The twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month, a sunny day.
Today is the day to go to school to get your transcript.
Xue Yuantong didn't stay in bed. As soon as Jiang Ning entered the kitchen, he saw her riding a pony and staring at the pot on the stove.
Aunt Gu opened the lid, steam rose up, and the aroma of noodles spread out. Xue Yuantong wanted to reach out, but was afraid of getting burned.
"Jiang Ning, you're here." Aunt Gu greeted.
Jiang Ning nodded. He almost ate three meals a day this semester at Xue Yuantong's house. Jiang Ning didn't eat for free. He often bought vegetables and Aunt Gu or Xue Yuantong cooked the meals. He was responsible for washing the dishes.
He asked: "Aunt Gu, you didn't go to work today?"
"Go later today." Aunt Gu said and continued cooking.
The meal this morning was relatively simple, including steamed buns, stir-fried edamame with pickled vegetables and shredded pork, and candied date rice soup.
In the kitchen, the three of them sat down around a small table. There were bowls on the table, and the heat in the bowls floated up from the bottom to Xue Yuantong's face.
In the hot air, she held a warm, soft steamed bun in her hand. She flipped it over with her other hand and folded the round steamed bun into a semicircle.
Holding her chopsticks, she picked up some pickles, shredded pork and edamame beans, placed them on the steamed buns, arranged them evenly into long strips, and then carefully rolled them up.
With one bite like this, you can eat vegetables and steamed buns at the same time, which is very enjoyable.
Xue Yuantong looked to her left and saw that her mother had already rolled one. She looked to her right and saw that Jiang Ning was eating candied dates.
"Jiang Ning, I'll give you the steamed buns I worked so hard to roll!" Xue Yuantong showed his kindness.
"So good?" Jiang Ning was a little surprised. In the past, she would be fine if she didn't compete with him for meals, but today she was so generous.
He wondered: "The sun comes out in the west?"
"Just tell me if you want it!"
"Yes." Jiang Ning took it in his hand.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Xue Yuantong saw his strange eyes, "Eat quickly."
Jiang Ning took a bite. The steamed bun was chewy and delicious.
Xue Yuantong's eyes were crooked. Jiang Ning had received her favor, so when she got her transcript back, she would have an excuse to play on the computer in Jiang Ning's room.
Play confidently!
After eating, Jiang Ning planned to wash the dishes. Aunt Gu said that there was hot water and she would wash it, and urged the two of them to go to school.
Jiang Ning saw Aunt Gu's insistence and went out to push the cart.
He pushed the car outside. In the open space, a young man of eighteen or nineteen years old who had returned from working outside shouted to Jiang Ning:
"Where are you going, buddy?"
"Go to school and get your transcript." Jiang Ning said.
"I thought you guys were on vacation." After saying that, the young man said with a familiar tone:
"It's good to go to school, you have a bright future."
This was a bit difficult to answer, so Jiang Ning did not answer.
The young man became interested in talking: "If I weren't older now, I really want to go back to school."
"It's pretty good now," Jiang Ning said.
The young man still wanted to talk, but Xue Yuantong walked out of the house and shouted:
"Jiang Ning, let's go."
"Gone." Jiang Ning left a message and pushed the cart to find Xue Yuantong.
…
No. 4 Middle School Campus.
Ma Shicheng walked on the main road of the campus.
Ma Shicheng got up very early. In fact, he didn't know why he got up so early.
Probably last night, his parents were nagging him about his grades and he couldn't rest in peace. Or maybe he was very concerned about his grades because he was a student after all.
Ma Shicheng is still looking forward to the results of this final exam.
Immediately, Ma Shicheng felt that he was very bad at writing. He had obviously been playing for a whole semester, and during the unified examination, he handed in the papers in advance in all subjects. How could he get good results?
However, he always longed for a miracle to happen.
Although in the math test, he only wrote multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, and the first three big questions, what if he got them all right?
In this way, just in mathematics alone, you will get more than 100 points!
Or maybe, did he get full marks for his Chinese composition this time?
If Longlong can create miracles, then maybe he can't.
Thinking about these things, Ma Shicheng gradually regained his confidence. Although he was addicted to playing games throughout the semester, his foundation in junior high school was still there. Even if he didn't study much, he could at least rank in the middle of the class, right?
He did not perform well last time and finished among the bottom ten in the class. Ma Shicheng is absolutely confident about his ranking this time and it will definitely be better than last time.
Last time he was ranked fifth from the bottom, and now there are Wu Xiaoqi and Song Sheng, who was discharged from the hospital not long ago. Two of them are at the bottom. As long as he keeps his grades unchanged, he will inevitably climb to the seventh from the bottom. Moreover, Ma Shicheng thought about it carefully and felt that he might have done well in the final exam that day.
Ma Shicheng kept cheering himself up and encouraging himself with various reasons. Gradually, he began to believe it.
Ma Shicheng walked confidently and walked all the way to the front of the teaching building.
He saw a dozen classmates scattered around the square in front of the teaching building.
Ma Shicheng often stays up late playing games on his mobile phone, but he has a good foundation and has never been nearsighted.
At a glance, he saw a slightly tilted display board standing on the ground. There were two big red flowers on the edge of the display board, making it look very festive.
The layout is covered with many white forms.
That was a scoreboard display board. The school also announced the results to all students for the first monthly exam.
Ma Shicheng clenched his fists, his nervous legs trembling. He took a deep breath, and the pimples on his forehead bloomed again.
He is the invincible Brother Ma!
A mere achievement, a trivial matter!
He held his head high and strode to the display board.
He had a strong aura and a fierce approach, and the two female classmates beside him couldn't help but make a place for him.
Ma Shicheng stood in front of the display board, like a king patrolling his territory.
He skipped the grade ranking list and went directly to the class ranking list where Class 8 was located.
'This time, let me see where I am!'
Ma Shicheng has great ambitions in the world and great achievements in the future.
He raised his head and swept from top to bottom, Xue Yuantong, who was first in Class 8, and Jiang Ning, who was second.
After looking at only two names, Ma Shicheng stopped and thought:
'Looking for my name from front to back means that my ranking will continue to decrease and my disappointment will become greater and greater;
And looking for my name from back to front means that my ranking will be higher and higher, and the surprise will be bigger and bigger.'
'Wisdom in life should be counted from back to front!'
Ma Shicheng felt that he had realized it. He moved his eyes to the bottom of the Class 8 results list with a warm smile on his face.
His gaze followed, his eyes were bright and full of captivating light, like the majestic king of beasts.
Just this look made Ma Shicheng stunned for a moment, and then he looked again, and there was a roar in his mind:
'What's going on? I'm the last one?'
'I am the last in Class 8!'
'Impossible, absolutely impossible!'
'Where are Wu Xiaoqi and Song Sheng?'
'Are they playing me?'
Ma Shicheng cheered up again and counted from bottom to top. His eyes swept through most of the tables and finally found Song Sheng, who was ninth in the class.
Later, Ma Shicheng found Wu Xiaoqi in the third position.
What the hell?
Why can they get such a high ranking?
Isn’t it true that one only plays basketball and never attends classes, and the other is hospitalized for several months?
Ma was in disbelief, and countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
But, this is the fact, he can only accept that the last one is the last one.
Ma Shicheng stood there blankly, and the bright light in his eyes gradually dimmed.
His dumbfounded figure was like the silently standing achievement display board.
One person, one person, standing opposite each other, speechless, like a couple whose relationship has broken down and has fallen into a cold war.
As time went by, more and more students were checking their scores. Ma Shicheng occupied a very conspicuous position, blocking other people's sight. Someone urged:
"Classmate, you should have finished reading. Could you please give me a break?"
Ma Shicheng silently moved aside.
Then, the results display board was once again occupied by other students, and students looking at the results gathered like a tide.
When Ma Shicheng was squeezed away, he moved outside again. Finally, he moved outside the crowd.
He looked at the crowd and the expressions on their faces, the excitement, joy, showing off, and confidence, all of which had nothing to do with him. He seemed like an outsider.
Ma Shicheng stood clearly under the light, but his whole body was covered with gloom.
When I was sixteen that year, I stood in front of the results board like a follower.
