Shan Shan rolled her wheelchair down the stairs as the campus approached its usual bustling morning state. Remarkably, the once quiet grounds had transformed into a hive of activity during her brief visit to the second-year classroom.
Her classroom was already full when she entered. Shao Xing looked up to see her deskmate wheeling in, a vacant expression on her face. The threshold she had crossed countless times before nearly tripped her today.
Before Shan Shan could tumble to the ground with her wheelchair, Shao Xing swiftly stepped forward and steadied her. With one hand on the wheelchair’s armrest and the other catching the warm soy milk that almost spilled, she managed to secure both Shan Shan and her belongings. The plastic bag rustled softly.
“Why are you so clumsy?” Shao Xing grumbled, tossing the warm soy milk back onto the girl’s lap. “You can’t even sit steadily in a wheelchair.”
Shan Shan raised her soft, pale hands and flexed her fingers. “It’s so cold, I almost lost my grip on the wheels.”
“Wear gloves then!” Shao Xing said with disdain. “Or use prosthetics. Honestly, at your level, you could use prosthetics, right? Then you could walk around like everyone else.”
Shan Shan responded with an unenthusiastic “Oh.”
Prosthetics weren’t something to be used on a whim. They required extensive practice, like learning to walk all over again as a newborn. It felt like restarting life itself. There was the possibility of falling, exhaustion, and attracting unwanted attention when wearing shorts. The amputation site might chafe against the prosthetic, leading to allergies, injuries, and a host of other problems.
The wheelchair was fine as it was.
Whether it was avoidance or something else, Shan Shan had never considered the seemingly inspirational idea of “standing up again” with prosthetics. Perhaps because she had already invested all her courage and perseverance into her once-beloved figure skating. Now, she was like a deflated balloon.
Once full and round, now suddenly burst with a “pop.”
Nothing left but useless debris.
Really.
So, the wheelchair was just fine.
Shao Xing’s words plunged the girl into silence. She neither refuted nor agreed. Fortunately, the classroom’s lively atmosphere, filled with greetings and chatter, masked her quietness.
Shao Xing tilted her head, eyeing the breakfast on Shan Shan’s lap. “Hey, how come you bought breakfast today?”
This question, at least, Shan Shan could answer. She gazed deeply at Shao Xing before replying concisely, “It wasn’t for me.”
Puzzled, Shao Xing asked, “Then who did you buy it for?”
“They didn’t want it,” Shan Shan responded.
Even more confused, Shao Xing exclaimed, “And you’re smiling? You, the ultimate penny-pincher, bought breakfast for someone else, got rejected, and you’re smiling?”
Shan Shan raised her hand to touch the corner of her mouth. Oh, it was indeed turned up.
“Am I smiling?” she asked.
“Yes, you are.”
“How about now?”
“Now it’s even more nauseating.”
“Oh, I’m going out to eat breakfast.”
“… Why the sudden change of subject? Ah, do you want me to push you out?”
“No need.”
“Well, don’t fall again!”
“It’s fine,” Shan Shan said, “It’s not like I fall every day.”
“You should let your family arrange for prosthetics soon,” Shao Xing insisted. “You can’t even leave the classroom for weeks at a time. It’s a good thing we’re not boarding, or I’d think you’d stay in the classroom without moving until someone goes crazy—”
“I’ve already said,” Shan Shan replied patiently, still smiling, “I don’t want to use those things.”
Shao Xing’s rambling ceased abruptly. She looked down at the girl before her, words caught in her throat.
“Time to collect homework!” The math class representative’s call broke the awkward silence between them. With only about ten minutes left before the morning self-study session, Shao Xing, who hadn’t finished her math homework the night before, quickly asked Shan Shan about the problem-solving approach before burying herself in her work.
Outside, it was quite cold, but the corridor remained lively. It was an unwritten school rule that breakfast could be eaten in the classroom, but in winter, with the heating on, foods with strong aromas were to be consumed in the hallway.
Shan Shan usually didn’t like going outside, so she ate odorless foods like bread and small cakes. It also saved money. But today, she had steaming buns, so after putting down her bag, she maneuvered her wheelchair back to the corridor.
Students leaning against the railing in the corridor chatted while holding their breakfasts, discussing Korean dramas, celebrity gossip, campus rumors, or gossiping about classmates.
Shan Shan joined them with her breakfast, occasionally participating in the conversation. She alternated between taking bites of her bun and speaking, her eyes fixed on the snow-covered rooftops in the distance.
Suddenly, a light green plastic object whizzed past her nose, falling from above. It hit the ground below with a loud “thwack,” shattering into pieces.
Everyone in the corridor reacted in unison:
First, they craned their necks to look down, resulting in numerous heads popping out from the second and first floors. They saw that the fallen object was a trash can… Being early morning, it didn’t contain much garbage but scattered on the ground were some candies, chocolates, and apples.
Then, they turned to look up, and in turn, curious faces from the third and fourth floors peered down at those looking up from the first and second floors.
No one knew what had happened.
Shan Shan thought the trash can looked familiar.
Then, a shrill female voice rang out:
“If you don’t like it, you could have left it in your drawer or thrown it away somewhere private, not tossed it in the trash can in front of everyone!! It’s a gesture of goodwill, no matter what!! Dai Duo, are all foreigners savages?! Didn’t anyone teach you social etiquette or basic human morals?!!!”
The accusatory “Are all foreigners savages?” was asked with heartbreak, but the listeners found it quite amusing. From the first to the fourth floor, including the senior students, everyone burst into laughter. The morning campus became even more lively than usual.
Shan Shan didn’t laugh. She was lost in thought upon hearing the name “Dai Duo.”
After a long moment, just before the bell for morning reading sounded, everyone heard the clear voice of a young man. It was drawing and emphasizing words in a particularly annoying way.
“What does this have to do with manners?”
…
“Many people give me breakfast, but I only eat breakfast once.”
…
“I choose the one that looks good to me, eat it, and assume the others are poisoned.”
…
“Is there a problem with that?”
A deafening silence fell.
Everyone, including the girl who had just yelled at him, was stunned by his matter-of-fact attitude. At this point, bringing up “disrespect” seemed like preaching righteousness while passing gas… especially since the recipient treated “lack of manners” as his daily bread. Moreover, he wasn’t the one who had thrown the trash can down.
…
This incident served as a small interlude before morning reading, providing gossip material for the otherwise monotonous day of studying ahead.
Before the end of the first class, everyone knew who the main characters in the morning’s hallway drama were—
The male lead was the new transfer student and school heartthrob, Dai Duo. The female lead was Tang Yisheng, the beauty of the first-year class.
“From their conversation, it seems Dai Duo accepted someone’s breakfast?” Shao Xing asked.
Shan Shan picked up a weight, weighing it in her hand.
“It’s reasonable to suspect he accepted it not because of the person, but simply because he wanted to eat that particular breakfast… Damn, this Dai Duo is insufferably arrogant!” Chen Jingsong sighed, turning around during the physics class group experiment discussion.
Shao Xing: “I saw all kinds of stuff in that trash can. What breakfast did he end up choosing? Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?”
Shan Shan: “Discounted near-expiry bread from the supermarket?”
Shao Xing and Chen Jingsong, who had been discussing enthusiastically, turned to look at her in bewilderment.
Shan Shan tossed the weight onto the scale, watching it tilt towards her. She raised her eyelids slightly: “I gave it to him.”
Shao Xing: “You’re lying.”
Chen Jingsong: “You’re bluffing.”
Shan Shan: “Otherwise, why was I eating buns this morning? I bought them for him, but he didn’t want them. He took my bread instead. There was no bread in that trash can.”
Shao Xing: “…”
Chen Jingsong turned to Shao Xing: “What did she eat this morning?”
Shao Xing: “Buns.”
Chen Jingsong: “…”
Shan Shan: “Apologize.”
Shao Xing: “Sorry.”
Chen Jingsong: “Sorry.”
…
Shan Shan occasionally had those unrealistic fantasies too. It was a girl’s heart, after all, coming so suddenly. Yesterday, her heart was as still as a nun’s, like dead water, but it shattered along with the falling trash can.
Women are the animals most skilled at imagination. Later, it became unstoppable. She couldn’t help but recall the way he looked at her, tilting his head, as if a spring breeze had passed by.
However, this girlish heart didn’t seem appropriate to share with those around her. But keeping it to herself made her fear the earth might explode from her holding it in. After much consideration…
She decided to tell her restless girlish heart to her brother.
Although her brother didn’t know what he had done wrong, that day, after finishing training and just out of the shower, the man slowly walked out of the steamy bathroom wearing only a pair of jeans. He glanced at the bed and froze.
The towel he was using to dry himself stopped at his back. A drop of water slid down his muscular back, falling into the waistband of his jeans, spreading a small wet patch.
He saw countless unread WeChat messages on the phone lying quietly on the bed.
It’s worth noting that at this time, Shan Chong was still the Shan Chong everyone knew:
The national snowboarding team member Shan Chong;
The cold snowboarding machine;
The man who might spend his whole life with a snowboard;
The man who looked at snowboards about 100 times more tenderly than at women;
The man who’d rather buy another pair of snow boots than spend money on dating…
That Shan Chong.
Such a person was destined to turn off message notifications for most groups and people on social media. The only messages that would pop up on his screen were from family members and his coach, Wang Xin…
And rarely would anyone send him messages so frantically.
Unless something earth-shattering had happened.
Standing three meters away from the bed, Shan Chong hesitated for at least a minute before slowly walking forward. Before picking up the phone, his heart was racing due to the tense emotions—
Then, upon seeing the sender and the first message, this tension…
Quickly relaxed.
And was replaced by a sense of absurdity.
[Doing Good Deeds: Ahhhhh I think I’m in love!]
Imagine the feeling of the snowboarding machine who a second ago was so tense he thought the earth was about to explode.
It could probably only be described as “…”
[Doing Good Deeds: Can I have a puppy love?!!!!]
[Doing Good Deeds: before I was 10, I had some confidence that I’d ask you this question sooner or later. After losing my legs, I gave up on this idea. I didn’t expect to have the chance to ask again in my lifetime—Brother!!! Can I have a puppy love?!!!]
[Doing Good Deeds: It’s okay if you don’t agree.]
[Doing Good Deeds: I’m already in love :)]
[Doing Good Deeds: The ‘love’ in ‘secret love’.]
[Doing Good Deeds: But I think it’s not a big problem, we have mutual feelings.]
[Doing Good Deeds: The other person is good, probably.]
[Doing Good Deeds: Just a bit of a bad mouth.]
The messages came one after another.
Shan Chong’s emotions as he read probably went from tension—absurdity—speechlessness—wanting to get angry—back to speechlessness—confusion.
Yes, that’s right, it ended with “confusion.”
The source of confusion came from the last two sentences of Shan Shan’s message—to be precise, the last sentence. This description was very familiar and even gave him an ominous feeling.
He casually tossed the towel onto a chair, sat down on the edge of the bed, and bent down to pick up the phone to reply. As he did so, his shoulder blades drew together—
Sexy and powerful, like a leopard lying in wait in the jungle.
[Chong: Do you want to change from lower-body dysfunction to high-level dysfunction?]
The other side was holding the phone.
[Doing Good Deeds: Is this the “I’ll break your legs” special edition gift for me?]
[Chong: Yes.]
[Doing Good Deeds: But my heart can’t be controlled just by you breaking my legs, boo-hoo!]
[Doing Good Deeds: I didn’t have any improper thoughts about him until yesterday.]
[Doing Good Deeds: Today I do.]
[Doing Good Deeds: Because he’s mean to everyone else but nice to me.]
[Doing Good Deeds: Because this person has no manners and is impolite. I think he’s not being nice to me out of pity, so it must be love coming unstoppably.]
Shan Shan typed rapidly.
How could Shan Chong, a big straight man, keep up with her speed?
By the time she had finished writing a whole essay about her girlish heart, he had only managed to type a few words—
[Chong: From your description, don’t tell me that person is called Dai Duo.]
Send.
The other side was silent for half a minute.
[Doing Good Deeds: You know him? Your friend?]
Shan Chong, looking at the phone screen, let out another brief, absurd laugh.
[Chong: My apprentice.]
[Doing Good Deeds: Eww.]
[Chong: He transferred to your school, right? You’ve met? He’s nice to you?]
The man typed out three words to kill the girl’s heart, his face expressionless—
[Chong: I told him to.]
The essay on the other side stopped.
It showed “typing” for a long time.
[Doing Good Deeds: Ah.]
Shan Chong changed his sitting position and sighed.
[Chong: What else did you think it was?]
[Doing Good Deeds: My charm?]
[Chong: …]
[Chong: ?]
[Doing Good Deeds: ?]
[Doing Good Deeds: …]
[Doing Good Deeds: Never mind, it’s okay.]
[Doing Good Deeds: It doesn’t prevent me from being special in his eyes.]
[Chong: ??]
[Doing Good Deeds: Thank you, brother!]
[Chong: ???]