During those two days of the monthly exams, it started raining in Pingcheng, and the temperature plummeted along with it. Ruan Mian had forgotten to close her window the night before last, and when she woke up the next morning, she found her throat felt dry and sore.

Fang Ruqing and Zhao Yingwei had left early in the morning, so she couldn’t find any cold medicine at home. She went back to her room, swallowed two throat lozenges, and then headed to school.

Class One’s classroom had already been set up as an examination room. The spacious classroom now only held thirty desks, with the rest all stacked at the back of the room.

Ruan Mian found her desk and sat down. Not long after, Zhou Hai came in and announced that morning reading would proceed as normal, telling students without seats to squeeze in with those who had seats.

Meng Xinglan immediately grabbed a stool and sat down next to Ruan Mian.

By that time, quite a few people had already arrived in the classroom. Ruan Mian looked around the room but didn’t see Chen Yi anywhere, and couldn’t help sighing.

Ever since last Friday evening when Ruan Mian had run into Chen Yi at the Li Family Supermarket, she had spent the entire weekend blaming herself, feeling that she had lost her proper manners when facing him.

Not to mention the look Chen Yi had given her at the time—sarcastic and cold—which stuck in Ruan Mian’s throat like a fishbone, leaving her unable to let it go for a long time.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but sigh again.

Meng Xinglan, beside her, pulled some of her attention away from her rapid-paced silent reading: “What’s wrong with you? Sighing like this so early in the morning.”

“It’s nothing.” Ruan Mian scratched her cheek. “It’s just that I’m not good at Chinese, and that’s the first exam, so I’m a bit nervous.”

Meng Xinglan laughed and consoled her: “Don’t be nervous. Our Chinese teacher is very easy-going. Even if you fail, at most he’ll just make you stand during Chinese class for a week. He won’t hit you, so don’t worry.”

Ruan Mian pressed her lips together, wanting to speak but hesitating: “…”

Meng Xinglan was tickled by her reaction and couldn’t stop laughing, lying on the desk. “Oh my, I can’t take it. Ruan Mian, why are you so cute?”

In this situation, even though it was the first time someone had called her cute, Ruan Mian couldn’t laugh.

Just as she was feeling helpless, her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a figure at the door. She hastily straightened her posture and reminded: “Teacher Zhou is here.”

Meng Xinglan abruptly stopped laughing and picked up her book to start reading aloud.

She put on quite a convincing act.

Zhou Hai circled the classroom twice, then walked out to the corridor to chat with teachers from other classes. It wasn’t until near the end of morning reading that he came back in to mention a few things related to the exam.

Ruan Mian took advantage of this moment to look around the classroom again, and spotted Chen Yi sitting in the middle of a group near the door.

He wasn’t wearing his school uniform today. He wore a pure white hooded sweatshirt with a small string of indistinguishable black letters on the chest. His already fair skin had a naturally cool undertone, which the clothing accentuated, making him appear even more aloof.

Ruan Mian had never seen a boy fairer than him.

She withdrew her gaze. Zhou Hai also finished giving his instructions, and the class descended into brief chaos.

Students in the same examination room left the classroom together. Those not in the same room, like Ruan Mian and Meng Xinglan, separated when they reached the bottom of the teaching building.

Examination Room 46 was in the multimedia classroom of the Civics Building. Those in the same room were basically the bottom-rankers from the regular classes. Ruan Mian was the only student from a key class.

When the invigilator was checking names, he even looked at her twice more, as if puzzled about how a student from the best of the key classes ended up in this examination room.

Ruan Mian pretended not to notice, took the test paper passed to her by the student in front, quickly scanned through it, and when the bell rang, picked up her pen and began answering.

After the Chinese exam ended in the morning, the school didn’t enforce mandatory rest during lunch break. Ruan Mian ate outside school, then went home to sleep for a while.

When she woke from this nap, her sore throat had progressed to a headache and fever. On her way to school, she stopped by a pharmacy. As she came out, she saw Chen Yi and Jiang Rang with a few others walking out of a bubble tea shop by the roadside.

The boys were chatting and laughing. The several girls walking among them each held a cup of bubble tea, also with smiling eyes.

Ruan Mian stood by the roadside. When the wind from the alley blew through, she couldn’t help but lower her head and cough a few times. The cold wind rushed through her mouth into her throat, making her cough until her face turned completely red.

The two days of exams passed in a flash. Originally, the National Day holiday would follow the next day, but unfortunately, during that time, viral flu was rampant in Pingcheng, and Ruan Mian was unlucky enough to catch it. She spent the entire long holiday at the hospital.

On the last day of the holiday, Meng Xinglan learned about Ruan Mian’s illness and insisted on coming to visit her no matter what.

Ruan Mian still remembered her agreement with Zhao Shutang at the start of the school term, so she didn’t invite anyone to her home. She met up with Meng Xinglan at a hotpot restaurant near her house instead.

Meng Xinglan had traveled with her parents to a coastal city in the south during the holiday and brought back local specialties for Ruan Mian.

After giving the gifts and expressing her concern, she extended her hand in front of Ruan Mian as if presenting a treasure: “My new manicure, isn’t it pretty?”

The girl’s fingers were fair and slender, her nails full and rounded, painted with a layer of flesh-pink nail polish decorated with pearls and small polka dots, looking playful and cute.

Ruan Mian nodded and praised from the heart: “Very pretty.”

Meng Xinglan withdrew her hand, beaming: “This shop is right downstairs from my building. If you like it, I’ll take you there next time.”

Ruan Mian nodded and said okay.

After eating hotpot, Meng Xinglan wasn’t in a hurry to go home. She pulled Ruan Mian to a bubble tea shop by the roadside, where they each ordered a cup of bubble tea and sat in the shop chatting.

From the human geography of the coastal city to the recent monthly exam, Meng Xinglan remembered something and hurriedly swallowed the pearls in her mouth: “Oh right, I heard from Jiang Rang a couple days ago that after this monthly exam ends, Teacher Zhou is going to rearrange the classroom seating.”

Ruan Mian was caught off guard. A pearl got stuck in her throat, and she had to cough hard several times before she could catch her breath. “Change seats?”

“Yes. Teacher Zhou plans to rearrange the seating according to grades. Following his habit from our first year, it should be that kind of mutual support model—first place with last place, second place with second-to-last place, and so on like that.”

This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Ruan Mian. She froze for a full half minute before finding her voice again: “I wonder who my new deskmate will be.”

“Don’t worry. No matter who it is, they’ll definitely be better than that Chen Yi guy.” Meng Xinglan sat in front of Ruan Mian, and over this past month had rarely heard any communication between Ruan Mian and Chen Yi.

She assumed from the start that Chen Yi looked down on Ruan Mian, so naturally she hoped Ruan Mian could get a new deskmate who would treat her sincerely.

But what Meng Xinglan didn’t know was that for Ruan Mian, even being looked down upon was far better than it not being him at all.

Ruan Mian and Meng Xinglan stayed out until it got dark. When it was time to part, Meng Xinglan took the bus home. After boarding, she sat by the window and waved to her: “See you tomorrow!”

She also waved twice: “Yes, see you tomorrow.”

The bus doors closed. The vehicle’s lights gradually receded into the night, merging into the colorful neon lights, becoming blurry until they could no longer be seen.

Ruan Mian was still carrying all the various specialties Meng Xinglan had given her—coconut powder, coconut cakes, coconut cookies, and a whole series of foods derived from coconuts.

She turned and walked into the alley. Passing by the Li Family Supermarket, Li Zhi was standing in the shop. Looking up and seeing the distracted girl, he called out: “Ruan Mian.”

Ruan Mian snapped back to her senses and walked into the shop: “Li Zhi.”

“Mm.” Li Zhi looked at her. “What are you doing?”

“Just finished eating with a friend and heading back.” Ruan Mian took out two boxes of pastries from her bag and handed them to him. “Specialties from my friend. Try some.”

Li Zhi didn’t take them, jerking his chin toward the side: “What a coincidence. My friend also just brought me some specialties. You keep those and take them home to eat yourself.”

Ruan Mian looked over toward the counter and saw a paper bag there identical to the one in her hands. She withdrew her hand again.

Li Zhi tapped his fingertip against the edge of the glass counter. “Speaking of which, you also know this friend—Chen Yi. You know him?”

Ruan Mian said she knew him, then added: “He and I are classmates.”

“Not just classmates, right?” Li Zhi smiled slightly. “He told me you two are also deskmates.”

Ruan Mian didn’t know what Chen Yi had told Li Zhi about her, but it probably wasn’t a good impression. After all, she was sensitive and pretentious, and they barely spoke normally.

Her gaze flickered, her voice flat: “We were deskmates before, but we won’t be soon.”

Li Zhi laughed: “What? He’s bullying you?”

Ruan Mian didn’t know where he got that guess from and quickly denied it: “No, it’s that the teacher is going to rearrange seats according to grades.”

“I see.”

The two didn’t chat for much longer. Ruan Mian received a phone call from Fang Ruqing, saying she’d be right back while gesturing to him that she had to leave first.

Li Zhi nodded, silently mouthing: See you.

Ruan Mian walked out while on the phone. Li Zhi watched her retreating figure, his expression thoughtful.

When Ruan Mian got home, Fang Ruqing was in the kitchen helping Duan Ying. Hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, she came out of the kitchen: “Why so late? Didn’t you say you’d be back early?”

“I accidentally lost track of time.” Ruan Mian changed her shoes and handed the bag in her hand to Fang Ruqing. “Specialties from a friend.”

Fang Ruqing took it, asked her a few questions, then carried the items to the living room: “Shuyang, look what your sister brought you.”

Children this age love to play and eat. The specialties were packaged in odd shapes that were particularly eye-catching. Zhao Shuyang opened several in succession, but after taking one bite of each, he didn’t eat any more.

Ruan Mian walked over and saw the pastries he’d casually tossed on the table. Her lips moved, and meeting Fang Ruqing’s gaze, she ultimately said nothing.

After dinner, Ruan Mian returned to her room to study. As usual, she waited until there was no more noise outside before changing clothes and going downstairs to wash up.

At night, the wind picked up outside again, carrying autumn rain that pelted against the windows with a drip-drop sound. Ruan Mian was woken by the noise and pressed her phone to check the time.

It had just passed four o’clock.

She wrapped herself in the blanket, rolled over, closed her eyes and listened to the rain outside, but couldn’t fall back asleep even a little. She just stayed like that until dawn.

Ruan Mian got up earlier than usual. Going downstairs, she ran into Fang Ruqing preparing breakfast in the kitchen. She didn’t go over, instead walking straight into the bathroom.

When she finished washing up and came out, Fang Ruqing was standing outside, holding the paper bag she had brought back last night in her hand: “I saved some for you. Take them back to your room.”

Ruan Mian said there was no need.

Fang Ruqing placed the bag in her hands and turned to walk toward the kitchen: “Have breakfast before going to school. I made the preserved egg and lean pork congee you like.”

Because of the sudden financial crisis this year, the foreign trade company where Fang Ruqing and Zhao Yingwei worked had suffered quite a blow. During this period, there had been large-scale layoffs. To keep her job, Fang Ruqing worked overtime until late at night every day.

Ruan Mian looked at her mother’s figure, which had obviously grown much thinner, and still couldn’t bear to refuse.

After eating breakfast, Ruan Mian left alone as usual. By the time she reached the classroom, the class had already been restored to its original state. The seating was still in the order from before the exam.

But Ruan Mian knew clearly that it wouldn’t be like this for much longer.

—

Author’s Note: I’ve seen all your likes!