August, midsummer, the cicadas singing at their loudest.

Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui each received invitations to their high school’s centennial celebration, invited to attend as distinguished alumni of Tianhua High School.

The weather was very hot that day as Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui returned to Tianzhong.

At the school gates, students in green and white uniforms rode bicycles past them, ringing clear bicycle bells. On the basketball court, a group of boys in jerseys ran back and forth under the sun, their shadows stretching long.

It felt like they were instantly back in their high school days.

Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui walked side by side. He reached up to pluck a leaf from overhead, glanced at the students on the road still comparing answers, and raised an eyebrow:

“Summer classes too?”

Xu Sui laughed as she answered: “Tutoring. You forgot – we all went through this.”

“Tsk, how miserable.” The young master commented.

The school’s centennial celebration was held in the main auditorium. When Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui entered, performances were taking place on stage. Their homeroom teacher still looked the same, with his Mediterranean hairstyle, smiling like a Maitreya Buddha.

School leaders were also there. Zhou Jingze led Xu Sui over to exchange polite greetings.

The vice-principal immediately called out Zhou Jingze’s name accurately upon seeing him, but paused when noticing Xu Sui beside him, unable to recall her name.

Their homeroom teacher chimed in: “Her name is Xu Sui. She was the most well-behaved and quiet girl in our class. She scored second place in the college entrance exam, right behind Zhou Jingze!”

The vice-principal had a sudden realization and patted his head: “Look at my memory! I remember now. It’s because this kid was too conspicuous at school, always fighting and causing trouble – impossible to forget.”

Zhou Jingze casually tugged at the corner of his mouth without refuting.

“Fortunately, you turned out well and got on the right path,” the vice-principal turned toward the podium, smiling. “Why don’t you go up and say a few words? Share your success experiences with the underclassmen.”

Zhou Jingze put his hands in his pockets with a roguish stance, his tone lazy: “Better not. In high school, I just played games and dated. If you put me up there, wouldn’t that be misleading the youth?”

“You kid,” the vice-principal pointed at him helplessly, then turned to Xu Sui. “After the celebration ends, there’s a lecture. Xu Sui, you go up and share some college entrance exam preparation experiences with the students. It won’t be long, just twenty minutes.”

“Ah, okay.” Xu Sui nodded. She never knew how to refuse people.

The student lecture was in another building, the Civic Education Building. After Zhou Jingze chatted with several teachers, he left the auditorium.

The campus walkways were lined with lush trees, their branches blocking out the sky and sun, growing wildly. Sunlight leaked through the gaps in the leaves, creating dappled patterns on the ground. They walked one after the other, she in front, Zhou Jingze following behind.

Mainly because Xu Sui liked to stop and go, finding it novel to see that the school had renovated a patch of grass and changed to a green mailbox.

Zhou Jingze walked slowly behind with his hands in his pockets. Whether it was because he was dressed young today or because he was naturally devastating, he attracted many female students’ gazes while walking.

“That guy is so handsome, his back view is killer.”

“His face is great too, and his hands – wow, how come I haven’t seen his profile on the school forum?”

“Damn, seeing him suddenly makes those basketball guys look pathetic. This is the real deal.”

Soon, bold girls actively approached Zhou Jingze. Wearing obviously shortened skirts and form-fitting uniforms, a chestnut-haired curly girl called out to him: “Senior.”

Zhou Jingze paused, looked around seeing no one else, turned around pointing at himself with his thumb, finding it amusing: “Calling me?”

“Yes.” The girl stepped forward actively, pulling out her phone. Her blue cat-eye nails sparkled in the sunlight as she spoke sweetly: “Senior, can we add each other on WeChat? Be friends?”

Zhou Jingze lifted his eyelids to look at someone in the distance standing under the mailbox, obviously eavesdropping while pretending to look nonchalant. He smiled, lifted his chin, and spoke the most heartless words in a gentle tone with a lazy voice:

“Not really possible. Your senior already has a wife.”

Zhou Jingze pointed to Xu Sui in the distance, indicating his girlfriend was there. He then made sarcastic remarks with an arrogant tone:

“I just chatted with your academic affairs director. He said they’re strengthening phone confiscation efforts. Your phone—”

The girl’s face immediately changed. She quickly gripped her phone tightly and smiled awkwardly: “I remembered I still have test papers to pick up. I’ll go first, senior!”

The girls linked arms and scurried away from them. Zhou Jingze walked forward to take Xu Sui’s hand, but she laughingly dodged him, saying seriously:

“Please conduct yourself properly, senior.”

Zhou Jingze pushed his tongue against his left cheek, snorted with laughter, grabbed the back of her neck with his palm’s tiger’s mouth positioned there, and was about to deal with her when someone called out from not far away.

Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui turned back to see the school security guard. He was still there, having steadfastly guarded their Tianzhong for over ten years through wind and rain.

He walked over, shook out a cigarette from his pack to give to the security uncle, and began chatting with him. What Xu Sui admired was that Zhou Jingze was truly charismatic – he could even become friends with the school security guard.

Xu Sui gestured to Zhou Jingze, indicating she was going to give her speech at the Civic Education Building and would call him when finished. The man bit his cigarette and nodded after making eye contact with her.

At the Civic Education Building, Xu Sui had been giving speeches to thousands of people since college, so facing her underclassmen, she was even less nervous.

She stood on stage with composure, confidently and gracefully sharing college entrance exam preparation experiences. At the end, Xu Sui encouraged everyone present:

“Regarding what kind of person you want to become and what you want to do, just firmly work to achieve it.”

Thunderous applause erupted from below. Time really was a wonderful thing – you could no longer see any trace of that girl who walked with her head down, self-conscious and shy, in Xu Sui.

The speech ended quickly, followed by a free question session. A female student in the back row raised her hand high, but her face was blocked by male students.

Xu Sui called on the chestnut-haired girl to ask her question. When the girl stood up, she realized it was the same one who had asked Zhou Jingze for his number under the wutong tree earlier.

The chestnut-haired girl crossed her arms with teenage recklessness, loudly questioning with a domineering tone: “Senior, I heard you only scored second place in the college entrance exam. How can you share success experiences?”

The originally noisy lecture hall quieted down, the atmosphere tense. Xu Sui stood on the podium without anger, instead smiling with a serene expression:

“I did score second, but I caught the school’s first place.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the audience burst into fierce applause and screams. Someone shouted “Senior, amazing!” Because of Xu Sui’s words, the atmosphere among the boys and girls became excited, with people taking the opportunity to voice their thoughts: “Senior, now I have motivation to study for college!”

The atmosphere became heated. Someone asked: “Senior Xu, why did you want to go to medical school?”

Xu Sui thought seriously, thinking of a certain person as she unconsciously smiled: “Me? I went to medical school because of someone.”

After saying this, the atmosphere became even hotter. A proper lecture had turned into a gossip session, with people even banging test papers on desks to show their excitement.

In the midst of the commotion, as if telepathically connected, Xu Sui slowly looked up and saw Zhou Jingze lazily leaning against the back door with a casual posture. He was also looking at her, his gaze burning and intense.

Her heart stirred. Xu Sui ran down from the podium, jogging all the way to Zhou Jingze. Under shocked gazes and whistles, she crashed into the man’s arms.

And he, from beginning to end, extended his arms and steadily caught her, smiling as he held her tight.

After the lecture ended, Xu Sui and Zhou Jingze returned to visit their old classroom. It was still the familiar Class 1-3, still the light yellow, slightly paint-chipped desks, the mobile red flag hanging on the left side of the blackboard, white ceiling fans, green curtains, and summer.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, rustling test papers. Xu Sui walked to the podium, picked up chalk, and wrote on the blackboard stroke by stroke:

Class 1-3

Zhou Jingze Xu Sui

The two names nestled intimately together like a perfect combination.

She was no longer the Xu Sui who would secretly rejoice all day because someone had written their names in the same corner during cleaning duty. Now she boldly wrote both their names openly.

They left the classroom together and walked downstairs. Xu Sui looked at a mottled corner of the wall and remembered something, complaining softly: “Do you remember? Once during morning exercises, I was rushing upstairs with books, accidentally bumped into you, and even apologized. You were with a whole group of people, but you didn’t even look at me.”

At that time, her fantasy bubble burst, and Xu Sui felt incredibly disappointed.

This indeed sounded like something Zhou Jingze would do.

Zhou Jingze’s voice was low and light as he grabbed her arm, seeming to smile but not smile: “Don’t really remember. Demonstrate it for me to see?”

Perhaps it was because the weather was too hot that day, the atmosphere too good, or maybe the man in front of her was too handsome. Xu Sui looked up at him and was bewitched into agreeing to do this foolish thing.

Sunlight poured down from the window sill, cut into tiny spots of light falling on the stairs. Outside, tree shadows swayed, and the fragrance of camellia flowers drifted in with the wind.

Xu Sui looked down at the road, hurriedly running up the stairs. The man happened to be coming down. She tried hard to recall the scene from then – it should be this angle. She re-enacted bumping into Zhou Jingze and looked up seriously:

“At that time, I bumped into you, then my books fell, I apologized, and finally you brushed past me.”

After bumping into him, just as Xu Sui was lowering her head to retreat and pick up books, the man suddenly grabbed her firmly. Xu Sui stumbled and fell into a warm chest.

Zhou Jingze’s cool mint scent reached her. Xu Sui’s lips hit his protruding collarbone, her elbow pressed against his chest. She looked up in pain and crashed into a pair of deep, dark eyes.

The man smiled wildly and arrogantly, his breath warm, his low voice vibrating by her ear:

“Caught you, didn’t I?”

Before Xu Sui could react, a cool, beautiful engagement ring slowly slid onto her finger – unexpected yet incredibly heartwarming.

Her heart was about to jump out of her chest, even the blood under her skin was scalding hot.

Xu Sui looked seriously at the ring on her finger. The embedded diamond refracted dazzling light in the sunlight streaming in. She carefully noticed the initials of both their names engraved on the side: X&Z.

Zhou Jingze lowered his head to kiss her knuckles, his voice as clear and clean as a teenager’s, eyes locked on her as he smiled:

“Hello, Mrs. Zhou.”

Zhou Jingze was dressed very young today – a black hooded sweatshirt, his neck tall and strong, white sneakers showing a section of ankle, his figure trim and upright, high cheekbones, his eyes still clean, still that teenage appearance.

When he smiled, there was something a bit bad about it, roguish yet more reliable than anyone, and his tenderness was heart-stirring.

Xu Sui looked at him and slowly smiled.

I love your wild honesty, when you smile everything before my eyes brightens; I love your towering mountains, standing there, telling me this world is still good.

Time flashed back to summer 2007, during an extremely ordinary and hot break time. Many people swarmed up the stairs after morning exercises, arms brushing against arms in the humid summer where even sweat was sticky.

Boys and girls were drowsy from the sun. Someone pressed a bottle of mineral water against their face while climbing steps. Of course, there were also people chasing and playing around in the stairwell.

Others bought a box of iced watermelon from the small shop, eating it with a fork while going upstairs.

Xu Sui rushed upstairs holding a thick stack of books. At the corner, she inadvertently glanced up and saw a boy wearing a loose black T-shirt with a casual smile on his face, his well-defined hand resting on his trouser seam, the tattoo on the back of his hand bold and obvious.

He was going downstream with a group of people, talking and laughing among the crowd, his expression always composed.

Xu Sui’s heart tightened. She quickly averted her gaze and looked down as she climbed, her fingertips holding the books trembling, her body unconsciously tensing. Who knew an accident would happen the next second.

A boy playing around in the stairwell bumped into Xu Sui from behind. She lost control and crashed into the boy beside her. Her heart beat like drums. At that moment, she felt he was too thin, his bones a bit sharp, but the temperature from his shoulder was burning hot.

Books crashed down one after another onto the ground.

Xu Sui’s face flushed red to her ears, her voice weak as a mosquito: “Sorry.”

Whether it was because the break time was too noisy or the boy didn’t pay attention, his gaze didn’t linger on the girl for even a second. He continued laughing and talking with his companions, brushing past her.

Dim emotions swept through her heart. Xu Sui lowered her eyelashes and crouched down to silently pick up books.

The boy heard his companion complaining about not bringing a basketball and belatedly stopped, turning to glance at her.

The teenager looked back, sunlight bright behind him. He saw a girl in green and white school uniform with a ponytail, showing a beautiful profile as she crouched down picking up books. Her skin was milk-white, and at a glance, he spotted a small red mole on her round, tender earlobe.

His heart stirred.

The boy was about to step forward when a boy from the fourth floor shouted down, signaling him to come up and get the ball:

“Zhou Jingze! Hurry up.”

“Coming!”

In the bustling flow of people in the stairwell, the cicadas outside sang endlessly. The sun blazed like fire. A hem brushed past her arm, very lightly, like a passing breeze. The girl looked up to see a black figure running forward.

Summer is always passionate,

And so is the boy I love.