transfer students
The May sun filtered through the new leaves of the camphor tree, casting tiny golden specks across the ground. The magnolia tree in front of the teaching building had lost its peak whiteness, and new buds were now spreading along its branches, a touch of timid green. A gentle breeze, carrying the scent of green grass, swept through the corridor, sweeping away the last chill of spring and bringing the unique warmth of early summer.
On the second floor, by the window, Gu Hanzhi's pen rustled across the draft paper, ink trails snaking into fine lines across the blank spaces of the number sequence problem. She tucked her dangling hair behind her ear, her fingertips stained with a faint bluish-black ink.
Shen Zhihe's books were piled higher than he was. He would sometimes bow his head to calculate, sometimes rest his chin on his hand in thought. His notebook was already mostly filled with neat handwriting, even the headers were densely annotated with key points. A stack of review materials separated the two of them, yet they seemed to form a tacit understanding, an air of concentration lingering in the air.
Song Yuhuan, sitting in the front row, remained in the same position, his slender fingers carelessly twirling a pencil, his gaze fixed on the swaying leaves outside the window. The lesson plan spread out before him remained on the same page, the bookmark untouched. His shirt was casually unbuttoned, revealing a faint glimpse of his collarbone. He exuded a cool, repulsive aura.
In the corner of the classroom, Lu Chenzhou and Jiang Wanning lay on the table, quietly observing the three people in the front row as if they had discovered a new world. Lu Chenzhou pushed up his glasses, swallowing his saliva with a rolling Adam's apple. "They've been sitting here for half an hour, and they haven't even raised their heads. Is this really possible for a human being?"
Jiang Wanning's eyes widened, and she even forgot to sip from the milk tea straw in her hand. It took her a while to find her voice. "I just saw Gu Hanzhi solve a big problem with my own eyes, and she didn't even write a draft! What kind of brain is this?" She bit the straw unconsciously, making a "crunching" sound, until Lu Chenzhou reached out and poked her arm: "Stop biting, are your teeth made of steel?"
The sun shone quietly westward outside the window, stretching the four figures long. Sunlight filtered through the office blinds, carving streaks of light and dark across the floor. In the Grade 12 office, chalk dust suspended in a warm golden beam of light. Teacher Pingmei tapped her desk lightly, her gaze lingering for a moment on the transfer student's file before her. Then, she raised her gaze and walked towards Grade 12 (3).
"Teacher Song, come here for a moment."
Footsteps rustled in the hallway. Song Yuhuan pushed open his office door, and the scent of disinfectant mixed with pen ink wafted in his face. His gaze drifted casually to the figure by the window, and his fingers gripping his textbook suddenly tightened. The figure's black, wolf-tail hair curled slightly, two buttons undone on the collar of his white shirt, and the mole on the lower right side of his neck shone softly in the sunlight.
It’s Song Yuyuan.
As the boy turned, his black elastic pants swayed slightly with his movement, and his black and white sneakers were covered in dust, as if he had just finished an intense workout. The silver ring on his left ring finger, engraved with "syh," reflected a cold light as he raised his hand, echoing the swaying white earring on his ear bone.
"Student Song Yuyuan, this is Teacher Song Yuhuan from Class 2 (3) of Senior High School." Teacher Pingmei pushed her glasses up, a professional smile playing at the corners of her eyes. "Do you really want to join this class?"
Song Yuyuan lowered his eyes, his gaze swept across Song Yuhuan's flushed cheeks, his Adam's apple rolling slightly: "I really want to go to this class." His voice had the unique clarity of a teenager, but the ending tone was inexplicably gentle.
Teacher Pingmei's fingertips unconsciously stroked the file bag, and a brief silence fell on the office. As the grade leader, she was well aware of Song Yuyuan's importance—a first-place winner in the city-wide physics competition and a consistent top-three student in his grade on mock exams. Such a promising student should have been placed in the Rocket Class, but the young man before her had stubbornly chosen Class Three.
"But..." The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them back. Song Yuyuan's straight back and unquestionable expression made Pingmei sigh softly. The chirping of cicadas outside the window suddenly became clearer. She flipped open the transfer documents, her pen nib drawing smooth arcs across the paper.
Song Yuhuan's heartbeat nearly burst through his eardrums as he gazed at his brother's calm profile. Though they'd only been apart for an afternoon, it felt like a long-awaited reunion. Sunlight fell on Song Yuyuan's eyelashes, casting fan-shaped shadows beneath his eyes. And the figure hidden deep within his heart was now standing closest to him.
Elsewhere, Jiang Wanning rushed into the classroom, her ponytail swung out in a lively arc behind her, her workbook clutched. She slammed the notebook down on Gu Hanzhi's desk, the compass in her plastic pencil case making a crisp sound. "Hanzhi, Hanzhi! I just heard some shocking news in the office!"
Gu Hanzhi paused twirling her pen, her peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the girl's flushed cheeks—a flush from running too fast, now like a blazing sunset glow, even her eyes glowing behind her lenses. She propped her chin on one hand and let Jiang Wanning's descriptions flow like a machine gun. "I heard the transfer student is from a top high school. His hair is so handsome, and his white shirt is tucked into his black pants. His proportions are just…"
The words suddenly caught in her throat. Jiang Wanning's fingers gripped the corner of the desk tightly, her knuckles turning pale. Gu Hanzhi followed her fixed gaze and saw a tall figure standing at the back door of the classroom. The morning light slanted across the man's shoulders, ironing his white shirt to perfection. Under his slightly curled wolf-tail hair, his angular profile bore a striking resemblance to Teacher Song Ci, who was grading homework in the office.
"How could it be..." Jiang Wanning's voice seemed to have been drained of all its strength. "Those eyebrows, that nose bridge, and the mole on the left earlobe..." She suddenly grabbed Gu Hanzhi's wrist, and the cold touch made the other person shrink subconsciously. "Hanzhi, look, even the silver cufflinks on his cuffs are the same as Teacher Song's!"
Gu Hanzhi narrowed her eyes. The boy leaned against the doorframe, flipping through the enrollment handbook. His eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows under his eyes, but his every move exuded the same calmness as Song Yuhuan. Even more strange, when he raised his head and glanced at Jiang Wanning, the coldness in his eyes perfectly matched the look Song Yuhuan wore when she was correcting homework.
"Maybe they're really brothers?" Gu Hanzhi asked tentatively. Jiang Wanning shook her head violently, digging her nails into her palms. "Impossible..." Her voice suddenly trembled. "And look at the way he flips through the manual. It's exactly the same as Teacher Song's habit of flipping through the lesson plan!"
The noise in the classroom suddenly became distant. The sound of the transfer student's footsteps walking towards the podium gradually overlapped with the sound of Song Yuhuan's footsteps on the wooden floor in my memory.
In the hallway, Song Yuhuan's white sneakers clattered against the wooden floor. She turned to Song Yuyuan, her dimples visible. The sunlight streaming in from the corridor gilded the ends of her hair, which swayed slightly with each step. In contrast, Song Yuyuan's black and white sneakers tapped precisely against the floorboards with each step. His white shirt was buttoned to the top, and the cool white of his wrist bones peeked through the cuffs.
"This is our new classmate Song Yuyuan!" When Song Yuhuan stood on the podium, chalk dust fell on his raised wolf tail. "Although he looks a little fierce, he is the gold medal winner of the National Informatics Competition!" Amid the exclamations from the audience, Song Yuyuan had already taken the chalk from his hand.
The blackboard made a harsh scraping sound under his fingers. After writing the name neatly, the chalk was stuck in the groove with precision. "Song, Yu, Yuan." His voice was like metal dipped in ice water, and each word had a cutting feeling.
The afternoon sun slanted through the classroom windows, casting dappled shadows on the desks. Song Yuyuan casually pulled up a chair and sat down. His black school uniform whipped up a gust of wind as he moved, and the wristwatch peeked from his cuff, a cold gleam. The way he lowered his eyes, sorting through his textbooks, resembled a meticulously sketched image, drawing the glances of the girls in the front row.
The crisp bell for the end of class rang suddenly, startling the sparrows resting on the windowsill. Jiang Wanning rested her chin on her hand, her eyes glued to Song Yuyuan's upright back, muttering to herself, "So what if we're brothers? As long as we look good, that's all!" She bit into a strawberry lollipop, her cheeks puffing out like a greedy little hamster.
Lu Chenzhou leaned against the railing, spinning the basketball nonchalantly with his slender fingers. Suddenly, he curled his lips and raised his eyebrows to look at the person next to him: "What's the use of being handsome? You still can't beat me at basketball. When I go on the court, all the girls in the school will definitely surround me." He deliberately dragged out the last word, and his tone was full of the arrogance unique to young people.
The incandescent lamps cast a warm glow across the classroom, and Jiang Wanning tucked a snack into her mouth. Hearing this, she chuckled softly, her pen nibbling a sharp arc across the draft paper. "Mr. Lu, your nose is practically sticking up your head—" The ending tone was teasing, and as the pages turned, the young man's handsome profile was enveloped in a soft halo.
The sunset after school stained the asphalt road amber. Gu Hanzhi walked forward, stepping on her long, slanted shadow. As she passed the old locust tree at the corner of the alley, two overlapping figures suddenly caught her sight. Song Yuhuan and Song Yuyuan were holding hands, their bony hands gripping the boy's, their gestures very intimate.
The evening breeze lifted the hem of Song Yuhuan's shirt, revealing a cool, pale waistline. Gu Hanzhi suddenly covered her burning face, the tips of her ears burning intensely. Perhaps it was the intimacy that only brothers could feel? She watched their intertwined shadows spread across the wall, then bit her lower lip and hurried away.
Even as she turned into the Gu family compound, Gu Hanzhi could still hear her heartbeat like a drum. The last ray of afterglow on the locust tree quietly extinguished, and she didn't notice that Song Yuyuan and Song Yuhuan were kissing intimately in the alley behind them.
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