The peak time for lunch in the cafeteria was within the first half-hour after class ended. Zhou Ai chose to go during the off-peak period, so when he arrived, more than half of the seats were already empty.
Chen Xunfeng walked beside him. There was little conversation between them on the way until they reached the cafeteria entrance. A student rushed out, carrying a tray to the return station, and the edge of his tray narrowly grazed Zhou Ai’s sleeve. Chen Xunfeng reacted with lightning speed, reaching out to pull Zhou Ai gently to the side.
The cafeteria floor was paved with tiles; occasionally, spilled soup made it extremely slippery. Chen Xunfeng’s pull was somewhat abrupt, but Zhou Ai relied on the strength and balance of his core to steady himself. Subconsciously, he reached out and braced his hand against Chen Xunfeng’s shoulder.
Chen Xunfeng supported Zhou Ai’s arm, and for a moment, they stood quite close.
Chen Xunfeng lowered his eyes, catching sight of Zhou Ai’s clear, sparse brows and eyes up close, and felt the coolness of Zhou Ai’s palm through his clothes. He said in a low voice, “Be careful.”
Zhou Ai felt a vague sense of discomfort in his waist and abdomen, but his expression remained unchanged. He simply breathed out softly to alleviate the sudden pain. No sooner had he pulled his hand back from Chen Xunfeng’s shoulder than he heard someone at the stairwell calling Chen Xunfeng’s name.
Only after ensuring Zhou Ai was steady did Chen Xunfeng turn his head. It was their classmates coming down from the second floor. Zhao Yue, in the lead, ran toward him with a brand new bottle of mineral water, while the group of boys followed behind, wearing meaningful smiles. One of them said lazily, “Look at that entire meal the school beauty looks at us like we’re enemies, but when she sees someone else, it’s like she’s seeing family.”
“Family? I think it’s clearly a lover!”
The boys laughed in the back. Zhao Yue walked over and stopped in front of Chen Xunfeng, her face turning bright red as she turned back to glare at them: “Song Mingyi, can’t you stop talking nonsense!”
These people were always joking around, loving nothing more than to stir up trouble and tease the girls around them. Chen Xunfeng was used to their nonsense, but at this moment, he suddenly felt a bit annoyed. He reached out and snatched the water Zhao Yue was offering, tossing it directly toward Song Mingyi, who had been talking the most: “Is that broken mouth of yours incapable of staying shut?”
Jiang Chuan leaped up to press down on Song Mingyi’s head: “Here, let me manually shut it for him!”
“Damn it! Jiang Chuan, you—!”
The boys started bickering on the stairs. Beside them, Zhao Yue’s face turned even redder. Chen Xunfeng seemed to have defused the situation for her, and she turned back, about to speak, when she suddenly paused.
The cafeteria was filled with students in school uniforms, and that was when she noticed another boy standing beside Chen Xunfeng. The boy’s expression was indifferent as he gazed into the distance, seemingly checking the food on offer in the dining area.
Zhao Yue’s gaze lingered on him. She recognized Zhou Ai easily, yet Zhou Ai seemed completely unaware of her scrutiny, his gaze remaining fixed elsewhere. It was Chen Xunfeng who suddenly looked at her, asking her proactively a rarity: “What are you staring at him for?”
Hearing the voice, Zhou Ai slowly turned back, his gaze extremely faint as he swept it across Zhao Yue’s face. Zhao Yue felt slightly awkward under that look: “No… I didn’t…”
But Chen Xunfeng didn’t care about her explanation; he had already turned to look in the direction Zhou Ai had been watching. It wasn’t Zhao Yue he was asking: “Do you want to eat the noodles over there?”
Zhou Ai shook his head.
Chen Xunfeng let out an “Mm” and stepped aside to clear the way: “Then shall we go upstairs?”
Zhou Ai walked forward first. Zhao Yue watched their retreating figures in a daze. The Chen Xunfeng walking beside Zhou Ai appeared different from how he usually presented himself to everyone, though she couldn’t articulate exactly where that difference lay.
The boy walking in sync with Zhou Ai seemed to have sheathed his sharp edges. He held a pastry box that completely mismatched his temperament, and his entire demeanor had slowed down. His sharpness and Zhou Ai’s indifference blended surprisingly well; their silhouettes, seen from behind, even appeared eerily in tune.
A finger snapped suddenly before her eyes. “Still watching? Still watching? They’re already gone.”
She came to her senses and looked up to see Jiang Chuan’s afro. Zhao Yue pointed hesitantly in the direction they had gone upstairs: “Didn’t you guys see? Just now, Chen Xunfeng and that… Zhou Ai…”
Jiang Chuan rolled his eyes: “We saw. We aren’t blind.”
“Then you guys…”
Song Mingyi walked over, draped an arm over Jiang Chuan’s shoulder, and took over the conversation: “So how come we didn’t ask? They have to introduce themselves, right? Chen Xunfeng ran off the moment class ended, and he had no intention of introducing us just now. I’m not asking. Whoever asks is an idiot.”
Jiang Chuan chewed his bubblegum and nodded: “Yup, yup, whoever asks is an idiot.” He shook his messy hair: “Don’t go doing something so oblivious.”
At a window seat on the second floor, Chen Xunfeng set down his tray. The school cafeteria was decorated in blue and white neat blue plastic chairs and white tables. Zhou Ai sat opposite him, and just as he was about to raise his chopsticks, Chen Xunfeng suddenly called his name.
Zhou Ai looked up from across the table, his eyes carrying a hint of waiting.
Chen Xunfeng’s eyelashes fluttered. The Zhou Ai before him always seemed calm and gentle. Chen Xunfeng gestured toward his own forearm to signal Zhou Ai, his voice subconsciously softening: “That person just now did he brush against your sleeve?”
Zhou Ai had checked himself; there were no oil stains. But seeing Chen Xunfeng staring at his sleeve, he raised his arm to check again before shaking his head.
Chen Xunfeng picked up his chopsticks and nodded: “Good.”
Until the two parted ways to return to their classrooms, there wasn’t much meaningful exchange between them. Their state felt more like a kind of awkward, close-yet-distant limbo not the warmth of old friends reuniting, yet not stiff or like strangers. They didn’t even ask about each other’s lives over the past few years.
They had once been the people most familiar with each other, but this was undeniably different from the simple relationship of childhood friends.
When Zhou Ai entered the classroom, Hu Cheng was standing on the podium with two sheets of A4 paper. Seeing him enter, he gave him a faint glance before looking away even faster, continuing the topic he had been discussing.
Autumn was deepening, and with the simple relaxation period following the second monthly exam, the school’s autumn sports meet was scheduled for that week.
This was the first school-wide sports meet since they entered high school, and as the freshman class, Class 1 was in the spotlight. Teacher Qin’s requirement was that they must not only shine in their studies but also show excellence in sports. With over 20 events, big and small, each needed to be filled with participants; the entire class was expected to be actively involved.
There were always people willing to take on sprints or long jumps, but the events left over were long-distance running, shot put, and javelin.
Hu Cheng held the registration form on the podium and asked, “If no one volunteers, I’ll assign them by student ID number. There are plenty of spots. Teacher Qin said everyone has to participate. If you choose for yourselves, you can pick what you’re good at.”
As he spoke, Hu Cheng’s gaze swept over the bottom left corner of the classroom. The two people there were both bowing their heads slightly, as if they hadn’t paid any attention to what he was saying. Halfway through, Jiang Wenyi looked up and exchanged a faint glance with him, but Zhou Ai beside him remained immersed in his own world from start to finish, coldly withdrawn.
Hu Cheng asked for the last time: “If no one else is signing up, I’m filling them out by student ID number.”
Zhou Ai’s student ID was the last one in Class 1. Everyone else in the class had impressive independent enrollment or middle school exam scores, but Zhou Ai had none. On the enrollment form, he was in the last column, and apart from basic information, all his grade columns were empty.
This was one of the sparks that had led Class 1 to exclude him at the very beginning the concrete evidence that they believed he wasn’t worthy of being in Class 1.
Hu Cheng brought the completed sports meet schedule to the office. Teacher Qin was busy and was about to put it away after a quick glance, but he suddenly paused: “Why is Zhou Ai signed up for the 5,000-meter run?”
Hu Cheng pursed his lips: “A lot of events didn’t have anyone, so I just assigned them by student ID. The men’s 5,000-meter is the last event, and Zhou Ai’s ID is… also the last one in our class.”
Teacher Qin naturally knew the reason Zhou Ai had taken leave recently. He thought for a moment: “Change the person for the 5,000-meter. Put Zhou Ai on logistics.”
Hu Cheng hesitated: “But… if I assign them by order, Zhou Ai will seem special…”
Teacher Qin frowned and interrupted: “What do you mean ‘special’? Zhou Ai’s health condition is indeed special. He returned to school early after being discharged, and his father showed me the medical advice, he’s not in a state to participate in physical activities for the time being.”
Teacher Qin took the monthly exam papers that had just been handed out and started flipping through them to find Hu Cheng’s: “Hu Cheng, what exactly is on your mind all day? Think about the state you were in when you entered this school, and what your state is now. Think about your exam scores this time, and whether you’ve actually put your heart into your studies lately! Look at what you’ve actually written on your answer sheet!”
When Hu Cheng returned to the classroom, his face was the color of dirt. He stuck the revised registration form onto the class bulletin board. A boy wandered over to look, then suddenly shrieked: “Hey, sports rep, why did you assign me another 5,000-meter!”
Hu Cheng shoved his monthly exam paper into his desk basket and didn’t even look up as he said lazily, “Then go get a doctor’s note saying you can’t run, and I’ll change it for you immediately.”
Hu Cheng’s words hadn’t named anyone specifically, but the class atmosphere went dead silent. No one dared to raise any objections on the surface, but everyone knew exactly who he was alluding to.
In the end, Zhou Ai was assigned the task of guarding the class tent and managing logistics. He only had to sit in the Class 1 tent for three days, but he couldn’t leave early or be late; he had to be there from the earliest to the latest.
Class 1’s tent was positioned at the front, on the outermost part of the playground. On Tuesday, the sports meet officially began. Various events started on the playground, and the noise was incessant. Zhou Ai sat outside the Class 1 tent, holding a detective novel a rare sight. As the wind from the playground blew the pages, Zhou Ai pressed them down with his finger, his gaze calm as he rested it on the text.
He was the only static point in all the motion.
Chen Xunfeng stood by the playground’s green fence, watching the direction of the Class 1 tent. He didn’t move for a long time. Suddenly, someone jumped up and leaned on his shoulder. Chen Xunfeng turned his head and impatiently shoved Jiang Chuan to the side: “Do you have ADHD or something?”
Jiang Chuan rubbed his arm and stood up: “Then why are you standing here? You’ve been here for ages, what’s there to look at?” Jiang Chuan said this while looking in the direction Chen Xunfeng had been watching: “Old Wu said you have events this afternoon and specifically asked me to remind you to go back to the class to register, telling you not to run around…” Jiang Chuan suddenly choked on his words.
At the edge of his vision was someone familiar, yet not the top student of their freshman grade, Zhou Ai, sitting under a blue tent, his hair blowing lightly in the wind. He was reading a book with a black cover.
Jiang Chuan hesitated, wanting to look away, but Chen Xunfeng had already raised his hand, pulling him by the collar: “Let’s go.”
They walked away with their backs to that direction. Jiang Chuan straightened his collar and tentatively, subtly, asked Chen Xunfeng: “Not going over… to say hello?”
Chen Xunfeng stopped and slowly turned to look at Jiang Chuan. He was taller than Jiang Chuan, his lashes lowered in a cold, sneering posture: “You know him?”
Jiang Chuan waved his hands: “I know him unilaterally; he definitely doesn’t know me.”
Chen Xunfeng resumed walking forward: “Then why would I say hello?”
It was past 11:00 AM, and more than half the people on the playground were gone. The sun had risen high, and most students had hidden away in classrooms or the cafeteria, leaving only a few ongoing events. Zhou Ai had finished more than half the book in his hand, still waiting calmly on the spot.
A shadow suddenly fell over the white pages. When Zhou Ai looked up, he realized the light above his head had been slightly blocked. The sunlight was no longer piercing his eyes, and a voice asked him calmly from above: “Doesn’t it get hot sitting here in the sun?”