After that night, Xie Ci didn’t come to actively seek her out again. Although neither of them mentioned breaking up, the two had fallen into a cold war.

The last bit of winter vacation slowly passed under Xu You’s pen tip. The days went by plainly and unremarkably, and before long, school started.

Wednesday.

After the second class in the morning, the opening ceremony was held. Xu Xingchun, as the grade representative, had to give a speech.

Several boys in class teased.

“The class president is probably the most good-looking grade representative in recent years. When he stands on the flag-raising platform so heroically, who knows how many underclasswomen he’ll captivate…”

“Tsk tsk tsk, someone upright-looking like Xu Xingchun is most popular with young girls.”

Xu Xingchun ignored the group of chattering boys around him. After collecting English homework from Group 2 and placing it on Xu You’s desk, he left. As the representative speaker, he needed to go to the field early to prepare.

Someone behind reminded Xu You, who was working on homework with her head down: “Class rep, the teacher wants you to collect all the homework and take it to the office.”

“Ah, okay.”

Xu You agreed and quickly solved the last problem she was working on.

She looked up at the clock hanging in the classroom and hurriedly gathered her things.

The sophomore grade office was on the third floor. Class 0’s classroom was on the second floor. Once you went out and turned the corner, there were the stairs going up and down – very convenient.

In the office, Chen Yue was grading English homework from another class.

A teacher passing by holding a cup of water leaned over to take a look: “Oh my, Teacher Chen, grading Liberal Arts Class 1’s homework?”

“Yeah, sigh… these students are really speechless.” Chen Yue shook her head and sighed while reaching for the next homework book.

“What’s wrong? Liberal arts classes have more girls. They should be obedient, right?”

“Obedient, what obedient? You don’t know – those troublemakers from Class 9 all gathered in this class. Really hard to manage.”

That teacher comforted her with a smile: “Class 0 is also under you. Be content.”

Speaking of which, Xu You announced herself and came in.

“Teacher, this is our class’s homework.” She placed a stack of homework books on Chen Yue’s desk.

Chen Yue acknowledged with a sound, then suddenly remembered something and said to Xu You: “By the way, I looked at your last exam paper. You seem to have lost quite a few points on the listening section.”

“Ah…” Xu You was stunned for a moment.

Chen Yue put down the pen in her hand and said to her: “For someone with your grades, never mind seven or eight points – even one or two points have different significance for you, because those two points are definitely hard-to-get points. You need to have higher requirements for yourself. Like on the last final exam, you were only three points behind the first in the grade. How did those three points get lost?”

“English is already a subject that easily creates score gaps, so you absolutely cannot lose points on such a simple section as listening, understand? The teacher’s requirement for you should be stable performance around 145 each time…”

“…….”

Xu You silently stood in place listening to the teacher’s instruction for a while.

“Then you go back and practice more on your own later.”

Because there was the opening ceremony coming up, Chen Yue didn’t want to keep her too long.

Xu You agreed and bowed slightly: “Then teacher, I’ll go now. Thank you, teacher.”

“—Wait a minute.”

Wang Xiadong called out to stop her from leaving.

Xu You turned around.

Wang Xiadong pointed to a wooden sign placed in the corner: “The PE committee member is on leave today, and the class president has to give the opening speech so he doesn’t have time. You take our class sign to the field and stand at the front of the line. Look at the position yourself when you get there.”

Xu You was petite, so holding this wooden sign was somewhat difficult.

In the hallway, she encountered a group of people coming toward her. Xie Ci walked in front, holding his school uniform in his hand, with several boys and girls following beside him.

She was startled and instinctively moved aside a bit.

The moment they passed each other, he stepped past without looking sideways, without stopping.

—

The opening ceremony was complicated and lengthy. Fortunately, the weather was nice with some sun, which warmed everyone up.

After the principal finished speaking, students were finally allowed to sit on the grass. The whole venue let out sighs of relief. Xu You switched positions with a girl in the second row to sit down. She hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning and had casually stuffed a piece of bread in her pocket.

Because Class 0 had few people, there were only two lines in the formation – one for boys, one for girls. Students from other classes sat nearby.

Xu You ate her bread, chewing slowly and carefully, not making a sound.

Suddenly, someone tapped her back. A girl leaned close to her ear and whispered: “A boy from the class next door, sitting right beside me, seems to have been secretly staring at you. He’s really handsome.”

Xu You turned her head and accidentally met Xie Ci’s oncoming gaze, so faint it was almost isolated by the air.

He quietly met her eyes.

Behind Class 7’s formation, Song Yifan chatted with several other boys.

“A’Ci is so tall, why did he run to sit in front? Hahaha look, he’s even holding a book. I can’t handle this.”

“…The class next to us is Class 0. What do you think?”

Someone was surprised: “But didn’t A’Ci break up with that top student girl from Class 0?”

“Which one, Shen Jiayi?”

“No, Shen Jiayi was ages ago. I’m talking about the one who used to be in A’Ci’s class, called Xu something, Xu You, right?”

The boy’s rough, hoarse voice rang out without restraint, attracting sideways glances from several people in nearby classes.

Song Yifan slapped the back of the boy’s head, exasperated: “Can you die if you’re quieter? Who said they broke up? What nonsense are you spouting? Go say that to A’Ci’s face – he’ll beat you to death.”

—

In the blink of an eye, two months passed.

No one knew who started the gossip first. That Xie Ci from sophomore year had actually, for the first time in his life, been dumped by a girl.

The news spread wider and wider until it reached the person himself.

During PE class, Xie Ci sat with Song Yifan and a few others on the ping-pong table smoking. Someone brought up this matter, laughing: “Young Master Xie, can you still make it or not? Recently everyone’s been saying…”

“—Fuck off.”

Xie Ci sat on the ping-pong table with a bland expression, clearly not wanting to joke about this with that person.

Only Song Yifan knew that his inner state was actually far from as calm as his surface appearance.

Ever since the fight with Xu You during winter vacation, almost two months had passed. Those who played with Xie Ci knew he had developed a habit. No matter where he went – to the bathroom, to play basketball, leaving school or arriving at school – he would always take a detour through the staircase in the middle of the second floor. Everyone knew why, so Song Yifan never dared to actively mention Xu You’s name in front of Xie Ci, afraid of poking his wound again.

Song Yifan kept giving that boy meaningful looks until his eyes were about to cramp. Finally, the boy realized something was wrong and shut his mouth.

Xie Ci jumped down from the table.

“—Where are you going, A’Ci?” Song Yifan shouted toward his retreating back.

Only after Xie Ci walked away without turning his head did that boy dare to speak, carefully asking: “Did I offend Brother Ci’s proud dignity?”

“No.”

Song Yifan glanced at him: “You only offended his sensitive and fragile young man’s heart.”

Xie Ci held a cigarette between his fingertips, raising his eyes to look into the distance.

After spacing out for two or three seconds, there were light footsteps beside him, stepping over leaves.

He turned his head.

Deng Ying walked out from behind a tree. She didn’t dare get too close to him, stopping a few meters away.

Seeing her face, he first spaced out for a second, then reacted and looked away without speaking.

Or rather, was too lazy to speak.

So Deng Ying took two more steps forward and said hesitantly: “Senior, are you alone?”

After a pause, she added: “Smoke less. It’s bad for your health.”

Xie Ci looked at her for a long while and asked flatly: “Why do you care what I do? Want to date me?”

“………..”

Deng Ying’s face turned red. She didn’t speak.

After holding it in for a long time, she opened her mouth: “No… I just heard from your friends that after you broke up with Senior Xu You recently, you’ve been drinking heavily until late at night. That’s too harmful to your body…”

“Who said we broke up?”

“………”

Deng Ying smiled somewhat dejectedly. She bit her lip and mustered up courage to say: “Senior, can you give me a chance?”

Before Xie Ci could speak, she quickly said: “I want to be with you and take care of you. What Senior Xu You can do, I can do too. I really don’t want to see you hurt yourself like this anymore.”

“Actually… I’ve liked you for a long time, but knowing you had a senior girlfriend, I didn’t want to disturb you. But now she doesn’t know how to cherish…”

He asked with a half-smile: “What she can do… you can do too?”

Deng Ying was startled.

“Comparing yourself to Xu You – who do you think you are?”

Xie Ci’s gaze was cold. He extinguished his cigarette and walked straight past her.

Deng Ying’s eyes turned red. She turned her back to him and said loudly: “Xie Ci, I really like you—”

Xie Ci didn’t even pause in his steps.

—

Just after leaving school, Xie Ci received a call from Zeng Qilin.

He didn’t want to answer and hung up directly. But after walking a few steps, Zeng Qilin still caught him.

“Fuck, you’re not even answering my calls now?”

Zeng Qilin put his arm around his neck. Xie Ci struggled, frowning and clicking his tongue irritably: “Don’t.”

It was afternoon dismissal time. Students were coming and going everywhere, occasionally casting measuring glances at them intentionally or unintentionally.

“Don’t go to evening self-study tonight. Come out with me for a walk.”

Zeng Qilin’s words left no room for argument.

Before they knew it, April had quietly arrived. The cold air didn’t linger long. The unique vitality of spring days mixed with warm hot winds slowly arrived. The street lights outside school lit up in a row. The daylight was thin.

Xie Ci squatted by the roadside. The street was bustling with cars and people shuttling between vehicles.

Zeng Qilin crossed his arms, leaning against a streetlight. Seeing Xie Ci starting to space out again, Zeng Qilin kicked his butt: “You can’t go on like this, you know?”

He was simply, this whole period could be seen with the naked eye, lifeless.

Before, although Xie Ci hung out with bad crowds, at least he had some teenage vitality. Now he had no life force at all.

“Song Yifan told me you got dumped?”

Hearing this, Xie Ci finally had some reaction: “Who the fuck is spreading nonsense? We haven’t broken up yet.”

“Oh ho.”

Zeng Qilin laughed in exasperation: “You’re really set on this?”

Xie Ci didn’t speak.

“I thought that with someone treating you like this, it was definitely over. Didn’t expect my bro could persist to this extent. Not easy.” Zeng Qilin half-joked.

“Bro, I really like her.”

Zeng Qilin’s smile faded. After a long while, his expression bland, he asked: “Xie Ci, are you stupid? Why be serious about a girl at this age?”

“Besides, she’s not the same type as us, you understand?”

Xie Ci and he looked at each other for a long time, motionless. Then he averted his gaze, looking elsewhere.

“Then I’ll go onto her path.”

—

A few days later, the grade began organizing basketball competitions.

During this period, except for Song Yifan, everyone else felt that since Xie Ci “broke up” with Xu You, his whole person had become weird. Not in any other way – just that every time there was some activity and they called him out to play, he was too lazy to participate. He didn’t go clubbing, had no interest in flirting with girls, didn’t skip class anymore. Even if he slept, he would sleep until after school before leaving.

Some people found it so strange they ran to ask Fu Xueli what was wrong with Xie Ci.

Fu Xueli was very calm, perfunctorily saying: “People have to grow up. Can’t stay in teenage rebellion forever.”

Everything else aside, Song Yifan felt the most excessive thing was that Xie Ci was even unenthusiastic about playing basketball.

Like right now.

Song Yifan knocked on Xie Ci’s desk: “A’Ci, going to play basketball or not? Our class has a game this afternoon.”

“Not going.” Xie Ci didn’t even bother to lift his head, turning a page of the book on his desk.

Song Yifan held back for a moment but still said: “No, can you even understand what you’re reading, Brother Ci…”

Xie Ci looked up and glanced at him: “Can you get the fuck away?”

“Ahem.” Song Yifan’s expression was meaningful as he asked again: “The game’s about to start. You’re really not going? Bro, last reminder – our class got drawn into the same group as Liberal Arts Class 1.”

Xie Ci was stunned.

“Class 0?” he asked.

Song Yifan raised an eyebrow: “Liberal. Arts. Class. One. What do you think?”

Before Xie Ci could speak, Song Yifan, seeing his expression, continued: “I heard the PE teacher dragged several girls from the science class to keep score.”

—

Basketball court.

Xie Ci, who hadn’t appeared in everyone’s sight for a long time, suddenly showed up at the basketball court. Many people didn’t react at first.

Xie Ci wore a white jersey and put on wristbands. Someone on the court blew a whistle and threw him the ball.

The girls from Liberal Arts Class 1 all got excited. Cheering screams rose and fell.

Xu You stood next to the scoreboard with another girl.

Red side was Liberal Arts 1, black side was Science 1.

Xu You’s eyes watched the group of people running on the court. The girl beside her quietly complained: “The boys in our class are so terrible…”

Xu You lowered her eyelashes, not knowing what she was thinking. Absent-mindedly, she flipped over another page of the red sign.

That girl continued: “The boys from the liberal arts class are so tall… several of them are really handsome… but they probably all have girlfriends.”

Finally, before the end-of-game whistle blew, Xie Ci made a jump shot from outside the three-point line. The basketball traced a semicircle in the air and with a swish, went right through the hoop.

The whole venue erupted in a climax. Liberal Arts 1 won with an overwhelming score.

Xie Ci was drenched in sweat, lifting the hem of his shirt to wipe it. Girls who couldn’t contain themselves rushed over, handing him water.

He didn’t take it, his eyes searching everywhere as if looking for something.

Song Yifan came over laughing and put his arm around his shoulder, grinning: “How was it, buddy? Showing off for two rounds, feels pretty good, right?”

Xu You silently finished organizing the scoring materials. After handing them to the PE teacher, she picked up her bag and left.

Xie Ci finally found that thin figure – one person walking toward the basketball court exit.

“Hey.” Xie Ci nudged Song Yifan with his elbow and said in a low voice: “Go get my school uniform for me.”

—

“—Xu You!”

Hearing the familiar voice, Xu You stopped in her tracks.

Xie Ci was still wearing black athletic shorts, his calves exposed. He ran forward two steps and grabbed her wrist, panting.

The two looked at each other wordlessly.

Xie Ci spoke first, saying: “Can we make up?”

Xu You: ……..

Seeing she had no reaction, Xie Ci paused and looked at her seriously: “Cold war is fine, but I’ll never agree to breaking up even if I die.”

Xu You said: “I didn’t want to break up.”

This time it was Xie Ci’s turn to be speechless.

He had originally prepared many things to say, but now couldn’t say a single one. An indescribable emotion spread through his chest.

Xu You stepped back two paces, looking him over. The corners of her mouth curved up slightly: “You’re wearing the school uniform…”

“Fuck.”

Xie Ci’s face turned red. Sweat from intense exercise was still running down his face. He stammered: “Does it look weird?”

His shoulder lines were smooth, his shoulders extending along the side seams of the shirt. Even the simple, style-less school uniform looked particularly good on him.

“No, very handsome.”

Xu You smiled.

She just never thought he would obediently put on the school uniform.