"High school students taking the college entrance exam?" asked the driver as he drove.  

"Yes," Jiang Cheng replied.  

"From No. 4 High School?" the driver asked again.

"Mm," Gu Fei responded.

"Good luck! Relax, it's just a college entrance exam, nothing to be nervous about. You'll do better if you relax," said the driver. "I graduated from No. 4 High School myself. I didn't do well because I was too nervous."

"Ah," Jiang Cheng smiled.

"Really, trust me," the driver glanced at them in the rearview mirror. "You two don't usually have great grades, so you have even less reason to be nervous. Relax and you might even exceed expectations."

"Oh," Gu Fei laughed and squeezed Jiang Cheng's hand.

"Ah, then I'll try to relax and see if I can exceed expectations," Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

When they arrived at the exam site, the driver didn't charge them: "I'm part of a volunteer exam shuttle service, we give free rides to all exam takers! Go on now!"

There was still some time before they had to enter the exam room, but there was already a bustling crowd outside, with many cars and people sending students to the exam, along with several police cars and ambulances. There were also free shuttle buses parked nearby.

Even those who weren't nervous would feel nervous seeing this scene.

"Over here! Over here!" Old Xu had spotted them from afar and was waving, his voice already hoarse.

They went over and took their exam permits. Old Xu was surrounded by many students and parents, all with solemn expressions, especially the parents, who looked even more solemn than the students.

"Did you rest well?" Old Xu asked.

"Pretty good," Jiang Cheng replied.

"Relax and take the exam, you'll definitely do fine. Drink less water during the exam," Old Xu said, pointing to the side, "Go to the bathroom first."

"Okay," Gu Fei smiled. "Say less now, or you'll lose your voice for this afternoon."

"I have lozenges," Old Xu said hoarsely, taking out some lozenges from his pocket and popping them in his mouth.

Soon it was time to enter the exam room. As people started going in, those around them fell silent, anxiety written on every face.

On the contrary, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt calm. He was often like this - when something was upon him, he would relax and focus.

He had taken many exams recently, most quite difficult, yet he had gotten through them all.

Freak performances were rare for Jiang Cheng. He seldom bombed exams, and on those few occasions he did, it was because he hadn't studied well enough. Even those "bombs" were outstanding by Pan Zhi's standards.

After going through security, Jiang Cheng sat at his desk and neatly arranged his belongings as instructed. Glancing around, he didn't recognize anyone sitting in front, behind, or beside him.

He leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

Okay, let's begin.

From the moment the proctor started reading the exam rules, Jiang Cheng felt cut off from his surroundings.

The proctor's voice quickly faded. The soft sounds of paper rustling, students gently tapping pens on desks, chairs being moved, muted coughs...all the sounds disappeared.

The exam papers were laid out on Jiang Cheng's desk. He picked up his pen, gave it a twirl, and started swiftly going through the questions.

The student in front wore a yellow shirt, looking in his peripheral vision like the desk lamp he studied under every night for half a year, bringing back that familiar, repeated state of mind.

To his right were many books. To his left were various papers and notes, and in the corner, his boyfriend would often lean against the desk, sometimes propping his head in one hand and playing on his phone with the other, sometimes just watching him.

When he said "test me", his boyfriend would flip open a book.

After reading through the essay prompt, Jiang Cheng turned back to the first page and lowered his head to start the questions.

The essay topic wasn't hard to write. Though he hadn't encountered this exact material before, he quickly extracted a theme and recalled similar content he had written about previously that he could adapt.

If he could complete the essay in the allotted time, he could afford to take the other questions slowly.

Before him was a series of questions, in his ears the soft scratching of his pen on the answer sheet, and his own calm, steady breathing.

Everything was tranquil.

The benefit of doing many practice exams was having an acute sense of timing. Jiang Cheng didn't need to check the time. Based just on his pace, he could roughly judge how much time had passed.

Whenever Gu Fei timed him during practice, he could start the essay within five minutes of error.

Today was the same. After finishing the questions, he quickly reviewed and started the essay right on schedule, glancing at the clock to confirm his precision.

Jiang Cheng's grasp of time demonstrates the strong mental composure of a top player in competition...

Currently Jiang Cheng's condition is perfect. His speed in reviewing the previous questions shows he was confident in most of the answers. It's clear Jiang Cheng is a very prepared player.

Now let's look at his analysis and approach to the essay section...

Let's continue observing Jiang Cheng's performance.

On the draft paper, Jiang Cheng swiftly outlined a draft and marked out content for several sections. After reviewing to ensure no issues, he started writing.

Jiang Cheng's handwriting is quite messy. Though he practiced specifically for this, having large blocks of text still poses a challenge for giving graders an overall good first impression...

Neater writing slows him down, which is why Jiang Cheng budgeted extra time for this part of the exam.

Jiang Cheng is clearly a very strategic person.

When he put down the final period of the essay, Jiang Cheng glanced at the time - still enough left to review the previous questions once more.

He lightly spun his pen and swiftly went through the questions again from the beginning, paying close attention to those he wasn't fully confident on.

Even if his re-check gave a different answer, he wouldn't hastily change it. The initial answer made with an unjumbled mind was usually the most accurate.

In the second review, he only modified one response, leaving the rest unchanged.

When the proctor announced the final five minutes, Jiang Cheng slowly emerged from his isolated world.

His surroundings gradually regained color and motion. Sounds returned to his ears - the proctor's light steps passing by, the soft flipping of papers in front and behind, someone urgently erasing and lightly shaking their desk...

The ending bell sounded especially clear.

Jiang Cheng let out a long breath as the bell rang, swiftly locking away all related content in his mind. Whatever the outcome, it was over and done.

Exiting the exam room, the first thing he saw was Gu Fei.

From afar, Gu Fei smiled and raised an eyebrow at him, the smile in his eyes instantly refreshing Jiang Cheng. After two hours without expression, smiling back at Gu Fei gave him an all-over pleasant, relaxed sensation.

"How was it?" Gu Fei asked.

"I felt it went perfectly," Jiang Cheng stretched his arms overhead. "No questions I felt particularly uncertain on - it seemed about the same difficulty as the second mock exam. You?"

"Alright I guess," Gu Fei said. "I do the same on every exam, writing what I know and guessing what I don't. There's always some imprint."

"Did you have to guess a lot?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Not too much. I had some sense of most from studying with my boyfriend every day," Gu Fei's mouth quirked.

Old Xu was waiting for them outside the exam room, reassuring and encouraging each student, "Great work, you all did great. Don't think about it anymore now that it's over. Relax and rest up. I'll be in the same spot this morning for the afternoon exam...Jiang Cheng! How was it?"

"You said not to think about the exam once it's over right?" Jiang Cheng replied.  

"Right, right," Old Xu's expression fell for a moment but quickly regained his energetic tone, "Don't eat anything too oily later, or overstuff yourself. Rest well..."

"I did pretty well," Jiang Cheng smiled, cutting him off.

"You brat!" Old Xu was stunned briefly before a beaming smile lit up his entire face. "Teasing me at a time like this! I knew you'd be fine!"

"Mm," Jiang Cheng nodded with a smile.

"Gu Fei!" Old Xu turned to him. "No matter how you did, you're always the same, can't tell good or bad."

"It was decent," Gu Fei said. "I filled out all the questions and wrote a complete essay anyway."

"Then that's fine! No problem!" Old Xu clapped his shoulder. "Keep this up for the afternoon!"

At noon, the two of them didn't plan on going home. Jiang Cheng couldn't sleep during the daytime, or he would sleep like a pig, especially in this kind of weather. If he took a half-hour nap, it would take him a whole hour to get back to feeling fully awake. In order to keep his mind sharp, he couldn't sleep.

"Let's eat dumplings," Jiang Cheng said. "They're simple and delicious. We can also get a couple plates of cold spiced beef..."

"The cold spiced beef should be served tossed, right?" Gu Fei said.

"Of course it's tossed, that's the tasty way to eat it," Jiang Cheng swallowed, feeling quite hungry after the morning's stress.

"We can't eat the tossed beef, what if it's not hygienic," Gu Fei rejected the idea without a second thought.