For the past two nights, Jin Chao had been there before Jiang Mu went to sleep, which had helped her feel secure. But tonight, alone in the dark garage with the empty repair shop looming above, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Fortunately, San Lai brought Shan Dian over to keep her company.
Shan Dian was well-behaved; while Jiang Mu worked on her practice problems, it didn’t cause any trouble, just sprawled across the table sleeping with its little paws resting on her test papers. Occasionally petting it helped keep her fears at bay.
At bedtime, Jiang Mu placed the dog bed San Lai had given her beside her bed, and Shan Dian slept next to her on the floor, providing some comfort to her heart.
However, after turning off the lights and lying in bed, her mind began to wander. She had wanted to text Jin Chao to say goodnight, but then thought: what if he wasn’t alone? Would her message be inconvenient? If he wasn’t alone, what would he be doing right now?
Once this train of thought began, it became unstoppable, leading to dreams filled with Jin Chao that night. Strangely, perhaps due to her earlier conversation with San Lai, Jin Chao was shirtless, standing outside the small room cleaning windows. When she tried to peek through the blinds to see his waist, a faceless woman appeared and embraced him from behind. Jin Chao dropped his cloth, turned around to lift the woman in his arms, and pressed her against the object covered by the large tarp.
The scene was so visually intense that when Jiang Mu woke up the next morning, she sat dazed in bed for a long while, unable to recover. She had always considered herself a pure-minded girl, and this was probably the most provocative dream she’d had in her entire adolescent life. The protagonists were Jin Chao and a faceless woman, and what’s more, she had been anxiously trying to climb out the bedroom window to stop Jin Chao. As for why she wanted to stop him, she couldn’t say.
Seeing Jiang Mu awake, Shan Dian excitedly wagged its tail and lay by the bed begging for pets. Jiang Mu let out a long breath, patted Shan Dian’s head, and got up to peek through the blinds. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and the yard was pitch black. Of course, there were no shirtless Jin Chao cleaning windows like in her dream. However, just as she was about to let go of the blinds, she noticed that the object that had been covered by the large tarp was gone. She didn’t think much of it though, and just yawned before getting up to change clothes.
Jin Chao hadn’t returned for two days. To avoid drawing attention, Jiang Mu declined San Lai’s kind offer to pick her up, saying the No. 6 bus was convenient enough. However, when she returned, San Lai would be sitting at the entrance eating sunflower seeds, watching until she entered the garage and locked the door before taking his stool back into his shop and calling Jin Chao: “She’s home.”
Jin Chao responded with a simple “Mm.”
San Lai asked, “When are you coming back?”
“I want to check out the terrain, might take another two days.”
That was Jin Chao’s plan, but plans don’t always work out as intended. The next day, he received a call from Teacher Ma.
During evening self-study, Class Monitor Zhang Jiang came in from the hallway carrying a stack of notices, his small eyes squeezed into slits as he announced, “Teacher Ma wants you to work on this morning’s test paper. He’s talking to someone and will come by later.”
Someone from the front row asked, “Who is it?”
Zhang Jiang handed out the notices and replied, “How would I know? Some young handsome guy.”
The words “handsome guy” successfully reached Yan Xiaoyi’s ears. Upon hearing this, she insisted on dragging Jiang Mu to the bathroom. Though Jiang Mu was reluctant, she couldn’t match Yan Xiaoyi’s strength and was pulled from her seat. As soon as they left the classroom, Jiang Mu pointed out, “The bathroom isn’t this way.”
Yan Xiaoyi dismissed her concern: “We’re just taking a walk. It’s good for the eyes to rest them.”
Sure enough, they ended up at Teacher Ma’s office. The lights were on, and when they reached the door, they weren’t the only ones there – several other students were trying to peek inside. But Yan Xiaoyi’s frame was too large; once she stood there, not even a pillar could hide her. Teacher Ma couldn’t help but notice and called out, “Yan Xiaoyi, why aren’t you in self-study? What are you looking at?”
Everyone else ran away, and Jiang Mu wanted to run too, but Yan Xiaoyi linked arms with her and said to Teacher Ma with a grin, “Jiang Mu and I are going to the bathroom.”
Inexplicably pulled to the office door, Jiang Mu was about to force a cooperative expression when she suddenly saw Jin Chao sitting cross-legged on the black sofa next to Teacher Ma.
At that moment, Jiang Mu’s expression froze. She hadn’t expected Jin Chao, who was supposed to be out of town, to be back and appear in Teacher Ma’s office. She immediately had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, when Teacher Ma saw her, he said, “Yan Xiaoyi, go back to class. Jiang Mu, stay for a moment.”
Yan Xiaoyi gave Jiang Mu a helpless shrug before leaving. Jiang Mu shuffled a few steps into the office. Jin Chao maintained his position, wearing a black-brown plaid shirt and olive-gray work pants. The low-saturation colors made him look simple and sharp, with a hint of youth. Perhaps the only difference from the high school students was the steady, experienced light in his eyes as they fell on Jiang Mu.
A disposable paper cup sat on the sofa armrest next to Jin Chao, steam still rising from the tea inside.
Jiang Mu unconsciously clasped her hands in front of her, watching him warily. Seeing this, Teacher Ma said to her, “It’s nothing serious. I understand why you don’t want to contact your father, so I just wanted to chat with your brother. You should discuss things more with your family – once everything’s out in the open, it’s not such a big deal. Go pack up your things and head home early today.”
Jiang Mu nodded obediently. Jin Chao slowly rose from the sofa, picked up the disposable cup to finish his tea, crushed it, and tossed it in the trash. Turning to Teacher Ma, he said, “I’ll be going then.”
Teacher Ma probably wanted to pat Jin Chao’s shoulder, but the height difference made it awkward, so he could only pat his back, his tone full of resignation: “You too – disappearing without a word. You should come back and visit more often when you’re free.”
Jin Chao silently nodded, offering no further words.
Leaving Teacher Ma’s office, Jin Chao originally planned to go downstairs to wait for her, but Jiang Mu said, “Our classroom is that way, we need to go around the front.”
Then, remembering something, she added, “You probably know the way better than me. I’ll go get something – wait for me.”
Jin Chao had to accompany her back to her classroom. If it weren’t for Teacher Ma’s call today and the girl beside him, he couldn’t imagine anything that would bring him back here. Looking at the familiar teaching building, Jin Chao remained silent.
Jiang Mu tried several times to read his expression, but his face revealed nothing. They walked silently through the corridor. Passing Class 1, Zhang Fan’s sharp eyes spotted Jin Chao, and he shouted through the window, “Brother Jiu!”
Jin Chao frowned slightly and glanced over, his thick eyelashes shadowing his deep, cold eyes. This killer glance set the whole Class 1 abuzz, with many students pressing against the windows and asking Zhang Fan who he was.
Zhang Fan excitedly explained, “That’s the legendary Head Seven! You juniors know nothing – he was in the same class as my brother!”
Under his dramatic retelling, within ten minutes the news had spread beyond Class 1, circulating wildly in several grade-level group chats.
So by the time Jiang Mu returned to her classroom, students from Classes 5 and 6 were already craning their necks to look. She methodically folded her test papers and packed them into her bag while Jin Chao stood outside Class 6’s back door. The corridor lights were dim, his tall figure melding into the half-light.
Yan Xiaoyi couldn’t help but take a few more looks, asking Jiang Mu, “You know him?”
Jiang Mu nodded and said, “I’m leaving early, Teacher Ma knows.”
Then she looked at Jin Chao waiting outside the back door. He stood quietly with his hands on the railing, gazing at something below, suddenly stirring a familiar feeling in her heart.
Back when she was young and Jin Chao’s classes ran later than hers, she remembered a period when Jiang Yinghan was busy at work, and she would do her homework while waiting for Jin Chao to finish school. If she finished her homework early, she would wait for him with her backpack at his classroom’s back door.
His homeroom teacher then was a Chinese language teacher who often held students over time. Once during a class meeting when the teacher was reviewing test papers, the bell had long rung but they hadn’t been dismissed. Jin Chao suddenly stood up in front of the whole class and asked the teacher, “When are we getting out?”
The teacher was taken aback and scolded him, “What’s your hurry? Don’t you see everyone is listening attentively? What urgent business do you have at home?”
Jin Chao slung his backpack over his shoulder and calmly told the teacher, “My sister is waiting for me. She’ll be hungry.”
Then he opened the back door in front of the whole class, took Jiang Mu’s hand, and left.
That scene had a huge impact on young Jiang Mu’s mind. After all, as an elementary school student, her attitude toward teachers was one of respect mixed with fear. But Jin Chao dared to stand up and openly resist a teacher’s overtime for her sake. For a long time, he seemed like a hero in her eyes.
But how times change – she never imagined that one day Jin Chao would be standing at her classroom’s back door, waiting for her to finish school.
Jiang Mu’s movements became slightly more cheerful as she packed up. As she walked out the back door with her backpack, Pan Kai anxiously called out, “Jiang Jiang, you…”
Before he could finish, Jin Chao turned around, his quiet gaze sweeping toward Pan Kai from outside the door. At that moment, Pan Kai’s mind went blank and he forgot what he wanted to say to Jiang Mu.
Jin Chao naturally pulled the backpack from her shoulder and spoke for her: “Anything else?”
Pan Kai waved stiffly: “No, no. Bye, Jiang Jiang.”
Jin Chao turned and left with Jiang Mu, leaving behind a crowd of curious onlookers.
Passing Class 5 Grade 2, Jin Chao casually glanced at the physics teacher standing at the podium. The teacher was speaking passionately but suddenly stopped when he caught sight of Jin Chao’s figure passing by the window. Jin Chao lowered his head and quickened his pace. Jiang Mu, following behind, looked back at the middle-aged male teacher who was staring at Jin Chao’s retreating figure with a complex, dazed expression.
While going downstairs, Jiang Mu asked, “Did that teacher know you?”
Jin Chao gave a faint “Mm.”
As they passed the display cases, Jiang Mu pulled him to a stop. Jin Chao slowed his pace, and she turned to point at a photo of a relay race from a sports meet, asking, “Did you win in the end?”
Jin Chao’s gaze followed her finger to the photograph, the calm in his eyes disturbed by the image. Jiang Mu turned to watch him intently, but in just a second, he had already looked away: “Forgot.”
He walked toward the other end of the corridor. The night’s darkness had returned the campus to silence, burying the passion and struggle of those younger years.
Jiang Mu watched his back, thinking his heart must be unsettled. This place was a turning point in his life, where his path to the highest halls of learning had been suddenly cut short. No one could face that calmly.
Thinking of how he always wore a cap and stayed hidden across the street whenever he came to the affiliated high school, was it because he feared others recognizing him and causing trouble, or because he simply didn’t want to face everything here?
Jiang Mu’s heart suddenly tightened. She ran a few steps to catch up with him and grabbed his sleeve. Jin Chao looked down at her tightly gripping hand, and Jiang Mu turned away, mumbling, “Afraid of falling. Let me hold on.”
She didn’t know why she wanted to hold onto him, but seeing his solitary figure at this moment, she didn’t want to let go.