Song Cong brought the monthly exam rankings into the classroom after morning self-study. “Results are out, I’ll leave them on the podium for everyone to check.”

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone rushed forward, instantly surrounding the podium. Someone who finished looking and checked their results announced to their deskmate, “You’re seventeen in class, three hundred and six in the grade.”

This announcement set a benchmark, and those still sitting couldn’t stay still. The front of the classroom became a beehive.

Song Cong struggled to squeeze out of the crowded area, but there was constant chatter about him in that zone – Song Cong got first in the grade again, what would the Olympic class think, he’s broken the tradition at Tian Zhong.

Back at his seat, he nudged Jing Xichi who was resting with his eyes closed, “Your new phone is coming.”

Mrs. Jing had promised to spend big money on a new phone if his average ranking stayed in the bottom ten this semester.

Jing Xichi sat up straight, eyes shining, “What’s my rank?”

“Are the results out?” Huan’er entered through the back door arm in arm with Qi Qi, about to rush to the podium when Song Cong stopped them, “You’re twenty-fifth in class, five hundred sixty-three in the grade.”

Chen Huan’er was overjoyed, “My ancestors must be blessing me!”

In a class of fifty, this was a quantum leap for a school-choice student.

“Me, me!” Jing Xichi shook Song Cong’s arm, whining.

Song Cong smiled at Huan’er, answering casually, “You’re thirty-first, seven hundred twenty in the grade.”

Jing Xichi hugged him tightly, “Old Song, I love you!”

Song Cong pushed him away with disgust.

Seeing these two performing above expectations, Qi Qi asked both nervously and expectantly, “What about me?”

“Not so good, thirty-ninth in class, and for the grade…” Song Cong scratched his head, “Sorry, I forgot.”

He said he forgot.

“It’s fine,” Qi Qi smiled, “I’ll check myself.”

Squeezing into the crowd, finding her name, and scanning from single subject rankings to the final grade ranking, Qi Qi suddenly broke into tears.

Can’t let it show. The girl pretended to yawn, using the opportunity to rub her eyes.

It just hurt too much, an indescribable pain.

The terrible exam results hurt, but the response she received hurt even more.

This was Song Cong – the one who could memorize classical poems others had to study hard for after just two readings, who had all the math and science formulas printed in his mind, who could write out answers on scratch paper for any problem thrown at him – how could he forget? He remembered Huan’er and Jing Xichi’s exact rankings, and the only explanation that made sense was that he simply hadn’t paid attention to hers.

Qi Qi had always believed that the four of them were closer to each other than to other classmates and equally close among themselves. But at this moment she felt stung – in the heart of the person she cared about most, she was completely different from the other two.

Looking over from the podium, Song Cong was showing something on his phone, the three heads huddled together, followed by bursts of laughter.

Like suddenly losing balance on a beam, Qi Qi felt herself being strongly pulled by a thought – Jing Xichi was one thing, but what about Huan’er? She was a latecomer from some small place, just because she was lucky enough to live in the staff housing complex, she could naturally stand by his side.

She took a deep breath, hanging her head as she returned to her seat.

Seeing this, Huan’er made a “shh” gesture to the two boys before turning to approach, gently patting her back.

A mosquito-like comforting voice came to her ear, “It’s okay, think about how you studied before, this little setback just means the whip wasn’t tight enough.”

Qi Qi lay on her desk, burying her head in her arms.

“Didn’t you always encourage me that there’s still time? Doesn’t work on yourself?”

“Come on, this is just the beginning,”

“Don’t feel bad, we’ll work on what we’re missing, and at lunch, we’ll make Jing Xichi buy you chicken wings.”

Qi Qi couldn’t help but laugh, lifting her head, “Eat until we soar?”

“Got to show some determination, right?” Seeing her friend’s mood improve, Huan’er asked seriously, “Is it still physics and chemistry dragging you down?”

“Mm,” Qi Qi nodded, “I still need to take tutoring classes.”

“Do it! Go to the best class, even if it costs thirty thousand.”

Qi Qi was amused again but immediately felt ashamed of her earlier dark thoughts. Huan’er, completely unaware, treated her as a true friend – how could she think of her that way?

She was angry at herself for her petty jealousy.

Jing Xichi stuck his head over from the back row, “It’s just one monthly exam, why so serious?”

Finding a target for her anger, Qi Qi let it all out, “What did you do to deserve this? Why are even you better than me?”

She knew she was venting, but besides him, whom she’d known the longest, no one else could handle her unnamed anger.

Sure enough, Jing Xichi snorted dismissively, “I didn’t do anything, but I got it right. What’s it to you?”

“Ugh, you’re annoying.” Qi Qi pushed him away and started working on her practice problems.

A young girl’s troubles are like a fierce wind, like a tsunami, like the most violent and cruel disasters in the world, arriving without warning, releasing their force indiscriminately, leaving only wreckage before silently departing. Only when looking back many years later does one realize that those earth-shattering moments were just memories in the long river of time – some deeper, some shallower, some completely forgotten.

After starting tutoring, Qi Qi’s grades improved, and she even achieved a perfect score in composition – in talent-filled Tian Zhong, this was worth celebrating with gongs and drums. She had long forgotten that small episode, still walking home with the four of them after school, though she would turn onto another road before them. Sometimes she could still hear Jing Xichi and Huan’er’s bickering voices from far away, their quarrels and laughter remaining in the night. Qi Qi thought, if only it could stay like this forever.

Jing Xichi ultimately missed out on the new phone.

“Missed out” was an overstatement – he couldn’t even get close to a phone case.

Monthly exams, midterms, finals – Mrs. Jing even included next semester’s first monthly exam as encouragement, but as winter turned to spring, he had become a complete Jing Zhongyong, never escaping the bottom ten in class.

Huan’er’s ranking stabilized in the middle of the class, becoming one of the ordinary masses who neither drew criticism nor earned praise. Everyone around her was satisfied with this – her grandparents were told these grades could get her into university (though they couldn’t tell the difference between first-tier and second-tier schools), her parents thought this standing was quite good in the competitive Tian Zhong, and even the aunts and uncles in the complex said Huan’er had surpassed other children in such a short time. In the end, in everyone’s eyes, Chen Huan’er’s point of comparison wasn’t her current peers, but rather the girl who would still be attending Si Shui High School if she hadn’t transferred.

Compared to that other possibility, she was indeed doing much better.

One day after mooching dinner at the Jing household, Mrs. Jing suggested she “tutor” Jing Xichi – with Song Cong absent, the relatively advanced student should take responsibility for the struggling one. Huan’er had no choice but to start examining his monthly exam papers.

As soon as the door closed, Jing Xichi showed his true colors, “That’s enough, it’s getting late and I still have to walk you home.”

Huan’er ignored him, spreading out the papers on the bed to examine subject by subject.

The boy pouted, pulled over a chair, and casually put on his headphones to watch training videos.

The humanities subjects weren’t much of an issue – just some historical dates not memorized, politics completely unreviewed, and subjective questions filled with random copying from multiple-choice questions. But the science problems were mostly blank, which didn’t seem like much at first glance, but careful examination revealed the issue.

For the same concepts, he could get multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions correct but left comprehensive problems blank even when they just involved different numbers or wording. This pattern repeated across math, physics, and chemistry. Chen Huan’er couldn’t believe he was too stupid to see what was being tested.

She got up from the bed to check the bottom shelf – Jing Xichi was too lazy to organize, all the test papers piled in one place. She knew this room’s layout better than its occupant.

After some rummaging, she found last semester’s final exam papers. Checking against this pattern, sure enough.

It was as if… he was deliberately avoiding high scores.

His grades were already poor enough, and with Mrs. Jing dangling the new phone as bait, had he kicked his head like a ball until it went flat?

Chen Huan’er couldn’t figure out the reason. Sitting on the bed, she kicked his chair repeatedly. When he reluctantly turned around, she threw the monthly exam paper at him, “Why are you deliberately doing poorly?”

Jing Xichi took off his headphones, “What?”

She switched to a more assertive tone, “You’re deliberately not answering questions properly.”

The boy was clearly startled, but quickly resumed his slacker attitude, “Get out of here, don’t blame me because you can’t tutor.”

Huan’er was certain now, pointing at the paper as evidence, “Here, you could solve such difficult fill-in-the-blank questions, but left identical problems blank? And in chemistry, you wrote out all the equations in the front, why not write them when just the numbers changed?”

“Couldn’t do it.”

“Nonsense.” Huan’er pulled out the final exam paper, “You’ve been doing this since last semester. If you won’t tell me, I’ll take these papers straight to your parents and explain it to them.”

Jing Xichi never expected she would dig up the previous papers, snatch them, and roughly stuff them under the bookshelf, “I just got lucky, made it up randomly.”

“Won’t talk, huh?” Huan’er raised her head to leave.

Mr. and Mrs. Jing were both in the living room – one door away and the situation would escalate.

“Hey.” Jing Xichi quickly grabbed her arm, looking resigned, “How do I explain this?”

Huan’er crossed her arms like a little teacher, looking him up and down, “Do you know exactly how many points you’ll get right after the exam?”

“How could I be that amazing?” Jing Xichi frowned, “You think I’m omniscient?”

“Talk.”

“Well…” The boy let go of her arm, “I just… didn’t want to score better than Qi Qi.”

He finished speaking and turned his head away, avoiding looking at the person in front of him.

Huan’er remembered now, that Qi Qi had indeed yelled at him “Why are even you better than me?”

But, just because of that one sentence?

She wanted to understand clearly but also felt that Jing Xichi had already given her the answer.

“Don’t let Qi Qi know. No, don’t tell anyone.”

Huan’er hesitated her mind in chaos.

Though she couldn’t explain why it was chaotic, it felt like helping him was doing something bad behind his parents’ backs, yet also seemed wrong to stop him, and also like… her slow brain received a sudden blow, as if something was beginning to be revealed.

“Help me out, I’ll owe you one.”

He said it again that way, one debt paid then another owed, like pi – endless.

Huan’er looked at him and nodded, “Okay.”

Jing Xichi had indeed given her the answer.