All Is in the Past

Jiang Ning pedaled on, his heart calm as still water. He recalled Xue Yuantong from his previous life. How had she gotten home that night? Back then, his heart had been wholly occupied by Shen Qing'e, and he had never paid attention to the girls in his class. Still, he vaguely remembered arriving especially early the next morning, among the first few students in class. He had seen Xue Yuantong with slightly messy hair and wrinkles in her military training uniform, as if she had spent the entire night sleeping facedown in the classroom.

Thinking it over, Jiang Ning gradually understood. If he had not stopped Xue Yuantong that night, she probably really would have stayed in the classroom all night.

She was truly foolish and silly! He could not help thinking of Xue Yuantong in her senior year of high school. By then, she had grown up, reaching a height of 1.6 meters. Her childish features had fully matured, and with her top score in the entire city and her peculiar personality, countless people in the school admired her.

A Little Transparent like Jiang Ning had absolutely no connection with her.

Yet in the end, Xue Yuantong, who should have created miracles and lived a dazzling life, was diagnosed with Leukemia on the eve of the college entrance exam.

A life ended just like that, like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

From then on, Jiang Ning understood what tragedy was.

Xue Yuantong was nearly the most outstanding girl Jiang Ning had encountered in this life—not because of her family background, but purely because of her talent.

He suddenly smiled and called out to the girl who had yet to bloom, brimming with stubbornness, timidity, and pride, "Xue Yuantong, want to feel the wind?"

"Feel the wind? How?" Xue Yuantong asked.

"I'll speed up," Jiang Ning said.

Xue Yuantong grumbled inwardly. How fast could a bicycle possibly go? "Bring it on!"

"Hold tight," Jiang Ning warned.

Xue Yuantong did not care. What a joke. Was she the type to get scared?

Then, as Jiang Ning gradually accelerated, Xue Yuantong's expression shifted from disdain to surprise, then finally to terror.

When she came back to herself, she found her arms wrapped around Jiang Ning's waist. She had long forgotten about propriety between men and women. The wind howled past her ears, and the scenery on either side of the road flew backward.

It was too fast. She felt as though she were flying inches above the ground. Her body went rigid, and her arms clamped tightly around Jiang Ning. The Mountain Bike shot into the boundless darkness like an arrow released from its bow.

If there had been even a small stone on the road, the entire bike would have been flung away. She wanted to live. She wanted to loudly stop Jiang Ning, but she had completely forgotten how to open her mouth. Xue Yuantong's heart held nothing but shock.

At that extreme speed, Xue Yuantong's mind gradually emptied, as though she were eternally falling into a vast, hollow ravine.

Then she sensed the bike gradually slowing down.

Jiang Ning had just reached a speed of over seventy kilometers per hour. He could have gone even faster, but he was worried Xue Yuantong would fall off the back. Besides, this Mountain Bike might not be able to withstand it.

The Mountain Bike was a popular Giant model that cost over two thousand yuan, but Jiang Junlong did not know how to maintain it, so its performance was no longer at its peak.

As the speed returned to normal, Jiang Ning turned off the Dam.

"We're here."

As soon as he spoke, the bike stopped in front of a single-story house.

Xue Yuantong took a breath, released the arms that had locked around Jiang Ning, and shakily slid off the back seat.

She stared at Jiang Ning in fear. Just now, she had nearly thought she was going to die. Even now, her heart was pounding wildly, and her legs remained stiff.

Xue Yuantong took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

"How was it?" Jiang Ning asked.

Xue Yuantong rubbed her face and said dismissively, "Not bad. I didn't expect someone with those skinny little arms and legs to ride that fast. You've managed to pique my interest a little."

"Sure. I'll go even faster next time. I guarantee you'll be satisfied," Jiang Ning said.

Xue Yuantong: ...Are you trying to kill me?

"Wait for me here." Leaving that behind, Xue Yuantong went inside. When she came back out, she had two large peaches in her hands.

"Here. They grew on my grandma's tree. They're especially sweet."

"Also, thanks for taking me for a ride tonight." After saying that, she went back inside without looking back.

Repaying kindness was Xue Yuantong's way of doing things.

And to Jiang Ning, Xue Yuantong's act of pretending to be calm despite being clearly terrified was also a rare source of amusement.

September 2nd.

Jiang Ning headed to school as usual. After riding only a few hundred meters, he spotted Xue Yuantong walking along the road. She seemed to have left for school much later than usual.

"Get on," Jiang Ning called.

"Fine. I was planning to run three kilometers today, but since you invited me, I won't run." As she spoke, Xue Yuantong slowly climbed onto the back seat.

"I boiled two eggs. I'll give you one." Xue Yuantong never accepted a ride for free.

"Ride slower today. There are people on the road," she reminded him. It was definitely not because she was scared; she simply did not want to hit any pedestrians.

"Don't worry," Jiang Ning said.

As Xue Yuantong admired the morning scenery, she could not help recalling the misery of walking to school a few days ago. Comparing hardship with sweetness, she felt that life was truly wonderful now.

Then she recalled last night's ride. It had been too fast. She had never seen anyone ride a bicycle so fast it seemed to fly. Since she had been so frightened at the time, she could not remember exactly how fast they had gone, but even recalling it now left her shaken.

Next time Jiang Ning wants to race like that, I have to think of a way to refuse him. Otherwise, I won't survive his nonsense.

Xue Yuantong thought to herself.

Watching Jiang Ning diligently pedal in front of her, she decided to look after this little brother.

"Jiang Ning, if there's anything you don't understand in your studies from now on, feel free to ask me!"

"Sure."

"Huh? Why aren't you arguing?" Xue Yuantong asked strangely. They were both students in the regular classes at No.4 Middle School. Logically, her grades should have been about the same as Jiang Ning's.

If it had been someone else, they probably would have objected. After all, who was looking after whom was not necessarily clear.

Jiang Ning thought, Because I know how incredible you were in your previous life. No one in all of Yuzhou City could compare to you.

He told Xue Yuantong, "You look like a kid who gets good grades."

"???" Why did that sound wrong to Xue Yuantong? Yet Jiang Ning's tone was utterly sincere, which comforted her somewhat while also making things less fun. How nice would it have been if Jiang Ning had questioned her? Then she could go all out in the Monthly Exam and crush the entire grade with overwhelming scores. At that point, she could slap her report card in Jiang Ning's face and tell him with a gaze that held thirty percent arrogance, thirty percent sympathy, and forty percent indifference:

I am a woman beyond your imagination.

Then Jiang Ning would bow his head and worship her, treating her as a god from then on.

"Ha ha ha." Imagining that scene, Xue Yuantong laughed out loud in delight.

An old man on the River Dam glanced at her and helplessly shook his head. Even the little Yellow Dog trailing behind him shot her a sidelong look, radiating disdain.

Xue Yuantong put her little serious face back on. After the fantasy, she felt somewhat empty again.

There was a reason she attended No.4 Middle School. She had originally gone to middle school at Yuzhou No.14 Middle School. During the first Monthly Exam of her first year, her score had surged into the top ten of the entire grade.

If she had not deliberately concealed some of her ability, first place in the entire school should have been hers.

That Math Test Paper had been extremely difficult, yet she had beaten the second-place student in math by nearly twenty points.

The Math Teacher was an elegant woman nearing forty. In the month since school started, Xue Yuantong had never once seen her wear the same outfit twice. It was obvious how many clothes she must have had at home.

Since Xue Yuantong was good at math, she naturally received encouragement from the Math Teacher, who lavishly praised her in front of the entire class, nearly praising her to the heavens.

Not long afterward, the Math Teacher started an after-school tutoring class that cost one thousand yuan per semester. Some classmates joined it.

Xue Yuantong did not. Given her family circumstances, one thousand yuan was a substantial sum. Her mother's monthly income was not much more than that.

As the tutoring class began, the Math Teacher's attitude toward the students changed. She started sneering at and mocking students in class who had not joined the tutoring class.

Because Xue Yuantong was a good student, she received less ridicule. But students with poor math grades who had not enrolled in the tutoring class were frequently singled out for all kinds of sarcastic attacks and harsh humiliation.

As for any student who had paid the tutoring fee and joined her class, her attitude was excellent, always pleasant and kind.

The Math Teacher held back material during lessons. Some of the more classic problems were only explained in her tutoring class.

In the end, left with no choice, more than twenty students in one class joined the tutoring class.

She taught three classes, with more than seventy students attending in total. With two semesters a year, she earned over a hundred thousand yuan.

Xue Yuantong could not stand her behavior. You run a tutoring class? You withhold material? Fine. I won't join your tutoring class, and I'll still crush every student you teach.

Xue Yuantong achieved it without much effort. Her math scores opened up a chasm between her and everyone else's. Yet what she received in return was even harsher attacks from the Math Teacher—endless sneers and mockery. Once, when she could not hold back and talked back, the enraged Math Teacher slapped her.

Xue Yuantong's eyes had been red that day. She was deeply upset. When she got home, her mother asked what had happened to her face, and she said she had fallen by accident.

She had considered telling her mother the real reason.

But her mother was just an ordinary person. She could not help, and it would only keep her awake at night.

Against someone as vicious as the Math Teacher, her mother would gain no advantage.

She had considered transferring schools. With her grades, as long as she was willing to reveal all her ability, another middle school would definitely accept her.

But transferring schools would require informing her mother, so Xue Yuantong eventually gave up.

She heard from classmates who attended the tutoring class that the Math Teacher's husband had some standing. Otherwise, the school would not have tolerated her behavior.

Those students who attended the tutoring class sounded deeply frustrated whenever they spoke of it. Not everyone was well-off. Many came from ordinary families, and spending one thousand yuan on tutoring hurt badly, but they could only pay to avoid trouble.

So Xue Yuantong decided to strike back at the Math Teacher in her own way. She knew very well that if she performed normally on the high school entrance exam, the Math Teacher would certainly benefit from her math score as well.

Just thinking about it made her sick.

So in the math exam room for the high school entrance exam, she did something bold that she had never done before: she handed in a blank math paper, throwing away all 150 points.

It was very willful, but Xue Yuantong had calculated it beforehand. The total score for the high school entrance exam, including physical education and experimental subjects, was 925 points. Even if she gave up 150 points, she could still get a decent score. She might not get into No.2 Middle School, but No.4 Middle School would be no problem.

She wanted to strike back at the Math Teacher with a zero score, then attract attention after the results came out and tell everyone about her zero in math, exposing the Math Teacher's actions.

Yet this plan failed. With her overall entrance exam score, she did not receive much attention. No one came to interview her. No one cared about a fallen genius. Only the Class Teacher, after learning her total score, showed some regret.

What she received more of was her classmates' cold indifference and gloating. After all, someone who had once ranked in the top ten of the grade had scored only a little over six hundred on the high school entrance exam, not even reaching the threshold for No.2 Middle School.

That day, Xue Yuantong grew up.

If she had entered the Experimental Class at No.2 Middle School with the highest score in all of Yuzhou City, perhaps she would have received plenty of attention. People would have asked her questions and interviewed her. Then she could have naturally revealed the Math Teacher's behavior.

The top score in the city would also have earned her a considerable Scholarship, easing her mother's burden.

Unfortunately, the Xue Yuantong who had handed in a blank paper in that exam room had possessed nothing but defiance toward authority, fearless passion, and the wild imaginings unique to youth.

As for the consequences of that decision, she had never considered them. She had only wanted to take revenge in her own way and settle three years of grievances.

The missing 150 points had indeed cost her many things.

But if someone were to turn back now and ask Xue Yuantong whether she regretted it—

Xue Yuantong pursed her lips, her eyelashes lifting slightly as her gaze fell upon the vast Hui River.