It was late July when the students could finally check out their examination results. Under the gaze of the whole family, Qin Guan’s mother tremblingly dialed the last digit.
A mechanical voice rang out from the receiver: Register Number 3799… Score: 689. She had gotten through on the first try.
Lest they should have misheard the score, Qin Guan’s mother hang up and dialed the number again: 689. It was true.
Qin Guan’s first choice was Capital University of Finance and Economics. No doubt he had surpassed the minimum admission score.
Qian Guan’s parents were overjoyed. They had thought that Qin Guan had failed the College Entrance Examination, and it had turned out to be a big surprise for them. They were more than thrilled.
Qin Guan’s parents were proud to spread the news right away, wishing to let all their friends and relatives know.
Qin Guan became the most annoying kid in the family. He was both handsome and studious, so all his relatives’ kids were gnashing their teeth at how unfair it was.
When the results of the College Entrance Examination came out, it was quite natural that some people would be happy while others would be sad.
The College Entrance Examination was not such a big deal for Class 8, Grade 3 which was full of straight-A students. When Qin Guan went back to school to submit his college application, he met with his head teacher who informed him of the date and time of their graduation party.
On the day of the party, everyone in class showed up. They were all dressed casually instead of wearing their school uniforms. Now that the tense atmosphere of the College Entrance Examination was gone, everyone could enjoy themselves, fool around, drink and eat.
Li Jian produced two boxes of beer out of nowhere and poured a glass out for everyone. He saw all these straight-A students with their thick glasses staring at the beer, their eyes showing that they all clearly itched to have a glass.
Qin Guan suddenly understood why people with super high IQs were always described as devious, secretly cunning and wickedly smart.
After drinking three glasses of beer, the Class President, who was the one wearing the thickest glasses, suddenly slapped his glass on the table. His blurred vision and flushed face betrayed how drunk he was.
Qin Guan thought he was about to witness the most honest student in class make a drunken fool of himself when suddenly the Class President started accusing him, “Damn you, Qin Guan! I hate you the most out of the whole class!” Hearing his loud voice, everyone went quiet all of a sudden. “What did you have going for you in the past besides your good looks? You were an absolute unsociable hypocrite and your grades were below average. You were just a hypocritical bastard. But despite that, you were still recognized as the school hunk. You even dared tell Cong Nianwei that you liked her, which made me hate you even more…”
The Class President stuttered. He got increasingly emotional until he somehow ended up crying.
Despite the snot and tears on his face, the Class President went on, “But how can you do this? Couldn’t you just stay true to your old ways? Why did you have to get funnier and funnier? Now our classmates have started to talk to you. Your performance has been getting better, and the teachers also seem to like you. But even so, I can’t give up! Cong Nianwei, I like you too. I like you more than he does. Qin Guan, I hate you!”
By now everyone was looking at the most honest student in class crying at the wine table.
Qin Guan believed that this was a typical case of alcohol making a coward temporarily brave. He was about to start laughing when voices began to ring out all around him.
“Wang Ping, it was me who wrote you that love letter in Grade 2. I like you,” said Bu Lu, who sat in the first row.
“Qu Mei, I have been taking advantage of your weakness for three years. You know what I’m talking about.”
Qu Mei pretended convincingly that she didn't know what he was talking about.
The head teacher was like an old monk during meditation. He ate and drank as if nothing of importance was going on, completely ignoring all these crazy boys.
The girls all remained very calm. The eight boys who had spoken with Dutch courage ended up feeling like cowards instead and retreated like scared birds. It got strangely quiet in the room.
Suddenly there were glasses clanging and tinkling, and the Vice President stood up. She was so emotional that she knocked over her own chair. She was a slender girl with fair skin. Lots of boys in class had a crush on her.
She puckered her lips and picked up her chair. Before everyone’s eyes, she suddenly approached Qin Guan, clutched his shoulders and kissed his cheek. Then she returned to her seat as if nothing had happened.
The room had gotten even quieter. Qin Guan looked around and all he saw was ferocious stares. He was about to say something when he saw eight girls stand up and start to bombard the Vice President with words.
“You’re so cunning!”
“That’s right! You should have warned us before you did that!”
“I had wanted to do this for such a long time, and now you stole my thunder!”
The girls quickly ran over to Qin Guan. Some grabbed his hair while others tore at his clothes. They each gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Qin Guan quickly slipped under the table.
The head teacher glanced at the dishes on it. “Ah, the braised intestines with brown sauce taste really good at this restaurant.”
The girls did not let go. They started tearing at Qin Guan’s clothes to claim him for themselves.
Peeping through the table legs, Qin Guan saw Cong Nianwei looking at him angrily.
He was about to sit up when fists started beating on his head like raindrops. It was the boys.
“Beat him. I can’t stand it anymore.”
“Give my girl back! I’ll fight you to the end!”
All at once, dishes, beer glasses, roast chicken and vegetables came his way.
An increasing number boys and girls surrounded Qin Guan.
“Sir, take a picture for us.”
“Yes. A group photo,” they told the head teacher, who did not seem disturbed and remained focused on his food.
The head teacher wiped his mouth and took a Seagull SLR camera out of his bag. He zoomed in a quite professional manner before shouting to his students, “Over here! One, two, three!”
Time stood still right then and there. The girls were inside it and the boys were outside. They were all either beating or dragging the boy under the table, and he was trying hard to lift up his head, grinning wide and bright.
“From this day on, my classmates will start drifting apart and our best and most innocent time will be over. I wish all my high school classmates academic success and a smooth journey in life.”