Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 53 Exam
At 6:00 AM on June 3rd.

Ai Liang got up on time as usual, without making any changes because of the exam.

Just turn on the tap, apply toothpaste, and brush your teeth normally.

Aside from not moving his hands, he was no different from any other teenager.

The torrential rain outside showed no signs of abating; it was even worse than last night.

Moreover, there was a strong wind today. In this kind of weather, it's hard to protect your whole body with just an umbrella; at the very least, your pants will inevitably get wet.

Ai Liang stood on the balcony for a while, then went back to her bedroom and found a black raincoat to change into.

Many pedestrians chose to wear raincoats.

At 6:30, Ai Liang walked into the familiar breakfast shop.

"Good morning, Ai Liang. I haven't seen you for more than half a month. I thought you were tired of the steamed buns here."

Despite complaining, the boss maintained his usual attitude and greeted Ai Liang warmly.

"Exams are coming up soon, so I've been quite busy lately." Ai Liang sat down near the counter.

Due to the heavy rain, there were far fewer customers in the store than usual. Since there was no parking available in front of the store, most parents chose to cook at home or pack the buns to take home, and not many people ate at the store.

The shop owner placed the tofu pudding and steamed buns on the table: "Today seems to be the day of the high school entrance exam, right? Have you decided which school you want to go to?"

“A school that’s quite far away,” Ai Liang said.

"So you mean we can't come here for breakfast anymore?" The owner's expression changed slightly, and his tone was somewhat emotional. "After eating here for so many years, I'm really not used to it suddenly having to leave."

Ai Liang smiled and said, "If you're not used to it, you can send me takeout."

"Have you changed your ways, kid?" The boss looked at Ai Liang in surprise. "You used to be as quiet as a cicada in winter, why are you talking so much today? Did you get a girlfriend?"

"No, I just wanted to try changing my image recently."

"It's good that you've changed. You used to be like an old man, always with a cold face. If you had kept that personality, you wouldn't have been able to make any friends in high school," the boss said, nodding.

He looked outside the shop, but no customers were coming in. So the owner walked out from behind the counter and sat down opposite Ai Liang.

Since there aren't many customers, there's no need to rush to knead the dough and prepare the ingredients; the buns made in the early morning are more than enough to sell.

"Are you planning to live on campus?" he asked.

"I'm renting a place outside." Ai Liang picked up a steamed bun and put it directly into her mouth without caring about its temperature.

The shop owner, leaning on the table, looked out of the shop: "It's better to live on campus if the school is far away. That way, if you run into any trouble, there will be someone to help you."

“It’s all the same,” Ai Liang said vaguely. “It’s just that I’ve moved to a different place. I’m still living alone, and my life is no different from what I’m living now.”

The boss was speechless for a moment after hearing this.

He had inquired about Ai Liang's family situation when chatting with guests before, and perhaps for this child, it really was just a matter of moving to a different place.

Not knowing what to say, the boss sat quietly across from Ai Liang and watched her eat.

As Ai Liang was about to pay the bill, the owner waved his hand and said, "The exam is coming up soon, so this meal is on me. Consider it an early celebration of your good grades."

Ai Liang didn't stand on ceremony with the boss, just said thank you, put on her raincoat, and left.

"It really has changed a lot," the boss muttered to himself as he tidied up the table.

In the past, Ai Liang would have scanned the code to pay even if the boss said he didn't need to pay, and he would never accept other people's kindness, just like he didn't want to have any interaction with anyone.

The boss, who had watched Ai Liang grow up, was genuinely happy for him and hummed a little tune.

On the bus, Ai Liang looked out the window.

The once deserted motor vehicle lanes are now packed with people, with candidates and parents rushing to the examination halls, severely impacting traffic.

Most of these candidates take the exam at their own school. For candidates taking the exam at other schools, the school organizes a group trip, requiring them to gather at the school at 6:00 AM to take a bus to the exam site. After all, some exam sites are quite far away, and considering factors such as weather and traffic, they need to leave early.

Of course, many parents insist on personally taking their children to the examination venue, which is the main reason for the traffic congestion.

When the bus arrived at the station, Ai Liang silently got off through the back door and squeezed into the crowd.

The rain was so heavy that people's faces were almost invisible, as if a giant hand in the sky was watering the city with a sprinkler.

Wearing a raincoat was a wise decision. There were many people around the school, and the height of the umbrellas varied due to different heights. Rainwater would fall down the edge of the umbrella onto shorter people, so it would be the same whether or not they had an umbrella.

It's one thing to have to look up at other people's nostrils when speaking normally, but even sharing an umbrella in the rain puts short people at a disadvantage, making them fully experience what the world's malice is like.

Ai Liang squeezed her way to the school gate. The familiar school gate was now filled with many unfamiliar faces. These were all candidates from other schools. Some were accompanied by their parents, while others were gathered in twos and threes under the guidance of their teachers, completely blocking the school gate.

Ai Liang spotted Yue Qihua and the others in the crowd, but instead of greeting them, he chose to lean against the railing alone.

Yang Xingguo stood beside the two of them, chatting with Ma Yu's father. Ai Liang had no desire to meet that paranoid maniac.

Let's return the umbrella tomorrow.

Ai Liang looked at the folding umbrella in her hand and thought to herself.

Before long, the security guards finally opened the school gates, and the crowd surged in like sardines.

Ai Liang had already checked his exam venue outside the school. Instead of following the crowd to the notice board, he went straight into the teaching building.

After passing through security and fingerprint verification, Ai Liang sat down in the seat with her name tag.

All the extra desks and chairs in the classroom had been put away in a corner, indicating that the teachers had been busy after school last night.

The first exam was in Chinese. As long as you have a solid foundation, you can do it smoothly. Ai Liang finished the exam when it was only halfway through.

This is because Chinese has a lot of words and takes a lot of time to write. If it were a subject like math or a foreign language, it would only take about half an hour to finish.

After finishing the exam, Ai Liang slung the answer sheet over her shoulder and began to idly prop her chin up, lost in thought, much like the seemingly serious but actually daydreaming proctor on the podium.

The expressionless proctor looked very imposing, with the air of a religious inquisition, as if offending him would result in being kicked out of the examination room.

In reality, they didn't know what expression they should make.

Unlike regular monthly, midterm, or final exams at your own school, the high school entrance exam is different. During regular exams, you can walk around and check how well the students did, or you can silence your phone and watch videos or read novels to pass the time.

In these large-scale exams, proctors can do nothing but stare blankly at the students, which is incredibly boring. The worst part is that there are cameras watching them, so they can't even lie down and sleep.

The proctor on the podium scanned the classroom with deadpan eyes and then spotted Ai Liang, this oddball.

(End of this chapter)