On Sunday, it was Fan Mengming’s birthday. Jiang Wang left the swimming pool, went home for dinner, and then prepared to go to the “Wild”—the location Fan Mengming had chosen.

He hadn’t trained for so long that his muscles and strength couldn’t keep up, so he had spent almost the entire weekend in the training room.

Actually, after truly deciding to start again, it wasn’t so bad. Even unsatisfactory training results weren’t that hard to accept.

After dinner, he first took a shower, having worked up a sweat during training.

Jiang Wang’s physique wasn’t like most boys his age who were thin and lanky. He had muscles with smooth, distinct lines and beautiful contours. Even after spending half a year in prison, his muscle definition was still visible.

After a day of high-intensity training, his entire body was sore. Only after a hot shower did he finally feel comfortable.

By nine in the evening, the “Wild” was already showing the nightlife of a big city. Before the midnight session, a beautiful, long-haired woman sat on the bar stage, holding a guitar and singing folk songs, her long hair draped over one shoulder.

Since joining the physics competition class, Jiang Wang hadn’t been to such entertainment venues for a long time.

For Fan Mengming’s birthday, he had invited almost all his former high school classmates. As soon as Jiang Wang stepped in, he stood up and waved: “Wang Bro! Over here!”

Sitting beside Fan Mengming was his girlfriend, whom he had fallen in love with at first sight and pursued for a month after entering university. She was tall, slender, and quite pretty.

Xu Ningqing sat in the corner with his phone. Jiang Wang sat down beside him.

He had no interest in such gatherings.

Xu Ningqing sent messages for a while before closing his phone and turning to ask: “I heard you’re back training with the team?”

Jiang Wang picked up the glass in front of him and took a drink: “Yeah.”

“Is your ear better?”

He rubbed his eyebrow: “No, I’ll train for a while first. There’s a selection later, we’ll see.”

Just as Xu Ningqing was about to say something else, a pair of black stilettos stopped in front of them. A beautiful woman stood before Jiang Wang, wearing a deep V-neck wine-red dress, with two sparkling long earrings hidden in her hair.

“Jiang Wang,” she spoke.

Xu Ningqing calmly raised an eyebrow, looking over at Fan Mengming, only to see him making exaggerated facial expressions.

“…”

Xu Ningqing patted Jiang Wang’s shoulder once, then got up and walked over to Fan Mengming, pointing at him.

“What’s going on here?”

Fan Mengming grinned like a dog: “Don’t you recognize this girl?”

“Who is she?” Xu Ningqing glanced at the woman again.

“She was in our grade. She pursued Wang Bro for a long time back then. What was her name… Su Qiong, the ballet dancer from the liberal arts class.”

“Ah.” Xu Ningqing vaguely remembered. “She’s become pretty. She didn’t look like this before.”

“Rare for you, Master Xu, to find someone pretty! So, do you think they have a chance?” Fan Mengming continued on his own. “Wang Bro has to stay in high school every day now, so we should find him a gorgeous, sexy beauty like her to ensure his remaining high school life doesn’t lose hope.”

As Fan Mengming spoke, he seemed to move himself to tears, dramatically wiping his eyes, sighing about what a good brother he was.

After watching his performance, Xu Ningqing said flatly: “Su Qiong is not his type.”

“Then what type does Wang Bro like? Isn’t this configuration enough?” Fan Mengming paused for two seconds, shocked. “Wait, you two discuss mate selection standards with each other? That’s too wild. I never thought… Ah!”

Before he could finish, Xu Ningqing raised his hand and slapped him on the head, took a drag of his cigarette, and said: “He has someone he likes, who doesn’t look like that.”

Fan Mengming was shocked: “Who?”

Xu Ningqing exhaled a breath of smoke and laughed: “My sister.”

“…” Fan Mengming was stunned for a good ten seconds before reacting. “That little girl? Wang Bro’s… new desk mate?”

Xu Ningqing glanced at him: “Yeah.”

“But isn’t Wang Bro being a lecher? He and your sister aren’t even in the same style.” Fan Mengming was utterly dumbfounded. “He’s corrupting an innocent little sister. Master Xu, how can you tolerate this?”

“Shi Niannian’s naturally a bit slow. Jiang Wang will have a hard time with her. Do I need to worry?”

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Su Qiong sat down next to Jiang Wang, smoothed her dress, and leaned close to his ear to ask: “Jiang Wang, do you remember me?”

The young man turned his head, giving her a casual glance: “Hmm?”

Which meant he had no impression of her.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t disappointed. Su Qiong had liked him for a long time, falling in love at first sight. She had tried every method to appear before him, both likable and annoying approaches, but he had never noticed her.

She also knew he was quite bad. Many people at school used to fear him, but she never thought he could stab someone with a knife and send them to the hospital.

It was quite frightening.

But even after the fear, she still liked him.

She took a small breath and said: “I’m Su Qiong, from the same grade as you originally, from the liberal arts class. I’ve gone out with you guys a few times.”

Jiang Wang made an “mm” sound to acknowledge he heard, with no further reaction.

Su Qiong looked at the lively crowd around them, then turned back: “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No,” he answered decisively.

Before Su Qiong could think of what to say next, she heard the person beside her laugh.

Her breath caught, and she looked over through the kaleidoscopic lights.

It wasn’t that she had never seen Jiang Wang laugh before.

Most of the time, he had a cold face, arrogant and aloof. Occasionally, when playing with Xu Ningqing and the others, he would smile, looking both roguish and bad, very attractive.

But this smile was different.

She couldn’t say exactly how it was different, and then she heard him say: “I have someone I like.”

Su Qiong was stunned.

In her imagination, she had never considered this possibility. She had never seen Jiang Wang show any sign of liking any girl, which might be why she had never given up all these years.

She had originally thought that Jiang Wang would say he had no girlfriend, and regardless of the possibility, she would confess to him one more time.

Jiang Wang leaned forward to pick up the glass in front of him, drank it all, then stood up, nodding at Fan Mengming: “I’m leaving first.”

Fan Mengming secretly glanced in Su Qiong’s direction: “So early?”

He turned and waved his hand backward: “I have class.”

Monday morning, the fourth period was chemistry lab. After lunch, Shi Niannian helped the chemistry teacher bring the experimental equipment back to the chemistry room.

At noon, the weather was quite nice, with warm sunshine.

Shi Niannian handed the experimental equipment to the supervising teacher in the chemistry room and came out, passing by the sports field and looking in.

The wind blew, and her footsteps paused as her gaze fell on Jiang Wang on the red plastic track.

He was running.

Shi Niannian stood in place for a while, then walked toward the field.

She stood at the edge of the track. Jiang Wang saw her and accelerated, running to stop in front of her.

Sweat slid down from his temple. He wore a white short-sleeved shirt, largely soaked with sweat, and stood before her, breathing heavily.

The heat radiated from him.

Shi Niannian felt uncomfortable and stepped back half a pace.

Jiang Wang raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, bent down to look into her eyes: “Were you looking for me?”

“Mm.” Shi Niannian’s fingertip pointed at the field. “What are you… doing?”

“Running.”

Shi Niannian didn’t understand: “Why?”

Jiang Wang crouched down in front of her, his index finger hooking her little finger, let out a breath, and said: “I’m going to start swimming again.”

Shi Niannian’s eyes brightened: “That’s… great.”

Jiang Wang smiled and asked: “What are you doing here?”

“Returning chemistry equipment.”

He took out his phone to check the time. There were still ten minutes before the noon self-study began. He handed her his school uniform jacket that had been thrown aside: “Will you stay here with me?”

Shi Niannian was slightly startled and quickly shook her head: “I need to go… back.”

Jiang Wang didn’t force her. He stood up and patted her head: “Go back then.”

His palm rested on Shi Niannian’s head. She imperceptibly shrank her neck slightly and looked up at him.

The young man lowered his eyes, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, containing a bit of scattered tenderness and his usual lazy, roguish air. He gently rubbed her hair.

His knuckles were distinct and bony.

Today, he didn’t smell of cigarettes but rather the fresh, pleasant scent of soap from his clothes.

Shi Niannian, somewhat bewildered, let him rub her hair, looking up at him in a daze. After a while, she lowered her gaze to look at her toes.

Finally, she silently clutched the hem of her school uniform and turned to walk toward the teaching building.

…

As soon as she came in, Jiang Ling asked: “Niannian, why were you gone for so long?”

“…Ah.” She came back to her senses. “What?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Jiang Ling looked at her strangely, reaching out to feel her forehead. “You’re not having a fever again, are you? Do you feel unwell?”

“I don’t have a fever.”

“It doesn’t seem too hot.” Jiang Ling withdrew her hand and felt her forehead, comparing the temperatures. “Then why is your face so red?”

Shi Niannian lay on the desk, her chin resting on the back of her hand: “Jiang Ling.”

“Hmm?”

She said slowly: “My heart is… beating so fast.”

“Did you run here, or are you feeling unwell somewhere?” Jiang Ling looked at her with increasing concern. “Niannian, you don’t have a heart problem, do you?!”

“No, don’t… worry.”

She buried her face in the crook of her arm somewhat dejectedly, shaking her head very slightly twice.

The autumn noon self-study period wasn’t as sleepy as winter or summer. With midterm exams approaching, homework was increasing, and everyone started writing diligently after sleeping for just a short while.

Shi Niannian also had to prepare for the upcoming physics competition, making her time even tighter.

While doing homework, her other hand rested vaguely over her heart.

The first class in the afternoon was Liu Guoqi’s English class. As soon as he entered the classroom, he played an extremely noisy rock song in English, driving away everyone’s drowsiness.

“Everyone, get ready, we’re about to start class. Those who are awake, take out your test papers. Those who aren’t, go wash your face with cold water!” He clapped his hands. “Quick, quick, everyone move!”

Below was a chorus of painful wailing.

Struggling to get up from their seats to go to the bathroom and wash their faces, Jiang Wang entered the classroom with the group returning from washing their faces.

He had changed out of the sweat-soaked short-sleeved shirt from his run earlier and showed no signs of being out of breath or flushed, giving no indication that he had just run so many laps.

As was his custom, Liu Guoqi started class early, speaking passionately from the podium.

“For this test’s listening section, each of you got an average of three questions wrong! Some students even got more than half wrong! Tell me, what were you listening to?!”

He played the listening section again, stopping after each sentence to have someone stand up and translate it.

The last sentence was a bit difficult. He scanned the classroom, pointed his hand: “Come on, Jiang Wang, you translate this one!”

He didn’t forget to add a sarcastic remark: “You weren’t late today.”

Jiang Wang translated it quite easily.

“Alright, very good,” Liu Guoqi nodded. “Sit down.”

As Jiang Wang sat down, he let out a very soft groan, his hand covering his stomach in pain.

Shi Niannian heard the sound and turned to look, her gaze resting on his hand covering his stomach for two seconds. She remembered that not long ago, Jiang Ling had a stomachache, and she had helped buy medicine. There was still a packet of diarrhea medicine in her drawer.

“Is your stomach… hurting?” she asked.

Jiang Wang pressed the base of his palm against his lower abdomen and made an “mm” sound.

Shi Niannian took out the medicine box and handed it to him: “Do you want some?”

Jiang Wang glanced at the words on the medicine box: “It’s not that kind of stomach pain.”

“Then what is it?”

“This is—” Jiang Wang glanced in Liu Guoqi’s direction, leaned closer, and said mischievously, drawing out his words, “muscle pain.”

With the intensity of his training these days, his muscles were indeed sore.

Shi Niannian was stunned, her gaze uncontrollably falling on the place beneath his hand.

Jiang Wang leaned back against the chair, tugged at his collar, his eyes lowered, looking both roguish and bad. When he looked at Shi Niannian, there was a mischievous smile in his dark eyes.

His fingertip traced from the center of his abdomen downward along his muscle lines.

His fingertips and wrists were pale and bony, pressing against the thin fabric of his clothes, revealing the contours beneath.

He asked with an ambiguous smile: “Want to see?”

Shi Niannian looked at him in disbelief, hardly able to believe someone could be so shameless and unabashed.

Before she could say anything, before she could feel embarrassed or shy, Liu Guoqi on the podium had already thrown his book down with a “smack.”

Glaring at Jiang Wang: “Come on, Jiang Wang, don’t be so stingy, showing only your desk mate! Do you want to come up and show everyone your abs?!”