Lin Jiang looked up abruptly, her gaze colliding head-on with his. It had been over a month since they last met; he seemed a bit different, yet somehow exactly the same.
Mustering her courage, Lin Jiang offered him a smile first, a small spark of anticipation in her heart for his response. To her shock, he merely let out a cold snort.
"Not very familiar," he said.
Then, he leaned forward slightly, a mischievous yet mocking glint in his eyes. With that same lingering smirk, he asked, "And who might you be?"
Lin Jiang froze instantly, as if struck by lightning. A loud buzzing filled her head, her scalp went numb, and her mind turned into a total blank. She could only sit there, stiff and motionless.
Sensing the girl’s embarrassment, Zheng Ping hurriedly interjected, "That... he’s just joking. Lin Jiang, you know what his temper is like. Don't take it to heart."
Jiang He also scolded his son before turning to Lin Jiang with an apologetic look. "This boy is having a fit. I'll deal with him later."
Lin Jiang clenched her fists tightly, struggling to maintain her composure in the face of such humiliation. Even as her nails dug into her palms, she couldn't stop her shoulders from trembling uncontrollably. It took every ounce of her strength to squeeze out a smile. "It’s alright. Please, enjoy your meal. My parents are waiting for me, so I won't disturb you any longer."
Zheng Ping and Jiang He didn't try to make her stay.
After she left, Jiang He grumbled at Jiang Weifeng, "You kid, how could you put that girl on the spot like that? Who did you inherit this personality from?"
Jiang Weifeng watched the girl’s retreating back, a surge of irritation rising in his chest. Provoked by his father's words, he let out a derisive laugh. "Probably from my late mother. After all, Auntie Zheng is so good-natured; there's no way I take after her."
Zheng Ping’s expression shifted instantly. Jiang He opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him with a look.
The rest of the meal tasted like ash.
Lin Jiang stood up and walked toward the restroom. As she neared the door, her pace quickened into a light jog, and the moment she stepped inside, her tears fell like rain.
She ducked into a stall, stifling her sobs so no one would hear. Her throat ached with the effort of holding back. Knowing she couldn't keep her parents waiting too long, she suppressed her overwhelming sadness, came out to splash her face with cold water, and returned to the private room through a different corridor.
Upon entering, Lin Jiang suddenly remembered something. She told Xu Mingjuan that an important teacher was dining in the main hall and asked if they could send over a dessert.
After hearing Lin Jiang’s explanation, Xu Mingjuan rang the bell and instructed the staff to deliver their signature dessert to the table, even authorizing a forty percent discount.
Lin Jiang jumped up and gave Xu Mingjuan a massive bear hug, prompting Lin Wei to complain about her favoritism.
Jiang Weifeng’s phone wouldn't stop ringing.
He pressed the power button to blacken the screen, then it lit up again. He pressed it again, and it lit up once more. Finally, he added the number to his blacklist.
This was the third time he had blocked Zhao Siyi.
Jiang He was still lecturing him from across the table, questioning his manners and demanding he find an opportunity to apologize to Lin Jiang.
Hearing this, Jiang Weifeng took a large gulp of red wine.
He felt stifled and restless.
At that moment, his phone vibrated again. Another unknown number.
Pushed to his limit, he answered with a harsh tone: "Are you sick in the head?"
Zheng Ping and Jiang He exchanged a glance, coughing awkwardly to mask the embarrassment of being stared at by other diners. "What's wrong now? Can't you lower your voice?"
Jiang Weifeng glanced around, said nothing, and stood up with a cold face to leave.
Seeing him walk away, Zheng Ping called out after him, "Weifeng..."
Jiang He, however, wasn't angry. He waved his hand. "The boy is grown. Let him be. Let's just eat."
Jiang Weifeng, of course, didn't hear this.
On the other end of the line, Zhao Siyi’s voice was tense and excited: "Jiang Weifeng! Don't hang up! I really just wanted to say Happy New Year."
Stepping out of the restaurant, the wind rushed at him from all directions, snaking into his collar. He shivered from the cold, but his mind became clearer. "Finished? I'm hanging up."
"No, no, no! Please!" Zhao Siyi pleaded.
"What else do you want to say? Say it all at once," Jiang Weifeng said, his voice flat and chilly.
"Actually, just you picking up my call makes me happy," the girl said, her tone sweetening. "I... I really miss you."
Unable to find his cigarettes, Jiang Weifeng grew annoyed. "I'm hanging up for real."
"I know you still have feelings for me... I'm so grateful for this call. Wait for me to return to the country. I'll become someone truly, truly excellent before I come back to see you."
Jiang Weifeng rubbed his chin and laughed. "Zhao Siyi."
He called her name seriously. "It's my fault for not making it clear before. There is no 'us' anymore. This is the last time I will ever answer your call. That's all I have to say."
The streets were bustling with traffic.
In the distance, the traffic lights cycled from green to red. He hailed a taxi, made a brief call after getting in, and after the person on the other end spoke, he told the driver, "Guangming Square."
After hanging up, he flipped open the back of his phone, pried out the battery, removed the SIM card, and snapped it in half.
***
The Lin family’s New Year's Eve dinner was a warm and harmonious affair.
On the way home that night, Xu Mingjuan suddenly suggested going to Guangming Square to watch the fireworks.
The square was packed with people. Lin Wei had a hard time finding a parking spot, so the family didn't squeeze into the heart of the crowd. They stood at the edge, soaking in the restless excitement of the masses and the beauty of the fireworks ascending into the sky.
Soon, a roar of voices erupted from the crowd, counting down: "10, 9... 4, 3, 2, 1!"
"Happy New Year!" everyone shouted, laughing.
"Happy New Year," Lin Jiang murmured softly, gazing at the sky.
She pulled out her phone and unerringly found the ID named "Imagination." She typed: *Happy New Year (Mass message, no need to reply).* She sighed again and again, but in the end, she lacked the courage to hit send. Instead, she simply posted "Happy New Year" on her Qzone status.
Closing her phone, she felt a sudden wave of melancholy. Like these fireworks, the excitement ended abruptly, leaving only desolation behind. It felt as though it would have been better if there had been no excitement at all.
*The east wind at night brings flowers to a thousand trees, and blows down stars like rain.*
Though one might not notice it, the world works in strange ways. In the blink of an eye, the first decade of the 21st century had officially come to an end.
Lin Jiang took her parents' arms, looking at each of them in turn. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the overwhelming noise and celebration: "Mom, Dad, Happy New Year!"
The family looked at one another, smiling as they exchanged New Year wishes.
About ten minutes later, they decided to head home. As Lin Wei went to get the car, Xu Mingjuan suddenly caught Lin Jiang’s arm. "Jiang, did you make a New Year's wish?"
Lin Jiang’s face flickered in the glow of the roadside neon lights. "I did. I wished for success in the college entrance exams."
She deliberately omitted two words; the original thought had included the word "our." She sniffled, as if from the cold, and asked Xu Mingjuan, "What was your wish, Mom?"
Before her mother could answer, she started guessing. "Wait, don't tell me, let me think... Hmm, it must be for me to pass the exams, right?"
Lin Jiang gave Xu Mingjuan a radiant smile.
Xu Mingjuan shook her head, gently stroking her daughter's hair. Usually impatient, she was rarely this tender. "I hope you can be happy from the bottom of your heart. I hope that in the future, you never have to force a smile like you did tonight."
Lin Jiang froze, looking deep into Xu Mingjuan’s eyes. Her mouth opened, but before she could speak, tears spilled over. "Mom..."
In the distance, the wind and rain were elegant and vast; a thousand words remained unspoken.
***
Once New Year's Day passed, the school-specific entrance exams were put on the schedule, and Lin Jiang became even busier.
While she was away, she called her parents every day, but her contact with others gradually dwindled, except for Shen Yan and Wang Jiaqian, who called her frequently.
Shen Yan was his usual self, constantly reminding her not to neglect her academic subjects and telling her to take care of her health in a tone that mimicked an adult's.
Lin Jiang called him a nag, but she couldn't help the warmth that spread through her heart.
During that time, although Lin Jiang appeared calm on the surface, she was actually feeling incredibly suppressed.
When she couldn't take it anymore, she would call Wang Jiaqian. That girl could talk forever, and no matter what they discussed, it helped Lin Jiang forget the pressure for a while.
In every call, Wang Jiaqian never failed to mention one thing—
"How could my 'gege' just leave the group?"
Lin Jiang didn't follow entertainment news much, but one night in December, Wang Jiaqian had called her crying. Lin Jiang had been terrified, thinking her friend had gone through a breakup, only for the girl to wail, "I don't want to live anymore, my favorite CP is completely ruined!"
The days of the school-specific exams were bitter and slow. Not every emotion could be shared with parents or friends. She carved the word "maturity" into her heart, traveling from place to place, enduring loneliness and pressure, teetering on the edge of a breakdown every so often.
When the exams for Z-Media finally ended, Lin Jiang was physically and mentally exhausted. The string that had been pulled taut suddenly went slack, but instead of feeling relieved, she felt an indescribable sense of malaise.
One of the girls sharing a room with Lin Jiang had a boyfriend. Every night, she would stay on the phone, acting all lovey-dovey and calling him "hubby." That day, back at the hotel, the girl was on the phone again.
Lin Jiang felt an inexplicable irritation. Another girl in the room couldn't stand it either and made an excuse to go out for a smoke. On a whim, Lin Jiang asked her for one.
She had always wanted to try smoking, to see if she could blow smoke rings as beautiful as Jiang Weifeng’s.
But when she got to the stairwell and put the cigarette in her mouth just as he did, she reached into her pocket only to realize she had forgotten to buy a lighter.
Lin Jiang burst out laughing. But as she laughed, she began to cry. It wasn't a loud wail, just tears flowing uncontrollably of their own accord. She didn't bother to wipe them away, simply sitting on the steps with her chin in her hands, crying silently.
Only when her tears finally ran dry did she stand up and return to the room.
***
By the time the art exams were over and she returned to Qingcheng, it was already mid-March.
At that time, many art students who returned feared they wouldn't be able to keep up and went to off-campus cram schools. When Xu Mingjuan asked for her opinion, Lin Jiang hardly hesitated; she insisted on returning to school.
The first few days back were disorienting. Although she was usually a hard worker, being away from the classroom was different. She tried to do the final exam papers from the winter break during evening self-study, but she made a complete mess of them. With the first mock exam coming up at the end of March, the anxiety caused a few pimples to break out on her face.
After school one evening, she ran downstairs to Shen Yan’s house to ask him about physics problems.
It was a mechanics problem. She could tell she needed to use Newton’s Second Law to set up the equations, but she didn't know where to start or how to find the breakthrough.
However, Shen Yan didn't teach her right away. He tapped her head with his pen. "You're too anxious right now. I don't recommend jumping straight into a 'sea of problems' strategy."
Lin Jiang listened humbly. "Then what should I do?"
"Do you have a mistake log?" Shen Yan asked.
Lin Jiang nodded. "Yes."
"Go back and review your previous mistakes. Distinguish between the key points and the difficult ones. If necessary, give up on some of the hardest points and focus on the textbook to thoroughly understand the core concepts. Also, I suggest you don't put too much weight on the first mock exam. Having too much of a 'win-or-lose' mentality isn't necessarily good."
It was like a sudden enlightenment for Lin Jiang. She couldn't help but give Shen Yan a thumbs-up. "Teacher Shen teaches well. This humble student has taken it to heart."
Shen Yan curled his lips in a smug smile. "If you want to do a bit better on the first mock, I suggest you put more energy into Chinese, Math, and English. The core subjects are where the score gaps are widest. Especially since Chinese and Math are your strengths, and Math is a major score-separator, you must take them seriously."
Lin Jiang nodded repeatedly and hurried home to study.
Thanks to Teacher Shen’s careful guidance, the first mock exam went relatively smoothly.
Lin Jiang ranked 18th in her class and within the top 500 in the entire school—high enough to meet the academic score requirements for Z-Media.
In a good mood, she treated He Lai, Li Na, and the others to candied haws after school. While they were waiting in line, a group of people came bursting out of the school gates.
Lin Jiang looked over and saw a group of boys stopping at the street food stall selling Jianbing.
Jiang Weifeng stood at the very back. That day, he was wearing a simple white T-shirt and black trousers, the cuffs rolled up to reveal his slender ankles. His hair was a bit messy from the wind; he ran a hand through it carelessly and then stood there with his arms crossed, motionless.
In that moment, Lin Jiang had to admit that some people were just like that—simply by standing there, they broadcasted their personality.
So casual and wild, so utterly insufferable.
Lin Jiang sighed inwardly. Fearing she might let her emotions show, she turned her head away, not daring to look again.
Since returning to school, she had thrown herself entirely into her studies. On the rare occasions she ran into him, he acted as if he didn't even see her.
Lin Jiang didn't know how she had offended him, or perhaps she had just been a fool from the start, thinking they were at least on nodding terms. Looking back now, if it hadn't been for Cheng Minghao, he probably wouldn't have bothered to say a single word to her.
Lin Jiang had changed seats after returning to school. The note she had previously taped to her desk—*If one can avoid intense joy, naturally no great sorrow will strike*—had long since been lost. She wrote it out again and taped it back up.
Time was fleeting and precious.
As Shen Yan had said, after trekking across mountains and rivers for so many years, one cannot stop just as they are about to reach the summit. Like her classmates, Lin Jiang went through scratch paper rapidly, and her pen refills were replaced with feverish frequency.
***
Glossary Table:
