“2017.09.08 Clear weather”
Chuanbei pear soup, very sweet.
— Excerpted from Tao Shuran’s Diary
Fang Qingyi stuck out her tongue and got straight to the point.
“Is Fu Changpei home?”
“He’s inside, just lay down.” Liang Yuanjing turned his head slightly and coughed lightly. “He has a fever. I came to bring him some medicine.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Fang Qingyi rushed inside like a spinning top.
That left Tao Shuran and Liang Yuanjing looking at each other in bewilderment.
Liang Yuanjing shifted his body slightly to the side. Tao Shuran had once read about this body language in a popular psychology book.
It was an invitation for her to come in.
She took a deep breath and walked quietly past him.
The courtyard, bathed in light and shadow, was filled with the serene quiet of a late summer evening. In the center of the courtyard stood a round table with a thermos on it.
Liang Yuanjing poured two cups of warm water, took one for himself and drank, then gestured with his eyes for her to come get the other.
Tao Shuran stood in place and hesitated for a moment.
She slowly approached him and asked cautiously, “Are you catching a cold too?”
Her sudden closeness allowed Liang Yuanjing, in the pause between sips, to study her from very close range.
Her skin was very fair, her face small, and a pair of bright eyes blinked at him with full focus.
Probably because they were not very familiar with each other, her gaze darted away after a moment, her eyelashes trembling noticeably.
“It’s nothing serious,” he said.
“This is Chuanbei pear soup my dad stewed. It’s good for coughs. Do you want some?”
Mustering her courage, Tao Shuran lifted the thermos she had been carrying. She was a bit nervous; a ring of sweat had formed where her palm gripped the handle, and her heart pounded.
She was afraid he would refuse.
Fortunately, Liang Yuanjing reached out and slowly drank a cup from the empty glass nearby.
The warm pear soup soothed the dryness in his throat perfectly, and the just-right amount of sugar lifted his mood.
Liang Yuanjing, in a rare teasing mood, said, “You’ve gotten bolder.”
His gaze fell on her just like that.
“You’ve finally learned to say something to me besides thank you?”
Tao Shuran’s pupils contracted. She lowered her head and saw how their shadows overlapped as the distance between them shortened.
“I’ll go ask Little Yi and the others if they want some.”
Without thinking, Tao Shuran turned and fled in panic.
Liang Yuanjing rubbed the cup, watched her from behind, then raised his hand and called out loudly to her—
“Thanks. It’s very sweet.”
At the start of the new week, Zhou Wu announced the date for the first monthly exam.
Late September, about a week before National Day.
Groans erupted from below. Everyone wailed, “The school is deliberately ruining our National Day holiday!”
Fang Qingyi propped her chin on her hand and said mournfully, “If I don’t do well, my dad definitely won’t let me go out to hang with you guys.”
The reaction from the class met his expectations.
Zhou Wu smiled and said, “Regarding that, everyone has nothing to worry about, because for National Day—”
“No holiday!”
“Damn it!”
“Go to hell! Stupid school, not even giving us a single day off!”
Fang Qingyi shook her deskmate next to her like crazy, then turned back to shout at Tao Shuran, who was focused on her exercises, “Ranran, did you hear? No National Day holiday!”
Tao Shuran let out an “Ah” and finally reacted.
She put down her pen and nodded in agreement. “There aren’t that many days left until the Gaokao anyway. Let’s hang in there a bit longer. I still have a lot of material to catch up on.”
Fang Qingyi declared that if there was no National Day holiday, she would bash her head in with a block of tofu.
After the classroom buzzed with discussion for two minutes, Zhou Wu cleared his throat again and continued, “After the exam, we’ll reseat everyone based on monthly exam scores. Some students with poor grades shouldn’t keep hiding in the back row. It’s time to move up front and actually see the blackboard.”
With that, he glanced meaningfully in a certain direction.
Tao Shuran, who was doing exercises, paused her pen tip. In the past, teachers often moved underperforming students to the front.
Tao Shuran did not want to sit in the very front.
She did not want the distance between her and Liang Yuanjing to become infinite.
As she thought about it, Zhou Wu strolled to the back with his hands behind his back.
He squinted and scanned the room, skillfully waking a few sound asleep students, then slowly paced to the back door.
He stood silently behind Zhao Zhengnian.
Zhao Zhengnian hunched over, buried under his desk, focused on his game.
Suddenly a cool breeze blew, and the game screen flashed “game over.” The darkened screen reflected the homeroom teacher’s slightly chubby face, standing right behind him.
Zhao Zhengnian jolted in fright, and his phone clattered to the floor.
Zhou Wu patted his shoulder and crouched down to pick up the phone for him.
He looked at him amiably and said, “Zhao Zhengnian, after the next exam, you’re moving to the first row.”
“I’m confiscating your phone first. You’ll get it back after the Gaokao.”
Zhao Zhengnian pulled a long face. “No way, Teacher. There’s still over two hundred days until the Gaokao.”
Zhou Wu kept his smiling tone. “Then come find me when you rank in the top two hundred in the grade.”
“Deskmate, lend me Fu Changpei’s notes to copy.”
Zhao Zhengnian put on an expression as if he had turned over a new leaf. “Starting today, I’m going to study hard.”
“Do you have any study secrets to pass on to me?”
His sudden enthusiasm left Tao Shuran a bit at a loss. In her impression, this deskmate was very lazy, with exceptional athletic talent but no interest in studies.
Fortunately, sports students did not have such high academic requirements.
Tao Shuran thought it over and said, “I usually come to school to study on Sunday mornings. Why don’t you come with me?”
Everyone knew high school seniors’ holidays were precious.
Even a strict school like Fuqing Affiliated High School only gave students half a day off on Sunday mornings to go home and rest.
And someone was volunteering to come to school to study during this precious half-day?
Zhao Zhengnian made a farewell gesture. “Never mind, deskmate.”
On Sunday morning, Tao Shuran got up right on time at five-thirty.
After a simple wash-up, she stood in the corridor reviewing English words. The long looping corridor was just the right length to review the previous day’s words in one go.
At the end of the corridor, Tao Shuran looked up and saw Fu Changpei standing opposite her.
By coincidence, he also had the habit of getting up early to review.
The two exchanged a tacit smile, then each lowered their head to continue studying.
After finishing a round of words and texts, Tao Hongfeng had just returned from buying groceries and finished making breakfast.
After breakfast, Tao Shuran shouldered her backpack and headed to the classroom to study.
She had come these past few weeks, so the school guards at Affiliated High School all recognized her. When they saw her, they opened the gate proactively and chatted idly with her.
“Young student, you’re even earlier than last week.”
Tao Shuran smiled faintly. “Teacher Zhou said my progress is too slow and told me to come study here on Sundays if I have nothing else.”
The campus after the holiday had a special serenity.
On this Sunday morning, the weather was not too hot yet, and the air carried a fresh scent of sunlight.
Tao Shuran stood under the camphor tree at the base of the teaching building, reviewing classical Chinese and ancient poetry for a bit. When she went upstairs, she deliberately took the stairs closer to the office.
Just in time to see Yu Caiying writing lesson plans in the office.
She knocked lightly on the door. “Teacher Yu, there’s a reading comprehension question on a practice test I did last night that I don’t quite understand. Can I ask you about it?”
“Sure.” Yu Caiying set down her pen. Seeing her come in, she looked pleasantly surprised instead.
After all, no teacher disliked a hardworking student.
A couple days ago, she had even heard other teachers in the office say that this new transfer student, though her foundation was weak, worked harder than anyone else.
Tao Shuran took out the test paper from her bag. As she walked over to ask, she suddenly noticed another unexpected person sitting at the desk next to hers.
Liang Yuanjing.
He was studying here too.
After asking about the question, Yu Caiying casually checked on her. “How’s your memorization of those texts going?”
Tao Shuran said, “Pretty much done.”
Yu Caiying hummed in acknowledgment. Seeing that Liang Yuanjing had finished, she took his paper to grade and shooed him out.
“Go outside and quiz her recitation. See where she’s not solid yet.”
Tao Shuran froze for a moment and subconsciously gripped her backpack strap tighter.
Seeing him get up and head out, she slowly followed behind.
Liang Yuanjing asked her, “Where’d you get to?”
Tao Shuran stammered a bit. “I’ve pretty much, pretty much memorized them all.”
“That impressive?”
His single sentence made her face flush unavoidably, and at the same time, her heartbeat grew erratic.
Tao Shuran turned her head to avoid his gaze and asked offhandedly, “Why are you here?”
Liang Yuanjing chuckled lightly and lowered his eyes, asking her instead, “Why can’t I be here?”
His casually lowered gaze reflected the outline of the young man’s shoulders and back on the corridor’s white tiles—a somewhat lazy, undisciplined look. At this moment, he looked down at her.
The shadow of their height difference cast on the wall outlined the most ambiguous frame from the perspective of someone in love.
Tao Shuran’s heart pounded even harder, her face flushing bright red.
Liang Yuanjing glanced at her and volunteered, “No training on Sundays, so I came to study.”
“I thought…”
“You thought I was the kind of genius who scores full marks without trying?”
He scoffed, his voice trailing up slightly with a hint of amusement.
Tao Shuran hurriedly explained, tense, “No, you’re really talented at studying.”
“Talent only sets the ceiling for one thing. Real achievements still have to be built step by step with hard work.”
Liang Yuanjing had his hands in his pockets. He chuckled lowly as he looked down at her, his voice very close.
“Little student, don’t put me on too much of a pedestal.”
His low voice made Tao Shuran suddenly realize how close they stood. She held her breath, but still uncontrollably caught the fresh scent on him—like a mix of citrus and mint.
In that moment, she looked into his eyes.
On impulse, she asked, “Do you know my name?”
“Tao Shuran.”
Liang Yuanjing raised an eyebrow. “Comfortable and safe. Your parents must hope you’ll be happy and content.”
The glow of the rising sun bathed them. In that moment, gazing into his eyes, Tao Shuran felt so blissfully dizzy she might faint.
After chatting idly for a couple sentences, they soon got into the recitation quiz.
Quizzing recitation was nerve-wracking enough on its own, and having the person you liked standing in front of you only intensified it.
Tao Shuran stumbled several times, annoyance flashing across her face.
Frustrated, she lowered her head. She heard Liang Yuanjing recite any line flawlessly without looking at the book.
He waited for her to recite the next line, but as she looked into his eyes, she suddenly froze up in nerves and couldn’t say a word.
Liang Yuanjing looked into her eyes too.
In an uncharacteristically gentle tone, he said, “Tao Shuran, close your eyes.”