"Why not give the college entrance exam a try? Whatever the outcome, it's fine." Fei Ni's face remained pressed against Fang Muyang's back. "Even if you don't get in, it's okay—you can always keep painting. When you've painted enough, we can host a small exhibition at home. We're much better off than before. I can study while earning a salary, and my pay will increase after graduation. Besides earning royalties from your sequential pictures, you don't need to take on unrelated jobs. Even if you stop drawing sequential pictures for a while, it won't affect our lives. We have savings, and after I graduate, my salary will rise to over fifty yuan. We can manage just fine with two people..."
"So you're planning to be my patron?"
Fei Ni pinched Fang Muyang's arm. "What kind of poor patron would I be?" After seeing the books in his suitcase, she knew some painters relied on patrons for support. She could support him for a year or two, but not longer. His palate had grown more discerning since working at a restaurant, and he often craved abalone cans.
"I'd be fine with cabbage every month—I'm not picky. How does that sound?"
Fei Ni thought he was joking and agreed, "We can occasionally have something nice, no need to always eat cabbage."
Fang Muyang took her seriously immediately. "Then what would you like me to paint for you? It's my duty to fulfill your requests."
He added that besides painting, he could also help Fei Ni fold quilts and make the bed—he'd do anything she wanted.
Fei Ni asked, "Are you serious? You'd do whatever I ask?"
"Of course, I'm serious."
"I want you to take the college entrance exam with me. With you there, I'd feel more at ease." She thought that given Fang Muyang's foundation, even last-minute cramming might not guarantee success. But there was always next year's exam—this one could serve as practice. If by chance he passed, that would be even better.
Fang Muyang squeezed Fei Ni's hand tightly but said, "You're holding me too tight."
Embarrassed, Fei Ni loosened her grip. Fang Muyang turned around and embraced her. "It's my turn to hold you now."
He held her even tighter than she had held him, cupping her face and kissing her forehead from above.
Fei Ni lifted her head to meet his kiss. When his lips moved to her ear, she had to say, "Let's go study." She feared that if this continued, she wouldn't be able to refuse him. With just over a month left until the exam, all time outside of rest needed to be devoted to review.
Fang Muyang's lips brushed against Fei Ni's ear as he finally said, "Okay."
He gently scratched her ear. "But after the exam, I'll make up for all my duties."
Fei Ni hummed in agreement—a soft sound that unmistakably reached Fang Muyang's ears.
Fang Muyang had no choice but to continue preparing for the exam. His only condition for Fei Ni was that they not interfere with each other's studies—if she spent time organizing exam materials for him, he wouldn't take the test. His resolve was so firm that Fei Ni had to relent. Her expectations for him weren't high; she just wanted him to get a feel for the exam through this experience.
Although Fang Muyang had insisted on non-interference, he still managed to obtain college entrance exam papers from over a decade ago for Fei Ni. She asked him, "Where did you get these?"
"Don't worry about that. The papers are authentic."
Along with the exam papers came the answer keys.The answer key was written by Fei Ni's in-laws. Normally, such test papers could be handled by asking younger relatives at the school for help, without requiring their personal involvement. But now they were quite afraid of troubling others, so they solved the problems and wrote the answers themselves.
Despite the elders condescending to write it, Fang Muyang still expressed doubts about Old Fang's answers. Old Fang was indignant: "You're underestimating your father too much. Do you really think I can't even handle simple college entrance exam questions?" How outrageous.
Fang Muyang promptly comforted his father: "You're even less capable of writing elementary school compositions. Your level of thinking is something ordinary middle school students can't reach - not only can they not achieve it, they can't even comprehend it."
Rarely praised by his rebellious son, Old Fang found his words quite reasonable and even helped find another young person to complete the test questions again. Fang Muyang brought the papers back to Fei Ni without even glancing at the answers.
Fei Ni asked Fang Muyang to also complete the test papers, planning to compare answers after both had finished.
Fang Muyang refused outright, claiming he didn't want to damage his image in Fei Ni's eyes. The real reason was that he was too lazy to do it - he wouldn't even copy a single word with the answers right in front of him.
Fei Ni felt embarrassed to tell Fang Muyang that she had no expectations of him whatsoever, and that however poorly he performed would be within her expectations.
So she instead said: "I like you not because of your academic performance. No matter how you do, it won't change my opinion of you." Her opinion of him was that he simply couldn't solve most problems.
However, Fang Muyang still surprised Fei Ni - he performed considerably better than she had imagined.
Many test questions represented knowledge to others, but for Fang Muyang they were just common sense. Though he lacked extensive knowledge, he possessed abundant common sense.
Fei Ni copied the test papers Fang Muyang had obtained for her brother. The copying process essentially amounted to redoing the questions.
Fei Ting hadn't originally planned to take the college entrance exam, but he couldn't withstand Lin Mei's arguments. Lin Mei threatened that if Fei Ting didn't register for the exam, she would abort the baby, since Fei Ting was only skipping the exam because of the child.
Fei Ting didn't completely yield: "If you think university is so wonderful, you should take the exam yourself. If not this year, then next year. You go to university, and I'll stay home with the child."
"You're just mocking me. You know perfectly well I get headaches just from looking at books. During high school, I kept wishing the college entrance exam would be canceled so I wouldn't have to explain to my parents why I couldn't get into university. When it really got canceled, you can't imagine how happy I was - it felt like a dream, like I'd finally escaped disaster. But dreams coming true aren't always good things. Before I even graduated high school, instead of getting factory jobs, we were sent to the countryside for re-education. There I met you, and I thought this must be the silver lining - heaven hadn't treated me poorly after all. But the cancellation lasted all these years, delaying you too. Sometimes I think, if only the exams hadn't been canceled, you wouldn't have had to struggle so much." If not for Fei Ni's help, Fei Ting might not have been able to return even now.
"You..." Fei Ting originally meant to say "You... how can you be so simple-minded." But he omitted the latter part, only saying, "Don't tell anyone else about this." These weren't glorious thoughts to be sharing so openly without any reservation.
"I'm not stupid. I only tell you these things." Lin Mei couldn't help speculating, "If the college entrance exams hadn't been canceled, you probably wouldn't have married me either.""No matter how things change, I'll marry you. I just like smart people like you."
"You're teasing me again, but I won't take it to heart. Go sign up for the engineering college near our home—you can come back for lunch after morning classes."
Fei Ting had originally avoided the college entrance exam to avoid burdening Lin Mei, but after she expressed this stance, he no longer had any reason not to take it. Once registered, he devoted every moment to studying. Unlike Fei Ni and Fang Muyang, he was almost thirty and couldn't afford to make mistakes—he had to pass on the first try.
Fei Ni often visited her brother at noon, bringing him powdered milk, canned goods, malted milk, tea eggs cooked by Fang Muyang, as well as test papers and study materials she managed to obtain.
Fei Ting refused everything except the study aids. Through their recent interactions, his impression of his younger sister's husband had grown quite favorable. However, since Fang Muyang had helped sell the furniture he recently made, and Fei Ni frequently brought things home—even if bought with her salary, it was still shared marital property—he didn't want to strain their relationship or let Fang Muyang see their family as Fei Ni's burden.
"These are for Mom, Dad, and my sister-in-law. You can't refuse on their behalf."
With Fei Ni putting it that way, Fei Ting couldn't decline. When winter arrived, he bought a large basket of coal briquettes and delivered them to his sister and brother-in-law.
The coal was excellent, burning with a vigorous flame. Though Fang Muyang wasn't particularly frugal, he rarely burned coal at home, deeming it unnecessary.
Fang Muyang didn't work during the day, nor did he study. Most of his time was spent painting, and his workspace wasn't limited to their small courtyard—he went everywhere. One day, he even ventured to the outskirts, sketching in the fields. The wind howled, sneaking into his collar, but he didn't notice. After finishing, he bought some local eggs from a villager—the state store's supply wasn't enough—and rode his bicycle back to the city. The wind along the way actually warmed him up; he was in a hurry to get home. No matter how far he went, he always returned before Fei Ni got off work. On such cold days, he wanted the house to be warm for her.
Sometimes, after painting all day in his studio, as Fei Ni's return time approached, Fang Muyang would take a quick shower to wash off the smell of turpentine. Once the room warmed up, he'd sit at the desk, waiting for her. Fei Ni would come home to find him reading, and she'd always tell him to take a break and get ready to eat—she often managed to snag the meat dishes.
Even when she didn't, they ate well. Though Fang Muyang didn't work at a restaurant, Fei Ni ate better than before. Mutton was scarce and its supply unpredictable, so Fang Muyang would queue up at four in the morning to buy some. He'd slice it thin and cook it in a alcohol stove pot. Without condiments like shrimp paste, sesame sauce, or fermented tofu, the meat alone was delicious. It never lasted long, so they'd follow it with a big bowl of noodles. Occasionally, after studying, Fei Ni would relax by slicing steamed buns, coating them in egg batter, and frying them. She'd serve half a plate of these crispy bun slices with black tea as Fang Muyang's late-night snack.
While studying at night, Fei Ni kept a hot-water bottle in her lap and a small charcoal stove nearby. The stove provided warmth and was also used to roast chestnuts and sweet potatoes.
Munching on scalding sweet potato, she'd ask Fang Muyang to recite his lessons.Although Fei Ni held little hope that Fang Muyang would pass the exam on his first attempt, she hadn't completely given up on him. They became classmates once again. During the day, they were classmates—solving problems and reviewing lessons together. At night in bed, they remained classmates, with Fei Ni acting as both teacher and friend to Fang Muyang, everything except his wife. After the lights went out, Fei Ni's words to Fang Muyang multiplied wildly as she tirelessly shared her study insights. Fang Muyang sometimes felt this was retribution for his past inattentiveness in class, now having to endure lectures even after marriage and in bed. To avoid disturbing each other, Fei Ni insisted they use separate quilts. Fang Muyang would hug Fei Ni over the quilts, and though she told him to put his hands back inside because it was too cold outside, he kept his arms exposed. Winter was bitterly cold, and two people huddled together were always warmer than one alone.
Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or nourished me with nutrient solutions between 2021-10-22 09:47:24 and 2021-10-24 00:00:34~
Special thanks to: Winter Rose for the shallow-water bomb; Fairy Deer for the hand grenade; and to East Doesn't Understand, Starting Jiangjiang Life from Zero (2), Country Concubine Is Also Trendy, Magical Girl Zhao Si, Gui Mo, and Mi for the landmines.
Gratitude for nutrient solutions to: Daming (50 bottles), Xiu Ge (45 bottles), Pillow (40 bottles), Sweet and Sour Ribs (30 bottles), Bubble Fish (27 bottles), Sugar-Coated Pistol Dummy (20 bottles), Y, Lazy Hole (19 bottles), Riding the North Wind (16 bottles), Chaoming, Sur, Li Mutou, Spicy Carved Eagle, Min Lan, Oyou, Transparent Glutinous Rice, Wife of Ji Chang-wook, Water Beauty, and I'm Really (10 bottles); Ichich, East Doesn't Understand (8 bottles); 7 bottles; Clear Tea and Turbid Wine (6 bottles); Hesitant to Speak, Mo Ran, Fan Shiyi, Nanxia, Cat (5 bottles); Big Eyes (4 bottles); Qu Buxia, 27238738, Lighter (3 bottles); Wei Wei, Ahua Is Not a Flower, Lei11505, Bright Moon Corn, Ndsearch, Sixteen (2 bottles); Hongyue, Anonymous Netizen Friend, Cute Flower, Midnight Snack Classmate, Ouyu, Mumu Vi, Two Cats One Dog (1 bottle).
Thank you all for your support—I will continue to work hard!
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