When Jiang Yan first left for the training camp, Lin Tao found herself feeling a little out of sorts for the first few days. A life shared between two people had suddenly become a life for one.
During the day, attending class, she would glance at the empty desk beside her. At night, returning to the internet café, she would stare at the tightly closed door across the hall. A nameless loneliness and desolation crept over her.
She even found herself missing the days when Jiang Yan used to tutor her — those very sessions she had once desperately tried to escape. Compared to the solitary figure she was now, those tutoring sessions she’d resented so fiercely didn’t seem all that unbearable after all.
And so a week passed.
On the weekend, Lin Tao was dragged by Meng Xin to the library in the city center to buy study materials.
After entering their third year of high school, Meng Xin had completely shed her former carefree attitude toward academics, becoming earnest and meticulous. In the last several monthly exams, she had steadily held a place in the top ten of the year group’s rankings.
Meng Xin had no particularly standout subject, but no particularly weak ones either — all six subjects were in a relatively stable state.
Back in their second year, her heart hadn’t been in her studies, so her exam scores would always hover right on the edge of the top hundred in the year group.
Never going up, never slipping down.
Now that she had reined in her playful impulses, her grades were naturally and steadily improving.
Lin Tao, on the other hand, had been quite unstable across the monthly exams — swinging high and low — and at her worst had slipped out of the top twenty in the year group.
Teacher Yu had privately sought her out several times over this, asking in a roundabout way whether something had come up in other areas of her life.
Those “other areas,” naturally, had to do with Jiang Yan.
Lin Tao mentioned this to Meng Xin.
“Your Teacher Yu is genuinely wonderful.” The weekend library was still crowded. Meng Xin and Lin Tao wandered through the reference section — this wasn’t the quiet zone, so talking wouldn’t disturb anyone.
Meng Xin picked up a chemistry encyclopedia, flipped through it casually. “If it were our Teacher Yang, he’d definitely have broken you two up on the spot.”
Hearing that, Lin Tao gave a soft sigh. “Honestly, Teacher Yu really is great — he just tends to overthink things. Every time he calls me in for a talk, the very first thing he asks is how things are going between me and Jiang Yan.”
“It makes me feel less like I’m seeing my homeroom teacher and more like I’m meeting a parent.”
Meng Xin couldn’t help laughing. She set down the reference book, somewhere between surprised and unsurprised. “When you think about it, it makes sense — by all historical precedent, the first problem that crops up with student relationships is falling grades. Your grades have been so unstable lately; of course Teacher Yu worries there might be trouble between you and Jiang Yan.”
Lin Tao shrugged helplessly.
Meng Xin smiled and continued, “After all, in Teacher Yu’s eyes, Jiang Yan is someone with a shot at the top exam score in the province, and you’re someone with a shot at getting into Qing University — both of you matter enormously to him. Of course he’s going to pay close attention.”
“I know he cares about us.” Lin Tao leaned against the nearby bookshelf. “But Jiang Yan might not be taking the college entrance exam.”
“Huh?” Meng Xin quickly caught on. “He’s planning to go through the guaranteed-admission route?”
Lin Tao nodded. “Most likely. He and Guan Che both plan to go the guaranteed-admission-to-Qing-University route. If Jiang Yan does well enough in this competition to place, the guaranteed admission should be settled.”
Meng Xin clicked her tongue softly, marveling, “The world of academic prodigies — we ordinary mortals simply cannot fathom it.”
“What about you?” Lin Tao looked at her. “Have you decided where you want to apply?”
Lin Tao and Meng Xin had known each other for years, from middle school all the way through high school, always at the same school, never separated.
But now they were facing the college entrance exam.
A single point difference could mean the distance of an entire city.
This was the most immediate, most real problem before them.
“Me?” Meng Xin thought for a moment. “Teacher Yang wants me to aim for Qing University, but I don’t want to go there — I want to study medicine. I’ll probably aim for Capital Medical University.”
Lin Tao genuinely hadn’t considered that Meng Xin might go into medicine.
“And I looked it up on the map — Medical University and Qing University aren’t that far apart.” Having said that, Meng Xin casually asked in return, “What about you? Have you decided what you want to study?”
Lin Tao shook her head and sighed. “Haven’t decided yet.”
“Then how about studying medicine with me?” Meng Xin said with a smile.
Lin Tao stared at her with an expressionless face. “Persuading people to study medicine — may lightning strike you down.”
“……”
The two weeks of training camp were neither particularly long nor particularly short. When the final day came, Jiang Yan still had the feeling that yesterday was only when they’d first arrived.
As was customary, on the last day of the training camp, all the teachers and students in attendance gathered for a meal together — a small farewell banquet of sorts.
Jiang Yan sat at a table with the five other boys from his dormitory, plus four girls from the same class.
During the training camp, everyone had surrendered their phones and anything unrelated to the program to the residential supervisors. Just before the meal, everyone had gotten their phones back.
The table immediately buzzed with the sound of people adding friends and exchanging contact information.
Jiang Yan first added the five boys from his dormitory on WeChat.
The dormitory was a six-person room. When they’d first arrived, their phones had been collected downstairs before they even reached the room, so the six of them had only briefly exchanged names and schools.
Other than Jiang Yan, who was from Tenth Middle School, three of the other five were from Seventh Middle School, one was from Fifth Middle School, and one was from First Middle School.
Friendships between boys are easy to build.
After adding friends, the boy from Fifth Middle School slung an arm around Jiang Yan’s shoulder. “Honestly, Jiang Yan, you’re the best-looking academic genius I’ve ever seen.”
Jiang Yan leaned back against his chair, his smile faint. “Don’t. I’m not into guys.”
“Get lost, neither am I!”
The Fifth Middle School boy’s name was Yu Hanghang — just one character different from Hu Hanghang — and perhaps in unfamiliar surroundings people are more easily drawn to what feels familiar. So among the five, Jiang Yan had grown closest to him, the two of them talking freely about whatever was on their minds.
The atmosphere at the table soon grew lively.
The four girls, who had been somewhat reserved at first, gradually opened up as well.
The five boys took the initiative to exchange contact information with the girls. Yu Hanghang kicked Jiang Yan under the table — Jiang Yan hadn’t made a move. “Hey, man, aren’t you going to add them?”
“No,” Jiang Yan said. “My girlfriend keeps a strict eye on me.”
“……Damn.” Yu Hanghang couldn’t help venting. “Once I get back, I absolutely have to find a chance to meet whatever kind of girl could bring a god like you to heel.”
“……”
Everyone who had been selected for this training camp had a certain level of skill and ability — so everyone was on equal footing, no one looking down on anyone else.
But on the very first day of the training camp, Jiang Yan had shattered this group’s newly formed definition of what a top student looked like.
Yu Hanghang still remembered: it was Coach Guo Wen’s class.
Some people might not know who Guo Wen was, but to this particular group, he was a name everyone knew well.
Guo Wen — admitted to Qing University’s youth gifted program at thirteen, later joined the national team, and led his team to win countless awards. The various records he set during his competitive years remained unbroken to this day. At thirty, he became head coach of the national team. Every single student he had trained went on to win prizes. This year, however, Guo Wen had temporarily stepped back from the front lines due to health issues.
No one had expected Guo Wen to come train them in person, so when they saw him in the classroom, the whole group was stunned.
Guo Wen was Yu Hanghang’s idol and the goal he had always striven toward. On the spot, he grabbed Jiang Yan’s arm, trembling with excitement, and said, “Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap — man, pinch me, is this real? Is this Coach Guo — alive and in the flesh?”
Jiang Yan pulled his sleeve free from the other boy’s grip. “Alive? What’s the alternative — dead?”
“……”
In the midst of everyone’s shock, Guo Wen had already introduced himself, and people slowly recovered from their initial disbelief.
The very first class was a test.
Every question had been set by Guo Wen himself. The difficulty was nothing short of deranged. Yu Hanghang still remembered that when papers were handed in, more than half the class had left the last question — about gravity — completely blank.
So he hadn’t thought much of it, figuring everyone was probably around the same level.
The scores came out that same evening.
Ninety percent had passed, but the rate of high scores was low — only forty percent of students had scored eighty-five or above.
What was astonishing, however, was that among that forty percent of high scorers, there was one perfect score.
That person was Jiang Yan.
Among all thirty-five students present, he was the only one who had solved the final question — and he’d done so using two different methods.
Yu Hanghang thought it was unbelievably cool.
After class he’d even joked with Jiang Yan, saying he was now his second idol.
“I thought at first this guy was one of those low-key, water-hiding types — seemed pretty ordinary at first glance.” Yu Hanghang paused, his gaze landing on Jiang Yan’s handsome face. “Okay, fine, the face isn’t that ordinary either.”
“……”
“Anyway, when I first arrived, I figured guys who were good-looking were all just pretty packaging with no real substance. My brother here has not only redefined my idea of an academic genius, he’s also completely redefined my idea of what good-looking people can be.”
“Jiang Yan, I salute you.” Yu Hanghang raised his glass of fruit juice. “May you charge into the upcoming competition and claim first place!”
“Thanks.” Jiang Yan clinked his glass against the rim of Yu Hanghang’s cup, his voice low and steady. “Study hard. See you at Qing University.”
Hearing that, Yu Hanghang set down his cup and wrapped himself around one of Jiang Yan’s arms, pressing his head against his shoulder. “Waaaaah…… Jiang Yan, I don’t want to let you go. After we get back, there’ll be no one left to shake my bed and wake me up, no one left to guide me — man, I’m really going to miss you!”
“……”
Regardless, all gatherings under heaven must eventually come to an end — farewells, when they come, simply come.
After the meal, all the students returned to the dormitory to pack, preparing for the journey home. The coach buses arranged by the school were already waiting at the school gates.
Just before departure, Yu Hanghang caught Jiang Yan and insisted he sign his exam paper. “This is the only perfect score I got here at the whole training camp. Man, sign it for me — give it your blessing.”
“……” Jiang Yan smiled helplessly and had no choice but to uncap a pen and sign his name in the blank space Yu Hanghang indicated. “There you go.”
“Perfect, perfect.” Yu Hanghang solemnly tucked the exam paper away in his bag, then stuffed a notebook into Jiang Yan’s hands. “I’m off, brother.”
Jiang Yan took the notebook, looked up, and waved goodbye.
The young man’s figure gradually receded into the distance. Jiang Yan boarded the bus home.
On the bus, Jiang Yan received a WeChat message from Yu Hanghang:
Yu Hanghang: Hey man, that notebook is for your girlfriend — I figure she’ll probably need it.
Yu Hanghang: No thanks necessary, and don’t fall for me either. There’s no future in it.
Jiang Yan: “……”
Winter evenings always arrive early. It was barely past six, and the sky had already gone completely dark, a biting wind cutting through the alleyway.
Jiang Yan hadn’t told Lin Tao he was coming back. But Guan Che had roughly estimated the timing and sent him a message asking how things stood:
Guan Che: Training camp must be over by now? When are you getting back — want my dad to come pick you up?
By the time Jiang Yan saw this message, he was already at the internet café door. He didn’t reply, just pocketed his phone and pushed the door open to walk in.
Guan Che looked up and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Back already? My dad was just saying he’d go pick you up.”
“The school arranged a car.” Jiang Yan set his suitcase against the wall in the corner, hung his jacket on the chair, and asked casually, “How’s it been?”
“How’s what been?” Guan Che laughed, playing dumb. “Are you asking how I’ve been, or how the internet café’s been?”
Jiang Yan looked at him without expression. “I’m asking about my girlfriend.”