Fallen leaves

When the first snow of 2015 fell in Junzhou, Xu Changjia was writing furiously on the answer sheet for his last subject—English.

She would occasionally look up at the window and sigh. Some of the plum trees in the school were bent over by the weight of the fruit, their branches and leaves falling off, leaving only bare trunks.

In the silent examination room, as the clock in front of the blackboard pointed to 11:40, people began to hand in their papers and leave one after another.

She flipped the completed answer sheet over and checked it again. Looking around, she saw that half of the examinees had already left the examination room. She got up, handed in her paper, and finished her final exam, ready to say goodbye to the first semester of her first year of high school.

But finishing the exams doesn't mean the end of your semester. You still need to go back to your class for a class meeting, clean the cleaning area, move into your new dorm and do the final finishing touches.

The brooms became exceptionally heavy in the hands of the four men. The swirling snow had almost stopped, the weather had cleared up, and the slippery road was riddled with potholes from countless footsteps.

Ou Liyao didn't want their last day at school to be in such a heavy atmosphere, especially since she was feeling a bit irritable while sweeping up the fallen leaves. She felt really bored if they didn't say a few words.

Before she could even speak, several students passing by came over and greeted them.

The men nodded stiffly, like walking corpses, and mechanically greeted Li Teng's henchmen, responding with a few words in response.

Ever since they had a frank conversation in Mengshan, Li Teng and his friends have been running into them in various places, even at the bookstore where they have weekend tutoring sessions.

Each time, she would smile and wave to them, saying, "What a coincidence, we meet again."

It's said that you can't hit a smiling face. Not only did they greet you with a smile, but they also occasionally offered you fruit and drinks. So, since they were openly auditing the class, Zhang Yuning couldn't bring herself to kick them out.

Thanks to the extracurricular tutoring classes, Li Teng and his little followers performed very well in the midterm exam and the second monthly exam. Just now, his little brothers came over and whispered to them: they felt good about the final exam, and the brothers all chose humanities, so they have a good chance of getting into the key class this time.

After all, the final exam is the decisive factor in their class placement.

According to the tradition of Junzhou No.1 Middle School, in the subject-specific exams, the two monthly exams each account for 10%, the midterm exam accounts for 30%, and the final exam accounts for half of the total 50%.

In other words, assuming you didn't do well on the first three exams, as long as you perform exceptionally well on the final exam, you still have a chance to try your best and move up a notch.

"Jiajia, I'm almost done sweeping here, how about yours?"

Seeing that the fallen leaves and branches on the ground had been almost completely swept away, Ou Liyao quickly moved closer to her. She watched as Zheng Ruoqian swept over another pile of leaves, and after she swept them all in, a large hand took the dustpan away.

Xu Changjia looked up at her without saying a word, but his expression clearly said: Is there something wrong?

She smiled and shook her head, then took the broom from her hand, placed it behind a few plum trees, and then turned back to take her arm and walk along Xiushen Road towards the North Gate.

After the two girls watched Zheng Ruoqian and Zhang Yuning leave one after the other, Xu Changjia turned to her and asked, "Yaoyao, is there anything you want to say to me?"

She tightened her grip on Xu Changjia's hand, resting almost her entire head on her shoulder. "Jiajia, Zheng Ruoqian is leaving, and I can't be in the same class as you anymore. Do you think it's too late for me to switch to humanities?"

She gently patted Ou Liyao's head, not knowing whether she was speaking to her or to herself, "It's okay, we'll both get better and better, and one day we'll meet again when our careers are at their peak."

She pulled Ou Liyao to a nearby milk tea shop and sat there for a while, waiting for their parents to pick them up.

Seeing that Ou Liyao was in such a low mood, she could only try her best to find all sorts of topics to cheer her up.

To be honest, his desperate attempt to make amends did successfully divert her attention. She rubbed Xu Changjia's chubby little face and said, "Jiajia, thank you for being with me. I feel much better now."

Xu Changjia's lips, which were opening and closing, suddenly stopped. "It's okay, we're best friends for life."

The two little girls held hands, sipping their milk tea and gazing at the sunrise that was quietly climbing into the sky, which slowly transformed into the rising sun.

A day later, all the students returned to campus, waiting for the announcement of the upcoming subject selection.

Zhang Yuning and Zheng Ruoqian arrived late. Everyone's report cards and class assignments had already been handed out, but since they weren't there, Ou Liyao pulled Xu Changjia aside to look at them for them, and couldn't help but feel a little envious.

That's great! They both chose science, and because of their good grades, they were able to stay in the science experimental class and continue to be roommates and deskmates.

Xu Changjia stared at his class assignment list, as if in a dream.

According to the tradition of Junzhou No.1 Middle School, after students are divided into arts classes, the science classes are ranked first and the humanities classes are ranked second.

In other words, classes 365-368 of their graduating class were humanities classes, and Xu Changjia's grades were just good enough to stay in the humanities experimental class.

The remaining 369 are science experimental classes, and 370 and above are science advanced classes.

Ou Liyao was just one point short of qualifying for the science experimental class and ended up in the 370 advanced class.

She never imagined that the four of them would end up in three different classes.

This time, there was truly no chance for them to be together again. Ou Liyao left, Zheng Ruoqian went abroad, and Zhang Yuning and Xu Changjia, one studying science and the other studying humanities, were truly separated by vast distances.

Fortunately, Zheng Ruoqian and Zhang Yuning don't need to move for now. Their original classroom has been replaced with a class number sign for 369, so I helped the two girls move their things and took them to the new classroom.

Xu Changjia's new class is right next to Class 369, so he doesn't need to worry too much.

However, Ou Liyao left the experimental class and moved from the fifth floor of the teaching building to the third floor. She was a little unaccustomed to being away from her familiar teachers and classmates.

After the class meeting in the new class, the next step is to choose a dormitory.

Even though Ou Liyao was lively and outgoing, she felt somewhat lost in the unfamiliar classroom where there was no one to talk to.

The girls who used to live in the girls' dormitory near the experimental building were in four-person rooms. Now they've moved to eight-person rooms in the advanced class, and it's possible they're living in mixed dormitories with students from other classes. The new homeroom teacher just calls out names from the first girl to the eighth girl based on their grades and mixes them up.

After the assignments were completed, everyone else rushed off to move their belongings and change dorms. She didn't even know which girls' dormitory building she was going to. Carrying her little backpack, she slowly walked in the opposite direction of Mingde Road.

I stopped in my tracks right at the cafeteria entrance.

Xu Changjia only changed classrooms; her dormitory remained the same. After putting down her things and saying goodbye to her other roommates, she ran off as fast as she could, wanting to hurry so she could help her good friend.

Before coming here, she went to the original Class 365, now Class 369, and asked about Zheng Ruoqian and Zhang Yuning.

However, since they were both boys, it was not appropriate for them to enter the girls' dormitory. Zheng Ruoqian booked a private restaurant near the school for them and invited the three of them to lunch. Knowing that she was going to help Ou Liyao, he asked her to pass on a message.

She was perceptive and immediately guessed his intention. After asking a few more questions to clarify the reason, she ran down the stairs and rushed towards the cafeteria, disappearing from his sight in no time.

"Jiajia, you've come to keep me company?" Upon seeing a familiar face, Ou Liyao immediately reverted to her usual chattering self, circling around Xu Changjia and chattering away non-stop.

Xu Changjia helped her stuff the contents of her large suitcase little by little into the cramped little cabinet and under the bed. But he couldn't help but start thinking about whether he could ask Zhang, the academic genius, to tutor Yao Yao again so that she could get back into the experimental class next semester.

However, I haven't told Yao Yao about that yet.

It has to be said that the girls' dormitory building here is really far away. Xu Changjia helped Ou Liyao run back and forth four or five times to move all the things. Just as the two of them lay down on the lower bunk they had tidied up, Xu Changjia's phone vibrated.

Fortunately, today was just about going back to school to pick up assignments and move dorm rooms; they didn't check phones.

Zheng Ruoqian called her and asked if the two of them had left the school yet.

Xu Changjia immediately sat up and agreed, saying he was coming. After hanging up the phone, he and Ou Liyao washed their faces and tidied up her bed before walking slowly toward the school gate.

Seeing that her best friend didn't ask any questions, Xu Changjia took the initiative to tell her all about Zheng Ruoqian inviting them to dinner at a private restaurant.

Ou Liyao's eyes darted around, and she quickly realized that he had probably already decided when to go to H country. Then she remembered that she and Zhang Yuning were late for school today, so they were probably going to see their homeroom teacher—no, she's not her homeroom teacher anymore—to see Teacher Wang to do some procedures or something, which is why they were late.

She took Xu Changjia's hand. "What's wrong? Are you afraid I'll blame you?"

"How could I blame you? Jiajia, you were willing to help me move dorms and you've been so good to me, how could I blame you?"

"I know, Zheng Ruoqian must have known we were together and asked you to pass on a message so he wouldn't have to make this trip, right? We're best friends, we don't need to worry about these trivial things that could hurt our feelings."

With just a few words, Ou Liyao dispelled all of Xu Changjia's worries. So, isn't having such a good friend a great blessing in life?

She looked at her, smiled at her, and walked towards the north gate, happily heading to a friend's banquet.