Secret Crush
"I'm not joining Ding Yuan's lousy play! I read the script—my lines are a full four pages, two thousand words! Harder to memorize than a textbook. And she asks for help with such a bad attitude. I'd rather die, jump off the tallest Yuansi Building, than help her."
Amid the noisy end of evening self-study, Xie Yue leaned back in his chair, ranting passionately.
Chen Yiyang was still looking at the medicine in his desk, where Yun Mi had left him a note.
"Get some rest"
Beside it was a little rabbit emoji.
The boy lowered his eyes.
It was the first time Chen Yiyang had really looked at Yun Mi's handwriting. Like her, it was reserved yet expressive, with a certain resilience.
After a long silence without a response, Xie Yue shook his chair, turned his head coldly, and said, "Chen Yiyang, are you even listening to me?"
"..."
Chen Yiyang deigned to speak: "Xie Yue."
"Huh?"
Chen Yiyang glanced casually toward the first row, where the classmate Xie Yue was complaining about was nearly in tears, and Yun Mi was comforting her, hand on her knee.
Chen Yiyang's tone was indifferent: "You really don't want to join?"
Xie Yue had been grumbling for ages, going over his dissatisfaction again and again, but never changing the subject.
Hearing the doubt, Xie Yue scoffed, his tone firm: "Would I want to join? Be Ding Yuan's slave!"
As he spoke, the boy in the back seat slowly lowered his legs from the crossbar of the desk. Chen Yiyang picked up his pen, stood up, and walked out of the classroom.
A sense of foreboding surged in Xie Yue's heart. He quickly looked up and called out, "Hey? Hey? A Yang, where are you going? What are you doing?"
Chen Yiyang's figure was tall and unrestrained, his loose school uniform making his shoulders look broad and his waist narrow. He glanced back, his handsome face carrying a hint of mischief. Seeming in a good mood, he raised an eyebrow teasingly: "Brother Yue, remember to memorize your two thousand words tonight."
"..."
Xie Yue froze on the spot, his face instantly falling.
"Chen Yiyang, I'll kill you!"
By the time Chen Yiyang had signed the form, Xie Yue was already sharpening his knife for murder. Fortunately, Old Qi, the homeroom teacher, stopped him in time.
Chen Yiyang's and Zhou Shihui's math competition over the summer was significant for Shanfu. Old Qi had previously talked to Chen Yiyang, knowing his target major in college was international relations, a liberal arts field.
Old Qi called him out, and after discussing the competition, inevitably brought up the subject selection form: "Does your family know? It needs to be signed."
Chen Yiyang had mentioned something similar to the old man, but that was when he was in first year of middle school, when the old man could still go out in a wheelchair to enjoy the sun. Now the old man was in a hospital bed, dying.
Chen Yiyang thought for a few seconds and said, "Maybe they know."
Old Qi said earnestly, "Zhou Shihui, regardless of his ranking this time, will be recommended for admission next year."
Chen Yiyang knew what Old Qi was going to say.
The boy's figure was tall and straight, in a dark blue school uniform, with black hair and black eyes, giving off a youthful and cool aura.
He leaned on the railing, looking at the adjacent Zhonghua Building. In the night, the Zhonghua Building stood aloof.
It was the oldest building in Shanfu, low-rise, built in 1937, during the war-torn years.
On its roof was a scale clock that had long stopped working. The founding female principal had given it a meaning: "Youth's time should not be wasted."
Chen Yiyang squinted, exuding a sharp, enterprising aura. He smiled, a bit arrogant, invincible. He said, "He is he, I am me."
-
"Mimi, are you picking liberal arts or sciences for the subject selection form?"
After school, in the music classroom, the voices gradually quieted down.
Ding Yuan handed out the scripts one by one, briefly rehearsed the process, then took a bottle of water and walked to the corner to find Yun Mi.
Tomorrow was the school celebration. Yun Mi only needed to assist Xu Zhiyu in selling chestnuts. Essentially, she was just a mascot with nothing much to do.
The mascot rested her chin on her hand, unconsciously thinking again about Ding Yuan's words—"Don't you think... you care too much?"
She said, "Sciences."
Yun Mi didn't know what she wanted to do in the future. She originally had a plan, but now it was completely shattered.
The only thing she was sure of was that she kind of wanted to be in the same class as Chen Yiyang.
Not kind of. She really wanted to.
That way, Chen Yiyang could keep teaching her.
Just as she was lost in thought, a commotion came from the door.
Someone shouted, "Goddess Xu is here to give everyone fruit!"
Yun Mi looked up.
In the crowd, a girl in a school uniform had a cool temperament, with long black hair reaching her waist. Xu Zhiyu had bought a large bag of small oranges to thank the students in Class One for helping her.
She smiled lightly, handed one out, and gave a slight bow.