The story takes place in 2009.
That year, the summer in Qingcheng was sweltering. Not a single drop of rain fell during the entire summer break. The scorching sun baked the city, and the "steel forest" was drenched in the sweat of the busy crowds.
The rain finally arrived on September 1st. Without warning, it soaked the entire city and continued to drizzle for a week.
Lin Jiang remembered it clearly; after that rain, autumn seemed to arrive all at once.
Someone had left one of the classroom windows halfway open. At that moment, the pages of the books on the desks were rustling loudly in the wind. Lin Jiang lay slumped over her desk, her school jacket draped over her head as she dozed. A cool breeze snaked through the gap in the window, bringing a chill with it.
After lying there for a while, Lin Jiang dully realized that the dull ache in her abdomen hadn't subsided at all. Seeing no relief, she pulled out her phone to secretly surf the web.
Out of habit, she first logged into the official QQ account of the school radio station. As soon as she entered the "Zone," she saw a string of comments under the latest status update, all asking for the name of the song played at the end of yesterday’s broadcast.
Lin Jiang posted a collective reply: *"Number 18, The Bund."* It was a song she had fallen in love with the moment she heard it, but she hadn't found the right time to play it until yesterday.
After replying to a few comments, Lin Jiang noted down several songs with high request rates. She then logged out and signed into her personal QQ. There were no new messages in her chat list. Since the start of their senior year, no one spent much time online anymore. There wasn't much new activity in her friend circle's "Zone" either; the top post on her homepage was still Wang Jiaqian showing off a "heart-shaped breakfast." Someone had commented with a heart emoji below it—no need to guess, it was definitely Gu Xiang.
On a whim, Lin Jiang left a comment: "999."
She scrolled through her phone for a bit longer but found it boring. Before logging off, she decided to wander over to the school’s main Tieba forum. As soon as she entered, she saw a post:
*“URGENT! Does anyone know which class the guy in this photo is from? I managed to sneak a picture of him in front of the supermarket after class!”*
The post hadn't been up long, but there were already two replies:
Floor 1: *It’s so blurry, who could possibly see his face?*
Floor 2: *Camping here for updates.*
Lin Jiang clicked on the photo.
The image was ghosted, clearly a candid snap. The boy only showed a blurry profile. Aside from a high bridge of the nose, nothing else was discernible, but based on the silhouette, he did seem quite handsome.
*Hmm, would make a good QQ avatar,* Lin Jiang thought.
She raised an eyebrow and exited the app. Before she could close her phone, footsteps echoed at the door. She looked up to see He Lai and Li Na rushing into the classroom.
“Lin Jiang, let me tell you, your 'period' couldn't have come at a worse time!”
Li Na’s eyes were wide with excitement as she hurried over to Lin Jiang. “I just found out today that a new guy transferred into our partner class. I caught a glimpse of him during PE just now—he is incredibly handsome!”
At No. 3 High School, there was a concept of "brother classes" or partner classes. Two classes would share the same subject teachers, even if their head teachers were different. Usually, when collaboration was needed—like for sports meets—partner classes would form an alliance.
Lin Jiang’s Class 15 and the neighboring Class 16 were partner classes. As luck would have it, their twice-weekly PE sessions were also held together.
“How handsome can he be?” Lin Jiang was clearly uninterested.
“What’s that word again? Hormones! Yes, a walking hormone!”
Lin Jiang looked bewildered.
“What, you don't believe me? This one is the real deal. Ask He Lai.”
“The girls in Class 16 are certainly in for a treat,” He Lai said with a shrug.
“Well, if we run into him on the way later, you’ll have to point him out to me,” Lin Jiang smiled, then asked, “Why are you back so early? Why didn't you stay on the field to watch the hunk?”
At Lin Jiang’s question, He Lai let out an “Oh!” and hurriedly pulled three pink packets from her pocket.
Lin Jiang looked at them: "Motherwort Granules."
Lin Jiang immediately reached out and gave He Lai a bear hug.
He Lai and Lin Jiang had been in the same class during their sophomore year and were already close. To their surprise, they were placed together again for their senior year. In a strange new class, being able to look out for each other made them both happy for a long time.
He Lai couldn't stand the physical affection and pushed her away. “This isn't a freebie. There’s an exam the day after tomorrow; you have to help me tutor my math tonight.”
Ever since starting high school, they had heard that once you hit senior year, exams come in clusters.
True to form, only three days into the semester, they were facing a diagnostic mock exam. It was so stressful that half the class had abandoned PE early to come up and review.
Their head teacher even put on an air of "sympathy for the people," claiming that in previous years, students had to take exams on the very first day. The school had supposedly delayed it by three days specifically to give them time to prepare.
“Hah, he just wanted to say: 'I gave you time to review, so you'd better not mess up,'” He Lai couldn't help but grumble.
Li Na let out a soft huff. “If you didn't have ten or eight years of experience as a student, you really wouldn't be able to read between the lines.”
The two girls went back and forth like a comedy duo.
Lin Jiang laughed again.
As it turned out, there was no such thing as being "fully prepared" for an exam.
The last subject was English. Right from the start of the listening section, Lin Jiang felt shaky. By the time she reached the reading comprehension, she couldn't sit still.
The teacher always said the answers could be found in the text, but no matter how many times she flipped through the passage, either all four options seemed to be there, or none of them were.
She finally endured until the end of the exam. Back in the classroom, before the desks were even moved back to their original positions, the class monitor distributed the answer keys. This sent several top students into a frenzy of checking their work as soon as they walked in.
Lin Jiang hadn't intended to check her answers, but the top students nearby were so excited and their discussion so loud that she couldn't help but listen. Eventually, she couldn't resist taking a peek. After scanning just two lines of the Cloze test answers, she felt like she might faint from the shock.
Just as she was feeling stifled by her results, Shen Yan called her from the doorway.
He handed her a cup of milk tea. “Wait for me after school, okay?”
“Where are you going?”
“Just ran into some of the sophomore guys; we're playing basketball for half an hour,” Shen Yan smiled, looking every bit the sunny, athletic boy.
“I knew there was no such thing as a free lunch,” Lin Jiang said, shaking the milk tea in her hand.
Shen Yan scoffed. “I’m looking out for you, alright? I even added extra pearls and pudding.”
As they spoke, someone shouted from downstairs, “Monitor! What are you doing? Hurry up and get down here!”
Lin Jiang leaned against the railing and looked down. Three or four boys were looking up. The one holding the ball saw the two of them and said something that made everyone around him laugh.
Lin Jiang quickly pushed Shen Yan toward the stairs.
That afternoon, Lin Jiang originally planned to wait for Shen Yan in the classroom. However, a couple had also stayed behind.
The girl was from her class, but she didn't recognize the boy. The two of them sat diagonally in front of her by the wall, flirting as if she didn't exist.
The girl clung to the boy’s arm, her eyes full of affection. The boy whispered something into her ear, and the girl let out a soft, "You're so annoying," in a tone so sweet it was practically dripping with honey.
Lin Jiang was so nauseated she couldn't stay a second longer. She packed her things as fast as possible and made a hasty escape.
She breathed a genuine sigh of relief when she reached the ground floor, but it wasn't until she passed the school gates that she realized she’d forgotten to tell Shen Yan.
Calculating the time, Shen Yan should be finishing up soon. The basketball courts were by the North Gate, and she was at the South Gate. She was too lazy to trek back, so she bought a stick of strawberry candied haws from a stall and slowly munched on them while waiting.
The small street bordering the back gate was quiet and peaceful. Most of the shops were small eateries, giving the area a cozy, lived-in atmosphere. It was dusk; the distant clouds were a hazy, romantic hue, and the setting sun was gentle.
For some reason, Lin Jiang suddenly thought of a serialized novel she had read in a magazine over the summer. The female lead’s name was "Luo Xun." When she first saw that name, she had imagined a gentle twilight scene exactly like this.
On a whim, she pulled out her phone to take a photo. Unfortunately, the camera quality was terrible, so she had to put it away. Just as she moved her hand, she saw a boy dressed entirely in black sitting on some steps in the distance, smoking.
In the afterglow, he looked utterly relaxed. His hair was messy from the wind, but it suited him. At first glance, his features seemed quite sharp, yet his eyes were incredibly indifferent. He seemed devoid of emotion, his figure appearing and disappearing through the dispersing smoke rings. For some reason, even though the sunset bathed him in light, Lin Jiang felt he looked like a black-and-white photograph.
The boy finished the cigarette quickly. He glanced around, stood up, walked to a trash can, extinguished the butt, and tossed it in. It was only then that Lin Jiang noticed his hands were also very attractive—the kind of hands that looked like they were meant for wearing luxury watches.
He seemed to be waiting for someone. Lin Jiang watched as he took another cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips. A lighter clicked, sparking a flame, but it didn't touch the end of the cigarette.
“Jiang Weifeng!”
A voice stopped him.
Lin Jiang blinked. She saw a girl run past her from behind and throw herself into the boy's arms.
The boy was knocked back a couple of steps by the girl's impact, but he quickly steadied himself. He wrapped one arm around her, spun her around once, and then set her down.
As soon as the girl found her footing, she reached up to hook her arms around his neck, snuggling into his chest coquettishly.
The corners of the boy's mouth twitched upward.
“Thanks for waiting for me,” the girl chirped.
“If you take that long next time, I’m going straight to your classroom to drag you out,” he said in a mock-threatening tone, though a faint smile lingered on his lips.
The girl gave a sweet smile. The boy reached out to take her backpack, and she leaned against his arm as they walked away together.
The sky was darkening, and the narrow street was filling with the scents of cooking. Pedestrians passed by in twos and threes. The boy and girl in the distance looked like protagonists who had stepped right out of a shojo manga.
Lin Jiang found it hard not to stare.
It wasn't until an electric scooter behind her honked twice that she snapped out of it and moved aside. To her surprise, the person on the scooter was Shen Yan.
Lin Jiang pushed her thoughts aside, hugged her backpack to her chest, and hopped onto the back seat. She chatted with Shen Yan all the way home.
When she got home that evening, Lin Jiang saw her mother sitting on the sofa, clutching the remote and laughing hysterically. Her mother didn't even react to the noise Lin Jiang made while changing her shoes.
Curious, Lin Jiang leaned in to look. The TV show happened to be at a funny part; even without knowing the plot, Lin Jiang couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Only then did Xu Mingjuan notice her. “You’re back?”
“Yeah. What are you watching?”
“A new show called *iPartment*. It’s hilarious,” Xu Mingjuan said, still laughing.
“You didn't go to the shop today?”
“This episode is almost over. I’ll go after I finish it.”
“Oh.” Lin Jiang turned toward her bedroom. Just as she reached the door, she remembered something. “Then, may I ask, Ms. Xu, have you cooked dinner?”
Xu Mingjuan’s eyes were glued to the TV. “Not yet.”
“Dad just left the house and you’re already mistreating your own daughter?”
“Oh, just go eat at Li Jing’s house. I’ll go down and tell her in a bit.” Xu Mingjuan had a "don't bother me" look on her face.
Lin Jiang surrendered. She went to her room to change, talked to Wang Jiaqian on the phone for a while, and an hour later, she sluggishly headed over to Shen Yan’s house to find some food.
***
Enjoying the story? Rate this novel:
Waiting for the Wind to Come | Chapter 1 | Whispers of a Newcomer | Novela.app | Novela.app
