It looked like it... it really did!
As someone terrible at English, Song Yunshen could only understand a small fraction of the words in this letter. But the handwriting...
He frowned slightly, troubled by the fact that it was only in English. If only it were in Chinese. After all, English and Chinese handwriting habits weren’t necessarily the same. But there was a very high probability that the author of this letter was the owner of his Future Diary!
At this thought, Song Yunshen’s spirits lifted. He quickly checked the letter for a signature.
But a second later, he was dumbfounded.
Why wasn’t there a signature? The class wasn’t even written down!
"Come on, girl... this is a public mailbox!" he thought. "If you don’t write your name and class, how is the student who takes your letter supposed to write back?"
Speechless, Song Yunshen wondered how he was supposed to find her. He rushed out of the teaching building and looked toward the school gates, but the slender figure from earlier was already out of sight.
After a moment of thought, he hurried back to the English Club. He went to the sign-in sheet by the door and looked through it.
The club’s sign-in sheet spanned three pages, listing about seventy or eighty members across all three high school grades. Freshmen made up the majority, with around forty members. Sophomores followed, with a little over twenty. There were only a dozen or so seniors, but since the college entrance exams were over, they could be safely ignored.
Song Yunshen pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the document.
Excluding the seniors, the English Club had exactly sixty-eight active members. Of those, forty-two were girls. By further filtering out those who hadn’t signed in yet today, he could narrow the pool of suspects down to thirty-three.
"Hmm... that’s still quite a few people," he thought.
He rubbed his forehead in resignation, wondering how his high school life had turned into this. It had inexplicably become a detective game.
Just as Song Yunshen was agonizing over how to identify his future ex-girlfriend out of more than thirty girls, a figure walked in from outside.
"Huh? Song Yunshen?" Seeing him, Jiang Wenpei stopped in her tracks and looked him up and down. "It’s rare to see you at the English Club."
"Teacher Jiang?" Song Yunshen looked at her, equally surprised. "What brings you to the club?"
"I’m the advising teacher here," Jiang Wenpei said, exasperated. "You’ve been in the English Club this long and didn’t know?"
Song Yunshen was speechless.
As a slacker who only showed up on Saturdays to sign in before immediately bailing, he genuinely had no idea she was the club’s advisor.
Jiang Wenpei rolled her eyes but didn’t press the matter. She walked straight over to the English mailbox and took out the dozen or so letters inside.
"Teacher Jiang, why are you taking all the letters?"
"To write replies to the students," she sighed. "The original intent behind setting up this mailbox was good. Unfortunately, too few people write letters, and even fewer are willing to reply. So, the teacher has to write back to the leftovers."
"Is that so?" Song Yunshen’s eyes lit up. He quickly handed her the letter he was holding. "Teacher Jiang, can you help me see who wrote this one?"
"Hm?" Jiang Wenpei looked at him in confusion. "You took a letter?"
"Yeah."
"What for?"
"What else? To write a reply!" Song Yunshen said without batting an eye.
He wasn’t about to admit that he had taken it just because the girl was pretty.
"Who are you trying to fool?" Jiang Wenpei chuckled. "You and Xu Zhuoyue never pay attention in English class. Did you think I didn’t know?"
"I’m trying to turn over a new leaf," Song Yunshen said seriously. "My dad said that if I bomb English again on the final exams, he’s going to find a tutor to make me take extra classes over the summer."
"Is that so?" Half-doubting, Jiang Wenpei took the envelope and glanced at it. "Hmm, the handwriting does look a bit familiar."
"So who is it?" Song Yunshen asked impatiently.
"I read a lot of letters; how could I remember so clearly?" Jiang Wenpei shook her head. "Besides, there really are a lot of students who don’t write their names and classes. They just come to the club to pick up the replies after I’ve written them."
"The person who wrote this is a girl. She’s very pretty. You should have some impression of her, Teacher," Song Yunshen said, trying to jog her memory.
But Jiang Wenpei immediately caught on. She shot him a sidelong glance. "How do you know it’s a girl, and a pretty one at that?"
"...I guessed. After all, the handwriting is so nice," Song Yunshen replied.
"You didn’t just take her letter because you saw she was pretty, did you?" As expected of a woman with a boyfriend, Jiang Wenpei instantly sniffed out something unusual and narrowed her eyes.
"How could I?!" Song Yunshen flatly denied it. "Teacher Jiang, without evidence, how can you falsely accuse an innocent student?"
Jiang Wenpei shook her head in resignation and handed the letter back. "Anyway, I don’t know who wrote it either. But if you want to reply, it’s simple."
"What do you mean?"
"Once you’ve written your reply, just place it along with this original letter on the cabinet over there in the activity room." She pointed to a bookcase in the corner. "I usually put my replies there. Students who want to check for a response just go straight there to pick them up."
"Oh, I see." Song Yunshen nodded in understanding, still feeling a bit disappointed internally.
It was truly a hassle. He had clearly seen her, yet he couldn’t confirm her identity anytime soon.
"I’ll be going now, Teacher Jiang."
"Aren’t you staying for the activities?" Jiang Wenpei asked. "We have speaking and listening mini-games this afternoon."
"No, no, I have things to do at home this afternoon." Having gathered the basic information he needed, Song Yunshen waved his hand and made a quick getaway.
Stepping out of the English Club, Song Yunshen slung his backpack over his shoulders. He retrieved his beloved bicycle from the shed near the school gates and pedaled toward Tangning New Mansion.
Along the way, he sent Yan Zhenxia a WeChat message to let her know he was heading over.
Facing the hot afternoon wind, Song Yunshen organized his thoughts as he rode.
His future ex-girlfriend was very likely a member of the English Club. Although he hadn’t managed to find out her name or class this time, he had at least obtained a handwritten letter. Moreover, his target pool had shrunk from all the pretty girls in school to the thirty-three girls who had signed in at the club today.
Song Yunshen didn’t believe he couldn’t find her. Worst case scenario, he’d track them down one by one.
He should be able to find her before the semester ended, right?
With this in mind, he soon arrived back at his residential compound. After parking his bike downstairs, he walked toward the East District where the tenant lived.
"Building 17, Room 1001..." Song Yunshen muttered. He quickly made his way up to the tenth floor, stood before the door, and knocked. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
He didn’t have to wait long. Following the sound of approaching footsteps, the door was pulled open.
An exceptionally young, soft-looking girl poked her head out. Her big eyes blinked up at him. She still had a bit of baby fat on her cheeks, making her look incredibly cute.
"Who are you?"
"I’m the landlord’s son," Song Yunshen replied, momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected such a pretty girl to answer the door. "Yan Zhenxia asked me to come take a look at the water heater. Is she your mother?"
"Mhm." The girl nodded, subconsciously taking an extra look at Song Yunshen’s face before turning back inside. "Mom! He’s here!"