Chapter 4
In September, the summer heat lingered in this small northern town. The classroom of Class 3, Grade 1 at the county's No. 1 High School was filled with the noise and curiosity of new faces meeting each other.
Xu Nianlei chose a seat in the second-to-last row by the window, her usual corner, inconspicuous, yet with a view of the old locust tree outside. She lowered her head, organizing her brand-new textbooks, a faint anticipation of high school life mingling with a deeper fear of her mother's increasingly strict control.
A slight commotion came from the doorway. She instinctively looked up, her gaze instantly freezing on something.
Lu Baiyan, dressed in a clean blue and white school uniform and carrying a rather heavy backpack, walked in quietly. They had attended the same junior high school for three years, but had hardly spoken since, yet she recognized him instantly. He seemed to have grown taller, his features more defined, and his innate aloofness and shyness seemed even more pronounced.
His gaze swept calmly across the classroom, and then he walked straight to the empty seat next to her.
"Is anyone here?" His voice was a little lower than it was in junior high, but still calm.
Xu Nianlei's heart skipped a beat, almost leaping out of her throat. She shook her head frantically, her voice barely audible: "No, nothing."
"Thank you." Lu Baiyan nodded politely and sat down next to her.
A faint scent, like soap left to dry in the sun, wafted over. Xu Nianlei immediately tensed, her fingers unconsciously curling up. She dared not look at him, only pretending to be intently staring out the window, her heart a turbulent sea. How could she... be sitting next to him again?
During the first week of school, the class committee list was posted. Lu Baiyan was unsurprisingly elected as class monitor. Xu Nianlei's name appeared under the "Deputy Hygiene Committee Member".
The class monitor for hygiene was Liu Yiduo. She was a girl who attracted the attention of the entire class on the very first day of school. She was beautiful, could dance, and her parents were said to be county officials; her family was well-off. Like a proud white swan, she was always surrounded by several girls who centered around her, the most prominent of whom was Wen Wanyu.
During break, Liu Yiduo, holding the duty roster, gracefully walked to Lu Baiyan's seat and said in a sweet voice, "Class monitor, this is our class's cleaning duty schedule for this semester. Would you like to take a look?"
Lu Baiyan was working on a physics problem when he heard this. He looked up, took the form, quickly glanced at it, and nodded: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."
"It's no trouble at all, it's just serving the class." Liu Yiduo smiled, her eyes crinkling. Her gaze lingered on Lu Baiyan's face for a few seconds before she turned and left. As she passed Xu Nianlei's seat, she seemed to glance at her casually, her eyes carrying a hint of scrutiny.
Xu Nianlei lowered her head, feeling a strange tightness in her chest. The way Liu Yiduo and Lu Boyan stood together was like the male and female leads in an idol drama, so perfectly matched it was almost blinding.
After a hygiene inspection, Liu Yiduo and Xu Nianlei returned to the classroom together.
“Xu Nianlei,” Liu Yiduo asked casually, “you and Lu Boyan were classmates in junior high, right?”
“…Hmm.” Xu Nianlei’s heart tightened.
"What's he like as a person? He seems rather unapproachable." Liu Yiduo leaned closer and lowered her voice. "Does he have any likes? Or... anyone he likes?"
Xu Nianlei's heart sank. Liu Yiduo really did have feelings for Lu Baiyan. She clenched her clothes, trying to make her voice sound normal: "I...I'm not sure. We didn't talk much in junior high."
"Oh, I see." Liu Yiduo seemed a little disappointed, but quickly smiled again. "It's okay, we'll all be classmates from now on, we'll get to know each other gradually. By the way, our group is on duty next week, remember to come early."
Watching Liu Yiduo's departing figure, Xu Nianlei felt a weight pressing on her heart. She clearly realized that her deliberately suppressed, vague feelings for Lu Boyan were beginning to surface. But at the same time, a sense of inferiority crept in like vines—someone like Liu Yiduo was more worthy of him.
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