After the third mock exam, the barbecue dinner was extremely satisfying and enjoyable. Gu Fei tried to stop him from bringing back plate after plate of meat, but Jiang Cheng just glared at him impatiently if he was prevented from getting more, as if he had been eating nothing but boiled veggies for the past five years.

Luckily he didn't get diarrhea, but for several days afterwards he felt somewhat lacking in appetite. It wasn't because he was already full, but rather that everything else seemed lacking compared to the barbecue.

Given the terrible after-effects of the barbecue, Gu Fei didn't take him out for any more big meals before the gaokao, just simple homemade fare, eat it or don't.  

But Jiang Cheng had pretty strong adaptability. Perhaps it was because he was so engrossed in reviewing, no matter how satisfying the food was, he just ate everything served.

This state continued until June, when the gaokao countdown reached single digits.

"I'm going for a haircut today," Jiang Cheng said, looking at the teacher who for the past few days had stopped talking about reviewing and exams.

The teachers were now telling everyone to relax, they basically weren't giving out any more mock exam papers, just telling everyone to unwind and go over the knowledge points they had been memorizing and recalling for so long.

"Getting the master stylist Li to do it again?" Gu Fei asked.

"Yeah," Jiang Cheng rubbed the hair on his forehead, "he did pretty good last time... Also this afternoon I want to go skateboarding with Er Miao for a bit."

"Okay, I'll get her to come over and wait for us," Gu Fei took out his phone, "she'll be overjoyed."

"I haven't played with her for so long, I was worried she wouldn't want anything to do with me," Jiang Cheng scratched his head, "I still haven't praised her for knowing 7 times 9 yet."

"No need for praise," Gu Fei gave a helpless smile, "she just randomly looked at a times table and played around with it, she can't even calculate the products."

"Is that so," Jiang Cheng looked at him, "doesn't matter, at least she's asking about it now, that deserves praise."

"Then you can praise her, buy her something tasty?" Gu Fei turned his head sideways.

"Didn't she really like the jello I got her last time?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"...Last time?" Gu Fei was momentarily confused.  

"I mean..." Jiang Cheng thought about it and laughed again, "Ah right, that was New Year's, it's been that long already?"

"Oh," Gu Fei stretched out his legs, "several months already. You dove headfirst into the torrent of exam prep, to you one day is three months in the mortal realm."

It really didn't feel like the semester had just ended like that.

The last semester of high school, it just slipped by in the midst of the chaotic exam preparations, without even the chance to slowly savor it, and now it was already gone.

Once time starts flowing, it really can't be caught up to or held back.

Those periods that felt endless at the time, upon occasional reflection, were already behind him.

The painful times, confused times, struggling times, surprising times, happy times, reluctant times... all those emotions that felt endless in the moment, were now in the past, some having passed and some cycling through again and again.

Like the sense of comfort and joy from being with Gu Fei - he rested his cheek on the desk and looked sideways at Gu Fei.

Each day's happiness will pass, each second, each minute, and new happiness will appear again.

For him, pain and confusion were a straight line - each step reducing what remained, while happiness was a circle.

In the afternoon before school ended, Old Xu came to the classroom again to soothe everyone, telling them to relax and sleep early these last few days before the exam, and not cram intensely anymore.

Seeing Old Xu's face, showing the same traces of weariness yet also nervousness and excitement as the students, then looking up at the single digit countdown over his head, Jiang Cheng yawned.

Time to relax, he had already pushed himself for so long, not to mention he never looked back with regret, even if he wanted to regret something, there wasn't anything during these past months he could regret.

He could loosen up and unwind his nerves now.

Do something like play skateboard with Gu Miao.

As soon as they left the school gates, they saw Gu Miao, who had clearly waited quite a long time and was now listlessly sitting bored on the sidewalk railing, sporting the super cool haircut Li Yan had given her, her skateboard leaning next to her.

When they came out, Gu Miao kicked her board and jumped on it, zooming over to them.

"Er Miao!" Jiang Cheng bent down with a smile, and only upon bending over did he suddenly realize Gu Miao seemed to have grown taller, he turned to look at Gu Fei, "Did she have a growth spurt?"

"Yeah," Gu Fei nodded, "just this half year she grew almost 10 cm, last summer's clothes don't fit her anymore."

"I've been so busy reviewing recently," Jiang Cheng looked at Gu Miao again, "didn't have time to play with you, you grew this much and I didn't even know... cool cropped pants."

"Those are pants cut down to 3/4 length," Gu Fei said from the side.

"...Still really cool," Jiang Cheng snapped his fingers and gave a thumbs up.

Gu Miao seemed to be in a good mood and returned one as well, then kicked off to the side on her skateboard and waved her hand at him.

"Here," Jiang Cheng tossed his bag to Gu Fei, then ran after Gu Miao.

The weather had been nice recently. The warmth without heat of early summer, speeding along on the skateboard, Jiang Cheng felt an all-over comfort. The light breeze caressed his skin in thin streams, he could imagine their shapes with eyes closed.

Taking turns with Gu Miao riding the skateboard, they rushed all the way to the street corner. Jiang Cheng's forehead was drenched in sweat, Gu Miao's face was also covered in sweat and smudges where she had haphazardly wiped herself.

"Wipe your face," Jiang Cheng jumped off the board and handed her a tissue, then looked back.  

Gu Fei was riding his bike over slowly, one hand also steering Jiang Cheng's bike.

"Quite into it huh?" Gu Fei put a foot down, "Am I a pretty decent logistics officer?"

"I forgot," Jiang Cheng smiled and took his bike to get on, "Er Miao, want me to tow you?"

Gu Miao tilted her head and looked at him, one foot on her skateboard.

"Let's go!" Jiang Cheng pushed off.

Gu Miao quickly caught up behind him, even overtaking in front and whistling back at him.

"Little rascal!" Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue and put in a few hard pushes to get ahead of her again.

But the instant he overtook her, Gu Miao grabbed onto his back rack, using the momentum to coast along holding the front of his bike.

"Awesome!" Jiang Cheng shouted, "Let's go buy jello okay?"

Gu Miao's eyes lit up when she turned to look, and quickly slowed down, releasing the rack and no longer rushing forward.

The two brought Gu Miao to the supermarket to browse around, buying a pile of snacks before returning to the shop, where Li Yan was napping with his head tilted back behind the cashier counter.

Hearing them come in, Li Yan opened his eyes: "Gentlemen! Is it so hard to have a little tact when asking someone a favor?"

"Sorry," Jiang Cheng put the pile of snacks on the counter and took out a jello to hand to him, "went to buy treats for Er Miao."

"I fucking lugged a bunch of dishes over," Li Yan took the jello, "and still have to watch the shop."

"Where's my mom?" Gu Fei asked, "Wasn't she here this afternoon?"

"As soon as I got here she went out with her boyfriend," Li Yan peeled the jello and gave it to Gu Miao, "hey, it's been a pretty long time with this one right? She hasn't switched?"

"Yeah," Gu Fei gave a light affirmation, "are you eating here?"

"No, after I finish cutting Boss Jiang's hair I have a date," Li Yan said.

"Ohhh," Gu Fei looked at him.

"What?" Li Yan glanced sidelong at him, "I can't have a date? Been single for a damn year, not even allowed to rebel now?"

"Haircut," Gu Fei said, then brought Gu Miao to the back yard to wash up.

Li Yan was very skilled at cutting hair, his technique surpassed many who looked super awesome like the Tonys and Jays at other shops.

"You could probably pass as a master stylist at any shop you randomly walk into," Jiang Cheng said with eyes closed.

"Like hell," Li Yan was trimming his bangs, "still wanna have my fun."

"Oh," Jiang Cheng gave an affirmation.

"Your skin's pretty good," Li Yan said, "with all this stress how come you don't break out?"

"Means I'm not that stressed," Jiang Cheng said.

"Bragging huh," Li Yan said, "reading yourself blind every day, last week I saw you on the street, you notice me?"

"No, how come you didn't call out to me?" Jiang Cheng smiled.

"Seeing you like that killed my appetite for yelling," Li Yan said, "looking better today, probably can relax some since the test is almost here?"

"Yeah." Jiang Cheng gave an affirmation.

"Do good on the test, kickass score," Li Yan said, "I've never heard of anyone around here getting anything decent, making it to a shitty college is like ancestral graves spewing smoke."

"Okay." Jiang Cheng nodded.

"Don't move, gonna cut your sideburns," Li Yan sighed again, "honestly, you're not really from the steel factory, getting a good score wouldn't even count as the factory and our school getting a break."

"I'm not from here, then where can I be from?" Jiang Cheng smiled.

Li Yan didn't speak, just continued carefully trimming his hair bit by bit.

It was a long while before he spoke again: "Gu Fei's a really good guy."

"Yeah." Jiang Cheng gave an affirmation.  

"It's not been easy since he was little, and it's not easy now either," Li Yan spoke quickly, probably wanting to finish before Gu Fei came back in, "I don't know why he's with you... Anyway, I just want to say, if you get any ideas once you're off at college, we won't let you off."

"Hm?" Jiang Cheng opened his eyes a slit.

"Ganging up to f*ck you over," Li Yan said.

"...Got it," Jiang Cheng was startled for a moment then laughed, "I understand."

The days right before the exam actually felt slower than the previous cramming review period, perhaps because everyone had pushed themselves to this point and was just waiting for the 7th to come faster whether the outcome was good or bad.

But the more anticipation, the slower time flowed.

Yet suddenly when it came time to go see the exam sites, the atmosphere was once again drowned in nervous energy.  

"Whatever, just let me test already, die early and transmigrate early," Wang Xu said with determination.