Chapter 20: The Exam
It was his fault for being too hasty. He should have subtly inquired about the type of voice Huai Dan liked first.
But now it was too late. He couldn’t just say, “Oh, you don’t like it? Then I’ll change it.”
Luo Jing had been fiddling with the voice changer for too long, adjusting the settings and making calls and sending messages, that Plastic Bag had been left alone for a long time, playing by itself until it felt almost wronged and neglected.
Now, suddenly receiving some attention from its owner, it was overjoyed.
And in its joy, it barked excitedly: “Woof!”
Luo Jing: “!!!”
He quickly covered Plastic Bag’s mouth.
Plastic Bag was startled and whimpered, struggling to escape.
Luo Jing hurriedly carried Plastic Bag and put it outside the door, then closed the door with lightning speed.
“Bang!”
A loud thud.
After the chaos, the room returned to silence.
Picking up his phone from the bedding, Luo Jing held it to his ear, feeling both scared and guilty.
And at that very moment, the person on the other end suddenly became curious.
“Do you have a dog?” the boy’s voice was calm, as if he was just asking casually.
“Y-yes, I have one,” Luo Jing replied, forcing himself to stay calm.
“Really?” Huai Dan replied, his voice tinged with a subtle emotion Luo Jing couldn’t understand. “Luo Jing also has one. Its bark sounds very similar to yours.”
“I know, he showed me pictures before, haha,” Luo Jing chuckled dryly, his heart beating so fast he could hear it.
“Mm…” the boy on the other end replied, then chuckled inexplicably after a moment.
Luo Jing: “?”
“What’s its name?” Huai Dan cleared his throat and asked.
“Plastic…” Luo Jing was about to blurt out Plastic Bag’s name, but he stopped himself just in time.
In his panic, he saw something hanging on the chair and quickly made up a name: “…Bag’s good friend, Tote Bag.”
The transition was very awkward, and Luo Jing didn’t know how it sounded to the person on the other end, so he felt even more guilty.
The other end, however, chuckled, as if unable to help himself.
Why hadn’t he noticed Huai Dan laughed so much before?
Luo Jing thought with a straight face.
“Not bad,” Huai Dan replied. “Sounds like it belongs with Plastic Bag.”
Luo Jing was silent for a moment, then hung up the phone.
L: [Sorry, the signal here suddenly went bad, and the call dropped. Let’s talk again next time 0v0]
H: [Okay.]
“Which Miss Luo? Do I know her?” Huai Dan put down his phone. Ye Lin, who had been waiting, leaned in, his face full of curiosity. “Who could make you laugh like that?”
After the voice changer incident, every time Luo Jing saw Huai Dan’s chat window, he would feel an inexplicable surge of guilt. Coupled with the upcoming high school entrance exam, he had been quiet for a while.
Plastic Bag, small in size but big in temper, held a grudge against Luo Jing for being thrown out the door last time and ignored him for several days. But coincidentally, this was the time when Luo Jing needed to focus on his studies, so the person and the dog had a cold war for a while.
It wasn’t until after Luo Jing finished his high school entrance exam and took Plastic Bag out to play for two days that they reconciled.
Before the exam, Luo Jing had been taken by Lin Xue to a high school interview one day. Upon entering, he saw five foreigners sitting opposite him in a row, smiling.
Then they asked him several questions in English.
Fortunately, Luo Jing had always been good at English, and his family emphasized foreign language education, so he answered most of the questions smoothly, albeit with some confusion.
Then came the written test.
To his surprise, the written test only consisted of math and English, and the math questions were relatively basic, much easier than the test papers he usually did.
He had done his research and told his family he was willing to study abroad, so he knew he was interviewing for an international high school.
And the results later showed that he had performed well that day.
Although he passed the interview, the school still had certain requirements for the high school entrance exam scores, so Luo Jing treated this as a minor event and continued to focus on his revision.
Time flew by while he was studying diligently, and soon it was time for the high school entrance exam.
Thanks to his thorough preparation, Luo Jing found the exam relatively easy, but it was still an important exam in his life, and he couldn’t help but feel nervous, spending the three days in a state of high tension.
The moment he walked out of the exam room, he felt like the world had suddenly brightened.
He took out his phone, and upon turning it on, he saw a message from Lin Xue sent ten minutes ago: [Xiao Jing, something came up for Mom, so I asked someone else to pick you up. You’ll see them when you go out.]
AAA.Test Paper Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Then what about Uncle Li?]
Mom: [He’s free, but…]
Mom: [But Mom thinks you’ll like the person who’s picking you up today more.]
Luo Jing: “?”
Luo Jing was instantly curious.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Who is it?]
Mom: [He said he’s already waiting at the school gate.]
Mom: [You’ll know when you see him.]
Luo Jing noticed the key word: “he.”
It seemed to be a male. Could it be his dad?
Lin Xue’s cryptic message piqued Luo Jing’s curiosity, but she didn’t give him any more information. Since he was almost at the gate, he decided not to press further and just wait and see.
Confused, he turned off his phone and followed the crowd towards the school gate, looking around to see who was picking him up.
It didn’t really matter who it was. Having just finished his exams, Luo Jing was in a good mood. Even if it was the head teacher picking him up, he would happily greet him.
Many parents were there to pick up their children, forming a large crowd outside the cordon. Some families even came together. Both students and parents were eager to find each other, so the scene was a bit chaotic, and the school gate was packed.
Luo Jing, seeing this scene, silently stepped back, planning to wait for the crowd to disperse a bit before leaving.
Initially assuming it would be his dad, he went to stand under a nearby tree that hadn’t been engulfed by the crowd, hoping for some kind of father-son telepathy.
It didn’t matter if it didn’t work. His dad wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer.
Thinking this, he opened his phone to kill some time. As soon as he opened it, he saw a new message.
Brother: [Finished the exam?]
Seeing that it was from Huai Dan, Luo Jing’s mood brightened even more.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Finished!]
He replied happily.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [After writing the last punctuation mark of the English composition, I started imagining my happy summer vacation.]
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Plastic Bag rejoices.jpg]
Luo Jing lowered his head, typing, his figure swaying slightly under the shade of the tree, looking very relaxed, in stark contrast to the hurried crowd around him.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Brother, can you come play with me during the summer vacation?]
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [I can go visit you too.]
Brother: [Want to see me?]
Luo Jing felt his question was rather redundant.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Of course!]
But he still patiently replied.
Brother: [Then look up.]
Luo Jing: “!”
Seeing this message, he was stunned for a moment, then instinctively looked up.
An unbelievable thought crossed his mind.
“Luo Luo.” Before he could look around to confirm his thought, a familiar voice sounded from his side, tinged with a slight smile.
This time, his voice wasn’t coming from a screen, but was actually right beside him.
Luo Jing looked over, and for some reason, a faint feeling of panic rose in his heart.
Huai Dan stood before him, wearing a simple casual jacket and jeans, a faint smile on his lips, just like any other older brother picking up his younger brother from school.
Holding the bag containing his exam materials, he stiffly followed behind Huai Dan, slowly shuffling towards the car.
Although they had been in contact online every day, it had been almost half a year since they last saw each other in person. For some reason, Luo Jing felt inexplicably awkward.
Sitting in the passenger seat next to Huai Dan, fastening his seatbelt, Luo Jing felt unusually reserved.
He suddenly didn’t know what to do or say.
It was the same car, the same person, but after so long, he couldn’t immediately return to his carefree demeanor from the New Year holidays.
It was strange. He never felt this way around other people.
Feeling awkward around someone was a new experience for him, and he vaguely felt a sense of novelty.
After a moment of awkward silence, Luo Jing took out his phone, intending to reply to some messages.
His classmates’ group chat was exploding with excitement, everyone celebrating the end of the exams and looking forward to the long, homework-free summer vacation.
Luo Jing, looking at the messages, felt his suppressed excitement resurface.
He joined in and sent a couple of emojis.
“Why aren’t you talking?” Huai Dan asked suddenly, his eyes on the road ahead.
Luo Jing was startled, instinctively locking his phone and sitting up straight, retorting, “N-no, I’m not.”
Huai Dan chuckled, freed one hand, and tapped the Bluetooth icon on the car’s screen: “Play some music.”
Luo Jing felt like a robot, the kind that only moved when touched. He replied with an “okay” and obediently turned on his Bluetooth, looking at the screen, ready to connect.
Then he realized there was no need to connect. His phone’s Bluetooth was already paired with Huai Dan’s car.
And only his.
For some reason, Luo Jing’s mood instantly improved upon seeing this, and the strange awkwardness quickly dissipated.
He connected his phone and opened his playlist.
