Although the homeroom teacher had announced that students could pick up their personal admission notices from his office during working hours—and the standard address listed on them was always the school itself, to prevent any loss—Mo Xiangwen still dawdled until nearly six o’clock before finally arriving at the school gate.
He had no other reason for it than to avoid the peak rush of classmates coming to collect their notices.
He didn’t like crowds or being jostled by people.
The campus during vacation was peaceful and quiet, with none of the usual blaring music from the loudspeakers and no sign of students or teachers milling about.
The gate guard seemed to remember him and gave him a friendly wave.
Mo Xiangwen filled in his name on the entry log sheet on the table, then, following the example of others, wrote 【Picking up Admission Notice】 in the reason field.
He crossed the serene campus and arrived at the office building he’d visited countless times during his senior year to ask questions.
Peering through the window at the office door, he could see several teachers inside, chatting and laughing.
Though he wondered why they were all gathered around Xiang Ming, he decided to knock first.
Knock knock knock.
“Reporting in—”
No sooner had Mo Xiangwen spoken than every gaze in the office turned to him.
“It’s Xiangwen! You finally made it. I was starting to think you weren’t coming for your notice today.” Xiang Ming gently pushed back the teachers around him and waved Mo Xiangwen over. “Come on in. We’ve been waiting for you all day.”
Mo Xiangwen stepped into the office, assuming the teachers would disperse for now and resume their chat later.
To his surprise, not only did they stay put, but their eyes followed his every move, as if he were some exotic creature on display. It gave him goosebumps.
Was this really necessary? Hadn’t he gotten along just fine with them over the past month?
Even if he wasn’t a top-tier student, he was definitely no troublemaker.
“Uh, teachers, is there something you need?” Mo Xiangwen finally couldn’t take their stares and asked directly.
Unexpectedly, a male teacher from the Key Class stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You kid, you’re something else.”
The homeroom teachers from other classes nodded in deep agreement and gave him thumbs-up.
It was as if they’d rehearsed this moment, waiting for his arrival. Once the performance was over, each one returned to their desk to get back to work.
They still snuck occasional glances his way, but mostly at his homeroom teacher Xiang Ming, tinged with a hint of envy.
Mo Xiangwen reached Xiang Ming’s side and spotted the very last admission notice remaining on his desk, next to a stack of envelopes by the computer tower.
Xiang Ming pulled a chair out from under the desk. “Have a seat.”
“Uh, can’t I just grab the admission notice and go?” Mo Xiangwen asked, a bit wary. “I’m graduated now. Do I still have to listen to your wisdom?”
“Sit down when I tell you to. There’s something I need to chat with you about.” Xiang Ming looked at him with a mix of exasperation and amusement. “Why so on guard?”
Mo Xiangwen obediently sat, his eyes glued longingly to the red admission notice on the desk.
Xiang Ming sighed and handed it over first.
Mo Xiangwen took the admission notice and finally got a good look at it.
The bright red envelope looked festive right away. Beneath the courier logo gleamed the full name of H University in gold lettering, followed by the bold words “Admission Notice.”
The rest was elegant whitespace accented by the school’s emblem.
He instinctively ran his fingers over the envelope, tracing the school’s name again and again, savoring the texture.
In that moment, he felt that every grueling, exhausting, downright desperate effort of the past stretch had been worth it.
Seeing him like this, Xiang Ming chuckled. “Well? Happy?”
“To be honest, it feels damn good. And yeah, I’m thrilled.” Mo Xiangwen let out a slow breath, reluctantly tearing his gaze from the notice to look at his teacher. “Thank you for your guidance, sir.”
“Feels good, huh? Tell me about it—I’m thrilled too.” Xiang Ming waved it off. “This is all your own hard work; I had little to do with it. Want to guess what percentile you hit among this year’s graduates?”
“Uh… top three?” Mo Xiangwen ventured boldly after a moment’s hesitation.
“Number one.” Xiang Ming couldn’t help himself; he pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket, lit up, took a deep drag, exhaled out the window, then turned back with a grin. “And get this—the highest score in school history.”
School history’s top score? He could buy top of the class, but all-time record? Was it really that exaggerated?
Mo Xiangwen eyed his teacher uncertainly. “Isn’t that a bit over the top?”
“No score’s more over the top than yours.” Xiang Ming laughed scoldingly. “You think this is some city key high school pumping out a bunch of elite university admits every year?”
“The school counts it a huge win if we get even a handful of Tier 1 university students annually.”
“Even the numbers for Tier 2 and Tier 3 admits get tallied up and splashed across the promo boards.”
Mo Xiangwen nodded thoughtfully; he still remembered the banners at the school entrance.
“So the principal wants you to say a few words for some school promo.”
“Whoa, no way.” Mo Xiangwen, ever one to hate hassle, waved it off immediately. “The school’s full of talent. Next year you’ll have even better students than me. Find one of them instead.”
“There’s scholarship money. The principal said aside from the one from H University, he’ll personally chip in another chunk for you.”
“But then again, I spent three years here in high school. I’ve got deep feelings for the place, and getting where I am today is thanks to the careful nurturing from all you teachers and the school leaders.”
Mo Xiangwen rattled off the speech in one go, paused to catch his breath, then pressed on. “A few words? Leave it to me.”
He even patted his chest confidently, striking a pose like it was all handled.
Xiang Ming shook his head with a helpless chuckle. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then slipped him a red envelope.
Mo Xiangwen blinked. “What’s this?”
Xiang Ming lowered his voice guiltily. “Don’t ask. Just take it. It’s what you deserve as the matchmaker.”
Matchmaker? Him?
Mo Xiangwen blanked out for a good while. Even Overload Mode churning away couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
“I don’t know what’s going on, so I can’t accept it.” Mo Xiangwen shook his head and pushed it back.
A gentleman loves wealth, but only rightly gained. He wouldn’t touch some mysterious envelope.
Xiang Ming sighed and produced a wedding invitation instead, placing it in his hand.
Mo Xiangwen opened it. There was his name bold as brass on the invitee’s line, and one of the newlyweds was none other than the familiar “Xiang Ming.”
What the hell? His homeroom teacher inviting his own student to his wedding?
Mo Xiangwen was dumbfounded for a bit but pocketed it after a moment’s hesitation.
“I’ll be there. Anything else, sir?”
“One last thing.”
Xiang Ming handed him the stack of maybe ten or twenty envelopes from the desk.
“Want me to drop these at the mail center for you?” Mo Xiangwen glanced down, but there were no addresses or stamps. “They don’t have recipient info or postage.”
“Of course not. They’re from your classmates.” Xiang Ming shook his head. “Instead of asking so many questions, why not open one and see?”
Mo Xiangwen opened an envelope and pulled out a neatly folded sheet of paper.
Clear handwriting read: Thank you, Mo Xiangwen.
Signed at the bottom right in letter format: Liao Feiyang.
He checked several more—all the same format, words of thanks plus signatures.
Some even had two names—damn couples showing off even here.
“They said they’re grateful to you for helping them push through that final stretch with real effort,” Xiang Ming said with a smile. “The double signatures are from those little couples; they figure getting into the same school was partly thanks to you.”
“As for why not hand them over in person, they were too embarrassed.”
Mo Xiangwen carefully resealed each letter one by one and sat there in the chair, speechless for a long time.
“Well? Touched?”
“I don’t deserve this, sir. They did the work—how’s it got anything to do with me?” Mo Xiangwen sighed. “And grown men doing stuff like this…”
“Hahaha, morale’s a key part of the battlefield too. It’s just paper. Take it.”
He tilted his head back and said nothing more.
