Chapter 23
Time flew by in Linchuan, like a short but beautiful dream.
A week passed in the blink of an eye. Sang Sui originally wanted to stay in Linchuan for the entire summer vacation, but because she had signed up for a summer math competition class, she had to return to Rongcheng early.
Completely different from her first solo trip to Fuzhou, she had made many good friends there and had a crush on a boy. She was no longer as awkward or afraid.
Sang Sui packed his simple belongings, bid farewell to his reluctant grandmother Mo Luying, and embarked on his journey back to Rongcheng.
Returning to Fuzhou, the familiar sweltering heat hit me, carrying with it the city's unique hustle and bustle.
The training camp was held in a specially opened lecture hall at the school, with the air conditioning blasting.
Stepping inside, a refreshing coolness instantly enveloped my entire body, dispelling some of the fatigue from the long journey.
Some people were already seated in the classroom.
Class monitor Chu Xiran sat in the front row, a thick exercise book spread out in front of her, looking focused; Cheng Xiao leaned back lazily in his chair, twirling a pen in his hand, looking bored but having no choice but to be there; Song Shiyue sat next to Chu Xiran, discussing the solution to a problem with her in a low voice.
Seeing Sang Sui enter, Song Shiyue looked up and smiled gently at her, greeting her, "Finally back?"
Sang Sui hummed in agreement.
Chu Xiran also pushed up her glasses and nodded in acknowledgment.
Cheng Xiao curled the corners of his lips and gave her a look that said, "So you've come to suffer too?"
Sang Sui found an empty seat, took out the training materials, but his gaze involuntarily swept around the classroom. Nothing.
That slender and upright figure is not here.
A subtle sense of loss, hard to describe, crept into her heart once again.
She knew Liang Fengshen wouldn't come here; he was very busy this summer, participating in the recording of a singing and dancing program called "New Generation" on the city TV station.
Rationally she understood completely, but emotionally she couldn't help but think that it would be nice if he were here too.
Even if we just sit in the same classroom, and occasionally look up to see his profile as he works out calculations, and feel his presence, perhaps these long and mentally taxing training days won't seem so unbearable.
The thought had barely surfaced when, as if to confirm something, or perhaps simply as Cheng Xiao's prank, a cheerful cell phone ringtone broke the silence of the classroom—it was Cheng Xiao's.
Cheng Xiao glanced at the caller ID, a sly smile spreading across his face. He promptly pressed the hang-up button and immediately started a video call, pointing his phone screen at the group of people.
"Hey! Liang Fengshen, look where we are now," Cheng Xiao shouted at his phone screen. "Do you miss your brother and some of the people here? Like Song Shiyue and the like?"
Almost reflexively, upon hearing the name "Liang Fengshen," Sang Sui abruptly turned and glanced at the camera.
Then, Liang Fengshen's face appeared on the phone screen. He seemed to be in a place that looked like a lounge or backstage area; the background was somewhat cluttered, and the lighting was much brighter than in a classroom.
He wore a simple white T-shirt, his hair seemed carefully styled, with slightly damp bangs, and traces of makeup on his face, which made his already striking features even more defined and clear. He looked somewhat tired, but his eyes remained bright.
Sang Sui seemed to see Liang Fengshen smile, and then heard him say, "Why did you hang up and switch to video call just now?"
Cheng Xiao said, "Just want to see you. You went to Beijing to record a show, and we haven't seen you for so long. We all miss you so much and just want to see your handsome face."
He emphasized the words "I miss you so much".
Cheng Xiao handed his phone back and scanned the faces of the people present: Sang Sui, Song Shiyue, Chu Xiran, and several other classmates.
His gaze seemed to casually sweep across the screen, and Sang Sui felt her heart clench the moment his gaze might touch her.
She held her breath and sat quietly in her seat, not getting close or talking like the others, but just silently watching the face she longed for on the screen from a distance.
He seems even more handsome than before.
It wasn't the clean-cut handsomeness he usually exuded at school, but rather a more impactful and striking good looks, imbued with a stage aura.
Even through the small screen of a mobile phone, even though he looked a little tired, his radiance was still undeniable.
The slight sense of loss I felt because he wasn't there was strangely soothed.
Being able to meet her unexpectedly via video was like a stroke of luck for her, enough to make her secretly happy for a long time.
Chu Xiran smiled and waved to Liang Fengshen on the screen.
Song Shiyue joked, "Liang Fengshen, how was the recording? When can we see you on TV?"
On the other end of the screen, Liang Fengshen's lips curled into a very faint smile. His voice came through the speaker, carrying a slight amount of static, but it was still deep and pleasant to hear: "It's alright, I'm quite busy. We have a rehearsal later. Good luck with your studies."
Cheng Xiao exchanged a few more jokes with them before hanging up the video call with a grin, under the warning look of Teacher Ji Yungui as she entered the classroom.
The classroom returned to its studious atmosphere, but Sang Sui's heart remained restless for a long time because of that fleeting glimpse.
The days of intensive training passed by one by one, and finally the day of the math competition arrived.
Early in the morning, the school-arranged buses were parked at the school gate, carrying the participating students to the examination site—the High School Affiliated to the Normal University, which boasts a strong faculty and is renowned for its competitions.
Sang Sui and Chu Xiran got into the car together and found a seat near the front to sit side by side.
She put her backpack down, but her gaze involuntarily drifted towards the car door, filled with a secret anticipation.
Students boarded the train one after another, and the carriage gradually became noisy.
Cheng Xiao and Song Shiyue got into the car together and headed straight for the back seat.
Just as Sang Sui thought her expectations had been dashed and lowered her eyelashes slightly, a figure stepped onto the car door steps.
It was Liang Fengshen.
Today he was wearing a clean Rongcheng No. 1 Middle School uniform, the blue and white colors making his skin look even whiter.
Perhaps due to the hard work of recording the show for several days, he had some dark circles under his eyes, but he looked to be in good spirits.
His hair has returned to its usual clean and neat style, softly draped over his forehead, softening his sharpness on stage and adding a touch of youthful cleanliness.
Sang Sui's heartbeat went out of control for a moment.
After not seeing him for many days, he seemed to have shed the slightly embellished look he had when he was wearing makeup in the video, returning to his original cool and aloof handsomeness. However, because of that little bit of imperceptible fatigue, he seemed even more real and touching.
After boarding the train, he scanned the carriage with his eyes, seemingly looking for a seat.
Cheng Xiao and Song Shiyue were sitting in the back row; all the other empty seats were occupied.
Liang Fengshen casually sat down in the third-to-last row, where there happened to be an empty seat next to him.
That empty seat was by the window. Sang Sui's current seat was by the aisle.
A bold, almost impulsive idea shot into Sang Sui's mind like a spark and quickly ignited. Courage can sometimes be a matter of a single moment.
Just as he sat down, before someone was about to sit in the empty seat next to Liang Fengshen, Sang Sui suddenly stood up and grabbed his backpack.
Chu Xiran looked at her in confusion: "What's wrong, Sang Sui?"
Sang Sui's cheeks flushed, and she almost dared not look into Chu Xiran's eyes, much less look at the gazes that might be cast at her from the back row. She said in a low voice quickly, "Xiran, I... I'm a little carsick, so I'd like to sit by the window."
Chu Xiran nodded: "Sure, go ahead."
After saying that, she walked stiffly and almost incoherently to the back row and sat down in the empty seat by the window—next to Liang Fengshen's seat.
He arrived before the boy who was about to sit down next to Liang Fengshen.
The boy paused for a moment, but didn't think much of it and found another empty seat to sit down.
Liang Fengshen was clearly taken aback. He looked at Sang Sui, who had suddenly taken the window seat that the boy had originally wanted to sit in, and a faint look of doubt appeared on his handsome face.
Sang Sui's heart was pounding in her throat. She forced herself to look up and meet his gaze, trying to make her voice sound natural as she repeated her hasty excuse: "I'm a little carsick, so I wanted to sit by the window, and then I came to sit here..."
As she finished speaking, her voice softened, and she seemed somewhat guilty.
Liang Fengshen looked at her, his clear eyes revealing no emotion, but he seemed to believe her.
As the competition participants gradually arrived, the car slowly started moving.
She actually sat down with him.
This was the second time they had been so close together.
Sang Sui felt a surge of ecstatic joy inside, but on the surface, he could only pretend to be calm and quickly turned his head to look out the window, as if he was really trying to alleviate the discomfort of motion sickness.
Only she knew that her cheeks were burning hot and her palms were sweaty.
The bus slowly started moving and drove away from the familiar campus. Inside the bus, some students were still discussing their problems in hushed tones, while others closed their eyes to rest.
Sang Sui sat stiffly, but all her senses were focused on the person next to her with extreme sensitivity.
He seemed very tired.
Not long after the car started moving, Sang Sui felt the breathing around her become even and long.
She turned her head very carefully and extremely slowly, stealing glances at him from the corner of her eye.
Liang Fengshen was indeed asleep.
He tilted his head slightly towards the car window, his eyes closed, his long, thick eyelashes casting a small, quiet shadow beneath them. He had a high, straight nose and healthy pale pink lips.
Sunlight streamed through the car window, dancing on his face, making even the finest downy hairs clearly visible.
He was sleeping soundly, looking very peaceful and unguarded, his usual aloofness gone, like a well-behaved big boy.
A very faint, refreshing, and pleasant scent lingered around Sang Sui's nose.
It smells like lime-scented laundry detergent or shower gel—clean and refreshing, just like him.
She secretly and greedily inhaled the faint fragrance mixed with his body heat, thinking it was the most wonderful scent in the world.
She could even feel his arm occasionally brushing lightly against her school uniform sleeve due to the car's bumps; that tiny touch made her heart pound like a drum.
At this moment, time seemed to stretch out.
The street scene outside the window rushed past, and a drowsy tranquility filled the carriage.
She and the boy she secretly loved sat side by side, sharing the same air and the same journey.
This brief, stolen intimacy made her so happy she almost wanted to cry.
In the back row, Cheng Xiao, who had witnessed everything, nudged Song Shiyue next to him with his elbow and whispered, "Hey, Lao Song, look at Liang Fengshen, is he a blockhead? Can't he see that she likes him?"
He was referring to Sang Sui's blatant excuse of "motion sickness" and his act of changing seats.
Song Shiyue adjusted his glasses and looked at the two figures in the front row.
The girl's stiff back and the sleeping boy's oblivious profile beside her created a subtle and unspoken scene.
He sighed softly and replied in a low voice, "It's very obvious."
Cheng Xiao chuckled and shook his head, his expression clearly saying, "Hopeless."
Song Shiyue's gaze held a hint of understanding and a trace of barely perceptible pity.
The falling flowers are full of affection, but the flowing water is heartless.
Unrequited love in youth is often like this: one person experiences turmoil and chaos, while the other remains calm and undisturbed.
Because he didn't care, he was so obvious, and he never even considered whether she might like him.
Maybe they noticed, but they still didn't care.
Song Shiyue turned his head to look out the window.
Just like the girl he liked, she knew he liked her so much, but she still didn't care.
After an unknown amount of time, the bus slowly slowed down and finally came to a stop, revealing the gate of the High School Affiliated to the Normal University.
Liang Fengshen also woke up the moment the car came to a stop. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, his gaze filled with the bewilderment of someone just waking up, and he looked rather dazed.
Sang Sui quickly withdrew her gaze, which had been stealing glances at him, and pretended that she had also been looking out the window.
Everyone got up and got off the bus one after another.
Sang Sui and Liang Fengshen also got off the bus with the flow of people.
Standing in the unfamiliar campus of the High School Affiliated to the Normal University, the summer sun shone brightly down.
They followed the signs and headed to their respective exam rooms. This time, they weren't even in the same exam room, or even in the same building.
At the crossroads where they were about to part ways, Sang Sui stopped and mustered her courage once more.
She turned around and looked at Liang Fengshen, who was about to leave beside her. Her voice was soft, but it reached his ears clearly: "Liang Fengshen, good luck on your exam!"
Upon hearing this, Liang Fengshen paused and turned around. Sunlight fell on his clear eyes, and he seemed to be slightly taken aback. Then, the corners of his lips curved upwards into a very shallow but genuine smile. He nodded at her, his voice slightly hoarse from just waking up: "Yes, you too."
After saying that, he turned around and walked towards his examination room.
Sang Sui stood there, watching his slender and upright figure merge into the crowd until he could no longer be seen.
My heart was once again filled with sweet, lime-flavored bubbles because of that "you too" and that brief smile.
She gripped her pencil case tightly, took a deep breath, and turned to walk towards her exam room.
2013.08.16
—Good luck on your exam.
--"The same to you."
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