When Jiang Mu returned to Jin Qiang’s home, everyone was already asleep. She tried to be as quiet as possible while showering and returning to her room. After finishing her remaining homework, around midnight, she took out her math test paper again. She hadn’t completed the last major problem for a simple reason—she didn’t know how to solve it. She planned to think it over one last time before going to bed.
However, when she opened the test paper, she was surprised to find a pencil-drawn analysis diagram below the final problem.
One of Jiang Mu’s former math teachers had said that drawing diagrams was an effective way to translate problems, making abstract thinking concrete. Both the solution process and conditions could become clear at a glance through diagrams, thus speeding up problem-solving.
She understood the theory, but with more difficult problems, she would still occasionally find herself at a loss. Mathematics had always been her weak point from childhood.
Looking at the diagram before her, she gradually began to grasp some ideas. The only explanation she could think of was that Jin Chao had sketched it when helping her pack her things into her school bag. Jiang Mu spent another half hour solving the problem and looking at the complete set of formulas afterward, she suddenly felt a sense of exhilaration. She reviewed it twice more, and just as she was about to close the test paper, she noticed a pencil mark in the bottom right corner, written upside down. When she turned the paper around, she found it was the answer to this problem—matching exactly what she had calculated.
In that moment, Jiang Mu felt an incomparable sense of achievement. With problems of this difficulty, she usually could only get points for the first part, not always scoring full marks. Solving it so smoothly like today was rare.
Looking at the writing Jin Chao had left, she fell into brief contemplation. This was the first time she truly felt the gap between them, and perhaps understood the regret in Old Ma’s eyes.
On Monday, she wore Jin Chao’s uniform to the affiliated middle school. Although the uniform was very large on her, requiring her to roll up the sleeves several times just to free her hands, knowing that Jin Chao had once worn this uniform while attending classes here made the unfamiliar environment feel different somehow.
Ever since Jiang Mu started wearing this uniform, she often noticed people staring at it. At first, she thought it was because the uniform was too big and didn’t pay much attention. Then one day after physics class, Yan Xiaoyi asked her, “Didn’t you notice Old Teacher Zheng standing beside you, staring for a long time?”
This had indeed been strange. During physics class, when Teacher Zheng had wandered to her side, he had specifically called on her to answer a question. While she was answering, his eyes never left her, and even after she finished, he gave her a meaningful look and said profoundly, “Heaven doesn’t disappoint the diligent heart; endure hardship now, and victory will come.”
This unexpected bit of wisdom caught her off guard, and she puzzledly said, “Yeah, does Teacher Zheng often get like this?”
Yan Xiaoyi stared at the school emblem on her chest and asked, “Who did you borrow this uniform from?”
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing her clueless expression, Yan Xiaoyi explained, “When I was in my second year, I heard that long ago, the school had a special uniform for students who won city-level or higher academic competitions. This uniform was mostly identical to regular ones, except the oval in the school emblem had an embroidered trophy. Usually, it was silver, but only those who placed in the top three at city or provincial-level competitions got a gold trophy. From what I know, this reward system only lasted two years before being canceled for some reason. Rumor has it that during those two years, there was only one gold trophy uniform, but no one has ever seen it. We haven’t even seen the silver ones. Teacher Ma once confirmed this in Class 5, saying the owner of the gold trophy uniform was his prized student. Do you know that person?”
Jiang Mu looked down in shock to see a gold trophy embroidered in her uniform’s school emblem. She suddenly recalled the scene—San Lai saying he wanted to try on this uniform, but Jin Chao wouldn’t let him, saying there was only one and telling her to take care of it, that Jin Chao never had the chance to wear it.
At the time, she thought “only one” meant they couldn’t find a second one since they had graduated four or five years ago. She never imagined this uniform was truly the only limited edition one at Tonggang Affiliated Middle School.
No wonder so many people had been mysteriously staring at her clothes these past few days. As an outsider, she had never known about this part of the school’s history. She blankly told Yan Xiaoyi, “Just… don’t know them, borrowed it through someone.”
She was afraid Yan Xiaoyi would keep asking about the uniform’s owner—she could hardly say that this legendary figure was now just a few streets away fixing cars for others, could she?
Jiang Mu instinctively protected Jin Chao’s dignity and said nothing more.
After school, she took time to get a haircut. Jiang Mu hadn’t kept long hair since fifth or sixth grade, always cutting it short when it reached her shoulders. Jiang Yinghan said she already lacked exercise and was picky with food—shouldn’t let what little nutrition she absorbed go to her hair. This made her feel a sense of urgency whenever her hair grew long.
After getting the short haircut, her face looked even smaller. One day during math class, Yan Xiaoyi whispered to her, “Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Many boys in class say you have a first-love face.”
Jiang Mu had no interest in dealing with these boys. Her classmates were a year younger than her, and for students, even one year’s difference created a distinct psychological gap. So in her eyes, they were all just little brothers.
However, since the “first-love face” comment spread, Pan Kai felt a strong sense of crisis. These past few days, he insisted on following Jiang Mu after school. If she took Bus 8, he took Bus 8; if she transferred to Bus 12, he transferred to Bus 12. He wouldn’t leave until he saw her home.
Since the bus company wasn’t owned by Jiang Mu’s family, she couldn’t stop Pan Kai from taking the bus. She could only say each time she got off, “Could you please stop following me?”
Pan Kai would just pretend to be oblivious, looking around aimlessly, and continue the same behavior the next day.
One day, Zhao Meijuan, who was returning from the supermarket, witnessed this. That night she told Jin Qiang, “I saw a boy walking your daughter home. Do you think she might be dating too early?”
Jin Qiang dismissed it casually, “How is that possible? She’s only been in school for a month and a half, how could what you’re saying be true?”
Zhao Meijuan retorted, “Right, your daughter is perfect in every way. If something happens, her mother will come to blame you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Jin Qiang gave her a side glance: “Why are you getting more worked up as you talk about it?”
Originally, this was just Zhao Meijuan making a casual comment, but the next day, while taking out the trash, she saw Pan Kai again. She even went around to the side of the building and saw the boy still lingering after Jiang Mu had gone upstairs—it definitely looked like dating behavior.
Without hesitation, she took out her phone and called Jin Chao. As soon as he answered, Zhao Meijuan shouted, “This is terrible! Old Jin’s daughter is dating too early! I discovered this a few days ago and told Old Jin, but he stubbornly denied it was possible. I saw it with my own eyes! You need to quickly gather some people and quietly warn that young man. If something happens, who knows how that woman will criticize us!”
Jin Chao had been very busy these days and was still working when he received Zhao Meijuan’s call. The news surprised him, but knowing Zhao Meijuan’s tendency to exaggerate, he asked further, “What exactly did you see?”
Zhao Meijuan embellished, “The boy walks Jiang Mu home every night, holding hands so happily.”
“Are you sure?”
“Can’t be wrong, how’s my eyesight?”
“Got it.”
Jin Chao hung up the phone, tossed aside the socket wrench he was holding, and sat on an old tire to light a cigarette. San Lai pushed open the back door, glanced at him, and asked in surprise, “Weren’t you rushing to finish work? Why are you sitting there smoking?”
Jin Chao looked at him without speaking. After about fifteen seconds, he suddenly said, “Give me Shuang Gui – Chapter Tong’s brother’s phone number.”
“You mean Zhang Fan? What do you want with him?” San Lai asked while forwarding Zhang Fan’s number to Jin Chao.
He stood up and walked to the backyard wall to call Zhang Fan, asking him to find out if Jiang Mu was dating someone at school.
Actually, in Jin Chao’s view, if she hadn’t been repeating a year, Jiang Mu would be a college freshman by now. Even if she was dating, it could hardly be called too early. Still, since it was happening right under his nose, he wanted to know more about the situation.
Zhang Fan gathered information very quickly. The next day at school, he had a friend from the same class ask around. As it happened, this friend lived in the same neighborhood as Pan Kai. The previous week when Jiang Mu had brought Pan Kai to find Zhang Fan, Pan Kai had introduced Jiang Mu to him as his future sister-in-law.
So this friend directly told him, “Yeah, that repeating student is Pan Kai’s girlfriend.”
The news reached Jin Chao by morning, and at noon Zhao Meijuan called him again in a panic, urging, “Oh right, when you handle this matter, be careful about your approach. Don’t upset Jiang Mu and make her come back threatening suicide.”
“…Mm, I’ll talk to her tonight.”
After hanging up, Jin Chao pondered for a long time. He had never dealt with this kind of situation before. He didn’t feel he had the standing to make Jiang Mu break up with someone, and in his current position, he couldn’t bring himself to beat up the young man either.
Just then he saw San Lai grooming a cat at the shop entrance. He tossed him a cigarette and asked, “Let me ask you something—how do you break up a young couple?”
San Lai stared at him with a peculiar expression: “Kicking down widows’ doors, drinking postpartum milk, breaking up young couples—since when did you start doing such despicable things? But if you want to break them up, it’s simple: go sleep with the girl, or if that doesn’t work, sleep with the guy.”
Jin Chao felt discussing this matter with him was just a waste of air. He stood up and went into the repair room, only to hear San Lai shouting from outside, “Which couple are you trying to break up anyway?”