Tongcheng No. 1 Middle School was a top-tier municipal school. With about four to five hundred students per grade, the academic distribution formed a perfect pyramid. Every year, two or three students would make it into Tsinghua or Peking University. Beyond that, the top-tier university admission rate for the two experimental classes hovered around forty to fifty percent, while the regular classes maintained a first-tier admission rate of twenty to thirty percent. These were already considered excellent results.
Tan Junzi’s year happened to coincide with a period of educational reform. The Bureau of Education had strictly prohibited extracurricular tutoring. As Tongcheng No. 1 received municipal subsidies, they didn't dare defy the orders openly, which left the school leadership in a state of constant anxiety. Holistic education, to put it bluntly, was a game for the wealthy; for students from most ordinary families, high scores and good schools were the only way out.
Thus, this summer was unique. The teachers assigned an almost impossible amount of homework to the students who had promoted from the junior high division to the high school experimental classes. Before the break, they had earnestly exhorted everyone to maintain self-discipline, reminding them that every vacation before the College Entrance Exam was vital. The school couldn't force them, so they had to push themselves... In short, the message was: don't believe the nonsense about not needing extra study.
Tan Junzi didn't particularly mind. Too much homework? She would just do her best and finish as much as she could.
She wasn't "obedient" in the traditional sense—the type who followed a teacher’s every word without question. She was independent and quick-witted, but she possessed immense self-control. She was hard on herself, sometimes bordering on perfectionism.
Take her studies, for example. She didn't like every subject, but she would force herself to grind through the ones she disliked or struggled with. She wasn't naturally brilliant; she was a slow learner, but she refused to believe she couldn't master something. She had the dogged persistence of an ant gnawing away at a giant tree. Consequently, her grades remained in the upper-middle tier, remarkably stable.
Chang Ying was her polar opposite. He was a fast learner and naturally sharp, but he lacked ambition. He had never suffered much for his grades and never pushed himself.
For Chang Ying, summer meant meeting his brothers for basketball. They played at the school courts, public courts, or courts in someone’s residential complex—wherever someone managed to snag an empty space. They would gather with their basketballs and play for an entire afternoon, returning home for dinner with sweat pouring down their necks and shoulders. After dinner, he would sprawl out with the TV on and Tan Junzi’s notebooks spread before him, claiming he was "checking her work."
No matter how much homework there was, the word "future" felt distant to these teenagers.
No other summer can compare to the summers of one's student days.
Did those summers have colors? Surely they did—lemon yellow, mint green, the swaying willows by the stream, and the restless winds of the heart.
Tongcheng was a small third- or fourth-tier city built against the mountains. To the north sat Half Mountain, named because its shape looked as though it had been sliced clean in half by someone. Back then, the urban area hadn't yet expanded; it took barely an hour to drive from the south end to the north. The city center consisted of only four intersecting commercial streets.
Within this small patch of land, however, students on vacation could find plenty to do.
They knew exactly where a new KTV or pool hall had opened, where a new dessert shop had appeared, and which swimming pools or cinemas offered student discounts on which days. There were so many places to have fun.
If they didn't go out, they stayed home in the air conditioning, watching TV and drinking iced sodas, switching to homework for a bit when they got bored of the screen.
In the mid-2000s, television was still king. The internet and smartphones hadn't yet fully conquered the entertainment lives of students. Mobile phones were still Nokias or Sony Ericssons—sliders or flip phones—and they could tap out messages on the T9 keypads blindly with lightning speed.
On CCTV, only Channel 6 was interesting, as it aired dubbed sci-fi movies. Anhui TV was perpetually broadcasting *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber* on a loop, with commercials featuring Tang Guoqiang promoting New Oriental's culinary school. Hunan TV was forever showing *Romance in the Rain*; everyone had memorized exactly which day Lu Yiping would sing that specific song at the Great Shanghai Nightclub. Zhejiang TV would air *Wind and Cloud*, but somehow, everyone always seemed to miss the episode where Second Dream and Nie Feng first met...
The youth of most ordinary people was likely like this: no dramatic sagas of love and hate, no tragedies or scandals. There was only KTV, internet cafes, ball games, shopping, soft drinks, tutoring, and homework.
***
Nearly half of the students from Tan Junzi’s class had promoted to the high school experimental class. Although they would be joined by new classmates when the term started, it didn't stop them from gathering during the break. Many had been in the same class since primary school; they had been classmates for nearly ten years and would be for three more. they were incredibly close.
Their Publicity Representative, Qin Ruanshu—the perennial second-place student in the grade—was Tan Junzi’s best friend. Ruanshu was a chubby girl, but aside from being a bit fleshy, her features were strikingly beautiful. Her skin was so pale and delicate that you couldn't see a single pore even with a magnifying glass. Tan Junzi often clung to her; Ruanshu was warm in winter and cool in summer, and she was wonderfully soft to the touch.
Ruanshu also had a lovely voice and was a phenomenal singer. She was slightly shorter than Tan Junzi, and her dimpled smile often triggered a protective instinct in Junzi. They had been close since childhood, shopping, watching movies, and buying stationery together. Both were cool and elegant on their own, but when they got together, one laughed like a goose and the other like a donkey.
Watching them walk hand-in-hand, Chang Ying once asked Tan Junzi, "Why do you girls always like holding hands?"
Tan Junzi replied, "What's wrong with that? We even go to the bathroom together~"
Chang Ying then imagined himself holding hands with the boys in his class to go use the urinal and immediately broke out in goosebumps. Friendships between girls were truly strange.
***
The class gathering today was organized by Zhang Da and his crew. At 7:00 PM, a dozen or so students who had promoted together met up for KTV in a large private room, planning to grab a late-night snack afterward.
Tan Junzi was on her period and wasn't feeling particularly well. When Zhang Da called the landline, she had to get out of bed to answer. In those few steps from the bed to the living room, she felt like a "waterfall plunging three thousand feet."
After hanging up, Chang Ying’s call came in.
"Are you going? If you are, get ready. I'm going home to shower and I'll wait for you downstairs," Chang Ying asked over the phone. He was walking home after basketball, still slightly out of breath.
"I don't want to go today," Tan Junzi said weakly. She had been lying in bed all afternoon. The second day of her period was always painful for a while, but she’d be fine after that.
"What's wrong?" Chang Ying heard the off-note in her voice. Then, remembering something, he lowered his voice. "Is it... *that*?"
Chang Ying didn't intentionally track her cycle, but whenever the "Little Cannon" turned into a "Dud," he knew her period had arrived.
"Yeah." Tan Junzi rolled over, hearing Chang Ying say goodbye to his friends on the other end.
"Then I won't go either. Playing ball was exhausting; I don't want to toss and turn tonight," Chang Ying concluded.
As soon as Chang Ying hung up, Ruanshu’s call burst in: "Tan Junzi!!! Do you know who's coming tonight?!"
Tan Junzi pulled the receiver away from her ear to save her eardrums. Once the other side calmed down slightly, she asked, "Who? Yu Mou?"
Yu Mou was a legend at No. 1 Middle School—the perennial number one in the grade, yet he insisted on staying in a regular class rather than moving to the experimental one. Not only were his grades exceptional, but his appearance and temperament were, in Qin Ruanshu’s words, "noble and serene, gentle and warm."
"Yes! Those idiots like Zhang Da actually managed to invite the Great God! Ahhh—" Qin Ruanshu was still vibrating with excitement.
The biggest obstacle Ruanshu faced in her studies was Yu Mou. No matter how hard she studied, he was always first, and she was always second. In Ruanshu’s mind, this was a destiny ordained by heaven—the two of them locked in a "love-hate" academic battle for all three years of junior high. In Tan Junzi’s view, however, it was a one-sided massacre by Yu Mou, and his victims were the entire student body, not just Ruanshu.
"No, Tan Junzi, you *must* be there tonight! Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll lose my nerve. Hurry! Come to my house first, and we'll go together!" Ruanshu commanded.
Tan Junzi scrambled out of bed to change. Once gossip was involved, what was a little stomach ache? It didn't exist.
***
Zhongxin Road wasn't in the city center; it was slightly on the outskirts, though transportation was convenient. Rents were cheap here, so there was a variety of shops. There was also a large scrap metal yard nearby, likely for the same reason.
This KTV on Zhongxin Road had been open for a long time. The facilities were old, and the clientele was a bit rough—not as strictly managed as the places near the school. Usually, they didn't like coming here, but Zhang Da said this was the only place with a large room left. Tan Junzi and Qin Ruanshu reached the entrance before remembering Chang Ying, so they gave him a call.
On the other end, Chang Ying listened to Tan Junzi’s inexplicably excited tone—a complete transformation from the weak voice earlier. After a moment of silence, he said, "Fine. You guys start singing; I'll be there in a bit."
He thought to himself, *Tan Junzi, are you playing me?* He had just showered and changed into a fresh T-shirt, and now he was heading right back out.
After hanging up, Tan Junzi complained to Ruanshu about how strange Chang Ying was—one minute saying he was too tired to come, the next saying he’d be right there.
As they asked for their room number at the front desk, the clerk looked familiar. He was tall, thin, and had a cold, expressionless face. Tan Junzi glanced at him a few times but couldn't quite place where she had seen him.
It wasn't until they entered the room that she remembered—wasn't that the boy she had run into during the physical exam? Why was he working here? Wasn't he a student?
Yu Mou was already sitting among the group, quietly listening to others sing their hearts out, occasionally chatting with a few boys from Class 1.
Yu Mou and Zhang Da were childhood friends; their fathers were close, so they had a decent relationship.
Even so, Tan Junzi felt that Zhang Da and Yu Mou were not the same kind of people at all. Zhang Da felt like a fox—always a bit shifty and gloomy, lacking any sense of "sunshine." Yu Mou’s silence came from genuine modesty. Whether he had a good temper or not was unclear, but having heard him speak at grade assemblies a few times, he seemed like a grounded, steady person, not at all arrogant.
A girl with a crush doesn't necessarily plan to *do* anything. Take Qin Ruanshu: simply sitting in a noisy, gaudily decorated, dim room with Yu Mou made her inexplicably happy.
Tan Junzi watched Ruanshu nervously gulping down her drink and secretly thought her friend was being pathetic. She nudged Ruanshu with her elbow. Ruanshu, being timid, knew exactly what Junzi meant, but she just wanted to sit quietly like a quail all night and steal glances at Yu Mou.
Tan Junzi sighed inwardly and started to stand up. "Hey, Ruanshu says she wants to sing—"
Ruanshu reacted with lightning speed, pinning Tan Junzi down. "Tan Junzi says *she* wants to sing."
Tan Junzi wasn't afraid. "Fine, I'll sing, and then it's Ruanshu’s turn." She looked down at the Publicity Representative with a smirk.
Zhang Da was sitting by the song selection console, looking at Tan Junzi coolly. "What is the Discipline Commissioner singing?"
"Borrow Another Five Hundred Years from Heaven," Tan Junzi said, grabbing the microphone and standing up with a heroic flourish.
The next three minutes felt incredibly long to everyone present, as if they truly had lived through five hundred years.
Tan Junzi knew she was tone-deaf, but she didn't care. As long as she finished, it would be Ruanshu’s turn. *If I don't enter hell, who will?*
When Chang Ying pushed the door open, he heard Tan Junzi bellowing the final line: "I really want to live—for another—five hundred years!!!"
Chang Ying was used to it. When they watched *My Fair Princess* as kids, he had discovered that Tan Junzi’s singing wasn't just off-key—it was a disaster. One song and the hero would want to break up, and the Emperor would want to execute someone.
When she finished, only Chang Ying was smiling and clapping. "Not bad. Not a single note was on key this time. You're improving." Chang Ying stepped over everyone’s legs and walked toward the back. He pointedly said to Tan Junzi, "Scoot in a bit. I'm sitting here."
Tan Junzi understood immediately. She feigned a loud voice, "There's no more room here. Ruanshu, why don't you sit over there?" She turned and pointed to the empty spot next to Yu Mou.
Ruanshu blushed. "Why me?"
Tan Junzi forced Chang Ying’s shoulders down, squeezing Ruanshu out, and said righteously, "Because we're childhood friends."
Chang Ying actually knew about Ruanshu’s crush on Yu Mou because Tan Junzi was always grumbling to him about her friend’s lack of initiative. As a guy, he didn't care who liked whom; he just wanted to sit next to Tan Junzi, so he played along. Tan Junzi was extremely satisfied, giving him a look that said, *'You catch on quick.'*
Ruanshu moved over, even more afraid to speak. Her face stayed red all night as she downed glass after glass of water. Tan Junzi began to regret the arrangement; her hopeless friend looked like she was about to suffocate from excitement.
Zhang Da suggested a game of Truth or Dare. He was an expert at livening things up; he was always the life of the party at class gatherings and festivals.
Generally, people who want to play Truth or Dare have someone they like at the table. Otherwise, why play such a boring game? But Tan Junzi felt Zhang Da was different; he wanted to play because he liked prying into people’s secrets, not because he liked anyone.
Normally she would find it tedious, but this time it played right into her hands. She already knew exactly what she wanted to ask Yu Mou. She was practically vibrating with anticipation. Chang Ying glanced at her; the girl looked like she was about to jump out of her seat.
It was Luo Zihan’s turn—one of the "bad influence" crew. "Zhang Da, have you ever jerked off?" The group erupted in jeers at the question. Chang Ying frowned. With girls present, the question was inappropriate.
Zhang Da sat with his legs crossed. "What kind of bullshit question is that?"
Luo Zihan grinned wickedly. "If you don't answer, you can pick a Dare." Looking at him, the Dare probably wouldn't be any better.
Zhang Da said, "No need. Truth it is. Yeah, I have, more than once. Satisfied?"
Luo Zihan: "Who were you thinking of?"
Zhang Da: "That’s a second question. Wait until it's your turn again to ask, dumbass."
Then it was the Class Monitor Ji Fan’s turn. He was a very shy boy and didn't intend to make things difficult for anyone. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I'll ask Zhang Da then. What was your lowest test score?"
Zhang Da drawled, "Monitor, you're boring. I don't remember, but I definitely failed. Damn, why is everyone coming for me today? What did I do to you guys?"
After a few rounds, it was finally Zhang Da’s turn. He scanned the room and casually landed on Tan Junzi. Zhang Da asked, "Does the Discipline Commissioner have someone she likes?"
Just then, the tall clerk from the front desk entered to deliver drinks. Chang Ying, who was mid-sip, paused.
Tan Junzi had been frustrated that it hadn't been her turn to ask, only to be questioned herself. She was stunned by Zhang Da’s question. It wasn't his style at all; she had expected him to ask if she’d ever watched porn. She had, but she’d planned to say no. She hadn't expected such a "friendly" question.
So, she said loudly and honestly, "No. What a lame question."
Chang Ying finished his water and placed the glass on the clerk’s tray.
Zhang Da: "I don't believe you. You definitely do. Is it Chang Ying?"
Tan Junzi laughed. "That’s a second question! You have to wait for your turn. Hurry, next person!" She sat down hurriedly, wanting to catch Chang Ying’s eye to mock Zhang Da’s question, but Chang Ying was busy drinking water and didn't look at her.
Tan Junzi was having terrible luck; it never became her turn to ask. Just then, Yu Mou stood up and apologetically told everyone he had something to take care of and had to leave. Once Yu Mou left, Tan Junzi lost her spark. She felt like a failure for not helping Ruanshu ask her question.
Ruanshu also seemed distracted. Plus, having drunk so much water throughout the night, she stood up to go to the restroom.
The game continued for a few more rounds, but Ruanshu didn't return. Tan Junzi lost interest entirely and pulled out her phone to ask Ruanshu if she wanted to leave.
It was Luo Zihan’s turn again, and he was smirking. "Dare! Zhang Da, do you dare to give the Discipline Commissioner a hug?" A few people started laughing suggestively.
Tan Junzi was looking down at her phone and didn't pay attention. Chang Ying leaned back, his arm resting on the back of the booth, loosely draped behind Tan Junzi. He said lazily, "He doesn't dare."
Zhang Da: "..."
Suddenly, Tan Junzi stood up. Everyone thought she was angry, but she was holding her phone. She turned to Chang Ying and said, "Ruanshu says she ran into a pervert in the bathroom! Come with me!"
With that, she grabbed Chang Ying and bolted toward the ladies' room.
The KTV corridor was long, narrow, and winding. Tan Junzi ran ahead.
Before entering the ladies' room, she told Chang Ying, "Wait outside first," and pushed the door open.
As she entered, she saw exactly the pervert Ruanshu had mentioned. He was a man in his forties, wrapped in a gaudy padded coat despite the summer heat, crouching on the floor and peeking through the gap under a stall door.
Fury instantly surged in Tan Junzi. She walked up and delivered a resounding "Whack!" of a kick right to the pervert’s upturned backside.
The kick caught the man completely off guard. His head slammed into the door with a loud *thud*. He let out a miserable yelp, scrambled to his feet, and lunged toward Tan Junzi.
Outside, Chang Ying heard the cry of pain and immediately pushed the door open. Zhang Da and a few others followed; some stayed to guard the door, while the rest followed Chang Ying into the ladies' room.
***
**Glossary**
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