14. Your shirt
He remembered clearly that when they first met, he got first place in English and she came in second. That time, she opened the test paper until her fingers bled. After that, they rarely shared papers in the office together. In the next two exams, she surpassed him by more than five points.
Soon after, the school launched its biennial international student exchange program. This program had begun six years before they enrolled, and the school would host international students from partner schools in Australia, the UK, or the US every two years, so the event was only held three times.
They weren't offered a place in their first year of high school, but in their senior year, the school welcomed students from Reading, Berkshire, England, and needed students with good English skills to join them on an exchange program. A public, coeducational school sent seven international students of similar age for a week-long exchange program. They came in all colors, but all were British.
The English teacher selected a few students from Classes A and E and asked students from other classes to sign up. After all the preparations, Deng Shilang and Yao Ling were asked to participate in the event. Before the seven international students arrived, the English teacher and the department head asked Yao Ling to prepare a speech to be delivered in front of the entire school on the day of the welcome ceremony. After all, she was the top English student in the grade.
Yao Ling didn't like dealing with this kind of situation, but she agreed anyway. She was in the office watching her English teacher underline some key points of the speech with a red pen when Deng Shilang came in with a stack of papers.
The English teacher saw the two of them standing together, pushed his glasses, and said, "You've arrived just in time. Go to the math teacher's empty seat and discuss this. This is the seven-day schedule. You'll probably only be needed on the first and last days. The rest of the time won't interfere with your studies. Senior year is quite demanding."
It was already time to go home from school, so they sat down at the math teacher's table.
Deng Shilang thought she was very hardworking, as she was able to take first place twice in a row after only being overtaken once. "After being overtaken by me, you must have studied hard."
Unexpectedly, Yao Ling said: "I haven't reviewed it."
Deng Shilang thought she was indeed a hidden talent and couldn't help but laugh, "Talent."
He had heard rumors among his peers that she was very low-key. She would leave get out of class when it was time to leave and chat with her friends in the corridor when it was time to go. She never reviewed English or memorized words, and only spent her time on other subjects.
"Why are you five points lower than me?" Yao Ling suddenly asked.
Deng Shilang was silent for a moment, then said, "I slept through the listening section the first time, and I didn't do well the second time."
Yao Ling thought he was giving her a break, but she didn't question his mistake. She handed him the list. He leaned in, took it, and read about the activities. They would only attend the welcome ceremony in the lobby on the first morning and the farewell tea party and dance on the last evening.
In reality, they had little to talk about. When Deng Shilang was a child, he went on a business trip to England with Deng Yonglian. At the time, Deng Yonglian called the city Reading, meaning "from Berkshire," very close to London. His family still had porcelain plates, candlesticks, and vintage jewelry Deng Yonglian had bought for Jiang Si in England. As for him, he had only bought a model toy when he was only seven.
Yao Ling is different. She has never been to an English-speaking country and only spent ten days in Spain and Italy with her parents.
After coming out of the office, Yao Ling returned to Class A, packed her schoolbag, and went to the bus stop in front of the school to wait for the bus.
Deng Shilang then appeared at the station and saw Yao Ling, alone, carrying a backpack and wearing wired headphones. It was a weekend night, and he was going out to dinner with Jiang Si, so he changed to another bus to reach his destination, which happened to be the same bus Yao Ling was taking.
He got on the bus after her and chose to sit next to her.
Yao Ling smelled a familiar aroma and noticed him nearby, having not expected him to be in this car. She was smart enough to guess, without even asking, that he was going somewhere else and that was why he was in the same car with her.
He didn't say anything at first, lowering his head to hold his phone and texting Jiang Si, while she would sometimes change the song and be very quiet. After he finished replying, he put the phone in his schoolbag and asked her, "What are you listening to?"
Yao Ling turned around, gently reached out to take off one of her headphones, and placed it between his ears. "Guess."
Deng Shilang smiled and felt that she did not put it in the right position, so he held her fingers to help her. She did not pull away, but put it in place under his adjustment. Her fingertips brushed against his earlobe, giving them a touch that was neither electric nor subtle.
"You like Minnie Riperton's 'Loving You'." Deng Shilang turned his head and asked closely.
Yao Ling hummed, her heart rising and falling with the melody and his movements, "I listened to it when I was a kid."
Deng Shilang nodded and listened quietly with her. After the train passed two stops and a song finished playing, she asked him what he liked. He took out his phone, plugged her earphones into it, and played a song.
Yao Ling covered her earphones and knew which song it was as soon as she heard the beginning. She said, "It's 'Just One Last Dance'."
"You'll like it."
"like."
Deng Shilang thought they had a lot in common. He glanced at the train's station announcement system, and the next stop was approaching. Just before the train arrived, the song finished playing. He handed her the headphones back and said casually, "Next time you hear this song, you'll think of me."
Before he left, Yao Ling pinched the earphone cord and said, "You can do it too."
Deng Shilang paused, a slight smile on his face. He had already considered these two songs a secret they shared. As the door opened, he, schoolbag in one hand, walked around the front row and waved to her. After the door closed, a car passed him by, leaving the lights outside the window blurry.
The weekend holiday is over and the one-week exchange activities officially begin.
All students must wear ceremonial uniforms. Both men and women must wear white shirts. Female students must wear red plaid skirts and bow ties, while male students must wear black trousers and ties. All buttons must be buttoned to the second button or above. If all three buttons are not buttoned, they will be registered.
Deng Shilang hadn't noticed Yao Ling before, and didn't have a deep impression of her, but he knew her name. She stood at the front of the lobby, giving a speech. Her demeanor was calm, she didn't need to read from a script, she was wearing a slim-fitting formal dress, her hair still shoulder-length, her eyebrows and eyes were clear and charming, and most interestingly, she had a beautiful voice.
He speaks English, taught by Deng Yonglian, while she speaks American English, a skill she learned naturally.
After the speeches, the selected students were assigned to seven international students for exchange programs. These exchanges involved volunteering in Sri Lanka, working in Jakarta, and now, experiencing mainland China. The exchange lasted a week, and they became close friends. Deng Shilang even spotted Yao Ling taking photos of her close friend and two other British students at the station.
On the night of the tea party, Yao Ling was pulled by Xiao Yu to the center of the crowd to play. While squeezing together, she accidentally bumped into Deng Shilang and the British boy in front of him, and was sandwiched between many people.
Deng Shilang heard Yao Ling's soft cry of pain and found her in the dim light, "Come with me."
He took her hand and walked through the hall, into the red silk curtains. As they entered, he leaned out the window and looked out at the bright lights of the teaching building across the street.
"Come and look at the opposite side." Deng Shilang hadn't noticed just now and wanted Yao Ling to look at the lights in the teaching building. When he turned around, he suddenly found that her bow was crooked and loose, and three buttons were rubbed open. A little further down, the edge of her bra was faintly visible.
"Your shirt," he reminded.
Yao Ling looked down and realized that three buttons on her dress were undone. She pulled the bow apart and asked him to hold it while she began buttoning one button at a time. She was already feeling hot from being squeezed, and her palms were sweating. After five minutes of buttoning, she couldn't get it right. She simply said, "My hands are too slippery, and there's no teacher here anyway."
"Don't be afraid of being caught. Your class will lose points." Deng Shilang said with a smile.
Yao Ling didn't say anything. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly grabbed his tie, just enough to knock off a button. "Class A and Class E together."
Deng Shilang's neck tilted down slightly because of her action. He was stunned, and the tip of his nose almost touched her face. Then he untied the two lower parts and grabbed her hand, "Are you satisfied?"
There was a lot of noise outside the curtain. Yao Ling didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed his tie, leaned close to his ear, and said, "I like the smell of you."
Deng Shilang felt her lips gently touching his earlobe, and said, "Giovanni, I can give it to you."
"No."
"If you do that again, I'll see."
"What."
"Your breasts."
She immediately let go and he realized he was hard against her.
Deng Shilang quickly recovered and asked her to look at the teaching building across the street. The lights were bright, and the English teacher's voice came from the overhead speakers, announcing that they were leaving to say goodbye to the international students. After a moment's rest, they both had to re-button their shirts. After all, they were top students, impeccable, and the fate of the class depended on them.
"Is it not allowed to be deducted?" Deng Shilang asked.
Yao Ling tried it again, and sure enough, her hand slipped. His explicit words had caused her nipples to react slightly. She had once imagined his hand touching hers. She shuddered at the thought of it. Her curiosity about learning occasionally surfaced here.
"I'll do it." Deng Shilang gently pushed her hands away and prepared to button her shirt. As he touched the buttons, his fingers touched the skin on her chest, which was very smooth. He lowered his head, his forehead covering his frowning brows. He hadn't been that hard just now, but it became hard when he touched her body, so he didn't button her first button.
"Deng Shilang."
She also called his name, but he didn't respond.
"No, forget it."
Just as he was about to score the first one, Deng Shilang scored the next two smoothly.
Yao Ling tied her bow, smoothed the wrinkles on her shirt, adjusted the hem of her skirt, and then pulled the curtain aside to leave. After she left, Deng Shilang fixed his buttons, turned up his collar, and neatly tied his tie before leaving.
Xiao Yu finally saw her friend and asked, "Where did you go just now? I've been looking for you for a long time. I almost thought you were taken away by the director to do another mission."
Yao Ling saw that Deng Shilang was still the same, talking and laughing, as if nothing had happened. She was a little disappointed. She avoided his gaze and said to Xiao Yu, "He was just admiring the lights in the teaching building."
"What is that? It's so strange." Xiao Yu accidentally smelled the scent on her body and suddenly understood, "You and DC?"
"Nothing, I watched it with him."
"You suit his taste perfectly."
Yao Ling laughed and said, "Did you talk too much with those two girls? I thought you were lascivious before, but now you're teasing me."
She didn't know that he saw her smiling from a distance, smiling so happily, as if nothing had happened.
*
I just want to be innocent for a moment, thank you everyone.
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