Twenty-five

"Even the heavens seem to mourn our final days," Yan Ting remarked, standing in the corridor with her hands on her hips.

The seventh day of the Lunar New Year

It snowed all night long, and Zhuzhou was covered in a rare blanket of white.

It doesn't snow often here, and many children look forward to this day every year.

Today should be considered the last day before the official start of school.

The school entrance exam was held a couple of days ago, and today the class assignments will be announced and we'll be moved to new classrooms. Tomorrow, the new semester will officially begin.

"A timely snowfall promises a bumper harvest," Tang Xuanling said as she walked by, overhearing the conversation. "Our results this year will definitely be exceptionally perfect."

"You're so good with words, Tang." Yan Ting leaned closer and took her arm. "Hey, is today the last day we're in the same class? If you become successful in the future, remember me!"

"Quick, quick, the results are posted!" Someone shouted, and everyone in the classroom rushed out.

—It has always been a tradition at Jiannan School to place the paper version on the school bulletin board an hour before sending the electronic version to students, which has a sense of ritual similar to the ancient Chinese announcement of the top scholar's examination results.

"Let's go." Lu Yunian pulled Ning Yi'en, who was lost in thought, along. "Let's go take a look too."

"The teacher will announce it soon, why do we have to squeeze together?" Ning Yi'en muttered under her breath as she followed him downstairs at top speed.

“It’s different, come with me to see it.” Lu Yunian turned around and tugged at Ning Yi’en’s sleeve. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Ning Yi’en strode over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lu Yunian. “Let’s go see.”

"Hey!" Lu Yunian successfully squeezed to the front and pointed at the students sliding up from the bottom of Class 2. "Hey! Tang Xuanling, you've moved to Class 2. Congratulations."

"Why are you so excited about someone's progress?" Yan Ting also stood on this side.

—The tables for the first few classes were not crowded. Perhaps it's because many top students don't like to join in the fun and can get to the front row without much squeezing.

“I’m happy that my classmate is making progress,” Lu Yunian said, taking a half step back towards Ning Yi’en. “What, is that not allowed?”

"Tch," Yan Ting said, her voice perfectly audible to all four of them, "I think you're just happy that no one's going to compete with you for your deskmate."

"Don't be silly..."

"But Lu Yunian," Tang Xuanling pointed to the table, "we've all been assigned to Class Two."

"ah."

Lu Yunian looked back and saw the three characters "Lu Yunian" above Tang Xuanling's name, which were inexplicably eye-catching.

"How did I do so well on the test this time?" he muttered to himself. "How is that possible?"

"Isn't it good that you did well on the exam?" Ning Yi'en buried her head in her scarf, her voice a little muffled. "Are you going or not? It's cold."

"Hey! They're here."

"great."

"Thanks."

"Do you need any help?"

There weren't many changes in the first few classes; only a few people were cleaning their bags during the last self-study period.

"No need, we've only been here a few days and there aren't many books yet." Tang Xuanling lowered her head to sort through the books.

"Can I still ask you questions in the future?"

"certainly."

"Thank you, and thank you very much before."

“It’s nothing,” Ning Yi’en looked up at her, “Actually, I admire you a lot.”

"Thank you. The pace of life in Jiannan is much faster than where we are. It took me a long time to get used to it."

She picked up the book. "But are you really planning to stay in this class this semester?"

“Well, I still don’t really want to accept such a high-pressure environment…” Ning Yi’en twirled her pen casually. “Why make things difficult for yourself when there are easier options available?”

"Okay," Tang Xuanling thought about it and it seemed to make sense. "Let's all keep going."

"Actually, I didn't expect to do so well on the test." On his way home, Lu Yunian kicked a stone in a sullen mood.

"Shouldn't you be happy if you do well on the exam?" Ning Yi'en walked a little ahead of him and looked back at him.

“Sigh.” Lu Yunian sighed and stiffly looked away from Ning Yi’en. “The sunset is quite beautiful today. It’s been so long since we’ve seen a midweek sunset.”

—The snow continued until the afternoon, and for safety reasons, school was dismissed before evening self-study today.

“The snow is also quite beautiful,” Lu Yunian added. “You don’t seem very excited when you see snow.”

"It always snowed when I was a child."

“Oh right,” Lu Yunian slapped his forehead, “I forgot you’re not from Zhuzhou. We rarely see snow here, and it probably won’t snow again after this one.”

“It’s beautiful,” Ning Yi’en said, looking up at the silvery world. “This year’s snow is more beautiful than any I’ve seen in previous years.”

"Yeah! This road is especially beautiful! Riverside, evergreen trees, and snow-covered landscape." Lu Yunian seemed to have forgotten his unhappiness about being assigned to a different class and started jumping around again. "And right now there's... a sunset!"

And you.

"Actually, I've always had a question."

"Okay! Go ahead."

"I think with your intelligence and learning ability, you shouldn't have been so bad at chemistry before."

“Sigh,” Lu Yunian waved his hand, “I didn’t know anything before and chose Physics, Biology and Geography. Later, the combination of Physics and Chemistry became more and more serious, so I switched majors. At that time, Chemistry was already terrible. But I didn’t think about going to a good school. I always thought it was good enough to stay in the local area. I didn’t like studying, so I’ve been terrible ever since.”

"So the goal now is..."

“The current goal…” Lu Yunian repeated Ning Yi’en’s words, drawing out the last syllable, as if he hadn’t yet decided what to say next.

Their eyes met, and Ning Yi'en simply looked at him with a faint smile.

"Yanyan, where is your target?" Lu Yunian abruptly pushed the topic back.

"Kyoto University, Psychology."

"Kyoto University..."

“You can definitely do it!” Lu Yunian looked up, his eyes shining, and leaned close to Ning Yi’en. “Which exam we Yanyan took is a piece of cake.”

"As for me..." he thought for a moment, "Now that I want to get into Jingzhou, it doesn't matter which school I go to."

“Okay,” Ning Yi’en put her hand on Lu Yunian’s shoulder. “Make it into the top four in Jingzhou.”

"Top four?! Me?!"

"I believe in you."

"Then I think I still might not...maybe...I will try my best! I want to get into Jingzhou with Yanyan!"

"Okay, together."

“Oh right,” Lu Yunian said as he walked, sweeping snow off the leaves and playing with it in his hand, “my cousin is from Jingzhou. I stayed at his house during summer vacation when I was a kid.”

“There’s a lot of snow in Jingzhou, and the snow that falls when I was little is always so beautiful.” Ning Yi’en reached out her hand, and snowflakes gently drifted into her palm.

Their conversation seemed to be on completely different wavelengths, yet they were able to keep talking.

“Then let’s watch the snow together again next winter.” Lu Yunian clutched the snowball in his hand tightly. “But I hardly remember it anymore, though I vaguely remember that my brother had two really handsome and cute neighbor friends, one who was very talkative and the other who had a really cold face.”

Why "handsome and cute"?

"Because they're all so small, they're just so cute, with a cool and aloof charm. They're also quite handsome, both in appearance and bone structure."

"So you're a sucker for good looks."

"No, that's not it." Lu Yunian turned to look at Ning Yi'en, his expression somewhat agitated.

Well, at least it certainly wasn't like that before.

"It's just because I still didn't know their names when I got home, and I felt like I failed at making friends."

"Does he not consider you a friend?"

"Yanyan, do you know how hurtful it is to say things like that?"

"I'll treat you like a younger brother."

“That’s true, after all, he’s my brother’s friend. But my brother isn’t that much older than me…” Lu Yunian said with some regret. “Let’s ask him when we see him again, even though we haven’t seen each other in a long time…”

"Smoke~ Smoke~" Lu Yunian dragged out the last syllable, "Don't walk so fast." He put his hands behind his back and took a small step.

"You're not thinking of getting a snowball..." Ning Yi'en turned her head, but before she could finish speaking, a snowball had already landed on her.

“I guessed so…” Ning Yi’en bent down and scooped up some snow. “Lu Yunian, you wait.”

"Lord Yanyan, please spare me!" Lu Yunian ran away in a flash.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Lu Yunian turned back to look at Ning Yi'en after running only a short distance. Seeing that he didn't seem to have any intention of retaliating—walking slowly and leisurely, he even threw down the snow he had just picked up—"Are you angry with me? No!"

Lu Yunian walked back to Ning Yi'en with a somewhat mournful face, "I will keep bothering you until you stop being angry with me."

"Are you... a child?" Ning Yi'en looked at him and found it somewhat amusing, so she took a small step back.

"Then why don't you stop being angry with the child?" Lu Yunian also took a big step forward.

"I'm not that easily angered." Ning Yi'en said with a sullen face, and squatted down a little further to the side. "My shoelaces are untied, let me tie them."

"Lu Yunian," half a minute later, Ning Yi'en, who was squatting on the ground, reached out to him, "Give me a hand, I can't get up."

"Come!"

Lu Yunian reached out his hand to him, the sun shining behind his head, making every strand of hair glitter. He looked very handsome, with a redemption-like atmosphere—but it was just Ning Yien's mind wandering.

“No, turn your back.” Ning Yi’en instructed him.

"How can you reach out when your back is turned? Should I carry you?" Lu Yunian turned around and squatted down.

"So proactive, huh?" Ning Yi'en turned her head and put her hands on his shoulders. "Come on, help me out!"

The two of them lay down together in the snowdrift.

"Why is this star so obedient?" Ning Yi'en put her hand on his head. "Why does he do whatever I say?"

"That's not good." Lu Yunian blinked his big eyes at Ning Yi'en, "You don't listen to others..."

Is it true or false...?

Ning Yi'en didn't consider the truthfulness of his words, but simply stood up with a light smile, "It's not impossible, but I've won now."

"Hey!" Lu Yunian also started running. "Don't be so competitive."

"Not good." Ning Yi'en walked ahead, her voice rising uncontrollably at the end.

“Ning Yi’en,” Lu Yunian leaned closer again, “your hair has all turned white.”

“Hmm,” Ning Yi’en casually smoothed her bangs, but didn’t brush the snow off her head. “I am now eighty-year-old Ning Yi’en.”

"Would Yanyan, who is eighty years old, still play in the snow?"

"Would you like to come along with Lu Yunian, who is eighty years old?"

"Huh?" Lu Yunian was clearly surprised by him, and the snow he was playing with almost broke. "He's seventy-eight and a half years old."

"Oh! Seventy-eight and a half years old, still a child?"

"No, that won't do." Lu Yunian stuffed the heart-shaped snowball he had made into Ning Yi'en's hand.

"OK!"

"Then it's a deal, we'll play in the snow together when we're a hundred years old."

"no……"

"No!" Lu Yunian tugged at Ning Yi'en's clothes with one hand and rubbed his ear with the other. "Let's go home quickly, you're all red from the cold."