Probably because of the cold wind she had been exposed to the previous night, Shi Niannian woke up with a slight cold the next day.

Yesterday, Xu Shu had just contacted Cai Yucai about the transfer. As soon as Shi Niannian arrived at school, before she could even put down her backpack, she was called to the office.

With her excellent grades, the school naturally didn’t want to let her go. Cai Yucai had originally wanted to persuade her, after all, First High had a very good college admission rate and excellent teaching resources. Continuing here would certainly lead to a good university. But when he saw the young girl walking in with reddened eyes and dark circles beneath them.

Cai Yucai didn’t ask much, but from what Shi Niannian’s mother had briefly mentioned, he could guess it was a family matter that led to this decision.

“Leaving tomorrow, huh? Keep working hard at your new school,” Cai Yucai smiled and stood up, patting her shoulder. “But you’ve always been self-disciplined. The teacher believes you’ll work hard wherever you go, and continue to excel.”

“Thank you, teacher,” Shi Niannian’s voice was nasal.

“You have a cold?” Cai Yucai frowned slightly.

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded. “A bit.”

He opened a drawer of his desk. Shi Niannian’s gaze followed his hand and saw that the drawer was full of various common medicines, along with a few bags of vinegar left over from serious flu season disinfection.

Cai Yucai searched for a while, then pulled out a package: “Take this cold medicine when you get back. Don’t be uncomfortable with a cold during your journey tomorrow.”

Shi Niannian felt a lump in her throat, blinked rapidly, and again said, “Thank you, teacher.”

“Why thank me? These medicines are kept for you all,” Cai Yucai sighed lightly. “You children sometimes just don’t know how to take care of yourselves. Alright, I won’t say more. Go back to class and say goodbye to your classmates.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Don’t be too sad. You’re all still young; there will always be opportunities to meet again.”

It was English self-study in the classroom. Shi Niannian walked in, and before she could even say “reporting,” Liu Guoqi beckoned to her. Unlike his usual roaring, he said, “Come in quickly.”

She didn’t know whether Liu Guoqi had already told everyone about her transfer, but as soon as she entered the classroom, everyone’s eyes turned toward her.

Shi Niannian noticed that Jiang Ling’s eyes were red, her wet eyelashes clumped together in strands, obviously having cried.

She felt both heartsick and relieved; she hadn’t known how to tell her.

Today, Jiang Wang wasn’t late either. He was already in his seat, not looking at her.

Shi Niannian returned to her seat, glancing in Jiang Wang’s direction. On his desk was an English paper, yesterday’s homework, and he was working on the cloze test.

His long, bony fingers held a black pen, skillfully and decisively writing down each answer.

His handwriting was beautiful, even the letters connected and flowed smoothly.

Morning self-study was English vocabulary dictation. Shi Niannian began dictating as soon as she returned to class. She took out her dictation notebook from her desk and carefully dictated for the last time, although the results of this dictation might not even be returned to her.

After finishing the dictation, the bell rang.

The wind was strong on the rooftop. Not far away was a maternal and child hospital, with a bright red sign on the side of the building, and winding elevated roads with endless traffic.

Shi Niannian remembered how uncomfortable she had been with the fast pace of this bustling metropolis when she first arrived. She often couldn’t tell east from west. There were so many railway lines that she had to study transfer routes for a while to get anywhere. The roads were often congested, summers were scorching hot, and winters were bone-chillingly cold.

But somehow, she had gradually fallen in love with this place.

Would she love the new city she was going to live in? Perhaps.

Shi Niannian pulled her collar closer and stood with Jiang Ling hand in hand by the rooftop railing.

Jiang Ling’s voice trembled slightly: “Why so sudden?”

“Mm, some family issues.”

“What about you and Jiang Wang?”

The wind blew Shi Niannian’s bangs into disarray: “Jiang Ling, honestly, I have no idea what will happen between him and me in the future… It’s too far away, I can’t see.”

They were still too young, had heard too many fictional romantic love stories, and had also seen many real broken relationships. They didn’t know how powerful the distance and time difference would be on the long road ahead, nor whether they would truly be able to overcome all obstacles, or be defeated retreat by retreat, powerless.

Shi Niannian couldn’t convince herself to believe unconditionally that nothing would change.

How could nothing change?

She stood in the wind for a while, her heart calming down, and said, “But he will always be a blessing in my life.” She had once read a saying that when two people meet, it’s either a blessing or a lesson. But regardless of how they ended up, Jiang Wang would always be her blessing.

He was too good, so good that she might never be able to let go in this lifetime.

News of Shi Niannian’s transfer spread throughout the school by morning. The news was too sudden; no one expected a sudden transfer. At the same time, Jiang Wang became the subject of discussion.

Everyone knew about their relationship. If Shi Niannian was transferring, what about Jiang Wang?

“Will Jiang Wang transfer together with her?”

“Probably not. I heard Shi Niannian is going abroad to study. They can’t transfer together, and besides, Jiang Wang’s father is a school board director. If he doesn’t agree to a transfer, it won’t happen.”

“So they’ll be in a long-distance relationship?”

“More than that. Long-distance relationships still have hope, but they’ll be in an international long-distance relationship.”

At noon, such discussions could be heard throughout the school cafeteria.

Suddenly, one of the girls elbowed her friend next to her, lifting her chin toward a direction.

Jiang Wang, rarely seen in the cafeteria, walked over with his tray, those long legs striding across, and sat down in front of Shi Niannian.

The attention of everyone around was drawn to them.

“Liu Guoqi was looking for you earlier,” Jiang Wang said, his tone quite calm.

Shi Niannian looked up: “Looking for me?”

“Your morning self-study dictation has been graded, along with yesterday’s test paper. He wants you to go to the office later to get them.”

“Okay.”

She lowered her head and continued eating, but as she ate, she began to choke up.

In the past, she rarely cried. Even when she was bullied so severely by Cheng Qi’s group, she had hardly cried, remaining calm as if completely insensitive to the malice and kindness of the outside world.

Jiang Wang sighed, ignoring the surrounding gazes, reached out to rub her head, then covered her eyes with his thumb.

Shi Niannian obediently closed her eyes and heard him say gently: “Don’t cry, baby.”

The next day, Shi Niannian left. Shi Dehou still had some unfinished business and would leave a few days later.

On the plane, Shi Zhe once again screamed shrilly due to his inability to adapt to the weightlessness during takeoff. It continued for a long time. Shi Niannian looked out the window at the gradually shrinking city, silent.

She used to think this city was big, but looking down from high above, it seemed rather small.

Not long after she left, the previously heated discussions about her transfer gradually subsided, and everyone was once again buried under piles of homework and study pressure.

Jiang Wang went to compete.

He had never been very talkative, and during this period, he became even more aloof, rarely speaking, not returning to school, and training with high intensity.

That period was difficult to endure, even more so than his time in prison. He often had insomnia, and even when he did sleep, it was light.

He visibly became more depressed, to the point that on the day of the competition, the coach was very worried about his condition. This competition was important, officially selecting members for the national team.

“This won’t do. Performance is important, but so is your health,” the coach said, looking at him.

He only replied faintly: “It’s fine.”

The competition results came out.

Jiang Wang took first place and won the gold medal.

That evening, he gave the medal to Xu Ningqing.

Xu Ningqing’s hand, holding a cigarette, stopped, silently looking questioningly.

“I promised her before that I’d give her a gold medal. If you have a chance to see her, help me give it to her.”

As soon as he spoke, his throat was hoarse, as if it had been rubbed on rough sandpaper.

“Are you feeling alright?” Xu Ningqing frowned. After a moment, he asked a server for a glass of water, then asked again, “You’re not going to find her yourself?”

Jiang Wang took a sip of water, his throat feeling a bit better, but didn’t answer his question.

Xu Ningqing understood and said no more.

During the second half of the sophomore year, Jiang Wang rarely appeared at school. Everyone said that since Shi Niannian left, he had no reason to come to school to study. The homeroom teacher of the advanced class was quite relieved; with the first and second-ranked students gone, the first place now finally belonged to their class.

But when junior year started, Jiang Wang returned to school. At the same time, they heard that the school board director, Jiang Chen, had been in a car accident and was between life and death in the hospital.

He became even more silent but studied exceptionally diligently.

Previously, he had been proud, scanning many problems with just a glance, often not listening in class. Liu Guoqi frequently scolded him, but after junior year, Jiang Wang was never late, and in every exam, he hung at the first position on the honor roll, dozens of points ahead of the second place.

Sometimes Jiang Ling would see him standing in front of the honor roll, staring blankly, looking up at the first-place position.

For some reason, Jiang Ling always felt he wasn’t looking at himself, but reminiscing about Shi Niannian, who used to occupy that position.

She still kept in touch with Shi Niannian, but since junior year, the academic pressure was too great, reducing their communication. Added to that were the time difference and different social circles; sometimes, when she wanted to chat, she had to think for a while about what to talk about.

Initially, she would still mention Jiang Wang to Shi Niannian, but later she stopped.

Friendship was still relatively easy to maintain, but love was entirely different.

Time is a curious thing. Before, a day seemed so long, both day and night dragging on, counting down the days until vacation on their fingers. But from some point onward, time truly became like a fleeting glimpse.

The blackboard marked “7 Days Until College Entrance Examination.”

Jiang Ling gave her yearbook to Jiang Wang.

He still sat in the seat diagonally behind her, with Shi Niannian’s seat always empty.

“Jiang Wang, can you write one for me?”

He looked up, tiredly rubbing his face: “Okay.”

He wrote quickly, his handwriting smooth and beautiful. In the final message board, he only wrote five characters: “Wish you exam success.” Jiang Ling watched him write word by word; she had originally thought Jiang Wang wouldn’t write in that section.

He had changed a lot, not just becoming more silent, but also more steady.

This feeling wasn’t obvious when attending class in the same classroom every day, but if suddenly compared to when he first entered sophomore year—the young man standing calmly and indifferently at the podium, introducing himself concisely as “Jiang Wang,” and the “crazy person who stabbed someone with a knife” that everyone had discussed back then—it would be very difficult to connect these two versions of the young man across these two years.

“I wonder how Niannian is doing over there,” Jiang Ling suddenly said.

Jiang Wang’s hand holding the pen paused, his knuckles whitening from pressure. After writing the last word, he handed the yearbook back to Jiang Ling: “Done.”

“Ah, thanks.”

The two days of the college entrance examination also passed quickly. The weather was very hot that day, with fans tirelessly spinning overhead. The last subject was English. When Jiang Wang finished the final essay, there were still 30 minutes left.

He briefly checked it once and left early.

High school life was over, this long high school life. With that wasted year in between, repeating sophomore year, he was already 20 years old.

After leaving the exam room, Jiang Wang didn’t return to the classroom. Earlier, many people had torn up their materials after each exam, while others had neatly stacked their books and test papers as memories of this most arduous year.

He didn’t plan to go back to the classroom to get his books; in a few days, the school would have people clean and clear everything.

Unconsciously, he walked to the sports field, with its dark red rubber track and large green soccer field. The sunlight poured down dazzlingly, so bright it was hard to open one’s eyes.

He suddenly thought of Shi Niannian.

Actually, during this period, he no longer thought of her as frequently as before, being tortured into insomnia. Shi Niannian only occasionally appeared in his dreams or unexpectedly invaded his mind during moments reminiscent of the past.

The young girl was still the same as before, with a faint smile, gentle and tender.

Jiang Wang curled his lips, took out his phone, and opened the topmost dialogue box.

I’ve finished my exams.

Fan Mengming and a group of his buddies had long arranged to celebrate Jiang Wang’s final escape from the sea of high school misery that evening, having even reserved seats at “Wild” in advance.

But after waiting in front of the school gate for a long time, they didn’t see him. Seeing almost everyone had left without spotting Jiang Wang, they finally had to enter the school to look for him.

They eventually found him on the sports field.

Jiang Wang was sitting in the stands, his gaze falling who knows where, or perhaps he was just in a daze.

“Brother Wang!” Fan Mengming called, raising his hand.

Jiang Wang looked over, put away his phone, and walked toward him.

Fan Mengming asked: “How did the exam go?”

He smiled: “Not bad.”

That night, they had a private section at “Wild,” and Xu Ningqing also rushed over.

Jiang Wang sat in the middle, fingertips rolling a cigarette, the blue-white smoke enveloping his brows and eyes. The unique detachment and coldness shaped by his past experiences once again swept over him.

A slender, long-legged beauty approached their group with a wine list.

Several unruly guys immediately whistled at the girl.

The girl looked quite young, probably working there part-time: “What would you like to… to order for drinks?”

Almost instantly, Jiang Wang looked up at the person in front of him, his long, slender eyes pulling into an excessively cold arc. His hand holding the cigarette trembled; it fell to the ground, and he quickly extinguished it.

“We’ll call you when we’re ready to order,” one of the young men said.

The girl nodded and quickly left.

“Brother Wang, you’re the main character today. See what you’d like to drink.”

He didn’t lose his composure, except for that dropped cigarette that completely exposed his turbulent inner heart. But he quickly calmed down, pulled out a pen, and skillfully ordered drinks.

Jiang Wang had rarely gathered with these people since junior year, and hadn’t seen even Xu Ningqing and Fan Mengming for quite a while. His former girlfriend had long been forgotten by everyone.

It was just a girlfriend, after all. Most of them had gone through countless partners.

Who would believe that a high school relationship could be deeply etched into one’s heart?

Jiang Wang ordered quite strong drinks.

Xu Ningqing glanced at the wine list. He was probably the only one here who knew why that waitress had triggered Jiang Wang’s reaction.

He spoke softly: “Alright, planning to drink until you’re completely drunk?”

Fan Mengming immediately objected: “Brother Xu, that’s where you’re wrong. Today we’re drinking until we can’t walk straight! We’re young! This is the attitude for drinking!”

Soon, the drinks were served, with a group of people playing dice on one side. Jiang Wang sat quietly on the other side, drinking.

His alcohol tolerance was quite good, and he had never really been drunk before. But today was different; maybe he wanted to get drunk. There were three empty bottles beside him, and Jiang Wang was showing signs of intoxication.

He got up to go to the bathroom, but when he came out after washing his hands, he saw a man at the door harassing the waitress who had brought them the wine list earlier.

That waitress who spoke like Shi Niannian.

Jiang Wang felt he was truly drunk. The face of the girl in the “Wild” uniform gradually overlapped with Shi Niannian’s. The man tightly gripped her wrist, squeezing it red.

A flame suddenly burst forth. Jiang Wang swayed a couple of times, pressed the heel of his palm against his temple, shook his head, and walked straight over, his fist directly smashing into the man.

The commotion at the door quickly attracted everyone’s attention. Xu Ningqing reacted the fastest, stepping over the glass coffee table, rushing over, and pulling Jiang Wang to separate the entangled people.

“What are you going crazy for?” Xu Ningqing scolded him.

Everyone looked at the waitress shrinking to the side, stuttering and unable to speak, suddenly realizing something.

Fan Mengming was stunned: “No way…”

Xu Ningqing gave him a glance: “Clean up this mess here. I’ll take him home first.”

Xu Ningqing brought him home, irritated and exhausted: “Jiang Wang, if you can’t let go, then go find her! Don’t see someone who looks a bit like her and think it’s her, and even fight for them. You’re regressing!”

Jiang Wang leaned back on the sofa. Perhaps due to being drunk, all the pretenses of these days showed cracks. He raised his hand to cover his eyes, his voice thick with strongly suppressed choked emotion.

Just one sentence: “She used to be bullied often too.”

Xu Ningqing was stunned for a moment, then sighed: “I went to see her a while ago. She’s more outgoing than before, has friends, no one bullies her.”

He hummed an acknowledgment.

“Why have you never gone to find her?”

“Some things, if you want them to remain unchanged, you have to keep them in an unchanging moment.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he didn’t dare.

Xu Ningqing lit a cigarette for himself, sitting lazily: “I never thought you would like her to this extent.”

Jiang Wang sat up, his head still dizzy: “Sometimes I think, if I can’t make it to the end with her, I don’t know who else I could go through life with.”