Chapter Eighty-Three: The Diarrhea Incident

With only two days left before the high school entrance examination, Zhou Xuan was surprised to find his water bottle missing. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find it. Thinking of the impending exam, he couldn't bring himself to bother his head teacher with such a trivial matter, so he decided to let it go.

That evening, Zhou Xuan went to his uncle’s supermarket and picked out a very handsome water bottle priced at over two hundred yuan. It was essentially the most expensive bottle in the store; his uncle had only stocked five, and none had sold until now.

On the night before the entrance exam, the school still required students to attend self-study sessions until 8:30 PM. This was partly to keep everyone from becoming too lax, and partly to prevent students from staying up late in the dorms and compromising their performance the next day.

Perhaps because it was the final night, Zhou Xuan joined the rest of the class for the session. After dinner, he didn't head straight to the classroom. Instead, he took Liu Yixue by the hand and went for a walk behind the hills.

Zhou Xuan spoke to Liu Yixue, urging her to relax and not feel pressured, reassuring her that with her grades, getting into the First High School would be a breeze. Of course, he also shared some information he recalled from his past life. Although memories were distant, he still remembered the essay topics for both the Chinese and English exams. He shared these with her on their last night so she would have a sense of security and time to prepare.

The next day, Zhou Xuan woke up feeling refreshed, went for a run, showered, and grabbed breakfast at a downstairs eatery. Then, armed with his exam admission ticket, stationery, water bottle, and other essentials, he headed toward the school.

The first morning was, of course, the Chinese exam, lasting two hours. Under normal circumstances, Zhou Xuan could finish the entire paper in an hour. However, just forty minutes in, he suddenly felt a sharp reaction in his abdomen.

"Could it be diarrhea?" Zhou Xuan wondered, puzzled, as he had already had a bowel movement that morning. Besides food poisoning, he couldn't think of any other cause.

Without time to dwell on it, he hurriedly answered the questions, hoping to finish before the diarrhea hit. As the churning in his stomach intensified, he realized he wouldn't last another ten minutes. He moved his hands faster, the pen scratching across the essay paper at a rate of several characters per second.

Enduring the abdominal pain, he finished his essay in just four minutes. After 30 seconds of checking, he raised his hand.

The invigilator saw him, walked over, and noticed the expression on his face. He asked with concern, "Zhou Xuan, what’s wrong?" He knew Zhou Xuan well—not just for his grades, but for his stellar performance at the municipal sports meet, which had made him a local celebrity among the teachers at the Second Middle School.

"Teacher, I'm handing in my paper," Zhou Xuan said. Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his water bottle and stationery, darting out the back door like a gust of wind toward the restroom.

The teacher found his behavior strange, so he signaled the other invigilator and followed him out. As he stepped out of the classroom, he saw Zhou Xuan dash into the men's restroom at the end of the hallway. He quickly followed to see what was going on.

Inside the restroom, the teacher found him and asked, "Zhou Xuan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, teacher. I just don't know why, but I suddenly have a terrible case of diarrhea. It feels quite severe; my stomach is churning violently. I think it’s going to take a while," Zhou Xuan replied weakly.

Hearing it was just diarrhea, the teacher felt relieved but still asked, "Are you sure you're okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?" He was confident in Zhou Xuan’s academic performance; having completed fifty minutes of the exam, he was sure to score at least 120 points.

"Thank you, teacher. You go back first. I need to deal with this, then I'll see how I feel," Zhou Xuan said, feeling incredibly frustrated.

"Alright, but make sure to tell us if you need anything," the teacher said, thinking of his proctoring duties. Upon returning, he informed the patrolling teacher about the situation so someone could keep an eye on him.

A few minutes later, the diarrhea subsided, but Zhou Xuan’s legs were numb from squatting. He stood up and walked out slowly. As soon as he exited the restroom, another teacher checked on him, and he had to insist he was fine.

On his way out of the school, Zhou Xuan kept wondering what was happening. He hadn't eaten anything unusual in the last two days, and this was far more aggressive than any case of food poisoning he’d ever had. Before he even reached the school gate, his stomach rumbled again, and he had to sprint back to the restroom.

This time he squatted for over ten minutes until his entire lower body ached. This cycle repeated twice more until nearly eleven o'clock. By the time he walked to the school gate as many students were handing in their papers, he bumped into Liu Yixue.

Seeing him finally emerge, looking exhausted, Liu Yixue ran over, asking with concern, "Zhou Xuan, what happened?"

Zhou Xuan leaned on her shoulder, gloomily saying, "I don't know what's wrong. I got a terrible case of diarrhea during the exam. It’s been so severe; I’ve already gone to the bathroom five times."

"Oh no, should you go to the hospital? You’re in such bad shape, you really should go get some medicine, or it might ruin your afternoon exam," Liu Yixue said anxiously.

"You're right, I'll go to the hospital. There are three hours left anyway." Even if she hadn't suggested it, Zhou Xuan would have gone; this felt far too unnatural, almost as if he had been given a laxative.

At the hospital, he went to the restroom once more before seeing the doctor. After hearing his description, the old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner said with a frown, "This certainly isn't a symptom of food poisoning. It looks more like you've been given a laxative. What did you eat in the two hours before this started?"

"Just breakfast—soy milk, fried dough sticks, and porridge. It’s a stall many people eat at, and no one else had issues. Oh, and I drank water from this bottle," he said, holding it up.

The doctor opened the lid and sniffed it. "It doesn't smell like anything, but I'll have it tested. For now, I'll prescribe some medicine to help you feel better."

Perhaps because Zhou Xuan’s physical constitution was better than average, the medication helped significantly. Before 2:00 PM, after one more trip to the restroom, he finished the math exam without any further urges. After handing in his paper, he went back to the hospital, his mind drifting back to the missing water bottle and the suspicious nature of his illness, feeling that something was deeply wrong.