After getting off the bus, Lin Zhexia, to avoid the topic, kept harping on the “blocking” issue.
“I’m not just avoiding messaging you these few days, I don’t want to message you for a whole month.”
She walked ahead with her backpack: “Anyway, you want to block me.”
She knew exactly how to banter with Chi Yao, speaking more and more fluently.
“You don’t want to chat with me at all.”
“Chi Yao, you’re so heartless.”
“When I get back, I’ll shed silent tears alone, mourning our friendship.”
“…”
As they talked, the two reached the entrance of their building.
Chi Yao, who had been silently following behind her, grabbed her backpack before she could scan her access card, forcing her to turn and face him.
It was already evening, and the building entrance was quiet.
Chi Yao looked at her, his light pupils darker than usual. After a moment, he said, “When did I ever block you?”
“If I didn’t want to talk to you,” he added, “…you would’ve been blocked long ago.”
Chi Yao rarely spoke so directly.
Lin Zhexia was stunned, and before she could react, he had already let go and stepped back: “Go in.”
After Lin Zhexia returned home, her unbalanced heartbeat took a long time to calm down.
She lingered at her doorstep for a while, making sure Lin He wouldn’t notice anything unusual, before opening the door: “Mom, I’m back.”
Lin He glanced at her: “Come eat.”
Lin Zhexia put down her backpack: “Oh.”
“Where’s Uncle Wei?”
“He’s having dinner with colleagues,” Lin He said, “no need to wait for him.”
The dinner table was peaceful. Lin Zhexia talked about what happened at school, mentioning next month’s school anniversary celebration and Teacher Xu’s “Early Bird Plan.”
Lin He also shared some things about her work and neighborhood events: “Be careful when going out recently. I heard some suspicious people are wandering around our neighborhood. The auntie next door has seen them several times. Who knows what they’re up to?”
Lin Zhexia made an “Ah” sound: “Like those vocational school kids who used to wander around when I was little?”
Lin He: “I haven’t seen them myself, but probably similar. Might be some jobless wanderers.”
As she spoke, Lin He noticed another detail different from usual. While picking up food, she casually asked: “How come you haven’t mentioned Chi Yao lately? Usually, his name is always on your lips.”
Lin Zhexia’s hand paused while eating: “…”
Finally, she said, “I find him too annoying lately, don’t want to mention him,” and put down her chopsticks, returning to her room.
Back in her room, Lin Zhexia had just taken out her homework from her backpack.
She had barely written a few words when she heard voices from the living room.
“Oh, Chi Yao’s here,” Lin He said in the living room. “Zhexia is in her room. Are you here to do homework together? That’s perfect. I was worried that with senior year approaching, she might fall behind.”
“Next time, come up for dinner directly. Don’t be a stranger to Auntie.”
“…”
Lin Zhexia’s pen tip lingered on the paper, spreading an ink stain.
After Chi Yao came in, she moved her chair to make room for him: “Why are you here?”
Chi Yao put down his notebook.
He brought minimal items: a black pen and a set of problems specially selected by Old Liu.
“Doing homework,” he said.
“I know that,” Lin Zhexia felt a bit awkward. “The question is, why are you doing it at my home?”
Lin Zhexia was about to say, “Don’t you have a desk at home?”
But as if Chi Yao could guess what she was thinking, he leaned back slightly, twirling his pen: “My desk collapsed.”
“…”
Although Chi Yao’s arrival was sudden, she didn’t particularly want to face him right now.
But after all, the two had done homework together countless times since childhood, and she was used to it.
After getting through the initial awkwardness, Lin Zhexia continued to focus on her problems.
She tried to concentrate on her homework, but still felt somewhat distracted.
She spent a long time on a function problem she wasn’t good at, but couldn’t get the answer.
She was about to skip this problem and move to the next one when she heard the sound of knuckles tapping on the desk.
She looked up and found that at some point, a draft paper had appeared before her.
The draft paper had a few lines of function steps, concise and clear, with annotations pointing out where she had made errors while doing this problem.
—And pressed on this paper was a piece of candy wrapped in colored cellophane.
“…” Lin Zhexia looked at the person sitting beside her. “Where did you get the candy?”
Chi Yao said, “He Yang attended a wedding a few days ago and brought back a bunch. Left them all at my place.”
“As it happens,” he finished a problem and pinched his knuckles, “I couldn’t find a place to throw them away.”
Lin Zhexia: “Oh.”
Her mind was a bit fuzzy. She wanted to ask, “How did you know I couldn’t solve this problem?” but then realized he was sitting right next to her and probably noticed it by chance.
As Lin Zhexia unwrapped the candy, with sweetness spreading, she suddenly realized something.
Chi Yao had come over probably because she mentioned on the bus that she was under a lot of academic pressure lately.
Amid the busy and monotonous studies, the school anniversary performance was still something interesting for all Erzhong students.
Each class was busily preparing.
That day, Lin Zhexia was called to Old Liu’s office again.
“Old Liu,” having known him for almost two years, Lin Zhexia had become increasingly familiar with Old Liu. “What do you need?”
Old Liu saw her arrive and put down the assignments he was grading: “Lin, I do have something to ask of you.”
Lin Zhexia: “Please tell me.”
Old Liu: “As you know, our class has the ‘Early Bird Catches the Worm Plan,’ and poetry recitation requires the least preparation time. What do you think?”
Lin Zhexia said, “I think this strategy is excellent, fully demonstrating the planner’s resourcefulness.”
Old Liu: “So here’s the issue. The poetry recitation group needs a leader, and I want to entrust this important task to you. I’ve chosen you because…”
Lin Zhexia naturally continued: “Because I won first place in the speech contest?”
Old Liu nodded: “Yes.”
Unlike the previous time in Old Liu’s office, where she felt anxious and struck by bad luck.
This time, Lin Zhexia was very calm and didn’t decline: “I understand. I’ll go prepare.”
This response surprised Old Liu. He looked at the girl standing in his office. In nearly two years, everyone had subtly changed without realizing it. The introverted and timid Lin Zhexia from freshman year had changed a lot.
He still remembered how she anxiously refused back then, saying she couldn’t do it.
“Good,” Old Liu said with satisfaction, “the teacher believes in you. Prepare well.”
Lin Zhexia selected several poems, printed them using the office printer, and then carried a stack of paper, planning to head upstairs to her classroom.
As she walked, she thought this task wasn’t difficult.
It wouldn’t even take much effort—select people, use break time to rehearse a couple of times, and that would be it.
As she was thinking, passing by Class 1, she was stopped by Xu Ting.
Xu Ting stood in the corridor, arms spread wide, blocking the entire passageway, his posture extremely enthusiastic, his voice exceptionally warm: “—Lin!”
“…”
Lin Zhexia stopped, trying to bypass him: “Can I pretend not to know you?”
Xu Ting: “No, you’re Lin Zhexia from Class 7, my good buddy’s good buddy, which makes you my good buddy.”
Lin Zhexia: “If that’s the case.”
Xu Ting: “?”
Lin Zhexia, while moving past him, said: “Then I’ll have to address the root cause—I’ll end my friendship with Chi Yao.”
Xu Ting followed her: “Don’t do that, I need to talk to you.”
The corridor was busy with people coming and going.
Lin Zhexia involuntarily glanced toward Class 1’s windows, seeing that familiar seat empty.
So she stopped: “I’m very busy with schoolwork. I can only give you two minutes. Say what you need to say quickly.”
Xu Ting’s purpose was quite simple: “The school anniversary is coming up, right?”
Lin Zhexia gestured for him to continue.
Xu Ting: “As someone as charismatic as me, I need to shine on the anniversary stage, right?”
Lin Zhexia wanted to roll her eyes.
Xu Ting: “So I told the homeroom teacher that I’ll be in charge of Class 1’s performance.”
Hearing this, Lin Zhexia guessed: “I’m in charge of Class 7. So you’re so competitive that you stopped me from declaring war in advance?”
“…”
“Who’s declaring war on you? Your Class 7’s ‘Rookie Takes Flight Plan’ is known throughout the grade. Do I even need to declare war?”
“It’s ‘Early Bird,’ not ‘Rookie,'” Lin Zhexia couldn’t help correcting him.
But after correcting, she fell silent.
The two words didn’t seem that different after all.
“Anyway,” Lin Zhexia said, “it doesn’t matter. Get to the point.”
Xu Ting: “The point is our homeroom teacher requires at least two people for the performance, won’t let me go on stage alone, so I wanted to find Chi Yao to join me. I thought since Chi Yao is so popular, he’d be perfect on stage, and my performance would make a splash.”
Lin Zhexia’s first reaction was: “How did you come up with such a dangerous idea? Don’t you want to live?”
“…”
Xu Ting: “You don’t need to crush me twice. I’ve already been cruelly rejected.”
“But I don’t want to give up,” Xu Ting changed his tone, “help me out, persuade him for me.”
Lin Zhexia: “He doesn’t like being on stage.”
After thinking for a moment, she added, “And why do you think I can persuade him?”
Xu Ting didn’t even think before answering: “Because you two are close.”
Lin Zhexia initially didn’t want to get involved, but Xu Ting begged desperately, even elevating the matter to a philosophical level, telling her he “didn’t want to leave regrets in his once-in-a-lifetime youth.” Finally, she agreed to try and help.
“But he might not listen to me,” Lin Zhexia said before leaving. “I can’t guarantee he’ll agree.”
Having promised to help, she had to keep her word.
Lin Zhexia kept thinking about how to approach Chi Yao.
She pondered all the way, and that evening after school, she hesitated several times to speak.
Chi Yao stopped at the entrance: “Say it.”
Lin Zhexia’s words circled her mouth, and finally, she found a random excuse: “I’m thirsty. Can I go to your place for some water?”
“…”
“I just,” Lin Zhexia added, “haven’t had water at your place for so long, I kind of miss it.”
After saying this, under Chi Yao’s look that seemed to regard her as an idiot, she wanted to bite her tongue off.
Five minutes later, she was holding a glass, sitting on Chi Yao’s sofa, drinking water.
After finishing one glass, she still hadn’t figured out how to speak, so she asked: “Can I have a refill?”
Chi Yao looked at her composedly: “What do you think this is, a cafe with unlimited refills?”
Though he said this, he still poured her another glass of water.
Lin Zhexia felt that if she drank any more, she would burst, so she spoke up: “The school anniversary is coming up soon. Our class is preparing a performance. How about your class?”
Chi Yao tilted his head and said, “Not as creative as your class.”
“…”
Teacher Xu’s plan had spread widely.
“I heard Xu Ting wants you to perform with him,” Lin Zhexia finally got to the point. “You rejected him?”
Chi Yao made an “mm” sound: “I told him to clear the water from his brain before speaking.”
Lin Zhexia: “Actually, Xu Ting found me today and wanted me to help persuade you.”
Chi Yao was also holding a bottle of water. As he unscrewed the cap and walked toward her, upon hearing this, surprisingly, he didn’t immediately refuse. Instead, as he came closer, he asked her: “How do you plan to persuade me?”
Lin Zhexia spoke without hesitation: “A handsome guy like you should be on stage for everyone to admire.”
“Without you, the anniversary stage would be at a loss.”
“If you go on stage, you’ll be like a warm sunshine in winter for the audience, a cool spring in summer.”
Lin Zhexia stopped here: “I’m running out of words. Give me a few minutes to think more.”
There was another reason she agreed to help Xu Ting—a bit of personal desire.
Xu Ting’s phrase “once-in-a-lifetime youth” touched her.
She thought of Chi Yao’s seventeen years that would never return.
If he could perform on stage with his good friend during his high school days, it would probably add more memories to his high school life.
Thinking of this, she set aside those flowery persuasions and sincerely said: “Besides, I hope you can go on stage too.”
Chi Yao didn’t indicate whether he would agree or not.
He just held his water bottle, lowered his eyes, concealing his gaze, and when he looked up again, he had already returned to normal. His throat moved slightly: “…You want to see it?”
Lin Zhexia had a strange feeling that his tone suggested that if she said “yes,” he would agree.
In the next second, Chi Yao revealed his true nature.
He looked away and said, “Then keep wishing.”
“…”
The failed persuasion was within Lin Zhexia’s expectations.
She wasn’t too discouraged. After returning home, she found Xu Ting’s contact and sent him a message: Sorry, I couldn’t convince him. Maybe you should find someone else.
Xu Ting replied very quickly, starting with just two words and an exclamation mark: Haha!
Lin Zhexia: …Have you gone crazy?
Xu Ting: Haha! Stop pretending, I’ve seen through your little trick.
Xu Ting: You’re trying to lower expectations first, right? First, telling me you failed, then revealing a surprise twist.
Lin Zhexia slowly typed: No, you’re overthinking. I’m not joking with you.
Before she could send it, Xu Ting sent a screenshot of a chat.
With a note: Surprise! Chi Yao already told me he agreed. You can’t fool me!
Lin Zhexia: …
Lin Zhexia opened the screenshot.
Most of the screenshot was Xu Ting’s monologue, accompanied by intermittent insanity: Please, just perform with me, please, please, please.
Amid Xu Ting’s ramblings, that familiar cat avatar had replied with one sentence ten minutes ago.
Cat Avatar: Sign up
Xu Ting didn’t immediately understand: ??? Sign up for what
Cat Avatar: My name.