In the first few days of the new school year, Jiang Qiaoxi remained in the competition class, undergoing intensive training for the upcoming contest.
Standing in the hallway, he received a call from a middle school classmate he barely remembered.
“Jiang Qiaoxi, do you remember me? I’m Feng Letian!” The caller’s voice cracked with excitement. “I’ve transferred to the main campus for the second year and I’m in Class 18. We’re classmates again!”
Jiang Qiaoxi didn’t recall having such a classmate, nor did he know how the caller had obtained his number.
“I’ve been elected class monitor again!” Feng Letian continued cheerfully. “You can contact me at this number if you need anything!”
“Okay,” Jiang Qiaoxi replied.
“Jiang Qiaoxi, although you haven’t come to class yet, everyone misses you and is cheering for your success in the finals!”
“Thank you,” Jiang Qiaoxi said.
“There’s one more thing…” Feng Letian added.
“Jiang Qiaoxi, do you remember a girl named Lin Qile who supposedly came looking for you at our school during middle school?”
Jiang Qiaoxi remained silent, his hands in his pockets.
“Well,” Feng Letian’s tone turned pleading, “Lin Qile happened to be my classmate at Nan School. She’s a good student, hardworking, smart, sensible, kind… She’s a wonderful girl.”
Jiang Qiaoxi listened quietly.
“I think there must be some misunderstanding between you two! Jiang Qiaoxi, you’ve been busy with competitions, so you might not be aware of the rumors around school. Lin Qile told me that you were just elementary school classmates for two years and haven’t known each other since, right?” Feng Letian laughed nervously as if the whole situation was a ridiculous misunderstanding. “We’re all going to be classmates now, so it’s better to clear up any misconceptions about things that never happened!”
Jiang Qiaoxi paused for a moment.
“What things that never happened?” he asked.
During Friday’s long break, Lin Qile stood in formation on the square, waiting for the group exercises to begin.
There were always a few minutes of free time before the music started.
It was the eighth day of the new semester, and whenever Lin Qile found herself in crowded areas, she could hear whispers around her.
“Look, it’s her!”
“Which one?”
“The one standing in front of Fei Linge!”
“The one with short hair?”
“No, no! The one from Class 18 wearing white sneakers! With a ponytail, do you see her?”
At times like these, every detail of Lin Qile’s appearance seemed to become a label identifying her.
These labels painted a picture: a girl who had once shamelessly pursued Jiang Qiaoxi without knowing her place.
Yu Qiao, as the sports representative, traditionally led the formation from the front. Cai Fangyuan, being short, also stood at the front of the boys’ line.
Lin Qile positioned herself in the back row.
To her left was the class monitor, Feng Letian. Diagonally behind her was the class physics representative, Fei Linge.
At this moment, Fei Linge was still chatting with Cen Xiaoman, who stood behind Lin Qile.
“Jiang Qiaoxi has an exam this Sunday,” Fei Linge suddenly said. “I called him. He’ll be done by noon. Should we go to KTV to celebrate?”
Cen Xiaoman replied softly, “Don’t be silly. Jiang Qiaoxi will return to the competition class. He doesn’t like celebrations anyway.”
Fei Linge agreed, “That’s true. Jiang Qiaoxi’s family is very strict. Aunt Liang would never allow it.”
Seeing Lin Qile standing motionless in front of them, unaffected by their conversation, Fei Linge stared at the back of her head and said, “But with such strict family rules, how come these shameless girls still try to cling to him?”
Feng Letian turned back and said, “Fei Linge, stop talking during exercises!”
Lin Qile stood amidst the laughter around her, overhearing some absurd rumors.
“What did the letter say?”
“I remember! She claimed Jiang Qiaoxi had a daughter with her in the countryside!”
The air was filled with whispers, and Lin Qile heard others laughing. She found these stories quite amusing herself.
Finally, the “Era Calls” music began, breaking the chatter.
Lin Qile responded to the call, diligently starting her exercises.
Lin Qile’s arrival at the main campus of the Provincial Experimental High School was like a drop of water falling into boiling oil. The sizzling sound could have evaporated any teenage girl’s self-esteem. Yet Lin Qile went about her days – attending classes, dismissals, after-school activities – laughing and joking with her friends, showing no obvious signs of sadness or disappointment.
Some said it was because she was thick-skinned – a girl who dared to openly chase boys in middle school would dare to do anything.
Others believed it was because Lin Qile had a clear goal: she had come from the countryside for Jiang Qiaoxi, not only getting into Experimental High but also transferring to the main campus and ending up in the same class as him. “Jiang Qiaoxi hasn’t been here these past few days. Who knows what she’ll do when he shows up!”
After school, Feng Letian specifically caught up with Lin Qile, saying, “Lin Qile, don’t let them influence you!”
Lin Qile was walking alongside Yu Qiao, Cai Fangyuan, and Du Shang, eating an ice cream. She turned to look at Feng Letian.
Feng Letian seemed a bit hesitant to approach the group of boys. He stammered, “Lin Qile, the things you haven’t done… you can tell Fei Linge and the others that it’s all just rumors! Ask them to stop spreading nonsense!”
Cai Fangyuan turned his head, exchanging glances with Du Shang and Yu Qiao.
Lin Qile held the small milk ice cream in her mouth, taking advantage of the time before the bus arrived to speak with him.
“Feng Letian,” she said softly, “I…”
Feng Letian interrupted, “You and Jiang Qiaoxi were just elementary school classmates for two years and haven’t known each other since. Why are they making up so many stories?”
Lin Qile smiled at Feng Letian.
“We were indeed only elementary school classmates for two years,” Lin Qile said, then added after a pause, “But I did write letters to Jiang Qiaoxi…”
Du Shang stood nearby, looking displeased.
“Ah… what?” Feng Letian was slow to react.
Lin Qile continued, “But that was all a long time ago. I didn’t come to the provincial capital because of Jiang Qiaoxi. My parents’ work brought us here, though I suppose no one would believe that anyway.”
“Then…” Feng Letian stuttered.
“It’s okay,” Lin Qile said, her big eyes looking at him as she smiled. “Let them talk.”
“Alright, alright,” Yu Qiao said impatiently. “The bus is here. Let’s go.”
On Monday, September 11th, after the morning reading session, the first class was English. Jiang Qiaoxi had gone to the principal’s office to receive an award certificate. The principal stopped him, enthusiastically asking about his performance in the finals, expressing the school’s high hopes for his inclusion in the provincial team roster, and calling him a once-in-a-generation talent who would surely succeed.
Jiang Qiaoxi, carrying his backpack and the thin certificate, climbed the stairs to the classroom building. Many people greeted him along the way, either former classmates or those he had shared classes within the competition group. Nearly half of the students at Experimental High had been promoted directly from the junior high division, so it was unlikely that anyone in his grade didn’t know Jiang Qiaoxi.
He reached the third floor, passing Class 15, then Class 16, and Class 17.
At the end of this corridor was a water dispenser, surrounded by a crowd.
A girl wearing the blue and white striped uniform of Experimental High, her hair tied in two buns, held a cup with a cherry pattern in her right hand and a solid blue NBA commemorative water bottle in her left. She had just filled them with hot water and was now adding cool boiled water. She didn’t notice Jiang Qiaoxi as she entered Class 18 with both containers.
Jiang Qiaoxi entered through the back door of the classroom. His seat was always in the last row. Many classmates gathered around him as he arrived.
He saw Lin Yingtao weaving through the desks to place the sports bottle on Yu Qiao’s desk. Yu Qiao was, as usual, reading a sports newspaper. He reached into his drawer and pulled out two tea bags, tossing one into Lin Yingtao’s cup without even looking.
Fei Linge excitedly asked, “Jiang Qiaoxi, how did your exam go yesterday? Did you get a perfect score?”
Jiang Qiaoxi sat down and began taking books out of his bag. He looked up again. Lin Yingtao had taken her seat by the window. She no longer wore childish pigtails but had her hair in two buns, with a few strands falling behind her ears, revealing a glimpse of her neck. Her profile, bathed in sunlight from the window, appeared delicately fair.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head. He didn’t even know the class schedule until his classmates reminded him to take out his English textbook.
The third time he looked up, Cai Fangyuan turned back from the front, meeting Jiang Qiaoxi’s gaze.
As the English teacher entered, Cai Fangyuan turned back around.
Jiang Qiaoxi was called upon by the English teacher in the very first class.
He had been away from school for over a week, and all the teachers knew why.
Jiang Qiaoxi read a passage from the textbook. He didn’t need to prepare or look up unfamiliar words; he could read all the new content fluently.
The teacher was extremely pleased and praised him: “With Jiang Qiaoxi’s English level and pronunciation, it would be a waste to just get into Tsinghua! He should aim for Harvard, Stanford, or MIT!”
Lin Qile sat in front, focused on her textbook. She diligently looked up words in her electronic dictionary and carefully wrote the meanings in her book, completely absorbed in her task.
Our Generation – Chapter Notes:
- “The ‘era’ has begun to ‘call'”: The Era Calls is one of the national radio calisthenics routines designed for elementary and middle school students, including kindergarteners. It was created under the organization of the Ministry of Education and was implemented nationwide starting September 1, 2002.
- Wenquxing: A brand name for an electronic dictionary.