At dusk, the afterglow of the setting sun dyed half the sky red. Soft light spilled down, draping the entire campus in a layer of golden attire.
Amid the tranquility, the dismissal bell suddenly rang. The quiet Yuzhou No. 4 Middle School immediately came alive as students poured out of the classrooms. Before long, the plaza beneath the school buildings had turned into a sea of heads.
Melodious music played over the campus broadcast. The students split into several streams, some chatting and laughing, others walking with their heads lowered in thought, together forming the scene of school letting out.
Ma Shicheng and Wang Longlong headed outside the school together. Jiang Ning, Chen Siyu, and Bai Yuxia went in the opposite direction toward the cafeteria, while Huang Yuzhu made straight for the bike shed, seizing the gap in time to head home for a quick meal.
Some boarding students simply skipped dinner, returning to their dorms to lie around and play on their phones, or asking classmates to bring food back for them.
On the way.
"There are so many people!" Chen Siyu and her sister walked on either side of Jiang Ning, chatting across him.
A little farther back, Bai Yuxia walked alongside Yang Sheng.
Chen Siyu had invited Jiang Ning to eat that afternoon. If she and her sister linked arms, wouldn't Jiang Ning be left all alone?
They had thought it through carefully.
Still, the twins were especially eye-catching. Nearby students glanced over repeatedly, and when Lin Zida from Experimental Class 1 passed by, he deliberately clicked his tongue.
Chen Siqing said, "They admitted twice as many new students this year. It seems the cutoff score went up too—over 630 points. Last year, I think it was only a little over 600?"
Chen Siyu was impressed. "They