The lamb skewers that night weren’t very good. After cooling down, they carried a heavy gamey smell, and the meat was tough. Ruan Mian only ate one skewer, and the rest were all taken by Fang Ruqing to throw away.

“Don’t eat them once they’ve gone cold.” Fang Ruqing went to the kitchen and brought her a bowl of mung bean soup. “Drink this, then take a shower and rest early.”

“I know.” Ruan Mian finished it in a few gulps, went to her room to get her pajamas, and when she came out after showering, she ran into Zhao Shutang coming downstairs to use the toilet.

Her hand paused while drying her hair. In the few seconds she hesitated about whether to greet her or not, Zhao Shutang had already walked past without even glancing her way, and closed the bathroom door loudly.

Ruan Mian’s feet shifted. She puffed out her cheeks and let out a breath, pulled off the towel to hold in her hand, and lightened her footsteps going upstairs.

Take it slowly, she thought.

The next day, Ruan Mian woke up in a daze thinking she still had tutoring class. She got up before seven o’clock. When she went downstairs to wash up, Fang Ruqing, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, poked her head out. “Why are you up so early?”

“I got the time wrong.” After Ruan Mian finished getting ready, she walked toward the kitchen. “Need any help?”

“Then help me bring out the bowls and chopsticks. We’ll eat breakfast soon.”

“Okay.” Ruan Mian rolled up her sleeves and brought out the clean bowls and chopsticks, placing them one by one according to the seats. Morning sunlight fell on the corner of the table.

Before long, Zhao Yingwei and Duan Ying returned from outside. The two Zhao children hadn’t gotten up yet. Zhao Yingwei was about to go call them, but Duan Ying stopped him. “School starts soon. Now that they rarely have this time, let them sleep a bit more.”

Zhao Yingwei thought that made sense. As he sat down, he looked at Ruan Mian. “Mian Mian’s tutoring class has ended now, so she can sleep in more in the mornings too.”

Before Ruan Mian could speak, Fang Ruqing came out of the kitchen and picked up the conversation. “She only got up this early today because she got the time wrong. In the past, she wouldn’t get up until noon.”

Zhao Yingwei laughed. “Students these days are under so much pressure and work so hard. During vacation, every extra bit of sleep counts.”

Breakfast had what seemed like a harmonious beginning. At the table, Duan Ying also spoke a few words to Ruan Mian, appearing quite affectionate.

They finished eating quickly. Fang Ruqing and Zhao Yingwei still had to go to work. Ruan Mian had nothing to do, so she went out with them to familiarize herself with the routes again.

When passing by Li Family Supermarket, goods were being unloaded at the storefront. Ruan Mian only saw the middle-aged owner from last night directing from the side. She didn’t see Li Zhi or that male student called Chen Yi.

When they reached the alley entrance, Zhao Yingwei’s car was parked by the roadside. Fang Ruqing stuffed two hundred-yuan bills into Ruan Mian’s hand. “If you don’t want to stay home at noon, go out and hang out with friends. Come back for dinner in the evening.”

Ruan Mian felt her mother was worrying excessively, but still took the money to put her at ease. “Okay, I’ll let you know if I go out.”

“Be safe.”

“I know.”

The car drove off. Ruan Mian stuffed the money into her pants pocket, looked up at the antennas coiled and intertwined overhead, then turned and walked forward along the roadside shops.

She spent the entire morning walking through all the lanes and alleyways in the West Pingjiang Alley area. The area wasn’t actually that large—there were just many alleys.

Around eleven o’clock, Ruan Mian entered from the eastern alley entrance and walked accurately and without error to the Li Family Supermarket entrance. The owner was standing by the counter pressing a calculator. When he saw her come in, he showed a simple, honest smile. “What would you like to buy, young lady?”

Ruan Mian took a couple steps inside. “Buying some snacks.”

The supermarket wasn’t large—it only had four rows of shelves. At the very back was a door leading to a small courtyard behind. At this moment, the door curtain was rolled up and hanging on the wall. Ruan Mian saw that in the middle of the courtyard was a well, with a red and white porcelain basin placed beside the well opening, and next to it was the corner of a flower stand.

She didn’t linger inside too long. Using the money Fang Ruqing had given her, she bought some snacks and a watermelon, then carried them toward the Zhao family home.

Both Zhao Shutang and Zhao Shuyang had already gotten up and were sitting in the living room watching television. Duan Ying was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen. When she saw her return, only Zhao Shuyang climbed up from the sofa to glance at her.

Ruan Mian put the things on the table, stood there thinking for a while, then still mustered up the courage to go to the kitchen. “Grandma, need any help?”

Duan Ying didn’t even look up. “No need.”

Ruan Mian pinched her fingers, suddenly not knowing what to say.

Duan Ying put down the kitchen knife and wiped her hands on her apron. “The kitchen is full of cooking fumes. Go to the living room and watch TV with Shutang and them for a bit. We’ll eat soon.”

“Okay.” Ruan Mian breathed a sigh of relief.

After eating, Ruan Mian put the snacks she’d bought on the living room coffee table and carried the watermelon to the kitchen.

In between, Zhao Shutang came by once. She stood at the kitchen door with her arms folded, her gaze cold and sharp. “You don’t need to do these things to curry favor with anyone. No matter what, I will never accept you or your mother.”

Ruan Mian glanced at her but didn’t say anything.

Zhao Shutang probably found it boring as well, so she turned and left. Not long after, Zhao Shuyang appeared from somewhere. Ruan Mian cut a small piece of watermelon for him. “Eat up.”

He took the watermelon and bounced away to play.

Ruan Mian put the cut watermelon in the refrigerator, washed her hands clean, and returned to the second-floor bedroom. The old standing fan was blowing directly at the foot of the bed.

She lay across the bed with her eyes closed. In the floating cool breeze, she inexplicably thought of that male student called Chen Yi, thought of his pitch-black eyes.

In that state between waking and sleeping, they were extraordinarily clear.

For the next week, Ruan Mian always went out in the evenings, casually walking down whatever alley she pleased. Sometimes she would pass by Li Family Supermarket, sometimes she would pass by that internet cafe. She got to know Li Zhi and his friends, but never again saw that male student called Chen Yi.

On the day No. 8 Middle School started, because it was the end of the month, neither Fang Ruqing nor Zhao Yingwei could take time off. They could only entrust Ruan Mian to Zhao Shutang, who was in the same class.

On the way to school, Zhao Shutang made no effort to hide her attitude. “My dad paid money to get you into our class. Aside from Teacher Zhou, I don’t want anyone else in the class to know about our relationship, and please keep your distance from me at school.”

No. 8 Middle School’s current second-year high school had a total of thirty-four classes. Classes one through twenty-two were science track classes, with classes one and two being science experimental classes. The remaining classes twenty-three through thirty-two were humanities track classes, and the last two classes were arts-science and arts-humanities classes respectively.

Although Ruan Mian’s grades were decent, transferring to No. 8 Middle School at this time, she could only get into an ordinary key class. However, Zhao Yingwei had connections at the school. He spent some money and squeezed her into the science experimental class where Zhao Shutang was.

Ruan Mian hadn’t known about transferring to the experimental class beforehand. By the time she found out, it was already a done deal. She couldn’t possibly trouble Zhao Yingwei again.

Now with Zhao Shutang saying this, she didn’t have much of a reaction. “Okay, I understand.”

The second-year high school teaching building was in a separate structure. The upper four floors were for science track students, the lower two floors for humanities track. Ruan Mian studied science. When they arrived at school, Zhao Shutang brought her to the homeroom teacher Zhou Hai’s office door, then went back to the classroom by herself.

“You’re Ruan Mian, right? I’ve looked at your grades—they’re quite good.” Zhou Hai had her come into the office to sit for a bit first. “Some students in the class haven’t arrived yet. I’ll take you over when class starts.”

“Okay, thank you, Teacher Zhou.” Ruan Mian sat by the desk with her backpack and stared at this homeroom teacher who didn’t look particularly young.

Zhou Hai rubbed his fingers together and took out her file from No. 8 Middle School from the desk. “I see you seem to have participated in quite a few biology competitions before. Interested in competitions?”

Ruan Mian didn’t dare say that most of these competitions were mandatory registrations required by teachers. She compromised: “I’m just relatively interested in biology.”

Zhou Hai nodded. “What a coincidence—I’m your biology teacher this semester.”

They hadn’t chatted for long when the class bell rang. The entire teaching building quickly demonstrated the high-quality standards of key class students. As Ruan Mian followed Zhou Hai past each classroom along the way, they were basically all very quiet, with very few instances of laughing and fooling around.

Zhao Shutang’s class, second-year class one, was at the corner of the third-floor hallway. Zhou Hai pushed the door open and went in. Some students in the class had been Zhou Hai’s students in their first year. Seeing him, they playfully whistled. “Old Zhou, long time no see!”

Zhou Hai gave a good-natured smile and had Ruan Mian stand beside him. “It’s a new semester, which also means we’re one step closer to the college entrance exam. Some students in this class now were taught by me in their first year, some have probably just heard my name, and some people probably don’t even know who I am. But none of that matters. What matters is that from now on, we’re a new collective. Here, let me introduce myself first. My name is Zhou Hai—Zhou as in Duke of Zhou, Hai as in ocean. I’m your homeroom teacher and biology teacher this semester. I hope everyone will treat me well.”

Enthusiastic applause erupted below, mixed with a few whistles.

Zhou Hai raised his hand to quiet them down and patted Ruan Mian’s shoulder, having her step forward. “This is our class’s new transfer student this semester. Everyone welcome her.”

More applause below. When it stopped, Zhou Hai had Ruan Mian introduce herself.

“Hello everyone, my name is Ruan Mian. Ruan as in ‘trading a sable coat for wine,’ Mian as in sleep.” As Ruan Mian paused, thinking about what else to say, the male student who had whistled earlier suddenly led everyone in applause. The applause interrupted Ruan Mian’s train of thought, but also rescued her from her predicament.

Zhou Hai told her to go down and find an empty seat first. In a key class, the seats further back were less desirable. Most seats in the classroom were already taken—only the last row of the first column was still empty. Ruan Mian chose the side near the hallway.

With her self-introduction as a start, Zhou Hai then had other people in the class introduce themselves starting from the first row and going down.

By the time everyone in the class had finished, Ruan Mian had only remembered a few particularly distinctive ones, like the one who whistled—his name was Jiang Rang.

On the first day of school, ordinary classes didn’t have much going on, but key classes were different. An assessment exam was arranged for that afternoon—just testing comprehensive science subjects.

When Ruan Mian heard they didn’t have to test English and Chinese, she breathed a complete sigh of relief. She had serious subject imbalances—she could score nearly perfect on comprehensive science and math each time, but Chinese and English often struggled on the edge of the passing line, which was quite distressing.

After finishing the exam that afternoon, the results were posted after the second evening study period ended. Ruan Mian’s total score for the three subjects ranked fifth in the class.

After Jiang Rang finished looking at the results and came back, he made a special detour to her. “Amazing, new classmate! Biology was so difficult, yet you got a perfect score. Impressive.”

Ruan Mian flipped through her book. “Wait until next time when we test all six subjects—you won’t think that way anymore.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” She looked up and smiled.

Soon the bell rang for the third study period. Zhou Hai brought the freshly printed biology test papers and distributed them according to scores from high to low.

Ruan Mian was first. When she went up to receive her test paper, she received quite a bit of praise. Zhou Hai even directly gave her the position of biology class representative. “Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, Teacher Zhou.” When going down with her test paper, Ruan Mian saw Zhao Shutang sitting in the middle of the third row. The two made eye contact for a moment, then each looked away.

The pace in the key class was tight and fast. One study period finished one test paper. After school, Ruan Mian carried her backpack and was the first to leave through the back door.

She walked all the way to the alley entrance near the Zhao family home and waited there for the late-arriving Zhao Shutang. The two of them returned home together, pretending they had come back from school together.

After arriving home, Fang Ruqing came to ask Ruan Mian about her situation at school that day. She picked and chose what to say, then added at the end: “Mom, please tell Uncle Zhao that from now on Zhao Shutang doesn’t need to specifically wait for me to go to school. She has her freedom, and I have things I need to do. This way is too much trouble.”

“That works too.” Fang Ruqing hesitated. “Did Shutang at school today…”

Ruan Mian said, “We got along fine. You don’t need to worry. We didn’t have any conflicts. Zhao Shutang isn’t the type of person who makes unreasonable trouble.”

Fang Ruqing relaxed her furrowed brow and smiled gently. “Then I’m relieved. Rest early.”

“Mm.”

The next day, Zhao Shutang indeed no longer waited to go to school with Ruan Mian. She left early in the morning. Ruan Mian was happy to be free. After washing up, she went out and bought breakfast at the alley entrance, eating while walking toward school.

She had left relatively late, entering the classroom almost right as the morning reading bell rang. When she sat down at her seat, she discovered that a black backpack had been placed on the seat next to her.

Looks like a new desk mate. Ruan Mian didn’t pay much attention. She took out her biology textbook from her bag and spread it on the desk, continuing to read from where she had left off before.

The second bell for morning self-study rang. A series of hurried footsteps came from the hallway outside the back door, and then several male students walked in.

Someone sat down in the empty seat next to Ruan Mian. The first thing that appeared in her peripheral vision was two straight long legs. There wasn’t enough room under the desk, so he stretched them forward.

The male student’s elbow inadvertently appeared in front of Ruan Mian’s eyes. She saw a scar shaped like a crescent moon on it. Her gaze followed the arm upward.

Past the flat, smooth shoulder line and the well-defined jawline, the moment she saw his face clearly—

Ruan Mian froze.

The male student’s complexion was somewhat poor, with traces of excessive late nights remaining under his eyes. His eyelashes weren’t very long, but they were thick. When lowered, they were beautiful like raven feathers.

Chen Yi put down his backpack and looked up to meet the female student’s blank, dazed gaze. He asked casually, “What’s wrong?”

The male student’s voice was still clean and lazy, carrying some carelessness. It landed steadily in Ruan Mian’s ears, inadvertently disrupting her heartbeat.

Ruan Mian felt as if she’d been hit by enormous joy. After coming back to her senses, there was a brief period of awkwardness and nervousness. The edges of her textbook pages were unconsciously rolled into many creases by her.

Chen Yi clearly didn’t remember Ruan Mian. After waiting a long time for her answer, he made a questioning “Mm?” sound with heavier emphasis, his voice rising at the end.

Ruan Mian’s heart followed it upward, then when it reached a peak, suddenly dropped. She released her tightly clenched hands and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

Having presumably seen this sort of thing many times, Chen Yi didn’t pay much attention either. He pulled out a few books to cushion under his arm as a pillow and went straight to sleep.

He was so carefree and unrestrained, while Ruan Mian beside him was like sitting on pins and needles. The familiar biology symbols in front of her now seemed like an indecipherable text—she couldn’t absorb even a single punctuation mark.

Outside the window, the gardenia flowers were nearing the end of their blooming period. The remaining elegant fragrance drifted into the classroom with the breeze. Ruan Mian kept her head lowered. Amid the noisy, chaotic sounds of reading, she heard Chen Yi’s relaxed, even breathing.

That day’s morning self-study was, for Ruan Mian, both long and especially unforgettable. It was the joy of reunion that belonged to her alone.

Like the cool breeze of late summer, it couldn’t settle for a long, long time.