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The day before the final exam, every student in Cangzhong was making the most of every minute to memorize and prepare for the exam.
To concentrate on memorizing her lessons, Wen Sheng moved a small stool and sat at the entrance of the water room.
The radiator pipe in the corner was scorching hot. She pressed her palm against it a few times to warm it, and her palm immediately turned red from the heat. After shaking off her drowsiness, she withdrew her hand, breathed on it, and then put her hand back into her sleeve to warm it for a while. Once her fingers weren't so stiff, she turned the page and continued memorizing.
A row of thermos bottles was piled up next to the tap, and occasionally someone would rush over to get water.
A classmate, after filling a bottle with water, walked past her and couldn't help but laugh, "Wen Sheng, aren't you cold? Sitting here by the door."
Wen Sheng shook the notebook in her hand and said with a smile, "It's not cold. This helps me concentrate on memorizing. It's too warm inside, and I get sleepy if I sit for too long."
The girl shook her head, indicating that she didn't understand, and left with the thermos.
As night fell, the lights in the teaching building went out one by one, leaving only a few dim yellow lights at the end of the corridor. With everything quiet, Wen Sheng realized she had been sitting there for quite some time, so she put away her books and prepared to return to her dormitory.
Just as I turned the corner of the stairwell, I saw Xu Jianing coming downstairs.
He had a canvas bag slung over his shoulder and a thermos in his hand. His footsteps echoed in the empty stairwell until he reached the corner and their eyes met, at which point the footsteps stopped abruptly.
Under the dim light, the two shadows were stretched long and overlapped at the corner of the corridor.
"Why are you still here?" Xu Jianing asked.
Wen Sheng was even more puzzled and asked, "Didn't you say you never cram at the last minute?"
He looked down and shook the thermos in his hand, saying, "I'm getting water."
After saying that, he glanced at her again and asked, "And what about you? Why aren't you going home so late?"
"I just finished memorizing my lessons." Wen Sheng glanced at his thermos and asked hesitantly, "Going to get water so late?"
"Why not?" He lowered his eyes and smiled, which was his answer to her question.
He took two steps forward, then stopped and looked back at her: "Let's go, it's so late, I'll take you back to your dorm."
Wen Sheng said "Oh" and quickly followed.
After walking a few steps, she suddenly said, "Xu Jianing, stop for a moment."
Xu Jianing stopped in confusion, and as soon as he turned around, he saw Wen Sheng standing a few steps away, with his hands clasped together, bowing to him devoutly.
He didn't react for a moment, staring blankly at her clasped hands. He thought of how she had also bowed in front of the red list this summer, with the exact same gesture and the same earnestness.
After finishing her prayers, Wen Sheng looked up, blinked, and said playfully, "This time, praying to the Immortal should be even more effective, right?"
Xu Jianing looked down at her, and after a moment she slowly spoke: "...Aren't you afraid it won't work this time?"
“Then I’ll bow twice,” Wen Sheng said seriously, and bowed to him again.
Xu Jianing was amused by her and said to her, "Let's go."
Wen Sheng then put her hand away and quickly followed, the two walking side by side on the way back to the dormitory.
"I think my math skills are still a bit weak, and I'm a little worried about it."
"No way." Xu Jianing glanced at her and said confidently, "Your speed with the short questions has improved, and I've also given you some practice questions for the long ones. You've practiced them three times, so you can write them with your eyes closed during the exam."
"What if we don't win?" she asked.
"Then come to Class 1, Grade 11 and bow to me again."
"Hey, how did you know I was assigned to Class 1 of the second year of high school in this exam?"
"I understand now." Xu Jianing switched the thermos bottle to her other hand and tugged at her scarf. "Take care to keep warm."
What he didn't say was that he had actually seen her a long time ago.
When I went to Xue Pingsheng's office to return something before the end of evening self-study, I saw her sitting at the end of the corridor by the water room door, leaning against the heating pipe, burying her head in her books.
She was so focused that she didn't even look up when he walked past her.
When he came out of the office, most of the corridor lights were off. He originally planned to go straight back to his dormitory, but when he got to the stairwell, he glanced at the person in front of the water room and found that he hadn't left yet.
So he went back to the second year of high school via the other end of the stairs, grabbed a thermos, leaned against the windowsill pretending to tidy up his things, but actually secretly looked over there.
He only sat up abruptly when she finally got up to pack her things, glanced down at the thermos in his hand, and pretended to have just come downstairs.
"Xu Jianing, are you still listening?"
He then came to his senses and saw Wen Sheng looking up at him, waiting for his reply to the joke he had just made.
"Yes, I'm listening."
——
Three days after the final exams ended, the results were finally posted.
Early in the morning, a crowd had gathered in front of the bulletin board. The winter wind made people shrink their necks, but it did not dampen their enthusiasm for watching. The area in front of the results board was packed with people.
"Hey, who's in first place this time?" Student A asked, standing on tiptoe to look around.
"In the first year of high school, it's Wen Sheng; in the second year, it's Xu Jianing; in the third year... Lin Fei." Classmate B, with sharp eyes, read out the name.
"Those two have really been dominating the rankings for ages," classmate C remarked. "Xu Jianing hasn't been surpassed in the past year and a half, has she?"
"Wen Sheng from the first year of high school is amazing too. She got almost a perfect score in math, and her Chinese composition also got a high score. What did she write in her exam composition again?" classmate B asked.
"Her Chinese is also pretty good. Her exam essay was even used as a model by the Chinese teacher!" classmate A chimed in.
"Where can I watch it?" classmate B asked quickly.
“It’s right next to the back door of their classroom, and a lot of people went there to copy,” classmate Ding replied.
At this moment, Wen Sheng was sitting under the old locust tree, holding a borrowed novel, and didn't even look at the rankings.
The old locust tree in winter has long since lost its leaves, and a thin layer of fallen leaves, like scraps of paper, has accumulated on the ground. When the wind blows, they swirl and float up, turning a few times in the low air before gently falling down.
Wen Sheng sat on a stone slab under the tree, a spot she had carefully chosen. Behind her was the rough trunk of the old locust tree, which provided just enough shelter from the biting north wind; in front of her was a small patch of open ground where the sun shone down, its rays landing right on her knees, making her feel warm and cozy.
She was reading a passage where the two main characters confessed their feelings for each other. At first, they were hesitant to speak their minds, but a small detail finally brought them together. The writing wasn't ornate, even a bit clumsy, but it was that sincerity that made her want to keep reading.
Just then, footsteps suddenly came from beside me, rustling on the dry fallen leaves, one step at a time, slowly approaching.
Wen Sheng assumed it was just a classmate passing by, so she didn't look up and pay any attention, continuing to immerse herself in the world of the book.
Then a familiar voice sounded overhead, low and tinged with laughter:
Aren't you cold?
The wind rustled the fallen leaves. He stood backlit, his outline blurred, his shadow falling obliquely, landing right on her.
When Wen Sheng looked up, Xu Jianing was standing in the winter sun, a scarf loosely wrapped around her neck, her hands in her pockets, and one foot casually kicking away the fallen leaves at her feet.
"It's sunny and not cold," she said.
“Then I’ll sit next to you and soak up some of the sunlight.” Xu Jianing bent down and sat down next to her.
The stone slab wasn't very big to begin with, and he sat very close to her, his shoulder almost touching her arm.
Wen Sheng was originally leaning against the tree trunk, but now he couldn't help but move to the side. However, the back of him was rough bark, and as soon as he moved, his elbow brushed against his thick coat, leaving him nowhere to retreat.
She was so tightly pressed against him that she couldn't move. She could only turn her head and glare at him, complaining, "Don't sit here. I don't want you to drag me away again."
Xu Jianing had anticipated her response, and feigned innocence as she asked, "Which time are you referring to?"
Wen Sheng laughed in exasperation: "You still have the nerve to bring that up?"
“I checked before I came, and neither the Dean of Students nor Xue Pingsheng are here. They both went to a meeting in the city today.”
After Xu Jianing finished speaking, she leaned back lazily, resting her head against the old locust tree behind her. She tilted her head back slightly and said with a smile, "No one is arresting us now, so sit down without worry."
After saying that, he fell silent.
Wen Sheng thought he was going to argue with her again, but after a few minutes, the room quieted down.
She tilted her head to look at the other person.
Xu Jianing leaned against the tree trunk with his eyes closed and his head tilted back. His scarf hung loosely on his back, and his eyebrows and eyes looked particularly handsome in the sunlight. His breathing gradually became steady, and he looked really sleepy.
Like a cat that has finally found the sun in the cold winter, he nestled beside her and dozed off peacefully.
Wen Sheng lowered her head again, turned to the page she had just been reading, and tried to focus her attention back on the plot.
But after reading only a few lines, the person next to me suddenly asked, "Are you planning to choose arts or sciences?"
Wen Sheng stopped turning the pages of her book. "Weren't you asleep?"
"Close your eyes and rest," Xu Jianing replied slowly, her eyes still closed. "You haven't answered me yet."
"Science," Wen Sheng answered decisively.
Upon hearing this answer, the person beside her suddenly moved. Wen Sheng turned her head and saw Xu Jianing take out a small notebook from his coat pocket and hand it to her along with a black fountain pen.
"What?" Wen Sheng asked, somewhat surprised.
"Sign your name."
Why do I need to sign?
Xu Jianing pushed the notebook toward her and said, "Keep it as a souvenir."
He paused, then added in a low voice, "In memory of my second year of high school in Cangzhong, when I met a female student who was going to study in the capital."
Wen Sheng glanced down at the notebook he had opened, then looked up at him again. Seeing that he was stubborn and wouldn't back down, she finally took the black fountain pen and wrote her name stroke by stroke in the middle of the title page.
After finishing writing, she looked up and asked with some doubt, "But it's still a long time before the college entrance exam. Are you so sure I can get into a university in the capital?"
She really didn't understand why Xu Jianing was always so certain, as if the road to the distance was never a "what if," but simply a matter of time.
What she didn't notice was that after she finished writing, he quietly folded a corner of the page.
Xu Jianing lowered his head, his gaze lingering on the signature on the title page for a long time, as if he wanted to engrave those two words firmly into his heart.
Only when pressed did he slowly raise his eyes, and tenderness suddenly welled up in his usually aloof gaze:
"Because you are Wen Sheng."
"Just like I know that no matter how long the winter is, spring will definitely come."
Xu Jianing picked up a black pen and wrote his own name next to hers, their names side by side.
Just then, a gust of wind blew by, and the last leaf fell from the old locust tree, landing right between the two names.
Xu Jianing glanced down and said with a smile, "Look, the fallen leaves have stamped it."
Wen Sheng was a little distracted, staring at the leaf for a long time before suddenly speaking: "But this is a fallen leaf. In spring... shouldn't it be a green leaf? After all, green leaves represent hope."
Xu Jianing closed the notebook, turned her head to look at Wen Sheng's face, and said seriously, "Then let's do it again in the spring."
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