Chapter 5 The fox's waist is very good.
Back in the teaching building, Qiao Bolin placed the school uniform outside the window of the corresponding classroom. When he arrived at the classroom of Class 8, Grade 11, Old Qin was holding a short class meeting. The gist of the meeting was to get everyone back into the swing of things, reminding them that the new semester was about to begin, that Grade 11 was a watershed moment for high school grades, and that as a key class, they couldn't afford to be surpassed by other classes.
When he saw the two of them return after collecting their school uniforms, he raised his hand to signal them to sit back in their seats.
"That's about all I have to say. You're all self-disciplined students, so I don't need to worry too much about your studies. As for anything else—"
Old Qin looked around the class, chuckled, and placed the teacup on the podium, making a soft "thump" sound.
"It's normal to have thoughts during adolescence, but I don't need to say which is more important, do I?"
The tone, neither too light nor too heavy, is both admonition and warning.
Before leaving, he specifically asked Gao Hexin to go out and said he wanted to talk to her about ordering fried chicken.
Gao Hexin's seat was arranged to the right of Ning Jiu. After he said "It's over" to Ning Jiu with a long face and reluctantly went out with Lao Qin, the classroom erupted in excitement again.
"Why did Lao Qin suddenly say that last sentence?" someone's gossipy voice rang out, and everyone's eyes turned to the boy and girl in the last row. "Could it be something between you two...?"
"Get lost, Liu Chengdong, don't talk nonsense, Lao Qin is still outside!"
The boy couldn't hold back any longer, and the brothers around him burst into laughter.
After the class meeting, the day students went home. Ning Jiu lingered a bit while packing her schoolbag, leaving only two or three students tidying up the book corner in the classroom.
"Tsk, she's really hard to pursue. A beautiful woman keeps running upstairs every day, it breaks my heart to see her like this."
"That's why she's considered a flower on a high mountain."
"Even a high-class beauty wouldn't be like him. I think he has a very good personality and temperament."
"A good personality doesn't mean someone is easy to pursue, honey. You were first in the grade again in the last final exam, so your mind isn't on romance at all."
Two or three girls finished tidying up the book corner and leaned against the desks chatting idly. One of the girls seemed to remember something and looked at the girl with braided pigtails next to her.
"Hey, Yaoyao, you and he were classmates in junior high, right? Have you ever seen him dating before?"
The previously noisy atmosphere instantly fell silent. Chen Poyao felt a sudden, spotlight-like gaze directed at him, and his tone unconsciously became serious.
“I don’t recall,” she said, “but actually, we were in the same class in the third year of junior high. I heard, just heard—”
She deliberately kept everyone in suspense, pausing for a few seconds until someone couldn't help but urge her on, before slowly revealing a mysterious smile.
“Qiao’s father used to work for the Beijing Municipal Party Committee. He was transferred here three years ago, and that’s when Qiao Bolin transferred to this school.”
"...Holy crap?"
The gasps of horror grew louder, but the sounds became much quieter, and the content of what was being said was no longer clear.
With a "whoosh," the last book to be previewed was packed into the schoolbag. Ning Jiu zipped up the schoolbag, slung it over one shoulder, and was about to leave when Chen Poyao called her back.
"That... Ning Jiu?"
Looking in the direction of the sound, Chen Poyao smiled at her in a friendly manner and pointed in the direction of her desk.
"Would you be interested in joining our class's book corner?"
Ning Jiu walked over, and Chen Poyao immediately stepped forward, enthusiastically introducing the origin of the book corner.
At first, half of the students in the class thought that science classes did not need to create a book corner. However, with the strong insistence of Lao Qin and Qiao Bolin, they began to try it. Now, the book corner has books donated by almost every student.
"Do you usually like reading?" Chen Poyao's legs dangled from the desk. "If you like, you can donate books, or take some from there. Oh, by the way—"
She jumped off the desk and pointed to the spines of several books she had selected: "Besides those donated by classmates, there are a few that I borrowed from the library. But the books in our library are all quite old. If you're picking these books, just be careful not to mark them."
Following Chen Poyao's instructions, Ning Jiu signed the voluntary book donation agreement and promised to bring a few books she had read the next day. The latter immediately smiled broadly and blew her a kiss.
"Oh my, you're so cute and so nice, I like you so much!"
As Ning Jiu walked out of the classroom, the sun was setting in the west, and the quiet school came alive with the sound of students leaving.
Class 8 is located some distance from the stairwell. Because it is the last teaching building, looking south through a small patch of banyan trees, you can see the playground.
A few boys were playing basketball on the basketball court, and a few others were running around the track.
Her gaze inadvertently drifted over the area shaded by the banyan tree and spotted two familiar figures.
The summer breeze outlined his lean waistline, and the boy's upright back resembled a thriving pine or bamboo, swaying into a towering silhouette as he jumped and struck the racket.
The tennis racket is swung. Grip the racket, serve, return the ball.
It was done cleanly and efficiently, in one go.
After a few rounds, Li Mingyuan on the other side was getting tired and gestured for a timeout. Qiao Bolin, still holding a tennis racket, walked over, patted Li Mingyuan on the shoulder and said something. Li Mingyuan laughed and elbowed Qiao Bolin.
The vibrant energy of youth was almost overflowing.
Ning Jiu blinked, her attention somehow drawn to Xia Feng.
To be precise, it was the boy's blue and white school uniform that was wrinkled by the summer breeze.
The summer school uniform was very thin, and when the wind was a little strong, his lean and powerful back muscles were clearly outlined, showing at a glance that they were the result of regular exercise.
His back is in good condition.
Thinking back to today at Jianglan Laboratory, his name was mentioned too many times, directly or indirectly, by different people.
Undoubtedly, he was a campus celebrity in the eyes of his teachers and classmates.
Perhaps it started with his name, but now it's because of him as a person—
Ning Jiu became slightly interested in him.
Clench your hands together, extend your thumbs and forefingers together, making the shape of a pistol.
Ning Jiu narrowed one eye slightly, aimed at Qiao Bolin's back, and made a trigger-pulling motion with his thumb.
Bang.
Startled, the birds in the banyan tree fluttered their wings and flew away from the branches.
"Berlin? What are you looking at?"
In a rare moment of distraction, the fast-moving tennis ball grazed past Joe Berlin's ear and landed on the ground with a crisp sound.
The N-0 scoreline was finally broken, but Li Mingyuan was not happy.
Qiao Bolin was clearly distracted.
The boy's tousled hair fluttered in the wind. He didn't respond immediately, paused for two seconds, and then suddenly turned his head.
The banyan tree was so tall that it blocked the view. Looking further up, birds seemed to have been startled and were flying about in a disorderly manner.
The burning sensation at the back of my head not only didn't disappear, but it got even worse.
He blurted it out almost without thinking.
"fox."
"Foxes? When did the ecology on our school become so good?"
Li Mingyuan's interest was piqued by these words, and he followed Qiao Bolin's gaze, but saw nothing but banyan trees, and his tone was disappointed.
"That's not right, how could a fox be in a tree?"
The banyan tree branches swayed, revealing a blurry outline. On the south side of the corridor, which was obscured, Ning Jiu was surprised when Qiao Bolin suddenly turned his head, and her heart skipped a beat.
On second thought, with the banyan tree providing shade, he couldn't see her at all when he looked this way.
But to be noticed from such a distance with just a glance, this person's senses are too sharp.
Looking away, Ning Jiu went downstairs with her schoolbag on her back. The sweltering air of late August clung to her body, and her abdomen ached slightly from not eating on time, but she had gotten used to it.
Under two rows of locust trees, many students were holding different signs and calling out their wares. People would stop and take a look from time to time, and then write something on the white paper on the small table.
It was the freshman club orientation.
Several clubs are still very popular, such as the dance club and Model United Nations.
One area was particularly badly crowded, with people trampling the grass flat with their shoes. Amidst the bustling crowd, it was impossible to even see the sign held by the person in charge.
She wasn't very interested in the club and walked around the empty path next to the locust tree.
Therefore, she overlooked the intense, sticky gaze in the eyes of the boy surrounded by the dance club members when he inadvertently looked at her.
"Sweet wine!!! Uncle's here!"
Before even reaching the school gate, Yuan Liangjing's loud voice could be heard echoing at the entrance of Jianglan Experimental School, and even faint echoes could be heard.
Parents waiting for their children to get out of school couldn't help but look at him. Ning Jiu wished she could rush over and shut her cheap uncle up immediately.
“Yuan, Liang, Jing, how many times have I told you not to call me by my nickname in public?”
She stormed up to him angrily, threatening him with a warning look, but her round eyes had no intimidating power whatsoever.
Looking at his niece, Yuan Liangjing felt that the nickname he had given her since she was a child was extremely fitting.
"Okay, sweet wine, don't be angry. You're making the bus leave," he said, grabbing Ning Jiu's backpack and bouncing it a couple of times. "You're carrying so many books back on your first day of school?"
The teaching syllabi in Jiangcheng and Lingcheng are quite different, so you need to adapt as soon as possible. Of course, you need to make more preparations than others.
Ning Jiu: "You don't understand."
Yuan Liangjing nodded in agreement: "Your uncle has always been a poor student. He didn't understand your mother's thought process when he was young, and he understands you even less now that he's older."
Yuan Shu and Yuan Liangjing were born into an ordinary family in Lingcheng. After graduating from high school, Yuan Shu went to university in another province. Yuan Liangjing, rather than lacking the brains, simply lacked the inclination. After graduating from high school, he opened a dessert shop in Jiangcheng to make a living.
Life is leisurely, but also impoverished. Now over thirty, I'm still a typical spendthrift.
The No. 38 bus came swaying and wobbling during rush hour, then drove away packed with people.
Jianglan Experimental School is located in the city center of the commercial district, while Yuan Liangjing's dessert shop is located in a town street in the border area.
Although it is a rural town, there are many commuters traveling between the town and the city during the morning rush hour. As soon as one group leaves, another group arrives.
When the bus finally arrived at Rongye Street, Ning Jiu struggled to get off through the crowd. The humid and stuffy air on the bus made it hard for her to breathe.
My stomach pain seems to have gotten worse lately.
Yuan Liangjing got off the bus with his backpack, which was crooked from being squeezed. He didn't hear the voices of the people next to him. When he turned around and saw Ning Jiu's pale lips, he knew that her stomach problems had flared up again.
His expression turned serious almost instantly. He freed one hand to help Ning Jiu walk into the narrow alley, around the piles of parked electric bikes, and into the dessert shop around the corner, where he skillfully unlocked the door.
As the wind chimes rang, the staff, without stopping, carried the prepared dinner from the kitchen to the dessert shop table.
"Sweet wine, did you skip meals again?" Yuan Liangjing deftly pulled out chopsticks and placed them on top of his rice bowl. He then heated up some minced meat, eggplant, and stir-fried vegetables with mushrooms and vegetables, and put them on the table. His tone was serious. "You're so young and you already have stomach problems. How am I supposed to explain this to your mother—"
"She doesn't care about me, so why should I explain to her?"
Before Yuan Liangjing could finish speaking, Ning Jiu interrupted him.
The girl's voice was clear and crisp. She stared blankly at the steaming food in front of her, her face pale with pain, but she refused to touch her chopsticks.
"I'm in a bad mood and I don't want to eat."
Her voice was still as soft as ever, but her movements were the complete opposite—crisp and decisive.
Seeing that he had accidentally angered the little princess again, Yuan Liangjing quickly pressed her shoulder to make her sit back down and took out a cherry pudding from the refrigerator and placed it in front of her.
"If you don't eat tonight, you'll be in so much pain you won't be able to sleep," he said, tearing open the cake wrapper and handing Ning Jiu a fork. "Eat something sweet first, and then eat the rest of the meal when you feel better."
Ning Jiu looked at the cherry pudding in front of her and, as expected, remained silent.
Yuan Liangjing understands Ningjiu's character all too well.
This girl looks gentle, but she's actually very stubborn and inflexible.
Ever since Yuan Shu went to work in Germany, she thought her mother no longer cared about her. The extent to which her mother was cruel to her even terrified Yuan Liangjing.
However, there are still ways to deal with her.
Ning Jiu has little appetite for other foods, and often even self-destructively refuses to eat at mealtimes, but she has almost no resistance to sweets.
Thinking of this, Yuan Liangjing clenched his fist and placed it at the corner of his mouth.
That's why he said it was his niece's sweet wine.
He leaned back in the chair opposite him, watching the clouds drift and gather in the sunset outside the window, and couldn't help but feel worried.
I wonder what kind of meticulous and attentive young man will be needed to take good care of this girl, given her temperament.
"Uncle, what are you thinking about?"
Ning Jiu's mumbled voice pulled Yuan Liangjing back from his reverie, and the latter gave an awkward laugh.
I can't exactly say that I was just thinking about what kind of person my future nephew-in-law would be.
When Ning Jiu eats sweets, her eyebrows and eyes soften, and her pupils dilate slightly, making her already beautiful eyes appear even bigger and rounder.
She guessed that Yuan Liangjing wasn't thinking anything good, and gave a cold laugh.
"If you don't have anything else to do, I'm going to do my homework."
On the first day of school, there wasn't much homework to do; it was just a matter of reviewing the lessons from the first year of high school in Jiangcheng.
“Hey, wait a minute, sweet wine,” Yuan Liangjing said, as a table of customers was about to pay their bill. He stood up abruptly, collected the money, took the dishes to the kitchen, and came back. “What happened to the injury on your knee?”
They still saw it.
Ning Jiu hadn't actually intended to cover it up. Under Yuan Liangjing's threatening gaze, she reluctantly ate a mouthful of white rice and mumbled something.
"You know my skin type, it turns red as soon as it's touched."
It looks serious, but it will actually get better on its own in a couple of days.
Ning Jiu was already used to it.
Hearing her say that, Yuan Liangjing's expression did not become more relaxed; instead, it became even more serious.
“Your mother has gone abroad, and your father is still in Lingcheng and hasn’t come back yet. Now I am your guardian, so you have to listen to me, understand?” He scolded her in the local Lingcheng accent, trying to show the authority of a patriarch, but he still lacked it. “If Ningxuan comes from Lingcheng and sees you with sore and swollen body, I’ll be dead. Don’t hurt me, girl.”
She has a sharp tongue but a kind heart.
It's almost six o'clock now. After seeing off the last batch of customers, Liangjing Dessert has turned the "OPEN" sign on the glass door over to "CLOSED".
Ning Jiu was too lazy to argue with him anymore. After finishing the last bite of cake, she lazily said that she was going upstairs to read a book, picked up her backpack, and walked towards the steps.
Yuan Liangjing rented a mixed-use commercial and residential building. The first floor was all shops, and the second floor was crowded with all kinds of residents. You could faintly hear the sounds of cooking in the neighbors' kitchens and children crying.
As Ning Jiu went upstairs, her neighbor, an older woman, threw down a bag of trash at the door. A sour, stinky smell wafted over. Yuan Liangjing, who was following behind, immediately noticed the odor and spoke up.
"Aunt Wang, didn't I tell you to pay attention to hygiene? The stairs are so narrow, how are the residents supposed to walk by if you leave the trash here?"
"Okay, okay, I know."
As Aunt Wang spoke, she threw the trash back into the house. You could faintly hear the man sighing inside. Before closing the door, she gave Ning Jiu a thorough once-over, a look that made Ning Jiu very uncomfortable.
With a bang.
The door was closed.
After opening the door for Ning Jiu, Yuan Liangjing went back to the kitchen on the first floor to wash the dishes, while Ning Jiu walked into the small rented room alone.
With a simple layout of one bedroom and one living room, Yuan Liangjing tidied up the room that was originally filled with clutter and temporarily converted it into a bedroom after hearing that Ningjiu was coming to Jiangcheng.
The walls, which were originally covered in cobwebs, were painted a refreshing green, and he even covered the cracks in the walls with small stickers related to desserts.
A small desk was placed by the window, separated from the bed by a small curtain. The afterglow of the sunset shone through the skylight, turning the curtain into a soft, pale purple.
The air is filled with a subtle fruity aroma, a blend of sea lemon and citrus. While it might be too sweet for the average person, it is just right for Ning wine.
She loves everything sweet.
Yuan Liangjing's livelihood in Jiangcheng was not difficult, but he could only barely break even.
He could have chosen to ignore her, but upon hearing that she was transferring to Jiangcheng, he immediately took full responsibility upon himself.
After dinner, the pain subsided considerably, and Ningjiu's nerves relaxed.
The textbooks in Jiangcheng were indeed more difficult than those in Lingcheng. She spent three hours flipping through half of the math textbook for first-year high school students in Jiangcheng, and then spent the rest of the time organizing the books she had brought from Lingcheng, planning to pick a few to take to school the next day.
Just as Ning Jiu was stuffing the book into her bag, a bowl of fresh fruit was handed to her on the table. She looked up and met Yuan Liangjing's eyes, and knew that he had something to say to her.
"My dad will be coming later again, right?"
Yuan Liangjing was taken aback by Ning Jiu's quick reaction, and his prepared remarks were cut short.
"Although the bar is closed, there are still many contractual matters that require his attention. I guarantee he will be back by the week after next at the latest."
"......"
Ning Jiu nodded obediently, then casually asked a question.
"Has there been another problem with Uncle Wen's matter?"
“That matter is actually in its final stages,” Yuan Liangjing sighed, as if remembering something. “But you shouldn’t contact Wen Yi recently. Ever since his father’s accident, that kid…”
Halfway through his sentence, Yuan Liangjing suddenly changed his expression and gave Ning Jiu a hard thud on the forehead.
"Oh, sweet wine, you're trying to trick me into talking again, aren't you?"
Ning Xuan always glossed over the matter concerning Wen Xingxiang and never mentioned it in front of Ning Jiu.
Unable to get any information from her father, this girl is waiting for him here.
Yuan Liangjing was shocked, but pretended to be angry and stared at Ning Jiu.
Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, the latter snorted, poked a piece of pineapple with a toothpick and put it in his mouth, speaking innocently.
"I got caught halfway through trying to get information out of you. It was so frustrating."
"......"
The next day, Yuan Liangjing insisted on riding his old bicycle to take Ning Jiu to school.
Ning Jiu complained that even if he rode his bike until his butt was smoking, he still couldn't go as fast as a bus. So the latter put the stomach pain pills in the last compartment of Ning Jiu's backpack beforehand, helped her carry the backpack to the bus door, and watched her get on the bus.
"Sweet wine, remember to eat well!"
These were the words Yuan Liangjing said to her most often, in her memory, but Ning Jiu took them as just ordinary rambling.
Just as the bus was about to close, he added a new sentence.
"And remember to get along well with your new classmates!"
The roar of the engine kept his last words out of the steaming car window.
The border town is some distance from the city center, and with the morning rush hour traffic jams, Ning Jiu left home at six o'clock, and when she walked into the classroom with a piece of bread in her mouth, there were only a dozen minutes left before the morning reading time.
Half of the students in Class 8 of Grade 11 had already arrived. Some were reading their English textbooks on their own, while others were chatting and eating breakfast. The sparse reading voices mixed with the aroma of guokui and jianbing (a type of flatbread) wafted towards Ningjiu.
Gao Hexin chewed on a pork floss pancake while looking at the vocabulary list at the end of her English book, the pancake steaming hot behind the upright book.
When she saw Ning Jiu arrive, she greeted her indistinctly and asked casually.
Why is your backpack even bulging than yesterday?
"I brought a few books with me."
Ning Jiu pulled out a chair, glanced at the textbooks of the students around her, placed the book she brought on the right side of the desk, and planned to register at the book corner after the morning reading session.
"Is it English reading time today?"
Gao Hexin hummed in agreement: "Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are Sister Tan's days, and Tuesday and Thursday are Lao Qin's days."
Tan Xinxin is the English teacher of Class 8 in the second year of high school and one of the top teachers in Jiangcheng. Two years ago, the top liberal arts student in Jiangcheng was taught by her.
It was exactly 7:30 when the sound of morning reading grew louder, and Tan Xinxin rushed into the classroom to check on things, wearing high heels.
As the morning reading bell rang, Ning Jiu suddenly felt a gust of wind sweep past her back, and heard Gao Hexin's teasing voice beside her.
"Li Mingyuan, you're already being so rude just as the semester started? Aren't you giving Sister Tan any face?"
"Ugh, don't even mention it. I got all the way to the school gate and realized I wasn't wearing my school uniform, so I had to go back to get it..."
Li Mingyuan was clutching his school uniform, which was still wrinkled, and he looked sad and reluctant to talk about the past: "I really admire my cheap old man. I clearly reminded him to remind me yesterday."
"Should he remind you? Is that the right thing to do???"
"Yeah, that's right, something's not right," Li Mingyuan hurriedly rummaged through his bag for his English book. "Didn't Lao Lin say that biological evolution is all about survival of the fittest? How come my dad's bad memory is even worse for me? So, if I can't learn English well, it's not my dad's fault, it's my old man's fault..."
"Huh? Whose fault is it?"
Tan Xinxin's cool voice rang out next to Li Mingyuan, who immediately pretended to be hard of hearing, picked up his English book and started reading.
"undertake undertake (to undertake), analysis (to analyze)..."
"Li Mingyuan, you're holding the book upside down," Gao Hexin reminded him.
"......"
After morning reading ended, Li Mingyuan couldn't wait to stand up and argue with Gao Hexin, who slowly retorted. Chen Poyao, with an expression that showed she was already used to their noise, got up to collect the English homework.
She was in the same row as Ning Jiu, and when she saw the book Ning Jiu had placed in the upper right corner, she was stunned for a moment.
"Is this the book you borrowed this morning?" she asked.
Ning Jiu was still marking words that hadn't been pronounced correctly during morning reading when she heard her question and answered instinctively.
"No, I was planning to bring it to the book corner today."
Chen Poyao remained silent for a moment.
“That’s quite a coincidence,” she said after a few seconds, her tone returning to a smile. “There’s a book in the book corner that’s exactly the same as the one you brought. I thought you borrowed it from there.”
Ning Jiu stopped writing.
This wouldn't be unusual under normal circumstances; almost every class has books like "The Little Prince" and "Pride and Prejudice" in their book corner. But she had anticipated this problem, so she chose obscure books that couldn't be found online, yet she still ended up with the same book.
"Is that so?" she thought for a moment, "Then I'll get another one tomorrow?"
“No need for that, Sweet Wine,” Chen Poyao affectionately and naturally put her arm around hers. “I’ll register you in a bit. It’s good to have two of the same book. That book has been quite popular in our class ever since Qiao Bolin brought it over—”
"What's sweet?"
What kind of wine?
Before she could finish speaking, Li Mingyuan and Gao Hexin exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Chen Poyao seemed to realize something only then, and winked at Ning Jiu sheepishly.
"I heard someone call you that when I got home from school yesterday, and it sounded nice, so I did it too..."
I told Yuan Liangjing not to speak so loudly, but now he's really been exposed.
A boy with a limp, leaning on a crutch, stood up from the second-to-last row, passed Li Mingyuan's desk, and patted him on the shoulder familiarly with one hand.
“Hello, class monitor, long time no see,” Li Mingyuan handed his summer homework to Qi Ruiheng. Seeing his miserable appearance, he couldn’t help but tease him, “Didn’t you say you were going to conquer Huangshan by posting on WeChat Moments? How come you were conquered by Huangshan first?”
"Don't even mention it," Qi Ruiheng said, on the verge of tears. "I stepped into the air the second after posting it. Luckily there was a guardrail next to me. I'll never dare to climb a mountain while posting on WeChat Moments again."
Li Mingyuan nodded empathetically: "I completely understand you. Let me tell you, I've had a really bad day these past few days. Yesterday I got thrashed by Berlin in tennis for an hour and a half, and my back and waist are killing me. And this morning I forgot to bring my school uniform..."
He raised his arm and made a grimacing gesture: "I'm not kidding, but after not seeing him for a summer, Berlin's playing style has become more and more aggressive. I can't catch him at all."
Qi Ruiheng adjusted his glasses, a helpless expression on his face.
He also played tennis against Joe Bolin in his first year of high school, and he still feels that it was no easier than climbing Mount Huangshan.
"Did you hear my name?"
A clear, crisp voice reached his ears, and Qi Ruiheng suddenly felt a lightness in his hands as half of the stack of homework he was holding was instantly taken away.
As the class monitor and Chinese language representative, Qi Ruiheng was responsible for collecting the summer homework for Chen Poyao and Li Mingyuan's groups. Normally, this task would not have been difficult for him, but now he also had to hold a crutch in one hand, and although he didn't say anything, his arm was still a little sore.
He looked gratefully at Qiao Bolin, who had shared half of his burden, only to find that the latter's gaze had passed over him and was now fixed on the window.
Before he could consider it carefully, Qiao Bolin turned his gaze back.
He heard Li Mingyuan's playful reply: "I was just saying you're really good at tennis, good enough to play in the league."
Before Qiao Bolin could speak, he added, "But with your schedule, you probably won't have time to participate in the World Mathematical Olympiad, right? After being selected for the World Mathematical Olympiad, you'll go straight to the CMO National Finals. If you maintain a top position in the CMO, you'll also have the opportunity to participate in the International Mathematical Olympiad abroad..."
Qiao Bolin: "The results of the Mathematical Union haven't come out yet."
"Everyone knows your skill level; it's pretty much a 100% accurate assessment."
“With Li Mingyuan here, we can put less pressure on Berlin,” Qi Ruiheng interrupted Li Mingyuan, tossing the notebook in his hand, “Why are we still missing one…”
"Are they short of me?"
The girl near the window spoke, sunlight falling on her fair and soft skin, her fine eyelashes casting shadows on her eyelids, making her eyes appear long and thin at the corners.
Qi Ruiheng was stunned when he saw her. Ning Jiu quickly rummaged through her bag and handed him a stack of printed papers clipped together.
"I couldn't find the physical book of the Chinese summer practice book, so I printed out the electronic version. Could you please give it to Teacher Qin for me?"
The words were as soft and gentle as the face. Qi Ruiheng felt his throat tighten. When he tried to take it, a long, slender hand reached out before him.
Qiao Bolin: "Ruiheng doesn't have any hands to hold it, I'll do it."
Fingertips touched, fingertips tugged at the pages, a thin callus on the inside of her ring finger slid across the back of her finger, dry, rough, bearing the marks of a trained touch.
The tingling sensation spread across my fingertips, like ripples spreading in warm water.
Ning Jiu paused for a moment, then finally whispered, "Thank you."
"Of course."
The two morning classes were both pre-term tests. As soon as the bell rang, groans and complaints filled the air. No matter how chaotic things got, the long break still had to be held. Every Monday, the flag-raising ceremony was held as usual, and the playground was filled with people amidst a chorus of complaints.
In early September, the air was still thick and humid, and the sunlight was so strong that you couldn't open your eyes.
After Gao Hexin and Ning Jiu applied sunscreen to each other, they hurried downstairs. Rows of people were already lined up, with the line from Class 8 of Grade 11 being the most orderly and easy to find.
The flag-raising ceremony at the start of the semester is the most important, setting the tone for the entire term. It is only natural that Qiao Bolin would give the speech after the flag-raising ceremony on this day.
The sunlight was intense, making the boy's figure appear even more slender and upright. He stood next to the microphone on the second floor, his blue and white school uniform clean and neat, with tidy cuffs, which accentuated his relaxed shoulders and back, and clear lines.
The summer breeze caressed her delicate features, her eyelashes were thick, her brow bones were slightly high, and her features were so clean and sharp that they looked as if they had been sculpted by light.
The opening speech is nothing more than summarizing the past and looking forward to the future.
His voice was consistently high-pitched and inspiring, and at the end it inevitably ended with an encouraging mobilization order.
It was supposed to be the most boring part, and everyone was even considering whether to take a nap during this time. But as soon as he started talking, everyone's gradually scattering attention was involuntarily pulled back.
"President Xia has arrived as scheduled. In June, we will welcome the monsoon that resonates with us."
Qiao Bolin's voice is pleasant; it's not the kind of voice that's deliberately lowered, nor is it overly loud or excited.
He speaks at a leisurely pace and with clear pronunciation; just listening to him makes you think of a bubbly soda on a summer day, very refreshing.
The entire playground fell silent for a moment. Ning Jiu noticed that several students who had been standing crookedly in the line had subconsciously straightened up and looked at him.
He's probably the only one who doesn't know.
Ning Jiu thought.
These words didn't sound like encouragement coming from him.
It's like reciting a love poem.
After the speech ended, the audience burst into enthusiastic applause. The orderly queue dispersed into small groups and left. Because the route was very similar, the stairwell was almost bursting at the seams. Ning Jiu had been waiting at the back of the queue, hoping to wait until the crowd thinned out before going up, but after waiting for a long time, the queue still hadn't moved.
As summer draws to a close and the heat intensifies, school uniforms, being thin to begin with, easily wrinkle from the slightest bump, and the surrounding air becomes increasingly sweaty.
Ning Jiu quietly moved away from the boy next to her and switched to another line when the crowd in front of her stopped.
The girl in front of her had a flushed face and a fine layer of sweat on her forehead, which slowly slid down her temples, clearly from sunburn.
He couldn't even straighten his body, yet he still had the mind to joke with his companions.
"We should have waited longer in line."
Her companion looked at her.
The girl forced a smile: "That way I can stand next to Qiao Bolin in line, faint from heatstroke in front of him, he'll catch me, and then take me to the infirmary, thus beginning a sweet campus romance with my crush."
"Pfft," her companion chuckled, "You have a pretty good attitude."
In the sweltering heat of late summer, school uniforms, being thin to begin with, easily wrinkle from the slightest bump, and the surrounding sweat smell grows stronger.
The line moved slowly. The girl gasped for breath, but after a few steps, she stumbled while going up the stairs and fainted.
In front of Ningjiu.
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"Severe heatstroke."
Inside the infirmary, the school doctor took out a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water from the medicine cabinet, used a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to wipe the girl's forehead, and said to Ning Jiu, "Luckily you brought it in time, otherwise she might have needed an IV drip if it had been any later."
"Oh right," the school doctor said, after taking initial measures to reduce the fever, then looked up and glanced around, "Did you get through this all by yourself?"
Ning Jiu added, "There's another girl here. She's gone to find the teacher now, so I helped her over first."
The school doctor stopped what he was doing, glanced at her, and his tone revealed a hint of undisguised surprise.
"Two young girls? That's impressive, I didn't realize."
Despite his thin arms and legs, he's surprisingly strong.
She didn't say the second half of her sentence, but Ning Jiu probably guessed what she meant, smiled, and didn't respond.
From the perspective of social role theory, people tend to link social behavior with gender identity, so when the "hero" who saves the damsel in distress becomes a seemingly weak girl, it can easily cause cognitive dissonance.
The school doctor's gaze fell on Ning Jiu's bruised knees, and his expression turned serious.
"Oh dear, what happened to your leg? Did you bump into it while you were delivering someone?"
Ning Jiu also took a look. It must have been left after that boy bumped into her when school started yesterday. Because of her constitution, it not only didn't get better after a day, but it looked even worse.
“No,” she explained to the school doctor, “it’s just my constitution…”
"Young lady, I happen to have an unopened one here, you can take it."
Before Ning Jiu could finish speaking, the school doctor kindly handed her a tube of white ointment. She thanked him, then looked up and noticed the girl on the hospital bed staring at her with bright eyes. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she remained shy and didn't speak.
She walked towards the entrance of the infirmary. There were only two minutes left before class. There were hardly any people outside the teaching building. She quickened her pace to go upstairs, but almost bumped into someone at the bottom of the stairs.
His shoulder was gently supported, and his nose barely brushed against the collar of his school uniform. The youthful energy of the boy filled the air instantly. Unlike the sweaty smell of other boys, the faint woody scent lingered around his nose before being quickly dispersed by the wind.
Ning Jiu never expected that the girl's words would come true. It was almost time for class, and he actually ran into Qiao Bolin at the stairwell.
Even if you left a little slower than the other students after the speech, you shouldn't be going back to the teaching building at this hour.
A slight, almost imperceptible hint of doubt flashed across Ning Jiu's eyes. As she discreetly observed him, the boy seemed to notice and looked in her direction as well.
She had no choice but to greet them.
"What a coincidence."
"unfortunately."
Once the two returned to a normal distance, Ning Jiu noticed that he wasn't holding his speech notes.
A restless summer breeze swept through the corridor, carrying the scent of freshly dried grass, languidly.
His voice blew along with the wind, brushing past my ear like a feather sweeping across water, creating a ticklish sensation.
"I'm here to see you."
A note from the author:
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This chapter includes 6,000 words of new content, you can read it again!
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This book is 50% campus and 50% urban. The pacing is a little slow in the early campus scenes, but trust me, it gets interesting very quickly, haha.
You guys probably can't imagine how Sweet Wine "pursued" Joellind [doge emoji]
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