Lin Weixia put both hands back in her pockets, and as she passed Ban Sheng, she said quietly, “Scoundrel,” and walked away.

After school, Liu Sijia got home and her long legs gave way — she dropped with a thud onto the leather sofa. Her throat had started to itch; she fished a thin menthol cigarette from her pocket and was putting it to her lips, just about to search for a lighter, when a familiar woman’s voice drifted faintly from outside the villa door:

“How did you go and get a fever out of nowhere — get yourself to the hospital first, I’ll be right there.”

At the sound of the voice she had been waiting for, Liu Sijia’s face broke into a smile. She quietly tucked the cigarette back into her pocket, stood up, and walked toward the entrance:

“Mom—”

A woman walked in — her eyes as cold and striking as Liu Sijia’s, dressed in a black mink coat and a fitted skirt cinched at the waist with a thin belt. A housekeeper immediately stepped forward to take the bag from her hands.

Wen Liyan still had the phone to her ear. She gave Liu Sijia a cool, noncommittal nod.

Liu Sijia sat on the sofa, back perfectly straight, patiently waiting for her mother to finish the call. She was thinking over how to share the things that had been happening lately.

Slap. A midterm exam report card was flung onto the surface in front of her, and the air instantly froze.

“You had me come home for this — just to show me these embarrassing grades?” Wen Liyan’s tone was cold.

“It was a fluke last time. It won’t happen again.” Liu Sijia stared at the report card, fingers clenching involuntarily.

Wen Liyan said nothing more. She reached into her bag and set a dark blue brocade box on the coffee table: “I brought you a gift from France.”

The words had barely left her mouth when the phone in Wen Liyan’s hand started ringing urgently. She glanced at the caller ID and said, “Your little sister is sick — I need to head back. We’ll have dinner together another time.”

Liu Sijia let out a cold laugh. She shot to her feet, without so much as a glance at the blue brocade box, and hurled it into the trash can, then walked toward the stairs.

She’s already remarried. What’s the point of playing the devoted mother now?

Wen Liyan showed no sign of being provoked. She retrieved her bag from the housekeeper’s hands and made to leave — then, as an afterthought, said: “I hear there’s quite a remarkable girl who transferred into your class. Lin Weixia, isn’t it? Ordinary background, but she effortlessly took your position away.”

Liu Sijia’s back went rigid. The fingers twisting at her clothes tightened without thinking, and her freshly painted nail lacquer looked as though a layer of blood was seeping through.

After that, Liu Sijia shed her former careless manner and began to apply herself seriously to studying. She no longer gathered her entourage after every class for meetings and gossip.

Though her interactions with Lin Weixia continued as normal, Lin Weixia still noticed the subtle change in Liu Sijia — she simply felt that Liu Sijia’s nerves had suddenly been stretched very tight.

The following week was the physics lab practical test. Shengao had always placed great emphasis on practical application; the continuous practical scores from lab work were factored into the final overall grade.

Liu Sijia began pouring unusual dedication into this upcoming test.

To prepare for the assessment, nearly everyone in the class had been staying close to their lab partners. Liu Sijia, determined to earn a good score, was making her way over to Ban Sheng’s side every other day.

Ning Chao watched Liu Sijia hovering around Ban Sheng and let out a derisive laugh: “Seatmate, don’t you think these rich kids are obsessed with face?”

“They go on about A-students and F-students, claiming it’s all based on comprehensive ability — but isn’t it really just dividing people into tiers based on money? ‘Comprehensive ability’ — that’s just code for wealthy kids with a head start. Those make up ninety percent of the A-students.”

Ning Chao never usually cared about Shengao’s affairs, yet here he was, cutting straight to the point. Lin Weixia didn’t quite know how to respond, so she said: “We still have the college entrance exam. That’s fair. What about you — are you studying English tonight?”

“Forget it, forget it — I get a headache just looking at English,” Ning Chao said quickly.

After school at noon, the girls in the class linked arms while the boys horsed around in a noisy pack, everyone pouring toward the cafeteria together. Lin Weixia, as usual, stayed in her seat doing homework, waiting for Liu Sijia to fix her hair and reapply her lipstick before coming to find her.

But she waited and waited, and Liu Sijia never came. Lin Weixia closed her homework notebook, stood up, and walked over to her.

Liu Sijia was sitting in the front row, one finger propping up her cheek, a few girls gathered around her. She listened to them talk with a distracted air, a faint curve at the corners of her lips.

The closer Lin Weixia got, the more clearly she could hear. One short-haired girl flicked at her nails: “So who actually sent that basketball? Ban Sheng carries it around with him every day.”

“It must have been some girl, right? Otherwise, someone like him — what doesn’t he have? Head-to-toe designer clothes, and yet he treats some thirty-yuan basketball like it’s a priceless treasure, won’t even let anyone touch it.” One of the girls seemed to glance in Lin Weixia’s direction.

After listening, Liu Sijia raised an eyebrow: “Alright, you two should go write novels.”

“But someone did see Ban Sheng with a girl,” someone said.

Lin Weixia had just stepped into the shadow of the group of girls. Liu Sijia said nothing at first — she lowered the hand propping up her cheek, tilted her head up, and suddenly spoke in a casually joking tone:

“Weixia, that basketball wasn’t yours, was it?”

The other girls’ eyes all turned toward Lin Weixia, their gazes carrying emotions like “contempt” and “so that’s how it is” — every last one of them looking ready to watch the drama unfold.

Lin Weixia’s heart jolted, and a flicker of panic crossed her. She was actually prepared to explain the whole story from beginning to end, when Liu Sijia suddenly burst out laughing and reached out to give her a playful tap on the forehead:

“Why so tense? I was joking.”

The charged atmosphere dissolved at once. The probing looks vanished. Liu Sijia stood up and linked her arm through Lin Weixia’s, and they walked to the cafeteria together.

In the cafeteria, the two girls sat across from each other. Just as they were about to dig in, there was a clatter — a silver tray was set down, and a firmly muscled arm appeared in Liu Sijia’s line of sight.

“Mind if I join?” Ning Chao dropped into a seat with characteristic boldness, flashing a wide, white grin.

Liu Sijia, who usually loved a sharp comeback, silently rolled her eyes and lowered her head to eat her salad. For the entirety of the meal, Liu Sijia only spoke with Lin Weixia, deliberately treating a certain someone like thin air.

Still preoccupied with her gift that had vanished into someone unknown’s hands, Liu Sijia narrowed those beautiful eyes and said: “I clearly posted on Weibo. Who would still dare take my gift? Don’t tell me there’s someone in class who doesn’t go online.”

Ning Chao listened beside them and found it hilarious, mocking: “Really do think you’re the queen, don’t you? Does every person online have to follow you?”

Liu Sijia’s expression turned cold, and she was just about to fire back when, just then, a boy nearby leaned over and quietly asked Ning Chao if he had a lighter. Ning Chao reached into his pocket and pulled out a brand-new silver lighter — then suddenly realized:

“Wait, I’ll trade you for a different one.”

Liu Sijia followed the sound, and her beautiful eyes went wide with disbelief: “Isn’t that the lighter I bought? You’re the one who took my gift.”

Ning Chao put it all together and was beside himself with laughter, grinning in a thoroughly aggravating way: “Thanks for that — I’ve never used a top-brand lighter before. The feel of it is pretty good.”

Liu Sijia was so furious she could barely contain herself. Without a second thought, she turned on her heel and stormed away.

After finishing her meal, Lin Weixia tidied up Liu Sijia’s lunch box and said:

“Why do you always have to provoke her?”

Ning Chao rubbed the short stubble on his head and said: “Can’t stand that spoiled little princess act of hers.”

With the physics lab test coming up again, Lin Weixia had no choice but to buckle down and sharpen her practical skills.

The school Lin Weixia had previously attended hadn’t placed much emphasis on practical work, let alone this kind of rigorous practical examination. The class operated on a competitive group-scoring system. From the last lab session onward, Lin Weixia had been partnered with Qiu Minghua.

Liu Sijia was partnered with Ban Sheng.

Qiu Minghua’s practical abilities were mediocre at best, and with his thoughts constantly drifting toward leveling up in his games, he would dash off the moment lab class ended, leaving Lin Weixia with little support.

The other students had also gathered their books and headed out one by one, until only Lin Weixia was left behind. She picked up a test tube, intending to practice a few more times. Her dark lashes were fixed on the reaction in the beaker, and she found herself chewing the end of her pen as she took notes, a puzzled look on her face.

“Let me teach you.” An unhurried, composed voice came from behind her.

Lin Weixia turned at the sound. Ban Sheng was leaning against the doorway with one hand in his pocket. Today he wore a black windbreaker jacket, which made his neck and posture look all the more straight and defined. A silver cross necklace rested neatly in the hollow of his pale, cool collarbone. His expression was languid — every inch the arrogant, stylish young man about school.

Ban Sheng began to teach her. Lin Weixia instinctively followed his instructions and reached for the mercury test tube, only to come back to herself halfway and set it back down. The young man casually put one hand in his pocket and walked over at a measured pace.

The very culprit was standing right in front of her. Thinking back on everything that had happened, Lin Weixia recalled Liu Sijia’s slightly questioning remark from the other day — her moist lips parting softly:

“That basketball — stop bringing it to school.”

Ban Sheng stood beside her, adjusting one of the instruments on her behalf, his tone entirely self-possessed: “Not really an option.”

Lin Weixia withdrew her gaze. Her voice was soft, but her emotion was something she couldn’t quite name — detached: “There’s another basketball at home. I’m planning to give it to Qiu Minghua.”

Ban Sheng’s expression didn’t change. He gave a dismissive laugh and said simply: “He won’t dare.”

“Are people like you always this presumptuous? I heard that Qiu Minghua is very afraid of you.” Lin Weixia lifted her head, and in her amber eyes was reflected a tall, upright figure.

Everything was left unsaid but clearly implied: she meant that he used his family’s wealth and good looks to push other people around and do exactly as he pleased.

Ban Sheng was sharp enough. He understood.

Ban Sheng — both hands in his pockets — suddenly leaned in close. A pleasant dark sandalwood scent drifted over. He didn’t press too near physically, but those dark, keen eyes swept her from head to toe and back again — thorough and deliberate, laden with an oppressive weight.

They passed over her cherry-red lips, her slender neck, her chest, and even the curve beneath her jeans.

His body was still, but his gaze was brazen and roguish.

Under that kind of stare, Lin Weixia couldn’t help curling her toes, and the back of her neck grew warm. In the middle of winter, a thin layer of sweat had seeped across her back.

Only then did Ban Sheng slowly speak, with a low laugh: “If I were truly as presumptuous as you say, where do you think my hands would be right now?”

The curtains stirred in the wind. Footsteps suddenly rang out from not far away — Qiu Minghua, hunched at the waist, shuffled back toward the classroom one step at a time. He’d tried to slip away earlier, but halfway down the corridor his stomach acted up and sent him straight back to the bathroom.

The moment Qiu Minghua laid eyes on Ban Sheng, clouds of misery gathered across his face: “I don’t want to go. Is that not allowed?”

“Suit yourself.” Ban Sheng dropped those words and nothing more.

The actual physics lab test arrived on Thursday. The group cooperation format was in effect. As before, Lin Weixia and Qiu Minghua stood together. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, and the classroom was noisy — people either chatting or flipping through their physics textbooks to review the experimental procedure.

Once the physics teacher arrived, everyone returned to their partner’s station and began. Before starting, Lin Weixia let her gaze sweep around the room.

And by chance, her eyes landed on Ban Sheng and Liu Sijia diagonally across from her.

Liu Sijia kept glancing at Ban Sheng and would occasionally reach out to tug gently at his sleeve. The slender young man would follow the movement and turn his head, bending his neck unhurriedly to listen to what she was saying.

The physics lab test ended quickly. The teacher had barely finished marking the scores on the spot when the bell rang. The lab was crowded; Liu Sijia held her textbook flat against her waist, like a spirited black swan with her head held high. She couldn’t wait to pull out her phone and message her mother:

【I won’t lose on the final exams.】

After sending it, Liu Sijia was in high spirits and offered to treat everyone to shaved ice.

The small group of girls flocked around Liu Sijia as they walked out of the lab. Through the uneven line of shoulders, Liu Sijia glanced at Lin Weixia, who was still bent over tidying her things, and her red lips curved: “Weixia, want to come for shaved ice? My treat.”

Lin Weixia shook her head: “I have something at home.”

Most everyone had left by now. Qiu Minghua was still sitting on his stool. After a long moment of hesitation, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar, handing it to Lin Weixia. She looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

“So, um, I think you may have misunderstood me and Ban Sheng,” Qiu Minghua said, scratching his head. “He’s always been good to me.”

“You know what this private school Shengao is like, right? My dad is in the seafood business. When I first got to class, everyone made fun of me. But not Ban-ge. He’d always gone his own way at this school — cold as ice, completely unapproachable. I was the one who followed him around calling him brother every day, and he barely even acknowledged me. Then one day my family went bankrupt, and my mom got sick. I was a complete wreck during that time.”

“Ban-ge — aside from the brothers he’d grown up with, he basically never got involved in other people’s business or dealt with anyone outside his circle. Everyone said he was cold, uncaring about whether others lived or died — calculating and self-serving through and through.”

“But this one time — this one person like that — proactively sold a school uniform design to the principal. The condition he put forward was that he would get the production contract. But in the end, Ban-ge went and asked his own father to hand it over to my dad’s business instead. It’s not like his family needed extra hands — he did it purely to give me a leg up.”

“Because of his help, things eventually started to turn around for my family. So I’d call him a lifelong brother — I’d give my life for him if it came to that. Just don’t listen to people saying he treats me badly.”

After school, Lin Weixia stood at the bus stop outside the school gate. With the hiss of brakes, a bus pulled in, and students streamed aboard like fish. She was swept along with the crowd and onto the bus.

The bus rocked from side to side. A shaft of winter sunlight pierced through the glass and fell on Lin Weixia’s skin, pale to the point of near translucence, and a speck of light settled on the red butterfly birthmark on her cheek.

A few boys sitting nearby caught sight of this long-haired, quietly composed young woman and couldn’t help but stare. Lin Weixia was completely unaware, her thoughts still submerged in the earlier conversation with Qiu Minghua in the lab.

Taking your gift and giving it to Ban-ge — that was my fault.

I’m sorry. He’s never asked me for anything,

except for that basketball.

She had been too prejudiced against Ban Sheng. She had misjudged him.

Back at school. Lin Weixia was distributing homework. When she reached Ban Sheng’s pile, he was sitting sideways in his seat working through a problem — a black pen resting against the web of his thumb, twirling as he rapidly wrote down an answer.

When he heard Lin Weixia call his name, Ban Sheng didn’t look up — let alone spare a glance — simply freeing one hand to accept the homework. Lin Weixia stared at that distinctly articulated, slender hand that seemed almost sculpted, and spoke in her gentle, unhurried way:

“I have something I need to say to you.”

“Wait for me in the lab after school.” Ban Sheng still didn’t look up.

That afternoon, after school let out, the lab was completely empty. The daylight outside was still bright; the noise outside made the lab’s silence all the more pronounced. Lin Weixia couldn’t understand why Ban Sheng had chosen to meet her here.

Ban Sheng appeared not long after, walking in at an unhurried pace. He stood at the lab bench with one hand in his pocket and the other picking up a test tube, and began conducting an experiment.

“Do you know where you went wrong?”

The lab scores had come out quickly. Lin Weixia’s group had barely scraped a passing mark, while Ban Sheng and Liu Sijia’s pair ranked first for practical performance — nearly a perfect score. Rumor had it the teacher had only deducted half a point because Liu Sijia’s sleeve accidentally grazed a bit of the dye reagent during the procedure.

“You didn’t fully understand the principle. The sequence was reversed — you measure surface tension first, then the wetting phenomenon.” Ban Sheng said.

He then had Lin Weixia redo the experiment from start to finish. She worked carefully and seriously; the young master of the Ban family leaned against the wall and called out occasional reminders — few in words, but each one striking at the core of the issue, logical and precise in a way that was impossible not to respect.

Then, abruptly, the white paper draped across the raised glass beaker began to slowly change color. The seven hues connected one by one in a continuous line, each seeping into the next, bleeding together. Lin Weixia let out a breath of relief, a faint smile lifting the corner of her lips.

It had finally worked.

“Capillary action is the result of surface tension and the wetting phenomenon acting on each other.” Ban Sheng watched the scene before him and spoke.

This was simply who Ban Sheng was when it came to Lin Weixia — unconditional.

Unconditional forgiveness. No matter how angry he was from being misunderstood, his first thought was always that she hadn’t mastered this experiment. He swallowed his temper and taught her regardless.

Lin Weixia wasn’t sure how to describe the feeling in her chest at that moment. She was still hesitating over how to begin apologizing to Ban Sheng when, suddenly, a glint of light flashed in the distance and caught her eye.

She looked over. Ban Sheng had produced a small mirror from somewhere and aimed it at the experiment she’d just completed. On the ground in front of it, a band of seven colors immediately appeared — even the shadow on the floor was painted in the colors of a rainbow.

Brilliant and fleeting.

That dazzling instant.

Lin Weixia opened her eyes. She saw Ban Sheng standing in the shadow, still wearing that effortlessly cool, irreverent expression, speaking lazily — yet with a smile at the corner of his lips:

“Sending you a rainbow.”