The day before entering 2010, Qiao Qingyu received Wang Mumu’s reply letter, as usual, placed on her desk by Guan Lan. After putting down the letter, Guan Lan didn’t leave but plopped down beside her, propping her head with her right hand and half-lying on the desk watching her, eyes full of questioning, wearing an expression that said “caught you again.”
Qiao Qingyu was already used to her mischievous ways and continued opening the letter, waiting for Guan Lan to speak.
“Why did Ah Sheng go to cause trouble at Jiangbin? He hasn’t associated with people outside the school for a long time, why suddenly go to Binjiang to make trouble?”
Her hands stopped moving, and Qiao Qingyu asked puzzled: “What trouble?”
“Fighting,” Guan Lan helplessly patted Qiao Qingyu’s shoulder, “you didn’t know again?”
Qiao Qingyu shook her head, her expression becoming serious.
But Guan Lan was extremely excited, hooking an arm around Qiao Qingyu’s neck and vividly describing in her ear: “Big sis, I admire you… Last weekend there was a gang fight in a factory in Jiangbin, it even made the local news! Someone was covered in blood and sent to the hospital! The rest were all taken to the police station! On Monday morning when Ah Sheng didn’t come, you know why? They say he was called to the police station for questioning because a group of people said they were acting under his orders! Even Fatty Huang went to the police station!”
Seeing Qiao Qingyu’s expression growing increasingly grave, Guan Lan was thoroughly satisfied: “But as you can see, Ah Sheng himself didn’t participate, he just went to the police station for questioning, not a hair on his head was harmed, don’t worry.”
“Not many people at school know about this, but,” Guan Lan’s tone shifted, tightening her arm around Qiao Qingyu’s neck, “with my outstanding detective skills and information-gathering abilities, I’m, positively, definitely certain that Ah Sheng did this because of you. That—” she deliberately created suspense, dragging out her words, “that factory belongs to a group whose chairman is called Ming Cang, the Ming family’s eldest. He has a brother formerly called Ming Juan, now called Ming Zhaoqun, two sisters, one called Ming Ya who’s a professor in America, and one called Ming Yu, a renowned young painter and calligrapher, married to a man called Wen Qiuxin, with one son named Ming Sheng.”
She blurted all this out, glanced at Qiao Qingyu, smiled mysteriously, and lowered her voice even further: “The guy who was beaten and rushed to the hospital had long hair, supposedly called Black Brother, a thug who’s been causing trouble around Jiangbin these past couple years. A few years ago when he was still unknown, he bullied Qiao Baiyu who had just entered Huanzhou Tourism Vocational School, and a year ago, he extended his reach across the Min River to bully Qiao Qingyu at Huan No. 2 High… I understand Ah Sheng, if it were me, since my family has connections, I would’ve beaten him until he couldn’t find his teeth.”
Qiao Qingyu thought of the young man with the sports car who had taken Ming Sheng book shopping, his other cousin—Ming Sheng must have borrowed their family’s factory.
“But I bet Ah Sheng’s parents are furious, especially his dad,” Guan Lan said sympathetically. “His dad is super strict with him. In freshman year, Ah Sheng was much more troublesome than now, and his dad came to school multiple times, saying the school’s discipline was too lax. His mom doesn’t manage him much, and his dad is too busy… I heard Ah Sheng say before that his dad’s way of managing him is to set high goals, multiple ones, so he has no time for other things.”
“Mm.”
“What do you mean ‘mm’? Always so detached and calm,” Guan Lan pouted dissatisfied. “Ah Sheng quietly took revenge for you, my god isn’t this like a TV drama… and you’re still unmoved?”
Her reproachful gaze made Qiao Qingyu too ashamed to lift her head.
“Since he didn’t want others to know about this, you shouldn’t speculate.”
“Hehe,” Guan Lan laughed, “protecting yourself while helping him, you’re something! I knew it, after what Ah Sheng did, what girl could resist~ Alright, alright, I get it~”
Qiao Qingyu was alarmed: “Get what?”
“Whatever you say,” Guan Lan raised her eyebrows meaningfully, looking at the envelope Qiao Qingyu was still holding, her face showing a trace of confusion. “But what was that about Senior Mumu cutting out his photo and returning it to him?”
Sister Mumu wanted to give the photo to me, Qiao Qingyu thought secretly. After several months, Wang Mumu’s gesture seemed clearer to her—if Ming Sheng was her obsession, then cutting the childhood photo and putting Ming Sheng’s part in Qiao Qingyu’s hands was an “entrusting.” Qiao Qingyu thought that perhaps she had long noticed her feelings for Ming Sheng weren’t as indifferent as she portrayed. Giving Ming Sheng’s childhood photo as a gift was both an entrusting and an affirmation, even encouragement.
Affirming her thoughts about Ming Sheng, encouraging her to accept him.
“Also, Qiao Qingyu, I’ve discovered you’re the best at deceiving people,” Guan Lan said. “If it weren’t for your article hinting at Ah Sheng and Senior Mumu, I wouldn’t have been so sure there was something between them~ You were the one who said they had no relationship, and you were also the one who wrote about their beautiful bond, I really can’t figure you out.”
You don’t know how I felt writing that article, it hurt to the extreme, so I could look up to them from a humble and numb position.
But Qiao Qingyu just smiled at Guan Lan, saying nothing.
After Guan Lan left, she took out Wang Mumu’s letter and found a photo inside. In the photo, Wang Mumu was unlike her usual gentle self, wearing a loose black T-shirt, hair tied in a messy ponytail, sitting on the floor with one leg propped up, very hip-hop style.
“Because of my roommate, I’m learning street dance at a dance studio near school, surprising right?” Wang Mumu wrote in the letter. “I learned ballet for a few years when I was little, I quite like dancing, but unfortunately we couldn’t afford to continue the training classes… I chose street dance because it’s cool and powerful. Every time I finish practicing street dance I’m drenched in sweat, I love that feeling. Beijing has indoor heating, it’s so hot I have to wear short sleeves.”
The words “short sleeves” caught Qiao Qingyu’s attention. She took another look at the photo and saw that Wang Mumu’s exposed arms were as smooth as new, without a single scar.
She smiled with relief, then continued reading the letter.
“During our dorm’s late-night talks, we often discuss our high schools, and they all know about Huan No. 2, saying it’s famously good. They say Renmin University’s conditions aren’t good enough and ask if I prefer high school or university—of course, I said university without hesitation.”
“Because university and high school are so different. The campus is huge, classes are in different rooms, classmates come from all over the country, there’s lots of time to arrange freely, life and the world are fluid… Unlike high school, where every day you face the same blackboard and same faces along the same three points, even the worries remain unchanged for three years.”
“No. 2 is very good, but No. 2 is also scary, actually having that kind of student who can influence most people’s judgment—maybe high school life is just too boring? Such students, regardless of whether they are good or bad, their existence turns the school into an invisible hierarchical jungle. Now when I think back to my life at No. 2, others saw me walking on clouds, gave me admiring looks, making me mistakenly believe I was above the jungle, how much this feeling harmed me…”
“You know what? Other high schools don’t have this kind of thing or person,” Wang Mumu wrote. “Only after leaving No. 2’s sphere of public opinion did I return to being myself, and it feels so good to be myself.”
“Oh why am I rambling about all this to you, you’re different from me, your sense of self is very strong, and you won’t be influenced by the outside world.”
Not really, Qiao Qingyu thought.
“You say you want to come to Renmin University, I’m so happy,” Wang Mumu wrote at the end. “But I have a feeling you’ll go to an even better school. Keep going!”
Putting down the letter, Qiao Qingyu looked out the window. After the midterm exam, they had changed seats, and she had long since moved away from the window, now sitting in the fourth row, fourth column, right in the middle of the classroom, the same as this time last year. What was different was her state of mind. The glass was clean as new, and on the last day of 2009, she felt as light as the brilliantly clear sky outside-
During the final exams, Qiao Qingyu heard multiple times from others that Su Tian was planning to apply to the Beijing Film Academy. She was already a dance arts student, so it shouldn’t have been surprising, but because some photos of her in traditional costume were circulating among students, the rumors became magical. Some said the Film Academy had specifically requested her, others said she would go to Hengdian to film in the winter break, and some said she had consulted a master fortune teller who predicted she would become famous within three years. Whatever the case, she had decided not to go to America and kept putting herself in the spotlight, which according to Guan Lan, was revenge, revenge for Ming Sheng’s rejection.
“Wants to prove she’s the star everyone worships, the goddess, overshadowing Ah Sheng’s popularity, making Ah Sheng regret it,” Guan Lan said with extreme disdain. “Hah, as if Ah Sheng would fall for her act?”
“You should also apply to the Film Academy, Guan Lan,” Deng Meixi, sitting beside her eating, joined in. “You could become a screenwriter.”
“Really?” Guan Lan’s eyes widened. “Not bad, Deng Meixi, you’ve shown me a path! University should be interesting, and the Film Academy has the most handsome guys and beautiful girls, that’s the most interesting!”
Deng Meixi looked up and exchanged glances with Qiao Qingyu sitting opposite Guan Lan, both of them smiled. Then Deng Meixi quickly lowered her head to eat her rice, as if embarrassed.
The two of them inviting Qiao Qingyu to eat together had only started this past week. For the first couple of days, it was mostly Guan Lan talking, as Qiao Qingyu was naturally quiet, and Deng Meixi seemed to deliberately stay silent. Later it became more natural, especially when the say-anything Guan Lan suddenly asked them both who Ming Sheng would choose if he had to pick a class flower, grade flower, or school flower from among them.
The result was of course Guan Lan getting a good beating from Deng Meixi, after which Deng Meixi glanced at Qiao Qingyu with a smile, as if self-mockingly throwing out: “I’m just a joke, I accept it.”
“It’s all because I hung out with you!” she turned back to yell at Guan Lan, raising her hand to hit her again. “I used to be very cool too! You comedian! Always stirring up trouble…”
“Oh~ save me, my consort, save me~” Guan Lan reached out to Qiao Qingyu across the table. After pulling together the two most beautiful girls in the class, she felt quite accomplished, declaring to others that Deng Meixi was her “empress” and Qiao Qingyu was her “favored consort.”
It was silly, but also relaxing, and Qiao Qingyu enjoyed being with them.
Thanks to them, Qiao Qingyu finally felt like she was integrating into the class.
During breaks, classmates would come over to discuss studies or chat, and when walking on the plaza to or from school, girls would run over to walk with her. She learned that Gao Chi sitting behind her was also from Shun Yun, and Qin Fen, who had already secured early admission to Tsinghua through the physics competition, was also a book lover who had read many classics.
Before winter break, the class held their usual tea party, and the words “Spring Tea Party” on the blackboard were written by Qiao Qingyu at everyone’s nomination. At the tea party, several people went crazy taking photos with phones and cameras, and Qiao Qingyu was often caught in candid shots or asked to take photos together. There was no more ignoring, no more coldness, everyone was full of kindness. When the tea party ended and people heard that Qiao Qingyu would go to Shanghai in a few days for the New Concept competition finals, everyone applauded and shouted “good luck” in unison.
Qiao Qingyu remembered every face that shouted “good luck,” but there was an unfillable black hole in her heart—Ming Sheng wasn’t among them.
He had disappeared after the final exams, flying to New York for his second SAT. The day of the tea party happened to be his test day. According to two classmates who had taken SAT II, he had taken it once in Hong Kong during the June college entrance exam, scoring quite well, but still not meeting his father’s requirements. Later in October, his father wanted him to take it again to get an even higher score to ensure entry into a top university, but Ming Sheng hadn’t listened, instead spending all his time preparing for the city men’s basketball tournament. Nobody understood why he was going all out on the basketball court—for No. 2 High, winning the championship wasn’t difficult, and for him, getting qualifications wasn’t difficult either.
“Ah Sheng’s dad is too strict,” one classmate said. “Even after submitting the application materials, he’s still forcing him to take tests, saying he hasn’t proven his abilities yet.”
“Isn’t there a saying ‘a tiger father has no dog sons’?” Guan Lan nodded. “But Ah Sheng has it tough.”
“Don’t you think they’re very similar?” Qiao Qingyu pondered. “When they do something, they push it to their absolute limit within their capabilities, they won’t stop just because they’ve met the standard.”
Her rare comment made the people discussing look at her with surprise and admiration, then exchange several meaningful glances.
Then, the unfiltered Guan Lan made Qiao Qingyu instantly blush.
“Yes, yes, we’re all seeing through a fog, you understand him best.”