When he got to the classroom, it wasn't evening study hall time yet. Only 4 or 5 students were sitting there reading.

Jiang Cheng was buried under a pile of review materials, head not even visible. He didn't notice Gu Fei arrive.

Gu Fei put the bag of meat buns on his own desk and opened it.

After a few seconds, he saw Jiang Cheng's pen, which had been quickly scribbling away, clearly pause. Then he swiftly whipped his head around.

"What a useful nose," he laughed softly.

"Fuck," Jiang Cheng swallowed, immediately grabbing a meat bun. "My palms were going numb from hunger."

"The skin's not soggy right?" Gu Fei sat down.

"No, extremely delicious," Jiang Cheng took two bites and finished half of it. "You printed out the papers?"

"Got it all done," Gu Fei shook the thick file folder in his hand. "Which one first?"

"Do them in standard order," Jiang Cheng said as he ate. "What's in the thermos?"

"Lamb soup."

"Quick," Jiang Cheng's eyes lit up green. "Pour me a bowl quick."

Gu Fei ladled out a bowlful and handed it to him. Jiang Cheng's hands shook as he took it. Gu Fei smiled, "That necessary?"

"Wang Xu's family's meat buns and soup are heavenly," Jiang Cheng said.

Yi Jing, who had been sitting in the front row quietly memorizing, turned around to look back at this point.  

Gu Fei made eye contact with her. She smiled.

"F*ck?" Jiang Cheng noticed Yi Jing's movement, lowering his head to continue nibbling his meat pie and muttering, "Did that spineless Wang Xu already tell her?"

"Shouldn't have, she just smelled the aroma," Gu Fei waved a meat pie at Yi Jing, making her laugh and shake her head before turning back to study again. "Wang Xu still has some backbone in this area. If it were wartime, he could at least hold out a week under torture before defecting. Useless type."  

"He'd have been beaten to death within a week," Jiang Cheng sighed. "He's still like that? All mopey from heartbreak?"

"Yeah," Gu Fei started slowly eating a meat pie. "I don't even know how to make small talk with him now."

"He should learn from Pan Zhi," Jiang Cheng glanced over at Yi Jing's direction. "That bastard Pan Zhi, dumping and getting dumped every year like eating and drinking water. If he didn't say anything you wouldn't even know when he started or ended a relationship. Scum."

"Someone will fix him eventually," Gu Fei said with a smile.

"I'm just waiting to watch," Jiang Cheng said. "The day he's devastated by heartbreak and can't stop moping, I'm absolutely going to laugh my ass off for 180 days straight."

Gu Fei kept eating and laughing for a good while.

Jiang Cheng started using his evenings to work through the affiliated school's mock exam papers. He would leave school a period early for evening study and have Gu Fei proctor for him at home.

"Time to hand out papers, please maintain quiet, no chatting," Gu Fei said as he pulled out the last English test paper from the folder. "You will have 120 minutes, don't panic, read carefully, and budget your time wisely..."

He placed the test paper in front of Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng picked up the paper, wrote his name first, then swiftly began flipping through and reading it.

Gu Fei went to sit off to the side and took out his phone to start timing.

This was the last set of mock exam papers from the affiliated high school. Jiang Cheng had scanned and sent all the previous ones to Pan Zhi, who would print them out and find teachers to grade them.

Sometimes Gu Fei could understand the pressure Jiang Cheng was under. Just for this one mock exam set from the affiliated high school, a huge fuss had been made, and Jiang Cheng's original homeroom teacher Old Yuan had even called several times.

All these expectations were nothing but pressure.

However, Jiang Cheng's condition was still good. The confidence he had in studying could withstand these pressures.

Awesome, boyfriend.

Gu Fei held up his phone and took a photo of Jiang Cheng's back as he sat bowed over working on questions.

The affiliated high school's mock exam questions were quite difficult. After finishing them, Jiang Cheng felt a bit uncertain inside, but he was still relatively calm. No matter how he did on this set, at least he could know where he stood. As long as the gaokao wasn't starting tomorrow, he still had time.

When there was one day left until No. 4 High School's first mock exam, Pan Zhi sent Gu Fei the subject scores and total score.

"Should we look at your scores after you finish this exam?" Gu Fei asked.

"Mm," Jiang Cheng nodded.

"Pan Zhi said it was really good," Gu Fei said again.

"As long as my score isn't lower than his, he'll say it's really good," Jiang Cheng laughed, "I just want to see after coming here for a year, exactly how big the gap is, so I'll know what I'm chasing after."

"Mm," Gu Fei laid down on the table, looking at him from the side, and took out two small bottles from the drawer that looked different. "Here, drink these two."

"Why do I feel like I'm drinking this stuff several times a day," Jiang Cheng took them and downed them in two gulps. Gu Fei had bought several boxes of health supplements for mental stimulation and immunity boosting and had him drink them every day. "Didn't I already drink some this morning?"

"Twice a day," Gu Fei said. "Looks like I really have to keep giving them to you. Your brain now is just enough for reviewing, can't cram anything more into it."  

Jiang Cheng held the two little bottles and laughed for a while. "Can your brain hold a lot of stuff?"

"Mine can't either," Gu Fei sighed. "My brain is full of your stuff now. The other day Er Miao asked me what's seven times nine, and I had to start counting from four times nine before I got the answer."

Jiang Cheng's smile disappeared, and he secretly patted Gu Fei's leg. "You've worked hard."

No. 4 High School's first mock exam finally gave a sense of tension. It wasn't casual like regular tests where they could just pull their desks together and take the test. Students from several classes were mixed together.

Jiang Cheng had strangers on both sides. When he turned his head to the right, he couldn't see Gu Fei's familiar profile, couldn't see him bowing his head filling in the test paper. It felt quite unusual.

However, this exam used the city's unified test paper. Having done the affiliated high school's paper as a baseline, Jiang Cheng felt this one was easier.

This was the gap.

As Jiang Cheng took the test, this thought echoed in his mind.

Every exam had people leaving early, those who had already given up and were just going through the motions to prove they really couldn't do the questions.

Jiang Cheng basically had enough time, but still repeatedly checked right up until the last second. No need to pretend at a time like this.

What pleased him was that Gu Fei in the classroom next door also didn't leave early or randomly fill in answers.

"You really didn't randomly guess?" Jiang Cheng looked at him.

"I really didn't," Gu Fei said. "At least I have to give my boyfriend some face after studying together for so long. It'd be too embarrassing to randomly guess at the test."

Jiang Cheng didn't speak, just narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Right?" Gu Fei smiled.

Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue, still not speaking.

"Thought I was doing it secretly without anyone knowing?" Gu Fei asked.

"Ah," Jiang Cheng didn't know what to say. Based on Gu Fei's manner, it seemed he had already noticed this behavior of his long ago, and didn't appear to be unhappy about it either. But he didn't dare openly admit it either. "Isn't randomly guessing pretty normal?"

"Brother Cheng," Gu Fei stretched lazily, moving his shoulders. "You being so cautious..."

"When was I cautious," Jiang Cheng interrupted him.

"You being so cautious," Gu Fei insisted on finishing his sentence, "Really moves me."

Jiang Cheng paused, then sighed. "If cautious then cautious. After all you're my boyfriend, if it was someone else I wouldn't have the time to care now."

"Having someone care so much about you," Gu Fei put his arm around his shoulder, "Really does feel different."

"Yes," Jiang Cheng nodded.