Chapter 12
Upon hearing that Sang Sui had successfully entered the literary society, Zhao Yanqi was even more excited than Sang Sui herself. She put her arm around Sang Sui's shoulder and shook her, saying, "You're really something! But why did you suddenly want to join the literary society?"
Sang Sui lowered her eyes, casually tidying up the textbooks on the table, and made up a reason on the spot: "I just want to read more books, it will also help with writing compositions."
You can't say it was for Liang Fengshen.
This reason convinced Zhao Yanqi, and she didn't think too much about it. "Actually, I also wanted to get in, but training is too busy."
Sang Sui said, "It doesn't matter if you don't join the literary society. If you really like reading, just borrow books from the used bookstore."
Sunlight filters through the camphor tree leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
That afternoon, the two returned to the familiar used bookstore.
Sang Sui paused in front of the bookshelf, his gaze finally landing on the book "Gen Bird". The spine was worn and the corners were slightly curled. It was the same book that Liang Fengshen had borrowed.
She carefully took it down and handed over the book and library card, saying, "Boss, I'd like to borrow this one."
After the shopkeeper took the money, he checked Sang Sui's student ID and opened the borrowing registration page at the back of the book. Sang Sui picked up a pen and solemnly wrote his name and the date on a new line.
After she and Zhao Yanqi borrowed the books, they left.
Not long after, Cheng Xiao also strolled into the bookstore, went straight to the mystery section, and pulled out a copy of "White Night".
"Boss, I'd like to register." He put his books and student ID on the counter and waited lazily.
The shopkeeper slowly flipped through the borrowing book.
Cheng Xiao flipped through it: "This book is already full."
"Wait a moment." The boss looked down and flipped through the notebook.
Cheng Xiao held the already full borrowing book and flipped through it idly.
Then he discovered something very interesting.
Under several familiar book titles, two names alternate in a peculiar pattern:
"Norwegian Wood" - Liang Fengshen (April 26), Sang Sui (May 3);
Kafka on the Shore – Liang Fengshen (May 8), Sang Sui (May 17);
"Gen Bird" - Liang Fengshen (5.27), Sang Sui (6.03).
The time difference is always precisely about a week apart.
Cheng Xiao raised an eyebrow.
"How interesting," he muttered to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips.
On the afternoon of June 3rd, with the long five-day holiday just around the corner, the entire classroom began to stir with excitement.
Yuan Ying held a final class meeting: "You guys are so cheerful as soon as you have a holiday. After playing for five days, you'll be completely exhausted."
Zhang Da laughed and exclaimed, "If you're not happy about the upcoming holiday, are you even human?"
Yuan Ying jokingly scolded, "You'll have ten more papers than everyone else later."
Upon hearing this, Luo Kewei immediately chimed in, "Teacher, I agree! I agree with both hands and feet!"
If it weren't for class time, Zhang Da and Luo Kewei could have fought right there.
"Alright, alright, everyone quiet down." Yuan Ying said seriously, "I'm not joking with you all. Please be careful during the holiday."
The class responded in unison, drawing out the words: "Prevent drowning, prevent fraud—"
Yuan Ying smiled with relief: "There's one more thing. To prevent everyone from going too wild during the holiday, each of you should go to the back of the classroom and write a summary of this month's exam. After you finish writing, it will be time for the holiday to start, and we'll all be dismissed!"
Under Chu Xiran's organization, everyone went up to the stage to get chalk and crowded at the back of the classroom to write.
The things I wrote at first were quite serious, but they became increasingly unserious as time went on.
"9 out of 13 multiple-choice questions were wrong. I couldn't beat the chemistry master no matter how hard I tried." — LKW
"Hehe, I can only do zero questions on the physics monthly exam. I'm aiming to surpass you—HLL."
"I spent an entire class checking the answers, only to find that I had gotten quite a few right. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I had gotten the chemistry answers wrong but had gone to the physics ones. —ZYQ"
"The people who left the comments above are all my underlings, willingly giving me all their intelligence. —ZD"
After Zhang Da finished writing this sentence, he almost got ganged up on again.
Sang Sui, holding the chalk, wrote only two numbers on the blackboard—
"90".
"Why is it 90?" Zhao Yanqi asked curiously, not understanding.
He Lili and Qiao Chunchao also looked at Sang Sui.
Sang Sui was trying to figure out how to brush this off when she heard Zhao Yanqi guess, "Is it because you're going to work hard to improve your total score by 90 points in the next exam?"
“Yes.” Sang Sui was grateful to Zhao Yanqi for giving him a way out.
The reason was that during the monthly exam, Liang Fengshen ranked 46th, while she ranked 136th.
The difference in their annual rankings was exactly ninety places.
One by one, the students left the classroom, but Sang Sui was not in a hurry to leave.
In order to gain a foothold in the literary society, Sang Sui took the initiative to distribute the school magazine on the afternoon before the college entrance examination holiday.
This task was tedious and time-consuming. By the time she gently placed the last copy of the school magazine into the bookshelf of Class 12 of Senior Three, the entire teaching building was almost empty.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window at the end of the corridor, bathing the floor in a warm orange-gold hue, and the sound of footsteps was exceptionally clear in the quiet space.
Sang Sui returned to Class 7 to pack her schoolbag. Just as she stepped out the door, she unexpectedly bumped into a familiar figure at the stairwell.
Liang Fengshen, carrying a schoolbag over one shoulder, was walking downstairs when he heard the noise and turned around, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
"Sang Sui?" He stopped, his voice sounding particularly clear in the empty corridor. "Why haven't you left yet? The school is almost deserted."
Sang Sui's heart raced involuntarily. She gripped her schoolbag strap tightly and explained in a low voice, "I just finished distributing the school magazine to the literary society."
"How are you getting home so late?" He naturally slowed his pace and walked down the stairs alongside her.
"I take bus number 33."
“Route 33?” Liang Fengshen raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone filled with genuine doubt. “I also take the 33 bus home, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you on the bus before?”
Sang Sui was almost choked by the summer breeze blowing in his face.
How could she not have seen him before? She had encountered him countless times. It's just that he didn't care and hadn't noticed her presence.
A bittersweet feeling welled up inside her. She lowered her head, looked at the tips of her shoes, and said softly, "It's normal that it's hard to run into someone like that. There are just too many students at school."
Liang Fengshen thought for a moment, then nodded, his tone returning to normal: "That's true."
The two walked together to the bus stop, just as bus number 33 pulled into the station.
It was just before the holiday, and the train was extremely crowded.
They were pushed onto the train by the crowd, and finally found a place to stand in the middle of the carriage. They were very close to each other, almost side by side.
Sang Sui could clearly smell the faint scent of lemon laundry detergent on him, mixed with the clean scent of soap on the boy.
The carriage swayed gently as it moved, and their arms or backpacks would occasionally brush against each other unintentionally. Each slight contact made her feel her breathing quicken.
"Which stop are you getting off at?" Liang Fengshen asked, turning his head to the side, his breath almost touching.
"Wutong Xiaoyuan Station".
“I see,” he said knowingly, his voice calm. “I only need to take two stops to get there.”
The journey between the two stops was short, and the street scenes outside the window rushed past. Soon, the bus announced the name of the stop where he was getting off.
"Goodbye." He gestured to her and moved with the crowd toward the back door.
"See you next time." Sang Sui stared intently at his retreating figure, but he never turned around, nor did he ever see her.
When I got home, my phone beeped.
Lin Shuning, the president of the literary society, pulled her into a group chat called "College Entrance Examination Cheer-up Video Preparation Group".
Sang Sui initially thought the group only contained members of the school magazine department, but upon opening the member list, she discovered that key members of the radio station and photography club were also in the group. It was a temporary work group formed for cross-departmental collaboration.
Sang Sui's eyes searched the member list eagerly and found a number that looked very much like Liang Fengshen. She clicked on his profile card and her heart suddenly started racing.
His profile picture is very simple. His ID is LFS, and his avatar is a cute chibi-style owl with big, round eyes.
I didn't expect him to use such a cute profile picture; it's kind of endearingly unexpected.
She only dared to repeatedly open his profile card, looking at the few personal signatures and space permissions, her fingertip hovering over the "Add as Friend" button for a long time, but in the end she still didn't have the courage to press it.
The task assignments were posted in the group chat. The literary society was responsible for writing the script for the video narration. Upon learning that the writer would be working with Liang Fengshen, Sang Sui replied in the group chat almost without hesitation:
Sang Sui: @President-Lin Shuning, can I take on the writing task? I'd like to give it a try.
After sending the message, she stared nervously at the screen. Soon, Lin Shuning replied.
President Lin Shuning: Okay, then the first draft will be submitted to Sang Sui. Good luck! [smiley face]
After accepting the task, Sang Sui stayed up almost all night.
It wasn't until late at night that she finally finished organizing the document to her satisfaction. Taking a deep breath, she uploaded the file to the group chat and specifically tagged Liang Fengshen.
Sang Sui: @LFS The first draft of the manuscript is complete, please check. [File: College Entrance Examination Cheerleading Video Narration Script V1.doc]
After sending the message, she put down her phone, her heart pounding as she nervously awaited a possible response.
A few minutes later, her phone started vibrating repeatedly. She picked it up eagerly to check.
It was indeed Liang Fengshen's reply.
LFS: Wow, that's incredibly efficient! You finished it in just one night. Are you working so hard?
Immediately afterwards, the other members also chimed in.
Photography Club - Zhang Ming: Wow, junior, you're awesome! You finished your work so quickly.
School Newspaper Department - Senior Wang: I've read the manuscript. It's written with great emotion and has a very good foundation. With a few minor adjustments to the details, it will be even more perfect!
President Lin Shuning: "Thumbs up" "Thumbs up"
Sang Sui held her phone, staring at Liang Fengshen's reply, buried her face in her arms, and couldn't help but smile silently as the corners of her mouth turned up.
Liking someone can make you a fool.
Staying up all night just to have a legitimate chat with him in a group chat sounds pretty silly, right?
But she just felt it was worth it.
Sang Zhiyuan kept saying that the company was cutting salaries, so Tan Huiyu also went out to find a job to supplement her family's income.
Sang Chi had a five-day holiday for the college entrance examination, and Tan Huiyu thought that since she was idle anyway, she asked her to be in charge of picking up and dropping off Sang Chi at her extracurricular classes for those five days.
She simply couldn't refuse this task that was suddenly given to her.
Cicadas were chirping loudly outside the window, while the fan inside was whirring.
When she arrived at the extracurricular class, Sang Chi was squatting at the door playing with pebbles.
"Too slow," Sang Chi complained, dusting off his hands and standing up.
Sang Sui also gave him a cold look: "It's already very kind of you to come and pick me up, and you're still being picky."
Sang Sui pouted: "I hate you."
"You talk as if I like you."
They had only gone halfway home when Sang Chi suddenly refused to go any further. "Sang Sui, I'm hungry."
“I’m your sister, you can’t call me by my name.”
"Just shout it! Shout it! Sang Sui Sang Sui..."
"Shut up, Mom will cook dinner when she gets off work."
“I want to eat now.” He pointed to a nearby convenience store. “Oden.”
Sang Sui felt a lump in her throat. "Go if you want, don't go if you don't." She took a few steps forward, looked back, and saw Sang Chi still standing there, arguing with her.
Sang Sui finally gave in and took him into the convenience store.
Pushing open the door, a blast of cold air hit me. Behind the checkout counter, Ming Ying was scanning barcodes. Standing in front of the shelf was Song Shiyue, holding a bottle of mineral water.
"Sang Sui?" Song Shiyue was somewhat surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Sang Chi had already run to the oden stand and pointed at the grid: "I want this, this, and radish."
Mingying took out a paper cup and helped Sang Chi fill it with oden.
Sang Sui was chatting with Song Shiyue: "My home is around here, what brings you here too?"
“I…” Song Shiyue scratched the back of his head, glancing almost imperceptibly at Mingying, who was packing oden. “I was just passing by.”
Mingying packed the oden and placed the paper cup on the counter: "Eleven yuan and fifty cents."
Song Shiyue's excuse was obviously full of holes, but Sang Sui didn't have time to think about it. She lowered her head, reached into her pocket, and prepared to pay.
After touching it all, my heart sank.
I have the keys, but I didn't bring my wallet.
Sang Sui's expression was very complicated, and in short, very awkward: "I really didn't mean to come without money every time."
"I'll treat you," Mingying said. "Thank you for bringing the subject selection form to my class."
Sang Sui was a little embarrassed: "I..."
Song Shiyue walked over and placed the bottled water on the counter: "Let's settle it together."
This time, Mingying didn't stand on ceremony. She scanned the code and said in her usual calm tone, "Thirteen yuan and fifty cents."
Song Shiyue paid the money, and Sang Chi happily accepted the oden, while Sang Sui was so embarrassed that he scratched the ground with his toes.
Sang Sui then said to Song Shiyue, "I'll return it to you when we get back to school."
Song Shiyue smiled and said, "It's a small problem."
Sang then walked out of the convenience store.
As soon as she stepped out the door, the heatwave enveloped her again. Sang Sui turned around and saw through the glass that Song Shiyue was still standing by the cashier, talking enthusiastically to Ming Ying.
One by one, the streetlights came on.
Sang Chi was munching on a fish ball, the juice splattering all over his face.
Sang Sui suddenly remembered what Song Shiyue had said—
"Studying literature for someone else."
She couldn't help but think.
Could that so-called "someone" be Mingying?
Sang Sui couldn't understand who could be worthy of someone as wonderful as Ming Ying.
As night deepened, the cicadas continued their song. She felt that perhaps many, many people were still harboring secrets in their hearts this summer.
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