The car door closed.
The black Audi A6 merged into traffic and soon disappeared from sight.
He Gui stood beside a concrete pillar.
A black Santana 2000, its right turn signal blinking, slowly pulled up in front of He Gui.
The car’s body was a bit old, with a few scratches on the front bumper.
The passenger-side door was shoved open.
A chubby man squeezed out of the car.
It was the dean from He Gui’s middle school.
The dean was wearing a gray polo shirt, a large patch on its back already soaked with sweat.
He held a bottle of ice-cold Coke beaded with condensation, which he had originally intended to hand directly to He Gui.
But his gaze swept over and landed on Professor Wang, who was standing nearby.
The dean’s steps took an abrupt turn, and he strode over to Professor Wang in just a few quick paces.
"Ah, Professor Wang! You must be exhausted! Thank you for all your trouble!"
The dean grasped Professor Wang’s hand with both of his, shaking it up and down a few times as he forced the flesh of his face into a brilliant smile.
He let go and hurriedly fumbled in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes.
"It was a long journey. Have a smoke to unwind."
"I don’t smoke, but thank you."
Professor Wang waved his hand and took a step back.
"He Gui is a very steady and good kid. Keep encouraging him when you get back."
"Of course, of course! He Gui has always been the pride of our school!"
The dean nodded repeatedly, only then turning to walk over to He Gui and thrust the bottle of ice-cold Coke into his hand.
"He Gui, it’s been a tough trip. You’ve worked hard."
The dean pulled a tissue from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his forehead, his eyes fixed on He Gui’s face.
"So? Do you... have a rough idea of your score?"
He Gui gripped the cold Coke in his hand.
A droplet of condensation slid down the bottle and landed on the back of his hand.
"I got full points on the practical portion of the team competition this afternoon. The written part isn’t graded yet, but the result should be good."
He Gui looked into the dean’s eager eyes.
The dean froze.
The crumpled tissue he was using to wipe his sweat fell to the ground.
The flesh on his face trembled.
Then, an irrepressible ecstasy erupted from his eyes.
"Good! Good! Attaboy!"
The dean clapped He Gui hard on the shoulder, the force of it making him stumble slightly.
"You’ve done a great service for our school! When we get back, I’ll have the principal hold a commendation assembly! And you’ll definitely get a handsome bonus!"
The dean turned around, fumbling frantically in his pants pocket for his phone.
He flipped it open.
He walked toward the car, rapidly dialing a number.
"Hello? Principal Wang! It’s me, Old Liu!"
His voice grew shrill with excitement, sharp enough to be heard clearly even in the noisy arrivals area.
"I’ve got him, I’ve got him! He Gui said he got a perfect score in the team event! That’s right! Our school’s quota for this year is secured!"
He Gui stood where he was.
The Coke in his hand was very cold.
He watched the back of the dean, who was leaning over the roof of the Santana, bowing and scraping at the phone, his face flushed red with excitement.
A droplet of water trickled into the web of his thumb.
He Gui didn’t look down.
He stared at the congested traffic ahead.
’At the training center, I was afraid of connecting a wire wrong, afraid of dragging down the whole team.’
’At school, I was afraid of doing poorly on tests, afraid of not being able to afford the fees for study materials.’
’But now, the dean was standing under the hot sun, buying me an ice-cold Coke, promising me a bonus, and reporting the good news over the phone.’
’It was all because of that one score.’
’A score earned with sweat and fear.’
’A score could be exchanged for a target.’
’A target could be exchanged for political achievement.’
’And political achievement could be exchanged for deference and smiles.’
’It was much simpler than any physics formula.’
He Gui quietly walked over, pulled open the back door of the Santana, and got in.
The door closed, shutting out the heat wave from outside.
After waiting a little longer,
Wang Huashao’s parents also arrived, driving a minivan.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Professor Wang, Wang Huashao, with his backpack on, waved goodbye and hopped into the van.
On the curb of the arrivals area,
only Professor Wang, Chen Zhuo, Zhou Kai, and Lin Yi were left.
Professor Wang looked at the three of them.
"Are you three heading straight back to the Provincial Experimental School, or?"
"Are you going back to Zeyang?"
Lin Yi turned her head to look at Chen Zhuo.
The training camp was located in the provincial capital, right at the Provincial Experimental Middle School.
There was no point in traveling back and forth.
"I’m not going back," Chen Zhuo said.
"The training camp is at your school. I’ll just go there directly."
After listening, Professor Wang nodded.
"Let’s go. To the taxi stand."
The old man led the way, bringing the three students to the taxi queue.
After a few minutes, a green taxi pulled up in front of them.
Professor Wang walked up and opened the rear door.
"Get in."
Lin Yi and Zhou Kai climbed into the back seat, while Chen Zhuo opened the front passenger door and got in.
Professor Wang didn’t hurry to close the door.
He took off the old leather satchel he was carrying, unzipped it, pulled out his wallet, and took out a fifty-yuan bill.
The old man reached through the open passenger-side window and pressed the money into Chen Zhuo’s hand.
"Take this for the fare," Professor Wang said.
Chen Zhuo was taken aback and was about to hand the money back.
"Professor, I have money..."
"Take it."
Professor Wang cut him off with a wave of his hand.
The old man bent down slightly, his gaze passing over Chen Zhuo to land on Zhou Kai and Lin Yi in the back. His tone became serious.
"You two are the local experts at Provincial Experimental, while Chen Zhuo is a stranger here."
Professor Wang looked at Zhou Kai.
"Once you get to the school, show Chen Zhuo around, get him familiar with the place. Don’t let him get bullied."
Zhou Kai immediately sat up straight and nodded vigorously.
"Don’t worry, Professor Wang. I’ll take care of everything."
Only then did Professor Wang retract his gaze and turn back to Chen Zhuo in the passenger seat.
"You managed to carry them through the physics portion."
Professor Wang reached out and tapped twice on the edge of Chen Zhuo’s lowered window.
"Do well in math, too."
Chen Zhuo clutched the fifty-yuan bill.
He looked at Professor Wang outside the window and nodded earnestly.
"Don’t worry."
Professor Wang straightened up and helped close Chen Zhuo’s door.
He took a step back and waved at the driver.
"Let’s go, driver. Drive safe."
The driver stepped on the gas.
The taxi pulled out of the airport’s waiting area and onto the overpass.
Chen Zhuo glanced in the rearview mirror.
Professor Wang was still holding his old leather satchel, standing amidst the exhaust fumes and heatwaves. He watched their car until it was far in the distance before turning to queue for his own ride.
The car weaved through the city for nearly forty minutes before finally stopping at the gate of the Provincial Experimental School.
The three of them got out.
The security guard, enjoying the air conditioning in the guardhouse, glanced at that lazy girl Lin Yi, then at Chen Zhuo beside her, and didn’t stop them.
They walked through the school gate.
A wide, tree-lined avenue stretched straight ahead.
It was flanked by tall French plane trees whose canopies met high above, dicing the sunlight into fine flecks that dappled the asphalt below.
The chirping of cicadas rose and fell, carrying the distinctive clamor of high summer.
The entire campus was quiet and vast.
Zhou Kai walked ahead, slowing his pace slightly.
"That four-story gray building on the left."
Zhou Kai pointed to a building on the left side of the avenue.
"The one on the right with the glass skywalk is the biochemistry lab building."
Zhou Kai continued his introduction.
"The second floor is for inorganic chemistry, the third is for organic chemistry and biology. The equipment is almost all imported from Germany, and the fume hoods are independent systems."
Lin Yi trailed beside them.
"Don’t listen to him brag."
Lin Yi said lazily.
"In that biochem building, the central air conditioning is terrible in the summer. You could die of heat doing a titration experiment in there, and the chemical smell lingers for half a month."
Zhou Kai frowned.
"It’s a laboratory. A place for doing experiments, not for you to go enjoy the air conditioning."
Lin Yi rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond to him.
She pointed to a huge red-brick building up ahead.
"See that? The library."
Lin Yi looked at Chen Zhuo.
"The first and second floors are crowded, don’t bother. Go to the third floor. In the very back, in the corner by the window, is where they keep the old foreign-language magazines. Practically no one ever goes there."
The corner of her mouth quirked up slightly.
"The AC is strongest there, and there’s a row of connected sofas. If you take a nap there in the afternoon, you can sleep until you wake up on your own."
Chen Zhuo committed the red-brick building to memory.

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