"Of course! I'd really like to be your friend too."
The moment Song Qiong heard Wen Qing's words, she lifted her eyes, and the hesitation in her gaze vanished instantly.
Before Song Qiong could reply, Wen Qing spread her hands and beckoned her closer with a light gesture.
Seeing Wen Qing take out her phone, Song Qiong hurriedly shielded the open gap beside her.
It was the latest model of iPhone, with a sky-blue case, and a tiny little kitten charm dangled from the bottom right corner.
Song Qiong only gave it a hurried glance, not even looking at the lit-up screen, and just gently clutched the hem of her washed-out, faded clothes.
"Let's add each other on WeChat." With her phone open to the add-friends page, Wen Qing turned slightly toward Song Qiong.
"I… I board at school. I didn't bring my phone."
The moment the words left her mouth, she clutched her hem even tighter. Song Qiong didn't know how to keep the conversation going.
She didn't want her only new friend to know, either.
She didn't have a WeChat account.
She didn't have a smartphone.
What if Wen Qing told her to write down the WeChat ID and add her when she got home?
What if Wen Qing asked her to leave her phone number so she could send a request during the holidays?
What if Wen Qing discovered that this new friend of hers would lie?
What if—
Before Song Qiong's mental spiraling could finish, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Wen Qing had slipped her phone back into her pocket.
Wen Qing tore a whole sheet off her scratch paper and wrote down a string of numbers on it.
When she finished, she didn't forget to hand it to Song Qiong with a smile, joking as she did:
"If you have a nightmare at night in the dorm and can't sleep, you can call me from the landline in your building, okay?"
"Call you?"
"Yep." As she answered, Wen Qing didn't forget to make a few spooky "woo-woo" ghost-wailing noises at Song Qiong.
Neither of them could hold back their laughter.
When Song Qiong took the number, she noticed the workbook on the desk.
The conic sections problem Wen Qing had just finished was marked up with large swaths of red ink.
It looked like she had copied half the answer, gotten stuck because she didn't understand, and stopped.
Song Qiong hesitated for a moment, then spoke softly:
"I did this workbook yesterday. The answer to this problem is too complicated—I know a simpler method. Can I explain it to you?"
"Sure, sure!" Wen Qing handed her pen to Song Qiong on her right.
Before she could lean in to hear the new method, she felt a faint shadow fall over her left side.
Wen Qing tilted her head and looked at Zhou Shixu on her left with a puzzled expression.
"I don't get it."
"You? Don't get it?"
"Mm."
"Really don't get it?"
"Mm."
Wen Qing tilted her head to the right, looking at Song Qiong, who was scribbling away at the problem.
Then tilted her head to the left, looking at Zhou Shixu.
"Then once I understand it, I'll explain it to you after, okay?"
Zhou Shixu gave another "Mm," but didn't move away from where he had leaned in.
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Wen Qing kept feeling that Zhou Shixu was sitting too close.
She could even feel his breath brushing lightly against her arm.
Her heart began racing uncontrollably again.
Wen Qing, trying to cover her fluster, shifted a little to the right to put some distance between them.
Her cheek was nearly pressed against the tip of Song Qiong's pen as she explained the problem.
"Actually, there's a formula for this type of problem that gets you the answer directly, and then you can work backward to reconstruct the steps."
As Song Qiong explained, she wrote out the formula, even jotting down all the backward-derivation formulas commonly used for similar problems alongside.
Her handwriting was delicate, arranged neatly and carefully.
Unlike the messy worked-out answer, Wen Qing had almost fully understood the problem halfway through Song Qiong's explanation.
After Song Qiong finished explaining and returned to her seat, Wen Qing sorted through the problem-solving approach, then tugged at the corner of a page in the test booklet and slid it over in front of Zhou Shixu.
Zhou Shixu had long since put down his pen, and was now resting his knuckles lightly against his cheek as he looked at Wen Qing.
"Got it figured out?"
Wen Qing picked up her pen and leaned toward the desk where his test paper lay: "Of course. I'm that smart."
Zhou Shixu dropped the hand propping up his cheek and leaned slightly toward the paper as well: "I don't get it."
"Then beg me. Beg me and I'll teach you." As she spoke, Wen Qing tilted her pen and tapped its cap lightly against the desk.
"Hm? I don't beg people."
"That's very ambiguous. Do you mean you don't know how to beg, or you're not willing to?"
"Both."
The moment Zhou Shixu's words landed, the pen was tossed onto the desk, its tip dragging a long streak across the test paper.
"Then I'm not teaching you." Wen Qing rested her forehead against the edge of the desk and looked down at her phone.
"Hm?"
"Hm what hm. Not teaching you anymore, you nuisance." In the gaps between words, Wen Qing's fingertips flew across her phone as she replied to messages.
Zhou Shixu looked past her typing fingers, lifting his gaze to her profile, slightly veiled by the strands of hair by her ear.
He spoke again: "I don't beg people."
As if rendered speechless by him, Wen Qing dropped her phone into the desk drawer with a thud and frowned at Zhou Shixu: "I heard you the first time. Was it necessary to say it again?"
The strands of hair that had come loose earlier brushed lightly against her earlobe as she lifted her gaze.
Zhou Shixu's eyes followed that strand of hair.
Seeing that he wouldn't even meet her eyes, Wen Qing's temper flared further.
"I'm talking to you—talking—" Halfway through her sentence, she saw Zhou Shixu suddenly lean forward.
His face instantly filled her vision.
"I'm begging you."
The slight irritation she'd felt was knocked right back down by those words.
As if unwilling to let her mood be so easily soothed, Wen Qing spoke with a stubborn edge: "Didn't you say you don't beg people?"
"Mm." They were so close that even the breathy sound of Zhou Shixu's reply seemed to float before her eyes.
"Then what did you just say?" By now her anger had mostly subsided, and Wen Qing spoke almost in a mumble.
Zhou Shixu's gaze moved from her earlobe to her eyes: "Didn't you hear?"
"I heard you. Can't I want to hear it again? Besides, didn't you say you don't beg people?" Facing him, Wen Qing could always be shamelessly self-righteous even when she had no ground to stand on.
"I'm begging you."
"Say it again."
"How many more times?"
"Until I get sick of hearing it."
The pen that had been tossed onto the desk earlier was now picked up again by Wen Qing.
"Hurry up, say it again."
"You training me like a Tart?"
"You're not nearly as obedient as it is."
Grandma Wen's family had a little white dog named Tart, and this dog had a particularly strange temper.
It seemed to understand everything Wen Qing said and was utterly obedient to her, but toward anyone else it would either bite or bark.
Zhou Shixu had been bitten countless times as a child.
Whenever Tart was around, there was no way he was getting into Wen Qing's good graces.
The pen tip moved across the problem, then across the formulas, as Wen Qing began explaining at a leisurely pace.
Halfway through, she suddenly stopped and looked at Zhou Shixu.
She even tilted her head slightly.
Zhou Shixu saw through the look in her eyes at a glance.
She clearly knew how to explain it but was pretending to be confused to test whether he actually understood.
In that case.
He didn't mind making it even more obvious.
Zhou Shixu lightly tapped a formula on the test paper with his fingertip.
Wen Qing immediately put on a look of sudden realization and looked at him.
Then continued explaining from where she'd left off.
Zhou Shixu didn't even have time to think about the meaning behind her gesture.
His mind was still reeling, dazed by how adorable her expression had been.
The weather in Qingcheng changed so fast that one could barely feel spring's existence at all.
The leaves began falling as soon as they turned yellow.
In this sleet weather, what drifted down from the sky looked more like hail.
Walking down the street, the wind made one's head ache dully.
Third-year students buried in intensive study couldn't sense autumn at all.
The weather turned from warm to cold in an instant.
The first round of review passed in an instant too.
Time slipped through their fingers in the blink of an eye.
The first mock exam arrived even earlier than the first proper snowfall.
So early that most students had almost no preparation at all.
They were caught off guard by the sudden realization that the college entrance exam was looming.
The classroom windows, due to the huge temperature difference, had already fogged over with a thin mist.
Cold wind slipped in thread by thread from the window's edge.
Wen Qing's face was flushed red.
Her left cheek was scorched by the warm breath exhaled by her classmates, while her right side was chilled by the cold air seeping in from outside the window.
She had just pulled the curtain down to block the cold air.
Before she could warm up, the teacher ordered it opened again—saying something about air circulation, and that the classroom was too dim.
Wen Qing lowered her head slightly, almost slumping onto her desk.
Her forehead half-resting against the wall, barely fending off the invasion of cold air.
Zheng Shiyi used her school uniform jacket, padded over her books, to help block it a little.
The first mock exam was the next day.
No student dared let their guard down now.
Even during Chinese class, the classroom was filled with the rustle of turning pages.
The first round of review had spanned so long that they were learning new material while forgetting the old.
The school had gone to great lengths for this exam.
They even designated both the south and north campuses as exam venues, letting the first-year students start their winter break three days early.
Because of a rain two days before, the pavement was wet and slippery, making it hard to keep one's footing.
The day before, Wen Qing had already told Zhou Shixu that she had something to do the night before the exam, so he didn't need to wait for her to go home together.
Zhou Shixu didn't ask what it was, so naturally she didn't say.
As for what it was, exactly—
Something indispensable to most people's school days: paying respects to Confucius.
Qingcheng No. 1 High School had a statue of Confucius on campus, placed by the rocks near the rockery at the south campus gate.
For this exam, because of the exam venue preparations, the gate between the north and south campuses happened to be opened.
A few days earlier, Zheng Shiyi had mentioned it offhandedly during morning reading, and the four of them agreed almost immediately.
They resolved to pay their respects before the exam.
Wen Qing had even prepared apples.
The streetlights on both sides of the school could barely illuminate the ground.
They weren't even brighter than the dean's high beams.
The crowd flowed endlessly.
The four of them walked against the tide of people toward the south campus.
Students troubled by the exam apparently numbered far more than just the four of them.
The steps before the Confucius statue were already covered with a messy assortment of—offerings.
Fruit, candy, snacks, plain milk, and even one-yuan coins placed directly on it.
The school's little cat was having a food festival.
Wen Qing fished two apples out of her bag and carefully placed them on the platform.
Behind her, Chen Zhi was egging Zheng Shiyi on to go up and kowtow a couple of times.
The two of them argued over who should go first.
Duan Huaian grabbed Chen Zhi and pulled him aside, to keep the two from wrestling right there.
Chen Zhi staggered from the pull and nearly ended up actually kneeling on the ground.
The group burst into laughter in unison.
Wen Qing pulled another apple out of her bag and held it out to Zheng Shiyi: "Here, go put it down."
"Didn't you just put down two?"
"That one's mine—go on, go on."
The moment Zheng Shiyi left, another hand appeared in front of Wen Qing.
Its owner's skin was so pale she could guess who it was without even looking up.
Seeing that she didn't move, the palm in front of her swayed gently.
"We're out of apples."
Before Duan Huaian could withdraw his hand, Wen Qing held something up between two fingers. "Will this do?"
The light was too dim; she could barely make out that it was something round in her hand.
Duan Huaian leaned forward slightly, and only when the tip of his nose nearly bumped into her fingers could he make it out.
"A plum?"
"Mm. Super-duper, mind-blowingly sour."
"You're giving me the super-sour one?"
"It's not like I was going to eat it anyway."
Wen Qing's fingertips lowered, gently tapping the fruit against the back of Duan Huaian's hand.
The weather was cold; when the back of his hand touched the icy fruit, even his fingertips flinched.
Duan Huaian flipped his hand over and took the plum.
"Is it really that sour?"
"Of course. Why would I lie to you?" The words had barely landed when Duan Huaian raised the plum and took a bite.
Not expecting this sudden move, Wen Qing hurriedly looked up at him.
With just that one bite, Duan Huaian was puckering and grimacing from the sourness—yet even with his expression completely out of control, he still managed to smile at Wen Qing.
"I told you it was super sour."
"It's all right, I guess."
As if to prove his point, Duan Huaian raised the plum as if to take another bite.
Wen Qing hurriedly stopped him. "Fine, fine, fine, I believe you. If you eat yourself into a sour-induced faint, no one's going to take care of you."
"Can't waste it."
A sudden squabble broke out.
Chen Zhi and Zheng Shiyi were fighting over exclusive rights to an apple.
Wen Qing hurried over to tip the scales.
Seeing that a 1v2 was unwinnable, Chen Zhi quickly dragged over Duan Huaian, who was busy eating his plum, to administer justice.
Take someone's gift, and your mouth belongs to them.
The situation shifted from 1v2 to 1v3.
Chen Zhi was KO'd.
Even after turning his backpack inside out, no second plum could be found.
In the end, it was Zheng Shiyi who split her apple in half and gave half to Chen Zhi.
They didn't actually break it apart, but it still counted as sharing.
The school had cleaning ladies who tidied up the statue on a regular schedule every day.
The snacks and fruit students left there never went to waste.
They even made a fine feast for the school's big fat cat.
Most of the students had already left through the school gates; only a scattered few remained, and even the broadcast that played music had stopped.
After paying their respects, the group went on to beg Confucius together as well.
Their pleas were so pitiful they were one step short of kneeling and kowtowing.
Zheng Shiyi and Chen Zhi lived closer to the south gate, so they headed home together that way.
Wen Qing and Duan Huaian still had to walk from the south campus to the north campus before heading home through the north gate.
The pairs parted ways.
The four of them even threatened one another: absolutely no sneaking in extra studying once they got home tonight.
In reality, the ones who said this loudest would grind the hardest in secret that night.
Fortunately, because exams started first thing the next morning,
the gate between the north and south campuses was left unlocked.
But the streetlight beside it had long since gone out.
The night sky was surprisingly clear.
Even the morning star seemed to shine all the brighter.
Wen Qing counted stars as she walked.
On the way home from school in the past, she could only see about ten stars; now there were too many to count.
A very, very soft "one, two, three, four" drifted through the evening breeze to Duan Huaian's ears.
He glanced slightly to the side.
Through the starlight, he could just make out Wen Qing.
He couldn't see her hair swaying gently in the breeze.
Only her very bright eyes.
The seats by the window where they sat got plenty of sunlight.
Whenever Wen Qing turned around to chat during break, Duan Huaian often found his attention drawn to her eyes.
They were usually such a strikingly deep black with a gleam to them, yet in the sunlight they turned into a very, very pale amber.
Right now, starlight was reflected in her eyes.
All around her was darkness, with a single point of light gathered in the middle.
It looked even more like the sky than the actual night sky did.
Like the sky as Duan Huaian liked to imagine it.
The two of them slipped out just before the gates closed.
The old gatekeeper still didn't forget to remind them to be careful on the way home and to leave the classroom earlier next time.
Wen Qing smiled without realizing it.
The gatekeeper was in a pretty good mood today.
Usually he would have given them a good scolding right off the bat.
The streetlights outside the school were still on.
This was Wen Qing's first time walking home with Duan Huaian.
When she asked where he lived, he wouldn't say—he just kept telling her it was on the way.
After last night's torrential rainstorm, the puddles on campus had been cleaned up, but outside school the ground was inevitably dotted with potholes of water big and small.
Where the water had gathered it formed pools; where there was less, a thin layer of ice had formed on the surface.
A fierce gust of wind blew past.
The rustling of trees in the greenbelt and the whooshing sounds from who knows where kept assaulting their ears.
Wen Qing shivered twice from the cold.
She was silently making up her mind to wear thermal underwear tomorrow.
Before she could even think about what to wear—
a warm, cozy scarf appeared before her eyes.
A very pale gray.
Like the black-and-white filter on an old photograph.
Wen Qing raised her eyes to look at Duan Huaian holding up the scarf.
His skin tone was the same as ever, along with that ever-smiling expression.
Which made it impossible to tell whether he was cold or not.
Seeing that she didn't reach out to take it, Duan Huaian lifted the scarf a little higher.
The two of them stood there in a standoff.
Xu Jinqi, who had bombed the last exam, hadn't been satisfied with just half a period of tutoring from Zhou Shixu, and had dragged him into tutoring until nearly closing time after school.
He hadn't taken two steps out of the school gate when Xu Jinqi froze on the spot.
He even gave Zhou Shixu, who was spacing out, a couple of pokes.
"Holy crap, our sis Wen is dating someone? No wonder you had time to tutor me tonight."
As if afraid Zhou Shixu might miss it, Xu Jinqi poked him a whole bunch more times.
Zhou Shixu raised his eyes to look at that eyesore of a scarf.
Seeing Wen Qing reach out to take it, Xu Jinqi burst out with another string of holy craps.
Xu Jinqi looked at Zhou Shixu, who showed no reaction whatsoever.
His expression hadn't changed in the slightest—it looked like none of this had anything to do with him.
That is—
if you ignored the way he was walking straight toward them.