After scratching her head for the third time, Zheng Shiyi finally couldn't help but stop Wen Qing, who had been agonizing all morning.
"Your hair's going to get all greasy at this rate."
Only then did Wen Qing withdraw her hand. She turned to look at Zheng Shiyi:
"Little Shiyi, let me ask you something."
"Ask."
"That grade ranking list—if it were you, could you spot my name at a glance?"
"Obviously not."
The more Wen Qing thought about it, the more troubled she became, racking her brain over the meaning of Zhou Shixu's words from the night before.
I did see you doesn't mean I could see you.
The school's honor roll was posted in a very prominent spot—the corridor between the classrooms and the sports field.
It happened to be right on the main route to the cafeteria.
So the very next day after it went up, it was mobbed by students clutching their buns and soy milk.
It almost instantly became the talk of the school.
And the liveliest discussion centered on the list of top scorers in each individual subject.
The top few in the overall grade rankings rarely fluctuated much, but the single-subject list often featured legendary lopsided geniuses.
So it drew more people to stop and look.
"Isn't that the guy who topped math, the one who spoke at the pep rally? He looks familiar."
"Didn't he also get first in the whole grade? He's pretty good-looking, huh."
"I think the girl next to him is really pretty too. Did our school's photography finally get an upgrade? Can I get my student ID photo retaken?"
"Second the retake request."
"The photo on my meal card is the truly ugly one… wait, no… where's my meal card?"
"Renewed it painlessly."
"Painful, actually. It costs ten yuan for a replacement."
"By the time your new card's done, the old one will turn up…"
When Wen Qing returned to the academic building sipping her soy milk, this was the scene she saw—everyone crowding around the honor roll.
She vaguely heard someone complimenting her amid the chatter, and with those two big flashbulbs from the photo shoot…
She finally squeezed her way to the front, looked up at her photo.
Then… immediately looked back down.
The school's photography skills were still not to be trusted.
Her dark circles were practically glowing.
She looked up again at Zhou Shixu's photo.
Though his dark circles weren't visible, his skin tone had been photographed in blotchy patches of light and dark—not much better.
The chatter around her was endless. Wen Qing slowly searched for gaps in the crowd, backing away.
Before she could take two steps, the conversation made her freeze.
"I heard Zhou Shixu and Wen Qing know each other, and they're pretty close."
"Who told you that?"
"Just students from Class One. People often see the two of them walking together after school."
The person in question lowered her head twice over, pretending to drink her soy milk.
The voices beside her carried clearly into her ears.
"Then their relationship must be something special. Who walks home with someone they're not close to?"
"Maybe their parents arranged it?"
"Doesn't that make their relationship even more extraordinary?"
"Anyway, you're shipping this couple no matter what, aren't you?"
The straw was chewed full of creases. Wen Qing moved to the outer edge of the crowd, trying to slip back to class.
But she was recognized on the spot.
"Wen Qing?"
"Um… good morning. Have you eaten?" With the expression of someone marching to her death, Wen Qing lifted her head as she spoke, even managing a smile.
The gossip instincts of those around her could no longer be contained. A classmate who'd known her well during her first two years of high school asked, catching up on old times: "You know Zhou Shixu?"
"Yeah, we knew each other as kids."
"Childhood friends?"
"Something like that."
Childhood sweethearts.
To Wen Qing, the difference between a childhood sweetheart and a childhood friend was simple: if he was handsome, he counted as a childhood sweetheart; if he was ugly, just a childhood friend.
That's right.
She was exactly that shallow a person.
Of course, even though it was a bit awkward, she didn't mind at all letting everyone know about her relationship with Zhou Shixu.
If anything, she wanted everyone to know that her relationship with Zhou Shixu was anything but ordinary.
Wen Qing said class was about to start, then hurried back to her seat.
But she overlooked the power of spreading news.
The two fastest groups for spreading gossip were the elderly and students.
Before morning classes were even over, the news had already reached Zhou Shixu's ears.
Though he rarely paid attention to gossip, unfortunately there was Xu Jinqi, a gossip extraordinaire.
As the story spread, it went from Wen Qing admitting they were childhood friends to admitting the two of them had an extraordinary relationship.
The result Wen Qing wanted had come about by sheer accident.
After getting the gossip, Xu Jinqi practically sprinted to tell Zhou Shixu.
He even added his own embellishments to the rumor.
So this was what reached Zhou Shixu's ears:
"Wen Qing herself said your relationship with her is anything but ordinary!!"
Xu Jinqi, who had expected his buddy to at least crack a smile, even watched his face specially to observe his reaction.
But Zhou Shixu just said, "Mm."
"Man, if I'd known, I would've done better on the exam. Then maybe I'd be the one with the 'not ordinary' relationship with our Qing-jie right now."
"Get lost." Though he said "get lost," his tone carried a hint of a smile.
·
Walking home after school that evening.
Maybe it was because of the weather, but the streetlights that usually glowed a harsh white cast a warm hue today.
Wen Qing still hadn't recovered from what Zhou Shixu had said last night, stumbling several times as she walked.
"Xu Jinqi told me today—"
"Hm?"
"He said you said your feelings for me are not ordinary."
"Huh?"
Wen Qing stopped in her tracks and looked at Zhou Shixu, ignoring her burning cheeks.
As if to prove herself, Wen Qing stared straight into his eyes.
"When did I say that?"
"This morning."
"I didn't say that."
"Mm."
Evening self-study ran very, very late—so late that the stars had begun to shine, making the lamplight seem dim by comparison.
After walking a few steps, Wen Qing spoke up again: "I really didn't say that."
Her voice was very small, almost a mumble.
"Mm. I believe you."
Not.
·
After the first major exam came the inevitable—seat changes.
Seats were picked by exam ranking again.
Before the picking, almost everyone had already arranged with their close friends where they'd sit, and once they learned where the person picking before them would choose, they would hurriedly coordinate with friends on the seats available to them.
Zhou Shixu had never worried about this before.
Usually, he would pick the window seat first, and Xu Jinqi would pick the seat right beside him right after.
Until this time.
Xu Jinqi came back after choosing his seat looking like the sky had fallen.
"We're doomed, Xiao Zhou, we're doomed!"
"What?"
"The seat next to you got taken. The two picks before mine, someone took the seat next to you. If I'd known, I would've greased some wheels before seat selection, but who would've thought anyone would want the seat next to you? I had to settle for the seat behind you. Should I go beg them to swap with me?"
Zhou Shixu's head buzzed from Xu Jinqi's yelling, and Xu Jinqi only quieted down after he said he'd figure something out.
Once seat selection ended that period, the homeroom teacher had everyone switch seats during the long break, so they could quickly see if anything still needed adjusting.
According to Xu Jinqi's sources, Zhou Shixu's new deskmate was a girl.
Quiet and unremarkable, she'd probably just stumbled into choosing the seat next to him by chance.
Zhou Shixu's seat hadn't changed, and before moving away, Xu Jinqi had even delivered Grey Wolf's signature line.
"Hello."
After the new deskmate greeted him, Zhou Shixu gave a small nod and went back to working on problems.
Chinese class.
It was the last class of the morning, with lunch right after, so the students were all rather restless—their drowsiness gone, hunger creeping in.
Halfway through the class, Zhou Shixu stopped working on the math problems he was grinding through and, as if something had occurred to him, looked to his side:
"Hello, I'm planning to switch seats with the student behind me. Could you check if that's alright?"
The person Zhou Shixu would swap with had already been arranged by Xu Jinqi; all that was left was the consent of the person in front of him.
Song Qiong froze for a moment at Zhou Shixu's words, hadn't even had time to put down her pen before she nodded hurriedly.
The pen in her fingers was clenched slightly tighter, then gently released.
English class, Class 10.
Even though lunchtime was almost there, whenever English class came around, Wen Qing couldn't suppress her drowsiness.
For her, English class was every bit as sleep-inducing as the biology teacher reading off PowerPoint slides.
She had just reached into her backpack for a mint candy to wake herself up when the hard corner of a box in the bag poked her.
She took the box out and found it was the cookies her mom had put in her bag last night.
Her mom had also told her to remember to bring a share for Zhou Shixu.
Ever since that time, Wen Qing had been avoiding Zhou Shixu these past few days.
It seemed that one glance from him was enough to make the warmth in her ears spread straight to her cheeks, her innermost thoughts nearly impossible to hide.
"Knock knock"
The English teacher tapped the desk twice before pulling her thoughts back.
Wen Qing casually tossed the cookie box into her desk.
The midday sun shone warmly onto her desktop.
Her fingertips, having just dealt with the hot potato, were once again singed by the scorching warmth of the desk.
After a gloomy lunch, Wen Qing still carried the cookie box over to Class 1.
She had some memory of how the seats in Class 1 were arranged, so the moment she reached the door, she noticed they had changed seats.
Lunchtime wasn't over yet, and only a scattered few students sat in the classroom.
She walked to the seat Zhou Shixu usually occupied and found a girl sitting on the outside.
Wen Qing vaguely recognized this girl—she'd seen her several times before when they took photos.
Seeing her standing there without moving, the girl looked up at her with some confusion.
Wen Qing smiled and shook the cookie box in her hand: "Excuse me, does Zhou Shixu still sit here?"
The cookies inside the box, stirred by her movement, knocked against the inner walls, making a crisp, almost delicious-sounding rattle.
The transparent box caught the sunlight, illuminating Wen Qing's pupils until they gleamed so brightly it seemed they wouldn't rest until they drew a person in.
Song Qiong stared into her pupils for a long while before nodding.
She even got up to let Wen Qing in to the inner seat, as if to help her put the cookie box down more easily.
Zhou Shixu's desk was kept very tidy—just a set of test papers, a scratch notebook, and a pen.
Wen Qing had always loved tearing scratch paper off, writing on one sheet and tossing it.
But Zhou Shixu had a habit of writing all his scratch work in a single notebook, switching to a new one only when it was full.
Wen Qing opened the scratch notebook, wanting to leave him a note so he wouldn't skip the cookies.
This notebook seemed to have been in use for a while—more than half of it was filled.
The solution steps on many of the earlier pages were written in neat order, except for the last page.
The entire sheet of scratch paper was a mess—setting aside the handwriting itself, it was hard to believe this was Zhou Shixu's work.
He must have been working on a physics exam earlier.
Wen Qing was just about to turn this page over and leave a note for Zhou Shixu on the next one.
But her eyes were involuntarily drawn to the bottom right corner of the messy scratch paper.
Perhaps because he had been writing while lost in thought, the characters were somewhat unsteady.
Still, Wen Qing recognized them immediately.
Why hasn't she come to find me yet