The physics competition was divided into two parts: the test and the experiment. On Saturday, they would take the test first, then on Sunday morning, they would experiment, and afterward would all take the bus back to school together.

Several buses were already parked outside the competition site, carrying students from various schools who had come to participate in the physics competition.

The dormitory arrangements had already been posted on the bulletin board at the entrance. There were eight people per room. First High School’s competition class had far fewer girls than boys, with only seven girls who were assigned to the same room, along with one girl from Second High School.

Everyone went to their dormitories first to drop off their things.

Huang Yao and Shi Niannian shared a bunk bed.

A girl noticed the black backpack in Shi Niannian’s hand and asked with a smile, “Niannian, is this backpack Jiang Wang’s?”

“Mmm.”

The backpack was full of snacks. Jiang Wang had said he didn’t like eating snacks and told her to take it back. It was quite heavy.

“Having a boyfriend is so nice, feeding you right on schedule. I’m so envious of you, having a boyfriend like Jiang Wang,” the girl said.

Many people at school thought they were already together.

“Ah, no, he’s not… my boyfriend,” Shi Niannian explained softly, putting the backpack on the upper bunk.

“Really?” The girl didn’t quite believe it.

“Mmm.”

“Then that means Jiang Wang is still pursuing you! I thought you had already accepted him.”

These words were too burning to hear. Shi Niannian didn’t know how to answer, but fortunately, Huang Yao called her from the other side just then: “Niannian, did you bring any sanitary pads? I suddenly got my period.”

She had a miserable expression, very worried that it would affect her and that she might not perform well in the upcoming test.

“I did,” she took one from her backpack compartment that she had brought as a backup and gave it to her, then asked, “Does your stomach… hurt?”

“No, thankfully, it doesn’t hurt. I’ve never had menstrual cramps before, otherwise, this competition would be over for me.” Huang Yao quickly spoke and then ran to the bathroom.

The test was in the afternoon. Shi Niannian spent some time arranging her bedding. Her aunt had even given her a small hot water bottle, palm-sized. She filled it with hot water, held it in her left palm, and sat on a stool to the side, earnestly reading her book.

Taking a test at a base like this made her quite nervous.

When she got a bit tired of reading, she caught sight of a light brown strand of hair hanging in front of her chest. She pulled it off and wrapped it around her finger, twirling it.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted in the corridor outside, very abrupt in the quiet environment.

Someone peeked out to see.

“Who is it?”

“The people from Second High School are here.”

“Second High School… right, isn’t there supposed to be a girl from Second High School staying in our room too?”

“Yes, such bad luck, not even able to stay with people from their school.”

Just as those words were spoken, a girl carrying a rose-gold small suitcase stood at the door, smiling and confidently greeting them: “Hello everyone, I’m Sheng Jianwan from Second High School. I’ll be sharing a room with you all!”

The girl was very beautiful with a cheerful and likable personality.

Everyone welcomed her warmly and helped her bring her things to the one empty bed.

“Why did you bring so many things?”

Sheng Jianwan was wearing a small jacket styled like a suit with leggings and a pleated skirt underneath. She kicked her small suitcase lightly and answered with a smile, “Winter clothes are thick, and I’m quite vain, so just packing casually resulted in this much stuff.”

After lunch, Sheng Jianwan came in carrying two bags with eight cups of milk tea.

“Here, I’m treating everyone to milk tea. In just two hours we’ll be taking the test, so let’s relax with something sweet.”

“Wow, I was thinking of buying some just now, but the delivery fee to this place was more expensive than the milk tea itself, so I didn’t buy any.”

Sheng Jianwan seemed to have found a kindred spirit and excitedly said, “Right! The delivery fee is super expensive! So I simply bought eight cups.”

She took out a cup and handed it to Shi Niannian.

Shi Niannian smiled at her, “Thank you.”

The boys’ dormitory building was on the other side. When Jiang Wang walked out, the surroundings were empty with hardly anyone around. After restarting swimming, he had to quit smoking, but sometimes he couldn’t resist taking a few puffs.

He would take just two puffs from a cigarette before throwing it away.

He took out a cigarette pack from his pocket, half-cupping it with one hand to light it, took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

December weather was quite cold. He was wearing only a thin hoodie with the collar open, exposing his collarbone, allowing the wind to blow in.

After taking two puffs, he extinguished the cigarette on top of a trash can.

The sound of a group of girls came from not far away.

“That boy is so handsome! Hey, hey! He’s looking over here!!”

“Isn’t that Jiang Wang from First High School? The school heartthrob! Their school’s forum is full of his photos!”

“Hey, Jianwan! Where are you going?”

Sheng Jianwan didn’t look back, just raised her right hand and made a shooting gesture toward those behind her.

She had put on light makeup, with blush diffusing on her cheeks and thick, curled eyelashes. She walked over confidently and leisurely, looking incredibly beautiful.

“Niannian, is that Jiang Wang with that girl from Second High School who’s in our room?”

Huang Yao and Shi Niannian were standing by the window in the corridor of the girls’ dormitory, and looking outside they could see the two people by the flower bed.

She didn’t say anything, just silently watched them.

Sheng Jianwan was talking to Jiang Wang, not at all shy, with a gentle and playful smile on her face. She was indeed a very likable girl, even Shi Niannian thought so.

Shi Niannian tightened her grip on the books in her arms and said to Huang Yao, “Let’s go, the test… is starting.”

There was still some time before the test, but some people were already in the exam room. Shi Niannian found her seat and sat down, studying for another ten minutes or so before going out to get some water.

When she returned to the exam room, she happened to meet Jiang Wang walking in from outside.

“Why didn’t you reply to my message?” Jiang Wang asked.

Shi Niannian asked, “When?”

“Just now, not long ago.”

“My phone is… in the dormitory.”

Jiang Wang had his hands in his pockets and suddenly felt something. While standing by the flower bed smoking earlier, he had casually picked a flower and somehow put it in his pocket.

A small pink flower.

Holding the stem in his palm, he stepped forward, raised his hand, and tucked the flower behind Shi Niannian’s ear, also tucking her hair behind her ear.

“What are you… doing?” Shi Niannian felt embarrassed and raised her hand to take the flower from behind her ear.

Jiang Wang didn’t stop her, watching as she took the flower back and held it in her palm. He pinched her hand and said, “Good luck with the test.”

The test lasted more than three hours, and all the difficult problems were included. A single exam like this would kill countless brain cells.

Shi Niannian was also a bit tired from the test. The food in the cafeteria here was terrible, and no one ate much. Later, all eight people in the dormitory ordered some stir-fry takeout together.

After eating, she went to wash her hair and take a shower.

The test had made her a bit dizzy. Tomorrow, there was still the experimental competition, and there wasn’t much preparation to be done for the randomly assigned experiment topics, so she went to bed early.

The dormitory became relaxed, with everyone chatting.

The topics among the girls were the usual ones, especially with Sheng Jianwan there, exchanging gossip about their respective schools, handsome boys, and such.

Shi Niannian didn’t join in. She leaned against her pillow, holding her phone and chatting with Jiang Ling.

Jiang Ling: How’s it going, cutie? Did you do well on the test?

Shi Niannian: I don’t know, the questions were quite difficult.

Jiang Ling: If you think it’s difficult, everyone must think it’s difficult. Don’t worry, you’ll win a prize.

Jiang Ling: But Jiang Wang probably doesn’t think it’s difficult, right? That brain of his is terrifying, a comprehensive science full marks Thanos.

Jiang Wang…

Shi Niannian thought again of what she had seen that afternoon, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable.

In her ears were the sounds of the girls chatting.

Sheng Jianwan: “Our school doesn’t have an acknowledged school heartthrob, and none as handsome as that Jiang Wang from your school. I originally thought he wasn’t a good student, but he’s here for the competition.”

“No way, he was ranked second in the grade in both the monthly test and midterms, he’s especially good at science.”

“But come to think of it, we didn’t know before either. When he suddenly appeared on the grade’s honor board during the monthly test, we were all shocked.”

Shi Niannian felt petty.

Compared to Sheng Jianwan, she felt even more small-minded.

She quite liked that girl, but she just wasn’t happy.

Her fingertips hovered over her phone screen, hesitating for two minutes.

Another message came from Jiang Ling.

Jiang Ling: Niannian, you’re not secretly crying because you didn’t do well on the test, are you?

She sniffled and replied: No.

Jiang Ling: Then why do I sense from afar that your mood is quite low?

Shi Niannian: Jiang Ling, what did it feel like when you liked Teacher Xu?

She paused, pressed the base of her palm against her eyes, and slowly exhaled.

Shi Niannian: I think I like someone too.

Jiang Ling, who was also lying in bed, instantly became alert. She sat up with a jolt and sent a voice message: “What’s going on?!!! Is it our big boss Jiang???”

Fortunately, Shi Niannian had turned the volume down to the minimum beforehand.

After listening, she also sat up and calmly replied with an “Mmm.”

Jiang Ling: Then go for it, Shi Niannian! Just tell him you like him, Jiang Wang will be crazy happy! He likes you so much!

Shi Niannian: So many people like him, though.

Jiang Ling: What does that matter? As long as he likes you, that’s all that matters.

Jiang Ling: But thinking about it, it must be quite uncomfortable. Let me tell you, boyfriends need to be trained. You need to make sure that in the future, he won’t dare look at any other girls besides you.

Trained.

Shi Niannian blushed, feeling that Jiang Ling was becoming more and more exaggerated.

A few seconds later, Jiang Ling sent her a link.

It was a Weibo post.

The first line read: How to use a rubber band to ward off butterflies around your boyfriend.

The gist was to have your boyfriend wear one of your hair ties on his wrist, so that having a girl’s item would let people know at a glance that this boy has a girlfriend.

Jiang Ling: Niannian, you need to find a way to make Jiang Wang wear your hair tie!

What is she talking about…

Shi Niannian directly skipped over this topic. Seeing that it was getting late, she said goodnight to Jiang Ling and prepared to sleep.

The afternoon competition had consumed too much energy. After a while, everyone stopped chatting, turned off the lights, and quietly went to bed.

Half-asleep, Shi Niannian’s phone suddenly vibrated on her pillow.

The room was completely silent. Afraid of waking everyone, she fumbled to press the answer button and hurriedly plugged in her earphones.

As soon as she put the earphones on, she heard Jiang Wang say, “Can you hear me?”

“Mmm.” She pulled the blanket over her head, hugging her knees in a curled-up position, then took down her phone to check the time. “It’s so late, don’t you… Sleep?”

There was the sound of wind where Jiang Wang was: “Did I wake you up?”

Indeed, he had woken her up.

Shi Niannian rubbed her eyes, yawned, but still said “No.”

“I can hear you yawning.” He laughed, his voice a bit hoarse, with a hint of sleepiness in the trailing sound.

Shi Niannian urged him: “You should go to sleep… sleep quickly, tomorrow we still have… the experiment.”

He was silent for a moment.

Shi Niannian pressed her face against the pillow, softly calling his name: “Jiang Wang?”

He said, “I want to see you right now.”

She froze: “Huh?”

He asked, “Can you come downstairs?”

“…”

“I’m right outside your building.”

She paused for a moment: “It’s so late.”

“It’s snowing,” he said. “Isn’t tonight the first snow? I just want to see you once, then I’ll let you go back right away.”

After much hesitation, Shi Niannian still agreed. At the end of the call, Jiang Wang reminded her to wear a coat as it was cold outside.

It was indeed snowing outside.

Large snowflakes floated down from the sky, covering the tops of the shrubs in the flower bed with a thin layer of white. The weather wasn’t cold, perhaps because the dormitory building was sheltered from the wind.

The corridor of the old-fashioned site dormitory was narrow. Shi Niannian had put on a down jacket over her pajamas, pulled the collar tight, and used her phone to light up the dark stairs as she walked down.

She didn’t see anyone outside, shining her phone around again, but still didn’t see anyone.

Then, someone gently tugged her hair from behind: “Here.”

She suddenly turned around.

She saw Jiang Wang.

The dim sensor light outlined his silhouette. There was still unmelted snow on his head and shoulders.

His downcast eyes contained the light reflected from the snow, framed by his long but sparse eyelashes. He bent slightly, opening his arms, maintaining a posture of wanting to hug but not yet hugging.

His voice was deep and hoarse as he asked, “Can I hug you?”

Shi Niannian stepped forward and gently bumped into his embrace.

She was still awkward, her hands hanging stiffly at her sides, not hugging him back.

She found it strange, tilted her head slightly, and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he hugged her tightly, his voice hiding deep fatigue. “I just suddenly wanted to see you.”

There was too much emotion hidden in his words; they felt hot in her ears.

So Shi Niannian just stood there letting him hug her, not moving, not speaking.

Under her down jacket, she wore pink coral fleece pajamas with a hood that had rabbit ears, which hung long down her back, making her look very obedient. Her whole person had softened, making one want to pull her into an embrace and squeeze her.

His slightly warm breath fell on her neck: “Want to play in the snow?”

Shi Niannian responded with a sound of agreement.

He pulled up the hood of her pajamas, with the rabbit ears hanging on both sides, making her truly look like a rabbit, and led her by the wrist to the flower bed outside.

Jiang Wang bent down to scoop up a handful of snow, kneaded it into a snowball, and placed it in Shi Niannian’s palm.

She alternated hands holding the snowball. It had been a long time since she’d touched snow, so she smiled, her eyes bright as she looked up at Jiang Wang: “It’s cold.”

She looked quite excited.

Jiang Wang made another slightly larger snowball, then put the two snowballs together to make a crude little snowman and handed it to her.

“Do you like it?”

“I like it.” She answered quickly.

Jiang Wang wasn’t particularly interested in playing with snow, so he sat on the edge of the flower bed watching Shi Niannian crouching on the ground playing with snow.

She played for a while before noticing that Jiang Wang seemed a bit off today. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong, but she felt his mood was quite low.

She looked up and asked, “Are you not… happy?”

He answered languidly, “I’m happy.”

Shi Niannian hesitated for a moment, picked up the little snowman again, dusted the snow off the steps, and sat down beside him.

They were quiet for a while.

She rolled up her slightly long sleeves and handed him the black hair tie from her wrist, asking out of nowhere: “Do you want this?”

“Hmm?” Jiang Wang glanced at it casually, his voice sounding a bit tired. “What would I do with this? My hair is so short.”

“Oh.” Shi Niannian’s hand paused, then withdrew, putting the hair tie back around her wrist.

She didn’t speak anymore.

After a while, Jiang Wang straightened up and asked, “Were you going to give it to me?”

She nodded very slightly.

“I don’t want it,” he said directly.

Shi Niannian lowered her head and still obediently said, “Okay.”

She felt a bit dejected.

“I don’t want this one.” Jiang Wang’s fingertip hooked into the black hair tie on her wrist, flicked it once, and said somewhat disdainfully, “This one doesn’t look good at all.”

“…”

If he didn’t want it, fine, but he didn’t have to say it was ugly.

Jiang Wang observed her expression and laughed.

In the snowy night, the young man’s laugh, deep and hoarse, rippled out like a lighthouse on the vast white snow, washing over her heart, making it tremble.

“What about your rabbit one?” he asked.

She was taken aback, turning her head: “What?”

“Give me that one,” Jiang Wang said.

Shi Niannian reached into her down jacket pocket and pulled out a pink scrunchie with a fingernail-sized little rabbit on it, pink and delicate. She hesitantly asked, “This one?”

“Mmm.”

Jiang Wang took it from her hand and put it on his wrist.

On a man’s hand like his, wearing such a hair tie looked incongruous and quite funny.

Jiang Wang looked at it for a while and smiled, turning his wrist and asking, “Does it look good?”

Shi Niannian also smiled, thinking it didn’t look good at all, but smilingly said, “I don’t know.”

Even much later, whenever it was the first snow of the season, what Shi Niannian would first recall was the cold wind of that night, the white breath exhaled between breaths, and the young man’s indulgent and magnetic laugh, when both voices and the sky seemed very far away.