Late August was another school opening season. The front of every school was overcrowded with people, and No. 2 High School was no exception, with the sidewalk packed full of students and parents coming to report.
Living close to the school truly had its benefits, as one could see the school just by turning a corner. Beside the school gate stood several gilded large characters: Beilin City No. 2 Senior High School. Although it could not compare to No. 1 High School as a provincial key school, it was second only to No. 1 High School within the city.
Lin Che’s high school entrance examination results back then ranked among the top in the entire city, but only No. 2 High School allowed day students. Lin Che applied for No. 2 High School directly without even thinking.
Perhaps this was the talent of northerners, as Lin Che could endure cold but not heat. Although the morning temperature was not high, several drops of sweat still hung on Lin Che’s forehead.
Were it not for the wounds covering his arms, Lin Che would not have needed to wear a jacket either. He pulled at the collar of the school uniform he was wearing with some impatience.
The school uniform of No. 2 High School was very standard high school uniform attire, with dark blue pants and a color-blocked jacket of white and dark blue.
The newly reporting students were all at the main north gate looking at the class assignment bulletin board, waiting for the gates to open. The tenth and eleventh graders, on the other hand, entered the school normally through the south side gate.
Looking at the extraordinarily bustling crowd over there, Lin Che recalled that he was also one of the members at the gate last year.
Originally in junior high, Li Huixin wanted to bring Lin Che to a big city to study, but Lin Che could not bear to part with his grandmother in the town, so he had been studying in the town ever since primary school, only moving to the urban area to live last year.
Although No. 2 High School was located in the urban area, calling it an urban-rural fringe area would be more fitting. Beilin City was originally a place the size of a palm to begin with, and the new campus of No. 2 High School was the sole building on the edge of the Second Ring Road, with vast farmland to the front, back, and left, which could be said to be extremely quiet.
Just after entering the school gate, a pitter-patter sound of running came from behind, causing Lin Che to turn his head to look. The person behind who had already reached out his hand pulled his hand back again, but the immense inertia still prevented him from stopping his footsteps, charging straight to Lin Che’s side and front.
That person panted heavily like an engine that had already blown its cylinder, saying to Lin Che, “Brother Che, how was I discovered by you again?”
The atmosphere froze for a few seconds, and then Lin Che opened his mouth to answer, “You sound like a tank driving on the road, making such a loud noise. I am not deaf.”
The person beside him laughed loudly, and then his expression took a sudden turn for the worse as he pulled a solemn face and said, “Then why did you ignore me when I looked for you to play video games during the vacation?”
“Didn’t hear it,” Lin Che answered cleanly and neatly.
“You…” Sun Kai pointed at Lin Che, and then paused his fist.
Only now did Sun Kai notice a prominent scratch on Lin Che’s face, “Brother Che, what happened to your face?”
“Fell down yesterday,” Lin Che said faintly with an indifferent tone.
Sun Kai let out an “oh” and did not continue to ask, instead sighing and complaining, “What kind of good school opens specifically on a Friday, and opens just for the sake of taking an exam?”
The two walked while talking, arriving before the bulletin board. Sun Kai exaggeratedly pressed his face against the glass of the bulletin board, wailing loudly, “Brother Che, how did you make it onto the outstanding students list again? When will it finally be my turn?”
Lin Che reached out his hand and patted Sun Kai’s shoulder, “The revolution has not yet succeeded, so comrades still need to work hard.”
Sun Kai turned around and asked with a beaming smile, “Brother Che, did you finish writing the physics vacation homework? Lend it to me to make some progress.”
“Not lending,” Lin Che turned around, intending to leave.
Hearing Lin Che’s decisive refusal of himself, Sun Kai immediately sat on the ground, grabbed Lin Che’s thigh, and threw a tantrum, refusing to move.
“What are you doing?” Lin Che looked at the surrounding gazes drawn over, trying forcefully to pull his leg out, but Sun Kai, sitting firmly on the ground, did not move in the slightest. “Fine, fine, fine, I will let you copy it, alright?”
Sun Kai on the ground bounced up instantly, “Hehe, I knew Brother Che loves me the most.”
“…”
Sun Kai cracked his fingers, “Don’t be so heartless. We have been buddies for over eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours after all.”
When Lin Che heard these words, the eye-roll in his heart had already rolled to who knows where. He did not even know how he came to know this person and even became good friends with him.
The eleventh grade had already moved to the Mindu Building, which was considered the No. 2 teaching building.
The design of No. 2 High School was fairly reasonable, with the three teaching buildings, cafeteria, and dormitory building all arranged in order from front to back. That was to say, the higher the grade, the closer one was to the cafeteria, which was also a relatively humane aspect of No. 2 High School.
Nothing happened yesterday, but when Lin Che woke up this morning, he felt as if his entire body were falling apart.
Not to mention that his backpack was filled with materials brought to school, heavy as if carrying Mount Five Elements. After climbing four flights of stairs continuously, Lin Che panted heavily upon climbing up.
Sun Kai on the side gloated instead, patting Lin Che’s shoulder and saying in all seriousness, “Brother Che, this body of yours needs to be exercised properly.”
Lin Che dropped his shoulder downward to shake off Sun Kai’s hand, entering the new classroom on his own.
Sun Kai hurriedly chased over, “Brother Che, I was joking, don’t be angry. My physics homework…”
The eleventh grade merely changed buildings, but the class designations were still there, so the people inside the class were naturally all the same as well.
Lin Che pushed open the door and walked in first, with Sun Kai following closely behind him.
Not many students had arrived in the classroom, only about ten or so students, though few people sat in their seats, chatting in twos and threes.
Once Sun Kai returned to school, it was like returning home, able to exchange pleasantries with every single person in the classroom.
Lin Che, on the other hand, sat in his old spot in the very last row by the window.
Although it was the very last row, as Class 4 was the key class of this grade, the students inside the class were always maintained at forty people, so the last row could not be considered far either.
Just after settling down, Lin Che opened his backpack and moved all the items into the desk drawer.
Sun Kai, on the other hand, pulled out the chair of the seat beside Lin Che, leaning over with a smiling face, “Um, Brother Che, lend me your physics homework so I can offer a pointer or two, huh?”
Although Lin Che’s face was full of reluctance, he still reached out his hand and handed the backpack over. He was terrified that this kid Sun Kai would perform some earth-shattering performance in the class again.
“Thank you, Brother Che.” Sun Kai extended both hands to respectfully receive Lin Che’s homework, and then leaned toward Lin Che.
Lin Che pushed Sun Kai’s face, which had leaned over, straight back, “If you don’t want to write, just say so directly, and return the book to me.”
Hearing these words, Sun Kai ejected back to his own desk instantly, extended his hand, and gave a salute to Lin Che, “Received, I will start writing right now.”
In less than twenty minutes, people in the class began arriving one after another, and the entire class grew lively along with it.
The noisy class suddenly turned quiet. As if a gust of wind blew past, the class was suddenly filled with the sound of turning pages.
Sun Kai tilted his head and whispered to Lin Che, “Old Liu is here.”
Lin Che looked toward the doorway, where a middle-aged male teacher in his thirties who was somewhat plump leaned against the glass of the door, surveying the class.
This was the homeroom teacher of Class 4, Liu Jingming, a man affectionately called “Liu Smart” by the students.
Seeing that the class had turned quiet, Liu Jingming pushed open the door and walked in, flinging the notebook in his hand onto the podium right upon entering the door, making a sound that caused the bodies of the students in the first row to shudder.
Liu Smart opened his mouth and said, “Just as school starts, you begin noisy, noisy, noisy chatter in the class for me. Those who didn’t know would think the college entrance examination was over and you were holding a tea party here. I could hear your voices down on the first floor.”
Liu Jingming had already spoken these words for an entire year, and the people sitting below were long accustomed to it, over half of them pulling out books to start writing.
Lin Che was still working on the problem set in his hands, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see Sun Kai beside him performing an exaggerated imitation of Liu Jingming’s movements.
Liu Jingming on the podium naturally saw it crystal clear as well, sending a piece of chalk flying directly onto Sun Kai’s desk.
“Sun Kai!”
Hearing his name read out from Liu Jingming’s mouth, Sun Kai stood up subconsciously, “Present!”
“What are you doing down there?”
“I am explaining a problem to Lin Che.” Saying that, Sun Kai stretched his leg out and kicked Lin Che.
Hearing Sun Kai’s answer, a burst of laughter rang out in the class.
Liu Jingming knocked on the table to quiet the class down, “When you make up lies, can you run them through your brain? Does Lin Che even need you, the second from the bottom, to teach him?”
Sun Kai kept his head down, randomly flipping through the books on his desk with his left hand, muttering under his breath, “I am not even the second from the bottom anymore.”
Liu Jingming let out a sigh, “Hurry up and sit down. The school opening placement test starts this afternoon, so let’s see if you dare regress again.”
Liu Jingming picked up the notebook on the podium and gestured with it, as if intending to plant Sun Kai into the ground.
Two knocks sounded at the door at this moment, attracting the class including Liu Jingming over.
The students close to the door had already recognized that it was the grade director knocking on the door, and the class that had just quieted down began whispering in animated discussion.
“Why is this dog shit here?”
“Whenever he comes, it is definitely nothing good.”
“He wouldn’t be here to inspect something, right?”
“Hard to say.”
Liu Jingming placed his book on the table, coughed intentionally, and then hurried out.
Sun Kai stared at the doorway for a long time, let out a loud cry of sudden realization, and then anxiously patted Lin Che’s arm beside him.
Lin Che was long accustomed to this easily startled person beside him, asking without even turning his head, “What is it again?”
“I know why Director Sun came to find Old Liu.” Sun Kai raised his head, looking at Lin Che with the corners of his mouth curving upward.
“I don’t want to know.” The pen held in Lin Che’s hand did not stop in the slightest.
“Don’t be like that, you want to know,” Sun Kai began shaking Lin Che’s arm again.
As Sun Kai shook like this, the injury on his arm suffered a surge of pain, causing the slipping pen in Lin Che’s hand to draw a long mark across his exam paper.
Lin Che slammed the pen in his hand onto the table, his furrowed brows squeezed together, turning his head to face Sun Kai with a stern expression.
Sun Kai tactfully retracted his hand, “Don’t be angry, am I not telling you something useful?”
“So, how useful is it? I am all ears.”
Lin Che peeled a candy while listening to Sun Kai speak.
“Look, isn’t there a student behind Director Sun?” Sun Kai pointed toward the direction of the doorway.
Lin Che picked up the glasses on the table and looked toward the doorway. There was indeed a figure, but the window at the doorway was too small, blocking most of it, making it impossible to see what that person looked like specifically.
“What use is this? A newly transferred student has to come in sooner or later anyway, so it isn’t as if he can’t be seen.” Lin Che tossed his glasses back onto the table.
“Hey, how can you say that? This is a huge top-secret, and I only told you alone.”
Along with the creaking sound of the door opening, the classroom turned quiet again instantly.
The moment Liu Jingming entered the door, he extended his finger to point at the students in the class, “What is going on with you all? Is the first day of school far too exciting? After finishing lunch today, all of you come to the class early to study, and I will come to the class to watch over you.”
A wave of wailing instantly erupted below, “Don’t!”
“Hmph, knowing it now is too late!” After speaking, Liu Jingming waved his hand toward the doorway, “Come on in.”
The new classmate successfully attracted the female classmates in the class right upon entering the class.
He wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt on his upper body and black jeans on his lower body, his whole person appearing clean and bright.
Sun Kai patted Lin Che beside him again and patted his own puffed-out chest, as if telling Lin Che beside him: How about it, everything is within my grasp.
Lin Che gave him a white eye and continued writing the problems in his hand.
Liu Jingming raised his hand and said to the boy beside him, “This is a new classmate in our class, so introduce yourself to everyone.”
“Hello everyone, I am Gu Yuan, and I hope to work hard together with everyone in the days ahead.”