The next afternoon, after Chinese class, Sheng Xia found Fu Jie to explain her situation.

Fu Jie was shocked: “You mean you want to take two weeks off?”

Sheng Xia nodded firmly.

She had carefully thought about it all night and was willing to invest this time.

Fu Jie: “But when you come back, the mock exam will be right away, you won’t have any time to review! The first mock exam is extremely important!”

Sheng Xia knew there was always the saying that the first mock exam determined everything.

“And by then it will already be March, will there be enough time?”

Sheng Xia lowered her head: “I want to at least try.”

“You mean you’ll continue writing during the day and attend the study abroad prep classes at night?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Fu Jie felt this was too big a decision to make on her own and suggested: “You should ask Teacher Wang. He has guided two or three graduating classes already and has more experience than me. With your situation, I don’t dare encourage you to take such a risk on my own.”

Sheng Xia understood and was very grateful. “I’ve calculated that there should be enough time. This morning I discussed my plan with an editor from a C-level publishing house, and she also thinks it’s feasible.”

“Then let me ask the editor I work with,” Fu Jie sighed. “As for taking leave, go find Teacher Wang.”

“Okay.”

Wang Wei thought for a long time and also sighed: “Will you have enough energy for this? It’s not that I don’t trust your abilities, but you must be mentally prepared.”

Mentally prepared to potentially fail at both.

Sheng Xia analyzed: “I’ll write during the day, attend classes at night, and still have a few hours to review when I get back. I’ll do my best.”

She had carefully weighed it – if she failed at both, she could do like Hou Junqi and attend prep school after the college entrance exam. It’s just that her secret disobedience would be exposed and she would be criticized, perhaps not just criticized.

She could bear it.

Wang Wei: “Where will you find several hours when you get back at night?”

Sheng Xia: “There will be – from 11 PM to 2 AM, three hours.”

Wang Wei looked at her matter-of-fact expression and asked: “Do you always sleep after 2 AM?”

Sheng Xia nodded.

When Wang Wei wrote down the leave approval, he felt like he was signing some life-or-death contract.

He watched Sheng Xia’s thin retreating figure and shook his head.

After teaching for so long, you do encounter all kinds of students. The ones from privileged backgrounds often work so hard that they leave you in awe.

At dinner time, Sheng Xia finished eating early and left as usual.

Hou Junqi glanced at Zhang Shu’s expressionless face and hesitantly said: “Shu…”

Zhang Shu looked up.

“Qi Xiulei said… he went to see Old Wang today… and heard… heard…”

“Get to the point.”

Hou Junqi: “He heard Lu Youze asking for leave, probably to attend TOEFL classes, and also heard from Old Wang that… Sheng Xia asked for leave too.”

Zhang Shu continued eating, showing no reaction.

“They say it’s a long leave, like over a month… leaving right after the hundred-day pledge ceremony.”

Zhang Shu’s chopsticks paused slightly, his eyelashes trembling.

He kept his head down so Hou Junqi couldn’t see his expression, but that slight pause gave Hou Junqi a signal: he had taken it in.

What exactly he was thinking, well, bros aren’t mind readers.

…

The Fu Zhong Hundred-Day Pledge Ceremony and Coming of Age Ceremony were especially grand, the scale and spectacle appearing even grander than the school’s sports meet.

The campus was covered in red everywhere, with a character for “Victory” marking the 100-day countdown at the school gate. The trees in Peach Blossom Square were tied with wishing ribbons, and the freshman and sophomore teaching buildings were covered in signed banners of good wishes.

Even the peacocks and white geese kept by the artificial lake had red ribbons tied around their necks.

A “Top Scholar’s Gate” was erected on the sports field, with flower baskets donated by various enterprises and organizations lining the red carpet.

Parents’ cars filled the field, the colorful array resembling a used car market.

In the late February weather, it felt unseasonably hot – the summer of Nanli had arrived with great fanfare.

Everyone wore short-sleeved class uniforms today. The male teachers all looked dashing in suits and ties, while the female teachers had abandoned their usual simple looks for trendy hair and makeup.

Wang Lianhua couldn’t attend because she went to see Wu Qiuxuan in Dongzhou, but Sheng Mingfeng made an unprecedented appearance at Sheng Xia’s coming-of-age ceremony.

He sat quietly among the parents holding a bouquet, without drawing attention.

Wang Wei’s sharp eyes spotted him and went over to shake hands, inviting him to sit on the main stage. Sheng Mingfeng waved it off, whispering to Wang Wei. After some back and forth, Sheng Mingfeng’s insistence prevailed.

But not long after, the principal and party secretary arrived. Amid the buzzing discussions of surrounding parents, Sheng Mingfeng found himself in an awkward position and was eventually escorted to sit in the center of the main stage.

The students only knew it was the parents’ seating area for Class 6, not knowing exactly whose parent it was, and whispered amongst themselves.

Xin Xiaohe had met Sheng Mingfeng before and whispered in Sheng Xia’s ear: “Xia Xia, what exactly does your dad do?”

She knew he was important but hadn’t expected this level of importance.

While Sheng Xia might need to deflect with others, she couldn’t with Xin Xiaohe, so she whispered back and honestly explained.

Xin Xiaohe was stunned for a few seconds, then tightly grabbed Sheng Xia’s arm, declaring loyally: “I’ve grasped my future in my hands!”

Sheng Xia couldn’t help but laugh.

The more people reacted this way, the more at ease Sheng Xia felt.

Hou Junqi and Zhang Shu, being tall, naturally stood at the back of the line, taking in everything.

Hou Junqi unconsciously let out a sigh.

Zhang Shu shot him a glance.

The various speeches at the ceremony were inevitable – the principal, teacher representatives, and outstanding alumni representatives took turns speaking.

Then came the student representative’s pledge.

Everyone craned their necks in anticipation, wondering who the representative would be, with many glances cast toward Class 6.

However, an unfamiliar face appeared on stage.

He introduced himself as being from Class 12 – the one who had ranked first last semester.

The student representative wasn’t Zhang Shu?

This was most people’s reaction.

Sheng Xia followed the crowd in turning to observe Zhang Shu.

He was just calmly watching the stage, one hand in his pocket, his posture casual, looking like he might pull out his phone to browse at any moment.

Suddenly, his gaze lowered, meeting Sheng Xia’s eyes that hadn’t retreated in time.

Amidst the crowded shadows, their gazes clashed briefly.

Sheng Xia quickly looked away.

Would he feel a bit disappointed too?

Leading the pledge must be a great honor. If not for that one setback, he would have been standing in that spotlight on the main stage. Sheng Xia suddenly felt regretful that she hadn’t seen his speech last semester, and now couldn’t hear him lead the pledge either…

Though he didn’t lack for glory anymore.

But this dazzling young man, didn’t he deserve it?

If it were him, saying to her: “Fellow students, let us solemnly pledge together—”

She would sincerely, solemnly, without any pretense, make the promise—

“Ten years of diligent study, fighting for this one battle; A hundred days of intense preparation, holding our heads high for life! Striving forward vigorously, persevering steadfastly; Like frost-covered blades unsheathed, for Fu Zhong’s glory!”

The slogans thundered, and the applause roared.

After the pledge ended, students spontaneously raised their banners, pumping their fists and shouting, the sound unceasing.

Previously, Sheng Xia had felt many ceremonies were just formalities that couldn’t achieve much, but at this moment, being part of it, even as a transfer student, she genuinely felt the spirit of fighting for Fu Zhong’s glory.

Some teachers and parents on stage already had tears in their eyes.

Perhaps the effectiveness of a ceremony doesn’t depend on its form, but on whether you’re standing together with like-minded people.

The final item was exiting through the Top Scholar’s Gate, then taking photos in front of the giant train ticket marked “Youth—Adult” and receiving blessings from parents and teachers.

Running along the long red carpet, young faces beamed with smiles as they whooped and hollered through the “Top Scholar’s Gate”.

Sheng Xia and Xin Xiaohe ran hand in hand with the crowd when suddenly a gust of wind passed beside them – a girl sprinted past, her chestnut curls swaying and brushing against Sheng Xia’s shoulder.

Chen Mengyao had cut through from Class 4 to their class, running to get in front of Zhang Shu. Walking backward, she said with a bright smile: “Great, now I’ve passed through the Top Scholar’s Gate at the same time as you, the potential top scholar. I must have absorbed some of your academic essences!”

Zhang Shu stopped just in time to avoid colliding with Chen Mengyao.

Hou Junqi laughed heartily: “Are you crazy? Do you think Shu is Tang Sanzang or something? What the hell do you mean absorbing essence!”

Chen Mengyao lifted her chin: “If you put it that way, then you must be Sun Wukong. Though you’re quite a chubby monkey!”

Hou Junqi: …

The crowd was noisy, and though Zhang Shu’s voice wasn’t loud, its distinctive tone still carried: “Then what are you, the White Bone Demon?”

Hou Junqi: “Hahaha very fitting, took three strikes to kill!”

“Get lost!” Chen Mengyao raged, “No unlucky words allowed today, take that back!”

“No way!”

“So childish!”

“Better than you!”

They bantered back and forth while Class 6 students mostly just watched the show quietly.

Xin Xiaohe glanced at Sheng Xia, who gazed steadily, her long eyelashes trembling slightly.

Occasionally they could hear students from other classes discussing.

“Do you think our school will produce a top scholar this year?”

“We should get at least one, either in liberal arts or science, right?”

“Who do you think it’ll be, Zhang Shu or that guy from Class 12?”

“Hard to say, many people start too strong but can’t keep it up, let’s see how the first mock exam goes?”

“True.”

Sheng Xia thought: To be remembered by name rather than as “that person from some class” – you’ve already won, Shu.

The first mock exam will go well.

After taking photos in front of the “train ticket,” they could immediately line up to receive a “Coming of Age Certificate” before walking toward the parents.

When Sheng Xia and Xin Xiaohe came out after getting their photos, Zhang Shu, Hou Junqi, and the others walking ahead were already hugging their parents.

It wasn’t Class 4’s turn yet, with their parents still queuing in the back, but Chen Mengyao’s mother must have spotted her and squeezed into the front. At the moment, she was chatting pleasantly with Zhang Suxin, clearly appearing to have encountered an acquaintance.

They were all from Lianli, so it wasn’t surprising they knew each other.

Sheng Mingfeng was surrounded at the very front of the parents’ formation, with Lu Youze’s father, the grade director, and Wang Wei standing beside him.

Everyone from Class 6 watched this scene curiously.

Sheng Xia hesitated but ultimately walked over slowly. Sheng Mingfeng was visibly happy today, his eyes even somewhat moist. Unable to wait, he stepped forward to hug Sheng Xia, patting her shoulder: “Good child, you’ve grown up. Dad is proud of you.”

Sheng Xia accepted his flowers.

Nearby, Lu Youze hugged his father.

Then someone called out: “Secretary Sheng, Chairman Lu, let’s take a photo together!”

“Wonderful! My pleasure!”

Chairman Lu was overjoyed, immediately pulling Lu Youze over. Sheng Mingfeng was also in high spirits, holding Sheng Xia’s arm as they faced the camera.

The two adults stood in the middle, each embracing their child.

With a “click”, the scene was frozen in the camera and also frozen in the dark pupils of a young man watching from afar.

The red carpet seemed like an unavoidable dividing line, separating two worlds.

It seemed to interpret the eternal truth of matches between families of equal status.

The ceremony ended.

With the ceremony over, the daily routine of the senior year continued running – there was evening self-study, and parents and students still went their separate ways.

Most people returned to the classroom first. Sheng Xia packed up her things but thought she should say goodbye to some classmates.

After all, she’d be gone for quite a while.

Xin Xiaohe, always dramatic, hugged Sheng Xia and sobbed: “Why are you taking such a long leave, wuwu, I’ll miss you, you must think of me too!”

Sheng Xia looked at the head frantically wiggling against her chest: … Was she sure she wasn’t just using the farewell as an excuse to cop a feel?

“I will, I will think of you,” Sheng Xia went along with it.

Her gaze traveled across half the classroom, landing on that handsome back of a head in the corridor.

Zhang Shu was chatting with Han Xiao and others outside.

Should she say goodbye to him?

But a relationship that ends here doesn’t need a goodbye.

Never mind.

Sheng Xia shouldered her heavy backpack. Lu Youze helped lift it, asking, “It’s so heavy, are you taking your college entrance exam books home too?”

Sheng Xia’s shoulders lightened, and because of this action, a flash of hope suddenly surged in her heart, only to plummet immediately when she heard the voice.

It wasn’t him.

During the winter break supplementary classes, she needed to work on her manuscript, so she carried her laptop every day, typing in the lunch break dormitory. Her backpack was always heavy.

Zhang Shu would carry her backpack, teasing: “Are you carrying gold to school? Why is it so heavy?”

On the path from the teaching building to the north gate, people came and went. She was embarrassed, turning to try to twist his hand away, but he just held on tighter, still carrying it as she twisted.

She kept turning, he kept following with the bag, she walked forward, and he followed forward.

He just followed behind her carrying her backpack…

Once, Sheng Xia really couldn’t take the stares anymore and got a bit anxious, running quickly forward. Zhang Shu wasn’t paying attention, and the backpack strap was pulled from his hand as she ran up to the second floor in a flash.

His laughter came from behind: “Why are you running? Be careful, you’re like a rabbit!”

Sheng Xia came back to the present, turning to twist away from Lu Youze’s hand, saying: “Mm, need to take them.”

Lu Youze said: “Let me carry it for you?”

Sheng Xia: “No need, it’s not heavy when I carry it.”

Lu Youze: “Then let’s go.”

Sheng Xia: “Mm.”

Sheng Mingfeng was busy and had already left. Lu Youze’s father offered to give Sheng Xia a ride home.

Sheng Xia politely declined, saying she needed to ride her bike back.

So that was dropped.

Lu Youze also remembered his electric bike and said he would ride back. His father then instructed him to make sure Sheng Xia got home safely before returning home.

Thus, they went back together.

They left through the classroom’s back door, with several people sitting or standing by the corridor tables watching their retreating figures.

Only Zhang Shu gazed at the distant corridor, lost in thought.

“Shu…” At times like this, only Wu Pengcheng liked to speak up, “Want to play cards?”

Zhang Shu shifted his gaze over, saying: “Let’s go watch the sunset?”

“Huh?” Four confused faces.

“The spring scenery is beautiful, let’s go.” Zhang Shu was already walking ahead as he spoke.

The others looked at each other: Had Shu gone crazy from the shock?

They climbed over the stair railing from the second floor onto the connecting corridor’s roof.

The roof was covered in lush green grass. Zhang Shu sat down on the edge, his legs naturally dangling.

Hou Junqi, Han Xiao, and the others followed suit. The young men sat in a row on the corridor’s edge, swinging their legs, their various colored class uniforms making quite a striking sight.

The pose looked both cool and dangerous.

This area was usually off-limits, and now many people in the teaching building’s corridor were curiously leaning out to watch them.

Envious and admiring: They’re really brave.

“Are we going to watch the sunset here?”

“Come on, it’s only five o’clock, how long do we have to wait? We’ll be roasted.”

“Since when does Shu have time for this kind of leisure?”

As they talked, everyone fell silent.

Because two figures appeared in their view: Sheng Xia and Lu Youze.

From this angle, they could see straight down the camphor tree avenue. Two electric bikes emerged from the bike shed in the distance, one black and one white, completely identical.

The girl and boy exchanged a few words, each getting on their bikes. The white one rode in front, the black one following closely, and when they reached a wider section, they rode side by side.

Just like that, pedaling in the dazzling sunlight, they gradually moved further away until they became two tiny dots.

This…

What was this about?

Did they climb up here just to watch this?

Was Shu torturing himself?

No one said anything.

Zhang Shu suddenly spoke, asking Han Xiao: “Got any cigarettes?”

Everyone was shocked.

They all smoked – Hou Junqi less so, not addicted, but the other three always had cigarettes in hand.

Zhang Shu never smoked. Even during card games when the whole room was filled with smoke, he showed no interest, always either sucking on a lollipop or having some milk candy in his mouth.

He was truly immune to vices, with amazing self-control.

Han Xiao pulled out cigarettes and passed them over, asking: “Brother Shu, you want to smoke?”

Zhang Shu: “Got a lighter?”

Han Xiao pulled out a lighter too.

With a “whoosh”, it was lit.

Wu Pengcheng stood beside him teaching, chattering away.

The ember glowed faintly as smoke curled from Zhang Shu’s mouth. He held the cigarette between his fingers and looked at it – there was nothing magical about this thing.

If he had to say when he first wanted to try it, it was that day he stood her up, sitting on the low stool at the newspaper stand, eating lollipop after lollipop but unable to taste any sweetness. Suddenly, he wanted a deeper kind of comfort.

But this thing didn’t seem to give him that either.

He still felt terrible, empty.

Just when everyone thought this guy was truly a genius, able to smoke naturally without instruction and looking incredibly cool with a cigarette, Zhang Shu suddenly burst into violent coughing, unable to catch his breath, and immediately crushed the cigarette into the dirt.

“What the hell is this? *cough cough* Deathtrap!” Zhang Shu’s face was red from choking as he cursed, “This is what you spend so much money on?”

Four dumbfounded faces: …

The coolness lasted no more than three seconds.

In the end, no one got to see the sunset. The security guard came, standing below with a megaphone shouting: “What are you doing? Don’t you know this is against the rules? Come down and register your names!”

The young men froze briefly, exchanged glances, quickly pulled in their legs, and fled in panic.

The connecting corridor linked all the teaching buildings. The boys got quite into it, leaving a tail visible here, poking out a head there, and playing hide and seek with the security guard.

That day, the entire teaching area echoed with the security guard’s megaphone: “Stop! Stop right there! Students, stop!”

The corridors on each floor were packed with people, spectators grinning from ear to ear.

Golden light slanted across the teaching building, filling the sky.

The sunset was perfect, and they were in their prime of youth.

…

Sheng Xia began her arduous journey.

In the morning, she still left at her usual time, and Wang Lianhua had no suspicions.

Since nothing was open so early, she could only sit at McDonald’s for a while first, plug in, and start organizing her manuscript.

That night, listening to meditation, she had a flash of inspiration.

She remembered what Fu Jie had said: “The others are all too niche, can’t even be categorized.”

But wasn’t being niche itself a category?

Moreover, whether something was niche or not didn’t have any set rules, it was somewhat subjective.

So she had a lot of room to work with.

Even among works by famous lyricists, some were little known.

So most of her manuscripts could be used.

The theme would be niche yet stunning.

However, having defined “niche” as the characteristic, all manuscripts needed to maintain a unified tone, requiring more revisions.

Looking through roughly, over twenty pieces could be used with minor edits, several more with major revisions, and calculating it all, nearly twenty pieces needed to be completely rewritten.

Gathering new material and researching was an extremely complex project.

Half a month – time was very, very tight.

She could only write tirelessly.

At 10 AM, Yifang Bookstore opened. Sheng Xia would ride her bike over, enjoying the breeze during the journey to relax a bit.

Originally she had wanted to write at the city library, but she needed to use a computer and would disturb others; at Yifang Bookstore, she would be the one disturbed by others.

Between disturbing others and being disturbed by others, Sheng Xia chose the latter.

She wasn’t the type who could write while listening to music, unlike a certain someone who sometimes even wore earphones while doing problems during evening study. Occasionally when she got close, she could hear the lively sound of gongs and drums inside.

Who knows what rock music he was listening to?

It sounded very intense and crazy.

She would unexpectedly think of him in all sorts of little details, and after so many days, it was still unavoidable.

This truly was “things remain the same but hearts have changed, in every lifted gaze and lowered eyes.”

At these times she would first listen to 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation to increase focus. Sometimes she would reach a flow state, feeling like she was in a realm without people, just herself and her fingers flying across the keyboard…

Her writing efficiency would soar amazingly, quite magical.

But such states were rare and precious.

On weekends, Tao Zhizhi and Xin Xiaohe would come to keep her company. Though they said they were keeping her company, these two hit it off immediately and their chatting frequently interrupted Sheng Xia’s train of thought.

She would use this to relax for a day.

Life was busy and repetitive.

In the evenings she would ride from Yifang Bookstore to Henghui Building for her arranged courses at the institute.

It was mostly one-on-one, with occasionally more people in language classes. She often ran into Lu Youze and would go home together in the evenings.

After getting home she would always do practice problems, working through complete sets of papers, then using half the time to review corrections and digest the material.

When she encountered problems where she couldn’t even understand the answers, her first reaction was actually to open QQ, wanting to voice call Zhang Shu.

Her hand would stop just as it reached the screen, turning instead to open her chat with Xin Xiaohe to ask her.

…

At 11 PM the classroom was still packed.

The hundred-day pledge ceremony had pumped everyone up sufficiently – everyone was full of energy as if being the first to leave the classroom meant losing.

Xin Xiaohe took a break to drink water, glancing at her phone, then sat down to think hard.

Then she looked up, resigned: she didn’t know either.

She put her phone on the next desk where Zhang Shu was doing English problems. He looked up: “What’s wrong?”

“Take a look at this problem.”

Zhang Shu picked up the phone, his two fingers moving to zoom in on the picture, but unexpectedly with one tap, the picture shrunk back, revealing the full chat window.

Contact name: Xia Xia Soft and Fluffy.

There was even a cute emoji after it.

Soft and Fluffy?

Zhang Shu’s eyebrow raised.

Their conversation was displayed on the screen. He had no intention of snooping but took it all in at a glance.

At the top was their conversation from a few days ago.

Xia Xia Soft and Fluffy: “I’m always at Yifang Bookstore, you can come to play together on weekends!”

Xin Xiaohe: “Okay okay, coming this weekend!”

Xia Xia Soft and Fluffy: “I’ll introduce you to my friend.”

Xin Xiaohe: “Okay okay.”

Zhang Shu’s eyebrow raised again.

Didn’t she have anything new to say?

The friend, was it Tao Zhizhi?

Below that was today’s conversation.

Sheng Xia had sent this picture, then a sticker of a cat’s paw scratching at a door.

“Are you there, are you there?”

“Help!”

Zhang Shu: …

Already dying over this?

Zhang Shu picked up the phone, asking: “Should I reply?”

Xin Xiaohe thought he had understood the problem so quickly and was shocked, nodding repeatedly: “Re-reply!”

Zhang Shu prepared to type but was deterred by the flashy input method background. It was nine-key input which he wasn’t used to, and he couldn’t find the switch key – how was he supposed to type?

He simply clicked the voice input button beside it, raised the phone with the microphone to his mouth, and said: “Beg me.”

Xin Xiaohe: …????