【Memories】Enrollment
On that September morning, the sun still carried the scorching heat of late summer, but the early autumn breeze filtered through it, leaving it bright and clear, like a giant, transparent piece of amber, gently enveloping the entire city. For the high school freshmen, this brightness was tinged with unfamiliarity and a subtle hint of uncertainty.
No. 1 Middle School in the city, this prestigious school that all students dream of, has red brick walls covered with lush vines and tall, solemn arches.
The campus was bustling with freshmen like me wearing brand new blue and white uniforms, their faces showing curiosity, excitement, or a slight sense of helplessness like mine.
The air is filled with the fragrance of camphor trees, the smell of ink from new books, and a mixture of countless youthful scents, a special smell unique to the first day of school.
Zhang Chenzhi, clutching a heavy stack of textbooks he'd just received, followed the crowd toward the Grade 1 teaching building. The corridor was long and bright, flanked by gleaming glass windows and rows of dark green class numbers.
I was jostled by a classmate behind me, anxiously searching for a classroom. I stumbled, nearly losing my books. I frantically clung to them, instinctively leaning toward the wall. It was this sideways movement that seemed to shift the gears of fate.
At the corner at the end of the corridor, where the light was the brightest, I bumped into someone without any warning.
“Crash—”
The new books and test papers in my arms were completely lost and scattered all over the floor. The impact was not strong, but it was enough to make me feel embarrassed instantly.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" A clear voice sounded, with obvious apology and panic.
I covered my chest where the corner of the textbook had hit me and raised my head.
At that moment, time seemed to be infinitely stretched and suddenly solidified.
All the noise around me—the laughter of classmates, the clatter of running footsteps, the teacher's urging—instantly faded like a tide, becoming distant and blurred, a humming background sound. In my world, only the scene before me remained.
The boy was also holding a pile of new books, obviously a "victim" of the accident, and his books were also scattered on the ground. He was bending down to pick them up, but he looked up at him, his face flushed with embarrassment.
Just this one glance.
I felt as if my heart was gently squeezed by a warm and soft hand, and then suddenly loosened, and began to beat wildly with a completely uncontrollable, drum-like speed and strength, hitting my ribs, and the sound was so loud that I almost suspected that everyone around me could hear it.
I have never seen such a pair of eyes.
As clear as the undisturbed spring water in the deepest mountain stream, it reflected the morning light pouring in from the window, and it was astonishingly bright. The pupils were a beautiful deep brown, with a little natural moisture, as if always holding a gentle smile.
At this moment, these eyes were filled with sincere apology and a little bit of boyish shyness, like the surface of a lake where a stone was thrown, causing subtle and moving ripples.
His eyelashes were very long, casting a light shadow under his eyelids.
The sunlight poured down on him unreservedly, outlining the contours of his soft cheeks. One could even see the fine, soft hairs on his ears and a few strands of hair dyed golden by the sunlight.
He was wearing the same blue and white school uniform as me, but he looked exceptionally handsome, as fresh as a dew-covered lily. A faint, clean, delicate fragrance, like jasmine and laundry detergent, lingered faintly in his nose.
At that moment, all the abstract descriptions of "love at first sight" in literary works suddenly had concrete and shocking footnotes.
It turns out it really only took a second. In a split second, before I even had time to think, some inexplicable emotion, like a spring flood, tore through all the dams of rationality and flooded every corner of my sixteen-year-old life.
"I'm...I'm sorry." I heard my own voice, so dry and unfamiliar, he even forgot to breathe.
"I didn't look at the road," the boy's voice was still clear and soothing, but his eyes hid a hidden emotion. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
He squatted down and began to pick up the books scattered on the ground in a hurry.
I felt like I was freed from the spell, and I suddenly came to my senses and quickly squatted down. My heart was still beating wildly, and my fingers were even trembling slightly.
The two people's fingers almost touched a fallen copy of "High School Physics Compulsory Course 1" at the same time.
There was a brief, light touch of fingertips.
Like a weak electric current running through.
I quickly pulled my hand back as if I had been scalded, and my ears instantly felt burning.
The boy seemed to pause for a moment, quickly picked up the book, and whispered "thank you".
We cleaned up the mess silently and efficiently.
My heartbeat was especially clear in the silence. I looked up quickly and furtively to admire him.
I wanted to say something, but my mind was blank. My usually quick-witted mouth was now clumsy, as if it were glued shut.
I could only mechanically hand him the book I picked up, and then take my own book from him.
"Are you... a freshman in high school?" Finally, I squeezed out a dry question, and regretted it right after asking it - showing up here in school uniform, how could I be from another grade?
"Yes," the boy nodded, finally stacking the last book, and stood up with a relaxed smile on his face. "Class 1 (3) of Senior High School. My name is Zhou Yu."
Zhou Yu.
I silently repeated the name in my mind, like a breeze brushing against the strings of a harp, soft and sweet.
"My name is Zhang Chenzhi." I stood up as well, feeling like hearing my name spoken by him would be a compliment. "I'm also in... Class 3."
"Oh, we're in the same class." Zhou Yu smiled, his smile like sunlight shining through the clouds, bright but not scorching. "I'm so sorry for what happened just now, Zhang Chenzhi. I bumped into you on the first day of school."
"No, it's okay!" I shook my head hastily, a little too loudly. "I didn't even look at the road."
The bell for class preparation suddenly rang sharply, breaking this short-lived, quiet and subtle little world.
"Oh my God, we're going to be late!" Zhou Yu yelled, holding the book in one hand, pulling my wrist, turned around and ran quickly to the other end of the corridor.
I ran after him meaninglessly, holding the book that I had lost and found again, which seemed to still retain the warmth of his fingertips, and stared blankly at the slender blue and white figure.
In the air, the very faint fragrance of jasmine seems to be everywhere.
The clamor around me was like a wave rising again after the tide receded, instantly enveloping me again. But nothing was the same anymore.
What happened just now was like a carefully wrapped seed, which was deeply buried in the soil of my heart by those smiling eyes and unintentional touch.
I seemed to know that something had quietly broken through the ground and could no longer be ignored.
I was in a state of distraction throughout the first day of school.
What the homeroom teacher said, how the new students introduced themselves, what friendly conversations their deskmates exchanged... all this information seemed blurred, as if through a layer of frosted glass. Over and over in his mind, the scene at the corner of the corridor replayed: the scattered books, the apologetic look, the eyelashes in the sunlight, the clear voice, and that name—Zhou Yu.
I even subconsciously looked for that figure in the vast crowd at the grade assembly.
He was slightly tilting his head and whispering something to the person next to him, with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth.
Just that one silhouette made my heart skip a beat again, and an inexplicable, slightly sweet joy quietly spread.
It turns out that liking someone at first sight is enough. The rest is just endless aftertaste and confirmation.
The school bell rang, and people poured out of the classroom like a flood. I packed my bag a few steps slower than usual.
Just as I was about to leave, that familiar voice sounded from behind me.
"Zhang Chenzhi?"
I turned around suddenly.
Zhou Yu was standing not far behind me, with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder and a look of surprise on his face. "It's really you. Is it your turn today? Why haven't you left yet?"
My brain was working fast, trying to find a reasonable reason that wouldn't seem too deliberate: "I... I'm looking for a junior high school classmate. He seemed to be assigned to this class, but he seems to have left." This excuse was so lame that I wanted to blush.
"Oh," Zhou Yu smiled without seeming to doubt it. "In that case, do you want to leave the school together?"
"Okay!" The word almost jumped out of my throat, with a hint of impatience.
The setting sun stretched their shadows very long. They walked side by side on the golden-red campus path, keeping a polite distance between them.
I have never felt so clumsy with my mouth. I racked my brains to find some topics to talk about, but I always failed to express myself clearly.
I asked him if he had adapted to the new school and if he liked his new teacher. These questions were so ordinary they were almost boring.
But Zhou Yu didn't seem to mind. He answered earnestly, occasionally asking me a few questions in return. His voice was like a spring dripping on stone, a tinkling sound that struck at my heart. I didn't even dare to tilt my head to look at him properly, only sensing his presence from the corner of my eye, my heart racing.
When you reach the school gate, people go in different directions.
"I'm going this way." Zhou Yu pointed to the road on the left and waved to him, "See you tomorrow, Zhang Chenzhi."
"See you tomorrow... Zhou Yu." I watched him turn around and merge into the crowd. I didn't let out a breath until his back was no longer visible. I felt like I had completed a grand and tense ceremony.
On the way home, I walked on cotton. The sunset was beautiful, and the wind was blowing against my face.
I recalled every detail of today, his every expression, every word. I carefully placed the physics book that had been touched by both of them into the innermost layer of my bag, as if it were some precious treasure.
I seem to know that something has become completely different from today.
The first day of high school at the age of sixteen was originally just a new starting point in life, but because of an unexpected collision and a glance, it was given a completely different meaning.
The seed of an unspeakable emotion had been quietly planted at the corner of that sunny corridor. It would grow wildly and silently in my youth, flourishing and entangling all the years that followed.
And it all started with that apologetic "I'm sorry" and those clear eyes that I will never forget.
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