Chapter 5
The evening breeze was gentle, and the heat had not yet subsided.
“Oh,” Jiang Li raised an eyebrow, unable to suppress his smile, and said with feigned surprise, “You even know my name.”
"·····"
Guan Nan felt somewhat embarrassed.
"If you don't speak, I'll beat you up." Jiang Li said rudely.
Tell me, how do you explain this?
Guan Nan had heard him countless times in the office and seen him countless times on the podium. When she stepped down, he stepped up; when she was praised, he was criticized; when she spoke on behalf of the grade, he read his self-criticism.
The two appeared together very frequently, and many teachers often used them as examples to illustrate their points.
Guan Nan serves as a role model, while Jiang Li serves as a negative example.
Previously, the two had repeatedly brushed past each other on stage, as if neither of them looked down on the other.
But now, Guan Nan couldn't bring herself to say a word.
After a moment of silence, Guan Nan pretended not to hear him and said calmly, "It's very late, you should go home."
"Aren't you afraid I'll beat you up?" Jiang Li was still laughing, his tone as lazy as ever, looking very unserious.
Guan Nan didn't know where her confidence came from; suddenly, her previous anxiety and fear disappeared. She looked up at him, her calm tone softening slightly: "You won't."
Jiang Li just stared at her, his gaze unfathomable and profound.
“I think,” Guan Nan said in a gentle yet firm voice, “that you are a good person.”
Jiang Li paused for a moment, as if he felt that such a word was a bit too absurd to apply to him.
He paused, then turned his head away, unable to hold back his laughter so hard his shoulders shook.
For a fleeting moment, he seemed to shed his carefree and nonchalant facade, his brows brimming with youthful vigor. He added a touch of vibrant color to this otherwise uneventful late summer.
Guan Nan was stunned, her heart beating faster.
Suddenly, Jiang Li lowered his eyes, and Guan Nan subconsciously avoided his gaze.
His voice reached my ears, his voice still carrying a faint, lingering laugh.
Immediately afterwards, Guan Nan heard him say in a lazy tone, still with that nonchalant and carefree attitude: "Don't give me the 'nice guy' card."
Guan Nan was depressed for a long time after hearing this.
During the morning self-study session, all the other subject test papers were handed out, except for math and English, which were a little late.
Just then, the math class representative was in a hurry to go to the restroom and saw Guan Nan come out, so he asked her to help him get the test papers from the office and distribute them to everyone.
As Guan Nan approached the classroom door, she snapped out of her daze.
They handed out the exam papers one by one, feeling a little guilty because of the blatant annotations they made on the papers yesterday.
Because it was a newly combined class, she didn't know many people, so the test papers were handed out very slowly.
Unfamiliar names, no matching people, she keeps searching.
A few seconds later, someone called her.
"Guan Nan."
Guan Nan was still holding the exam paper, looking for someone, when she turned her head and saw Chen Aimei, she smiled.
Chen Aimei came over and said, as if to help you out, "Let me help you."
Guan Nan hesitated, "Let's forget it."
Both of them were in the same class, and she herself didn't recognize anyone, so Chen Aimei might not know them either.
"Don't worry," as if she could see through Guan Nan's concerns, Chen Aimei took half of the test paper from her hand and then glanced at the people piled up on the other side of the classroom, "I know almost all of them."
After a pause, Guan Nan said softly, "Thank you."
After walking around half the classroom, the test papers were finally handed out, and the lingering guilt reached its peak at this moment.
—Jiang Li
——118
That annotation just lay there casually in the upper right corner of the score column.
Guan Nan clutched the exam paper, her palms sweating profusely, afraid that someone would notice the conspicuous and neat annotation.
The classroom seating is divided into four large groups, and the two small groups are further divided into one large group.
Guan Nan's previous test paper was handed out to the third group, while Jiang Li's seat was sixth in the second group of the first group, a difference spanning more than half the classroom.
She quietly moved Jiang Li's exam paper to a different spot and placed it at the very bottom.
She handed out a few more papers along the way, finally stopping behind Jiang Li's seat, looking around for a while. She swallowed hard, feeling guilty, and haphazardly stuffed the exam paper into her desk drawer before walking away.
Fortunately, Guan Nan had a very low profile, and almost no one noticed her little actions.
But she still broke out in a cold sweat from fright.
During the third break, a student wandered around and came up to pass on a message: the grade director, Lao Jiang, had already posted the grades on the bulletin board.
Those who had their phones secretly took photos, and now they're being circulated in various class groups.
"Me, me, look at me."
"Hey, I'm watching, don't push!"
"Watch out for the teacher! Call me when the teacher comes!"
The school bans electronic devices, and very few people dare to bring them in and use them during breaks. Yu Shu is one of them, and his spot is now completely blocked by people.
The results of the Fuzhong exams came out so quickly, almost in one go.
Yesterday's exam will surely be out today; I'll review the test questions during evening self-study.
Guan Nan glanced at the commotion that had subsided, then silently regained her composure. Just then, Chen Aimei brought over her test paper.
She spread out her error notebook on her desk, on which she meticulously recorded the mistakes, the reasons for the errors, and marked the key points for correction in red pen. Everything was written clearly.
Chen Aimei glanced at Guan Nan, then at the 148 points on the test paper, and sincerely admired her.
"Guan Nan, what's your total score?" Chen Aimei placed the test paper on her desk. The group of people not far away had aroused the curiosity of many people about the total score and ranking, so she also asked out of curiosity.
Guan Nan paused, then honestly said, "I didn't estimate the score."
"No estimated score?" Chen Aimei asked, somewhat surprised.
Guan Nan nodded.
Chen Aimei was surprised because, although they were in the same class, after the exam, the students couldn't help but talk about the questions they had just taken, exchange answers and problem-solving strategies, and determine how many points they could get.
This can be considered as giving myself a heads-up.
"I've estimated it." Chen Aimei slumped her shoulders, a sense of discouragement she couldn't quite put her finger on. "It seems my total score isn't even above 600."
Guan Nan blinked, unsure how to comfort her, and whispered, "It's okay, everyone relaxes during summer vacation, you'll definitely do well on the next test."
After saying that, she added, "Keep it up, Chen Aimei, you're great."
Clearly, Guan Nan wasn't very good at comforting people; her words were clumsy yet endearing, with a slight, almost imperceptible pause.
Chen Aimei smiled and said, "Thank you for your kind words."
The school bell rang, and Chen Aimei returned to her seat.
She wondered how she hadn't noticed Guan Nan was so cute and fun before.
Just then, Banban entered the classroom to the sound of the still-ringing school bell, carrying a stack of neatly cut A4 sheets of paper. The sheets contained the class list selected from the grade's overall schedule.
The table shows the score for each subject, the grade and class ranking, and the total score.
The class teacher had the students in the front row distribute the items.
"The exam results are out, and I'm sure everyone here has a pretty good idea of their scores. After all, it's the first exam of the semester, so I won't say too much to annoy anyone." After the class monitor finished speaking, he and the students laughed. Then he said, "School has been in session for a few days now, and with the results just coming out, I'm going to start arranging the seating today."
Releasing results and assigning seats has long been a routine at Fuling Middle School.
No one was surprised by this; in fact, some were quite excited.
"If any student has a preference for their seat, please go to the teacher's office after class and express your request."
A student asked, "Teacher, can we change them all?"
"Of course not, are you stupid?" The boy sitting in front of Guan Nan said with a look of disdain.
Banban smiled and said mysteriously, "Handle it as appropriate."
"Huh—"
Once someone takes the lead, other classmates naturally join in the commotion, with a series of exclamations sounding like a broken string.
"This isn't about who sits next to whom just because they're close. I'm telling you all right now, if any student comes to me asking to change seats because of this, I definitely won't agree..."
While everyone was making a fuss, Guan Nan had already received her report card, with her grades listed in the first line.
I glanced at the overall score briefly: 689, a stable score.
Guan Nan folded the paper for a few seconds, then slowly moved her gaze down the name column.
She was a little surprised when she saw Jiang Li's score; it turned out that the "poor student" had actually done quite well.
Ranked 18th in class and 648th in grade.
The score wasn't high, but to be precise, it wasn't too low either.
At least, Guan Nan felt that Jiang Li wasn't as bad as she had imagined.
"After a summer vacation, some students' grades are not very stable, so everyone should put their playful mindset aside. Guan Nan is still in our class, so if there is anything you don't understand or are too embarrassed to ask the teacher, you can ask her, and we can exchange experiences with each other."
After he finished speaking, he called out Guan Nan's name: "Guan Nan, don't you think so?"
As soon as the roll call was called, all the students' eyes turned to him.
Guan Nan immediately put away her report card, no longer distracted. She looked at the podium and hesitantly replied, "Yes."
She sat in the corner, and if the teacher didn't call her, she would be alone all day. Unless necessary, she would bury herself in her studies and sit motionless from morning till night.
I don't interact with anyone. I only know people by receiving my exam results after the exam. There was no deliberate or intentional contact.
Before get out of class ended, the teacher repeatedly reminded everyone that the time for adjusting seats should be limited to before 1:50.
"Guan Nan," Chen Aimei said with a smile as she walked over, "What are you having for lunch?"
Guan Nan didn't hide anything: "It's an open-air cafeteria."
"Ah." Chen Aimei frowned. "Didn't they all say that the food in the cafeteria for non-students is not good?"
Guan Nan packed her things and smiled at her, "It's alright."
"Hmm, do you really want to eat it?"
“Well,” Guan Nan said honestly, “because it’s cheap.”
Unexpectedly, she said that, "Okay. Then I'll go with you."
······
Fuling Middle School's canteen for external visitors.
The cafeteria has clearly marked prices: all vegetarian dishes are two yuan, and all meat dishes are five yuan.
She chose one meat dish and one vegetable dish, which cost seven yuan in total.
"Wow, this is so cheap!" Chen Aimei exclaimed, looking at the pile of plates.
Lunchtime is not a short period, and the cafeteria for students is indeed delicious and inexpensive, so many students eat here every day at noon.
Guan Nan put down the plate and sat down opposite her. "Good quality and inexpensive, very reasonable."
Hearing her say that, Chen Aimei smiled and nodded, then stared at the plate for a while longer.
Guan Nan was somewhat happy.
She was about to say, "If you like it, we can come back to eat tomorrow."
All she heard was Chen Aimei calling her name: "Guan Nan".
Guan Nan subconsciously responded, "Mm."
She cherishes the fact that someone finally doesn't mind her awkwardness and is willing to be with her.
Unfortunately, she, who is usually good at reading people, was so overwhelmed by her happiness that she didn't even notice some very noticeable details.
After looking around, Chen Aimei put three-quarters of the meat onto her plate.
Guan Nan paused, "Thank you."
Meeting her questioning gaze, a glint flashed in Chen Aimei's eyes, and she deliberately lowered her voice.
She asked in a very soft voice, "What do you think of Jiang Li?"
"·····"
I didn't expect her to ask that.
Guan Nan remained silent for a few seconds, as if seriously considering her words, but couldn't come up with a coherent answer.
She thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know."
As if she had guessed that Guan Nan would say that, Chen Aimei didn't analyze it in detail. She stared at Guan Nan, who was eating with her head down, and then asked, "So, do you think I'm a good match for him?"
She spoke in a voice half as soft as before, but her words were still quite bold.
Caught off guard, the food Guan Nan was chewing got stuck in her trachea, choking her until her face turned red and her eyes turned red.
"Eat slowly," Chen Aimei said, handing her a tissue.
The tissues smelled sweet. Guan Nan gently wiped away the tears that had welled up in her eyes, and said "thank you" again, her voice choked with emotion.
Chen Aimei waved her hand, then followed up on the previous question, asking, "Do you think we're a good match?"
Guan Nan shook her head.
"Why?" Chen Aimei's face darkened instantly.
Guan Nan, afraid of upsetting her, quickly explained, "I don't know, I don't understand these things."
Across from them, Chen Aimei was still talking.
Guan Nan listened, lost in thought.
What kind of person is Jiang Li?
Ever since he joined Class One, it seems everyone is curious about him, but no one dares to say it out loud.
Guan Nan thought that before this, Jiang Li was a "bad student" whom she wanted to stay far away from in her studies and life, but he indirectly proved and erased her "bad student" title with his grades.
Now, Jiang Li suddenly became blurry in her eyes.
She began to subtly and quietly observe Jiang Li.
Until the two were about to leave.
Guan Nan came to her senses and realized that Chen Aimei's plate of food was almost untouched.
Some people in line for food saw the leftovers on their plates and their eyes seemed to blatantly condemn it. Guan Nan turned her head almost instinctively and glanced at the words "Wasting food is shameful" written on a red paper on the wall.
Most of the customers here are working professionals rather than students, because the portions are large and the soup is free to refill, which helps many people who are short of money to solve their meal problems.
These people view food waste with suspicion.
Guan Nan gripped the plate tightly, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Do you still want to eat?"
After saying that, worried that Chen Aimei might misunderstand and think he would leave her there alone, he quickly added, "I can wait for you."
"I'm not eating anymore," Chen Aimei shook her head and refused. After leaving the house, she fanned her nose with her hand and said to Guan Nan with a frown, "It really stinks."
Guan Nan paused for a moment, as if she had just understood what she was saying.
At the school gate, Guan Nan made an excuse to go to the library, and the two parted ways there.
This time coincided with the end of the first wave of people rushing to eat, and was also joined by some students who had just finished playing basketball and were covered in sweat. It was crowded and packed with people in the small supermarket.
Guan Nan slowly moved inside, picked out a bottle of yogurt from the shelf, and grabbed a piece of bread.
She hesitated for a moment, then, to avoid making a mistake, chose an extra pack of cookies.
In an instant, a basketball flew over, heading straight for Guan Nan. But she didn't notice it.
"What the hell?! Are you fucking crazy?!" The person who had just been called to catch the ball was stunned, and then cursed.
The person who threw the ball was still shouting, "Didn't I call you?"
Guan Nan was unaware of what had happened.
As she looked up, a shadow loomed over her from behind, her hands raised as if trying to catch the ball.
But the ball didn't land in his hands. Instead, a clean-cut-looking boy in the middle raised his hand and slapped the ball, which landed precisely in the hands of the person who had just spoken.
"Thanks."
Upon hearing the voice, Guan Nan turned around, saw who it was, and called out, "Brother Qi Yang."
Just then, the person who caught the ball turned around, and the three of them met eyes. The boy smiled at them. After finishing his business, he turned and left, saying, "You're welcome."
The two walked out together, and Qi Yang briefly inquired about her recent studies and life.
Qi Yang was a year older than her, and had the air of a friendly older brother next door.
"Everything is fine," Guan Nan said simply.
Qi Yang's smile remained unchanged as he asked affectionately, "When will we return to Cangyuan?"
After a pause, Guan Nan lowered her eyes, staring at the object in her hand, and said in a calm tone, "I don't know yet."
"Downstairs..." Qi Yang glanced at her. She was still as shy and obedient as he remembered. She would always nod quietly and answer softly to whatever others said. He softened his tone and reminded her, "The pomegranate flowers are slowly blooming. You can go back and take a look when you have time."
The pomegranate flowers in Hecang Garden are in bloom.
These words left her speechless for a long time. The queue gradually moved forward, and people behind her urged her on.
Guan Nan realized what was happening, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly nodded: "Okay."
Soon it was their turn in the queue. Guan Nan took out her wallet and stood upright in front of the counter. She heard the clerk ask, "Together?"
Qi Yang made a gesture to take the things from her hands: "Together."
"Let's break up," Guan Nan refused.
The two spoke in unison.
Qi Yang reached out to pat her head, but then reluctantly withdrew his hand mid-air, saying with a hint of helplessness, "Why are you being so polite with me?"
Guan Nan almost instinctively resisted intimate gestures from others. So the moment Qi Yang reached out his hand, she subconsciously turned her head away and created distance.
Seeing this, Qi Yang didn't force her to accept that she had never liked owing others anything since she was a child.
After paying, I left the small supermarket.
Qi Yang noticed what she was holding and asked in confusion, "Haven't you eaten yet?"
"I've already eaten." Guan Nan smiled slightly, her eyes curving like crescent moons as she spoke. "I bought this for my friend; it's too hot and she doesn't have much of an appetite."
Qi Yang lowered his head and stared at her for a long time before calling her name: "Guan Nan".
"Hmm." Guan Nan was puzzled.
Qi Yang looked serious and said, "I'm very happy to see you make friends."
She had no friends in Fuzhong. When she finally made a friend, she was overjoyed but lacked the maturity and composure that is typical of people her age. Upon seeing a familiar face, she couldn't help but share the news.
After saying that, he realized his childish behavior and had to awkwardly and embarrassedly suppress his smile.
“…” Guan Nan pursed her lips: “Thank you.”
Fuzhong High School is very large; students in grades 11 and 12 live in different buildings.
Guan Nan walked along the track of the playground, following the banyan trees that lined both sides of the road. She passed the art building and the small playground, as well as the administration building and the science and technology building. After turning a corner, she reached the Mingde Building.
The student dormitory building stood shakily opposite the playground, with ivy clinging to half of the white gravel wall. Below, roses and Chinese roses were mixed in the flower beds, and to the right, there was a small shed with many bicycles parked underneath.
Having discovered something, Guan Nan bent down and squatted down.
Just then, a bicycle came rushing over, the sound of its brakes screeching as it braked suddenly filled the air.
Guan Nan kept her eyes tightly shut. After a few seconds, the imagined impact and weightlessness did not materialize. She tried to slowly open her eyes. The wheels were gripping the waterproof stone steps, only an arm's length away from her.
The boy hunched over, taking advantage of his height and long legs, and casually stepped on the pedals.
My gaze lifted, and I saw long legs, a waist, and a chin.
The image finally settled on those captivating eyes.
"how?"
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