The countdown on the plaza flashed before everyone's eyes.
The big screen ticked along with the seconds.
"Five."
Zhou Shixu used a lighter to ignite the fuse of a small sparkler. A cluster of sparks bloomed before their eyes, and just as Wen Qing thought it was about to burn out, it burst violently at the final moment, crackling down a rain of fireworks.
The sound even drowned out the shouts of the crowd in the plaza.
"One."
Amid this little rain of fireworks, Wen Qing glanced sideways at eighteen-year-old Zhou Shixu.
And so arrived their—
brand-new era of adulthood.
The holiday was already short, and only after Xu Jinqi begged and pleaded for ages did Wen Qing agree to review lessons with him.
Mainly because his words were just too pitiful.
This proved a simple truth:
No matter how miserable you are, as long as someone is more miserable than you,
you'll feel better.
With Xu Jinqi as a comparison, even the hardest problems suddenly seemed a little easier.
Among the four of them, Sang Nianning's grades were second only to Zhou Shixu's.
For Wen Qing and Xu Jinqi, the study sessions were a constant exercise in begging.
When they couldn't solve one problem, they'd beg this person; when stuck on another, they'd beg that one.
The two of them also kept experiencing sudden moments of mutual resonance.
As it happened, their strong and weak subjects perfectly complemented each other.
And while studying, they'd still mock each other for being bad.
Zhou Shixu's house was nearly turned upside down by the commotion.
·
The holiday flew by, and thanks to the intensive tutoring, Wen Qing was now eager for the exams.
She was even excited about the weekend quizzes.
But arriving even before the second mock exam was her eighteenth birthday.
When she got to class for morning reading, her desk was already piled high.
As Wen Qing sorted through the things on her desk, she wondered how everyone had known the exact date of her birthday.
"On QQ! It started reminding me half a month in advance—Wen Qing's birthday is coming, Zheng Shiyi, hurry up and prepare a gift, hurry, or it'll be too late!"
"That penguin is such a riot?"
After Wen Qing finished speaking, Chen Zhi chimed in: "That's not all. It kept saying, 'Chen Zhi, Chen Zhi, hurry up and get Wen Qing a gift, quick, quick, or Zheng Shiyi will beat you up.'"
"Chen Zhi, you're asking for it, huh? Who are you calling a penguin?!"
Seeing the two of them about to start fighting again during morning reading, Wen Qing felt like she'd been playing peacemaker nonstop lately.
Aside from greeting cards, her desk was covered in charms and plush toys.
Zheng Shiyi's gift was a silver bracelet with little flowers.
Who knows how she'd gotten the measurements, but it fit perfectly, sitting just right in front of the wrist bone.
Before Wen Qing could finish arranging everything on her desk, someone gently poked her back.
She turned around.
A charm instantly came into view.
A little cat, even wearing a yellow taiyaki hat on its head.
Duan Huaian held the little cat's round paws between his fingertips and gave them a gentle wiggle.
Then he poked the cat's head to greet Wen Qing.
"Ahhh, how is this so cute!"
"The hat can come off, but it's bald underneath."
"How can you talk about our little cat like that?" Wen Qing said, taking off the taiyaki hat as she spoke.
Never mind.
Better put it back on.
Duan Huaian then pulled out of his drawer a frog hat, a salted fish hat, and even a vacation straw hat.
Wen Qing couldn't help bursting out laughing.
Chen Zhi's gift was even more straightforward and unconventional.
He simply bought Wen Qing two game skins.
The bonus gift was a promise to carry her to the highest rank after the college entrance exams.
The gifts from friends in class were all unexpected.
But Zhou Shixu—
Wen Qing knew he would definitely give her one.
Ever since she arrived at school in the morning, she had been needling Zhou Shixu about it.
But that someone was so tight-lipped that not a single word slipped out.
Anyone who didn't know better would think he didn't even remember this important day.
In the afternoon after class, Ms. Zhao came by with a two-tiered cake.
Wen Qing used every connection she had to call everyone into the empty classroom.
Then she tapped the podium twice:
"Everyone, just get to know each other however you like."
Excluding her, there were only seven people.
Zhou Shixu, Xu Jinqi, Sang Nianning, Zheng Shiyi, Chen Zhi, Duan Huaian.
There were others who were fairly close, but the pressure of senior year was too heavy, and they rarely talked—nowhere near the point of being able to call each other out for birthday cake.
She'd expected it to be awkward, since these three and the other three didn't know each other.
But as soon as Wen Qing finished speaking, they started chattering away, debating exactly how many candles should be lit.
There were firm believers in one candle, and those who said eighteen.
"I think three is better. Forever three years old—how young is that."
The moment Chen Zhi finished speaking, Zheng Shiyi jumped up and smacked him on the forehead.
"What is this, burning incense for the dead?!"
"I think eighteen is better."
The moment Sang Nianning finished speaking, Xu Jinqi laughed.
"By the time you light the eighteenth, the first one will have burned out."
The last trace of the sunset's afterglow had already faded.
Laughter and chatter filled the empty classroom.
In the end, they unanimously decided on six candles.
Six for good luck, smooth sailing all the way.
Even with the lights off, the classroom wasn't pitch black.
The glow of the streetlamps outside the window spilled into the room.
Senior students, when it came down to it, could only think of academic pressure and their wishes.
Worry about their prospects and their futures.
New Year's wishes and birthday wishes were never quite the same.
Almost everyone took it for granted that the person holding the cake for her to make a wish should be Zhou Shixu.
So no one else stepped forward.
In the dim classroom, a faint light appeared before Wen Qing's eyes.
Duan Huaian stood in the corner by the door, looking at the dim candlelight.
He could celebrate her birthday with her, yet had no standing to take a single step forward.
A distance that wasn't exactly close was suddenly pulled far apart again.
The birthday song drifted past his ears, and in his eyes, even the air grew quiet once more.
What wish would Wen Qing make?
What troubles did she have that needed a wish to resolve?
The crowd surrounded her, and Duan Huaian could barely make out the faint candlelight anymore.
When would he ever have a moment—
even just a single moment—
to stand in front of her.
No need to hold a cake, just to get a little closer, closer still, close enough to see her lashes trembling faintly, close enough to hear the wish she softly breathed out.
The candlelight was blown out, and Duan Huaian snapped back to his senses, flipping on the light switch by his hand.
Before he could make his next move, he heard Wen Qing call his name softly.
"Duan Huaian, why are you standing so far away? Don't tell me you don't want to sing me the birthday song."
He chuckled and stepped forward. "I'm the one holding the light switch for you. Isn't controlling the brightness more important than the birthday song?"
Wen Qing cut the top tier of the cake.
She kept a piece for herself first.
The remaining six all stood by, waiting to see the order in which she would hand out the cake.
It seemed that no matter how she divided it, someone would be put in an awkward position.
But Wen Qing simply cut six pieces and set them on the table for them to take themselves.
Zhou Shixu, who had barely spoken the entire time, took the second piece the moment she finished cutting.
The others didn't fight over anything, each taking the piece closest to them.
Only after everyone had picked up their slice of cake did Duan Huaian take the last remaining piece on the table.
At first, everyone had assumed that since they barely knew each other, quietly eating cake would be the most natural thing.
So Wen Qing couldn't figure out at all how Xu Jinqi and Chen Zhi had started smearing cake on each other!
The more they played, the more addicted they got.
Soon, only their eyes were visible above the cream on their faces!
Cream flying everywhere.
More than Santa Claus's beard.
Wen Qing inexplicably got half her face smeared.
A figure flashed past her—she couldn't even see who it was.
Everyone was plunged into an all-out brawl.
Before Zhou Shixu could react, Wen Qing reached out and slapped his cheek with a "smack."
A five-fingered print of cream appeared on his face.
As if he'd been slapped.
Zhou Shixu couldn't hold back a light chuckle and turned his face away.
He simply took off his glasses and let her have her fun.
The cream formed subtle contrasts against his skin.
Like shaving foam left behind after a shave.
Leftover cream clung to her fingertips.
Wen Qing started messily smearing his other cheek.
Seeing that there was no clean spot left on Zhou Shixu's face, Xu Jinqi came over and got Wen Qing's face, shouting as he did:
"Old Zhou, I'm here to rescue you."
Wen Qing turned around to fight back, only to discover there wasn't a single spot left on Xu Jinqi's face to smear.
Even his forehead had been smeared into a lazy sprawl.
Before she could even fight back, she was laughing too hard to stand.
Chen Zhi and Zheng Shiyi were still battling it out on their side.
The two of them seemed to be getting serious.
Halfway through smearing, they turned it into a real contest, betting on who would have to kneel and kowtow in admission of defeat.
At some point, Sang Nianning had started going wild with Zheng Shiyi.
The two of them now surrounded Chen Zhi in a joint attack.
Wen Qing looked around and noticed Duan Huaian standing in the corner again, smiling as he watched them.
Trying to stay out of it?
Not a chance.
Wen Qing flipped her plate over and smeared the whole thing onto his face.
All while staying on guard against Xu Jinqi's sneak attacks.
The teams kept breaking apart and merging, reforming and dissolving.
Xu Jinqi, while claiming to avenge Zhou Shixu, took advantage of his inattention to rub all the cream onto his face.
"Zheng Shiyi! You got cream up my nostril!!"
"Pfft, hahahaha."
"Save me a couple of bites when you're done smearing—I still need to sneak some during evening study."
"That's easy—just lick your face when you get hungry."
Wen Qing rubbed her face a couple of times and joined a new faction.
Seeing he couldn't out-smear three people, Chen Zhi switched targets and went after Duan Huaian.
Duan Huaian was simply too pale—so pale that the cream barely showed on his face. Suffering from being too pale, plus the fact that the empty classroom had long gone unused and the lighting was dim, Chen Zhi had no idea how many times he'd smeared him.
He only stopped when the cream had visibly piled up on Duan Huaian's face.
The moment Chen Zhi switched to attacking Duan Huaian, Zheng Shiyi went back to the cake to sneak the fruit from the top.
She'd barely eaten any when Chen Zhi came back to fight her for it, and the two of them once again broke out into a full-on battle.
They'd originally worried that the two-tier cake would go to waste if they couldn't finish it—no need to worry about that now.
Because they didn't eat any of it. It was all wasted.
Well, not exactly.
They did get a mouthful here and there while smearing.
When the seven of them walked from the empty classroom to the bathroom to wash their faces, they drew stares from everyone who passed by.
It was easy to guess this would become the hot meme of evening study.
Fortunately, they were smeared so thoroughly that no one could tell who was who.
They'd thought that with the cake gone, things would finally quiet down.
But while washing their faces, a water-splashing free-for-all broke out.
Wen Qing's side was fine—the three of them just flicked water droplets at each other's faces from across the way.
But Zhou Shixu's side turned out unexpectedly miserable.
Xu Jinqi and Chen Zhi looked like they'd just taken a shower, their hair soaked, drenched like drowned rats.
It wasn't the depths of winter yet, but the weather hadn't warmed up either.
Catching a cold was a small matter, but if a fever delayed their exam review, that would be a matter of utmost importance for students.
Bold as ever, the group found an empty office, picked the lock, and went in to enjoy the air conditioning.
Wen Qing stood at the back door, watching them bicker, and couldn't help laughing out loud.
The anxiety of being eighteen began to fade.
As if she were no longer so afraid of the future's arrival.
Even if they had to part.
Even if they had to leave high school behind.
Even if they had to lose their youth.
Then let me, before drifting away,
wage one chaotic great battle with you.
A revelry unforgettable for a lifetime.