The commotion earlier had drawn quite a few students to gather around. The dorm supervisor quickly arrived at the scene, knocking on the door panel and asking, “What happened to your door lock?”
Jiang Youyi closed the glass door of the bathroom, ignoring the noise outside. Several girls exchanged glances and nudged each other, looking as if they were about to tattle.
“The lock broke earlier, and it couldn’t be opened from either side,” Yan Wei put down her book, fabricating the reason for Jiang Youyi’s forceful action.
She spoke calmly and confidently, not only fooling the dorm supervisor but also stunning the girls in the dorm.
One of the girls moved her lips, trying to shift the blame onto Jiang Youyi: “That door was—”
Without changing her expression, Yan Wei cut her off and continued, “Something might have gotten stuck in the lock cylinder. We didn’t notice when closing the door, and the handle wouldn’t turn from the inside.”
The dorm supervisor had no reason to doubt her. Yan Wei was an excellent student with both good character and grades—she surely wouldn’t lie.
She inspected the broken lock and estimated that someone would need to be called to fix it. Helplessly, she lectured these impatient high school students: “Next time something like this happens, be sure to find a teacher first. Don’t kick the door yourselves.”
After the dorm supervisor left, the girl who had led the trouble-making stormed over aggressively to demand an explanation: “Yan Wei, what do you mean by that?”
The other girls in the dorm also turned to look in their direction.
Yan Wei carefully organized her review materials, quickly marking key points. Without looking up, she replied nonchalantly, “What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’?”
The girl snatched her pen and casually tossed it into the trash bin by the bed. “Why did you say that earlier? Who are you trying to protect? Don’t you know how the door broke? Why are you muddying the waters?”
Yan Wei finally looked up, meeting her gaze without flinching. “Then should I have said that you deliberately locked Jiang Youyi and me outside and wouldn’t let us in? If she hadn’t kicked the door, and I had gone to call a teacher instead, what do you think would have happened?”
“You—!” The girl’s eyes widened in anger, looking as if she wanted to devour someone.
They had no idea Yan Wei would return to the dorm with Jiang Youyi.
“Let it go, let it go. We’re all classmates,” another girl stepped forward, pulling her arm.
While trying to calm her down, she turned to Yan Wei. “Yan Wei, don’t think just because your grades are good, you can give us attitude. It was just a joke among classmates. Making a big deal out of it is pointless.”
“Oh, pointless? You think playing like that is fun?” Yan Wei put down her book and stood up, responding expressionlessly. “Then I suggest you look up the dictionary and figure out the difference between ‘joking’ and ‘bullying.’ Learn to respect others, and then come talk to me about whether it’s fun or not.”
The girl was about to say something else when the glass door of the inner room slid open with a clatter. Jiang Youyi leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, coldly watching the girls in the dorm.
The air fell silent for two seconds. Just then, the lunch break bell rang. No one spoke further, each holding back their anger as they returned to their beds to lie down.
More than twenty minutes had been wasted. Nothing had been accomplished, the materials were brought for nothing, and a pen had been lost.
Life isn’t easy. Yan Wei sighed.
“Thud!”
A brand-new ballpoint pen flew through the air and landed on Yan Wei’s blanket.
Yan Wei looked up just as Jiang Youyi withdrew her hand, turning away to continue playing on her phone.
Clipped to the pen cap was a small torn piece of paper with a few wildly scrawled cursive characters:
Thanks. Pen’s on me.
The plan to “accidentally” run into Jiang Youyi on the sports field failed. Yan Wei and Zhou Xiaoxiao finished four laps together without catching a glimpse of her. They guessed Jiang Youyi had probably gone straight back to the dorm after evening self-study.
Well, it made sense. Jiang Youyi had excellent athletic ability—even with a leg injury, she could still finish in the top three in the 1,600-meter race. She didn’t need any advance preparation.
On the way back, Yan Wei thought to herself that after last weekend’s “heart-to-heart,” her relationship with Jiang Youyi had actually eased a bit. She could have just confirmed whether Jiang Youyi had signed up for the 1,600-meter race and then proactively invited her to run together on the field.
But for some reason, she felt an awkwardness that was hard to put into words.
Maybe it was because of the inexplicable unpleasantness between her and Jiang Youyi over the weekend. Her emotions were a bit delicate now. She wanted to take the chance to make herself more visible in front of Jiang Youyi, yet she also didn’t really want to talk to her face-to-face.
Yan Wei made it back to the dorm just as the lights-out bell rang. After washing up, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
The next morning, Yan Wei woke up sore and aching all over, struggling to get out of bed. She ended up lazing for an extra five minutes, which made her a bit late to the cafeteria. She ended up at the very back of the breakfast line. Zhou Xiaoxiao, who had arrived before her, took the last grilled sausage.
Yan Wei was heartbroken. Zhou Xiaoxiao sat across from her and asked with a grin, “Want some? If you lend me your notes, I’ll split this sausage with you!”
Just as Yan Wei was about to say no, Jiang Youyi walked over with her tray, paused beside their table, picked up a grilled sausage, and tossed it onto Yan Wei’s plate. “Ordered too much, don’t want to waste it. Help me finish it.”
Then she walked away with her tray.
“Damn!” Zhou Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but curse under her breath.
Yan Wei nearly choked on the bun she was eating, laughing so hard she had to gulp down some soy milk to swallow it properly.
What level of adorable was this?
Back in the classroom, Yan Wei found an unopened box of medical glucose in her desk drawer. It was the kind of liquid glucose you could get from the school clinic—five small bottles in a single box, ready to drink.
Zhou Xiaoxiao, sharp-eyed as ever, gasped, “Wow! Who’s so thoughtful? Is there a name on it? Was it the class monitor?”
“No, no idea who left it.”
Yan Wei picked up the glucose and turned to ask the classmate sitting behind her, who had arrived earlier, “Did you see who put this in my desk?”
The girl shook her head. “No, I didn’t. Ask someone else.”
Yan Wei had a guess. She looked past the noisy classmates toward the back seat by the window, where Jiang Youyi was sitting. Just then, Jiang Youyi happened to look up, and Yan Wei caught her gaze perfectly.
Yan Wei raised the small box in her hand. Jiang Youyi remained unmoved, expressionlessly lowering her head to continue doodling, seemingly writing something.
Yan Wei smiled silently. Now she knew where Jiang Youyi had gone after evening self-study the day before.
Jiang Youyi carried her mug to the front of the classroom to get hot water. Halfway there, she was intercepted again by Yan Wei, who was sitting in the front row.
“Come run with me on the field tonight?”
With the confidence of five bottles of glucose tucked away, Yan Wei didn’t even realize how much her tone had taken on a hint of coquettishness.
Jiang Youyi paused, tilting her mug toward Yan Wei and shaking it slightly. At the bottom were two pieces of brown sugar mixed with minced ginger. “Get it?”
A strong, familiar scent wafted over. Yan Wei was instantly speechless.
That jar of ginger tea—she was the one who had bought it for Jiang Youyi. The ultimate remedy for menstrual cramps.
Jiang Youyi saw Yan Wei looking dejected and wanted to laugh but held it back. She went to the podium to fetch a cup of hot water, then walked past Yan Wei while gently stirring the spoon, whispering, “Wait for me after evening self-study. I’ll go supervise and watch you guys run.”
Before Yan Wei could feel happy, she immediately noticed the important clue in Jiang Youyi’s words.
“You guys”?
Jiang Youyi must have gone to the track last night and seen her and Zhou Xiaoxiao running!
Yet she had quietly left without saying a word!