Lemon Flavor
Monday night was the English evening self-study class. Due to the numerous topics to cover, Mrs. Li couldn’t finish in one class, occupying more than half of the second one. Only forty minutes were left for them to do their homework.
By the time Fang Xing finished his homework, it was almost time for the next evening’s self-study. He didn’t go on to do more problems, and after packing up, he casually picked up a vocabulary book to stare at. However, his mind had already started to wander.
He wondered if Jiang Zhijin’s situation had been resolved, how exactly he meant by a peaceful resolution, whether they both understood peace in the same way… and, could Jiang Zhijin get into trouble?
A person with the kind of face that almost directly said “I’m cool” in two words shouldn’t be easily provoked by anyone. After all, he was still a big brother in society.
But what if?
Fang Xing found it challenging to focus on anything else. After five minutes passed, he had only just looked at the third word, making him even more agitated.
His phone in the desk vibrated twice at this moment.
He immediately lowered his head, left hand pressing down the vocabulary book, and the right hand took out his phone to glance at it. It was a message from Jiang Zhijin.
“At the entrance.”
Everything seemed normal.
Fang Xing inexplicably sighed in relief.
This relieved feeling fully landed when he saw Jiang Zhijin, unharmed and leaning against the car, smoking. Suddenly, Fang Xing felt like mocking himself for the unfounded thoughts he had earlier.
Seeing Fang Xing approaching, Jiang Zhijin flicked away the cigarette.
“Let’s go.”
Back home, after taking a shower, Fang Xing sat down at the desk.
He opened WeChat on his phone, and five minutes ago, Jiang Xinxin had sent him a document.
The list of the top ten students and all the grades from the opening exam at Shaojiang High School.
He carefully read through it once. The first-place total score was 656, and the tenth place total score was 621. The gap between the tenth and the first was 35 points, a somewhat significant difference. Scores in Chinese and math were almost the same, but the gap widened in English and comprehensive science.
And that was Fang Xing’s strong suit.
Skipping to the back, he went directly to look at the first-place student’s scores.
The comprehensive science scores were high, English was slightly lower, and math and Chinese were both good…
Fang Xing skimmed through until he reached the front again and was startled by the name.
Tan Zhuo.
He was momentarily stunned, immediately thinking of the person he encountered in the alley—panicked at that moment, disdainful when facing Xu Hang, and nervous after knocking down someone’s water cup.
…Unexpected yet not unexpected.
The other person seemed like a typical good student, always impeccably dressed in the school uniform, zipped up, rarely leaving their seat during breaks. Whenever Fang Xing happened to glance at their seat, they were always engrossed in studying with their head down.
Fang Xing wasn’t too concerned about who the top student was, but seeing it was someone he remembered was somewhat surprising. He muted his phone and put it aside, taking out a comprehensive science test paper.
That night, he had to do two comprehensive science papers, including completing and revising after writing. The time was tight because of exams on Friday and Saturday. He planned to push back his sleeping time by an hour.
He didn’t have a good habit of writing. While looking at the questions, he had already started writing. If it was a math or physics problem with graphics, he could draw four or five auxiliary lines without much thought. This habit had been scolded by teachers in his previous school in Chaocheng. They said he was like rushing through a schedule even during an exam. What if he did it wrong and had to start over? Was there so much time for you to start over in an exam?
But Fang Xing continued to do it his way for two simple reasons: first, it made solving problems faster, and second, he rarely made errors.
After finishing two test papers, it was already 12:20. Fang Xing rested with his eyes closed for a while and took out a lemon-flavored candy from his bag.
The candy was concentrated and sour to the point of bitterness, like eating a fresh lemon, instantly refreshing and awakening the mind to the extreme. He crunched the candy, slowly consuming it, feeling as if he had eaten a fresh lemon. Then, he took out a red pen to compare answers and started grading.
At this moment, he heard a knocking sound from the door.
The knocking was very light, three knocks in succession. Fang Xing got up and opened the door. Jiang Zhijin was standing at the door.
Presumably, he had just taken a shower, and his hair was semi-dry, hanging down softly. The corridor lights were motion-activated, and with Jiang Zhijin’s sudden knocking, the dim light illuminated both figures inside and outside the door.
Seeing him open the door, Jiang Zhijin retracted his hand and smiled.
“You haven’t slept yet?”
“Doing problems,” Fang Xing replied. “What’s up?”
Jiang Zhijin asked, “Can I come in?”
Fang Xing didn’t say anything, just moved aside to let Jiang Zhijin in.
The desk was still scattered with comprehensive science test papers, the answers beside them, along with unclosed red and black pens. It looked a bit messy. Jiang Zhijin happened to walk to the desk and lowered his head to take a look.
“Your handwriting is quite nice,” Jiang Zhijin said.
Fang Xing’s handwriting was practiced since he was a child, sent to calligraphy classes at a young age. A child over five years old learning to write, first lifting his head and chest to hold a pen like an egg for half a month to practice the grip, followed by endless dotting, hooking, horizontal strokes, and vertical strokes… This resulted in Fang Xing’s childhood hatred for one thing, which was attending calligraphy classes.
However, it also gave him good handwriting—clean regular script. During Chinese exams, teachers would give him extra points for neatness. Almost everyone who had seen his writing would praise it.
But tonight, when Jiang Zhijin casually mentioned it, Fang Xing suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
The reason was that he thought he had done the problems quickly just now, and he probably hadn’t written at his normal level. In fact, when he wasn’t in a hurry, he should have written even better. Also, since it was his own practice, all the auxiliary lines were drawn on the exam paper, and the layout probably didn’t look good…
“It’s okay,” Fang Xing replied.
Sounding particularly indifferent.
“Your mom called just now,” Jiang Zhijin said. “Asked about your recent study situation. I said everything was fine. You work hard in your studies, respect your teachers, get along well with your classmates, and have a good relationship with everyone…”
“…Didn’t my mom scold you for using such clichéd phrases?” Fang Xing couldn’t help but ask.
“It wasn’t that official. Anyway, it was more or less the same meaning,” Jiang Zhijin chuckled.
Fang Xing nodded. “And then?”
“Then, she asked about your daily life.” Jiang Zhijin paused for a moment, revealing a smile. “I said your life is good too. Carefree and enjoyable, getting along well with me.”
Fang Xing looked at Jiang Zhijin, unable to speak for a moment.
He didn’t know how to respond to this.
“…What’s with that expression?” Jiang Zhijin raised an eyebrow.
Feeling bored, he idly played withFang Xing’s half-covered pen on the table, covering the cap with a “click.”
“Fang Xing, our relationship is pretty good, isn’t it?”
Fang Xing hadn’t spoken yet when Jiang Zhijin continued, “Think about it and answer later. Otherwise, you’ll have to walk back after tomorrow’s self-study.”
…Threatening someone to become good friends is something you can only do in kindergarten. Even first graders are more mature than this.
Fang Xing and Jiang Zhijin faced each other at the table. Fang Xing’s bedroom window wasn’t closed, and the cool night breeze blew in through the gauze window. A test paper was flipped over by a page, and Jiang Zhijin leaned against the table with his forehead hair swaying.
Fang Xing looked at him for a while and finally replied, “Alright.”
Jiang Zhijin repeated, “What’s alright?”
Fang Xing sighed heavily in his heart. “Our relationship is pretty good.”
Teasing him was really fun—Jiang Zhijin restrained his laughter and ended it there. “I just said some polite and harmless words. Your exams, parent-teacher meetings, and this incident, I haven’t mentioned them for now. It’s all your own business. Decide whether you want to talk about them later, and I’ll speak then.”
Fang Xing was stunned, looking up at Jiang Zhijin’s indifferent face.
He nodded and said, “Thank you.”
Seeing that Jiang Zhijin was about to speak, Fang Xing preemptively added, “I’m just being civilized and courteous, not being polite to you.”
“…I haven’t said anything yet,” Jiang Zhijin looked at him, “I just wanted to say that the issue in the alley has been resolved.”
Fang Xing hadn’t even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard the person in front of him say, “Go to school by yourself tomorrow morning.”
…It seems like it’s really resolved.
Fang Xing had no words to respond, nodded, and Jiang Zhijin straightened up.
“Alright, go to sleep. There’s an exam in a few days.”
“After I finish grading the papers.”
Following Jiang Zhijin to the door, Fang Xing was about to close the door when Jiang Zhijin suddenly turned around, lowered his head, and approached him.
Caught off guard, Fang Xing subconsciously tried to step back, but Jiang Zhijin seemed to anticipate his movement, placing his hand on Fang Xing’s shoulder and saying, “Don’t move.”
Both of them were of similar height. Jiang Zhijin got a bit closer, stopping at a position not too far from Fang Xing’s face.
He tilted his head quickly, sniffed, and then straightened up, retracting his hand. “Lemon flavor.”
Fang Xing: “…”
“Eating candy so late,” Jiang Zhijin clicked his tongue, wearing an expression like looking at a child, “Remember to brush your teeth.”
When he saw Jiang Zhijin go back to his room, Fang Xing stood at the door for a while, exhaling gently.
Is there a lemon scent? Why can’t he smell it himself?
He took two steps toward the desk, stopped after a few seconds, turned around, and walked out of the room, heading straight to the bathroom.