The midterm exam results were out. Ah Heng’s performance was excellent, ranking among the top three in her grade again. Xin Dayi had always been strong in science subjects, so even though his liberal arts scores were somewhat weak, his overall ranking still placed him within the top twenty of the grade.

Yan Xi’s results weren’t as outstanding as his personality – they were neither remarkable nor problematic, just average.

What surprised everyone was Mary’s performance. They had assumed that as a special admission student who had just returned from Vienna, the results would be unbearably poor. Unexpectedly, this person made it onto the grade rankings. Though not near the top, being on the list at all qualified them as a good student by normal standards.

“How did he manage to score five points higher than me in physics?” Xin Dayi muttered under his breath, harboring a hundred grievances in his heart.

Ah Heng found it amusing. She knew he couldn’t let it go, that he would always find some channel or minor issue to dwell on and voice his discontent.

After all, she believed that before Xin Dayi learned of Chen Juan’s gender, he had genuinely and passionately liked him. But the gap was too great, and he wasn’t accustomed to letting deep, sensitive thoughts lead him toward extreme obsession. He could only let the feelings wear away simply and honestly, replaced by childish hostility.

Still, this was probably for the best.

“Ah Heng, would you like an apple?” Her deskmate smiled at her, a smile as beautiful as drops of rose dew.

This youth still wore girls’ clothing and even dyed their hair rose-red to accentuate their unique beauty and features.

Recently, since they had shared their secret, the originally unrestrained enthusiasm in their personality had become even more uninhibited.

“An apple?”

“Yes, an apple. Would you like one?” Chen Juan smiled, hunching slightly, rummaging under the desk for a while before pulling out an apple and straightening up to offer it to Ah Heng.

The left chest area was noticeably flatter than before.

“You… use apples to pad your chest?” Ah Heng’s face reddened.

“Yes, and sometimes oranges. Would you like one? I’ll bring you some tomorrow.” Chen Juan smiled bewitchingly.

Xin Dayi’s face turned green with anger as he cursed, “Pervert!”

Chen Juan turned back with a perfect retort: “I’m a pervert and I like it!”

Yan Xi listened to their quarrel, a hint of a warm smile appearing at the corners of his mouth as he gazed out the window. After a long while, as if enduring something that had to be endured, he gently turned his head and caught Ah Heng’s furtive glance, trying to make his tone unlike the coldness he showed to strangers: “What are you looking at?”

Ah Heng’s dark eyes froze, her face burning with embarrassment. After a long while, she finally spoke softly: “You’re… really good-looking.”

After she said this, Yan Xi was surprised, and even Xin Dayi looked at her incredulously. They hadn’t expected Ah Heng, who was usually so reserved, to say something so forward.

This sentence was the most detestable thing anyone could say to Yan Xi when he was forced to interact with strangers. He loathed when unfamiliar people stamped him with such a label: good-looking.

Such straightforward desire truly made him sick to his stomach. However, for Ah Heng, in that almost desperate unrequited love, this was the only out-of-character thing she had ever said.

Good-looking.

So good-looking.

Yan Xi would never understand that such words came from such pure affection, enough to break the hearts of those who knew them well.

Ah Heng would always remember Yan Xi’s response that day, just a calm and cold one: “So what?”

On the weekend, Si Wan asked Ah Heng to tutor an acquaintance. In the end, he couldn’t make it and left her with Yan Xi, who was going there anyway.

Yan Xi led her through Mao’er Hutong, turning east and west. The stone lions and washbasins nestled along both sides of the hutong were worn and dilapidated from the passage of time but still carried the charm of the ancient capital.

“We’re here.” Yan Xi spoke flatly, his jade-white hand pushing open the door of the quadrangle courtyard. The yard looked run-down as if it hadn’t been renovated for a long time, like an elderly grandfather in his twilight years.

“Brother Yan Xi, you’re here! Brother Si Wan didn’t come? You brought the teacher?” A child’s joyful voice rang out.

Ah Heng focused her gaze and saw a young boy wearing a cap, thin and small in stature, dressed in an old and oversized cotton T-shirt that didn’t fit well. But his face was cute and lively, his eyes as clear and agile as little fish in clean water. This child was the “Little Shrimp” mentioned by everyone on the day of Yan Xi’s fight.

“This is your Brother Si Wan’s sister, you should call her sister,” Yan Xi smiled, gently rubbing the child’s cap, his expression showing rare gentle warmth.

“Hello, Sister! My grandfather’s surname is He, I’m He Xia, but everyone calls me Little Shrimp.” The young boy’s voice was full of energy as he looked at her, somewhat nervously.

“I’m Wen Heng.” Ah Heng pursed her lips and smiled.

“Your Sister Wen Heng is a very good student. From now on, she’ll help you review your lessons every weekend, and next year you’ll get into high school, understand?” Yan Xi held the child’s hand, his expression animated.

“Can I get into Xi Lin?” Little Shrimp tilted his head and asked.

“Why Xi Lin?” Ah Heng was curious.

“I want to go to the same school as Brother Yan Xi, Brother Dayi, and Brother Si Wan.” The child counted off on his fingers.

Yan Xi stood up, his eyes smiling, looking questioningly at her.

Ah Heng found the child clever and endearing, and being around the same age as Zai Zai, she couldn’t help but like him. She smiled and nodded.

“Little Shrimp, where’s your grandfather?” Yan Xi remembered something.

“Grandfather went to set up his stall.” The child answered promptly.

“Don’t you need to help him?” Yan Xi pondered.

“Grandfather said I should study well with Brother Yan Xi and not go watch the stall.” The child pouted slightly, somewhat dejected.

Ah Heng glanced at Yan Xi, only to find him with lowered brows and eyes. She smiled and spoke gently to the child: “Little Shrimp, shall we begin?”

Little Shrimp would enter ninth grade in the second half of the year. The child was clever, just lacking in fundamentals. Ah Heng considered this and began teaching from the textbook content.

“So, using the root-finding formula, the result should be…”

“I know, it’s -3 and 1, right?” The child excitedly interrupted.

“Hmm? That’s not correct.”

“Ah, did I calculate wrong again?” The child’s face fell, very disappointed.

“Let me see… hehe, you wrote 26 for 5 squared. You calculated wrong inside the square root, it should be 0. There’s only one root, 2.” Ah Heng smiled, “Alright, next, problem three.”

While solving problems, the child kept stealing glances at Ah Heng’s expression.

“Little Shrimp, what’s wrong?” Ah Heng tilted her head, her clear face gentle and calm.

“Sister, why don’t you scold me?” The child was full of confusion, “Our teachers all scold me for being stupid, despise me, say I’m holding the class back.”

Ah Heng froze, then after a while, smiled, showing eight teeth: “You also haven’t, despised, sister’s Mandarin.”

“Sister’s way of speaking is very nice, soft like cotton candy.” Cotton candy, cotton candy, the child muttered, drooling.

By the time they finished the lessons, it was nearly dusk.

Just as they stretched, Yan Xi’s clear voice came from the courtyard, like a fresh breeze: “Little Shrimp, Wen Heng, come out quickly!”

Ah Heng held the child’s hand as they walked into the courtyard, only to be surrounded by whiteness and an encircling fresh fragrance.

There was a locust tree in the courtyard, its trunk so thick that it would take about three people holding hands to encircle it, and the locust flowers on its branches were in full bloom.

Yan Xi had found a bamboo rake from somewhere and stood under the tree, arms outstretched, swinging the rake back and forth to knock down the locust flowers.

The flowers fell in cascades, from above the youth’s head, following the wind’s trajectory, gently sliding down to settle in the dust – white, pure, beautiful, warm, and vivid.

Among the flower petals, that youth smiled brightly, waving at them, full of vitality.

Ah Heng breathed in lightly; the air was filled with accumulated traces of comfort.

Little Shrimp ran to the kitchen to get a winnowing basket, gathered the fallen locust flowers at the youth’s feet, and looked up with a satisfied smile on his small face: “Brother Yan Xi, that’s enough, that’s enough.”

“Achoo!” Yan Xi put down the rake as a flower petal floated to his nose, tickling it and making him sneeze.

Little Shrimp hugged the winnowing basket and smiled at Ah Heng: “Sister, would you like me to steam some locust flowers for you?”

Steam locust flowers?

She nodded, and the child ran off to the kitchen in a flash.

“Wen Heng, thank you for today.” Yan Xi lightly rubbed his nose with his index finger, his tone somewhat unnatural, his dark bright eyes wandering about.

“You’re welcome.” Ah Heng accepted Yan Xi’s thanks, surprised inside but maintaining a composed and gentle exterior.

“Ah, it has been a long time since I’ve thanked anyone, it feels so awkward…” Yan Xi felt embarrassed, smiled, and spread his hands in self-mockery.

When Little Shrimp came running back out, he carried an aluminum basin to Ah Heng and Yan Xi’s side, his forehead covered in sweat, his little face red: “Sister, Brother Yan Xi, please eat.”

Ah Heng looked at the snow-white, crystalline flower petals in the basin, picked up a pinch, and put them in her mouth. It was the taste from old memories, sweet and richly fragrant: “Delicious.” Ah Heng pursed her lips, her eyes soft with a smile.

Little Shrimp was proud, both arms crossed behind his head, his smile carrying the innocent happiness of a shrimp swimming freely in a stream.

Ah Heng reached out to wipe the dirt off the child’s face with her finger, but unexpectedly, the child threw himself forward and hugged her: “Sister, I like you, you’re a good person.”

Ah Heng was startled; she wasn’t used to such sudden, intense warmth, but what followed was emotion that coursed through her entire being.

Her stiff fingers slowly softened as she gently hugged the young boy back, her clear and gentle face tinged with a blush as she spoke softly: “Thank you.”

Yan Xi laughed lightly, leaned against the tree, and stretched, looking up at the sky filled with golden clouds.

When they left, Yan Xi didn’t take the original path. He led Ah Heng to another entrance of the hutong, facing the main street. As soon as they looked out, they saw an endless flow of people.

“Little Shrimp’s grandfather is over there.” Yan Xi gently pointed to the entrance of the hutong.

Ah Heng focused her gaze. At the hutong entrance was a bicycle repair stall. An old man with gray hair, wearing a blue cloth shirt, was hunched over a bicycle, his calloused hands lifting one end, turning the wheel to check something, looking serious and aged. She could even see the age spots on the old man’s arms and every furrow that time had carved into his face.

How many bicycle tires had this old man inflated, and how many damaged tires had he repaired, just to maintain the livelihood of two people?

“So, is that why Little Shrimp, steals?” Long ago, she remembered Officer Fu saying Little Shrimp was a habitual thief.

Yan Xi’s voice was flat: “There’s no choice, growing children are always hungry.”

“What about Little Shrimp’s parents?” She felt her voice become hoarse.

“Little Shrimp was an abandoned child. If he hadn’t been taken in by Grandfather He, just staying alive would have been difficult.” Yan Xi spoke softly, the youth’s voice steady as he related this most coldly.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Yan Xi smiled faintly, his black eyes covered with a peach blossom-like color, faint yet unfathomable.

“I was thinking, perhaps if you knew, you would treasure Little Shrimp’s hug even more. He never does that with strangers. You’re the first one.”