Don't play it like this.
On a Sunday morning, Cheng Xiaorui wiped the sweat from his forehead. The shop door opened, bringing in a gust of hot air and jingling wind chimes.
"That's forty-two dollars and a half," Cheng Xiaorui said to the young mother in front of him after scanning the product barcode. A little boy with a mushroom-like head, about five or six years old, was standing on tiptoe, pushing a box of animal crackers onto the counter.
After completing his "task", the little boy did not leave. Instead, he stood there as if he was under a spell, his round eyes staring straight at the strawberry lollipops on the rotating display stand next to the cash register - the candy wrappers shone with an attractive pink luster in the morning light.
"Mom..." The little boy suddenly tugged at the edge of his mother's clothes, his index finger firmly pointing at the candy. "I want that one." His voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable expectation. The young mother sighed helplessly and was about to ask the price when Cheng Xiaorui plucked the strawberry candy. The plastic wrapper crunched in his palm.
"This is for you." He bent down and placed the candy in the boy's open palm, rubbing the tuft of hair that was sticking up. The boy's eyes suddenly lit up like stars, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the candy wrapper. "Thank you, brother!" As he skipped away to be led away by his mother, he was still looking at the candy over and over again, as if he were holding a rare treasure.
Cheng Xiaorui stared at his receding reflection in the glass door, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the cash register keys. "You're welcome, just one candy."
The surveillance camera flashed red in the corner, but he remembered what his boss said when he secretly stuffed overtime pay into his bag last week - "Your mother has had a hard time, buy more nutritional supplements."
"Even if they were photographed, they probably wouldn't say anything." Cheng Xiaorui heard himself say.
"Hello, welcome. What can I buy?" Cheng Xiaorui looked up reflexively, but his voice was stuck in his throat. Lin Wanqing was brushing away her long hair that had been messed up by the wind.
"Xiao Rui? What a coincidence, you are here." Her eyes curved into crescents.
"Um...yes." Cheng Xiaorui pinched his palm with his nails under the cash register. "Do you want to buy anything?" When he said this, he found himself staring at the other person's eyelashes.
"Oh, thank you for your help." Lin Wanqing suddenly leaned forward, her fingertips gently tapping the glass window. "I want the pink box!" As she leaned closer, Cheng Xiaorui saw the gilded "Strawberry Parfait" on the dessert box reflected in her pupils. From this distance, he could clearly see the faint bluish-gray color under her eyes, probably the mark of staying up late to review.
As Cheng Xiaorui turned to get the dessert, a light sweat suddenly broke out on the back of his neck. Thankfully, the shelves had been repositioned yesterday. The top shelf now had a leash that lowered with a gentle pull. The edge of the pink box was still stained with frost from the freezer, and he somehow wiped it with his sleeve before handing it over. Lu Ziyi had requested this exact item yesterday... The thought clung to him like poison ivy. Was it for her?
"Thank you! I'll be going now! See you again~" As Lin Wanqing took the box, her pinky finger brushed against Cheng Xiaorui's knuckles, the touch like a feather. The way she carefully held the dessert reminded one of a squirrel guarding its food.
"Wait a minute!" Cheng Xiaorui suddenly opened the cash register drawer. Amidst the clanging of metal, the whale badge lay quietly among the change, its silver back pin gleaming coldly under the light. There was a tiny scratch on its fin.
"This..." Cheng Xiaorui had just picked up the badge when Lin Wanqing pounced on the counter with a cry of relief, and the capybara pendant kept shaking with her movements.
"Wow! You actually found it." As she took the badge, her fingertips trembled with excitement. "I was wondering why it suddenly disappeared..." She turned the badge over and over, examining it, and suddenly burst out laughing. "Even this stupid scratch is still there!" She pointed to the crescent-shaped dent on the whale's tail. "It got caught in the classroom door last time."
Cheng Xiaorui's Adam's apple moved: "Well, then you must keep it well."
"Thank you! But..." She suddenly tilted her head, her hair falling behind her ear. "How did you know it was mine?" The question made Cheng Xiaorui's ears burn. The can of mints next to the cash register reflected his stiff reflection. He stared at his distorted self and said, "You pinned it on your school uniform before. I was lucky enough to see it."
"Haha, I didn't expect you to be so attentive." Lin Wanqing put the badge away. "I won't give you a thank-you gift for now. I'm leaving now!" As she pushed the door open and left, the wind chimes rang again.
"Thank goodness I brought it here yesterday." Cheng Xiaorui looked at the shrinking figure outside the glass door and touched the campus card in his trouser pocket. It looked familiar that night... I didn't expect it to be hers.
"Cheng Cheng?" Cheng Zhixu's voice came from behind the shelf, accompanied by the crackling sound of instant noodle boxes being unpacked. He was sorting the newly arrived seafood-flavored cup noodles, his apron stained with seasoning powder. "You have to go back to school tonight. Do you want to go back and rest?"
"I'll—"
"Oh, you go back first!" Cheng Zhixu suddenly poked her head out from the gap between the shelves, holding two packs of jellyfish in her hands. "It's okay, I'm here!" She pushed Cheng Xiaorui out of the checkout counter without saying a word. The belt of her work clothes got caught on the promotional billboard, causing the sign to rattle.
"Go back and be careful." When her last words came over, Cheng Xiaorui had already been "exiled" outside the store. The air conditioning in the store was instantly gone, and the temperature was scorching hot.
What good would it be to go back to school? Cheng Xiaorui kicked a stone and watched it bounce away on the road. That lousy evening study session… The stone eventually crashed into the green belt, startling a few sparrows. But he still turned and walked towards the bus stop—after all, apart from his empty home and the convenience store, he really had nowhere else to go.
Between trips home to change into his school uniform, Cheng Xiaorui mopped every room. As the bucket bumped against the leg of the coffee table, he thought of the little boy with the mushroom head from that morning. "Strawberry candy..." The rag left a snaking, transparent snake-like streak on the tile. "I wonder if he enjoyed it." As he plucked the dried leaves from the pot of green radish on the balcony, they made a subtle, crunching sound.
Sunday evening study sessions were always filled with lethargy. The classroom was overheated, and the air, mingled with the body heat of dozens of people, was as thick as porridge. When Cheng Xiaorui pushed open the back door, a wave of heat washed over him, carrying the scent of chocolate pie and instant coffee. Zhao Dakun and his group had already fallen asleep, and one of them had even drooled over the physics workbook, leaving a smudge on the page titled "Newton's First Law."
Cheng Xiaorui tiptoed to his seat and pulled a notebook from his bag. The rustling of paper startled a dozing girl in the front row. When she looked up drowsily, her hairpin made a soft clatter against the edge of the table.
Cheng Xiaorui's mechanical pencil darted across the blank page, sketching a few crooked stars—the brightest one, with droopy eyes, like a homeroom teacher who'd been up all night for three days. The tip of the pen suddenly lost control, slashing two black lines across the star's face. "Ugly," he slammed the notebook shut, then looked up to meet two cold gazes.
Lu Zi hadn't even noticed when he'd put his phone down. His dark pupils were like two pins, pinning Cheng Xiaorui's gaze to the spot. Cheng Xiaorui hurriedly lowered his head, only to hear a "bang"—the teacher's lesson plan slammed heavily onto the podium, sending a small mushroom cloud of chalk dust rising.
"One by one, get up!" She wore brick-red lipstick today, which reflected the light under the fluorescent light as her lips opened and closed. "Why are you sleeping? The final exam is coming soon, why don't you study hard!" The sound of the ruler hitting the iron podium was like a gunshot, startling several boys in the back row so much that they almost jumped up from their chairs.
Zhao Dakun was still sound asleep, his head making funny indentations on the books. As the head teacher approached on his stilettos, Liu Tianyu was jabbing him in the thigh with the point of a compass.
"Fuck! Who the hell—" Zhao Dakun roared, looking up and meeting the teacher's cold eyes behind her glasses. He swallowed the last half of the curse word back, choking and making him cough. Amid the laughter of the whole class, Cheng Xiaorui noticed that the corner of Lu Ziyi's mouth twitched—it was a fleeting sneer.
"Ahem!" Zhou Mingxuan suddenly cleared his throat violently, his eyes darting wildly to the right. Lu Ziyi then slowly slipped his phone back into his pocket, his movements as relaxed as if he were at home. "Sorry, I won't do it again next time." He even smiled as he said this, his fingertips tapping a brisk rhythm on the table.
The head teacher's ruler hovered in the air for a moment, and finally she just sighed: "Focus and review seriously." When she turned around, Cheng Xiaorui saw Lu Ziyi mouthing something to Liu Tianyu, who immediately tried to hold back his laughter until his face turned red.
"Seat changes will begin now." The homeroom teacher flicked on the projector, and the dancing dust in the white light suddenly took shape. The moment the seating chart was projected onto the screen, the classroom erupted in excitement—some cheered and high-fived, others wailed and banged their desks. Cheng Xiaorui squinted to find his name, and his breath suddenly hitched. The two names, side by side, in the center of the chart struck his pupils like lightning: Lu Ziyi and Cheng Xiaorui.
"Him? He's worthy!?" Zhao Dakun's strange cry pierced the noise, "Why should he sit with Brother Lu?" He turned to Zhou Mingxuan for approval, but saw that the other party was secretly moving comic books to the new seat.
Several girls in the back row suddenly burst into whispers: "Oh my God! These two who are not only handsome but also good at studying are actually sitting together..." One of them was so bold that she even took out her mobile phone to take a sneak shot of the seating chart.
Cheng Xiaorui dug his nails into his palms. What was this? A new kind of punishment game? He stared at the two names, placed side by side on the projection screen, and vaguely saw them twisted into mocking faces.
"Teacher, poor... Cheng Xiaorui said he didn't want to sit there." Zhao Dakun suddenly raised his hand and shouted, his face full of the smugness of a successful prank. The head teacher adjusted her glasses: "Shut up! How could I not hear you?" When her sharp eyes swept over, Cheng Xiaorui shrank his neck reflexively. Actually, it wasn't wrong for him to say that...
"Lu Ziyi, what do you think?" the homeroom teacher suddenly changed the subject. The entire class fell silent, dozens of eyes darting to the back of the room. Lu Ziyi was fiddling with the skull-shaped lighter, the click of the metal cap opening and closing piercing the silence.
"No problem." He threw out those three words without even looking up, his voice as deep as the sea at night. Cheng Xiaorui could hear his heartbeat like thunder.
Zhao Dakun: “?”
Liu Tianyu: “?”
Cheng Xiaorui: “?”
"If two students with good academic performance sit together, how can we study?" Zhao Dakun muttered in despair, rolling the corners of the textbook into a tube with his fingers.
The head teacher's stiletto heels made a sharp sound on the floor tiles: "I see you haven't learned it either!" Amidst the laughter of the whole class again, Cheng Xiaorui secretly glanced at his new deskmate - Lu Zi was looking at him with a half-smile.
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