“How could it be that fast? A few hundred…” Jiang Wenyan estimated, “More like seventy or eighty meters.”
Xu Yichen: “So the range is ∈[60, 90]. The distance from the teaching building to the dorm is—”
Jiang Wenyan: “Almost two semicircles.”
Xu Yichen: “If π is taken as 3.14 and the radius is approximately 16 meters.”
Jiang Wenyan: “About 800 meters. At most, it’d take fifteen minutes.”
Xu Yichen glanced at the digital clock. “It’s only 8:15 now. Lu Xingheng, do you have something urgent to discuss with the class monitor?”
Lu Xingheng: “No.”
It had already been over twenty minutes.
“Hey—where are you going? Curfew is at 10:30!”
The moment the door opened, Lu Xingheng was taken aback. Jiang Wan was standing by the wall, head lowered as he looked at his phone. As he raised his head, the pale line of his neck stretched, and his slightly prominent Adam’s apple bobbed lightly.
Lu Xingheng’s voice was soft, almost to himself. “You’re back.”
Jiang Wan didn’t answer. “Who upset you?”
Lu Xingheng: “What?”
Jiang Wan smiled, though he still looked weary. “You looked really upset just now, your brow was furrowed. I thought those two idiots inside had bullied you.”
Lu Xingheng: “No.”
“Why are you still speaking in two-word phrases? I don’t understand.” Jiang Wan finished reading the last word on his phone, turned off the screen, and stared intently at Lu Xingheng for a moment.
“Really, no one bullied you?”
Lu Xingheng: “No.”
Jiang Wan nodded, too lazy to speak further. He was still tired and, without realizing it, closed his eyes again.
Lu Xingheng: “Jiang Wan.”
“Hmm.”
“Go inside to sleep.”
“Don’t want to…”
“It’s not cold inside anymore.”
“Shit.” Xu Yichen jumped when he opened the door. “You’re all here!”
Jiang Wenyan called from inside, “Is my brother back?”
“Right here, little brother.” Jiang Wan rubbed his eyes and only entered the room after hearing Jiang Wenyan’s voice.
The voices in the dormitory drifted in and out, sounding faint and indistinct to Jiang Wan.
“Have you eaten?”
“I added another blanket for you.”
“Why are you still so tired?”
…
Lu Xingheng walked in last, carefully closing the doors and windows.
His knee had been hurting all along, so Jiang Wan didn’t sleep for long and soon woke up from the pain. He sat up wrapped in the blanket, his aching knee slightly bent.
He had fallen asleep in a hurry and hadn’t closed the bed curtain tightly. Through the gap, he could see Lu Xingheng sitting at Jiang Wenyan’s desk, working on problems.
“The problem gives an approximate value for ㏑3. You need to simplify the expression.”
The desk wasn’t particularly close to the bed, so Lu Xingheng was slightly surprised. “You can see it?”
“Yeah.” Jiang Wan reached out and hooked the edge of the curtain, which was caught in the fastener. He glanced briefly at Lu Xingheng’s test paper.
“No, this is a flawed problem. Teacher Yun didn’t provide enough conditions. The equal sign in the inequality can’t possibly hold.”
Lu Xingheng was skeptical. Jiang Wan had scored seven points on the math exam.
Jiang Wan: “…What’s with that look?”
Lu Xingheng reviewed the problem again and said casually, “Didn’t solve for ㏑3.”
“Then your final expression is correct. Did you guess?” Jiang Wan put on his school uniform jacket and spoke as he walked. “The problem gave a special value for ㏑3 at the end. Many people guessed it correctly at the time. When I was working on it, I also thought there’d be an ㏑3.”
Lu Xingheng hummed softly in response. As Jiang Wan walked past, he slipped a small, square-shaped bottle into his hand. It had a pungent smell.
Jiang Wan: “What is this?”
Lu Xingheng: “Safflower oil.”
Jiang Wan paused, the palm of his hand touching the bottle feeling slightly warm. That afternoon when he went to the infirmary, the old doctor had prescribed him a bottle of medicated oil, but applying it was painful… so he hadn’t taken it.
Suddenly remembering something, Jiang Wan asked, “When you went to the infirmary during the day, was it to buy this?”
Lu Xingheng: “Mm.”
Jiang Wan hesitated slightly. “For me?”
Lu Xingheng: “Mm.”
Jiang Wan leaned against the edge of the desk and said, somewhat out of the blue, “Have we… met before?”
In that instant, Lu Xingheng’s blood seemed to constrict, and even his breathing quickened slightly. He didn’t deny it.
“It feels very familiar,” he said.
“What a coincidence, me too.” Jiang Wan’s voice held a hidden trace of laughter. “Maybe I didn’t drink the Meng Po soup in my past life. I always feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
The corner of Lu Xingheng’s mouth lifted slightly, very faintly—it was hard to tell if he was smiling or not.
Jiang Wenyan was still discussing competition problems with Xu Yichen. Hearing the commotion behind him, he turned and asked Jiang Wan, “Bro, why did you take so long on the history paper today?”
Jiang Wan was frustrated, his voice a bit louder. “I spent a long time on that 1816 question, going through the entire timeline from the beginning.”
Xu Yichen slapped his thigh. “Me too! It’s all over the place—no idea what they’re testing.”
Jiang Wenyan said with a hint of humble-bragging, “Wasn’t that question pretty simple? You guys didn’t get it?”
Xu Yichen immediately threw his workbook at Jiang Wenyan. “Bro! Do you have to be this annoying?!”
Jiang Wan looked away. “Lu Xingheng, did you know it?”
“No.” Lu Xingheng twirled his pen. “Aren’t you tired of keeping your knees bent like that?”
Why aren’t you applying the medicine?
Jiang Wan sat on the edge of the bed, glancing down at his knees. He lifted the loose school trousers, and the large patch of dark bruising on his knees was suddenly exposed to the air.
Lu Xingheng frowned at the sight.
But Jiang Wan made no further move.
Lu Xingheng asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Wan: “…I’m checking the ingredient list.”
Xu Yichen, with sharp ears, chimed in, “What ingredients?! What ingredients?! Are you two sneaking snacks—”
“Damn, Class Monitor, how did you get that injury on your leg?!”
Jiang Wan shot him an accusatory look. “What do you think?”
Xu Yichen looked genuinely innocent.
In the end, it was Jiang Wenyan who gritted his teeth and said, “I really want to kick you to death right now.”
Xu Yichen: “……”
…
The two started arguing again.
Jiang Wan pulled his trouser leg back down.
Lu Xingheng’s frown remained tight. “Why aren’t you applying it?”
Jiang Wan mumbled vaguely, “It has a lot of side effects.”
Lu Xingheng thought for a moment and asked, “Like what?”
“Not for use in children under two years old…”
Lu Xingheng said softly, “Afraid of the pain?”
“No.” Jiang Wan steeled himself. “I think I’m two years old.”
Lu Xingheng repeated, “It says not for use under two years old?”
Jiang Wan: “…Mm.”
Lu Xingheng continued, “Two-year-olds can use it.”
“……”
Jiang Wan hardened his resolve. “Turn around. I’ll apply it myself.”
Lu Xingheng quickly turned away.
Pouring the medicated oil into his palm gave a very cool sensation, and Jiang Wan instinctively let out a muffled groan from the cold.
Lu Xingheng didn’t turn back. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Wan: “Too cold.”
His voice was trembling.
Lu Xingheng: “Why are you so sensitive to the cold?”
After applying the oil, Jiang Wan was in so much pain that he broke out in a cold sweat.
Lu Xingheng: “Done?”
Jiang Wan’s breathing was heavy. “Mm.”
The dormitory light was dim. Jiang Wan’s clothes hung loosely on him, the collar dipping low and revealing a patch of flushed skin, even his Adam’s apple was damp.
Lu Xingheng glanced faintly and pushed the thermos forward.
Jiang Wan did not take it, instead pulling her coat tighter and reaching into her pocket to pull out a large handful of candy.
“Have some candy.”
“Thank you for the medicine.”