“Pei Chongxi, why do you think rumors are spreading that Teacher Li from the experimental class was fired for being homosexual?”
“I don’t know. Probably a decision by the school leadership.”
Inside the teaching building, An Rong was piggybacking Pei Chongxi, whose vision had gone dark due to low blood sugar, sprinting toward the infirmary downstairs.
“Walk a bit slower, you’re bouncing me so much my head hurts.”
Pei Chongxi leaned her body against An Rong’s shoulder, rubbing her cheek against her.
The two of them had known each other since their freshman year of high school. By stroke of luck, they were assigned to the same dormitory.
An Rong was like a little ray of sunshine, always laughing wherever she went. However, her family didn’t have much money, so she couldn’t fit into the school’s social cliques and couldn’t afford the latest shoes or stationery.
She didn’t care herself. Pei Chongxi had excellent grades, and every so often it was her turn to collect An Rong’s homework, one thing led to another, and they became close.
An Rong slowed her pace. “Wasn’t I just worried about you?”
The two ponytail bound girls slowed down, casually taking the stairs down.
“This period is English class. Awesome, no need to do practice papers.”
An Rong gave a very relieved smile and asked, “What’s going on with you? How did you suddenly pass out?”
Pei Chongxi corrected her words. “I didn’t pass out, my vision just went a bit dark.”
“Well, that’s not far from passing out.”
An Rong hoisted her up slightly higher on her back and said, “If I carry you on my back to the infirmary like this, will people spread rumors that I’m homosexual too? I heard homosexuality is a mental illness, will people be locked up in a psychiatric hospital for it?”
Facing An Rong’s barrage of questions, Pei Chongxi’s eyes dimmed for a split second. Immediately after, she buried her dizzy, swollen head into An Rong’s shoulder.
Pei Chongxi said muffledly, “If any other classmate were carrying me downstairs, whether a male classmate, a female classmate, a teacher, or the principal, it would probably be in this exact posture.”
An Rong let out a sheepish “Oh,” and then followed up with, “When you insist on squeezing into my quilt to sleep at night, saying you’re scared of thunder, is that being homosexual too?”
Pei Chongxi did not answer An Rong’s off-beat question.
The high school they attended was ranked near the top in the city, and the learning atmosphere was exceptionally intense.
Banners reading “Strive for a Hundred Days, Fight with All Your Might” in red hung along the corridors.
The afternoon sunlight scattered across the terrazzo floor.
An Rong didn’t dare walk too slowly and kicked open the infirmary door.
“Teacher, quick, come look! Pei Chongxi is about to pass out, do we need to send her to the hospital?”
Pei Chongxi felt helpless toward An Rong’s exaggerated words and said, “It’s just low blood sugar, I’m nowhere near needing a hospital.”
Pei Chongxi was laid flat on the narrow small bed in the infirmary. She stared at the white ceiling, watching An Rong argue passionately with the infirmary teacher.
An Rong said, “Look at how pale Pei Chongxi’s lips are. Will eating a piece of candy really fix it? Shouldn’t we go to the hospital for a check-up to see if there are other problems?”
An Rong turned her head back to blink frantically at Pei Chongxi.
If they were sent to the hospital, both of them would get an opportunity to step out of the school campus.
Pei Chongxi let out a sigh, choosing not to expose An Rong’s little scheme, and closed her eyes on the hospital bed to play dead.
The infirmary teacher shook her head. “It’s just ordinary low blood sugar.”
Saying that, she pulled a piece of candy out from a drawer and pushed it into An Rong’s hand. “Go put this in your classmate’s mouth, and then head to the school store to buy whatever food you want.”
“Oh, okay.” A faint wave of disappointment flashed through An Rong’s eyes, but she immediately turned around and eagerly peeled open the candy wrapper.
The teacher had given a shiny glass paper wrapper containing an orange-red candy, even through the wrapper, one could smell a sweet fragrance.
“Open your mouth. Keep the candy under your tongue.”
An Rong wiped two of her fingers against her school uniform several times, then pinched the candy and guided the smooth candy ball into Pei Chongxi’s lips.
“Hey, don’t bite my hand with your teeth! My hand isn’t candy.”
An Rong let out a quiet exclamation.
Pei Chongxi half-opened her eyes. Her dark pupils rested on An Rong’s face, and a soft, shallow smile gently rippled across her expression.
“Mm, sorry.”
“Is this candy tasty?” An Rong rested her chin in both hands, finding a small stool to sit on in front of the hospital bed.
“Mm, pretty sweet,” Pei Chongxi said.
An Rong smiled happily and said, “Then are you feeling better now?”
Pei Chongxi kept her eyes half-closed for a moment before saying, “How could it be that fast?”
“Oh, then I’ll wait for you here. I’m really not comfortable leaving you lying here alone.”
A short while later, the infirmary teacher left to answer a phone call.
Inside the small infirmary, only Pei Chongxi and An Rong remained.
An Rong leaned close to Pei Chongxi’s ear and whispered, “Sister, I’ve never known what homosexuality means. Is it really scary?”
A fluffy head leaned close to An Rong.
Pei Chongxi looked at the ceiling as her mind gradually cleared.
Pei Chongxi spoke softly, “An’an, I feel a bit cold.”
“I’ll find a blanket for you… wait, there are no blankets here.”
An Rong suddenly stood up and looked around, failing to find even a thin quilt for patients.
She had no choice but to unzip her own school uniform jacket, cover Pei Chongxi with it, and place the back of her hand against Pei Chongxi’s forehead.
“Do you have a fever? Oh no, I can’t really tell.”
In a fluster, An Rong swept back the wisps of hair on her forehead and pressed her forehead directly against Pei Chongxi’s…
The distance between the two was extremely close, their noses were about to touch.
An Rong could faintly smell the sweet orange candy scent lingering on Pei Chongxi.
“I don’t have a fever,” Pei Chongxi said softly.
The two were dangerously close. Pei Chongxi’s eyelashes fluttered, her voice so ethereal it seemed as if a gust of wind could blow it away.
“Homosexuality means liking someone of the same gender as yourself. Homosexuality isn’t a mental illness. The school leadership probably just feared the situation blowing out of proportion. Besides, they are older and hold more conservative views; combined with public pressure, that’s why they made Teacher Li resign.”
An Rong listened attentively.
Pei Chongxi’s hand, hidden beneath the school uniform jacket, took hold of An Rong’s hand, her thumb tracing lightly across An Rong’s palm.
“Teacher Li’s family does business, her life won’t necessarily be worse than it is now.”
Pei Chongxi crushed the candy in her mouth with her teeth.
A rush of sweetness burst across her tongue.
She lowered her eyelids, her gaze fixed intently on a tile of the terrazzo floor, as if trying to stare a pattern onto it.
“An’an, if you date someone in the future, what kind of person will you look for?”
The still youthful Pei Chongxi asked the question she had always been curious about.
Having zero romantic experience, An Rong scratched her head and said, “I barely have enough time to work part time jobs and earn money outside, how could I have the frame of mind to date? But if I really had to pick, I’d want to find someone like Sister Pei, smart enough to earn money without having to suffer too much. And good looking, too.”
The corner of Pei Chongxi’s mouth twitched slightly. “Shallow.”
After pausing for a moment, Pei Chongxi propped up her body to sit up, saying, “Lying down feels uncomfortable, let me lean against you for a bit.”
As she spoke, she casually rested her head against An Rong’s shoulder.
Past memories resurfaced in her mind, and Pei Chongxi’s gaze grew clear again.
An Rong’s appearance was no different from the memories, her smile remained just as bright and radiant.
A hand waved back and forth in front of Pei Chongxi’s eyes.
“Dazing off again, or did you turn silly?”
Pei Chongxi caught the hand waving mid-air and frowned,
“You stopped feeding me halfway through.”
An Rong put down the spoon.
“You ate two whole bowls of rice in one go. That’s overeating, be careful not to get a stomachache.”
An Rong didn’t let Pei Chongxi eat any more. Leaning forward, she pressed her palm against Pei Chongxi’s abdomen.
“Sure enough, you ate till you’re stuffed. How about I rub it for you?”
Pei Chongxi: “Homosexuality isn’t a bad thing.”
The sudden sentence left An Rong completely dazed.
“What? What did you say?”
Pei Chongxi paused, “Nothing. Go ahead and rub.”