For students anywhere in the country, it is not a place one can easily breeze through.
Every morning, the day begins with early self-study at around five o'clock, and it's even worse for boarding students, who probably don't finish their evening self-study until ten at night.
And basically, there's only one day off each week. By senior year, it gets worse—you might only be allowed to go home once a fortnight, just to take a quick shower, change clothes, and hurry back to continue grinding through practice papers.
Everyone sighs at the unforgettable nature of high school, but no one fondly remembers it, after all, even the daily schedules in prison are more humane than those of a Grade 12 student.
Under wartime conditions, this would've violated the Geneva Conventions.
But fortunately, everyone is used to it.
They even learned to make the best of a bad situation, like gathering for a mini concert during morning reading sessions, sneakily playing with mobile phones behind books during self-study classes, and making a run to the bathroom to shake it off whether there's a need or not as soon as the break time hits.
Then, of course, there's the secret business of falling in love.
High schoolers, almost adults, in the peak years of physical health and surging hormones, who wouldn't want to experience a passionate romance?
But many are hampered by timidity and shyness, family and school, or perhaps just plain unattractiveness, unappealing to anyone...
Still, youth and romance are inseparable.
Musen's affection for Ming Yue had been present for a very, very long time, but the fondness that started in childish innocence and youthful unease eventually became a fierce passion, a process that traversed a great distance.
When counted, the time that Musen truly began to express his feelings to Ming Yue was actually in high school.
Musen still remembered, after Ming Yue entered high school, she seemed like a sparkling angel, and if most of the male students had a moon in their hearts,
then the name of that moon would surely be Ming Yue.
She was just too pretty, too perfect, her beauty so overwhelming it left all the girls in school unable to lift their heads, her grades consistently in the top three of the year, and on top of that, she was rich, with an air of nobility and aloofness, which left many boys lacking even the courage to speak to her.
But there were always the bold ones, who tried every method to pursue Ming Yue.
It was also then that Musen started to feel the pressure. Young people don't need to clearly define what love is.
Most are simply led by possessiveness, stumbling into a relationship in a daze.
Musen was no exception. He began to slowly express his feelings to Ming Yue, from subtle verbal hints, anonymous love letters, to eventually being open about his feelings, and publicly confessing...
Memories of the past circled in his mind, all flashing before his eyes like a revolving lantern to the noisy environment around him.
In a daze, half a year had passed since graduation, in fact, they didn't look much different from these high school students.
But indeed, many things had changed...
Ming Yue suddenly tugged at him, glancing towards the school entrance where there was a small stage.
"Do some people still remember this place?"
Ming Yue squinted at him, her tone carrying a hint of a teacher holding someone to account.
Musen's gaze followed the crowd, looking towards that spot by the school gate...
Of course he remembered.
It could be said, this was where the dreams of his lifetime had begun.
"I, Musen, have decided to be a self-aware toad and hereby announce that I, will no longer pursue Classmate Yao!"
This was the first sentence he spoke on his rebirth.
At that time, he truly wanted to steer clear of Ming Yue, to avoid her from afar.
But unexpectedly, after all the twists and turns, the two of them still ended up entangled with one another.
Musen nodded slightly.
"Good that you remember, someone was really tough back then, saying something about eating a certain little dog if they ever looked back?"
Ming Yue seemed to be settling the score after autumn, pinching Musen's palm as she spoke.
Musen looked at their hands clasped together, then at the girl's slightly resentful eyes.
Clearly she still held a grudge about that day's events.
But then again, that day was supposed to be a confession, yet he pulled a surprise turnaround.
She would probably nag him about it for a lifetime.
"Are you settling accounts after the fact now?"
Musen smiled. The past was past, and now that he thought about it, it was quite interesting.
Just like when they were kids, they had their fair share of falling out, but it never took half a day to make up.
"What's the use of settling with you now..."
Ming Yue's gaze followed the crowd coming and going, with many couples who had secretly dated in school now able to walk out holding hands together.
Though it was rare to see someone as bold as Musen confessing with a loudspeaker.
But there was never a lack of those offering flowers, especially now that winter vacation was imminent, and the school teachers couldn't care less whether you were dating or not.
An uproar rose from the crowd at the school gate, where a boy riding a scooter, commonly known as Ghostfire Boy, with a tint of blond in his hair, dressed in slightly tight clothes, holding several bunches of flowers, approached a girl.
The quintessential Ghostfire Boy image, in the brief interlude just after the 'Killing Matt' era had ended, these young lads fixated on riding Ghostfires and rapping seemed to have become a new kind of non-mainstream.
From the perspective of his current self, Musen thought he could kick over a few of these skinny lads with a single foot.