Lin Zhexia followed this sentence pattern and thought of many “only” scenarios.

Only she could send him any message at any time.

Only she had the key to his home.

Only…

It seemed that only she was so close to him.

“I asked you to look at the problem,” Chi Yao paused his hand that was writing with a pen, interrupting her thoughts, “where are you looking?”

Lin Zhexia was caught off guard, momentarily freezing.

She averted her eyes and, after a while, said: “I was admiring the earrings I picked out.”

“And then thinking about whose taste is so extraordinary, oh, it turns out to be mine.”

Chi Yao tossed his pen aside and sat back: “Solve the rest of the problems yourself, I don’t want to teach anymore.”

“?”

Chi Yao: “There’s no particular reason, just that you don’t seem to be thinking straight today. Come back when you’re better.”

After that day, Lin Zhexia could see Chi Yao wearing earrings every weekend.

Whether she went to his home, or when they went out to buy groceries at the supermarket, or even when taking out the trash, he always wore them.

…

She got used to seeing them after a while.

Her previous thoughts of “that’s a bit of a shame” vanished like smoke.

And she gradually began to feel that this person had a bit of a show-off attitude.

On this day, they had just returned from the supermarket.

Chi Yao walked in front, the bag in his hand filled with ice cream.

Lin Zhexia finally couldn’t help it and suddenly said: “Chi Yao, I’ve realized you’re quite calculating.”

Chi Yao glanced at her.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Are you deliberately trying to look cool?” Lin Zhexia said. “Is that why you wear earrings in private every day?”

Chi Yao had a ‘mind your own business’ look: “Then go report me to the police.”

…

It was exactly as she thought.

It was the height of summer, and the bluestone path was scorching hot.

Lin Zhexia was dressed very casually, wearing a pair of slippers that had followed her for several years, and knee-length casual shorts. She asked: “Your refrigerator should have enough space, right?”

She was asking about the bag of ice cream in Chi Yao’s hand.

Lin He was very strict with her. Ever since she had a stomachache from eating cold food as a child, Lin He wouldn’t let her eat anything too cold. Every summer, it was almost impossible to have cold treats every day; Lin He only allowed her to have them once or twice a week.

But fortunately, she had access to more than just the refrigerator at home.

Chi Yao also had a refrigerator.

Chi Yao: “No room. I suggest throwing it away.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

After a while, Chi Yao reminded her: “Two sticks a week, be self-disciplined.”

Lin Zhexia was dissatisfied: “You’re just like my mom. I’ve grown up now, my digestive system is very healthy, and eating a bit more won’t cause any problems.”

Chi Yao smirked: “Who cares how much you eat? I just don’t want to accompany you to buy more.”

“…”

Halfway home, they encountered He Yang sitting at his doorstep.

He Yang’s eyes brightened: “Give me an ice pop, I’m about to die from the heat. I’m like a person who’s been walking in the desert for ten years. I thought my heart had long since dried up, until I met you two, this sweet spring.”

Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao spoke almost simultaneously—

Lin Zhexia: “Don’t use metaphors if you can’t do it properly.”

Chi Yao: “Shut up if you can’t talk properly.”

He Yang: “…”

These two always had unexpected chemistry in some strange areas.

Lin Zhexia picked out a cold treat for him from Chi Yao’s bag, asking while selecting: “Why are you sitting outside?”

He Yang: “Don’t mention it, my parents, same old problem.”

He Yang’s parents loved to argue. They had been bickering their way through all these years. When things were good, they were really good, but when they fought, the damage was not to be underestimated.

He Yang’s father was quiet by nature, not talkative, and disliked explaining himself, while his mother had a fiery temper.

Every family had its difficulties.

Lin Zhexia understood and didn’t ask further.

Seeing her rummaging for so long, He Yang couldn’t help asking: “What are you looking for? Is it that difficult to grab an ice pop?”

Before his summer brother could answer, his Yao brother coolly said, “She’s looking for the cheapest one.”

He Yang: “…”

Lin Zhexia’s thoughts were immediately exposed, making her somewhat embarrassed: “…Some things don’t need to be said out loud.”

He Yang’s expression cracked: “Am I only worthy of the cheapest one???”

“It’s the middle of the day, they’re arguing, and I got kicked out. Plus, we’ve known each other for so many years, we could be called brothers who’ve shared life and death—and I only deserve the cheapest one?!”

Lin Zhexia rummaged through the bag for a while and finally found an old-style saltwater popsicle costing fifty cents at the bottom: “Here, you should be grateful you get anything at all.”

He Yang: “…Thanks.”

Lin Zhexia: “You’re welcome.”

The three of them rarely met up like this, and they squeezed together on the steps to chat for a while, just like when they were children.

He Yang: “Your mom was playing cards at my house yesterday.”

Lin Zhexia nodded: “She won quite a bit, she was very happy when she came home.”

He Yang: “Quite a bit indeed, she won all my New Year’s money.”

Lin Zhexia: “You can complain to me all you want, but don’t expect me to give it back to you. I don’t have money.”

He Yang: “…”

He Yang then turned to Chi Yao, unconsciously beginning to say: “Your mom…”

He wanted to ask if his mom was doing well lately.

However, before he could realize the inappropriateness of his words, Lin Zhexia had already elbowed him discreetly.

He Yang immediately swallowed his words.

It was Chi Yao himself who nonchalantly said, “She’s busy with business, the factory just received a batch of new parts.”

He Yang bit off the last piece of his ice pop and sighed: “Strong woman.”

They chatted for a while.

Chi Yao was still holding the cold treats, and Lin Zhexia, worried they would melt in the sun, told him to take the bag home first.

After Chi Yao left, she couldn’t sit still either. Just as she was about to tell He Yang, “I should go too, you continue sunbathing here,” before she could speak, He Yang stood up to throw away his trash. He had probably been sitting on the steps for too long, and when he stood up, his legs were numb, causing him to stagger badly.

He Yang exclaimed: “Damn!”

He swayed from side to side like a roly-poly toy, eventually leaning toward where Lin Zhexia was sitting, barely managing to stand by supporting himself with his hand on Lin Zhexia’s shoulder.

“Your brother here had his legs beaten several times with a feather duster by my mom before coming out. The reason was that my mom said I’m just like my dad, and she gets angry just looking at me,” He Yang explained as he withdrew his hand.

“That is indeed quite miserable,” Lin Zhexia said, “If I had known, I would have given you a one-yuan ice pop earlier.”

He Yang: “Just one yuan.”

Lin Zhexia: “One yuan fifty cents, not a penny more.”

When Lin Zhexia returned home after secretly buying cold treats, Wei Ping was unpacking express delivery packages.

She wanted to go over and help unpack, but Wei Ping patted her shoulder and said, “It’s fine, I’ll handle it. You go do your homework quickly.”

When Lin Zhexia returned to her room and opened her homework to start writing, she suddenly noticed a detail she hadn’t paid attention to before.

—Her shoulder.

When she was sitting on the steps, He Yang had also touched her shoulder.

And now thinking about it, she belatedly realized that it was an extremely intimate posture. He Yang had lost his balance, and they were very close.

But why did she only realize this in hindsight?

Why, at the time, did she not feel anything was wrong?

Perhaps there was a bit of awkwardness and unnaturalness, but that feeling was so minimal that it was quickly ignored.

Chen Lin’s words flashed through her mind again.

—That’s not you becoming weird.

—It’s you growing up, finally realizing that Chi Yao is a boy, a boy whose pants you can’t steal to wear anymore, understand?

…

But Chi Yao and He Yang seemed different somehow.

Lin Zhexia felt that this problem that had appeared in her seventeen-year-old life was more difficult to solve than the extra math problems in front of her.

The only thing she could understand was that the “weirdness” between her and Chi Yao wasn’t what Chen Lin had described.

But what exactly it was, she still couldn’t figure out.

A few weeks after the start of the second year of high school, the school began organizing activities.

Lin Zhexia was making friendship bracelets with Chen Lin when the class monitor called her name from the doorway: “Lin Zhexia, go to Teacher Xu’s office.”

She usually behaved well and was rarely called to the teacher’s office.

On the way there, she kept guessing why Teacher Xu would call for her.

Was it because she left too many problems blank in yesterday’s homework?

Just two problems, that shouldn’t be too many.

Or was it because she and Chen Lin were passing notes about the dessert shop they wanted to visit on the weekend, and Teacher Xu found out?

Lin Zhexia really couldn’t think of a reason.

Finally, she sighed and obediently knocked on the teacher’s office door.

From inside, a teacher said: “Come in—”

She pushed the door open and entered.

The office was crowded, and among these people, there was a familiar figure.

Even though that person had his back to her, she recognized him at a glance.

As she walked over, she heard their class teacher saying to Chi Yao: “You don’t need to do the assignments that will be handed out later, I’ve prepared something else for you, just do those problems…”

“Teacher Xu,” Lin Zhexia walked up to Teacher Xu and said, “You were looking for me?”

Teacher Xu saw her arrive and put down what he was holding: “Ah, yes, I need to talk to you about something.”

Teacher Xu casually asked: “Do you have any plans for the weekend?”

Lin Zhexia misunderstood and confessed without being accused: “I shouldn’t have eagerly passed notes with Chen Lin to discuss weekend plans.”

Teacher Xu: “…”

Teacher Xu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “You two were passing notes? When did this happen?”

Lin Zhexia: “During the lunch break.”

Teacher Xu: “Alright, it’s not about the notes. It’s like this, our school has a speech competition next week.”

Lin Zhexia: “Huh?”

Teacher Xu: “The preparation time is very ample, you can use a whole week to prepare properly. Our class has two spots, and I’m thinking of sending you and Tang Shuxuan.”

“That’s not a good idea,” the development was completely beyond her imagination. Lin Zhexia thought of the school’s large auditorium that could accommodate over a thousand people with microphones, and her first reaction was to refuse, “I… I haven’t had any similar experience before, I probably can’t do it.”

Teacher Xu: “I think you have potential, and it’s a rare opportunity. Wouldn’t it be good to use this chance to improve yourself?”

Lin Zhexia really couldn’t understand which part of her showed potential.

But her mind did work quickly.

Perhaps because she was used to the back-and-forth mind games with Chi Yao, to dissuade Teacher Xu, she began to ramble almost without thinking: “Teacher, it’s not that I don’t want to, but I’m naturally quite shy. Whenever I face more than three people, I start to stutter when I speak. Not only do I stutter, but sometimes I also have trouble breathing.”

“This is an old problem of mine, I’ve been like this since I was little.”

“I would like to try, but this competition isn’t just about the individual; it also concerns the honor of our class, so maybe you should reconsider.”

Lin Zhexia finished this long string of words almost without breathing. After finishing, she found that not only was Teacher Xu smiling at her, but there was also a very familiar, extremely light snicker from behind her.

“…”

Teacher Xu even applauded for her: “See, you’re quite articulate. I say one sentence, and you can say ten.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

She had miscalculated.

She should have started pretending to stutter just now.

Lin Zhexia was in a state of being struck by something extremely unfortunate, and annoyed that she hadn’t performed well. So she concentrated her emotions and found an outlet for release, and this outlet was the person who had just laughed at her mockingly.

Teacher Xu was still explaining the requirements for the speech competition: “This is the 10th Speech Competition of Chengan. The topic for this speech is ‘Youth,’ and the requirements are as follows: the speech should be no less than five minutes long, and the content must be positive and uplifting…”

What Teacher Xu said went in one ear and out the other.

She only knew that she and Chi Yao were standing very close to each other now.

The two were almost standing back to back.

She moved her fingers, discreetly reaching her hand back, wanting to pinch Chi Yao through his clothes to vent her frustration.

However, she misjudged the position, and what she touched wasn’t the fabric of the school uniform, but a warm area with a bony feel.

She paused slightly, then realized she had pinched Chi Yao’s hand.

“You’ve been selected for the competition.” After a moment, the voice from behind paused and then said, “…why are you getting physical with me?”