Frosty weather
The April wind, carrying dead leaves, slapped against the classroom glass, a faint whimper. Gu Hanzhi's fingers, gripping the pen, were red from the cold. Her handwriting on the English test was crooked, her once flowing handwriting now a mess. She stared at the cloze test paper about friendship, but only saw Lin Yue's mocking face reflected between the words. Those vicious words pierced her heart like an icicle.
Shen Zhihe sat in the front row, glancing back at Gu Hanzhi from time to time. The girl's furrowed brows, pale lips, and the occasional trembling of her pen made his heart clench. When the bell rang, he looked at the paper Gu Hanzhi handed in—the essay section was largely blank, and the reading comprehension section was scribbled profusely. She looked nothing like the academic prodigy she once was.
"Hanzhi, my English is ruined! I can't answer seven or eight of the cloze questions alone!" Jiang Wanning rushed over, her voice tinged with tears, clutching the test paper. She was so caught up in her complaints that she didn't notice the brilliance in Gu Hanzhi's hollow eyes had long since vanished. The girl nodded mechanically, her gaze fixed on the withered branches swaying outside the window.
The classroom was so quiet at noon that you could hear the sound of breathing. Gu Hanzhi spread out her English workbook, her pen mechanically sliding across the paper, but none of the answers she wrote were correct. She was lost in her memories, completely unaware that Shen Zhihe had approached her.
"Hanzhi, this is not how you do it." Shen Zhihe spoke softly, his tone full of worry, "What's wrong with you? Do you have a fever?" As he spoke, he reached out to Gu Hanzhi's forehead, his movements gentle and cautious.
The girl froze, and when she looked up, tears still welled in her eyes. She tried to move away, but Shen Zhihe held her shoulders. The warmth of the boy's palm, radiating through her thin school uniform, relaxed her tense nerves.
In the hallway, Jiang Wanning, clutching a bottle of mineral water, was about to push the door open when she saw this scene. Sunlight streamed through the window onto the two of them. Shen Zhihe half-knelt, his gaze gentle and focused. Gu Hanzhi tilted her head slightly, her eyelashes casting subtle shadows under her eyes, her cheeks flushed unnaturally.
Jiang Wanning covered her mouth and quietly hid behind the door. She watched Shen Zhihe pick up the workbook and patiently explain the wrong questions. She watched Gu Hanzhi's drooping eyelashes tremble slightly, and she occasionally nodded in response. She watched the boy's fingertips inadvertently brush the back of the girl's hand, and they both blushed.
The cold wind still lashed against the windows, but a warm atmosphere flowed through the classroom. Jiang Wanning smiled and silently took a few steps back. She decided to go in later, letting this rare warmth linger a little longer.
The late autumn wind, laden with fine sand, slapped the corridor railings. Lu Chenzhou had just raised his hand to push open the classroom door when a sudden force gripped his wrist. Jiang Wanning stood on tiptoe, covering his mouth with her ponytail, brushing against his chin. She lowered her voice and said, "Shh! Don't interrupt my CP!" The girl's sparkling eyes caught the light filtering through the crack in the door, and her eyelashes fluttered like a startled butterfly.
Lu Chenzhou followed her fingertip. Under the warm yellow classroom light, Shen Zhihe was moving his chair next to Gu Hanzhi. The boy's eyelashes cast a butterfly-like shadow beneath his eyes as he lowered his gaze. His bony fingers tapped lightly on the wrong questions in his workbook, his sleeves slipping down to reveal half of his wrist. Gu Hanzhi's ears flushed, and her once cold features softened as she listened intently. The tip of her hair brushed the back of Shen Zhihe's hand, then quickly dodged, startling her with a subtle shudder.
Jiang Wanning bit the mineral water bottle excitedly, and fine wrinkles were squeezed on the bottle: "Look! I've almost stuck to the problem!" Her warm breath sprayed on Lu Chenzhou's neck. The boy's Adam's apple rolled unconsciously, and he suddenly found that there was a maple leaf-shaped piece of hair behind Jiang Wanning's ear, which glowed with a honey-colored halo in the backlight.
The spring wind whistled dead leaves against the corridor windows, making a whimpering sound. Lin Yue leaned against the doorway of Class 5, Grade 2. Her long black hair was casually tied into a low, loose ponytail, and the collar of her school uniform was wide open, revealing half a silver clavicle chain. A slender cigarette was tucked between her fingers. Her scarlet nail polish shone coldly in the sunlight, and the smoke curled up, casting a hazy shadow on her angular face.
She narrowed her eyes, staring intently through the swirling smoke at Class 2 (3) not far away. In the classroom, Gu Hanzhi was bent over her workbook, while Shen Zhihe approached to tutor her. Sunlight shone through the glass, slanting onto her shoulders, casting a soft halo over her cool figure. The sight made Lin Yue's teeth itch, and a sinister sneer curled up at the corner of her mouth.
Lin Yue crushed her cigarette butt against the windowsill, sparks flying and scorching the glass. She leaned against the mottled doorframe, her silver earrings gleaming coldly as she moved. The sleeves of her school uniform slipped down, revealing the faint tattoo on her forearm. The draft from the corridor whipped up her long hair, mingling with the scent of tobacco, a veil of malice growing wildly.
"Do you think you can start over with Shen Zhihe's support?" She chuckled at Gu Hanzhi's reflection in the glass window, her nails scratching the metal window frame unconsciously, making a teeth-grinding sound, "I could trample you into the mud back then, and now I can still make you feel a life worse than death." The image of Gu Hanzhi curled up in the locker in her memory overlapped with the figure of the girl in front of her doing her homework with her head down. Lin Yue's eyes were filled with twisted pleasure.
"Just wait and see, Gu Hanzhi," she whispered softly, her smoke rings twisting and distorting in the cold wind. Memories flooded back like a tide—in junior high, watching Gu Hanzhi, being pointed at and criticized, huddled in her locker, crying. The thrill of controlling someone else's fate had become addictive. Now, she was trying to shake off the past and move on as if nothing had happened. How could this be allowed?
She took a slow drag on her cigarette, the nicotine stimulating her pupils. Remembering the one million her father had invested in her schooling, Lin Yue's eyes grew even more arrogant. The head teacher's scolding still lingered in her ears, yet it only struck her as ridiculous. Money allowed her to do whatever she pleased, a confidence that made her fearless.
Lin Yue flicked the ash from her cigarette, and the sparks landed on the corridor floor, instantly extinguishing. She raised her hand to smooth the strands of hair around her ear, her silver earrings swaying gently with the movement. Her eyes never left Gu Hanzhi, her mind already formulating a new "game." Perhaps she should slip something disgusting into her desk? Or throw some dirty water on the path she must pass? Or perhaps... invite those "old friends" to visit the school?
Thinking of this, Lin Yue couldn't help but chuckle, her voice filled with chilling excitement. She crushed the cigarette butt against the wall, leaving a charred mark, and turned to walk into the classroom. Before leaving, she glanced back, her eyes full of warning and provocation.
A breeze whistled through the corridors, rattling the windows, and amidst the din, a brewing storm was quietly forming.
At the end of the corridor, Jiang Wanning let out a muffled moan. Lu Chenzhou came to his senses and realized Shen Zhihe was brushing eraser crumbs from Gu Hanzhi's hair. The boy's fingertips hovered just above her ear, not touching, yet the air around them rippled. In the shadows, Lin Yue pulled out her phone and pressed the shutter. The cold light of the screen made her pupils glow green. In the background, Jiang Wanning's excited "I got it" and Lu Chenzhou's racing heartbeat echoed.
As a chill crept up her spine through the cracks in the tiles, Gu Hanzhi's hands, stilled as she was parsing a relative clause, suddenly stopped. The pencil lead scratched a long, nasty gash on the paper. She turned stiffly, peering through the half-open classroom window and catching a glimpse of a familiar, long black hair at the end of the hallway. Lin Yue leaned against the doorframe of Class 5, a cigarette flickering between her fingers, her gaze like a poisoned blade, piercing her back.
"Hanzhi, what's wrong with you?" Shen Zhihe's warm breath brushed against her ear. He paused mid-bend, pointing at his workbook. His sleeves carried a faint woody scent. Gu Hanzhi abruptly took a half step back, her lower back colliding with the corner of the table. The pain made her eyelids ache. Memories flooded back like a tide. Back in junior high, Lin Yue had watched her trapped in the restroom like this, a triumphant smile playing on his lips.
"There's no need to waste your time on me, Mr. Shen." Her voice was as cold as ice, her nails digging into her palm. "You don't have to explain the exercises to me." Her fingertips had just touched the edge of the workbook when Shen Zhihe held her wrist. The warmth of the boy's palm nearly burned her to tears, but she stubbornly turned her face away, not daring to meet the concern in his eyes.
Shen Zhihe was silent for a moment, then slowly withdrew his hand. He turned and pulled out a bottle of strawberry-flavored milk from the side pocket of his schoolbag. The aluminum foil packaging shone softly in the sunlight. Condensation on the bottle's body slid down the curve, soaking the cuffs of his school uniform. "The last bottle at the convenience store," he whispered, gently pushing the milk toward Gu Hanzhi. He had searched three blocks for that familiar milk aroma.
Gu Hanzhi stared at the cartoon strawberry pattern on the bottle, her throat tightening. In junior high, she'd secretly saved money to buy milk, only to be knocked over by Lin Yue. The sound of shattering glass still stung her eardrums in her dreams. Shen Zhihe's voice was like a ball of soft cotton, yet it reminded her of all the kindness that had been shattered. "Why..." The words reached her lips, but she swallowed them back. She grabbed the milk and stuffed it into the drawer, where the metal door slammed against the table leg with a dull thud.
A sudden gust of wind whipped up from outside the window, carrying Lin Yue's laughter from the corridor into the classroom, along with the smell of cigarette smoke. Gu Hanzhi felt a chill run down her spine, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her pen. Shen Zhihe quietly gathered up the scattered draft papers, and as he stood up, the hem of his shirt brushed against her burning cheek. Before leaving, he whispered, so softly only the two of them could hear, "Drink the milk while it's hot."
The moment the classroom door closed, Gu Hanzhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Trembling, she reached for the milk. The strawberry pattern on the foil packaging seemed to smile back at her. Downstairs, the sound of Lin Yue's high heels echoed, each one like the beat of a drum against her heart. As her fingertips brushed the cool bottle, she suddenly remembered Shen Zhihe's reddened ears—it turned out he'd been even more nervous than she was when he handed her the milk.
A gentle breeze rustled a half-opened exercise book. Gu Hanzhi stared at the bottle of strawberry milk in the drawer, the foil wrapper reflecting her red eyes. Tears fell on the condensed water on the bottle, creating tiny ripples. She huddled in her seat, arms folded, her mumbling faded into the empty classroom: "Why... are you so nice to me?" Suddenly, familiar footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway. She hurriedly wiped her face and looked up, only to see Lin Yue looking at her with a half-smile.
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