Shadows holding hands
Saturday, Xue Pingsheng's office, the "old place" that Xu Jianing mentioned.
Several exam papers were spread out on the table, each with clear red pen annotations and dense corrections.
Xu Jianing sat on one side of the desk, casually twirling a red ink pen with his slender fingers, occasionally glancing down to write something on a test paper.
Wen Sheng sat opposite him, racking her brains to come up with math problems to practice, but the problems were too difficult and now she had gotten herself stuck.
Her scratch paper was a mess; she revised a problem again and again, finally grimacing, "This is so hard..."
Xu Jianing twirled the pen between her fingers and looked up at her messy draft paper.
"The questions you set are twice as difficult as the monthly exam."
"Isn't that even better?" Wen Sheng buried her chin in her arms and said sullenly, "If you practice the difficult ones, you won't be afraid of the easy ones."
"The questions that were wrong weren't difficult; they were easy questions."
Xu Jianing pushed the test paper on the table in front of Wen Sheng and circled a mark on it with a red pen. "This is your monthly test paper. The test point for this fill-in-the-blank question couldn't be more obvious, but you got it wrong because of carelessness. You lost two points for that question."
He pulled out another quiz paper from a regular test, saying, "Look at this one now, you got all the questions right on the final, most challenging question."
Just as Wen Sheng was about to feel smug, she saw him flip the test paper to the front again. "But you still got this easy question wrong. As a result, you got full marks on the big questions, but were dragged down by this kind of small question."
“You’re always like this.” Xu Jianing slowly put away the red pen and tapped the table with her finger. “You solve the difficult problems, but in the end you lose because of the easiest ones.”
Wen Sheng explained, "That's because the big questions are worth more points... I was thinking of getting more points."
"And the result?" Xu Jianing asked calmly. "I got full marks on the big questions, but I lost a lot on the small questions, so in the end I still got fewer points than others."
"But the big questions are difficult; only those who can solve them are truly impressive."
Xu Jianing chuckled: "Can being good put food on the table? Exams are all about the total score."
“But I’m already number one…” Wen Sheng’s pen poked restlessly at the draft paper, making the already thin paper crumpled and almost poking a hole in it.
Xu Jianing reached out and pressed down on her draft paper, which was about to be punctured, and whispered, "The real number one is the one who doesn't even miss easy questions."
Wen Sheng pouted and said unwillingly, "Then I'll be more careful about small things in the future."
"How many times have I said that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"..." Wen Sheng lowered her head and remained silent.
Xu Jianing took away the draft paper that she had poked, folded it neatly and put it under the book, then bent down, opened the drawer, and picked out the thickest workbook.
He looked down and flipped through two pages, confirming that it was indeed the first-year high school math problem he wanted. He nodded and then continued flipping through the pages.
One page, two pages, three pages.
Wen Sheng rested her chin on her hand and secretly observed him. Seeing that he was still rummaging through things, she couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking for?"
"Let's see if there are any questions that suit you," Xu Jianing replied, her hand still turning the pages.
He was carefully looking at each question, and when he came across one that he thought was worth practicing, he would circle it before the question and then casually fold up the corner of that page.
When he turned to page ten, he finally stopped, closed the workbook, pressed the spine, and then pushed the book in front of her.
"Work on this page first, time yourself for fifteen minutes."
Wen Sheng took the workbook and saw that Xu Jianing had checked all the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions for her, and they were all basic questions, with no challenging questions at all.
"What do you mean? Why are all the questions easy?"
Xu Jianing didn't answer immediately. He rummaged around on the table and pulled out a Gu Long novel from under a pile of papers. He picked it up and casually flipped to the middle page.
Wen Sheng was still waiting for his response, but he was reading slowly, page by page, as if he hadn't heard her question.
After a while, the other person turned a page and calmly said, "The timer has started."
Wen Sheng: "......"
She writes quickly, her eyes fixed intently on the prompts, rapidly ticking off the answers. Occasionally, she gets slightly stuck on a question, but she only pauses for a few seconds, quickly scribbles a few calculations on her scratch paper, and immediately moves on to the next question.
The last question was a function question, and as Wen Sheng was writing it, it suddenly seemed familiar.
That was the type of question she had lost points on in the last monthly exam, only this time the question was phrased differently and the question stem was a bit more convoluted, but the key points were almost the same.
Wen Sheng rested her chin on her hand, staring at the question in a brief moment of contemplation, while her other hand casually sketched function graphs on the draft paper, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the options.
The last question looks like a simple, basic question, and at first glance it seems like a free point, but in reality, you can easily trip it up if you're not careful.
Wen Sheng wrote down several calculation steps on the draft paper, but he was not satisfied with any of them. He then redrawn the coordinate axes, his eyes intently following the curve step by step. Finally, he hesitated and wrote down the next answer.
The person opposite her who was reading a book actually had their eyes glued to her from the moment she lowered her head to write the problem.
Xu Jianing rested her chin on one hand, looking down at the book, but her eyes secretly peeked out from the edge of the page to watch the changes in her expression: frowning, thinking, struggling, and then suddenly brightening up.
"You got the last question wrong," he suddenly said.
Wen Sheng put down her pen, looked up, and asked, "...How did you know?"
The other person turned a page of the book, and without looking up, said, "The drawing is wrong."
Wen Sheng glanced down at his draft paper, which was covered with graphs of several function problems, with no separation between them, making it a messy jumble.
No one but herself could tell which question was which, unless...
She suddenly raised her head and looked at the person opposite her, her eyes sparkling as if she had discovered a shocking secret.
"You don't mean...?"
Xu Jianing paused in her book-turning motion, her fingers still resting on the edge of the page. She glanced up at her and asked, "Hmm?"
"You're a genius!" Wen Sheng exclaimed with admiration. "You can even tell at a glance which problem's diagram I drew on my draft!"
Xu Jianing: "......"
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she didn't realize that he hadn't been paying attention to the book at all since she started writing her questions.
He casually lowered his head, turned to the next page of the novel, and used the book to hide the uncontrollable smile on his lips.
Wen Sheng was still immersed in the amazement that "the other party is a genius" and her fighting spirit was ignited. When she was writing the questions on the second page, her speed suddenly increased. She wanted to get all of these questions right.
But halfway through writing, my focused thoughts were suddenly pulled away by something.
She secretly glanced at the person opposite her who was "reading a book with his head down." Xu Jianing's posture hadn't changed; he still had that lazy look with one hand supporting his chin. He had turned to a new page and hadn't touched the book again.
Was he really watching?
Wen Sheng looked down at her draft paper again. She had drawn four or five graphs for that function problem, all crammed onto one sheet of paper, intertwined with each other, without numbering or line breaks. Even when she looked for the problem again later, she had to look at it twice to find it again.
How did he recognize Xu Jianing at a glance?
Wen Sheng quickly looked away, denying the thought that had just crossed her mind. She quickly marked the question she had gotten wrong with an asterisk, reminding herself to get it right next time.
"Finished writing?" Xu Jianing asked.
Wen Sheng hummed in agreement, wrote down the last number, and added two more strokes to the process.
"Hmm, you did well this time. At least you didn't lose points because of carelessness." Xu Jianing took her draft paper, skillfully drew a few horizontal lines between the questions with a red pen, and then circled her messy steps a few times.
"I've written down the questions I got wrong. I'll make a review list for you later." He said as he looked down and wrote in his notebook, "Functions, trigonometry, sequences—I won't leave any topic out."
Wen Sheng asked, "Then where should I look for you? The old locust tree?"
Xu Jianing originally wanted to say "book stall," but when she heard her blurt out those three words, she agreed without thinking.
"Then let's go with the old locust tree."
Wen Sheng nodded, got up and walked to the door. She looked back and saw Xu Jianing still sitting in the chair, head down, continuing to write something in her notebook.
"Aren't you leaving?" she asked.
"You go first."
Wen Sheng glanced at him, somewhat puzzled, but didn't ask any further questions. She nodded, pushed open the door, and left.
When the door closed, the office returned to silence. Xu Jianing remained in the posture of writing with her head down, but did not write a single word.
After a while, he put the pen aside, leaned back in his chair, stared blankly at the ceiling, and suddenly reached out to press his temples.
"The old locust tree... is quite close to the administration office."
He should have shaken his head the moment she asked the question.
But the way she looked at him was so bright, like a little deer staring at him. He had already intended to refuse, but at that moment, he nodded as if possessed.
"We have no choice but to take a gamble and hope he's not at school on Saturday."
After muttering this sentence to himself, Xu Jianing turned his chair back to the table, picked up his pen again, and continued writing the unfinished review list. Finally, he wrote two words at the bottom of the paper:
capital.
The old-fashioned clock on the wall chimed on the hour, the hour hand pointing exactly to five o'clock.
Xu Jianing pushed back the chair, stood up, and turned off the desk lamp. Before leaving, she looked back to see if she had left anything behind. After checking and finding nothing missing, she locked the door and went out.
He was about to walk down the corridor to the stairwell when he caught a glimpse of the open space in front of the teaching building downstairs.
A familiar car had appeared in the empty space in front of the teaching building. It stood there, blocking him from the old locust tree.
They arrived as expected.
Liu Zhigang came back to inspect the school today, and the main road on campus is now impassable.
One more step and we'll be exposed.
Taking another step would be tantamount to giving up.
Xu Jianing turned around, went around the flower bed next to him into the path, and squeezed through the path between a row of teaching buildings and the wall.
He stumbled upon the road this year while helping construction workers carry materials. It was sandwiched between a wall and an old school building, with an uneven surface that stretched all the way to the edge of the playground.
The alley was dark, and the windows of the administration office were not visible, so Liu Zhigang's location could not be determined.
Xu Jianing walked along the wall, keeping close to the shadows. When he was halfway there, he suddenly heard a car door slam shut in the distance. He instinctively held his breath, pressed himself against the wall for a few seconds, and only continued forward after confirming that no one was coming.
A sliver of light shone through a crack at the end of the path. He pressed himself against the wall, peered out from the side, and glanced at the playground.
One more step forward and you'll step out of the shadows.
Xu Jianing stepped out through the gap and ran towards the old locust tree. Sure enough, there was a person standing under the tree.
The sky gradually darkened.
The evening breeze blew in from the other side of the playground, carrying the unique coolness of autumn.
Wen Sheng had been standing under the locust tree for a while now; too much time had passed since their agreed-upon time.
She didn't wear a watch or bring a clock; she simply relied on the position of the sun and the order in which the cafeteria lights came on to keep track of the passage of time.
At first she stood, then sat on the stone bricks next to the locust tree, and then stood up and slowly paced around a few times. In front of her was the empty playground, behind her was the quiet school building, the sky was gradually darkening, and there was nothing but the sound of the wind.
Wen Sheng glanced in the direction of the teaching building, then walked to look at the path leading to the playground, but there was still no one there.
He probably won't come.
As Wen Sheng stood under the old locust tree, this thought suddenly popped into her mind.
The setting sun cast a long shadow of hers, spreading it diagonally across the concrete. She stared intently at that solitary shadow, when suddenly a subtle change occurred within that patch of light and shadow.
She thought it was an illusion, but a new shadow slowly appeared next to her own.
The shadow approached silently from behind her, slowly merging with her own shadow. At first, it was just from her shoulder, then her arm, and then even the fingertips of the shadow were tightly intertwined.
The hands of those shadows clasped together on the ground.
Two shadows finally found their place under the old locust tree that evening.
It's not an illusion.
A warm hand grasped her wrist from behind, a polite touch that neither crossed the line nor distanced her.
"Why are you only arriving now?" Wen Sheng said with dissatisfaction.
The boy behind him didn't speak, but was panting heavily. He had just run all the way here and his breathing was still not steady, his chest heaving violently.
"Let's go." Xu Jianing didn't have time to explain. He grabbed her wrist and turned to run.
Wen Sheng, half-running and half-being pulled along by him, tried to steady her breathing and asked, "Is it the math teacher again this time?"
"No, this time it's the head of student affairs." Xu Jianing smiled at her, then grabbed her hand and said as they ran, "Hurry up, don't get caught."
This was the second time. It was under the old locust tree again, and he was holding her hand as they ran out into the twilight.
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