They dashed all the way through the school gate and straight up to the second floor.
Tao Tao and Rao Lili leaned against the windowsill, gasping for breath, nearly suffocating.
Yu Luan, on the other hand, was much calmer. He had been half-pulled along by Tao Tao, so he hadn’t exerted much effort. After catching his breath for a moment, he quickly settled down. As soon as he stopped, he couldn’t stand it anymore and immediately lowered his head, awkwardly reaching behind his back with one hand.
His sister hadn’t wanted to wear the key, so she’d hung it around his neck before they left.
During the run, it had swung around to his back.
He fumbled for it a few times but couldn’t reach it. Without a word, he stubbornly kept reaching, slowly and persistently.
A moment later, Zhang Jiaming appeared, drenched in sweat. The moment he saw the two of them standing at the door gasping, he swung his backpack behind him with force, didn’t even glance at them, and stared straight ahead as he marched into the classroom.
“Uh oh, he’s mad.” Rao Lili exchanged a look with Tao Tao, then peeked into the classroom. Feeling a bit guilty, she said, “Forget it, I’ll go in and apologize first.”
With that, she ran in to make peace with Zhang Jiaming.
Tao Tao turned to look at Yu Luan. He was still reaching behind his back for the key. She reached over and straightened it for him, then asked quietly, “Taro, you haven’t forgotten the self-introduction I had you memorize, have you?”
Yu Luan nodded, clutching the key.
Tao Tao breathed a sigh of relief and took his hand to lead him inside. But she stopped at the doorway, still worried, and reminded him, “Good. Teacher Luo will definitely ask you to introduce yourself later. Don’t be nervous. If you don’t want to look at anyone else, just look at me, okay?”
Yu Luan nodded again.
The second grade wasn’t divided into new classes. Apart from Yu Luan, the other 44 students in Class 1 had all moved up together from first grade—they were old acquaintances by now. Tao Tao figured Teacher Luo wouldn’t make everyone introduce themselves again at the start of the year, but since Yu Luan was a new transfer student, he would definitely have to.
Given Yu Luan’s situation, Tao Tao was genuinely worried he’d just stand there frozen on the podium, unable to say a word—or worse, start crying. So a week before school started, she’d come up with a way to have him memorize a few simple sentences for his introduction. She made him stand far away and rehearse in front of her multiple times every day, until he could say it without hesitation and without spacing out.
In the half-month since her rebirth, Tao Tao had never mentioned autism to anyone.
Not to Aunt Yu, and not to Tao Guangzhi.
She really didn’t know how to bring it up.
With Tao Tao watching over him, they still hadn’t realized that Yu Luan was more than just shy and introverted.
In Zhangxi Town—or even in the county seat, or the city—Yu Luan probably wouldn’t be able to get professional training from any rehabilitation institution, because such institutions simply didn’t exist yet.
Maybe there were some in Bincheng? Or in Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong? But those big cities were so far away, like another world entirely. Given their family’s current circumstances, it was practically a pipe dream.
Besides… what good would it do to say anything? Would anyone believe her? How could she explain how she knew all this? In this era, most people hadn’t even heard the word “autism.” If word got out, wouldn’t Yu Luan face even more discrimination, exclusion, and gossip than he already did?
Would it really be good for him to be labeled as someone with a condition?
In her previous life, Yu Luan had also transferred to her class. But back then, she was still a child—not only stubborn and awkward, publicly refusing to share a desk with him, but also failing to help him when he was at his most helpless. Left alone in a strange, unsupportive environment, he went into repeated fight-or-flight mode, and soon his differences were noticed.
Most of the classmates were decent kids, but there were always a few with loose tongues and wandering hands. Eventually, rumors started spreading that Yu Luan was mentally ill. Many kids began avoiding him. Some stuffed trash in his backpack, some deliberately mimicked his speech, and others pushed him around on purpose.
Teacher Luo scolded them several times, but a teacher couldn’t keep an eye on the students every second.
It kept happening.
Although Tao Tao also thought he was strange, she couldn’t stand seeing others bully him. She disliked Yu Luan because he was her stepmother’s son—that was her own business. But who gave anyone else the right to pick on him? Besides, Yu Luan was young—born in August, nearly a full year younger than Tao Tao. In terms of age, he was the youngest in the class. Wasn’t that just bullying the small?
So she often ended up fighting for him. In her previous life, even Rao Lili didn’t understand her, often asking in confusion: “Grape, don’t you hate him the most? Isn’t it better if someone else teaches him a lesson? Why do you still stick up for him?”
Tao Tao didn’t know either.
She did hate him, it was true—but seeing him bullied, she never felt happy about it.
After too many fights, other parents would show up at their doorstep with their bruised children demanding an explanation. Teacher Luo tried to reason with everyone but couldn’t manage it anymore. Eventually, she called in the parents several times, and the situation escalated. That was when Aunt Yu and Tao Guangzhi took both kids to the city to see a doctor… and later, everyone found out.
This time, Tao Tao thought, maybe she should just keep it to herself for now. That way, teachers and classmates wouldn’t look at Yu Luan through a skewed lens—they’d treat him like a normal kid. And if she consciously supported him more, maybe he wouldn’t have to go through all that again. Maybe he really could grow up slowly, just like any ordinary child.
It was worth a try—it couldn’t be worse than before, right?
The classroom was buzzing with noise. After a whole summer apart, the kids had gathered in small clusters, each bursting with stories to tell, chattering animatedly.
But Luo Shufen had already arrived. She stood in front of the blackboard, gently tapping the desk with a large ruler as she addressed each student walking in:
“Classmates! Settle down! Stop talking, everyone. Sit in your seats from last semester for now, put your backpacks in the desk cubbies, and don’t take out your books or pencil cases just yet. Teacher Luo will be reassigning seats soon… Ah, Yu Luan is here. Come over to the teacher. Tao Tao, go back to your seat from last semester.”
Luo Shufen shouted two or three times before the classroom finally quieted down a little. The kids looked around at each other, searching for their deskmates and figuring out where to sit.
Tao Tao was momentarily stunned—how was she supposed to remember her first-grade seat or deskmate?
She stood there, scanning the room. She spotted Rao Lili in the third row, waving at her, with a chubby boy sitting next to her. On the left side sat Zhang Jiaming, still looking sulky, next to a little girl with a ponytail. Aside from Rao Lili and Zhang Jiaming, Tao Tao couldn’t remember who any of the others were. But behind the chubby boy, there was an empty desk.
Maybe that was it? She was about to move when she noticed a girl with a mushroom haircut heading toward that same desk. She hesitated again—which seat was hers?
Just as she was wavering, Teacher Luo called out from behind her:
“Hey, Yu Luan, don’t go anywhere—come up to the podium.”
Tao Tao turned around in confusion and couldn’t help but laugh. Yu Luan, ignoring Teacher Luo’s repeated calls, was still following her step by step, eyes fixed straight ahead.
“Yu Luan, please come here.” Luo Shufen frowned slightly and called out again.
Yu Luan still didn’t turn around.
But Tao Tao, hearing it from the front, reached out and turned him around, plastering a smile on her face as she answered for him: “Teacher Luo, he didn’t mean it—he was just spacing out.”
Yu Luan’s perception was different from others.
He naturally lacked interest in social interaction and interpersonal relationships, and he wasn’t sensitive to human voices. People who didn’t know him might think he was rude, but in reality, he couldn’t control it and wasn’t even aware of it.
If it was more severe, Yu Luan might also have trouble filtering sounds. When people he didn’t know or wasn’t interested in spoke to him, their voices might sound no different from the wind, the rain, or footsteps—all just unrecognizable noise.
Fortunately, he still responded when Tao Tao spoke to him. Maybe it was because she talked so much and was so loud that she was hard to ignore—over time, he’d learned to recognize her voice.
Tao Tao sighed inwardly. She wasn’t sure whether that was something to be grateful for or not.
Luo Shufen didn’t overthink it. She looked at the quiet little boy in front of her and smiled tolerantly: “It’s okay, the teacher doesn’t mind. I understand—new environment, takes time to get used to.”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s always been shy around strangers.” Tao Tao quickly nodded in agreement, pulling Yu Luan up to the podium. As she walked, she leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Taro, when we’re at school, we have to listen to the teacher. If the teacher talks to you, you have to answer—you can’t just stay silent. Stay here and listen to Teacher Luo for now. I’ll go down and wait for you, okay?”
Yu Luan was silent for a long moment.
Then he shook his head and held onto Tao Tao’s hand, refusing to let go.
Tao Tao looked at him, and he looked back up at her, his eyes full of grievance. A few more seconds and tears would flood over, pooling in his eyes, threatening to spill.
Her heart trembled at the sight. Instinctively, she pulled his head into her arms and quickly turned to Luo Shufen: “Teacher Luo, my brother’s still not quite used to things. Can I sit with him at a desk for a bit first and have him come up later? Is that okay?”
Luo Shufen glanced at the clock hanging above the blackboard at the back of the room, then at Yu Luan, who was burrowing into Tao Tao’s embrace. Boys developed later, and Yu Luan was a year younger, a full half-head shorter than Tao Tao. But Tao Tao—maybe because she’d become a big sister—had been speaking and acting more maturely lately. With her childish face, she looked dead serious like a little adult. The two of them huddled together, pitiful and endearing—it was quite amusing.
She hadn’t expected Yu Luan, a little boy, to be so timid. She couldn’t help but laugh and nod: “Alright then, take your brother to that desk in front of the cleaning corner for now. I’ll rearrange seats later.”
Tao Tao breathed a sigh of relief. At least she, a fake elementary school student, didn’t have to scramble for a seat anymore.
The cleaning corner was at the back of the classroom by the window, where a few bamboo brooms, tin dustpans, and two red plastic buckets were stacked. The desk in front of it must have been an extra spare one—it was a bit dusty. Tao Tao pulled a rag from her backpack and wiped down the desk and stool. This rag was something Aunt Yu had thoughtfully packed for her, meant for wiping hands and the desk—who knew it would come in handy so soon?
She pulled Yu Luan, who had already held back his tears, to sit down, and whispered to him, “Taro, stop spacing out so much. Put your backpack down first. And don’t cry so easily from now on—I can’t stand it when people cry…”
Yu Luan sniffled and finally let go of her hand, placing his backpack on the desk. But he didn’t answer Tao Tao. Instead, he looked at the wet tear stain on the shoulder of her school uniform and fell into thought.
On the first day of school, there was usually no real teaching. Teacher Luo took out the attendance roster and called out names. Tao Tao’s class number was 6, Rao Lili’s was 3, and Zhang Jiaming’s was 18. These numbers weren’t based on grades—they were arranged by birthdate.
As for Yu Luan, since he was a transfer student and also the youngest by months, he was assigned number 45—the class baby!
Tao Tao ruffled his round little head: “Hey there, little squirt.”
During roll call, Yu Luan had just been nudged by Tao Tao to stand up and quietly say “Here.” Now, being tousled like this left him looking even more bewildered, but he didn’t dodge at all. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, making it easier for Tao Tao to ruffle his hair.
Tao Tao laughed and rubbed his head a few more times.
After roll call, it was time to line up by height. The class formed a single-file line, and Teacher Luo stood beside it, comparing the kids back and forth—pulling one out to move to the back, pushing another forward. In elementary school, girls were generally taller than boys, and Tao Tao was one of the taller ones in the class, so Teacher Luo moved her all the way to the back.
Soon after, considering that Yu Luan still hadn’t adjusted to the new environment, she moved him to stand right in front of Tao Tao.
Then came the grand procession of all classes to the playground for the flag-raising ceremony, the national anthem, and the principal’s speech about the new semester’s expectations. All the little kids stood under the blazing sun until the backs of their necks were burning, before being herded back to class.
Teacher Luo had everyone line up at the door, clapped her hands, and said: “Quiet down. I’ll call your names one by one—come in when you hear them. Group 1, Desk 1: Li Minyi, Liang Zhiqiang…”
And with that, she assigned the seats.