Chapter 02 Chapter 2

The afternoon weather was drowsy, and Ren Li relied on the iced coffee she had bought during lunch break to keep herself awake for a while before finally overcoming the urge to sleep.

As usual, cell phones were confiscated during class, so she locked hers in the cabinet and continued to listen to the class attentively.

Until evening self-study, my "new deskmate" did not show up.

But this is fine, Ren Li thought, her new deskmate should be a boy. Boys are noisy, and she prefers quiet.

Fortunately, that afternoon, Ren Li's worries about transportation to and from school were resolved. No. 4 Middle School had a paid school bus within the district, and one of its routes happened to pass near Ren Li's new home. When the class monitor counted the students that afternoon, Ren Li signed up without hesitation.

Her mobile phone was linked to her mother's bank card. After dinner, Ren Li transferred the money and sure enough, after a while, her mother called her.

"Li Li, have you had dinner?" Lin Yuan's voice came from the other end of the phone. The background sound was a bit noisy. Ren Li knew that her mother should not have gotten off work yet.

Ren Li: "I've eaten, Mom. Oh, by the way, I just used my phone to charge you some money. It's for the school bus fare."

Lin Yuan: "School bus?"

Ren Li: "Yeah. It's 1,800 yuan per semester. The station is right at the intersection where we live. I think it's very convenient. This way you don't have to drive me to and from school anymore."

Lin Yuan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard this. She was really too busy. She had originally agreed to come to the school to pick up Ren Li after school at 8 o'clock tonight, but plans couldn't keep up with changes. She had a meeting at 8 o'clock at noon, so it was expected that she would have no time at all after that.

Although No. 4 Middle School wasn't that far away, and Ren Li could take the bus or subway home after school, she was now a senior and needed to focus on her studies. For Ren Li's future, Lin Yuan had gone to great lengths to get her transferred to No. 4 Middle School, a key city school. So, in these details of life, she wanted to give Ren Li the best.

Fortunately, the traffic problem has been solved. Lin Yuan is naturally very happy and has a new understanding of No. 4 Middle School, a recognized "good school".

After hanging up the phone, evening self-study began. Ren Li locked her phone in the cabinet and sat back in her seat in the back row of the classroom.

Evening study at No. 4 Middle School begins at 6:20 and ends at 8:00, a total of two classes. Ren Li noticed that the blackboard was filled with assignments for the evening, and there were also several new test papers on the table, which were homework that needed to be handed in before school ended.

Although the head teacher was not there, the classroom was unusually quiet. Everyone was concentrating on doing their homework and had no intention of doing anything else that was not related to studying.

Is this the self-awareness that comes from the key classes?

Ren Li lowered her head while thinking, wondering whether to write English or math first, when she heard the sound of pulling tables and chairs not far away.

She looked up and saw Zhou Qi standing up, casually rolling up the test papers and throwing them into his schoolbag. Then he put the schoolbag on his shoulder and slipped out through the back door in a blink of an eye.

Ren Li remembered what he said at noon that he would go to celebrate his sister's birthday. He was about to concentrate on his homework again when the back door was opened again.

She was sitting not far from the back door, and when she looked up she saw Zhou Qi coming back.

Zhou Qi reached out to the table next to her, gathered up a stack of test papers on the empty table, and took it in his hand. He whispered to Ren Li, "Sorry, please continue."

In the blink of an eye, Zhou Qi disappeared again, and Ren Li was still standing there in a daze, not knowing what was going on.

Zhang Xintong, who was sitting in the front, turned around and looked towards the back door, his face full of disappointment: "Zhou Qi, that brat, skipped evening study again."

Ren Li added, "He came back to get his homework before he left, so he should have finished it."

Zhang Xintong glanced at Wen Shuo's empty desk and said, "He's the best."

Today's homework wasn't difficult, covering the same topics the teacher had covered during the day. Even so, the exams at No. 4 Middle School were always more difficult than those at other schools. Fortunately, even with some effort, Ren Li managed to finish them on time.

After the school bell rang, the campus finally came alive again. Zhang Xintong packed up his things and stood aside, waiting for Ren Li to come downstairs.

As soon as Ren Li put on her schoolbag, Zhang Xintong tacitly put his arm around her.

On the first day of school, Ren Li thought it wasn't as hard as she had imagined.

She was very happy to meet a new friend.

-

The alarm clock rang at 6:30. Lin Yuan had just brought breakfast out of the kitchen and put it on the dining table. Seeing that Ren Li's door was still closed, she walked over and knocked on her bedroom door.

"Lili, get up."

Ren Li opened her eyes last night because she was busy tidying up the room until quite late. She felt very sleepy. She had been sleeping until she woke up naturally during the entire summer vacation, so she was not quite used to getting up early.

She struggled to sit up from the bed, and when she saw the neatly folded No. 4 Middle School uniform on the desk, she suddenly seemed not so sleepy anymore.

A sentence from an inspirational video I saw echoed in my mind: Can you sleep well at your age?

Yes, it’s the third year of high school, Ren Li thought, although she felt she could sleep well.

After quickly putting on her clothes, Ren Li carefully pinned the new name card with her name and photo on it that she had received yesterday on her left chest.

Ren Li looked at herself in the mirror. She had an oval face, side bangs, a high ponytail, and was wearing the classic blue and white uniform of No. 4 Middle School. Although there was still a hint of bad temper on her face, at least she looked normal.

By the time she finished washing up, her mother had already put breakfast on the table. Today it was millet porridge with fried eggs. Ren Li didn't enjoy the meal very much because she was always keeping an eye on the clock, afraid that she would be late.

In fact, Lin Yuan could have woken her up five minutes earlier, but as a mother, she always felt that the longer Ren Li could sleep, the better, so she always calculated every minute accurately so that Ren Li's morning would not be wasted at all.

After breakfast, Ren Li was about to catch the school bus. She hurriedly put on her schoolbag, said goodbye to Lin Yuan, and left the house.

It's about a five-minute walk from here to the school bus stop. Ren Li had already taken the bus once before yesterday when she was finishing her evening study, so she had plenty of time this time.

The late summer morning was still a bit cool, and the breeze brought a touch of comfort. Ren Li kicked the stones on the roadside as she walked, and before she knew it, she had reached her destination.

After waiting for a few minutes, the school bus did not pass by, and Ren Li began to feel uneasy. After raising her wrist to check the time several times, the No. 4 Middle School bus finally appeared at the opposite intersection.

It was the first time that the driver saw a girl wearing the uniform of No. 4 Middle School at this station. He quickly stepped on the brakes and opened the front door.

Ren Li thanked the driver, showed her bus card and got on the bus. Only then did she realize that the school bus was a bit crowded this morning.

The school bus started moving slowly again. Ren Li held the railing and took two shaky steps forward. The middle part of the car was relatively empty, so she planned to find a place to lean on there.

It takes about ten minutes to get to school from here. It's not a long distance, but there are a lot of intersections. When passing the next red light, the driver suddenly braked.

This was probably a routine operation. People on the bus were used to it and held on to the handrails tightly. Only Ren Li encountered this situation for the first time. So when the school bus finally stopped steadily at the solid white line at the intersection, she fell on the classmate in front of her due to the sudden inertia of her body.

The momentary physical contact ended before the pain finally set in. Ren Li felt a bit embarrassed. She had just regained her balance and before she had time to rub her bruised face, she saw the boy in front of her turn around.

He was very tall and wore a white T-shirt. Although he looked broad-shouldered and long-legged, it seemed that he had strong muscles underneath his clothes, because when Ren Li bumped into him, it really hurt.

The boy's hair covered his forehead, his eyebrows delicate, unruly and unfocused. He lowered his eyes and looked at the bewildered girl in front of him, and for a moment he couldn't help but frown.

Ren Li, who was the first to come to her senses, immediately apologized: "I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry..."

The boy looked at Ren Li, his lips slightly parted, and finally uttered only two words softly: "It's okay."

The school bus started up again, and the noise inside the car returned. Ren Li raised her feet, leaned sideways, and gripped the horizontal bar above her head, exerting all her strength. But red lights are like that; once you hit one, you keep hitting it. So when the school bus reached the next intersection, it encountered another red light that stretched for dozens of seconds.

Although she had prepared herself mentally, when inertia came again, Ren Li used all her strength, but her arm was still pulled a little painfully.

Fortunately, she didn't bump into anyone this time. But at that moment, the boy in front of her seemed to look at her:

"Cheng Yuhang, get up."

The person whose name was called was originally sitting and didn't react for a moment: "Why are you getting up? Didn't you just say you had too much and offered it to me? Now you regret it."

"Well, I regret it." said the boy.

Cheng Yuhang stood up muttering to himself, but the boy's eyes turned to him. In a flash, Ren Li subconsciously thought: Is he going to give up his seat to me?

It turned out that his sixth intuition was right. The boy didn't give Ren Li much time to react. He pulled Ren Li's backpack strap with one hand, like a kitten, pulled her away from Cheng Yuhang, and forced her to sit on the seat.

Being treated like this suddenly in public, and the other party's behavior was that of an elementary school student, Ren Li felt embarrassed for herself.

She hurriedly stood up again: "Thank you, no need, I can just stand."

The boy's attitude was very cold, and he said, "Sit down."

Ren Li:?

Despite repeated explanations, everyone was already seated, and there was no chance for her to stand up. The boy quickly stood beside her in the narrow aisle, his arms raised high, easily reaching for the upper handrail. His forearms were well-proportioned and strong, and he maintained his balance in the swaying carriage without appearing to be struggling at all.

Perhaps because he had been staring at him for too long without realizing it, the boy suddenly turned his head away.

The moment their eyes met, an awkward atmosphere filled the air. Ren Li quickly lowered her head and pulled out her phone to cover her eyes. Fortunately, he quickly turned away and continued talking to the boy named Cheng Yuhang.

A few words inadvertently floated into Ren Li's ears.

"What time did you guys leave yesterday?" It was Cheng Yuhang's voice. "When my mom called me to come home, it was almost 11 o'clock. Did you guys stay up all night?"

"No, I was sleepy, so I took a taxi and left. Zhou Qi stayed longer."

"Oh. By the way, I heard from Zhou Qi that Lao He arranged a new deskmate for you. It's a girl, and she seems quite pretty."

"Deskmate? That's really troublesome. No, I need to talk to Lao He. I still prefer to be alone."

…

Ren Li was looking down at her cell phone. There was some noise in the car. She seemed to vaguely hear the name Zhou Qi, but she just heard it lightly and didn't take it to heart.

Fortunately, ten minutes later, the school bus finally pulled into the gates of No. 4 Middle School. The students grabbed their backpacks and filed off. Ren Li also stood up, wondering if she should thank the boy who had offered her his seat, but she realized he had already vanished.

Maybe we'll see each other again tonight, Ren Li thought. It won't be too late to talk then. She checked the time. The first class was about to start in ten minutes.

Although she had already been on campus for a day, Ren Li was not very good at finding her way. After getting lost a few times and asking a few classmates who were on their way, she finally found the door to Class 17 of Senior 3. The back door was ajar. Ren Li thought her seat was closer to the back door, so she planned to sneak in from there. However, when she opened the door, she saw that someone was already sitting in the seat next to her.

The man looked somewhat familiar, except that he was wearing the summer uniform of No. 4 Middle School.

Isn't this the boy on the school bus just now? What a coincidence!

The aisle at the back of the classroom was a bit narrow, and the boy sitting there blocked most of the way. Seeing that the bell was about to ring, Ren Li didn't care about anything else. She leaned over and asked in a low voice with a hint of anxiety: "Classmate, can you please make way?"

When the girl bent down, a breeze arose, and the floral scent of her clothes spread into the surrounding air. Her voice was very soft and gentle, with a sincere look of request on her face. The boy turned around, and after a second of hesitation, he finally stood up.

Ren Li thanked him and hurriedly moved sideways carefully to pass by. The two of them were very close and Ren Li was almost tripped by the leg of the stool, but fortunately, she managed to sit in her seat before the bell rang.

Experiencing a long-lost sense of security, Ren Li breathed a sigh of relief, then opened her schoolbag and began to look for her stationery. She placed her favorite pens neatly on the table, and after going through the whole process, she realized that there was a subtle atmosphere around her.

Because every time she took a step, the boys next to her would look at her more.

She began to feel like she had forgotten something, but when Ren Li decided to say something to ease the atmosphere, the boy turned away indifferently.

Ren Li thought, although he was indeed a little better looking, this new deskmate was really a bit strange.