The next day, the alarm failed to go off.
Lin Jiang rushed downstairs in a frantic scramble. The moment she stepped out of the building, the wind hit her, making her shiver. Shen Yan was stunned when he saw her, but before he could react, she was already urging him to hurry. He pedaled the bike in a wild dash all the way to school; by the time they arrived, she was nearly numb from the cold.
As luck would have it, she was intercepted right at the classroom door.
The homeroom teacher adjusted his glasses with a single finger, eyeing her up and down for a long while before finally letting her in. Lin Jiang scurried to her seat as if running for her life. The moment she looked up, several of her close friends were already "stabbing" her with their meaningful glares.
As soon as morning reading ended, she was cornered in the back of the classroom by He Lai and Li Na.
"Spill it. Is there a situation?" Li Na smirked wickedly.
He Lai added, "The high today is only twenty-one degrees, yet you’re wearing a short skirt. Who are you trying to charm?"
Lin Jiang swallowed hard. "Oh, come on. I bought this skirt a while ago and never wore it. I figured September is almost over—if I don't wear it now, I won't get another chance."
Hearing this, Li Na stepped onto a nearby chair and mimed holding a microphone. "In that case, I’d like to interview Miss Lin Jiang: what do you plan to do about PE class today?"
Lin Jiang’s heart sank.
She was doomed.
During PE class that afternoon, Lin Jiang walked downstairs as if heading to her execution. Unsurprisingly, she was criticized by the PE teacher and called out of the formation. She had to stand on the sidelines with a few other girls who claimed to have "stomach aches," watching everyone else do their warm-ups.
Lin Jiang felt like an exhibit on display. Fortunately, Jiang Weifeng was nowhere to be seen—he hadn't shown up for class—but several girls were already casting strange looks her way.
At this age, simplicity and modesty were the most revered virtues. Though girls yearned to dress up, they were also ashamed to do so; the gossip of the crowd could easily brand them with the title of "bad girl," a burden too heavy to bear in the middle of one's youth.
But there were exceptions.
The image of Zhao Siyi’s crisp skirt hems and Cheng Yunchuan’s bright lip color flashed through Lin Jiang’s mind. She had to admit that some people drew attention not just because of their looks, but because they dared to do what most girls wanted to do but didn't have the courage to try.
Lin Jiang thought she could do it too, but reality proved otherwise.
She lacked the experience.
She was like an audience member who was used to being submerged in the depths of a crowd, only for a spotlight to suddenly snap onto her. She looked left and right, utterly at a loss.
Both the whispers and the compliments made her panic.
During free period, while He Lai went to buy a Coke, Lin Jiang sat on the steps of the path leading from the track to the basketball courts. She overheard some boys talking: "I heard her name is Lin Jiang, right?"
Her heart sank.
Someone asked, "Which 'Jiang'?"
"Who cares which character it is? As long as she's pretty," someone laughed.
Lin Jiang’s face flushed. She hurried to stand up, wanting to escape before she heard anything else about herself. Just as she rose, someone else asked, "Shitou, where’s Jiang Weifeng?"
Her heart sank again.
"Sleeping upstairs," the boy called Shitou replied.
"Oh? Played too late with his girlfriend last night, did he?" a boy teased, emphasizing the word "played" in a way that elicited a wave of rowdy jeering.
Shitou cursed at him to get lost. "Played my ass. Zhao Siyi’s family is so strict; I’ve never even seen her meet up with Brother Feng at night."
Another voice chimed in, "Yo, if they’re meeting at night, they’re not gonna let you know about it."
Laughter erupted even louder at that.
Lin Jiang left quietly, leaving the rhythmic sound of dribbling basketballs and the rising and falling voices behind her.
Deliberate schemes were no match for a chance encounter, yet that day, Lin Jiang didn't even catch a glimpse of Jiang Weifeng’s shadow.
For the rest of the day, Lin Jiang felt like a plant nipped by frost—listless and drained.
When they returned from dinner in the afternoon, He Lai and her deskmate wanted to go to the Chenguang Stationery Store by the gate to buy pens. They asked if she wanted to go. Usually, Lin Jiang loved browsing stationery and gift shops, but today she had no interest. She shook her head and said she was sleepy, wanting to go back and nap on her desk for a bit.
She trudged upstairs. Just as she turned from the stairwell into the hallway leading to her classroom, she saw a tall boy in a tracksuit with his eyes pressed against the front door window, peering inside.
"Shen Yan?"
The boy turned at the sound of her voice, flashing a brilliant smile.
"What are you doing here?"
"My bike ran out of juice. Take the bus home by yourself tonight; don't wait for me."
"How could I do that? Am I the kind of person who abandons a friend? Let's go together tonight. It’s not a long walk anyway." Lin Jiang spoke decisively. Without giving Shen Yan a chance to refuse, she pushed him by the back, ushering him toward his own classroom to study.
As soon as Shen Yan left, Li Na lunged out from some corner. "I say, Lin Jiang, is the relationship between you and Monitor Shen really just like siblings?"
Lin Jiang pulled a face, giving a dry, mirthless smile. "Wrong. I was born in October and he was born in November. We’re in a 'big sister, little brother' relationship."
Li Na clicked her tongue. "Doesn't look like it."
Lin Jiang didn't say another word and went back to her desk to sleep.
When school let out that evening, Lin Jiang bought a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts at the school gate, eating them as she walked.
Beside her, Shen Yan asked, "Are they good?"
Lin Jiang didn't feel like talking, so she peeled one and held it out to him. As Shen Yan leaned down to take a bite, a car honked behind them. He tried to push his electric bike further to the side of the road, and in the distraction, the round chestnut in Lin Jiang’s hand was knocked flying.
This scene was witnessed clearly by the person in the car, aided by the glow of the streetlights.
"Do you know them?" Zheng Ping was driving, and she had noticed Jiang Weifeng staring at the two people outside the window.
"The guy plays basketball with me," Jiang Weifeng said, withdrawing his gaze.
Zheng Ping paused for a moment before speaking cautiously. "Your homeroom teacher said you’ve skipped class four or five times since the semester started. Where were you last Monday? You even skipped the flag-raising ceremony."
Jiang Weifeng frowned as he tried to remember. After a long while, it came to him. "Internet cafe."
The night before that day, he and Haozi had been playing LOL at the cafe. Haozi was better than him and got more hyped as they played. Eventually, Jiang Weifeng couldn't hold out and fell asleep, waking up after nine in the morning.
"Your homeroom teacher really looks out for you, doesn't he?" Zheng Ping said caringly.
"He does," Jiang Weifeng replied.
He paused, as if remembering something, and let out a short laugh. "He’s certainly my dad’s old classmate. Right off the bat, he made me the English Class Representative."
Zheng Ping smiled. "That’s good. You said you wanted to transfer schools; your father went through a lot of trouble to get you into this class. He wasn't expecting you to make leaps and bounds academically; he just wanted you to settle down and focus."
Jiang Weifeng couldn't stand the nagging and grimaced. "You two just live your own happy lives. Don't worry about me."
Zheng Ping looked at the boy through the rearview mirror, pursed her lips, and ultimately said nothing more.
In the world outside, the lights were dazzling, and the traffic flowed like a river.
Shen Yan looked at the fallen chestnut, his gaze narrowing. "I’m not eating anymore. These chestnuts are out to get me, falling like that."
Lin Jiang was happy to have them all to herself. "Fine, don't eat then."
Shen Yan protested, "You’re actually being obedient for once?"
Lin Jiang remained noncommittal.
It was the time when evening self-study ended, and the road was filled with cars picking up students. As they spoke, a car ahead suddenly turned on its hazard lights. Shen Yan instinctively turned his head and caught sight of Lin Jiang’s profile. As the headlights swept over her, the shadows of her long eyelashes moved from her left cheek to her right before vanishing into her hair. The girl’s skin was fair and clean, her features delicate.
Then, Shen Yan couldn't help but speak. "Actually, you’re not bad."
"What?" Lin Jiang was baffled by his random comment.
Shen Yan said, "Didn't you ask me the other day if you were pretty?"
Only then did Lin Jiang remember. She shrugged sheepishly.
"If you hadn't asked, I really never would have thought about whether you were pretty or not," Shen Yan chuckled.
Lin Jiang laughed too. "True. We’ve known each other since we were kids. What else is there to see?"
Shen Yan nodded silently and didn't follow up.
That night, the two friends talked as they walked. Since senior year began, they had both become much busier. Although they went to and from school together every day, they rarely had casual chats like this.
In truth, Shen Yan’s grades were much better than Lin Jiang’s. Back in middle school, they were in the same class; Shen Yan was always in the top three, while she hovered around tenth place. In high school, Shen Yan remained in the top three, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break past fifteenth.
However, Shen Yan wasn't just smarter; he was also more hardworking. For instance, tonight, after they got home, Auntie Jing invited her over for a late-night snack. While she drank her soup and chatted gaily with Wang Jiaqian on QQ, Shen Yan was beside her, memorizing English vocabulary.
Lin Jiang said to him, "Memorizing words at night isn't very effective. Why not do it in the morning?"
Shen Yan quickly finished spelling "preference" and replied without looking up, "Lazy people always have excuses."
Lin Jiang stuck her tongue out at him.
Later, before going to bed that night, Lin Jiang memorized twenty words. When the next morning came, she asked her deskmate to quiz her. To her deskmate's shock, she only got two out of twenty wrong.
When Lin Jiang explained why, her deskmate gave an understanding "oh" and told her she’d heard some doctor say that memory retention is better if you sleep immediately after studying, especially if you fall asleep within thirty minutes.
After saying this, the deskmate chuckled. "Doesn't work for me, though. Memorizing books at night works faster than a sleeping pill."
This made Lin Jiang burst into laughter.
For the next two days, Lin Jiang’s life followed its usual routine, yet her heart felt strangely suspended. During the morning exercises, during the break for dinner, or even on the way to the restroom, her eyes would involuntarily search for a certain figure.
On Thursday afternoon, Lin Jiang went to the print shop by the main gate to photocopy some materials. She finally caught a distant glimpse of him.
At the time, he was leaving the school gate with a group of boys. While the others were on multi-speed bikes, he was on a skateboard, gliding down the slope heading west from the school gate. He was moving faster on his skateboard than the boys on bikes. When the light turned green at the intersection, the others went straight, but he made a turn.
That was the first time Lin Jiang had seen him skateboard. Her heart raced no less than the first time she had seen Rukawa Kaede play basketball on a computer screen.
She couldn't look away for a long time.
The next day, Friday, the last period was self-study. Because the weekend was approaching, the students were restless; many were whispering in secret.
Lin Jiang was currently checking answers with He Lai using a red pen. They had been arguing for a long time over whether a question was A or D. Just as they marked it with a triangle, the phone in her desk drawer vibrated repeatedly. In the quiet classroom, the sound was incredibly piercing.
Lin Jiang looked around guiltily before sneaking it out to check. It was Wang Jiaqian: *Wait for me after school.*
Lin Jiang began to reply, "What are you coming here for?" She had only typed the second word when her deskmate suddenly whispered, "Homeroom teacher at the back door!"
Terrified, Lin Jiang shoved the phone into her desk and flattened herself against the table, pretending to work hard.
The homeroom teacher hadn't come for anything special; he just wanted to "friendly" notify them before the weekend break that there would be another exam next week, prompting a chorus of wails from the entire class.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 晨读 | Morning reading | A period before formal classes for students to read aloud or study. |
| 体育课 | PE class | Physical Education. |
| 石头 | Shitou | A nickname meaning "Stone." |
| 郑萍 | Zheng Ping | Jiang Weifeng's mother. |
| 英语课代表 | English Class Representative | A student assistant for the English teacher. |
| 昊子 | Haozi | A nickname for one of Jiang Weifeng's friends. |
| LOL | LOL | League of Legends (video game). |
| 静姨 | Auntie Jing | Shen Yan's mother. |
| QQ | QQ | A popular Chinese instant messaging software. |
| 流川枫 | Rukawa Kaede | A popular character from the manga/anime "Slam Dunk." |
| 自习 | Self-study | A period for independent study, often called "study hall." |
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