The story of how Jiang Yan became Tao Jia’s lifesaver traced back to last semester. It was the final day of the end-of-term exams.

After finishing their meal, Jiang Yan and the other three hadn’t gone back to the classroom. Instead, they’d played a couple rounds of games at a small internet café just outside the school. On their way back, they ran into Blackie standing guard at the school gate.

The four of them looped around to the old gate on the west side, planning to climb through a gap in the crumbling wall nearby. But as luck would have it, they stumbled upon a group of male students from the vocational high school next door.

The group was tugging at a young girl, pulling her toward an alley. The street was nearly deserted at the time, and in broad daylight, the girl was being dragged along—her cries for help punctuating the scene.

Jiang Yan hadn’t wanted to get involved. The people from the vocational school had a reputation for dirty dealings, and once you tangled with them, things had a way of becoming complicated.

But just standing by and doing nothing didn’t sit right with him either.

Watching as the group was about to disappear into the alley, Jiang Yan raised his arm and hurled his drink bottle at one of them.

Hu Hanghang followed it up with a full-throated bellow: “Hey! What are you doing?! You’re in public — have some decency!”

The group at the alley entrance turned to look. One of them, a guy with dyed yellow hair, said impatiently, “Mind your own business. Got it?”

Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow. He picked up a stick from a nearby pile of rubble and rapped it against the wall a few times. “Sorry to say, but today, this is exactly my business.”

It was obvious they were looking for a fight. The vocational school guys had seen plenty of situations like this — they exploded on the spot, raising their fists and charging straight at Jiang Yan’s face.

Jiang Yan was quick. He dodged to the side, then brought the stick down hard on the guy’s back with a dull thud — he hadn’t held back.

Behind him, Xu Yichuan and the others rushed into the fray. Years of fighting side by side had given the four of them an unspoken coordination that left the vocational school guys without a single advantage.

When they couldn’t win fair, they resorted to dirty tricks.

The yellow-haired guy, seizing a moment when Jiang Yan wasn’t watching, grabbed a baseball bat from somewhere and swung it straight at Jiang Yan’s head.

“Yan! Behind you!”

Xu Yichuan shouted a warning. Jiang Yan turned and ducked — but his shoulder still took a brutal hit. Song Yuan was close enough that he could almost hear the crack of bone.

“You son of a—!” Hu Hanghang, solid and heavy, drove his fist straight into the yellow-haired guy’s nose, then grabbed him by the collar and slammed his head down onto his own knee.

Yellow Hair’s face was immediately covered in blood.

Xu Yichuan and Song Yuan closed in, adding a few kicks for good measure.

When the brawl was over, both sides were worse for wear.

Jiang Yan was rushed to the hospital. Yellow Hair’s crew was taken away by police who arrived shortly after, and the girl they had rescued was brought to the station as well.

Later, the girl testified that Jiang Yan and the others had acted in righteous defense. The matter ended with Yellow Hair’s group being detained.

That rescued girl was Tao Jia — who had been in the same exam hall as Lin Tao and Jiang Yan.

Lin Tao heard the heroic tale from Hu Hanghang, who had, of course, embellished his own role considerably midway through. “…Quick as lightning, with a textbook Wing Chun strike, I brought the villain to his knees — and then, unleashing the legendary Foshan Shadowless Kick, I utterly crushed the enemy! I—”

“…” Lin Tao gave him a flat look. “You’re dead to me.”

“Pffft.” Hu Hanghang couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Come on, sis — can’t you let me finish?”

“I’d rather spend that time studying.” Lin Tao set aside her curiosity about gossip, reached into her bag, and spread a test paper across her desk.

Jiang Yan, who had been silently watching a drama on his phone and minding his own business, glanced up at her. He remarked with deliberate weight, “The early bird catches the worm. Diligence can compensate for dullness. Even a slow tortoise can travel a thousand miles if it keeps moving.”

Lin Tao — notorious for her sharp tongue — immediately fired back: “You’re the slow tortoise!”

“…” As expected. Saying something like that to someone with poor grades — she definitely wouldn’t understand.

Tuesday was a clear, sunny day, but after a recent rain, the temperature had dropped noticeably. The wind carried a faint chill.

Lin Tao arrived at the classroom fairly early that morning. Only about half the students had come in.

Just before class started, Jiang Yan and his group swept in from outside in a flurry of energy, most of them carrying breakfast — soy milk, yogurt, that sort of thing — still eating as they walked.

Jiang Yan sat down in his seat and tossed a bag of soy milk onto Lin Tao’s desk. “A cup of soy milk to start the day — sharpens the mind and boosts the brain.”

“…”

For some reason, Lin Tao had been getting the distinct feeling lately that now that they were on familiar terms, this person treated her like she had something wrong with her head. She had no idea where she’d given him the impression that she needed brain-boosting — he was clearly the one who needed it more. Of course, that was something she could never say out loud. Living under someone else’s roof meant keeping her head down. Lin Tao picked up the still-warm bag of soy milk and said with utmost sincerity, “Thank you very much.”

Jiang Yan: “…”

The morning reading bell rang once.

The class hygiene officer, Li Jiang, walked over to Group One with the duty roster in hand. “Hey, Xu Huanhuan — it’s your group’s turn on cleaning duty today. Assign tasks accordingly. Lin Tao has an injured arm, so she’s excused from duty for the time being.”

“Got it.” Xu Huanhuan took the roster from Li Jiang and scanned it. When she saw Jiang Yan’s name listed right after hers, the hand holding the roster gave a slight tremor.

Assign tasks?

Dare she assign tasks to him?

So the moment morning reading ended, Xu Huanhuan pulled Lin Tao aside, looking for rescue. “You know it’s our turn on cleaning duty today, right?”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Jiang Yan is on duty with us.” Xu Huanhuan leaned across Lin Tao’s desk. “So could you maybe help—”

“Help him do his chores?!” Lin Tao cut her off before she could finish. “Don’t even think about it. It’s not like he doesn’t have hands.”

Outside the window, Jiang Yan happened to hear the voices and glanced inside, puzzled.

“…” Sis, does your family know you’re this temperamental?

Xu Huanhuan looked like she was about to cry. “No, no — I’m asking you to help me assign Jiang Yan a task. We can’t all just sweep the classroom, and besides, your arm is hurt — Li Jiang already said you don’t have to do anything.”

“Fine, then just have him take out the trash.”

“Ah… is that okay?”

Lin Tao rubbed her temple. “Why wouldn’t it be? Everyone else gets assigned tasks, so does he. Don’t worry — I’ll tell him after school.”

Xu Huanhuan looked moved to tears.

At noon, those on cleaning duty had to stay behind to tidy the classroom. Remembering Xu Huanhuan’s request, Lin Tao went straight to Jiang Yan as soon as class ended.

“We’re both on duty today. You’re responsible for taking out the trash.”

Jiang Yan immediately laughed. “What? Cleaning duty? Have you ever seen me do cleaning duty at this school?”

“Not before, but I’m planning to change that today.” Lin Tao had been prepared for this — a great concession was being asked of him, after all. She’d already dug out a pair of disposable gloves she’d saved from a takeout order and held them out to him. “Here. In case you’re not used to it — I got these specially for you.”

“Hold on.” Jiang Yan leaned against the wall, a few soft strands of hair falling across his forehead. His dark eyes watched her, and he gave a short, dismissive laugh. “There are so many people on duty today. Why does it have to be me taking out the trash?”

“Because you’re the only one with nothing to do.”

Lin Tao wasn’t exaggerating. Out of the seven students on duty, Xu Huanhuan and her deskmate, plus Song Yuan and Hu Hanghang, had each taken charge of a section’s worth of cleaning.

The only other unoccupied person, Tao Jia, was at the blackboard erasing it.

That left just the two of them standing there with nothing to do.

Hmm?

Jiang Yan caught on. “You don’t have anything to do either.”

Lin Tao lifted her injured arm slightly. “I’m a casualty.”

“So am I — just that my cast came off a little early.”

Lin Tao looked at his drawn-out, evasive manner and delivered a cold remark: “Weakling.”

“…?” Jiang Yan genuinely laughed this time. He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, then let it go. “Seriously — I’m just taking out some trash, and you’re already making it a personal attack?”

“Right, it’s just taking out trash, and you’re still dragging your feet. Honestly, I can’t imagine what you’d ever manage to do without hesitating.”

“…” Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow and fixed her with a meaningful look. “I don’t know what else I might do without hesitating, but there’s definitely one thing I’d never drag my feet about.”

“?”

Jiang Yan curved his lips and crooked two fingers at her. Lin Tao cautiously shifted one step closer. He leaned in toward her, dark eyes looking straight into hers, seeing his own reflection in them.

All of a sudden, the crude joke that had been on the tip of his tongue simply wouldn’t come out. Saying something like that to her — it felt, in that moment, like some kind of transgression.

“Never mind, forget it.” Jiang Yan straightened up. His warm, dry hand ruffled her hair once. “Step aside — I’ll go take out the trash.”

Lin Tao didn’t register what had just happened until after Jiang Yan had already walked out of the classroom.

She’d just been ambushed with a head pat.

Damn it all.

She was going to knock him senseless.

Didn’t he know you can’t pat someone’s head or they won’t grow taller?

By the time all seven of them finished cleaning the classroom, it was already past noon. Xu Huanhuan and her deskmate decided to grab something quick at the canteen. Lin Tao had gone to the restroom and hadn’t returned yet.

Left alone with the four boys, Tao Jia asked cheerfully, “Where are you guys eating at noon? Come along with us.”

Xu Yichuan threw an arm around Hu Hanghang’s shoulder. “Sure — let’s just go to Uncle Chen’s place again. His cooking is really good.”

Tao Jia checked the time. “It’s almost twelve-thirty — we’d better head over now, or there might not be any seats left.”

“Right, right. Pangpang, pick up the pace.” Xu Yichuan gave Hu Hanghang a push. Song Yuan pressed in from the side, and Tao Jia fell a little behind.

After a couple of steps, she noticed Jiang Yan still hadn’t moved from where he was standing. She smiled and called back, “Jiang Yan, aren’t you coming?”

Xu Yichuan answered from up ahead: “Him? He’s waiting for his deskmate.”

At that, Jiang Yan raised his head. “Yeah. You guys go ahead — I’ll wait for her.”

Tao Jia nodded. “Alright, then hurry and catch up when you’re ready.”

Jiang Yan didn’t respond. Hu Hanghang called out for Tao Jia to pick up the pace, and she laughed and fell in step with the group. “You all seem pretty close with Lin Tao. Were you in the same class before?”

“No, we only ended up together this semester.”

“Then how did Jiang…” Tao Jia started to ask something else, but Hu Hanghang cut across her without thinking: “Song Yuan, give Uncle Chen a call. Otherwise we’ll really end up with no seats, and that’ll be awkward.”

“On it.”

And just like that, the conversation was dropped.

Tao Jia’s straight shoulders softened slightly. She pretended to glance back casually at the spot where they’d been standing, and the corners of her mouth curved just barely downward.