In the evening, Lin He brought milk to Lin Zhexia before bedtime. She knocked on the door and said softly, “Xiaxia, are you doing homework? I’m coming in.”

Lin Zhexia replied: “Come in, I’m reading—”

Lin He opened the door. She had been going to bed early recently and was already a bit sleepy.

But she still made an effort to ask with concern: “Did you talk to the teacher about withdrawing from the competition?”

Lin Zhexia took the milk: “No.”

Lin He: “Why not? Are you embarrassed, or afraid the teacher won’t agree?”

“Neither.”

She shook her head and said, “I want to try again.”

Because when she was about to give up, someone told her they thought she could do it.

So, she wanted to try again.

Lin Zhexia took a few sips of milk, thinking about her recent chat with Chi Yao.

—No one thinks you can’t do it.

—Only you think that.

…

It was just a speech competition, so many people participated, if others could do it, so could she.

Lin Zhexia often had these sudden changes of mind, so Lin He didn’t ask why she had suddenly changed her decision.

But since her daughter had decided to go through with it, she naturally had to encourage her: “No matter what the result is, the important thing is to participate. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

Lin Zhexia made a sound of agreement: “You should go to sleep, I’ll read for a bit and then go to bed too.”

That night, she didn’t sleep very soundly.

After all, thinking about the competition, the psychological pressure was still there.

She had a dream where she was captured by a group of monsters, and these monsters forced her to go on stage and give a speech.

In the dream, she performed exceptionally fluently.

Then the monster leader said: You spoke very well, give another speech for me to hear.

…

After waking up, she rubbed her head, feeling a slight headache.

9:00 AM.

She finished her simple morning routine and revised her speech again.

Just as she was hesitating whether to practice at home or go to Chi Yao’s place, someone downstairs called her name: “Brother Xia—”

It was He Yang’s voice.

She walked to the window, leaned out to look down, and saw He Yang and Chi Yao standing side by side downstairs.

Chi Yao was squinting in the sunlight. He seemed to find He Yang standing too close, so he stepped to the side.

He Yang looked up, cupped his hands like a megaphone, and his voice traveled up from below: “Brother Xia, we need to see you, come down for a bit.”

This way of calling her immediately took her back to childhood.

When they were young, electronic devices weren’t as popular as they are now, and she didn’t have a phone. The thing she did most often was to call out for people to come downstairs to play.

“What is it?” Lin Zhexia came downstairs with her hair loose.

“Come on,” He Yang said to her, “to Yao’s place, we’ve prepared a surprise for you.”

Lin Zhexia: “?”

He Yang: “Come on.”

Lin Zhexia was suspicious: “Are you sure it’s a surprise? Why prepare something for me? There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

He Yang: “You’ll know when you get there.”

Lin Zhexia followed the two of them to Chi Yao’s home.

Soon after she entered, the door was suddenly knocked on. The person who came was tall and wearing black-framed glasses: “Brother Yao, I’m here.”

Less than thirty seconds later.

Another person arrived.

“I’m here too, I’m here too.”

“And me, I had something on the way, we said 9:20, I’m not late, am I?”

“Me, me, me, me, I’m here too.”

“…”

More and more people arrived.

Soon, Chi Yao’s living room was filled.

The sofa was packed with people, and those who couldn’t sit were standing.

The standing people were about two or three rows deep.

Most of those who came were peers from the neighborhood. It was the weekend, so everyone had free time.

Among the roomful of people, there was even a child.

The child was holding a lollipop, staring at her with innocent eyes, and sweetly called out: “Hello, big sister.”

Lin Zhexia’s expression cracked a bit: “Whose kid is this?”

“That’s my cousin,” He Yang said, “Erya, come here, sit with brother.”

He Yang explained: “Brother Yao said to gather more people. My cousin happened to be at my place, so I brought him along. Don’t worry, he’s only five, but he can already understand human speech. Listening to your speech shouldn’t be a big problem for him.”

Lin Zhexia wondered if she had misheard: “Listen to my… speech?”

He Yang: “Yeah, aren’t you participating in a competition? The kind where there will be many people in the audience. How about that, thoughtful, right? We’ve come to rehearse with you. With all of us here, creating this atmosphere, after rehearsing with us, you’ll be able to adapt to having so many people in the audience.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

Very creative.

Who came up with such a creative idea?

She almost applauded.

He Yang asked again with anticipation: “When does your speech start?”

Lin Zhexia scanned the roomful of people, her gaze finally landing on the most conspicuous among them—Chi Yao sat in the center of the sofa, looking as if he was being surrounded by everyone. Everyone else sat very properly, only he looked relaxed, casually looking down at his phone.

When he looked up again, their eyes met.

“It starts now,” although the scene was too ridiculous, Lin Zhexia had to admit it was a good practice opportunity. “Get ready, I’m about to begin my speech.”

After she said this, Chi Yao casually put away his phone.

Then, as the initiator of this creative idea, he demonstrated his leadership.

He leaned back and lazily clapped his hands.

With him taking the lead, others began to applaud too, and for a moment, the living room erupted in thunderous applause.

Lin Zhexia was speechless for a moment, then cleared her throat and began speaking without notes: “Hello, everyone. The title of my speech is, Youth.”

As soon as she finished speaking, someone turned and asked: “Brother Yao, should we cheer here?”

Chi Yao nodded slightly: “You can.”

The audience in the living room immediately erupted in enthusiastic responses.

Just as she finished stating her title, enthusiastic voices burst out: “Good! Well said!”

“This opening is very smooth!”

“As soon as I heard it, I knew our Brother Xia was destined to be the champion of the speech competition.”

“…”

Mixed in with these was the childish cheer from He Yang’s five-year-old cousin: “Big sister, your Mandarin is very standard.”

…

“You all be quiet.”

Lin Zhexia stopped and said, “The audience at the competition won’t be as noisy as you, I’m competing in the school auditorium, not in a chicken farm.”

He Yang: “What if everyone is impressed by your speech and can’t help themselves? You should adapt to such unexpected situations. How to respond calmly and with dignity amidst cheers.” After saying this, he sought validation from elsewhere, “Brother Yao, what do you think?”

Chi Yao didn’t follow up on his words: “That scenario you described is unlikely to happen.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

In the end, Lin Zhexia rehearsed four or five times in front of this group.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination.

Today, she seemed to stumble less than yesterday.

Those words on paper seemed to leave the page and come out of her mouth effortlessly.

Yet yesterday, she had almost told Teacher Xu she wanted to give up.

He Yang stayed at Chi Yao’s home for nearly an hour and a half. After all the people who came to hear Lin Zhexia rehearse had left, he was also preparing to go home.

However, halfway there, he realized he hadn’t brought his phone, so he went back.

“I left something.” He Yang found his phone on the sofa.

Just as he was about to leave, He Yang remembered that before he left home, his mom seemed to be about to argue with his dad again, so he sat down on the sofa: “I think I’ll sit for a while before leaving.”

Chi Yao had no particular reaction and was tidying up the coffee table that had been messed up due to the crowd: “Suit yourself.”

He Yang: “I’ve been wanting to ask, when did you get that earring? I was staring at your ear for quite a while earlier.”

Chi Yao didn’t respond.

He Yang: “You’re already handsome enough, can you leave some room for people like us? If you go to school like this, won’t those people at school go crazy?”

“I don’t know if they’ll go crazy,” Chi Yao said, “but I see you’re quite crazy today.”

He Yang was already used to his way of speaking. He couldn’t help touching his ear: “What do you think about me getting one too? I should be pretty suitable for it, right?”

Chi Yao didn’t even look up: “Go look in the mirror.”

He Yang: “…”

After a while, He Yang brought up the rehearsal from earlier: “My Brother Xia is even participating in a competition, I didn’t expect that.”

Mentioning Lin Zhexia opened the floodgates of conversation.

“Speaking of which, we take the same bus to school in the morning, right? On the bus, there was a schoolmate who came up to greet me the other day, saying he had seen me on the bus.”

“He also asked about the pretty girl next to me. I was stunned for quite a while, not realizing who this ‘pretty girl’ was. In that moment, I realized that after knowing her for so many years, I had forgotten Brother Xia’s gender.”

Saying this, He Yang sighed: “I didn’t expect my Brother Xia to be so popular. Of course, rest assured, I didn’t give out her contact information.”

“This classmate was also curious if I had ever had a crush on her, which gave me a shock, the kind where all your body hair stands on end,” He Yang said, “—How could that be possible? She’s my good buddy whom I’ve grown up with since childhood. I’m not crazy. With so many girls in the world, if I were to like anyone, it couldn’t be my Brother Xia. Don’t you agree?”

The more He Yang thought about this hypothesis, the more horrifying it seemed: “Tsk, that would be so awkward, the outcome would probably be cutting off all ties. Originally good brothers, ending up not even able to be brothers anymore.”

Chi Yao listened without speaking.

But his hand, tidying the coffee table, paused.

He Yang jumped from one topic to another quickly.

As he was about to switch to the next topic, Chi Yao interrupted.

“Had enough of sitting,” Chi Yao said, “if you’ve sat enough, then get lost.”

He Yang: “Yaoyao, you’re so heartless.”

Chi Yao closed his eyes and opened them again: “Get lost.”

“Fine, I’m leaving.”

Before leaving, He Yang very exaggeratedly raised his pinky toward him: “You hurt my feelings like this, I won’t come next time.”

The weekend rehearsal went well, and Lin Zhexia half-relaxed.

The other half couldn’t relax until after the competition was over.

On Monday, Tang Shuxuan saw that she was in good spirits: “I was worried you wanted to withdraw from the competition, didn’t expect you’re quite well-prepared.”

Lin Zhexia said while handing in her homework: “Yes, over the weekend I practiced… at home for two days. Originally, I thought about backing out, but now I want to try.”

Tang Shuxuan was happy for her: “That’s good, don’t be nervous at all, I’m here with you.”

Lin Zhexia initially thought she wouldn’t be nervous.

But the closer it got to the competition day, the more she couldn’t control it.

The day before the competition, she only ate half a bowl of rice.

Wei Ping asked worriedly: “You’re eating so little today, is the food not to your liking? How about this, tell me what you want to eat, and uncle will take you out to eat later.”

Lin Zhexia shook her head: “I’m full.”

She was mainly afraid that if she ate too much, she would get so nervous she’d want to throw up.

Lin He: “The competition is tomorrow, right? Is it in the morning or afternoon?”

Lin Zhexia: “Afternoon.”

At ten o’clock in the evening, she went to bed on time to prepare for sleep.

She even drank a glass of milk before bed.

However, after enduring a long time, acknowledging she couldn’t sleep, and opening her eyes again, she found the time displayed on her phone screen had become “11:03.”

The house was very quiet; Lin He and Wei Ping had long gone to bed by now.

She lay in bed, sighed, unable to sleep, yet really couldn’t find anything to do, so she casually opened a game.

Her enthusiasm for games came quickly and went quickly; after playing for a while during the previous holiday, she had quickly set it aside.

She went on to claim some items, looked around, and was about to log off when she received a friend message.

Little Pig Falls in Water:?

Splash: …

Little Pig Falls in Water: Not sleeping yet

Lin Zhexia was caught and typed a reply.

Splash: You caught me

Splash: I was secretly coming online to improve my gaming skills.

Splash: I just love the feeling of getting stronger behind my friends’ backs.

Little Pig Falls in Water: Oh

Then “Little Pig Falls in Water” said nothing more.

After about two or three minutes, “Chi Dog” called with a voice call.

“What is it?” Lin Zhexia answered the phone, lowering her voice to avoid disturbing Lin He, saying quietly, “I’m about to sleep.”

Chi Yao mercilessly exposed her: “Coward, can you even sleep?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia was about to say Give her a little more time, she could sleep, when she heard the person on the phone say, “I’m downstairs at your place.”

“Now?”

On the other end of the phone, besides that familiar voice, there was also the faint sound of cicadas.

“Yes,” he said, “are you coming down or not?”