Chapter 138: The Grand Finale

During his time accompanying his studies, Hou Mo didn’t cause any trouble but instead worked diligently.

He knew how hard it was to study alongside Sui Houyu and didn’t want to let the other students around them feel that he was already guaranteed admission and had nothing to do all day, standing in stark contrast to them.

During this time, he also studied seriously.

When Sui Houyu was solving problems, he would follow along and then compare answers with him.

After comparing, he would explain his thought process to Sui Houyu, and when Sui Houyu’s approach was more flexible, he would humbly ask for advice.

When it was time to memorize classical texts or vocabulary, he would quiz Sui Houyu.

His daily tasks also included making sure Sui Houyu ate properly, ensuring balanced nutrition, and watching over his sleeping schedule, making sure he didn’t stay up too late.

The latest he could accept was 1:30 AM; anything later was unbearable as it would affect their health in the long run.

After two treatments, and with Hou Mo by his side helping Sui Houyu calm down, his sleep improved, and his emotions gradually stabilized, becoming less irritable over time.

But his competitive spirit remained as strong as ever.

Every time his competitive nature appeared in strange ways, Hou Mo was caught off guard.

For example, when Hou Mo finished a problem faster than him, Sui Houyu would suddenly become upset: “You’re so arrogant!”

Hou Mo had to apologize for solving the problems too quickly, and from then on, he would intentionally wait for Sui Houyu before answering.

Another example was when Hou Mo occasionally explained problems to Sang Xian, who quickly understood. Hou Mo would say: “Clever, you get it right away.”

Afterward, when they returned to their seats, Sui Houyu suddenly ignored Hou Mo. Hou Mo thought he was jealous for no reason, but he heard Sui Houyu ask himself: “What, I didn’t get it right? Am I slow? Am I dumb?”

“Oh great one…” Hou Mo really didn’t know what to do. He sincerely reassured him: “You’re the smartest! Really!”

“Pfft.” Sui Houyu resumed working on his problems and barely spoke to Hou Mo for the entire night.

In other situations, Sui Houyu was very hard to appease.

But at night, he was much easier to handle. After all, Sui Houyu was someone who still wanted affection, and if he wanted something, he would playfully act cute toward Hou Mo.

Usually, these things would be resolved by the end of the night.

During the first mock exam, Sui Houyu’s scores had already improved significantly, reaching 24th in his grade.

In the second mock exam, he ranked 13th in his grade.

By the third mock exam, he had moved up to 2nd place in his grade.

The first place went to Hou Mo, who had participated in the exam.

When they got the papers, Hou Mo and Sui Houyu studied his exam papers together.

They reviewed the papers from the three mock exams repeatedly, and after that, they continued to solve problems, making it feel much easier.

At least Sui Houyu’s current scores and mental state were very stable, so taking the college entrance exam wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

The lost memories were gradually being recovered, and his memory had returned to normal.

So, they started practicing other things. Hou Mo bought Sui Houyu a calligraphy book so he could practice writing.

While Sui Houyu wrote, Hou Mo would peek over his shoulder, then take his hand, guiding him: “When writing the horizontal hook, use this kind of force, see? Like this…”

After teaching for less than five minutes, Sui Houyu suddenly leaned back, and his head hit the desk. He woke up in surprise, staring at him.

Hou Mo quickly rubbed his head: “How did you fall asleep so fast? Are you that tired from writing?”

Sui Houyu rubbed his sore forehead, looked at his handwriting, and despondently asked: “Is my handwriting hopeless?”

“It’s fine! Look at your handwriting from the start and now, isn’t it much better? This is called osmosis. Our writing is getting more and more alike, it’s called ‘Sui Fu style^[1]’.”

He took his own writing from before and compared it to now. He also grabbed Hou Mo’s notebook to check, and indeed, his handwriting was starting to resemble Hou Mo’s.

After being together, their habits had become almost identical. Now, even their handwriting was close to the same.

Hou Mo silently integrated into his life, deeply and irreversibly. It was hard to separate.

This feeling was amazing.

Suddenly, a person appeared who genuinely cared about him, shared his joys and sorrows, dreamed his dreams, and longed for the things he longed for.

They had the same dreams, the same pursuits.

They worked hard in the same way.

When it snowed in his world, this person could see the purity in his world. When it rained in this person’s world, he could feel the moisture and tenderness.

This person understood him, and he liked this person too.

Sui Houyu suddenly smiled, put down the calligraphy book, and cuddled into Hou Mo’s arms: “I’m tired from studying, I’m going to sleep for a bit.”

“Okay.” Hou Mo carefully embraced him, leaning against the wall, pulling the bed curtain to shield them both, gently coaxing him to sleep.

*

Following Sui Houyu’s college entrance examination, Hou Mo also went along.

Hou Mo didn’t need to enter the exam hall. His mom’s company was busy and couldn’t make time to come.

When Sui Houyu’s parents arrived, Hou Mo, who had been feeling fine, suddenly found himself in a bad mood. He played the role of a family member, staying with him in a nearby hotel while Sui Houyu entered the exam.

Once Sui Houyu entered the exam hall, Hou Mo, like many netizens, was most concerned about the essay topic.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the other topics, but he knew Sui Houyu’s weak spot. Both their essays were their Achilles’ heel; neither of them had great literary talent, and while they could handle essays without emotional content, if there was even a hint of emotion in the topic, Sui Houyu might very well fail miserably.

Someone who has lacked emotion all their life would find it hard to write an essay full of feelings.

After seeing the essay topic, Hou Mo fell into confusion.

Essay Topic: “Looking Back.”

This mysterious topic, with its profound implications, was something that could easily go completely off-topic if not handled carefully…

Hou Mo, feeling desperate, rubbed his face.

He wandered outside the exam hall, bought a box of incense, and found a picture of Wen Qu Xing^[2] on his phone, setting it as his wallpaper. He respectfully lit two incense sticks in front of it, hoping that Wen Qu Xing would bless Sui Houyu.

“Don’t mind how simple this is…” Hou Mo placed two steamed buns on the table, “It’s the sincerity we offer. We’re not asking for literary brilliance, we just hope my Brother Yu’s essay doesn’t go off-topic.”

When Sui Houyu finished his exam, Hou Mo couldn’t help but wish Sui Houyu would write the essay again for him to see, so he could gauge how many points it might score.

But when he saw Sui Houyu was still seriously studying for the next subject, Hou Mo decided not to bring it up, worried about disturbing him.

Fine, the exam was over; let’s just move on.

June 8.

While having breakfast, Sui Houyu looked at Hou Mo and smiled, asking: “Why do you have a bump at the corner of your mouth?”

“It’s from being overworked. I got anxious after seeing the essay topic yesterday, and it popped up. There’s even one inside my mouth, I’ll buy some vitamin B2 later.”

“Hmm, don’t worry about it. I think I did alright.”

“Really?”

“Well… Anyway… If I went off-topic, I wouldn’t even realize it… But I enjoyed writing it.”

Hou Mo’s frustration flared up again.

After the afternoon exams ended, Hou Mo stood at the school gate waiting.

The area outside the school gate was already crowded, with most of the people being parents, and a few reporters. Hou Mo stood out among the crowd, mainly because he was tall and fair, so it was easy to spot him.

While waiting, a parent nearby asked him: “Who are you waiting for? A sibling coming for the exam?”

“Oh, I’m waiting for my boyfriend,” Hou Mo answered calmly.

The uncle looked him up and down and asked: “You’re in your senior year of high school and you’re in a relationship? Have you already gone to university?”

“No, I’m also in my senior year.”

“Not taking the college entrance exam?” The uncle clicked his tongue. “You really should go to university. Without a degree, finding a job is hard, don’t let dating get in the way.”

Hou Mo answered politely, “Oh, no, I’ve already been guaranteed admission, so I’m not taking the exam.”

“Ah, I see! Where have you been guaranteed?”

“Huazhong University.”

“…”

Other parents around them overheard the conversation and turned to look at him. The parent who asked seemed at a loss for words for a while before asking, “So… how about your boyfriend? Is he also taking the exam in Beijing?”

“Yeah, he’s also taking the exam at Huazhong University.”

“Do you think he can get in?”

“He should be able to, he ranked fifth in the province in the last mock exam.”

“Well, that’s pretty good.” The uncle didn’t say anything more.

As the exam hall doors opened and the candidates began coming out, Hou Mo immediately smiled when he saw his familiar curly hair getting closer.

Parents who had been listening to their conversation now noticed a good-looking young man walking toward Hou Mo and couldn’t help but watch. Since Sui Houyu came out earlier than expected, the other parents were still waiting and happened to overhear their conversation.

“How did it go?” Hou Mo pulled Sui Houyu over.

“Science and English, even if it’s not perfect, it’s close. Today, Su Anyi and the others’ parents came, they’re not joining us, let’s go eat by ourselves.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“Anything.”

The two of them walked away side by side.

*

The day the exam results were released at noon, Sui Houyu was called by the school teacher to the former Qingyu campus.

Hou Mo naturally went along with him, but when they got there, they weren’t allowed to enter the school gate—only Sui Houyu was allowed in.

Standing outside the school gate, Hou Mo looked at Sui Houyu inside, both feeling confused.

The teacher led Sui Houyu inside, turning around to tell Hou Mo: “Since you didn’t take the exam, don’t come in. Go around the area and come back in the afternoon.”

“Why can’t I participate?” Hou Mo leaned against the gate and asked.

“Oh, why are you asking so many questions?” The teacher didn’t seem eager to answer.

Sui Houyu was taken to an office, where another teacher arrived, smiling and starting a conversation with him.

The teacher explained that they had heard Sui Houyu did well in the mock exams, so they expected him to do well in the college entrance exam as well. They planned to have him sign an enrollment agreement, so that even if his exam scores weren’t enough, he could still attend Peking University.

After chatting for a while, Sui Houyu realized the teacher was from Peking University.

Confused, Sui Houyu hesitated and said: “I’d like to see the scores first.”

The teacher, who seemed very easygoing, kept persuading him, asking if he wanted to have lunch and even offering to book a meal for them.

Sui Houyu quickly refused: “I need to participate in a national competition in the future, so I can’t eat outside food.”

“Oh… I’ve heard you’re good at both academics and sports, so we wanted to sign you in advance.”

“Thank you for your kindness, but I prefer to study with my friends at the same school…”

“Well, your future is more important! We also have a generous scholarship, and you’ll get the best educational resources.”

The teacher kept chatting for two hours, persistently trying to get him to sign the agreement, which made Sui Houyu uneasy.

He wanted to leave, but the teacher wouldn’t let him, and kept insisting he stay. Sui Houyu soon realized something wasn’t quite right.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Sui Houyu said, standing up quickly, managing to escape the teacher’s sight.

He waited a bit, planning to sneak away, but noticed the teacher was waiting for him in the hallway.

The only choice left was to call Hou Mo: “What’s going on?! It feels like I’ve done something wrong.”

“Hehe…” Hou Mo chuckled upon hearing this. “My mom went through the same thing. The teacher isn’t just watching you; they’re afraid you’ll use the bathroom and a Peking University teacher might come to take you away.”

“What does that mean?”

“There’s this annual competition between Peking University and Huazhong University for students, it’s always interesting. The top students in the province get called up. You must have done well.”

“But the scores haven’t been released yet?”

“They probably already know the results.”

“What should I do now?”

“I’ll come save you, I’m experienced in jumping fences.”

Sui Houyu waited in the bathroom for a while, looking out of the window and seeing Hou Mo standing below. Hou Mo was mouthing: “I’ll catch you.”

This was the third floor!

Sui Houyu thought for a moment, then decided to climb out of the window, slowly making his way down. Hou Mo caught him, lifting him by the waist and bringing him safely to the ground before pulling him away from the school.

The teacher up above saw Sui Houyu and Hou Mo running outside, quickly opening the window and calling out: “Think about it, hey!”

“Thank you, teacher.” Sui Houyu respectfully answered, then continued running.

Once they got outside the school, the two of them stopped at a quiet spot. Sui Houyu, still curious about his score, kept checking the time on his phone.

Now that Hou Mo knew a teacher from Peking University was after Sui Houyu, he felt reassured and sat on a railing, casually swinging his legs, watching Sui Houyu.

Sui Houyu mumbled: “I wonder how Su Anyi did…”

Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing had been guaranteed admission to Dongti.

Sang Xian had a more complicated situation—his tennis scores weren’t as good as Hou Mo’s, so his approval was delayed, but eventually, he also got guaranteed admission to Peking University.

Ran Shu had already decided to repeat the year.

Among their group, only Su Anyi, Ai Mengtian, and Sui Houyu had taken the college entrance exam normally.

Ai Mengtian, who only needed to be in the top tier, didn’t worry anyone. Sui Houyu was more concerned about Su Anyi, as it seemed she wanted to go to the same school as him.

Hou Mo looked at his phone: “You check your scores, I’ll keep an eye on Su Anyi’s.”

“Okay.” Sui Houyu’s voice trembled with nervousness.

After a while, when the system refreshed, Sui Houyu hurriedly clicked to see his score. After a moment of buffering, he finally saw the score: 724 points.

Hou Mo leaned over to look and said: “Nice, that should be good.”

“Mm!” Sui Houyu nodded, feeling a surge of excitement. This score should be enough to get in, right?

After a bit, Hou Mo said: “Su Anyi got 701 points.”

Sui Houyu immediately felt relieved.

Hou Mo added: “Ai Mengtian did pretty well too, 687 points!”

“She was in Class Ten before and did well academically.”

After finding out their scores, both of them let out a sigh of relief.

Their small group chat was still buzzing with messages.

Deng Yiheng: “Brother Yu seems to be the top scorer in the province.”

Deng Yiheng: “Let me check…”

Deng Yiheng: “It’s the whole province!”

Ran Shu: “Where did you get this news from? I haven’t seen anything yet!”

Deng Yiheng: “I’m in more groups!”

Ran Shu: “Sounds like a rumor.”

Shen Junjing: “The principal posted on WeChat, and Gege shared it. Congrats to Sui Houyu, who’s the top scorer in the province!”

Ran Shu: “Wow, wow, Brother Yu is amazing!”

Ai Mengtian: “Ahhhh!”

Su Anyi: “!!!”

Shen Junjing: “Who else could it be but Brother Yu!”

Lü Yanxin: “So cool!”

Hou Mo: “Hehe!”

Sui Houyu looked at the group chat for a moment before looking up at Hou Mo: “If you had taken the college entrance exam, would you have been the top scorer?”

Hou Mo shook his head: “I used to do well because my handwriting looked good, but now your handwriting is better than mine, I definitely wouldn’t have scored higher.”

“Tsk—”

“I’m so proud of my Brother Yu!” Hou Mo said as he pulled Sui Houyu into his embrace.

“I think I might be able to go to the same school as you.”

“Of course, definitely! Wait for the call from Huazhong University later.”

“Hmm, what should I say when they call?”

“Tell them you’re considering Peking University and see how they respond.”

Sui Houyu immediately smiled, radiantly.

But unfortunately, the two of them ended up hugging for too long. Sui Houyu fell asleep again, and in the end, it was Hou Mo who answered the call from Huazhong University. After some discussion, they happily made their decision about the school.

*

In the National Youth Tennis Championships that year, after the college entrance exams, everyone participated again.

Su Anyi also served as the assistant coach for the tennis team for the last time.

Since Sui Houyu had been preparing for the exams for nearly a year, his performance in tennis had declined a little, and his ranking wasn’t very high. In the end, he and Hou Mo’s doubles team ranked seventh.

However, Hou Mo’s performance in singles was still excellent, and he remained the national champion.

After the competition, the athletes’ team was officially disbanded, and they would each go their separate ways.

The graduates of Fengyu High School had planned to have a dinner together, but unexpectedly, Liu Mo and his group showed up too.

Liu Mo loudly declared: “I heard your school’s dinner is funded by the public, we had to come!”

Yang Hong nodded along: “We want to eat with the provincial champion and the direct admit students to raise our status.”

Hou Mo rarely scolded them. He took them to the restaurant, since they had been rivals for a long time and often competed together, they had really developed a bond.

After graduation, and with the season over, everyone broke their usual rules and drank alcohol that day.

Liu Mo picked up his glass and loudly said: “Let’s toast to the future of Dongti!”

Lü Yanxin, Deng Yiheng, and Shen Junjing naturally raised their glasses. Shen Junjing even added: “My girlfriend will join us next time, but she went back early.”

Hou Mo didn’t participate, but when he saw Yang Hong raising his glass, he immediately scolded: “Dongti’s level is so poor! You’re willing to drink with anyone?”

Yang Hong was furious: “I’m good enough! My skills are great!”

Sui Houyu, resting his chin on his hand, coldly shook his head: “I don’t feel it.”

Yang Hong was so angry he nearly cried, and he drank from his glass in frustration.

After a while, they noticed Hou Mo secretly pouring iced tea into his cup. Liu Mo immediately shouted: “Cheap monkey, can’t you afford the drink? Huh? How embarrassing! You think you can fool us with iced tea?”

“I’m fooling you!” Hou Mo retorted confidently, then pointed at Sui Houyu, “If this guy drinks too much, I’m getting drunk too, and none of you will be able to stop him.”

Ran Shu had already drunk two bottles and showed no signs of being affected. He raised his eyebrows and asked: “Is that true?”

Hou Mo nodded seriously.

“I don’t believe it!” Ran Shu was intrigued, thinking that Hou Mo was showing off how well he knew Sui Houyu, and he was determined to drink with Sui Houyu.

Sui Houyu felt a little awkward, but since beer wasn’t as strong as fruit wine, he reluctantly agreed.

Hou Mo, however, abstained from drinking and just chatted with the others.

As they chatted, Sang Xian suddenly slumped on the table, asleep as if unconscious. It was so sudden and startling that Hou Mo even checked Sang Xian’s breathing.

Everyone gathered around Sang Xian and studied the situation. They found that there was only one bottle of alcohol in front of him, and he had barely drunk two-thirds of it.

Such a weak alcohol tolerance.

Ran Shu stood next to Sang Xian, smugly patting his neck: “This is it? This is your alcohol tolerance? Finally, I’ve found your weakness!”

Unfortunately, Ran Shu soon lost the energy to tease Sang Xian because Sui Houyu had really started to annoy him.

“Ran Shu!” Sui Houyu stood in front of him, seriously glaring at him: “Let me see the dance you’ve been practicing!”

“Forget it, Brother Yu…”

“I’ll teach you!”

“We’re eating! Can we talk about this after dinner?”

“I’ll teach you! You’re not going anywhere, aren’t you anxious? Come here!”

Ran Shu was dragged to a corner by Sui Houyu to dance, and Sui Houyu even eagerly helped him stretch his legs.

Ran Shu looked at Hou Mo, who shrugged and spread his hands: “Didn’t listen to the older generation… Ah… didn’t listen to my sister-in-law, brother-in-law’s advice, now look where you are.”

Ran Shu nearly cried. After the leg stretching, Sui Houyu wanted to race with him again, and they played chicken fights together, not letting him off the hook.

On the other side, Liu Mo was holding Hou Mo’s arm, crying like a baby: “Four years! Four whole years! I’ve been tortured by you for four years! Only when you didn’t participate in the competition could I experience what it’s like to be first! Every time I enter a competition, I check the list to see if you’re there! You’re such a beast, how do you not have any weaknesses?!”

Hou Mo laughed heartily: “I do have weaknesses, my weakness is my boyfriend.”

“Does that help? Huh? Does it help? Can I aim for him when I’m playing singles? No! You even have a boyfriend cheering for you! I have nothing! I’m always second, third, fourth… I don’t know when I’ll ever beat you! It’s heartbreaking!”

“Hahahaha!” Hou Mo laughed uncontrollably.

Before Liu Mo could continue cursing, he was interrupted.

Ran Shu, pulling at Hou Mo’s arm, looked distressed: “Hou Mo, I can’t take it anymore! Brother Yu is going to kill me! I… I can’t even stutter anymore… I can’t breathe… Brother Yu has gone mad! He’s gone mad!”

“Then help calm this one down while I keep an eye on Brother Yu.” Hou Mo handed Liu Mo over to Ran Shu.

Ran Shu, unsure of what to do, could only hand Liu Mo a tissue. After giving him a tissue, he turned around and saw that Sang Xian had woken up at some point, and he was staring at Ran Shu with a grim expression. Ran Shu immediately felt a sting in his backside.

In the end, it was Hou Mo who carried Sui Houyu back.

On the way back to the hotel, Sui Houyu was mumbling vaguely: “An Nanxi, let’s play together…”

“Hmm, okay, I’ll play with you.”

“Don’t ignore me…”

“Hmm, I won’t ignore you again, I’ll never leave you.”

“Hmm… I like you.”

“I like you too.”

*

After the competition, the school arranged a vehicle to take them back. They split up at the school gate.

This time apart might really be forever.

Deng Yiheng, who had always been eager to leave school before, suddenly didn’t want to leave. Looking at his teammates, he choked up and said: “When we meet again, we won’t be teammates. From now on, we’ll be opponents. But… let’s all do our best!”

They went to different schools, and when they met again, they would be opponents.

This sentence made everyone feel a bit emotional.

Ran Shu fell silent for a moment before suddenly crying out: “I always thought you were easy to make fun of, but I didn’t expect you to cry so easily… Why am I crying too? I don’t even play tennis…”

Sui Houyu was silent for a moment, then suddenly extended his fist: “Do your best!”

Hou Mo silently raised his hand and placed it next to Sui Houyu’s fist.

The others came over, and once they formed a circle, they placed their fists together and said: “Let’s do our best!”

Young, bold and free.

They fought for themselves, for their future, for the people who cared about them.

What they held in their hands wasn’t just a racket, but their dreams.

Never give up, never surrender.

The ambitious youth, never defeated.