyang's phone rang. He looked at it and saw that it was his mother calling. It turned out that she had finished work early and had made an appointment at the hot pot restaurant next to Ouyang's house. Ouyang liked the hot pot at that restaurant very much. Then Ouyang and Mai Si quickly walked to the hot pot restaurant. The whole family ate dinner together happily. On the way home, Feng Hongyan said to Ouyang, "Have you told your father about your grades?" Ouyang suddenly remembered and said, "Oh no, I forgot! I'll send him a text message later."

  Ouyang returned home and sent a text message to his father, then after a while, Ouyang Mubo replied with two words: "Add oil". Although it was just simple words, Ouyang could feel the warmth. Besides his father's text message, there were three other people who also sent messages, Xu Yu Jie and Mu Yu Hang, naturally to congratulate Ouyang.

  There was another one, from Chen Juan, "I'm taking a plane to Beijing tomorrow morning, I wish everything goes well for you here, and I'll miss the days we spent studying together." Ou Yang put down his phone, turned around, and saw that Max had fallen asleep. Ou Yang thought to himself: Is there really no one who can stay with me forever?

  Then Ouyang cried.