The end of May and the beginning of June, the sweltering summer is approaching.

  In his previous life, Li Qian was a busy person, jumping from one drama group to another, and from one play to another. Or in one drama group, he played multiple roles such as actor, prop master, and nth supporting role, which were all common occurrences. After crossing over, when he finally had some free time, at first he thought he would definitely not be able to adapt, but the facts proved him wrong.

  When all the emotions of tension, excitement, restlessness and eagerness that arise when one first arrives in an unfamiliar world gradually dissipate with each passing day of peaceful life, and even as he begins to set his own short-term goals, he suddenly discovers that sitting in class reading books, listening to lectures, reciting texts and doing exercises is actually quite enjoyable!

  Okay, having free time was just one aspect of it, but what's crucial is that he found himself actually starting to enjoy the feeling of studying!

  This is something that feels quite eerie even just thinking about it casually.

  In his previous life, Li Qian's grades were not bad when he was studying, but he could hardly be counted as a good student because he didn't put in much effort and just did enough to get by - at that time, the only thing he was interested in was guitar, music.

  But now, he really feels that being able to sit quietly in the classroom, reading and studying without thinking or worrying about anything, is a rare and beautiful thing.

  Of course, he loves music, he loves guitar, this point will never change.

  But unknowingly, his heart, which had always been tightly strung, gradually became lighter.

  He was never late, never left early, didn't sleep in class, listened very carefully, and finished his homework on time. Following the principle of progressing from easy to difficult, he started with Chinese, then English, history, philosophy, science, mathematics, Russian... He began to enter a comprehensive review and consolidation of all subjects under his own control.

  Apart from studying, it's music.

  The rooftop of the school's teaching building has become his fixed base for practicing singing. In recent days, every afternoon after school, including Saturday and Sunday afternoons, he would go to the rooftop to practice for about an hour. The time is not long, and the songs practiced are not many. At the age of 17, he does not dare to overuse his vocal cords, so it's more accurate to say that he is practicing guitar or breathing exercises rather than singing.

  Of course, he wouldn't know that every afternoon after school, in the quiet and deserted campus, his singing voice didn't go unnoticed. In the office on the third floor at the far east end, there would always be a girl who sat there reading while listening to the guitar sounds drifting from the rooftop - although for her, it was just background music.

  Before I knew it, the end of May had really arrived.

  The monthly exam in January of the first semester has also arrived.

  Thursday, math, English, history, philosophy.

  Friday, Nature, Russian, Chinese

  Although he didn't necessarily think the exam was that important, Li Qian spent the two days with a hint of nervousness just like every other student. Then, after dinner each day, he had to go to the rooftop to check answers with Wang Jinglu - this was his task, no room for negotiation, it had to be done.

  The first day's four subjects were all answered correctly, and Wang Jinglu was surprised.

  The next day's three subjects were all answered correctly, and Wang Jing was overjoyed.

  Her grades have always been excellent, with a full score of 700 points on the test paper, and her total score has always fluctuated around 650 points. She is one of the top three stable students in the whole grade and also a strong contender for the first place in the grade. So for Li Qian, her answer is close to the standard answer. Wang Jinglu estimated that her own score was still around 650 points, while Li Qian's estimated score was 540 points.

  This is an extremely good result for Li Qian!

  To know, the last monthly exam Li Qian only scored 433 points, and before that, despite Li Qian repeatedly patted his chest to guarantee, Wang Jinglu's highest expectation for him was just to score above 460 points.

  So Wang Jinglu was overjoyed, even more so than when she herself got accepted into the Beijing Film Academy.

  …………

  Weekend afternoon, Teaching Building 3rd floor, High School Chinese Teaching Group.

  There are twelve classes in the second year of high school, and six Chinese teachers just fill a small office.

  This weekend, students can normally rest after finishing the exam, but teachers have to work hard in the office to correct the papers. Science subjects are relatively easy, everything has standard answers, liberal arts is not that simple, analysis questions, argumentation questions, all need to be looked at word by word, although there are guiding answers, if they really write off-topic, as long as it makes sense, zero points cannot be given. Among the liberal arts, correcting Chinese language papers is especially time-consuming and labor-intensive.

  Because there is a 1000-word composition in the Chinese language exam paper.

  It was already 5:30 in the afternoon, and the task of revising papers had been almost completed in the morning. In the afternoon, teachers were busy calculating scores and ranking them. Then, around 4 o'clock, all the work was done, and the test papers had been distributed to the subject teachers. By about 5 o'clock, even the head teachers of each class had finished counting the scores of each subject in their class, and the overall ranking of the classes, and they were packing up their things and leaving.

  Soon, the whole building was left with only Qijie alone.

  She didn't go home today and stayed in the office just because she didn't want to go home.

  After the last KTV incident, she and Lu Liang had no contact for several days. Then, Lu Liang's parents came to visit, under the pretext of gathering with old friends and having a couple of drinks.

  Then——

  "Xiao Liang is such a silly kid, what's the point of Liu being there, nobody else knows, do we not know? Accompanying him to sing a song, where is it suitable to call you over? Isn't this just looking for trouble?" said Lu Liang's dad.

  "This thing, of course, Xiao Liang did not do right, did not do well, but Xiao Jie, you two have known each other since childhood, you also know, Xiao Liang this child, his temper is stubborn, he attaches great importance to face, even if he knows he's wrong, he absolutely won't admit it. So, Xiao Jie, just take pity on Auntie me, okay? You give him some face, give him a way out? Okay? Don't worry, this matter will be kept in Auntie's heart, and I'll definitely find an opportunity for you to vent your anger later, okay? We two women, we're both the same, running into men with strong personalities, what can we do? But on the other hand, these men with strong personalities, although they have countless shortcomings, there's one good thing about them, that is, when it comes to external matters, they'll take care of everything for you, absolutely won't let you suffer..." said Lu Liang's mother.

  "Oh, come on, you two are just bickering from dawn till dusk, what's the big deal? It's not like there's right or wrong in this kind of thing! Just call Xiaoliang, Xiaojie, no need for apologies, just a phone call will do. What's the fuss about? If we all just drop it, it'll blow over!" That's what Qijie's dad said.

  "Come on, Jie, don't be so stubborn. Go make the call! Oh, just go already, this child. Your aunt and I are in the kitchen here, okay? Go!" This is what Qi Jie's mom said.

  Then, Qi Jie and Lu Liang made up again, and they both acted as if nothing had ever happened. However, Qi Jie's mood was even worse than that night, so bad that she didn't even want to go home.

  So she had no choice but to find something to keep herself busy.

  For example, she plans to read through all the exam compositions of every student in her two classes.

  Then, in the quiet campus, she suddenly heard that pleasant guitar sound again.

  He shook his head and sighed with a bitter smile.

  "This guy practices guitar hard enough, he doesn't even let weekends go!" she thought.

  She casually flipped to the next composition and was shocked by the bright red "50 points" that entered her eyes.

  Full score composition!

  The exam papers for the monthly exams are sealed with the examinee's information column, and then uniformly corrected. Therefore, no one knows in advance which class's papers they are correcting, only after correction is completed will everyone exchange key information.

  For example, teacher Zhao Hongmin said he had revised a full-score composition.

  And that was also the only full-score composition of the entire grade 2 in this exam.

  It actually happened in our own class!

  Her first subconscious reaction was to flip it over and take a look at the examinee's name.

  Li Qian!

  "My goodness! I actually wrote a perfect score essay!"

  Giving a full score to an essay in an exam naturally means that the teacher who graded it thinks this essay is flawless.

  As the teacher in charge, Qi Jie was naturally aware of Li Qian's Chinese level and knew that his compositions had always been quite good, belonging to the kind that could basically get 40 points or more for every composition, not top-notch but absolutely excellent. But if he were to write a full-score composition... it would be a bit beyond expectations.

  This made Qijie even more curious. She flipped back to the composition page and stared at it with wide eyes, looking carefully at each word.

  The essay topic for this exam is called "Hope". It's a big topic, with a self-proposed title and freely chosen material. The requirement is to write at least 1,000 words, and the poem should not be less than 40 lines.

  Li Qian's composition topic is called "Hope".

  Because the grading teacher gave this composition a full score, from the very beginning, Qi Jie had already given it the highest expectation value.

  As a result... she was still startled.

  Is that so?

  In this article, the author is being sarcastic and absurd. On the surface, it seems to convey a sense of youthful vitality, but upon closer examination, one can't help but feel that there's an underlying tone of old-fashionedness that lingers between the lines!

  To put it simply, this doesn't seem like an essay written by a high school sophomore boy, but rather the incoherent ramblings of a middle-aged man who has hit rock bottom in life after having had too much to drink - and yet, every word comes from the heart.

  Qijie finished reading and flipped back to take another look at the title page of the test paper - it was Li Qian's, no mistake.

  For a moment, Qi Jie surprisingly didn't know what to say.

  This article is certainly very good and deserves full marks, but... Li Qian's writing style has changed too much, hasn't it?

  "Has he broken up with Wang Jinglu? Has he been hurt?" she thought.

  Then, she found Wang Jinglu's composition, um, 46 points, a pretty high score, but this is exactly Wang Jinglu's normal level... The problem is that Wang Jinglu's writing style hasn't changed! As meticulous as ever in small details.

  "It seems... it doesn't seem like a breakup?"

  Qijie sat in front of her desk, with one hand holding a composition, frowning and thinking deeply.

  …………

  It was half past six in the afternoon, the sky had not yet darkened, but it was already sunset, and it would not be long before nightfall.

  Qijie roughly flipped through the exam essays of two classes, and then went back to re-read Li Qian's essay again. However, she still couldn't figure out the problem that had been on her mind. She knew that time was up, and dragging it out any longer would only make her late getting home, so she got up, packed up her things, locked the door, and prepared to head home.

  She walked to the staircase on the third floor, listening to the faint sound of guitar coming from the rooftop. She paused for a moment, then stepped up the stairs.

  Still on the fifth floor stairs leading to the rooftop, same old place, she took out her handkerchief and wiped it clean before sitting down.

  The rooftop should have just finished singing the previous song, and after a few sweeping chords, it stopped. Then, the guitar sound started again, accompanied by the familiar voice I heard last time -

  "A quiet village with white snow floating"

  Doves flying under overcast sky

  The birch tree was carved with those two names.

  They vowed to love each other for all their lives.

  One day, the flames of war reached our hometown.

  The young man picked up his gun and rushed to the border.

  The one in my heart, don't worry about me

  Waiting for me to return in that birch forest.

  The sky is still overcast

  There are still pigeons flying around

  Who will prove those things?

  Love and life without tombstones.

  The snow is still falling.

  The village is still peaceful

  Young people

  Disappeared in the birch forest.

  The news arrived in the afternoon

  The one I love died in battle on a distant desert battlefield.

  She quietly came to that birch forest

  Gazing longingly every day, waiting there.

  She said he was just lost in a distant place

  He will definitely come.

  Come to this birch forest.

  The sky is still overcast

  There are still pigeons flying around

  ……”

  Qijie sat on the steps, her hands propping up her chin, listening intently as she slowly closed her eyes.

  "What a sad story!" she thought.