Gu Fei ran into old Xu picking up medicine at the pharmacy almost every time. He was starting to suspect that old Xu had some incurable disease.

"Just tell me what disease you have," he stopped old Xu at the pharmacy door, "getting medicine once a week."

"They're all blood and qi tonics," old Xu opened a paper bag containing the medicine for him to see, "I'm deficient in various ways, always like this when teaching high school seniors."

"Really?" Gu Fei looked at the medicine, to be honest he didn't recognize any of them.  

"Why would I lie to you," old Xu said and looked at him, then started laughing again, "oh you kid."

"What's so funny?" Gu Fei also looked at him, "I just wanted to say, if you have some incurable disease, just tell the truth, we're not your family, nothing to hide."

"My health is really not great, but not a terminal illness," old Xu patted his arm very cheerfully, "you kid, you say such harsh things, but I'm very touched."

"Teacher Xu," Gu Fei looked at him, "why put yourself through this, you're exhausted, yet no one cares for you, no one trusts you."

"Who said no one," old Xu pointed at him, "you care about me."  

Gu Fei didn't say anything.

"For most people, it's just this one time in high school, miss it and it's gone," Old Xu said, "look back in ten or twenty years, you may regret and say, if only the teacher had controlled me more, I might not have ended up like this... I just want to make you have as few regrets as possible in the future, getting through to even just one more is one more, as a teacher, this is what we do."

Gu Fei looked at him. To be honest, Old Xu had said this kind of thing countless times, from freshman to senior year, he didn't know how many times he had heard it. Every time it came out he felt it was very empty and false, unable to relate.

But now, hearing Old Xu say this again, for the first time he had a somewhat different feeling.

"Mm," he responded with a sound, patting Old Xu on the shoulder, then turned and walked into the pharmacy, "hang in there Teacher Xu."

"You come to the pharmacy often too, what medicine are you buying?" Old Xu asked again from behind.

"Kidney tonics," Gu Fei looked back.  

"No decency!" Old Xu sighed.

Jiang Cheng was half-squinting his eyes, reciting while sitting with one leg up, his chin resting on his knee, looking quite intoxicated.

Just reciting could bring about this state, that's pretty amazing too.

Gu Fei opened two bottles of nutritional supplements, poked holes for the straws, and placed them on the desk in front of Jiang Cheng. Right now when he was reciting, his stamina was shocking, unless he stopped himself, if you interrupted him midway, he would glare.

"The reasons for and influence of the Hundred Schools of Thought," Jiang Cheng reached for a bottle, pointing at him, "Gu Fei, answer."

"Politically...time of great social upheaval and change, various feudal lords, in order to enrich their states and strengthen their militaries, recruited talents..." Gu Fei automatically continued, "Economically...spread of iron tools and ox plows...bbbb."

"Improved productivity, social and economic development, provided the material conditions," Jiang Cheng glanced at him, "how come this medicine tastes so sweet today?"

"Switched to a different kind, this is for preventing colds," Gu Fei said.

"Why prevent colds?" Jiang Cheng was puzzled, "I haven't had a cold in a long time."

"That's why, to prevent one. You know they're turning off the heat soon, right?" Gu Fei bent down looking at him.  

"I know," Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue, "the midterms are almost here, of course they'll turn it off."

"You're living day by day according to the mock exams huh," Gu Fei smiled.  

"Mm," Jiang Cheng nodded, "right now in my brain it's just one mock, two mock, three mock, four five six eight mock..."

As he spoke, he reached out and stroked Gu Fei's leg from thigh to calf: "Hey my boyfriend's straight, long legs."

Saying this while his eyes still stared at the book on the table, it made Gu Fei want to laugh a little: "When you say this kind of thing, can you be a little more professional and look at me?"

"Ah," Jiang Cheng turned his head to look at him, "f*ck so handsome, my boyfriend's handsome face...did you buzz your hair again?"

"Li Yan helped me trim it yesterday," Gu Fei tugged at the hair on his forehead, "Brother Cheng, take an hour tomorrow and have Director of Design Li style your hair, it's covering your eyes now."

Jiang Cheng was puzzled for a moment. "Who is Director of Design Li?"

"Li Yan." Gu Fei said.  

Jiang Cheng paused for a moment, then leaned back laughing for a while: "Alright, have Director of Design Li give me the same style as you, less trouble that way."

"That won't work, the shorter the more maintenance needed, otherwise it'll just grow into a fuzzball," Gu Fei said, "keeping it short like this will buy some time to grow out more."

"Okay you decide," Jiang Cheng nodded.  

That was about the extent of conversing with Jiang Cheng, and also a few sentences before sleeping. Generally by the fourth sentence, Jiang Cheng would be asleep.

"I see you're almost exhausted to death," Gu Fei hugged Jiang Cheng.  

"Still okay, it's just too much to memorize, I'm bad at reciting," Jiang Cheng turned on his side, squeezing against him, "now every day it's reciting with eyes open, eyes closed also reciting."

"Regret it, not choosing sciences back then so there's less to memorize?" Gu Fei smiled.

"Regret your *ss, if regretting, there's a lot more to regret, like why did I always skip class and get into fights before, why did I only cram for the exams in the last half month," Jiang Cheng said, "if regretting, there's no end..."

"That's true too," Gu Fei smiled, "Brother Cheng is right."

"Sciences has annoying problems too, they're all annoying, at this point just grit your teeth and endure," Jiang Cheng rubbed against his leg, "I feel like my eyesight is worsening, yesterday when I wore your glasses it was pretty clear."

"Don't randomly wear them," Gu Fei said, "or go get your eyes checked."

"No time, I can still see clearly now, probably just fati..." Jiang Cheng went silent mid-sentence.

He had fallen asleep.

It was quite amazing, Gu Fei pulled the blanket over to cover him. The previous sentence he had spoken clearly and coherently, then suddenly went to sleep in the next sentence.

But the few students in class who were still working hard had similar states, seeming even less spirited than Jiang Cheng. At least Jiang Cheng didn't fall asleep in class, whereas now even Yi Jing would frequently rest her head on the desk.

It felt like a few days after the midterms, the finals were already here.

Old Xu stood in the hallway, seeing off the students from their class one by one as they entered the exam room, exhorting each of them: "Relax, read the questions carefully, manage your time reasonably..."

Gu Fei walked into the classroom and looked around, the seating arrangement this time was different from the midterms again, changing every time.  

The people around all had solemn expressions, whether they usually scored high or low, they all had the same look, at a glance it seemed they were all top scorers.

But once they started the exam, the differences could be seen.

Similarly looking over the exam first then starting to write, from their expression and gaze you could tell who knew it and who didn't.

In past exams, Gu Fei would randomly fill in answers while observing the people around him, this feeling that it had nothing to do with him was still very wonderful.

But now he didn't randomly fill things in anymore, so the pressure was quite big. Being half-unsure was the most agonizing state, relying mostly on recalling Jiang Cheng's reciting fragments, write down whatever came out, if unclear, piece things together bit by bit, but then time would be a little tight.

But these finals questions really were much harder than the midterms, he didn't know what state his boyfriend in the classroom next door was in.

Two days of exams didn't sound long, but when the final bell rang signaling to hand in papers, Gu Fei still felt a strong sense of relief.

He had finished this paper with just a few minutes left, only giving it a rough check.

As he stood to hand in his paper and leave, there was suddenly a commotion from the front row of desks colliding.  

Gu Fei turned his head to look. Yi Jing who was one row ahead of him had collapsed onto the ground, her forehead heavily hitting the floor, the thud making everyone's hearts jump. The people around immediately fell into chaos.

He hurriedly stepped over in two strides and carefully turned Yi Jing over. He saw her face was pale with eyes closed, seeming to have fainted.

Then he heard the proctor teacher's somewhat anxious voice: "What happened?"

"Someone fainted!" someone shouted.

"Yi Jing from Class 8 fainted!" another person shouted.  

"Hurry to the infirmary!" the proctor squeezed through, "Go notify the patrolling teachers!"

"I'll carry her," Gu Fei said.

A few people helped lift Yi Jing onto Gu Fei's back, and Gu Fei ran out carrying her.

The teachers outside had come over, Old Xu was at the front: "How could she faint! How could she faint! Is she injured?"

"Shouldn't be serious," Gu Fei said, then carried Yi Jing running towards the stairs.

"What happened!" Wang Xu rushed over.  

Gu Fei glanced at him. He saw this person's eyes were red from anxiousness, and his shout came out hoarse.

When Wang Xu threw himself to take Yi Jing from behind him, Gu Fei didn't resist and transferred her to Wang Xu's arms. With Wang Xu's current fervor, he would definitely be able to run to the infirmary twice as fast as him.

"Yi Jing! Yi Jing! Yi Jing!" Wang Xu shouted Yi Jing's name repeatedly. Not even carrying her on his back, directly princess hugging Yi Jing and running downstairs at a speed Gu Fei could barely keep up with unburdened.

A bunch of Class 8 students followed Old Xu to crowd into the infirmary. The school doctor had received a call but was still startled by this huge group.

After placing Yi Jing on the bed they were rushed out: "Out out out! Quiet!"  

Other than Old Xu and Wang Xu who stubbornly refused to leave, the rest were chased out.