Jiang Wen snatched the phone back, “Xi Gaoyuan’s got something wrong with his head, don’t mind him.” As he spoke, he turned his head to the side, pulling away the arm that had been wrapped around him.

Xi Gaoyuan and Zhao Binlin beside him exchanged glances. The two put on a show of watching the drama unfold, waggling their eyebrows at each other, a silent understanding between them.

After hanging up the call, Jiang Wen’s face maintained a completely expressionless state.

Xi Gaoyuan snorted lightly, continuing to provoke him: “You scared or what?”

Jiang Wen stayed silent.

“You think we can’t tell you like Feng Ning? That time she got drunk, oh man, you panicked like something else.” Xi Gaoyuan clicked his tongue exaggeratedly, “And just now, rushing to grab the phone back, what, afraid of getting rejected?”

He remained unmoved, still sparing with his words: “Don’t worry about my business.”

“What, you won’t let us manage it, so you’re just going to sit around waiting for someone to fall in love with you? A real man should take the initiative, what’s with all this hesitating?”

“Exactly, exactly.” Zhao Binlin joined in mindlessly. “Our Brother Wen here, handsome, rich, and young—over time, which girl could resist that.”

Jiang Wen’s forehead throbbed, “Are you two done or what.”

“Alright alright, we’ll stop, say too much and you’ll get mad again.”

Xi Gaoyuan said leisurely: “If you really can’t win her over, at least learn how to be a proper school heartthrob, don’t hang yourself on one tree, it’s embarrassing.”

Ignoring their teasing, Jiang Wen lowered his head to check his phone again.

No new messages.

He opened the chat window; the last message was the one he’d sent.

He looked at it for a few more seconds, still no message came. Jiang Wen closed WeChat and set the phone face-down on the table.

These two days of sports day, the weather was unusually good. The second afternoon, Feng Ning finished the 100-meter semifinal, panting as she returned to her seat and sat down. As she was tying her shoelaces, an anxious voice came from nearby: “Ning Ning!”

Feng Ning turned her head to look—it was Shuang Yao. She was baffled. “What’s wrong?”

“Who did you offend?” Shuang Yao’s expression was odd, handing her something.

On several sheets of A4 white paper, printed was an acrostic poem:

Encounter her wrath, resign to the river’s flow. Brief stay in the capital, the seventh of the third month.

“Where’d this come from?” Feng Ning was startled, flipping it over to check the back, where there was still some not-quite-dried glue.

“I found it when I went to the bathroom.” Shuang Yao lowered her voice. “Who’d you offend, why are you being implied as a mistress?”

Feng Ning put on a thinking pose: “Which bathroom?”

“South Building 2, first floor.”

“Just these few posted?”

“Yeah.”

Feng Ning still kept a calm expression. “Alright, it’s fine. I’ll explain another day, you go back to class first.”

If there were some posted in one bathroom, there were definitely more elsewhere.

Feng Ning went searching in the teaching building near the sports field. First floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor, going around in circles, she tore them down one by one, gathering a handful of scrap paper. Wandering over to the science building, she found the corridor there had also been plastered with several.

The girls’ bathroom too.

Feng Ning was pondering who was behind all this, and just as she thought of a target, the door behind her clicked shut.

Turning around, a figure flashed by, and the door was closed by someone.

Feng Ning walked over to pull the door open, twisting for a long while, couldn’t pull it open, couldn’t push it open either. She didn’t know if it had been locked from outside, or something was blocking it.

These two days, both Grade 10 and Grade 11 were holding sports day, so very few people came by. Feng Ning shook her head, nearly laughing with anger. Checking the time, there was still about an hour left before the 1500m event was about to start.

These idiots, don’t they know phones can make calls?

Fortunately the signal here was still decent. Feng Ning called Shuang Yao, directing her to come open the door.

As a result, Shuang Yao, following her directions, fumbled around for a long while and still couldn’t find the exact location. In the end Feng Ning, cursing under her breath, shared her WeChat location with her.

Shuang Yao used scissors to forcefully pry at the wire wound tightly around the door handle outside, shouting anxiously, “Feng Ning, are you okay!?”

“What could happen to me!” Feng Ning shouted back from inside, full of vigor.

Shuang Yao relaxed a bit, sweating profusely as she fiddled with it for a long while, finally getting the door open. “This is way too scary, who’s this vicious.”

Feng Ning clapped her hands: “You were pretty sharp this time, brought scissors along, your IQ’s gone up another level.”

“And you still have the mood to joke!”

Feng Ning’s face turned serious: “I know who it is.”

“Who?”

Feng Ning grabbed her hand, walking quickly forward, “Jiang Wen’s ex-girlfriend.”

Shuang Yao, weak, was dragged along. “Told you not to provoke people, and now you’ve been sanctioned by his girlfriend.”

“Damn it.” Feng Ning cursed, “These girls really have brains full of mush, watched too much Meteor Garden for inspiration probably.”

Shuang Yao chased after her: “Hey hey hey, where are you going?”

“To settle. This. Score.”

Walking briskly to the gymnasium, Feng Ning calculated the time—still half an hour until check-in. She grabbed a random passerby, “Excuse me, do you know which class Cheng Jiajia is in?”

Cheng Jiajia was fairly well-known in the grade, and it only took asking two people to get directions.

Feng Ning walked straight to Class 12’s territory.

Cheng Jiajia was holding a parasol, chatting with a friend on WeChat on her phone. Suddenly a pair of white sneakers appeared before her, and someone tapped the top of her umbrella twice.

“You’re Cheng Jiajia?” Feng Ning smiled sweetly, bending down.

She wasn’t particularly tall, wearing loose athletic shorts, her legs long and straight. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, beautiful with a murderous air about her.

The people sitting nearby in Class 12 all turned to stare at this scene, some discussion breaking out.

Cheng Jiajia felt somewhat nervous, asking without changing expression, “That’s me, what is it?”

“Do you know me?”

Cheng Jiajia shifted her body slightly to the side, saying nothing.

Feng Ning said calmly: “Were you the one who messed with me?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, please don’t act like a shrew.” Cheng Jiajia didn’t like the feeling of being made a spectacle of in public; she stood up to leave, but was held back by someone.

Feng Ning leaned close to her ear, whispering: “Don’t understand?” She stuffed the pile of scrap paper in her hands into Cheng Jiajia’s arms, “Debts have debtors—what, broke up and don’t dare go after Jiang Wen, so you’re picking on the soft target instead?”

The next moment, the girl beside her finally couldn’t hold back, “And you’ve still got the nerve to bring up Jiang Wen, stealing someone else’s boyfriend, have you no shame.”

Feng Ning turned her darkened expression toward her, “And who are you?”

That girl stuck her neck out, full of disdain and disgust: “None of your business who I am. As for you, your desire to climb to a higher branch is impossible to hide. What era is this and you’re still dreaming a Cinderella dream, not embarrassed at all.”

Qide had wealthy young masters and misses everywhere, but the Jiang family’s noble standing in the southern city was plain for all to see. Jiang Wen and Cheng Jiajia getting together, not a few people were waiting to watch the show. After their lightning-fast breakup, the gossip spread, all sorts of things said, quite a few side details even mentioned Feng Ning; Cheng Jiajia and her friends nearby had long been unhappy about it.

“This classmate, I think dreaming a Cinderella dream isn’t shameful at all—on the contrary, mocking other people’s dreams is the shameful thing, you know.”

Feng Ning stared at her, nine parts serious mixed with one part contempt: “The depraved see depravity in others. Looking at you, you’re not young, and your class-consciousness runs pretty deep. Since you think being with Jiang Wen counts as climbing a higher branch, then without realizing it, you’ve exposed your own inner thinking—you’ve placed yourself in the position of a lower-class person, you’re a loser.”

Blasted by this string of cold mockery, the girl grew furious: “You’re the lower-class person! You’re the loser!”

Feng Ning couldn’t be bothered wasting more breath on her, looking back at Cheng Jiajia, forcing out word by word through gritted teeth: “Taking your anger out on someone unrelated—this approach is stupid and useless. Especially this kind of low-level method from you, it can’t hurt me in the slightest, and besides being childish, I can’t think of another word to describe it.”

Her expression turned somewhat vicious: “I won’t hold this against you this time, but if you mess with me again next time, don’t blame me for not being polite!”

Having said that, Feng Ning smiled gently at Cheng Jiajia, and walked off.

After finishing the argument, Feng Ning acted as if nothing had happened, going to the check-in area for the 1500m to collect her bib. After putting it on, she let out a long breath, twisted her waist left and right, and started warming herself up, stretching her legs.

Shuang Yao stood off to the side holding her jacket for her, truly admiring her mental fortitude. “In this lifetime I’ll never meet anyone with a stronger mentality than you—one second locked in a dark room, then off to fight in the middle of it, and the next second calmly going to run a race like nothing happened, I really am impressed by you.”

“If I could be scared off by such a petty trick, would I still be your idol?” Her face again showed that proud, arrogant expression.

“Yes yes yes, you’re my idol for life.”

Very few in the grade had signed up for the 1500m; each class barely had one person. The school had only arranged one heat, with the semifinal and final run together in one go. This was the last event of the day, and quite a crowd had gathered at the sidelines to watch the excitement.

After the gun went off, one boy ran alongside a girl, cheering her on enthusiastically.

Nearly four laps in total; Feng Ning kept adjusting her breathing, relaxing her facial expression. After the second lap, exhausted from running, her footsteps grew heavier and heavier. She wiped away sweat, staring straight ahead without looking sideways.

The class monitor had organized a “medical support squad” waiting at the finish line, ready to attend to Feng Ning after her long run. Zhao Binlin forcibly dragged Jiang Wen along too.

“Damn, Feng Ning’s really strong.”

Xi Gaoyuan was in awe, “This girl, can drink brandy, can run 1500 meters, I really respect her.”

Third lap, sweat kept dripping down, gradually blurring her vision.

No matter how tired, how bitter, she would definitely, definitely hold on to the end. That’s just the kind of person she was.

Feng Ning rounded the bend, counting down in her heart: three, two, one.

The class monitor jumped up excitedly, “Damn, Feng Ning’s actually speeding up!”

She was like a gust of wind that had swept through. This wind carried a fighting spirit, sweeping past the bleachers where Class Nine sat, sparking a wave of cheers.

Still a hundred meters left.

Feng Ning sprinted with all her might, one by one overtaking the girls ahead of her. In the end she was neck and neck with first place.

Wind roared past her ears; the instant she crossed the finish line, Feng Ning couldn’t control her momentum and dashed forward another dozen or so meters before slowly coming to a stop.

Hands braced on her knees, she panted uncontrollably.

Someone stumbled a couple steps in front of her.

Feng Ning looked up slightly, glanced over—it was Jiang Wen.

He’d evidently been pushed over by the troublemakers, and those boys’ faces were full of gossip, grinning like flowers in bloom. Jiang Wen looked completely uncomfortable, awkward for a couple seconds before handing her a bottle of mineral water. “The class monitor asked me to give you this.”

Meng Taoyu was so surprised, both happy and excited, wanting to go over too, but was grabbed by Zhao Binlin. “Hey hey hey, what are you going over there for? No sense of tact at all!”

After a long-distance run, you couldn’t sit down; you needed to walk slowly and let your body gradually recover. With the 1500m finished, today’s competition schedule was basically complete. As things wound down, each class packed up their things, gradually heading toward the gymnasium exit.

At the class monitor’s strong request, medical support squad member Jiang Wen was forced to accompany the hero of the day, Feng Ning, in walking laps around the field.

For a long while she couldn’t speak, her throat like a broken accordion. Feng Ning silently drank water, and when she spoke again, her voice was still a bit hoarse: “Jiang Wen, did you break up with Cheng Jiajia?”

He came back to himself, somewhat dazed: “What.”

She looked him over, asking quite directly: “Because of me?”

Jiang Wen: “…No.”

Jiang Wen walked on her left, his hair cut a bit shorter, his neck very white. He wore a denim jacket, blocking the dark orange glow of the setting sun.

Feng Ning still felt a bit drained: “Then how long did you two date?”

“Don’t know.”

“Was it even a week?”

Jiang Wen’s expression stayed flat: “No.”

“You don’t like her?”

“Mn.”

“But she likes you, you know that?”

Jiang Wen frowned at her: “She likes me, what does that have to do with me?”

“Then why did you agree to be with her?”

Jiang Wen had nothing to say.

“You agreeing to be with her, that was your own choice. You breaking up with her, that’s a matter between the two of you.”

Feng Ning was both bratty and pushy, her expression turning wicked. “Everyone has a dark side, everyone has their bad indulgences. So my view is, toying with someone’s feelings is fine, but first you have to make sure that when you do these things, it doesn’t drag in anyone else.”

He reacted quickly: “Cheng Jiajia came looking for trouble with you?”

She showed her signature arrogant expression: “That’s already been handled, don’t you worry about it, worry about yourself.” Jiang Wen stopped walking: “What about me?” Feng Ning smiled mysteriously: “I hope you can at least manage to date properly.”

“……”

Jiang Wen looked at her.

“What’s that expression for?” Feng Ning asked pleasantly.

Jiang Wen’s face was expressionless, saying self-mockingly: “I toyed with her feelings, I’ll apologize to her.” He bit down hard on the words “toyed with,” “What about you then?”

“Me what?”

Jiang Wen didn’t realize his own voice had gone off-key: “Am I also one of your bad indulgences?”

Just as he finished speaking, the broadcast station’s speaker suddenly rang out with the announcer’s clear, gentle voice: Today’s last song, requested by an anonymous person, dedicated to Grade 10 Class 9’s classmate Jiang Moumou—

Then, the entire field was enveloped all around by:

Tell me how I could not feel sad, you urge me to put out the fire in my heart. … Behind every look and every glance, who knows how much sorrow there might be. …

Two people passed by nearby, one asking: “What song is this?”

The other answering: “Seems like it’s, ‘How Can I Say It’?”

They walked further away, but the last sentence still drifted over on the wind: “So funny, huh, classmate Jiang Moumou can’t say who he loves, huh?”

Feng Ning choked on her water.

All the blood in Jiang Wen’s body rushed straight to his head.