When they returned to school that day, it was afternoon self-study. Jiang Wang only sent her into the school. As soon as she entered the classroom, Jiang Ling pulled her over and anxiously asked in a lowered voice: “Niannian, where did you go? Teacher Cai was looking for you earlier.”

“Huh?”

“I said you went to the infirmary. Teacher Cai sent Huang Yao over, and now it seems like everything’s fine,” Jiang Ling said. “Where did you go?”

Before Shi Niannian could answer, she whispered curiously again: “You didn’t go on a date with Jiang Wang, did you? I saw you two talking at the stairwell this morning!”

Shi Niannian smiled helplessly: “Yes.”

“Holy shit, student Shi Niannian!” Jiang Ling slapped the table, her voice rising, drawing the attention of surrounding classmates. She shrank her neck, secretly giving her a thumbs up. “You’re so mysterious, too cool!”

School had just started, and the study load wasn’t too heavy yet. During the first evening self-study period, Shi Niannian finished all the morning classes she had missed and the day’s homework.

For the rest of the time, she lay on her desk, sucking on a lollipop Jiang Wang had given her earlier, silently thinking about the matters in her heart.

Jiang Wang had returned before evening self-study began and tilted his head to look at her.

He could tell something was wrong with Shi Niannian. The little girl used to work like a tireless spinning top during evening self-study; he had never seen her like this before.

His index finger rubbed along the edge of his phone, hesitating whether to ask Xu Ningqing if he knew what was going on, but ultimately gave up.

He couldn’t imagine what serious trouble could be bothering a young girl like Shi Niannian. If she didn’t want to talk about it now, he would let her be.

Jiang Wang reached out in front of her eyes and snapped his fingers.

“Ah.” She came back to herself.

“Finished your homework?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Jiang Wang placed his exercise book on her desk: “Then help me do mine.”

Shi Niannian instinctively picked up her pen, glanced at the first question and wrote down “A,” then realized that wasn’t right and stopped, turning her head to look at him: “Do it yourself.”

Jiang Wang laughed, his voice lazy as if whining: “I don’t want to write.”

“Jiang Wang,” she called his name softly and asked, “Have you thought about what you want to do in the future?”

He was casual yet direct: “Win championships.”

Jiang Wang was truly excellent, Shi Niannian knew this clearly, which often made her feel she needed to be more outstanding to deserve his affection.

The window was open a crack, cold wind blowing in, lifting a few strands of the young girl’s hair from her forehead, then she heard him say: “I’ll give you the gold medals in the future.”

She smiled and said, “Okay.”

Before she made her final decision, Xu Ningqing finally learned about this matter. He immediately went home, walking fiercely toward Shi Niannian’s room, only to be intercepted halfway by his aunt.

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Is that girl going to leave?”

“Not yet.” His aunt sighed in a lowered voice. “Niannian doesn’t want to go, but given the current situation, it’s quite difficult. Go and try to persuade her.”

Xu Ningqing clicked his tongue and pushed open the door.

There had been serious problems with Shi Dehou’s work, now under strict investigation. They could only use this gap to relocate people first, otherwise, many aspects would be restricted in the future. Both Shi Niannian and Shi Zhe were still young, and studying abroad was the best choice until the problem passed.

Upon entering, he saw Shi Niannian sitting at her desk with her back to him. She turned to look at him.

Xu Ningqing sat on her bed and got straight to the point: “What do you plan to do?”

Shi Niannian was stunned: “I don’t know.”

“Does Jiang Wang know about this?”

“Not yet.” She paused for a moment, her voice thick with emotion. “I don’t know… how to tell him.”

Xu Ningqing took a deep breath, his voice becoming calmer: “If you don’t want to leave, my uncle, aunt, and I can find a way.”

“It’s useless.”

Shi Niannian had just told her mother again the day before yesterday that she didn’t want to go abroad with them, but with Xu Shu’s personality, how could she tolerate such behavior? Her guardianship was in her mother’s hands, and all the procedures for going abroad had already been completed.

She struggled to curl the corners of her lips, looking at Xu Ningqing. “My mother won’t listen to you all.”

“What about Jiang Wang, what are you two going to do?”

“Aunt said that if we don’t go abroad, many things will be… restricted in the future,” Shi Niannian lowered her head and rubbed her eyes twice. She didn’t understand these matters. “Sometimes I worry, Jiang Wang will win gold medals in the future… and what about me? I don’t want…”

She paused momentarily, letting out a very light sigh. “I don’t want to be left behind by him.”

Xu Ningqing didn’t speak.

The bedroom was silent. After a moment, he stood up and said only: “Once you’ve decided, tell him early. It’s just a long-distance relationship; he can also go find you.”

Three days later, Jiang Wang once again received an olive branch from the national team coach, while Shi Niannian, having failed in her resistance, finally decided to compromise, temporarily going abroad with Xu Shu and separating from Jiang Wang for a period.

A one-sided decision.

It was quite selfish. She didn’t even discuss it with Jiang Wang.

She knew Jiang Wang definitely wouldn’t be willing and might even get angry, but she had no choice. What Xu Shu decided couldn’t be changed, and what power did a 16-year-old girl have to change it?

More importantly, she didn’t want to stay in place, helplessly watching Jiang Wang climb step by step toward the peak. She hoped that they would meet at the summit.

Regarding what would happen in the future, she had no certainty, didn’t know what kind of person she would grow into, nor how Jiang Wang would change, much less how they would be.

On the day the national team coach came to the swimming pool to select athletes, Shi Niannian also went.

Jiang Wang performed very well.

Since his ear had recovered, his performance had improved quickly. Probably because he had already trained for a period before, after making up for his final weakness, he quickly approached his previous best performance.

After finishing, he went to the rest area, changed clothes, and came out to find Shi Niannian.

“How was it?” she asked.

“Not so fast,” he said, wiping his wet hair. “There’s another competition later, it depends on that performance.”

When they went out, it was already dark. The weather had warmed up a bit, with stars dotting the sky and a bright, full moon hanging above, casting a pure white light.

Unknowingly, they walked to a narrow road. Beside it was a bustling pedestrian street. Shi Niannian looked across the street and saw the words on a bronze sign: Detention Center.

This was where she first saw Jiang Wang.

That night, the young man’s appearance was like a picture branded in her heart. The yellowish street light shone diagonally, cutting the young man’s facial contours clear and profound, his brow bone strong, his jaw lean, looking cold and hard.

This was her first impression after seeing Jiang Wang, only later did she discover he was a very gentle, even soft-hearted young man.

There was a bench nearby, covered with a thin layer of withered leaves.

Shi Niannian brushed them away with her hand, pulled Jiang Wang to sit down, and tried to steady her voice: “I have something… to tell you.”

“Hmm?”

Shi Niannian roughly told Jiang Wang about her family situation. For the first time, she told Jiang Wang about her parents living in another province, her brother who often screamed and threw tantrums, and the bracelet that broke before his surgery.

Jiang Wang had been listening calmly at first, but gradually felt something was wrong. His brows furrowed, interrupting her words to ask directly: “Are you hiding something important from me?”

Shi Niannian looked at him and said, “We might have to be apart for a while.”

“…” He didn’t speak, his expression solemn.

Shi Niannian no longer looked at him, her gaze falling on a vague point ahead: “I’m going abroad to… study, Jiang Wang.”

Jiang Wang’s expression finally became completely cold, the slight smile he usually wore when facing Shi Niannian no longer existed, his voice low and distant: “You want to break up with me.”

“No,” she quickly shook her head, her tone tinged with urgency. “No, it’s not breaking up.”

“Temporarily apart, how long?” he rarely showed such a pressing attitude.

But Shi Niannian didn’t know the answer to this question. When she had argued with her mother, Xu Shu said they could return once her father’s matter was resolved, but she didn’t know when that would be.

“So now you’re just notifying me, Shi Niannian, you.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not good enough for you, huh?”

She lowered her eyes, similar to her usual appearance, calm and unruffled, seemingly unaffected by anything, which made Jiang Wang even more irritated looking at her now.

Finally, Jiang Wang heard her say: “I’m sorry.”

His temper had never been good, especially before, when he often couldn’t control it. Many people were afraid of him, and he was always fierce in fights. Even those people, those kind of people, shortly after he entered prison, gradually began to fear him.

After his release, he became more indifferent, unable to muster interest in anything. His temper was no longer as explosive as before, just cold, not bothering to respond.

Only after gradually getting to know Shi Niannian did he start to change bit by bit. He would worry the little girl might be afraid of him, or think he wasn’t a good person.

Jiang Wang sometimes felt his current temper could almost be linked with gentleness.

As a result, Shi Niannian unexpectedly, for the first time, truly made him angry.

“Fine,” Jiang Wang said without any emotion, then turned and left.

Shi Niannian stared at his receding figure in a daze, then lowered her head to see a hangnail on her index finger, awkwardly and unsightly sticking out.

She wanted to pull it off, resulting in a trace of blood.

Before the pain could be transmitted through the nerves to the brain, she was grabbed by the wrist, and her back pressed against the bench backrest. There was a protruding rusty nail, grinding against her thin shoulder blade.

She silently widened her eyes, watching as Jiang Wang bent down, blocking the light and kissing her hard.

This street was quiet and still, but across the way was a lively, bustling pedestrian street with songs and laughter coming over, like two different worlds.

As Shi Niannian was kissed into a blur, she thought of when she first met Jiang Wang here, those boys laughing freely and deliberately taunting, “Welcome out of prison, Brother Wang,” their shouts thunderous, so different from now.

The street was deserted except for the two of them, with tender green buds beginning to emerge from the tree branches.

Suddenly, Shi Niannian frowned, whimpered twice, and began to struggle.

Because she detected a pair of hands reaching under her clothes. Winter clothes are thick, and those cold hands clung tightly to the skin at her waist, moving up along her spine.

His hand gripped her, the friction causing pain.

Reason did not exist; he had always been the one called “crazy.”

Returning home, Shi Niannian pushed open her bedroom door to find her mother packing her luggage.

“You’re back,” Xu Shu said, looking up at her, throwing the last piece of clothing from her closet into the suitcase. “Get ready, we’re leaving the day after tomorrow.”

Shi Niannian paused: “So soon?”

“Yes, say goodbye to your classmates tomorrow,” Xu Shu suddenly frowned and said, “What happened to your mouth?”

There was a blood mark on her lower lip, a small cut.

“Nothing,” Shi Niannian silently rubbed her index finger over it, feeling a sting. She walked to another cabinet that contained only a few sets of school uniforms and a class outfit bought at a previous sports meet.

She remembered Jiang Wang’s was black, hers was white.

She took out the class outfit and put it in the suitcase as well. Xu Shu said: “Why bring that poor quality clothing?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Later, she didn’t remember when she fell asleep, didn’t sleep well, and woke up again in the early morning. Shi Niannian sat alone in bed for a while, unable to sleep.

She picked up her phone, with Jiang Wang still first in the chat list, the last message being last night’s “good night.”

Jiang Wang was angry.

And rightfully so.

Shi Niannian thought.

The phone’s bright light illuminated her black pupils, and she recalled Jiang Wang’s hot breath and cold fingertips just now. In the end, Jiang Wang had barely stopped himself, wordlessly getting up to send her home.

The whole way was silent, like the first time when they weren’t familiar and he sent her home, walking one in front, one behind, in silence.

Shi Niannian sighed softly and sent him a message.

Good night.

Almost the next second, it showed “The other party is typing…”

Shi Niannian silently held her breath, swallowed emptily, watching the repeatedly jumping “The other party is typing” in the note field, which finally disappeared. After a few seconds, a phone call came through.

Shi Niannian hurriedly answered: “Jiang Wang.”

No response, just the sound of breathing and wind.

She didn’t know how to begin, so she remained silent. The two held their phones without speaking in the night.

After a long time, Shi Niannian heard a “boom” sound, and simultaneously, fireworks rose outside the window, making the room suddenly bright.

She was startled, sensing something, and rushed to the window without even putting on her slippers. There she saw Jiang Wang sitting dejectedly by the flower bed, a spark of fire lit between his fingers—he was smoking.

Shi Niannian suddenly remembered that, at the sports meet, the sun was dazzling, shouting, screaming, and clamoring. Jiang Wang sprinting across the finish line, the young man radiant.

Her throat began to tighten, her eyelids burning. She sniffled: “Jiang Wang, I see you.”

The night wind was biting, the north wind howling, coldness rising from the exposed section of ankle.

Urgent footsteps came over. Jiang Wang looked up following the sound, his eyelid twitching unexpectedly.

Shi Niannian stood in front of him, her head lowered, looking at him.

She saw his bloodshot eyes, reddened corners, not crying, but looking exhausted to the extreme.

“You dare to come out? Forgot what I almost did to you just now?” he said.

Shi Niannian pursed her lips and sat down beside him: “Jiang Wang.”

“Can you wait for me?” she said.

Shi Niannian liked to eat candy; every time she went to the school store, she would buy a handful. Later, Jiang Wang developed a habit—sometimes after physical education class, when buying water, he would also bring her a pack of candy.

He wasn’t sure if there was any candy left in this coat pocket, but fortunately, he found some.

“Here,” he opened his palm.

Shi Niannian was startled, unwrapped the candy, and put it in her mouth.

Tears came without warning. She lowered her head, and a teardrop fell onto her pants, quickly dissolving into a small round spot, not obvious, yet silently remaining there.

The sweet and sour candy in her mouth continuously stimulated her taste buds. Shi Niannian finally couldn’t hold back anymore, hugging her legs and crying.

She hadn’t cried when her mother first told her they had to leave because of her father’s work, nor during their subsequent arguments, nor when Jiang Wang lost his temper with her.

Only now, when Jiang Wang gave her a piece of candy, did she finally break down.

The young man who had saved her time and again, who would shield her behind him, who was both arrogant and wild yet delicate and gentle.

He would teach her to recite speech drafts repeatedly in a quiet room, would sneak into the isolation room without permission out of fear for her, would wear her hair tie on his wrist, would hug her and smile saying “Time little sister cares for me.”

All the scenery that others couldn’t see, he displayed before her.

Shi Niannian often felt lucky. Despite being bullied or mocked because of her stutter, she had also met many wonderful people: her caring uncle’s family, many of her classmates, and Jiang Wang.

She had never imagined she would connect with such a young man. She was inconspicuous, while he was radiant, the focus of attention.

To the extent that she wanted to spare no effort to see that illuminated path ahead of them both.

Under the street light, the young man’s angular face appeared slightly distorted due to the emotions he was restraining.

He slowly opened his arms and gently embraced Shi Niannian.

That small piece of candy finally melted in her mouth.

Leaving only a heavy, sweet, and sour taste, but it was finally finished.

Shi Niannian heard him say hoarsely: “I won’t wait for you, come back to find me yourself.”