“2017.08.21 Sunny, dry, hot, unbearably stifling”
Dear Y:
Today was our first official meeting. After three years, I finally saw you again.
—Excerpt from Tao Shuran’s Diary
Tuesday, the second day after Tao Shuran transferred schools.
She hurriedly wrote the last line of her diary in her room. Just as she was about to put down her pen, she heard Zhao Yanyun shouting from the living room.
“Ranran, are you up? Come out and eat breakfast quick.”
“Time’s running out. Hurry up and come out, don’t dawdle.”
“Coming, Mom.”
Tao Shuran yanked open the drawer, swiftly shoved the diary to the very back, straightened the books in her bag, and trotted out.
She quickly washed up and came out to see the breakfast Zhao Yanyun had made for her that day on the dining table.
A simple bowl of clear soup noodles.
But Tao Shuran knew that for Zhao Yanyun, whose cooking skills were lacking, this bowl of noodles was already a huge challenge.
She picked up a strand with her chopsticks and tentatively took a bite.
As expected, it was undercooked just like she thought. The noodles were tough, and there was too much salt.
Zhao Yanyun looked at her very unconfidently and asked, “How is it?”
“Is it not salty enough?”
She turned back to grab the seasonings. “Mom, I’ll add some light soy sauce for you.”
Zhao Yanyun’s hand shook, and the originally clear, bland bowl of noodles instantly turned black.
Tao Shuran swallowed the noodles in her mouth and said softly, “But Mom, you added dark soy sauce.”
“Never mind. Mom will go downstairs and buy you some buns and fried dough sticks.”
Tao Shuran shook her head, lowered her head, and forced down a couple of bites. She glanced at the clock, grabbed her bag, and was about to leave.
“No need, Mom. I’m going to be late for school. I’m heading out first.”
Zhao Yanyun shouted after her, “Then be careful on the road. Stick to the side.”
Linchuan Middle School’s official start date was in September. The whole school only had the senior year starting early in August.
Because of that, there were very few people heading to school on the road, and the breakfast shops along the street hadn’t opened much either.
Tao Shuran took the tangled earphone cord out of her pocket and practiced listening exercises while hugging the edge of the road.
Little did she know that Arts Class 1 had exploded because of her arrival.
It all started with a photo Fang Qingyi posted in the class group. Yesterday, she had accompanied Tao Shuran to the warehouse to find books. During a break, she secretly played on her phone and snapped a photo of her on a whim.
In the cluttered warehouse, even with dim lighting, it couldn’t hide a clean and elegant face. The half-high ponytail revealed a slender neck. Even though it was just a blurry side profile, one could vaguely make out a youthful and refined temperament.
This photo immediately piqued the class’s curiosity about the new student to the extreme.
Later, no one knew who shared the photo on the campus forum, and vaguely, even a few neighboring science classes came to inquire.
There were fifteen minutes until morning self-study. Familiar footsteps sounded outside the door. Zhao Zhengnian, sitting in the last row, immediately turned his head and accurately caught the breakfast bag flying through the air.
“Fu Changpei, you finally came.”
He was starving, howling with hunger. While gnawing on a bun, he pondered what the new classmate looked like.
Fang Qingyi clasped her hands together. “Anyway, she’s super nice, super gentle.”
She showed off the new pendant on her bag. “Look, this is the gift she gave me.”
Just as she spoke, a boy rushed over breathlessly outside the door, panting against the doorframe without catching his breath.
Fang Qingyi rolled her eyes at him impatiently. “Sun Teng, speak clearly.”
Sun Teng was their class’s physical education committee member. He was big and burly, but liked to bully girls. Fang Qingyi had no good impression of people like him, and her tone wasn’t great either.
Sun Teng leaned in mysteriously. “I just saw our class’s new student at the entrance.”
Zhao Zhengnian mumbled unclearly, “For real?”
“Real. I saw Old Zhou leading her to the office.”
Someone in the class immediately asked curiously, “What does she look like? Is she really that pretty?”
Sun Teng said with a reminiscing expression, “Fair skin, slim waist, long legs. Looks just like from a comic. Eyeballing it at…”
His voice suddenly dropped. He gestured with his hands, lowered his head, and huddled with the guys nearby, laughing and whispering.
Fang Qingyi made a vomiting face.
Just then, someone walked in from outside. Liang Yuanjing sauntered in slowly, bathed in the rising sun, and stood right behind Sun Teng.
Suddenly, he placed a hand on his shoulder.
Sun Teng jumped in fright, thinking the homeroom teacher was checking up. He froze in place, not daring to move for a long time.
Later, from the corner of his eye, he saw who it was and let out a long breath.
“Scared me to death. It’s you, bro.”
His voice carried a bit of flattery. Actually, Liang Yuanjing wasn’t much older than him—they were in the same grade—but Sun Teng had vaguely heard about his family background, so he always subconsciously deferred to him.
Unexpectedly, Liang Yuanjing, who usually ignored him, stood behind him today for the first time.
Just as Sun Teng was about to speak, he saw Liang Yuanjing lift his gaze to look at him.
His voice was very cold, carrying a just-woken-up raspy metallic tone, and he countered—
“Do you think evaluating a girl like that is very amusing?”
Sun Teng scoffed. “What’s wrong? Am I wrong to praise her?”
“Oh, is that so.”
Liang Yuanjing crossed his arms, his gaze lazily scanning him from head to toe, then said in a casual tone.
“Skin a bit dark, short legs, long arms. Looks sturdy, but a bit short on brains.”
Sun Teng glared at him angrily. “Liang Yuanjing, what do you mean by that?”
Liang Yuanjing slightly raised an eyebrow, his tone indifferent.
“Don’t you feel offended too?”
The rowdy group finally dispersed. Liang Yuanjing kicked aside a nearby stool, took off his school uniform jacket to cover his face, and expertly sprawled over the empty seat next to Zhao Zhengnian to sleep.
Zhao Zhengnian next to him looked delighted.
He teased, “Young Master Liang, who pissed you off today? You’re so fired up.”
Liang Yuanjing ignored him.
Zhao Zhengnian continued on his own. “Morning self-study is boring anyway. Your Flight Class doesn’t have it either. How about we play ball later and check out the new classmate on the way.”
He raised his hands in assurance. “No dirty thoughts, purely curiosity and admiration.”
Disturbed from his sleep, Liang Yuanjing impatiently tsked.
“I’m not going.”
His tone was exceptionally cold. “No interest.”
Tao Shuran paused in her steps upon entering the classroom right on time at 6:25. This familiar voice—she could recognize him just from the back.
She stood at the door, staring blankly at Liang Yuanjing in the last row.
The tiredness was obvious in the young man’s voice. He exuded an indescribable laziness. The blue-and-white school uniform covered his head. The sunlight outside the window was bright. He slightly turned his head, eyes closed, arm pillowed under, revealing half of a refined and smooth side profile, right toward the direction Tao Shuran entered.
Tao Shuran’s heart skipped a beat. She subconsciously stopped in place.
Zhou Wu passed by in the hallway and shouted at her, “What are you doing standing in the doorway? Come in.”
There were two minutes until self-study. Tao Shuran was led to the podium.
Her gaze instinctively glanced that way, but the napping youth had vanished at some point. It was as if it had all been a dream.
A faint sense of loss stirred in her heart. She didn’t even remember what the homeroom teacher said.
She only heard Zhou Wu pat her shoulder and point to the empty seat in the last row. “Sit there for now. I’ll adjust seats when I have time.”
It was the spot Liang Yuanjing had just occupied.
Tao Shuran pressed her lips, suppressed her emotions, and slowly walked to the last row.
She set down her bag and greeted her new deskmate by the window.
The new deskmate was a boy with wheat-colored skin, sturdy build, thick dark eyebrows, and a friendly demeanor. He introduced himself proactively.
“Hi, I’m Zhao Zhengnian.”
Tao Shuran smiled slightly.
After morning self-study began, her new deskmate seemed hit by a carb crash and dozed off drowsily.
Surrounded by the sound of students reading aloud, Tao Shuran awkwardly flipped through the unfamiliar textbook.
After a while, Fang Qingyi from the row ahead secretly held up her book to point out the page number.
Tao Shuran turned to it, secretly shocked in her heart.
After class, Fang Qingyi immediately crowded around her. “Didn’t you take summer classes? We finished the first round over the summer.”
Tao Shuran shook her head. The No. 1 Middle School in Xianyao was the best high school there, but its undergraduate admission rate was only around forty to fifty percent, mostly second-tier and private colleges.
The teachers taught by the book, and she hadn’t started the senior-year materials yet.
She hadn’t expected them to have already finished one round here and entered review.
“You guys are amazing.”
“This is nothing. Fu Changpei and Liang Yuanjing are the impressive ones. Those two always top the grade rankings one and two.”
Fang Qingyi grumbled, “I really don’t know how their brains are wired. Did they drink brain-boosting walnut milk in the womb or what?”
The half-dead Zhao Zhengnian sleeping on the desk suddenly interjected, “Then you must’ve drunk a ton of tainted milk powder in the womb.”
“Drop dead, Zhao Zhengnian.”
Fang Qingyi kicked him. “Believe it or not, you’ll still be dead last in next week’s baseline exam.”
Tao Shuran seized the chance to ask, “What’s this baseline exam?”
“You don’t know? No wonder. It’s an Affiliated Middle School tradition.”
“But don’t worry too much.” Fang Qingyi spread her arms and grinned at her. “Let me formally introduce: this is Zhao Zhengnian, my good friend, and Arts Class 1’s perennial last-place king.”
She gritted her teeth on “good friend.”
Zhao Zhengnian gritted his teeth back at her. “Yeah, such a good friend.”
“Then let me introduce too. You, Fang Qingyi, my perennial rival for dead last.”
Seeing them about to bicker,
Tao Shuran quickly pulled Fang Qingyi away and asked her, “Does this exam have key points?”
“I haven’t learned a lot of chapters yet.”
“Our class probably doesn’t.”
Fang Qingyi thought for a moment. “But I know someone who definitely does.”
“Don’t worry, leave it to me.”
After a full day of classes, Tao Shuran clearly felt she was struggling more than the others.
Since formal classes hadn’t started, evening self-study wasn’t in session either. Even so, Tao Shuran asked the homeroom teacher if she could stay after school to study for a bit.
He greatly approved of her proactive attitude toward learning.
“The office always has teachers staying late to work overtime. Come ask if you don’t understand anything.”
Tao Shuran hummed in acknowledgment.
That evening, the math teacher kept her to correct errors. When she came out, it was still early.
Tao Shuran decided to go back to the classroom to memorize texts a bit more.
She was reciting Xiang Xiu’s “Rhapsody on Thinking of Old Friends” from the Wei-Jin period. When she reached “Sending my fate to distant Yuanjing,” she suddenly paused.
She couldn’t help murmuring the line to herself several times. Only she knew the secret buried in her heart.
“Tao Shuran.”
The window suddenly knocked. Before Tao Shuran could react, a clean finger pushed open the window beside her.
Amid the cicadas’ chirps leaping in from the lush greenery outside, Liang Yuanjing’s face suddenly appeared very close.
The youth chuckled softly and asked again, “Are you Tao Shuran?”
Tao Shuran nodded hurriedly.
Her eyes slightly unfocused, she tilted her head up and stared at him blankly.
This was the first time Liang Yuanjing had called her name.
And her heart was about to stop.