It was 9 AM when Jiang Qiaoxi left the Foreign Language High School. The final class of the exchange program had ended, and Jiang Qiaoxi needed to return to Shiyan High for his regular classes.
A car waited outside the school gates, across the street near the post office. Jiang Qiaoxi walked slowly through the traffic alone. Behind him, students from the competition class called out, “Goodbye, Study God Jiang! See you at winter camp!”
Jiang Qiaoxi paused outside the car, taking a deep breath of fresh air before reluctantly opening the door and sliding inside.
Jiang Zheng’s driver, wearing gloves, gripped the steering wheel up front. Liang Hongfei sat in the passenger seat, watching Jiang Qiaoxi’s expressionless face in the rearview mirror. The boy was as usual – passionate only about studying mathematics.
“Let’s go,” she said, satisfied.
The car slowly pulled away.
“Qiaoxi, how was your stay at the school?” Liang Hongfei asked.
“It was fine.”
“Were the teachers’ lessons good?”
“They were okay.”
“I called you yesterday, but you didn’t answer.”
“…”
“You even hung up. What were you doing?” Liang Hongfei asked from the front seat.
“I was solving problems in the bathroom,” Jiang Qiaoxi replied.
“Why did you need your phone for that?”
“Lights out at 10 PM.”
The driver chimed in good-naturedly, “The Foreign Language School’s dorm rules are quite strict!”
“I see,” said Liang Hongfei. “If I’d known, I would have brought a flashlight.”
The car was silent, without even music playing. It was new, recently assigned to the Electric Power Construction Group’s top executives. Jiang Qiaoxi sat in the back, turning to look out the window at the monotonous street scenes passing by.
Liang Hongfei chatted with the driver up front, mentioning how Jiang Qiaoxi had never liked car rides since childhood, was prone to motion sickness and vomiting, and disliked train rides as well.
“Qiaoxi, has the school finalized plans for the winter camp?” she asked.
“No,” Jiang Qiaoxi replied.
“Time is getting tight,” Liang Hongfei said. “If the provincial team and Shiyan don’t have a unified plan, I’ll book your flight tickets in advance.”
“Okay,” Jiang Qiaoxi agreed.
He pulled out a set of lecture notes from his backpack and began working on problems.
Liang Hongfei stopped talking to him.
As they arrived at Shiyan High School, Liang Hongfei opened the car door and stepped out. “Study more at school these next few days,” she said. “It’s the final stretch, Qiaoxi. You need to make up for your brother—”
The driver interjected, “Sister-in-law, no need to say more. Qiaoxi is such a sensible child!”
Jiang Qiaoxi exited the car, adjusted his backpack, and walked toward the school gates without looking back.
As he turned into the teaching building, he took a deep breath, feeling his lungs expand with relief.
It was the long break between classes, just after morning exercises. As Jiang Qiaoxi climbed the stairs, the corridors around him buzzed with the laughter and chatter of second-year high school students. Though they were his peers, Jiang Qiaoxi seemed to exist in a different time and space.
“Jiang Qiaoxi, your exchange classes are over?” Fei Linge called out excitedly from the doorway of Class 18.
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded, brushing past him into the classroom.
He crossed the podium.
“No way! Yu Jin admitted it?” He heard Lin Yingtao’s laughter mixed with Yu Qiao and others. Lin Yingtao asked excitedly, “What exactly did he say?”
Cai Fangyuan, sitting at Yu Qiao’s desk, frowned. “Yu Jin’s just a kid. What does he know?”
Lin Yingtao laughed, “Yu Jin’s in fifth grade now, but I still think of him as this small—”
She raised her hand, gesturing at Yu Jin’s short height.
Suddenly, her hand was grabbed by Jiang Qiaoxi.
Lin Yingtao froze, looking up at him.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood by Huang Zhanjie’s desk, backpack on, and said quietly, “Come with me.”
The classmates, just returned from morning exercises, all looked up to see Jiang Qiaoxi pulling Lin Qile from her seat, past the front podium, and out the door.
Fei Linge stood in the hallway, watching the scene in disbelief. “J-Jiang Qiaoxi?”
Lin Yingtao was confused as Jiang Qiaoxi pulled her past Class 17, then Class 16. The hallways were full of students chatting and getting water, all turning to look at them.
“Why are you dragging me?” Lin Yingtao asked fearfully, her wrist in Jiang Qiaoxi’s tight grip. “Let go, I can walk on my own!”
Jiang Qiaoxi pulled Lin Yingtao to the stairwell. He glanced down at her and released her hand.
“Let’s go downstairs,” he urged.
Lin Yingtao was bewildered, surrounded by classmates staring at them. Her heart raced with anxiety.
Jiang Qiaoxi followed silently behind as Lin Yingtao descended the stairs.
They left the teaching building, passed the outdoor basketball court, crossed the science lab building, and followed a small path hidden in the shade that led directly to the back door of the Little White Building.
Whenever Lin Yingtao veered off course, Jiang Qiaoxi pulled her back onto the right path.
The Little White Building was closed at this hour, its doors locked. Jiang Qiaoxi stood tall before the entrance, pulled keys from his backpack to unlock the door, and ushered Lin Yingtao inside.
Lin Yingtao had never been here before and looked around curiously.
Jiang Qiaoxi walked down the hallway, casually pushed open a study room door, and pulled Lin Yingtao inside, closing the door behind them.
“What did you mean by what you said yesterday?” he asked immediately.
Lin Yingtao stood in the study room, her large eyes darting around before looking back at him.
“What?” she asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi approached her.
He looked down at her, silent at first, then suddenly lifted his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Lin Yingtao understood.
“You mean, that…” she realized belatedly.
Lin Yingtao thought for a moment.
“Why are you still asking?”
Yesterday on the phone, Lin Yingtao thought she had explained enough, but Jiang Qiaoxi kept asking, forcing her to repeat herself.
Jiang Qiaoxi set down his backpack, pulled over a chair, and sat down.
He seemed to have no intention of attending the next class. He looked up, waiting for Lin Yingtao to explain clearly.
Lin Yingtao stood before him, wearing the same uniform as him, only slightly taller than him while he was seated.
“Jiang Qiaoxi,” Lin Yingtao said patiently, “I… I don’t want to be angry with you anymore.”
Jiang Qiaoxi looked up at her. “Why?”
Lin Yingtao told him, “I was too young before. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Jiang Qiaoxi squinted, not understanding.
Lin Yingtao said, “So don’t take what happened before seriously. I know many of your friends think I was clingy and pestering you, but that wasn’t the case at all. Back then, I was just—”
“I never thought that,” Jiang Qiaoxi interrupted.
Lin Yingtao looked at him.
“But everyone else thinks so,” she said.
Jiang Qiaoxi said, “Lin Yingtao.”
Lin Yingtao was startled. “What?”
Jiang Qiaoxi said, “Do you know what the old men and women, the uncles and aunties used to say about you and me behind our backs when we were at the Qunshan construction site?”
Lin Yingtao didn’t understand. “What did they say?”
Jiang Qiaoxi calmly stated, “They called you my ‘little girlfriend.'”
Lin Yingtao blinked.
Jiang Qiaoxi fell silent, just watching her.
Lin Yingtao said awkwardly, “What… what are you talking about? How old was I back in Qunshan? You were the same age as me, just like Yu Jin is now…”
Jiang Qiaoxi didn’t want to argue with her.
“Who told you that?” Lin Yingtao asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi said, “Ask your parents when you get home.”
Lin Yingtao was stunned into silence.
They faced each other in the empty study room, one standing, one sitting. Just two days ago, they couldn’t even speak to each other when they met.
“But what does this have to do with… what your friends say about me?” Lin Yingtao said.
“They don’t know anything. They don’t understand,” Jiang Qiaoxi said.
Lin Yingtao protested, “Aren’t they your friends?”
“Yu Qiao is your friend too,” Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly said. “Have you ever told him about what happened between us?”
Lin Yingtao suddenly pouted.
“There’s nothing between us,” she said. “Nothing happened!”
Jiang Qiaoxi glared at her.
Lin Yingtao lowered her head, then turned away after a moment.
“Those people…” her voice suddenly became dejected, “your friends, they say such hurtful things about me… I’m just here to study, I’m not here to cause trouble. I’ve never offended them…”
Imperceptibly, the two speaking were no longer Lin Qile and Jiang Qiaoxi of Class 18, Grade 2 at Shiyan High School in the provincial capital.
They were in a small, enclosed room, with even the adults napping behind a large wardrobe.
Whatever they said, only the evergreen by the window could hear.
“I wrote those letters… I wasn’t writing to them…” Lin Yingtao took a deep breath, her lips quivering. As she spoke, she suddenly crouched down on the ground.
Jiang Qiaoxi immediately stood up, pushed his chair aside, and crouched down in front of Lin Yingtao.
“Yingtao,” he said.
He saw Lin Yingtao’s shoulders shaking as she buried her face deep into her knees. “What are they laughing at me for…” Lin Yingtao’s voice was muffled as she began to cry with frustration.
During the third math class of the morning, Lin Qile was absent. When she ran back from outside during the break, her eyes were red and puffy. She bumped into the math teacher leaving the classroom.
The teacher, seeing the usually well-behaved top student with swollen eyes, asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Lin Qile pressed her lips together and said pitifully, “Teacher, I… my stomach hurts…”
She quickly clutched her stomach.
The teacher looked down and bent over to see. “That’s your liver you’re holding.”
Lin Qile hurriedly moved her hand lower, clearly nervous.
Jiang Qiaoxi approached from behind, still carrying his backpack as if he had just returned. The math teacher saw him and asked, “Jiang Qiaoxi, are your classes at the Foreign Language School finished?”
“Hello, teacher,” Jiang Qiaoxi said politely, lowering his head as he drew near.
Lin Qile stood nearby, still clutching her stomach anxiously.
The math teacher asked kindly, “How are you feeling now? Are you confident about the winter camp?”
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly smiled, surprising even the math teacher who rarely saw this student smile.
“Teacher, I just saw this classmate coming out of the school infirmary,” Jiang Qiaoxi said, pointing at Lin Qile. “She doesn’t seem to be feeling well.”
The math teacher turned back, startled.
“Is that so?” The teacher quickly supported Lin Qile. “Then hurry, hurry back to your seat!”
Lin Qile returned to her seat under the strange gazes of Huang Zhanjie and others. Her eyes, already large, looked even more pitiful after crying. Many people were watching her, probably knowing that Lin Qile had been pulled out by Jiang Qiaoxi during the long break and neither had returned for an entire class period – a rare occurrence.
Lin Qile turned in her seat to look back. She saw Jiang Qiaoxi enter through the back door, but instead of sitting down, he stood by the wall, speaking quietly with Fei Linge, whose face showed an expression of shock.
As Jiang Qiaoxi spoke, he suddenly looked up, meeting Lin Qile’s gaze.