Back to school
Because the holiday following the monthly exams was close to National Day, the students at Cangzhong High School had a rare three-day break.
After the holiday, Wen Sheng went straight back to dormitory 308 with her backpack.
The dormitory door was ajar, and laughter could be heard from inside. Someone was pouring roasted peanuts brought from home into a metal lunchbox and inviting everyone to try them, while someone else lifted a cloth bag, revealing a piece of homemade smoked pork, the salty aroma immediately filling the air.
She had just pushed open the door and hadn't even had time to put down her backpack when someone shouted with a laugh, "Hey, our dorm's genius is back!"
Wen Sheng was taken aback and was about to ask, "What are you talking about?" when Li Qingmiao leaned over and mysteriously put her arm around her shoulder: "The monthly exam results list has been posted! You didn't even know?"
"Achievement list? When was that?"
"It was posted first thing this morning, a bright red list hanging on the bulletin board," Lin Hongxiu chimed in, laughing as she peeled peanuts.
"There's a red paper pasted right there on the exam room distribution map we looked at before!" Li Qingmiao said, winking at her. "Go take a look, don't wait until the whole grade knows you're on the list and you're the only one who doesn't know."
"Exactly!" someone joked from the side. "Wen Sheng, if you don't look soon, people in the cafeteria will be pointing at you and saying, 'Look, that's the top student in the grade.'"
Upon hearing this, Wen Sheng quickly put her schoolbag into the cabinet and then pulled the umbrella out from beside it.
The black umbrella was neatly folded, its ribs still bearing traces of water from the last rain. She had originally planned to return it to the bookstall owner before evening self-study, but now she simply took it with her, since she was just passing by.
A group of people were gathered around the familiar bulletin board. Several red papers were pasted behind the glass panel, and the grade lists for the first and second years of high school were separate.
The crowd was packed in front of the second-year students' list, with murmurs rising and falling. Without exception, everyone was talking about the legendary figure in Cangzhong who never fell from the top of the list. On the other side, the list for the first-year students was much quieter, with only a few people stopping to take a look before hurrying away. They were obviously just looking at the results and leaving.
"Is the first place score that high?"
"He got a perfect score in math, a high score in science, and his Chinese and English scores weren't bad either... Does he never sleep?"
"You mean Xu Jianing? The one in the second year of high school?"
"What does he look like? Have you seen the results list? Is it possible for me to run into him?"
“Let me say something,” a boy with a buzz cut suddenly interjected, “I’m in the same class as him, and this guy never comes here to check the results list.”
"Really?"
"If he doesn't look at it, how will he know what score he got?"
"Can't we just glance at the papers when they're handed out? Besides, with his level, why wait for the results list?" the buzz-cut boy said dismissively.
"But doesn't he care about the rankings at all?"
Upon hearing this, the guy with the buzz cut immediately waved his hand, looking like he thought, "Is that even a question? He's always ranked at the top. If it were me, I wouldn't even bother looking."
Wen Sheng was standing at the edge of the crowd when she heard their conversation. She was about to go around to get a closer look at the second-year high school students' results when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye, and she stopped in her tracks.
He stood in front of the first-year high school list, his posture upright, quietly gazing at the name ranked first behind the glass panel.
The crowd was all packed on the other side, and no one noticed him except her.
Compared to the bustling and crowded scene in front of the Grade 11 rankings, the Grade 11 rankings were almost ignored, but he stood there, motionless.
Just then, Xu Jianing seemed to notice something and looked in her direction.
The moment their eyes met, the surrounding noise seemed to be silenced.
Wen Sheng was about to raise her hand to greet him, but Xu Jianing only glanced at her with deep eyes. The next second, he lowered his eyes, turned around and left, his tall figure quickly disappearing into the crowd.
No one noticed his action; the crowd's discussion continued enthusiastically. Only Wen Sheng remained rooted to the spot, his mouth slightly agape.
"Why are you running?" she asked, puzzled.
She couldn't explain why, but she thought he would give her a second glance, even if it was just a nod or a casual "You did well on the exam."
Wen Sheng went over to check her grades. The words "First Year of High School Monthly Exam Results" on the red paper were flattened by the glass plate. Below them were her class, name, scores in each subject, and total ranking.
The first place winner wrote his own name, just like Xu Jianing, far surpassing the second place winner.
She stared blankly at the row of numbers, but the image of Xu Jianing's back flashed through her mind.
Wasn't he here to see himself?
If he sees that she is in first place, shouldn't he praise her?
But he didn't say anything, and just left.
Wen Sheng pouted, somewhat annoyed. She was just as capable as him, not much worse.
If I'm in a good mood the next time I see him, I might remind him, "I've caught up."
She mentally rehearsed the infuriating dialogue while glancing down at the black umbrella in her hand, then headed straight for the bookstall.
The bookstall was still in the same old spot, with exercise books and old teaching aids piled up under the small wooden shed, and a few leaflets with curled edges from sun exposure on top.
This time, the stall owner wasn't dozing off. He was sitting with his legs crossed, cracking sunflower seeds. When he saw her approaching, his eyes lit up: "Oh, little girl, you still remember my umbrella? That's rare."
Wen Sheng handed over the umbrella and smiled, "Thank you, I really appreciated this umbrella last time."
"No need to thank me, it's just an umbrella." The stall owner put the umbrella away, took out a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket and handed them to her. "Here, these are homemade, try them, they're very fragrant."
Wen Sheng took it, peeled a kernel, popped it into her mouth, and nodded, saying, "It's really good."
"Of course." The stall owner grinned, knocked on two pills, and then suddenly changed his tone, "By the way, young lady, has something happened to Aning lately?"
Wen Sheng paused in her act of peeling sunflower seeds: "Why do you say that?"
"I just saw him. I called him a few times but he didn't respond. He's not usually like this." The stall owner frowned. "He looked distracted."
There was silence in front of the bookstall for a moment, with only a few melon seed shells falling into the cardboard box.
Wen Sheng had actually noticed that after he saw her, he immediately looked away and walked away without even turning his head.
That wasn't like him at all.
Seeing her silence, the stall owner cautiously asked, "You two... had a fight?"
"No, maybe he's been having some troubles lately," Wen Sheng replied subconsciously, only realizing what the stall owner meant by "you two" as soon as the words left her mouth.
"No, no, no, we're not in that kind of relationship," she quickly added.
The stall owner chuckled as he ate sunflower seeds: "Of course you're right. I saw you two standing so close under one umbrella last time. Even I, with my old eyes, thought you two were a good match."
"That was just a coincidence."
"Oh dear, that would have to be something we both wanted to do together."
Unable to bear the topic any longer, she lowered her head and pretended to be focused on peeling sunflower seeds, mumbling, "Don't make wild guesses, we are...we are from the same school."
Seeing her like this, the stall owner laughed even harder, shrugging his shoulders: "Fine, fine, say whatever you want, I believe you anyway."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a familiar voice came from behind: "Boss, has the book I ordered last time arrived?"
The stall owner chuckled and quickly got up to look for the book: "Your book arrived a long time ago; it's been gathering dust here for ages."
Wen Sheng turned around abruptly and immediately met Xu Jianing's indifferent eyes, almost dropping all the melon seeds in her hand to the ground.
He didn't know when he arrived, nor how many conversations he had overheard. His tone was as calm as usual, but there was an unfamiliar melancholy in his eyes.
Wen Sheng wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he was standing against the light, so she couldn't see his expression and only felt that he was a little unfamiliar.
"How long... have you been standing there?"
"Just arrived."
The stall owner, sensing the slightly awkward atmosphere, chuckled and smoothed things over, handing over the remaining half-handful of sunflower seeds: "Here, Aning, have some too. The young lady just said it smelled delicious."
"No, I've got the book. I'm leaving now," Xu Jianing said calmly.
"Xu Jianing!" Wen Sheng called out to him, not wanting him to leave so easily, and blurted out, "I got first place."
The boy stopped walking, but didn't turn around; he just stood there.
He actually heard it.
He heard it from the moment the stall owner uttered that absent-minded sentence.
He heard every single word she said clearly.
Wen Sheng fell silent, and Xu Jianing remained motionless. The two remained locked in this stalemate, with only the sound of the stall owner cracking sunflower seeds audible.
Xu Jianing's hand, hanging by her side, clenched and unclenched quietly, as if she were making a decision.
"Hey, we're out of sunflower seeds? I'll go get some more."
The first to react were the stall owners.
He stood up, patted his trouser leg, and said to the two of them, "You two take your time chatting. It will take me a while to get these sunflower seeds back."
After saying that, he went into the small room behind the shop.
Wen Sheng lowered her head, looking at the overlapping shadows on the ground. She stepped on the head of the other's shadow with her foot, but before she could finish, the owner of the shadow quietly moved to the side.
He finally turned around, his eyes hidden in the shadows, and a long-lost restraint and aloofness reappeared: "Is there anything else you want to say?"
“I already said it, I got first place.” Wen Sheng looked up at him and repeated each word carefully.
He nodded and said calmly, "It's fine."
That's all?!
Wen Sheng was furious. She rolled her eyes inwardly and gritted her teeth, saying, "I told you I would catch up with you, in terms of scores."
“Us,” Xu Jianing suddenly spoke.
"...What?" She didn't hear clearly and subconsciously raised her voice.
I said, let's take the exam together and go to a university outside of Beijing.
This time, he spoke slowly, loudly, and clearly.
Wen Sheng was taken aback, her emotions that had just been ignited instantly extinguished: "...Outside?"
Xu Jianing's voice was a little hoarse: "Didn't you say you wanted to go out and see the world?"
A soft cough came from behind.
The stall owner came out carrying a freshly grabbed bag of sunflower seeds, pretending not to have heard anything: "Students, you have to have this kind of spirit. Back in my day—"
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Jianing turned and left without even saying goodbye.
"Hey, why are you leaving so suddenly?" the stall owner called out to Wen Sheng. "Look at him, young lady, he's so rude!"
Wen Sheng didn't respond. She hadn't recovered from what he had just said, and she didn't even know whether she should be angry or chase after him to ask what he meant.
"Little girl, why did you run off without even snoring?"
——
Xu Jianing did not return to the dormitory, but instead walked along the path beside the playground to the old locust tree behind the teaching building.
The scene of being called in for a talk by Liu Zhigang during the day was still replaying in my mind:
"Jia Ning, I've been promoted to Dean of Students this year, and there are some things I have to take charge of."
"I know you are self-disciplined and have good grades, but there are some things that I still need to remind you of in advance. As you know, our school prohibits students from dating early."
“Especially you, Xu Jianing. You’re not an ordinary student; you’re someone the city is paying attention to. People are watching not only your grades, but also your behavior, style, and attitude.”
"Last time it rained, I saw you sharing an umbrella with that girl from the first year of high school."
"I was the only one who saw it this time, so I won't report it to the disciplinary office. But if it happens again—"
Liu Zhigang paused, then added earnestly, "At that point, it won't be as simple as me giving you a few words of advice."
Xu Jianing closed his eyes, leaned back against the rough tree trunk, and raised his hand to cover his eyes, blocking out the light.
He didn't dare look at her expression after he said that, nor did he dare wait for her response.
He was afraid she would understand.
I'm even more afraid that she won't understand.
If she understands, will she feel like he's avoiding her?
If she didn't understand, would she laugh and chase after him, asking, "What exactly did you mean by that?"
But he dared not face either of them.
I don't want to go back to being the Xu Jianing who always had to be at the forefront, couldn't make mistakes, and couldn't show her emotions.
He wanted to leave.
He left the warehouse, left those gazes, left those rules, left those voices that constantly weighed down his "cannot" words.
Thinking of this, Xu Jianing opened his eyes, chuckled softly, and realized that he was truly and completely moved.
To the person in front of me.
"Wen Sheng".
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