Unexpected alliance
When the bell for morning reading class rang, Xu Yang was stuffing his schoolbag into the desk when his fingertips suddenly touched something warm.
Looking down, I saw a sandwich wrapped in oil paper. The aroma of ham mixed with the sweetness of mayonnaise spread in the cool morning air.
"I lost yesterday, so I'm willing to accept the loss." Lu Jinyu's voice drifted over from the side. He was twirling a pen with his chin propped up. The morning light fell on his eyelashes, casting a light shadow. "I just bought it from the convenience store. It's still warm."
Xu Yang pinched the edge of the oil paper and pushed it back: "I told you not to, I really don't understand, are you a fool?"
"It's a shame to throw it away." Lu Jinyu didn't take it, the pen spinning rapidly between his fingertips. "Or does Xu Daxueba think the things in the convenience store are not presentable?"
This remark struck a chord with Xu Yang. He rarely ate these things—his mother always said that food outside was expensive and unhealthy, so his breakfast every morning was always porridge made from leftover rice from the previous night, eaten with pickles.
Occasionally, when he passed by a convenience store, he would always take a second look at the sandwiches in the glass window, but he never bought any.
The warmth from my fingertips seeped through the oil paper, so warm that it was almost burning.
Xu Yang pursed his lips, stuffed the sandwich into the side pocket of his schoolbag, and said in a stiff voice, "No need next time."
Lu Jinyu chuckled softly and said nothing more. Amid the clatter of morning reading, Xu Yang stared at the long, difficult sentences in his English textbook, his nose still lingering with the faint, salty aroma.
He secretly glanced over with the corner of his eye. Lu Jinyu was frowning at his math exercise book, his pen tapping lightly on the draft paper. The outline of his face was softened by the morning light, not as prickly as usual.
After the first class, the homeroom teacher walked into the classroom carrying a stack of forms. "We need to register in groups of two for the city-wide physics competition next Saturday. Please submit your names before school ends today."
There was a sudden commotion in the classroom. Xu Yang was busy sorting through his notes when he heard the girls in the front row discussing team formation. Someone mentioned Lu Jinyu's name, their tone full of anticipation. He paused, thinking, "Given Lu Jinyu's science proficiency, he's definitely a popular choice for the team."
"Hey," Lu Jinyu said casually after his arm was suddenly elbowed. "Team up?"
Xu Yang suddenly looked up and met the other person's smiling eyes. The sunlight came in obliquely from the window and fell just between the two of them, dyeing Lu Jinyu's pupils light brown, as if filled with crushed light.
"Why me?" He clenched his pen. "You should find someone more powerful."
"Aren't you the best?" Lu Jinyu raised an eyebrow and pointed to the certificate for first place in grade on the corner of his desk. "You got almost full marks on the physics questions in the last mock exam. I just happened to lose more points on the experimental questions, so we complement each other."
The reason sounded impeccable, but Xu Yang always felt something was wrong. He remembered the math competition in junior high school. Lu Jinyu did the same thing. Before the registration deadline, he suddenly came up to him and asked if he wanted to form a team. As a result, the two of them made it all the way to the finals. During the final award ceremony, Lu Jinyu held up the trophy and smiled at him, which overlapped with his current expression.
"Let me think about it." Xu Yang lowered his head and pretended to flip through a book, but his ears were burning uncontrollably.
Lu Jinyu didn't force him anymore and turned back to discuss last night's game with the people at the back table.
Xu Yang pricked up his ears and listened for a while, and found that they were talking about Lu Jinyu's family - it turned out that his parents had hired a private tutor for him for the physics competition, no wonder they were so confident.
Xu Yang felt uneasy all day. During lunch break, he went to the cafeteria to get his food. He had just found a corner to sit down with his plate when Lu Jinyu sat down across from him with a bowl of beef noodles. The steam from the soup blurred his expression.
"What do you think?" Lu Jinyu took a sip of noodles, chili oil staining the corners of his mouth. "If you don't agree, I'll find someone else."
Xu Yang poked the vegetables in the bowl and suddenly remembered what his physics teacher said yesterday: "The first prize in this competition can add 20 points to the overall evaluation, which is very advantageous for applying to Peking University and Tsinghua University." He clenched his chopsticks. Peking University and Tsinghua University were the goals he kept in his heart, and they were also the light that supported him through those depressing nights.
"I have a condition." He raised his head and met Lu Jinyu's gaze. "You can team up, but you must follow my arrangements and practice exercises together for two hours every day after school."
Lu Jinyu raised his eyebrows and swallowed the noodles in his mouth: "No problem. But..." He pointed at Xu Yang's almost untouched plate, "You just want to eat this?"
Xu Yang's bowl contained only vegetables and rice, the cheapest meal in the cafeteria. He looked away awkwardly, "I'm not hungry, I just love to eat."
"You're lying." Lu Jinyu took two pieces of beef from his bowl and gave it to him. "Eat something so you can have more energy to do your homework in the afternoon."
The shiny beef fell on the white rice, which was particularly eye-catching. Just as Xu Yang was about to pick it up, Lu Jinyu held his hand.
The other person's fingertips were warm, with a hint of chili oil, and it ran up his skin like an electric current, making him retract his hand suddenly.
"Just think of it as... an advance investment in the team." Lu Jinyu smiled frankly, lowered his head and continued to eat noodles, but his ears turned red.
Xu Yang looked at the beef in the bowl and suddenly remembered the sandwich he had in the morning. He picked up the chopsticks and started eating it in small bites. As the aroma of the beef spread on his tongue, a tense corner of his heart seemed to relax a little.
After school in the afternoon, the setting sun cast a long shadow over the teaching building. Xu Yang stood downstairs, holding his competition preparation book, waiting for Lu Jinyu. The autumn wind swirled fallen leaves around his feet.
In the bicycle shed not far away, Lu Jinyu was pushing a black mountain bike towards him, his schoolbag resting on the handlebars, his school uniform jacket open, revealing the white T-shirt underneath.
"Let's go to my house." Lu Jinyu threw his schoolbag onto his back and patted the back seat of the car. "My house is close to school and I have a study room."
Xu Yang was stunned: "Didn't you say it was in the school study room?"
"The study room is too noisy." Lu Jinyu got on his bicycle and put his feet on the ground. "Don't worry, my parents are rarely home."
After hesitating for a few seconds, Xu Yang grabbed the back seat of the car and sat in. The car body was very clean, without any extra decorations, as bold and neat as its owner.
When Lu Jinyu pedaled the bike, the muscles on his back undulated through the thin T-shirt, bringing a hint of the smell of the sun, which drifted into Xu Yang's nostrils.
He subconsciously shrank back, but his hands held tighter.
The bicycle passed through the alley lined with sycamore trees, and the fallen leaves rustled under the wheels. Xu Yang looked at Lu Jinyu's back and suddenly felt that this road seemed particularly long.
Lu Jinyu's house is on the third floor of a tube-shaped building. When Xu Yang entered the password and pushed open the door, he smelled a faint smell of disinfectant. The living room was large, but there were few furniture, making it seem a bit empty.
The balcony door was open, with a few washed-out clothes hanging on the wall, which was completely inconsistent with Lu Jinyu's flamboyant personality.
"Sit anywhere." Lu Jinyu threw his schoolbag on the sofa and turned to pour water. "The study is over there."
When Xu Yang walked into the study, he was stunned. The bookshelves were filled with physics and biology books, but in the corner was a large cardboard box filled with books on veterinary medicine, with pictures of cats and dogs printed on the covers.
"What are you reading?" Lu Jinyu walked in with water, followed his gaze to the cardboard box, his eyes darkened, "The leisure books I used to read."
Xu Yang didn't ask any further questions. He spread his tutorial books on the desk. Just as his fingertips touched the pen, he heard the door open in the living room, followed by a stern female voice: "Lu Jinyu, why are you piling up all these messy books at home again?"
Lu Jinyu's face darkened instantly, and he stood up and walked out: "Mom, why are you back?"
"If I don't come back, you'll turn this house into a zoo!" The woman's voice was filled with anger. "How many times have I told you not to touch those cats and dogs? Throw away these books!"
"I won't throw it away!" Lu Jinyu's voice also rose, "This is my business, none of your business!"
"Your job?" the woman sneered. "Your job is to prepare for the competition and get into medical school next year! Not to mess around with these bastards all day!"
Xu Yang tightened his grip on the pen. He heard Lu Jinyu and the woman arguing, and the books on the bookshelf were shaking slightly.
He thought of the ever-oppressive silence in his home. His parents never said harsh words, but they could suffocate people with their eyes and the cold shoulder. It turned out that even the most outspoken people have their own shackles.
The quarrel suddenly stopped. When Xu Yang looked up, he saw Lu Jinyu standing at the door of the study. His eyes were a little red, but he was still holding the glass of water in his hand without spilling a drop.
"Sorry to make you laugh." He put the water on the table, his voice a little hoarse, "Let's go to the study room."
Xu Yang looked at his tense profile and suddenly shook his head. "No need." He picked up a competition question book and turned to a page. "I think there's something wrong with your thinking regarding the experimental steps for this question."
Lu Jinyu was stunned for a moment, then sat down.
The setting sun streamed through the window onto the pages of the book, casting their shadows against the wall, pressing them together. The aftermath of their argument still lingered in the air, but the moment the pen touched the draft paper, it felt as if all the annoyance had been soothed.
Xu Yang was very focused when he was explaining the topic, his fingertips pointing to the steps, his speech was not fast, but clear and organized.
Lu Jinyu leaned back in his chair and listened, his eyes occasionally glancing across his serious profile and landing on his slightly furrowed brows. The autumn wind blew in from the window, lifting a corner of the book and carrying a hint of the sweet fragrance of osmanthus.
"Here," Lu Jinyu suddenly reached out and pointed his finger at the formula written by Xu Yang, "we should use the law of conservation of momentum. It's simpler."
His fingertips brushed the back of Xu Yang's hand, sending a faint electric current through his body. Xu Yang abruptly withdrew his hand, his heart skipping a beat. He then heard Lu Jinyu chuckle, "Xu Xueba, why are you blushing?"
"Who's blushing?" Xu Yang turned back to continue working on the questions, but the tips of his ears were red enough to bleed. "Hurry up and read the questions. Don't waste time."
Lu Jinyu stopped teasing him, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his face. The only sounds in the study were the rustling of pens across paper and the occasional sound of wind coming from outside the window.
As Xu Yang wrote, he suddenly felt that this kind of time seemed pretty good - no quarrels, no cold wars, only formulas and theorems, and the not-too-annoying breathing sound of the person next to him.
As it was getting dark, the two of them finally finished a set of mock tests. When Xu Yang was packing his schoolbag, Lu Jinyu suddenly took something out of the drawer and stuffed it into his hand: it was a piece of chocolate with a crooked kitten printed on the packaging.
"I'm here to apologize." Lu Jinyu turned his face away, his voice a little unnatural, "Don't take my mother's words to heart."
Xu Yang pinched the chocolate, the edges of the wrapper poking at his palm. He thought of the veterinary medicine books on Lu Jinyu's bookshelf and how he threw cat food into the flowerbed during class. He suddenly smiled and said, "You like animals very much?"
Lu Jinyu was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Well, they are much simpler than humans."
"Very good." Xu Yang put the chocolate into his schoolbag. "I'm leaving now."
When I walked downstairs, the weather suddenly turned cooler.
Xu Yang wrapped his school uniform jacket tightly around him and was about to walk towards the bus stop when he heard Lu Jinyu's voice from behind him: "Wait!"
Lu Jinyu caught up on his bicycle and stopped in front of him: "Let me take you there, it's getting dark."
The street lights came on, and the dim light fell on the two of them. Xu Yang looked at the seriousness in his eyes and suddenly nodded.
The bicycle traveled through the night. Lu Jinyu rode very slowly. Xu Yang held on to the back seat and could hear his steady breathing.
When passing by a small alley, Lu Jinyu suddenly stopped and pointed at the cardboard box in the corner: "Look."
Three newborn kittens were curled up in the cardboard box, their eyes still closed, making tiny cries.
Lu Jinyu took out a bag of milk from his schoolbag, poured it into the bottle cap and placed it next to the carton. His movements were very gentle, which was unlike him.
"Come and feed them every day." He squatted in front of the cardboard box and gently touched the kitten's head with his fingertips. "When they grow up a little bit, send them to the rescue center."
Xu Yang stood by and watched, and suddenly felt that this young man who always had thorns on his face actually had a very soft heart.
Just like him, he has so many grievances in his heart, but when he sees others sad, he can't help but want to lend a hand.
"Let's go." Lu Jinyu stood up and patted the dust off his hands. "If you don't leave now, your parents will be worried."
When the bicycle was back on the road, Xu Yang's hand quietly moved forward, closer to Lu Jinyu's back.
The evening breeze blew over with the fragrance of osmanthus. He looked at the light and shadow cast by the street lamp on the ground, and suddenly remembered the profile of Lu Jinyu when he was feeding the cat just now. Something in his heart seemed to be gently bumped by something.
When he arrived downstairs of Xu Yang's house, he jumped out of the car and was about to say thank you when he heard Lu Jinyu's voice: "Want to have sandwiches tomorrow morning?"
Xu Yang was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "...all fine."
Lu Jinyu smiled and rode his bicycle away into the night. Xu Yang stood downstairs, touched the chocolate in his schoolbag, and suddenly felt that this summer didn't seem so hot anymore.
When he went upstairs, he heard his parents arguing in the living room again. It was nothing more than about money and work. Xu Yang did not hide in the room as usual. Instead, he took out the chocolate with the kitten printed on it from his schoolbag, peeled off the wrapper and put it in his mouth.
As the sweet taste melted on his tongue, he suddenly remembered what Lu Jinyu said - "They are much simpler than humans."
Maybe, but there seemed to be things between people that were sweeter than chocolate, such as the fingertips warm with chili oil, the gentle profile when feeding the cat, and the warmth that quietly emerged in his heart at this moment, which even he himself could not explain.
Xu Yang leaned against the door, listening to the vague quarrel in the living room, but couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.
He took out the physics competition questions and opened the page he had worked on with Lu Jinyu today. Looking at the intersecting handwriting of the two, he suddenly felt that this unexpected alliance might be more interesting than he had imagined.
And those things hidden behind the tit-for-tat are just like the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers blooming quietly in the autumn night, emitting an increasingly strong fragrance in the corners where no one notices.
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