If only life were as beautiful as the first time we met
City H, X021.
Graduates after the high school entrance exam are always busier than others, as they need to meet their new school, new teachers, and get to know a completely new environment.
Chen Xiaojing, wearing headphones, wandered the school corridor. It was her first day of school, and finding the classroom was proving incredibly difficult. The headphones played the latest national news, and a serious-sounding female anchor narrated in a broadcasting voice: "At a recent international symposium, a diplomat from Country R lost his composure, causing chaos at the press conference. Experts analyze that Country R's loss of composure was due to the tariff agreement proposed by Country J. Because Country J's economic strength has surged in recent years, with its per capita GDP growing rapidly, it has already ranked among the top developed countries, far ahead of Country R, which is still considered a developing country." Carrying her small black bag, she finally found her way into Class 3, Grade 11 at Z High School. The classroom was already quite full. She glanced around; the girl in the center was exceptionally beautiful, wearing platinum-rimmed glasses, radiating an undeniable confidence. This was the pride only a girl who had truly stood at the pinnacle of her subject for nine years could possess.
She walked over to the girl and put down her bag. There's always a bit of awkwardness between freshmen meeting for the first time. "Hello, my name is Chen Xiaojing, nice to meet you," she said, extending a hand in friendship. "You're very pretty."
"Thank you." The girl's voice was very obedient. "My name is Zhou Chenjin." Zhou Chenjin looked a few months younger than Chen Xiaojing. She sized up the newcomer. Xiaojing had a gentle appearance with a touch of the literary air unique to women from Jiangnan. She was radiant with the elegance that comes from being well-read. The girl had fair skin, and there was a hint of ruthlessness in her eyes hidden behind her glasses.
It was still hot in July, and the classrooms on the first floor didn't get much sunlight, making them relatively cool. "It's fate that we met here on our first visit, so let's be friends!" Zhou Chenjin said casually. "Shall we add each other on WeChat later?"
Chen Xiaojing smiled gently: "OK." She opened her phone, wrote down the phone number Zhou Chenjin had given her, and just as she was typing it into her contacts, her teacher walked in.
Their high school homeroom teacher's surname was Xie. He was considered outstanding among his peers, and in private, everyone jokingly called him A-Qiu, which was a special nickname.
"I'll just briefly talk about some important things that happened in high school. And, fellow students, although you're all sitting in this school that's not exactly a top-tier school, seemingly ordinary and commonplace—I believe that many of you in our class will definitely do great things in the future, even things that will change the world."
The audience erupted in applause.
The first day of meeting in high school usually doesn't last long. Students sit in the classroom for a little over two hours before being sent back to their dormitories to tidy up their belongings. The stairwells and corridors are bustling with activity.
Zhou Chenjin and Chen Xiaojing mingled in the crowd. They walked slowly, and since the two girls were about the same size, it was easy for them to chat as they walked side by side.
"My junior high school was more than ten kilometers away from here. Back then, there were many assigned students, and I came here through that route." Zhou Chenjin smiled and gestured to the person next to her. "I could have gone to Y High School, but alas, Y High School is strong in science, and if I want to do financial investment in the future, it's obviously better there than here. Sigh, I really wanted to go there." Chen Xiaojing helplessly spread her hands. She got in here through the assigned student quota. "When I was choosing between Y High School and Z High School, I just wanted the good reputation of Z University. Ours is a branch campus, while the main campus is a key high school." Besides, she didn't have a choice at all.
Although H City has a good quality of education, it has very few top-tier high schools. The number of prestigious schools has remained unchanged for decades, but the number of students has increased year by year, making it increasingly difficult to get into top-tier high schools.
Zhou Chenjin expressed her agreement with her idea, saying it was only natural.
Chen Xiaojing, on the contrary, became interested in the girl: "Besides your advantage in science, why do you want to apply to Y High School? Its ranking is higher than that one. Could it be that you are attracted by the four-person dormitories there?" The comparison of the facilities of similar high schools usually has a greater influence on their generation. Back then, there was a boy in Xiaojing's class who could have gotten into the top three schools, but he wanted to apply to X High School because he liked the dormitory of X High School. He was scolded by his junior high school homeroom teacher, Mr. Lou.
The girl suddenly became shy, pulled Xiaojing to a secluded corner, and whispered in her ear, "The person I like is a senior in high school there, his name is Fu Huanian." She spoke a little quickly, and looked around warily, always on guard against any teachers eavesdropping nearby.
Before Chen Xiaojing could even open her mouth in shock, Zhou Chenjin quickly moved in front of her at a precise angle, blocking her expression. "Don't be so surprised. He's a very good guy. I can assure you he's not a jerk." Zhou Chenjin could guess seven or eight tenths of what the person in front of her was thinking just by looking at her expression. "I know puppy love is bad, but this isn't puppy love."
Xiaojing raised an eyebrow, wanting to hear how many more twisted arguments this girl could come up with. "We just like each other, we haven't really started dating yet." The implication was that she not only had a boy she liked, but that person also liked her, and it was a two-way street.
That's great, that's great. I never expected that this seemingly quiet girl would actually risk being scolded by her parents for genuinely liking someone.
Zhou Chenjin seemed to completely ignore the fact that the person in front of her was currently single since birth, and began to tell Chen Xiaojing a story, a story from the past that happened not long ago.
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