By the time Shi Niannian returned to class, evening reading had already begun. It was a Chinese literature evening study.

Her Chinese was very good; her essays often won awards, and she consistently ranked first in her grade in Chinese.

The Chinese teacher saw her coming in late but didn’t say much, just waved her in.

During evening study, the teacher handed out many reading materials, including essay materials and classical short stories. Shi Niannian loved reading these little stories the most.

But today she couldn’t focus.

She took out a blue marker from her pencil case and marked good phrases and useful paragraphs that could be incorporated into essays as she read.

Sitting by the window, the evening breeze blew in through the half-open window.

It ruffled the homework notebook at the corner of her desk, making the pages flutter with a rustling sound.

That person… how could he be like that?

Shi Niannian bit her teeth, recalling what Jiang Wang had whispered in her ear earlier.

“—Then thank me with a kiss.”

She blinked, her left hand pressed against her burning face, her right hand continuing to mark the paper.

In her mind appeared his face, with strong brow bones and narrow double eyelids. When his face was cold, he looked distant and unfeeling, but his voice always carried a hint of laughter, lazy and casual, with a nasal tone, exuding a roguish air.

She gripped her pen tightly, her index finger’s knuckle turning slightly white.

Her cheeks burned crimson with embarrassment and awkwardness, standing out against her fair face.

Finally, giving up, she buried her head lower, her voice completely drowned out among the reading voices.

She muttered quietly and angrily: “Pervert!”

Early the next morning, as soon as the morning self-study ended, Cai Yucai knocked on the classroom door with a stack of papers.

“Xu Fei, come here and arrange the sports meet registration.”

Xu Fei was the class sports representative.

Tall and skinny, he played basketball and had tanned skin, a very sunny disposition.

He took the forms and asked each student one by one.

Shi Niannian sat at the back. After he finished asking everyone else, the registration form already had many check marks, with Shi Niannian being the last one.

“Shi Niannian, what event do you want to register for?” Xu Fei leaned on Jiang Wang’s desk, moving closer to her desk to ask.

Jiang Wang hadn’t come to class yet.

She shook her head, indicating she didn’t want to register.

“Hmm?” Xu Fei flipped through the roster, “I remember you won an award for the 800 meters last year in your freshman year. Our class only has one person registered for the 800 meters this time. This event gives high points for awards. Why don’t you register again?”

Shi Niannian was easy to persuade. She had been convinced to register for the 800 meters in her freshman year, in the same way.

She nodded and used her pen to put a check mark in the 800 meters box corresponding to her name.

Xu Fei was about to say something else when the chair beside her was pulled out and a backpack was thrown onto the seat.

A cold voice said, “—Excuse me.”

Xu Fei quickly straightened up. Jiang Wang swung a long leg in, his eyes black, scanning Xu Fei from top to bottom.

Xu Fei held the registration form out to him: “Jiang Wang, the sports meet is coming up soon. Why don’t you register for an event too? Any event is fine.”

His voice was cold: “Not registering.”

“I heard you’re good at sports. I think you still hold the 100-meter record at First High School.” Xu Fei stood beside him, trying to persuade him. “Register for one.”

Jiang Wang frowned slightly, obviously not wanting to engage.

Xu Fei was about to say something else when the English teacher rushed in before the bell rang: “Come on! Come on, students! Let’s get started quickly. The first class is English anyway, so let’s begin!”

A boy complained below: “Teacher, I haven’t even gone to the bathroom yet!”

The English teacher glared at him: “The morning is the best time for planning the day. Where’s your enthusiasm for learning?”

Shi Niannian took out her English book and opened it. Her notes were neat and clean, using different colored pens to distinguish sections.

Jiang Wang sat in his seat, spacing out for a while, then turned his head to look at Shi Niannian. She turned her head to avoid him.

From his angle, he could see the black hair tie binding the girl’s hair.

Jiang Wang remembered how she had held her hair tie between her teeth while combing her hair last night.

Shi Niannian listened attentively, looking up at the blackboard, occasionally taking notes in her textbook.

When Jiang Wang’s hand reached over, Shi Niannian was writing. She caught it in her peripheral vision and quickly pulled her hand away. Only after she had withdrawn did she realize her reaction had been too extreme.

Like avoiding the plague, it seemed very disrespectful.

Jiang Wang laughed, his nasal tone heavy.

He tucked in his chin and looked up at her, as if mocking, or perhaps disdaining.

His tongue pressed against his back teeth, and he gave a cold laugh.

“Think I’m dirty?”

Shi Niannian tugged at her sleeve, covering half her hand inside it, and shook her head.

Jiang Wang pressed his lips together without speaking, then laid down to sleep.

Shi Niannian quietly let out a sigh of relief.

The English teacher’s voice was very loud, perfect for dispelling everyone’s drowsiness in the first class of summer, reinvigorating them.

Jiang Wang, sitting beside her, suddenly moved, his eyes remaining closed, and tossed a small square piece onto the desk.

With a small clatter, Shi Niannian stared at it for two seconds.

A hearing aid.

So his ear hadn’t recovered yet. She had thought, as Jiang Ling said, that his hearing had already improved.

“Hey! That boy in the last row! Jiang Wang! Sleeping in the classroom must be uncomfortable. Why don’t you go home to sleep!” The English teacher shouted with her hands on her hips.

The classroom fell completely silent.

No one dared to breathe, afraid of displeasing the school tyrant.

Due to an accident, Jiang Wang’s hearing had severely declined, and without his hearing aid, many sounds were muffled.

There was a hissing noise in his eardrums. He frowned slightly, then felt his sleeve being gently pulled outward twice.

At first, he ignored it, but then it was pulled again, this time three times.

When he opened his eyes, he saw his little desk mate with her wrists resting on the edge of the desk, her slender, fair fingers carefully tugging at his clothes.

She was quite close.

He could see the transparent peach fuzz on her face, as well as a light brown mole on the left side of her nose bridge, and her naturally curled eyelashes.

He raised an eyebrow.

Shi Niannian bent her index finger, pointing at the lectern.

The young man unhurriedly sat up, the chair legs scraping against the floor, lazily leaning against the backrest.

The side of his face had a faint mark pressed into it.

The English teacher was very brave. The moment Jiang Wang sat up, she gave him a loud round of applause: “Well! How did you find our school’s desk for sleeping? Would you like to buy one to take home?”

As she spoke, she didn’t stop clapping, and tried to get everyone to join in: “Come on! Let’s all give Jiang Wang a round of applause!”

No one below dared to clap along. Although they had recovered from their initial shock and fear, they were all suffering from holding back their laughter.

The English teacher was not satisfied with failing to get everyone involved, and her encouraging gaze turned to Shi Niannian.

Shi Niannian looked up, and their eyes met.

“…”

The English teacher raised her hand, making a “please” gesture: “Come on, give your desk mate a round of applause.”

Shi Niannian glanced to the side; he wasn’t looking at her.

She sighed softly, pulled her hands out of her oversized school uniform sleeves, and clapped twice.

In the quiet classroom, besides the applause from the lectern, another round of clapping sounded from the corner of the classroom.

Finally, someone couldn’t hold it anymore and burst out laughing. Laughter spread quickly, and soon the whole class was laughing uproariously, and even the English teacher couldn’t help but laugh.

After Jiang Wang sat up, he leaned against the chair without moving, not reacting no matter how excited the English teacher was on the podium. Only when the faint applause came from beside him did he slightly open his eyes.

Expressionlessly, he turned to look.

The girl seemed quite surprised to see him turn his head, her two hands frozen in mid-air.

Jiang Wang looked into her eyes.

He could see the question in her eyes: Why can you hear?

After a pause of two seconds.

Jiang Wang laughed softly.

He probably hadn’t fully woken up; his laugh was lazy, rumbling from his throat, with a hint of weariness in the trailing sound, making one’s ears tingle.

Inexplicably alluring.

“I didn’t expect Jiang Wang to have such a good temper.”

During the afternoon PE class, with the sports meet just half a month away, after warming up, everyone was allowed to practice freely for their registered events.

Jiang Ling sat with Shi Niannian on the shaded stands.

A bottle of ice water sat by their feet, water droplets evaporating, falling in a line, drawing a circle on the cement ground.

“During English class, when you applauded him, I thought he was going to get angry,” Jiang Ling said. “But he smiled.”

She clicked her tongue, cupping her face, “And smiled so charmingly, I’m dying.”

Shi Niannian opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.

Nearby, Xu Fei called out in a direction: “Jiang Wang! Want to play basketball with us?”

Jiang Wang walked out of the gymnasium, apparently having just washed his face, his collar also wet, raising his hand to catch the basketball Xu Fei threw to him.

“Do you know?” Jiang Ling leaned to her ear, “Jiang Wang is exceptionally good at sports, the kind that completely outperforms PE students. It’s a pity he’s not registering for the sports meet this time.”

This wasn’t surprising; Jiang Wang looked like someone who would be good at sports.

Jiang Ling was used to Shi Niannian not speaking beside her, and continued on her own: “You weren’t here in middle school, so you don’t know, but I snuck into the high school section to watch his competitions back then.”

As she spoke, she raised her arm and drew a big circle, “From here to there! The entire stands, all shouting his name and screaming.”

The thunderous cheers.

The spirited youth is running on the plastic track.

The flowing sweat, the finish line being broken.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t see it this year.

Jiang Ling felt a bit regretful.

After sitting on the stands for a while, Shi Niannian stood up.

She had registered for the 800 meters and needed to practice in advance.

Today she had specially changed into a pair of running shoes and had taken off her school uniform jacket, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt underneath.

“You’re so white you could reflect light,” Jiang Ling looked at her enviously. “Have you ever tanned?”

Shi Niannian thought for a moment and answered: “I don’t think so.”

Jiang Ling clicked her tongue: “That’s too much to bear.”

She smiled and walked down from the stands.

Jiang Ling wasn’t good at sports and hadn’t registered, she was just accompanying her.

Shi Niannian looked petite, but she was indeed fast at running. During the girls’ final 800-meter test, they all let her lead, and then everyone followed her pace.

The girl’s loose short-sleeved shirt was blown against her body as she ran into the wind.

It outlined her slender waistline and slightly protruding chest line.

Besides their class, there were many other classes during this PE session, with many people on the field.

Shi Niannian ran forward at a steady pace. Jiang Ling couldn’t keep up with her and switched to walking after half a lap.

Overtaking one person, two people, three people.

She ran four laps before stopping, standing at the white line, hands on her knees, panting. Sweat slid down from her forehead, her slender eyelashes fluttering.

In the sunset, she was illuminated by warm light with golden fuzzy edges, the exposed section of her ankle looking fragile yet beautiful.

Basketball court.

Several senior boys sat under the basketball hoop, with a few empty mineral water bottles rolling at their feet.

Fang Cheng leaned against the hoop, squinting through the metal fence surrounding the basketball court at the figure running on the plastic track.

He had been with Cheng Qi for a while; he had pursued Cheng Qi and got her after just a week of chasing.

He had only recently noticed Shi Niannian. She probably didn’t appear often, as he had never seen her before.

After being with someone like Cheng Qi for so long, Shi Niannian’s appearance was captivating to him; she was too well-behaved and soft.

But just after greeting her, Cheng Qi found out, and they broke up on bad terms.

“Ah Cheng, have you heard? Sister Qi has been giving her trouble lately.”

Another person chimed in: “Of course! Our Cheng is so handsome, how could she not be angry if someone tries to steal him?”

Fang Cheng snorted, whistling at the girl from a distance: “Let her cause trouble. When she can’t take it anymore, I’ll play the hero and rescue the beauty, winning the pretty girl.”

The boys nearby laughed sleazily: “Ah Cheng, you’re so bad.”

Fang Cheng curled his lips: “This Shi Niannian is good in every way, except for two things. She’s a stutterer.”

“And what else?”

He licked his lips: “Her chest is a bit small too.”

Just as he finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly and violently smashed over.

The force was tremendous, directly knocking Fang Cheng backward, his vision going black.

On Xu Fei’s side, they were playing intensely. When a ball was passed to Jiang Wang’s hand, he immediately hurled it forcefully in the opposite direction across half the court.

“What’s going on?!” Xu Fei and the other boys from the class ran over together.

“Which blind motherfucker?!!” Fang Cheng shouted, dizzily supporting himself up from the ground. Looking up, he saw Jiang Wang looking down at him.

Since his return to school, this was the first time he had shown an angry face on campus.

If Jiang Wang hadn’t gotten into trouble, he would have been a grade above Fang Cheng.

Fang Cheng had seen photos of Jiang Wang stabbing someone, covered in blood, so he naturally feared him. His expression froze, not knowing which of his words had displeased him.

After a moment, he picked up the ball, bounced it in his hand a couple of times, and handed it back to Jiang Wang: “Isn’t this Brother Wang? Let’s play basketball together sometime.”

Jiang Wang didn’t give him this way out.

He grabbed the back of Fang Cheng’s neck roughly and pulled him back. His narrow eyes slightly narrowed, and he tilted his head.

“Take back everything you just said.”