Chapter 78 Being single-mindedly focused on growing up is too long...

Shengping experiences the most distinct seasonal changes of the year in autumn and winter, especially winter. A single thin "winter school uniform" is no longer sufficient, so Jiang Yueming wore a thick coat over it. Since turning 16, he's grown taller by leaps and bounds; last year's clothes are now too small, the trousers no longer covering his ankles. Cui Cui urgently bought him a lot of clothes from the Zhonghua Market.

"What time do you go to school in winter?" Lin Cuiqin asked. "It should be half an hour or an hour later, right?"

Jiang Yueming raised an eyebrow, feeling as if he had heard a fairy tale.

“Auntie, you can go to work at the Education Bureau right now. I approve.” Jiang Yueming laughed and thought her idea was very simple.

In northern cities, especially in the small county where Jiang Yueming lives, the teaching model almost entirely revolves around the idea of ​​"studying until you drop, just to survive." There's no other way; in this era where holistic education hasn't yet been implemented and exam-oriented education is the primary focus, grades are the lifeblood of students.

"I still get up at 5:30 as usual." Jiang Yueming reassured Lin Cuiqin, "It's okay, Auntie, everyone's been through this."

“Oh,” Lin Cuiqin said with a worried expression, “It’s still pitch black at 5:30. Can you manage to ride your bike to school alone? Leshan doesn’t go with you anymore.”

“Sure,” Jiang Yueming paused for a moment, then continued, “Why not? Lele has to get up at five o’clock, and her class has to start early reading at six.”

Lin Cuiqin took two bulging plastic bags out of the room and handed them to Jiang Yueming, saying, "These are clothes I bought for Leshan. They're the same style as yours, just a different color. Bring them to Leshan when you have time, like on Saturdays and Sundays, when you two are together."

Jiang Yueming took the bag of clothes, somewhat surprised, and quickly thanked his aunt.

"Auntie..." Jiang Yueming said sincerely, "Thank you so much."

"Why are you being so polite?" Lin Cuiqin had never seen Jiang Yueming act this way before. "Leshan is such a good friend of yours, he's practically my nephew. Tell him to wear more clothes, maybe two or three layers. The wind is really strong at five o'clock, he could easily catch a cold or get a fever if he's not careful."

"Yes, Auntie!" Jiang Yueming chuckled.

Regarding this matter, Jiang Yueming promised to complete the task. When it came to caring about Li Leshan, no one was more attentive than Jiang Yueming, except perhaps for her grandmother. Besides, their current relationship was legitimate and official.

The gate to Shigao isn't particularly large; it occupies a small area anyway, so there's no need for a huge or imposing gate. With that money, building a proper gate anywhere would be far more useful.

After evening self-study, students from grades 10, 11, 12, 11, and 11 gradually squeezed out of the door. Because there were so many people and the door was so small, it was always a chaotic mess. In order to get out of the classroom as soon as possible, Li Leshan would practically run all the way out of the classroom, taking shortcuts, since no one could catch up with him anyway.

Jiang Yueming zipped his jacket up high to his Adam's apple, the collar standing up just enough to cover the red school uniform collar. It was as if he had blended in with the group of students, and become a student of Shishi High School himself.

But it was still quite different; the students at Shishi High School wouldn't stand at the entrance and stare at the "headshots" of the "Three Good Students" over and over again. What they took for granted became incredibly precious to Jiang Yueming.

The "headshot" was located at a high position, and Jiang Yueming had to look up to see it. After looking at it for a while, her eyes started to ache. After National Day, the Shigao Gaobei class introduced a new rule, which can be considered a kind of "extended service." To put it simply, all students have to stay until 10 o'clock to leave, so they can learn an hour earlier than others.

So from then on, it became Jiang Yueming waiting for Li Leshan. He thought this was fine because he wouldn't waste Li Leshan's time.

At 9:40, Li Leshan appeared at the school gate. He glanced eagerly at the crowd around him and spotted Jiang Yueming, who was staring blankly into the corner.

Sensing the approaching footsteps, Jiang Yueming abruptly looked up, somewhat surprised. He glanced down at his watch. "Nine forty? Le...don't you guys have that extended service?"

Li Leshan smiled and said, "I don't want you to wait too long, so I'll tell the teacher I have something to do."

Jiang Yueming laughed and teased, "What's wrong? If your old teacher knew, he'd be furious about this."

Li Leshan was particularly serious, saying, "I think this is a very important matter."

"Okay, okay, it's important." Jiang Yueming chuckled and quickly picked up the bag of clothes from the ground, handing it to Li Leshan. "Your aunt bought this for you. Remember to wear more layers when you ride your bike to school in winter."

Li Leshan was stunned for a moment. He looked up at Jiang Yueming and saw the smile in the other man's eyes, which warmed his heart.

"Alright, let's not talk about clothes anymore." Jiang Yueming changed the subject. He reached out and touched Li Leshan's cheek, which was a little cool. He then leaned closer and straightened Li Leshan's collar. "Let me tell you, wear more clothes in the morning, and remember to zip up your zipper completely so you don't catch a cold. Also, don't skip meals just to do a couple more practice problems..."

As he listened to Jiang Yueming's rambling on, Li Leshan nodded in agreement. He freed one hand and took Jiang Yueming's hand in his, his fingertips gently tracing the palm of his hand until it became warm.

"Am I being too long-winded?" Jiang Yueming laughed, feeling like he was some kind of idiot. How could Li Leshan not understand these things? But he just wanted to talk more. They only met a few times a week, so he wanted to say more. "You have to put up with my nagging. What will Grandma do if you get sick? What will I do?"

Li Leshan's Adam's apple bobbed, and his gaze towards him softened. He gave Jiang Yueming a "yes" sign and smiled back.

"I have something for you." Li Leshan put down the bag of clothes and went to look for the item in his bag.

Jiang Yueming was puzzled, and then a pair of black woolen gloves came into his view.

“This is…” Jiang Yueming took the gloves.

“The one Grandma sewed for you before has gotten too small,” Li Leshan gestured for him to put it on. “This is the one I sewed for you.”

He still remembered what Jiang Yueming had said a few years ago, such as waiting until he was sixteen or seventeen, until he stopped growing taller and his hands stopped growing, and then the pair of shoes he had sewn might last him a lifetime.

A lifetime is just too long.

Li Leshan thought to himself, "It will be fine after a while."

"Th...thank you." Jiang Yueming quickly put on the gloves, feeling the warmth in her palms and heart. The gloves were half-length, making it easier to write. "You still remember..."

He muttered to himself, "That was so many years ago. Four or five years ago? Anyway, it was before I even graduated from elementary school. It was such a long time ago." Jiang Yueming never mentioned it again in the winters that followed. He never thought that Li Leshan would remember it.

"How did you sew this...?" Jiang Yueming asked. He didn't know the specific process, only that it required a needle and thread, but he didn't know how much. In any case, sewing a pair of gloves must be very troublesome. "Did you hurt your hands?"

Li Leshan shook his head.

Looking into his eyes, Jiang Yueming's gaze fell on the gloves again. He squeezed Li Leshan's hand tightly, "I will wear them all the time. Seeing them will remind me of you."

Li Leshan suddenly remembered something, and he pulled out another pair of small shoes from his bag. "These are for Tiantian, her grandma sewed them for her."

Sweetie's gloves are pink and white, practically every little girl's "dream gloves." No exaggeration, if you bring them home for Sweetie, she'll be overjoyed.

“Grandma originally wanted to sew you another pair,” Li Leshan said in sign language, pausing for a moment, “but I said I wanted to sew them for you.”

"Maybe my stitching isn't as good as Grandma's." Li Leshan smiled, a rare hint of embarrassment in his expression, his lips curving slightly upward. "Please bear with me."

The simplest thing about sewing gloves is threading the needle, which takes time. As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. He wanted to sew a good one for Jiang Yueming, so he spent some time on it. The desk lamp in the house was a bit dim, and he couldn't see clearly several times, so he pricked his hand with the needle. But it didn't hurt; it just drew a little blood, which he could wipe away and it was fine.

Jiang Yueming felt as if something had suddenly struck his heart. He felt a slight burning sensation in his eyes and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, "I think it's really good... I really like it."

"Do you have any?" Jiang Yueming asked again. "Your pair is too small too, isn't it?"

Li Leshan nodded, saying he had one and that Jiang Yueming didn't need to worry. Besides, the classrooms at Shigao High School were small and crowded, so it wasn't too cold. Aside from needing it when riding a bike to and from school, there wasn't much else they needed.

Jiang Yueming treasured this glove like the apple of his eye, treating it like his life. He would get anxious if Tian Tian took it to look at it, caught in a dilemma of wanting others to see it but not wanting them to take it.

He wanted others to see it to show off, but he didn't want anyone to take it because it was sewn by Li Leshan for himself, so why should anyone else take it?

The gloves sewn by Li Leshan fit perfectly. Jiang Yueming wore them all day long and felt more energetic when doing homework and memorizing. She didn't know why, but perhaps it was because they were gifts from a top student, and wearing them made her feel like she could absorb some of that top student's aura.

"Where did you buy your gloves?" Cao Fan noticed them at a glance and asked quickly, "I'll buy a pair sometime, my hands are all chapped from the cold."

Jiang Yueming was secretly amused, but she subtly changed the subject, adding a teasing remark, "You don't write either, do you? Don't your hands get cold?"

"Damn it, how can you be like this!" Cao Fan said reluctantly, pulling up his collar. "Every morning I ride my bike to school, and when I get into the classroom, everything is like a fog. What's wrong with you every day?"

“Your outfit reminds me of our junior high homeroom teacher, Han Jiang, who insisted on wearing the school uniform over a cotton-padded jacket,” Jiang Yueming said, zipping the school uniform all the way up. “I’d rather write a self-criticism than wear it like that.”

Jiang Yueming was quite concerned about this. Clothes make the man, and if he made himself look like that, how could he possibly see Li Leshan? He practically wanted to go to the barbershop and get a new hairstyle before he went to see Li Leshan.

“You are this one.” Cao Fan was dressed neatly, like a penguin. It had snowed a couple of days ago, but not enough to build a snowman or have a snowball fight.

In his memory, Jiang Yueming wrote a ton of self-criticisms, without missing a single one.

“You don’t have a boyfriend either? Why are you dressed up so nicely?” Cao Fan said. “You have a crush on someone.”

Jiang Yue glanced at him, thinking: Who do you think is a single dog like you?

Of course he has a girlfriend, but it's not a crush. It's a mutual relationship, you know? Seriously, no exaggeration.

"This outfit relies heavily on modeling," Cao Fan said. "To be honest, it's hard to see anything wrong with it."

"Not even a little bit ugly is unacceptable. How much uglier do you want it to be?" Jiang Yueming was too lazy to continue arguing with him. He opened his math test paper, intending to finish his weekend homework in advance so that he wouldn't have to do it when he was with Li Leshan.

“Winter break is in a few weeks,” Cao Fan nudged Jiang Yueming with his pen. “So, what are your plans for winter break?”

"Accompany..." Jiang Yueming coughed quickly, "...accompany my sister."

In reality, he was accompanying his partner; accompanying his sister was just a cover.

"This is so boring," Cao Fan said speechlessly. "I'm going to Guangdong during winter break."

"Just say you want to work in a factory," Jiang Yueming said. "Will anyone hire you as a laborer?"

"Get lost, do I really have to go to the factory? Isn't it cold there in winter? My grandpa called the other day and said he was wearing short sleeves." Cao Fan chuckled.

“It’s a good thing we’re from a regular high school,” Cao Fan said, pulling his chair back and making a slightly harsh sound. “Do you know how inhumane those guys at Shishi High School are? They don’t get a holiday until the 26th of the twelfth lunar month. Any later and they’d all be stuck at school eating dumplings.”

"..." Jiang Yueming frowned. "Twenty-six?"

“Yes,” Cao Fan said, “You heard me right, my sister is in her senior year at Shishi High School, anyway, that’s how it is for seniors and fast classes.”

"Then the Tsinghua and Peking University classes should be like this too, right?" Jiang Yueming felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

"What are you thinking about?" Cao Fan asked, puzzled. "They're already in the Tsinghua/Peking University class, they're lucky to even get a break. Those people are really pitiful..."

Jiang Yueming felt that he was even worse off than the students from Shigao High School. Even though he was from a top-tier high school, it was as if he hadn't had a holiday at all. But that was indeed the case. He couldn't even see Li Leshan. It would have been better to go to school.

“Damn…” Jiang Yueming whispered.

“You also think it’s inhumane,” Cao Fan said. “No wonder so many people jump off buildings.”

Jiang Yueming took a deep breath. He had been counting down the days. This week wasn't even over yet, and he had already figured out when he could see Li Leshan next week. This month wasn't even over yet, and he had already made arrangements for next month's winter vacation. So, according to this, he would have to see Li Leshan five or six days later.

"The holiday starts late..." Jiang Yueming hesitated for a moment, "Won't school start early?"

He comforted himself for a while. Although Shigao High School was notorious for being inhumane, they couldn't have gone this far. They were only in their first year of high school. What about the rest of their lives?

"You guessed right." Cao Fan gave a thumbs up. "School really did start early. We couldn't even spend the fifteenth of the lunar month at home. This time, we really have to eat tangyuan (sweet rice balls) at school."

"The school doesn't have tangyuan either," Cao Fan added.

Yes, let alone glutinous rice balls, there's hardly any soup at all.

"Alright, if you keep talking, I'll jump off a building too." Jiang Yueming ended the conversation.

Although Cao Fan couldn't understand why Jiang Yueming was so empathetic towards the students of Shigao High School, if he knew the reason, he probably would have felt the same way. They're dating like they're in a long-distance relationship every day, and this is only high school; they still have four years of university ahead of them.

Seven years at most, and if there are even graduate students or doctoral students... it's not much better than the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

With ten minutes left before the bell rang for evening self-study, Jiang Yueming had already packed his bag and was ready to rush out, while Cao Fan was still drowsy. This kid had already slept through two evening self-study sessions and could sleep even more than him.

Riding a bike in winter isn't as fast; the roads are bad and it's dark. It would take ten minutes longer to get to the entrance of Shishi High School. But since Shishi High School now offers extended hours, Li Leshan doesn't need to wait for him. He just wanders around the entrance, staring at the picture of Li Leshan as a model student on the wall of Shishi High School for half a day.

Li Leshan always said he would get bored waiting, but Jiang Yueming didn't tell him that the least boring time of his day was actually when he was standing at the school gate waiting for Li Leshan.

Jiang Yueming casually pulled the car over to the side and was about to lean against the wall to wait for a while when he suddenly saw Li Leshan running towards him. He quickly waved and turned his back to fix his bangs in two seconds before turning back around.

"Why are you here so early? I just got here." Jiang Yueming's voice was full of joy.

Li Leshan reached out and handed over a bag of steaming hot pies. He looked at Jiang Yueming's face, which was slightly red from the cold, and felt a little sorry for him, but he still smiled at him. "A new shop opened near the school gate. I heard from Han Jiang that it was delicious, so I went to buy some."

Jiang Yueming paused for a moment, then took the pie. It was still warm, so Li Leshan had probably just gotten it too, after waiting in a long line. "Weren't you going to get that...extended service? Isn't that supposed to improve grades?"

Seeing the worried look on his face, Li Leshan shook his head. "Missing one or two classes won't matter. I have good grades, and no teacher has said anything to me."

“That won’t do either…” Jiang Yueming didn’t want him to miss class because of her while his classmates were attending. “You can send me a message and tell me to go queue up to buy it.”

Li Leshan frowned slightly. "You rushed over, but you still have to wait in line. What about me? Am I just going to do nothing?"

Jiang Yueming suddenly realized she had said something wrong. "Lele, that's not what I meant. Don't take it to heart, just pretend I didn't say anything."

He hurriedly picked up the pie to eat, but then suddenly remembered and asked, "Have you eaten yet? You eat first."

"I don't eat it, I've already eaten it," Li Leshan waved his hand.

"You definitely didn't eat it. You just said that Han Jiang recommended this place." Jiang Yueming was a little unhappy. In fact, he knew in his heart that if it weren't for him, Li Leshan would definitely not have bought this. Just how much did Han Jiang exaggerate? With his personality, he must have blown this pie out of proportion.

Li Leshan looked somewhat helpless and gestured, "I really don't like eating these."

“If you’re not going to eat, then I won’t either. Han Jiang likes it, right? He has to go for that extended service too, so I’ll just wait here for him to come out and eat.” Jiang Yueming wasn’t joking at all.

Seeing this, Li Leshan pursed his lips. He glanced at Jiang Yueming, and from his expression alone, he could vaguely tell that he was a little angry. Whatever was on a person's mind was reflected on their face. Others might not be able to tell, but Li Leshan could tell at a glance.

He could tell what Jiang Yueming was like when she was happy, sad, or angry, because he knew her too well.

Li Leshan slowly moved closer and took a small bite of the pie with his head down.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Yueming's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Seeing Li Leshan raise his eyes, even though they were surrounded by students from Shigao High School, he quickly and gently kissed Li Leshan on the cheek.

Li Leshan blinked, realizing what was happening. He did, and Jiang Yueming also felt a little embarrassed, quickly taking a bite of the pie, as if trying to cover up her mistake.

He felt a slight burning sensation on his face, and for a moment, even at nine or ten o'clock in the middle of winter, he didn't feel cold anymore. The chill he had felt while cycling for several kilometers had instantly vanished.

"Han Jiang is... is quite..." Jiang Yueming looked into Li Leshan's eyes, her voice becoming a little soft, "I didn't kiss you on purpose, I just missed you so much."

Li Leshan curled the corners of his lips, took Jiang Yueming's hand, and slowly intertwined their fingers. In the dimly lit corner, amidst the students coming and going, no one noticed the secret, budding affection between the two teenagers.

“You have no idea how much I miss you,” Jiang Yueming said. “When I heard Cao Fan say that your winter break was going to start late and school would start early, I felt like the sky was falling.”

“You guys…” Jiang Yueming complained about the school for a few minutes, then returned to Li Leshan, “You’ve really worked hard.”

Li Leshan gently shook his head and touched Jiang Yueming's slightly messy bangs. "I'm already very happy to see you."

Although they don't spend as much time together now as they did in junior high, he's already very content to see Jiang Yueming, talk to him, and just look at him when he's busy with his studies in high school.

"I'm very happy too," Jiang Yueming whispered, looking at Li Leshan with unwavering eyes. He truly was happy, but it just didn't feel like enough.

"I'll come to see you at school when you're on vacation," Jiang Yueming smiled. "I'll pick you up when you're on vacation."

"Lele," Jiang Yueming said, looking at the gradually thinning crowd around her, her gaze falling on the stone slab next to her that read "Shengping Experimental High School," "I hope you grow up quickly."

He no longer has time to worry about whether "growing up" will be too tiring or painful, nor does he have time to worry about what the "grown-up world" will be like. Growing up means being able to stay with Li Leshan forever, with nothing able to separate them, it means being able to do what he wants to do, and being able to protect the people he wants to protect.

He just didn't expect that growing up would come with a lifetime of growing pains. He didn't expect it, so now he's single-mindedly eager to grow up.

-----------------------

Author's Note: Another long story is coming (spins)

Thank you everyone for your comments! I am so happy!