Sheng Xia thought she had misheard.

She played it again.

“Beg me.”

The two-second voice message had the effect of an ice age.

How could it be Zhang Shu?

Sheng Xia played it again.

It was him.

Thinking about it, they hadn’t seen each other for ten days.

Hearing his voice again felt like a lifetime had passed.

Sheng Xia didn’t know how to reply – should she pretend she didn’t see it or send back a question mark?

The next second, she received another voice message. She nervously opened it.

This time it was Xin Xiaohe: “I don’t know either, so I asked Zhang Shu to look at it for you. Don’t mind him, what’s there to beg for? It’s just one problem. Wait, I’ll go ask Yang Linyu!”

Seems Yang Linyu was back from winter camp – wonder how his results were.

Sheng Xia continued working on other problems.

When her phone rang, she was startled.

[Song Jiang invites you to a voice call…]

She thought for a moment without reaching any conclusion and clicked accept. From the other end came the sound of books being tossed on a desk and a chair scraping the floor.

She could almost picture the scene: him calling her while walking out of the classroom, casually throwing his notebook or scratch paper on the corridor table, then pulling out a chair and sitting down—

“Let me explain that problem from earlier,” his tone was flat.

Sheng Xia: “Ah? Oh okay.”

She hurriedly flipped back to that problem.

The other end was silent for a long while. Sheng Xia looked at her screen – they were still connected?

Then he coughed once and began explaining: “This problem mainly… look at the second line of the answer…”

As he spoke, she followed his logic, writing and drawing on her scratch paper. After a while, he paused again, “Is your signal bad?”

Sheng Xia was confused: “No?”

“Give me some response?” His tone rose slightly, showing a hint of impatience, or rather, unhappiness.

“Mm okay.” Sheng Xia avoided the sharp edge, obediently agreeing.

But she didn’t know what kind of response to give, after all, he was the one explaining, right?

After that, every time he said two sentences, she would timely “mm” when he paused to show she was listening.

But this “timely” was hard to master. Sometimes she interrupted him, and he would stop, making it awkward.

In the end, she was so focused on when to “give responses” that she didn’t absorb the later explanations.

So when he asked “Do you understand?” she felt rather guilty.

The explanation was done, but neither side hung up.

She could hear passing students chatting and laughing in the corridor, even the sound of wind from his end.

“Then I’ll…” Sheng Xia broke the silence first, but before she could say “hang up,” she was interrupted.

Zhang Shu: “Why are you doing such difficult problems?”

His sudden question confused her.

Since when did doing problems need a reason?

“You only need to pass the qualification exam to graduate. Even American college students might not learn this level of material. Why are you torturing yourself with these challenging problems late at night?”

Hearing no response from her, he continued explaining his question.

“I, I still need to take the college entrance exam…” she answered.

The other end was silent again for a long while, then Zhang Shu’s tone deepened.

“Sheng Xia, everything I said before still stands.”

Sheng Xia instinctively asked: “What?”

Still stands – does he mean after “ending it here,” it still stands?

Zhang Shu: “I told you before, if you have questions, ask me. Don’t go embarrass yourself elsewhere.”

With a “beep,” everything returned to silence.

He had hung up.

Sheng Xia: …

…

The day before the first mock exam, Sheng Xia submitted her manuscript.

Do your best, and leave the rest to fate.

She couldn’t give up the college entrance exam, but still needed to take the SAT. The institute registered her for the first Saturday in May. Lu Youze registered for March and had already left for Macau, so he wouldn’t take the mock exam.

Fortunately, she had dragged out her language classes long enough, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to take the mock exam either.

At 6 AM, Sheng Xia arrived at the classroom and was surprised to find it almost full.

The countdown board’s bright red double digits instantly made her nervous.

They were less than a hundred steps away from summer’s fruit.

Li Shiyi saw her first and quickly removed the test papers and notebooks from her desk, smiling sheepishly, “Xia Xia, you’re here! Sorry haha, I occupied your desk.”

“It’s fine.”

The surrounding classmates also saw her and greeted her one after another.

“Sheng Xia, you didn’t go to Macau for the test?”

“No.”

“I thought you went with Lu Youze?”

“I haven’t finished learning everything.”

“When are you going?”

“May, probably.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t come to the mock exam, it’s so nerve-wracking…”

When Zhang Shu entered the classroom, he heard a group of people chattering around a desk.

He immediately spotted the girl standing by her desk, her face calm and composed.

The weather had been very hot lately, and he had wondered how she could still wear sweaters out every day.

She had various sweaters in different colors.

Buying the same style of clothes in different colors was something usually only boys would do out of laziness – it was rare among girls.

Today was different – she had also changed into the short-sleeved school uniform. Her arms, covered all winter, had grown even whiter.

Sheng Xia glanced up slightly and also saw Zhang Shu.

He must have just gotten a haircut – the scattered bangs on his forehead were much shorter, faintly revealing his sword-like eyebrows.

The gaze under those eyebrows didn’t look happy.

Somehow, the laughter and noise died down, everyone tacitly making space for the atmosphere between their locked gazes.

Sheng Xia looked away first, sitting down to organize recently distributed test papers.

In half a month, the stack of papers had grown almost as thick as “One Hundred Years of Solitude”…

Looking at it felt like a hundred years wouldn’t be enough to finish, truly solitary.

As exam time approached, the class monitor directed everyone to move desks.

Sheng Xia and Li Shiyi helped each other move the desks into position.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with this while I was away,” Sheng Xia apologized.

Even though she had taken many books home, her desk was still heavy, and she had been gone for two weeks – they must have moved desks twice.

Li Shiyi waved her hand: “No no no, I didn’t move it – Zhang Shu came to move your desk each time…”

Sheng Xia’s eyes brightened for a moment, then her long lashes trembled, and she lowered her brows.

Li Shiyi pressed her lips together and stopped talking.

Who didn’t know this “class couple” had split up over plans? After the pledge ceremony, many people also saw that Sheng Xia’s family background was extraordinary – even Lu Youze’s father was respectful to her father.

To be honest, the onlookers all felt it was quite a pity.

But what could be done?

Many couples break up after graduation. Better to end it early than drag it out for those few months with extra attachments.

Probably because she hadn’t done complete sets of problems for a long time, Sheng Xia’s performance wasn’t great, especially in math and comprehensive science. She could tell she had done poorly right after finishing. However, her English was better thanks to TOEFL classes – the cloze tests that used to give her headaches were now easy to handle, and she felt good about it.

The first mock exam was a city-wide joint exam with unified grading. Since all teachers had to grade papers, weekend classes were changed to self-study. It was true self-study – attendance wasn’t required.

Sheng Xia had been rushing about day and night recently, her mind still stuck in classical poetry and prose, having trouble switching gears. So she decided to give herself Saturday off.

It wasn’t a day off – she just got up a bit later and then studied at home. She helped Wang Lianhua cook lunch at noon, then headed out for evening classes at the institute.

Wang Lianhua thought she was just resting for the weekend and advised her not to go to school so late at night.

Sheng Xia turned back at the doorway and asked: “Mom if I could get into a better school than Nanli University, but it’s far from home, what then?”

Wang Lianhua was stunned for a moment before giving a clear response: “That would depend on which school. If it’s only slightly better, then Nanli University is still better – there are advantages for future employment, and your social circle would all be your classmates…”

“Mm, I understand.”

She closed the door and left. Wang Lianhua stood inside lost in thought.

The sky was low and cloudy, and the rain wasn’t playing by the rules either.

Though it was March rain, it showed no gentleness, pouring down in sheets.

Sheng Xia stood under the eaves, grateful she hadn’t started cycling yet, or she would have become drenched.

She had to take a taxi instead.

The rain was too heavy – street lights blurred in the mist, and intersections were completely jammed, with car horns blaring back and forth.

Two ambulances had their warning lights on, calling out in vain as they couldn’t gain any speed. A doctor leaned out from the passenger side, shouting: “Make way, make way! Let us through!”

After shouting, he yelled into his phone: “Request traffic police to clear the way! Quickly!”

“Miss, shall we take a detour? Make space for the ambulances behind us,” the taxi driver asked.

Sheng Xia naturally agreed: “Yes, we should, let them through quickly!”

The driver struggled to squeeze into the left turn lane, and cars in front and behind also honked to clear the way. The ambulances roared past their car, splashing up mud along the way.

“Ah, such urgency, wonder what happened.”

“Oh, two ambulances – probably an accident. The weather’s bad today, likely a car crash…”

The driver muttered to himself, his tone showing concern, but mostly it was just an outsider’s idle chat.

When Sheng Xia finished class, it was past 9 PM and the rain had lightened.

Just as she was about to get a taxi, she saw an unexpected person in the lobby: Zou Weiping.

“I was working overtime at the company next door. Your father asked me to take you home,” Zou Weiping explained her presence.

Sheng Xia politely declined: “No need to trouble yourself, I can take a taxi back.”

Zou Weiping explained: “There was a violent attack in the area today. The suspect ran off in a crazed state, and your father’s worried about you going back alone.”

“Okay.”

In the car, Sheng Xia pulled out her phone to check today’s news. Zou Weiping casually chatted from the front seat: “Today there was a brave young man who stepped forward to help – they say he’s from your school, Fu Zhong.”

Sheng Xia was shocked too. Connecting it with what she’d heard earlier, she asked: “From today’s violent incident?”

“Yes.”

“Is he alright?” Sheng Xia asked with concern.

“It’s unclear right now, they say he was stabbed.”

Zou Weiping continued: “It happened this evening. A deranged man was running around with a knife, slashing people. He wounded a cashier at a convenience store, then rushed onto the street. Many people were running away. This person was taking revenge on society – wherever there were crowds, that’s where he went. Finally, he entered a bookstore, slashed the owner once, then charged in to attack the students reading there…”

Sheng Xia listened, growing increasingly tense. “Bookstore? Which bookstore?”

In this area with its crowds, there was only one roadside bookstore – Yifang Bookstore. Was the owner injured?

And which classmate was it? She had never run into any Fu Zhong students at Yifang Bookstore.

“I can’t remember clearly. Your father only mentioned it briefly, and there’s no official police report yet, so we shouldn’t spread rumors,” Zou Weiping answered. “This could become a major public incident if not handled well.”

Sheng Xia quickly opened the class group chat, feeling there must be a discussion there.

For some reason, her heart was beating faster and faster, with an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

The class group had 99+ messages.

Sheng Xia’s heart sank as she opened it.

An intense discussion was ongoing, messages flowing past like water, too fast to read clearly.

“Damn, heavens! You’re not fooling me, right?”

“Hope he’s safe!”

“Praying! Oh heavens, don’t let talent die young!”

“Shut up above, what are you saying? Nothing will happen!”

“That revenge-seeking idiot should explode on the spot, why do this!”

“Zhang Shu! Oh God, Brother Shu, no!”

“Crying my eyes out, tell me this isn’t true!”

“God, please!”

“What’s the situation now, does anyone have family at the hospital?”

“I’ll ask my aunt!”

“Everyone doesn’t panic, Brother Shu is so great, he’ll be fine, heaven wouldn’t take him!”

“Brother Shu, don’t let anything happen!”

“Can’t do anything, police have sealed everything off, can’t find anything out!”

“Old Wang, go ask the school quickly!”

“Brother Shu must be okay!”

…

…

Sheng Xia felt something stabbing straight at her throat, unable to breathe through it, suffocating.

Her eyes could only see two characters – Zhang Shu.

Her hands trembling, she scrolled up through the messages. Any slight hesitation would cause new messages to push her back up. She scrolled up again and again, her hands shaking, her lips trembling, her heart quivering, unable to control the burning in her nose and eyes as they began to moisten.

Zou Weiping was frightened and quickly pulled over, coming from the driver’s seat to the back. Though she could hardly bear to ask, she still spoke: “Is it… a close classmate?”

Looking at the dense repetition of “Zhang Shu” and “Brother Shu” in the chat window, Sheng Xia’s tears finally broke through.

Stabbed once?

How could this happen?

Why him?

Why was he at Yifang Bookstore?

Sheng Xia slowly raised her head, meeting Zou Weiping’s anxious eyes. For the first time before this strange yet familiar woman, Sheng Xia couldn’t hold back her emotions: “No…”

Zou Weiping relaxed slightly but still gently stroked her back to comfort her.

After a long while, she heard Sheng Xia’s almost broken voice: “Not a class…mate… he’s… someone… I really, really like…”

Zou Weiping froze completely, seeing the girl’s lost expression, and became somewhat at a loss herself.

She had no children and didn’t know how to comfort them. She could only hold Sheng Xia in her arms, one hand rubbing her back to help her breathe while pulling out her phone to call Sheng Mingfeng.

“Any progress on today’s incident? Find out and reply quickly… Don’t ask questions, just hurry!”

Sheng Xia could no longer hear what Zou Weiping was saying, her mind buzzing.

Yifang Bookstore…

Violent attack…

Stepped forward to help…

Slashed…

Zhang Shu…

She painfully swallowed, finding a somewhat normal breathing rhythm, and found Zhang Suxin’s number to call.

Through all the lunch breaks, she had never made any requests, never dialed this number.

Ring ring ring—

No answer.

If it was Zhang Shu, then Zhang Suxin would be the last person able to attend to other matters right now.

Better not trouble her anymore…

Sheng Xia wiped away her tears to see the screen clearly, remembering she had added the bookstore’s customer service WeChat when becoming a member. She quickly opened WeChat and found the contact.

She discovered she had received a mass message from customer service around 7 PM:

[Dear Yifang Bookstore VIP member: Hello, our store experienced a violent incident today and has closed for emergency. Specific business hours pending notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.]

It was Yifang Bookstore.

She could no longer comfort herself that the news was wrong.

She dialed voice call, but the line was busy…

In the class group, someone shared a Weibo link.

#YifangBookstore##NanliStabbing# So terrifying, I was at the newspaper stand across the street and saw the young brother beside me sprint over…

Sheng Xia painfully swallowed, feeling these characters like needles stabbing straight into her flesh.

The blogger included a video. Even before playing, she could see the cover image. Filmed from across from Yifang Bookstore, the scene was very familiar to Sheng Xia, and the running figure in the black T-shirt was etched into her bones…

The Weibo post already had over 10,000 shares. She didn’t dare to play it, scrolling down to read comments first.

[Is this the power of youth…]

-Is everyone else dead? Is he the only man?

-Most handsome back view

-Truly handsome, from body to heart, handsome to the soul.

-The world becomes more beautiful when youth steps forward.

[Must be safe @NanliPolice hurry up with the report are you eating shit?]

-@NanliPolice come out and take the blame

-Did they catch that psycho? The death penalty, fuck!

-If they hurt a top scholar, can a simple “mentally ill” excuse responsibility? This world is too absurd.

[Heard he’s Nanli’s potential top scholar this year, oh heavens!]

-Yes, he’s been our school’s number one, far ahead in citywide exams.

-Also the school heartthrob, is incredibly excellent beyond imagination.

-Wasn’t he not first last semester?

-Shut up you idiot, he’s always first!

-Must be safe, the person I secretly love, I haven’t told you yet.

-Excellent person with noble character, he’s a future pillar of society, please be okay…

-It’s true, you don’t know how wonderful he is.

[Film your mother film! Go help!]

-Would you dare if it were you?

-Soul-searching question, it’s truly hard to do.

Sheng Xia still tremblingly clicked play. She still couldn’t believe such a thing could happen in her own life, could happen to someone close to her…

Chaotic screams and discussions came through, mixing fear and panic, making one feel suffocated from the moment it started.

But all these people making noise were just spectators. Only Zhang Shu charged forward without a word.

The road was completely jammed with drivers stopping to “watch the show”, anxious horns blaring everywhere.

Zhang Shu darted between them, instantly soaked by the heavy rain. His clothes were no longer flowing, his hair no longer fluffy, looking quite disheveled. His long legs strode over the road’s central barrier as he sprinted, pushing through the crowd to charge into the bookstore.

Reckless and unhesitating.

Too far away, the image is zoomed in by the filmmaker.

Shaky and blurry.

Could only see through the glass windows – a tall man wielding a cleaver in his left hand and a fruit knife in his right, swinging wildly, savagely, and fiercely. People fled in panic as he went straight for the window seats.

A girl in a white dress sat there, head down reading a book. For some reason, she seemed not to hear the commotion, showing no reaction at all.

Just as the cleaver was about to fall, someone grabbed the man’s waist from behind and suddenly yanked him backward.

Both men lost their balance and tumbled to the ground.

The following scenes were in a blind spot, no longer visible.

How they fought, how he was injured, where he was wounded – besides those in the bookstore and the camera, no one knew.

The video ended abruptly amid cries of “Holy shit.”

They panicked, they sighed, they watched.

Not one of them could help that young man.

They pressed record, became traffic, and provided talking points.

They were so cold.

Sheng Xia couldn’t stop shaking, her whole body feeling like it had fallen into a glacier, losing all sensation.

At her shoulder, Zou Weiping’s hand kept stroking up and down to comfort her: “Don’t worry, wait for news from your father’s side. It’ll be okay, everything will be fine, heaven will protect kind and brave children.”

Sheng Xia nodded repeatedly, hoping everything Zou Weiping said was right, would come true.

Those two ambulances today, in such a hurry, had been carrying him.

Where exactly was he injured? How serious was it? What state was he in? Was he still conscious?

It turned out she had passed by him when he was covered in wounds…

So close.

Yet she had been calm as still water, not sensing any of his pain.

Stabbed once…

Where? Were there other injuries?

He must be in pain.

Shu, it must hurt so much…

Shu, don’t… I haven’t told you yet, I like you so so much, I’ve been trying so hard, I’ve never given up…

Shu…

Please…

Please, please…

Please.