Eight months ago.
Luocheng City, Government Road, Xishu Bookstore.
On a spring day, Chen Ji, wearing a high school uniform and carrying a backpack, stood under the parasol tree on the sidewalk.
He looked up at the old bookstore's sign, then turned his head to glance at the cars passing behind him. Everything was as usual, as if the story had not yet begun, and the world had not yet been overturned by cicada's serenades.
Chen Ji stepped into the bookstore and hesitated, "Hello, I'm here for the army's foreign language qualification retest. Is the retest being held here?"
The dilapidated bookstore, the elderly proprietor, the cluttered bookshelves—it hardly seemed an appropriate venue for a military academy's reexamination.
The owner behind the glass counter lifted his head, his gaze peeking through the gap above his reading glasses.
Instead of answering Chen Ji's question, he lightly asked, "Name?"
"Chen Ji."
"Age?"
"17 years, 1 month, 21 days."
"ID card."
