Online Romance

An Nuan ate a few bites and drank some water. Across the way, a long line had formed outside the stinky tofu shop, though she couldn't tell whether the people in it were tourists or stand-ins. Steam rose from the enormous iron pot, and a few blackened tofu cubes were lifted out with long bamboo chopsticks and drenched in bright red chili oil and sauce. They looked mouthwatering—at least until you actually ate them.

"The sauce is really the most important part of stinky tofu. The tofu has to be fried until it's crispy on the outside and tender inside. It's a technical skill, and every major brand has its own secret recipe." Liu Chang'an followed An Nuan's gaze.

"Liu Chang'an, you went three years of high school without dating anyone. Don't you think that's a shame?" An Nuan cut off his urge to ramble. He really could go on about anything, citing sources and making arguments, tracing things back through history. She was afraid he'd start explaining the soybeans, the grinding, the water used for the tofu, the preparation, and everything else involved in making stinky tofu, so the question slipped out before she could stop herself.

Liu Chang'an looked at An Nuan.

An Nuan felt a little flustered. Her eyelashes lowered, hiding the restless glimmer in her eyes. She wasn't even sure what kind of answer she wanted, or what she was hoping for. Did she really want something to happen, or did she just want to confirm something?

Liu Chang'an hesitated, then said, a little sheepishly, "Does online dating count?"

An Nuan thought, Oh no. Have I been just as conceited as Bai Hui? Only then did she realize what she most wanted to know: whether Liu Chang'an had feelings for her. As for anything else, she wasn't ready for it.

So An Nuan relaxed her stiff posture, took a few more bites of rice, and then said casually, "Online dating? I guess that counts..."

That made sense. That day, Liu Chang'an had only explained what had happened three years ago. He'd only said that he thought she was prettier than Bai Hui; that didn't mean he still had any special feelings for her three years later.

It was probably for the best. The college entrance exam was so close, and she shouldn't be getting carried away. Even if Liu Chang'an really did like her, she wouldn't accept him... He spent all day drifting aimlessly, doing nothing, and teasing girls...

Besides, all she had wanted was proof that she was prettier than Bai Hui. Seeing Bai Hui take that hit had made her pretty happy.

"Are you mad at your chopsticks, or at your rice?" Liu Chang'an saw An Nuan furiously stabbing her bowl with her chopsticks. Rice was flying everywhere, and she was glaring viciously at nothing in particular. "Don't waste food. 'At noon, as the farmer hoes the field, sweat falls onto the soil. Who knows that every grain in the bowl comes from hardship?' You learned that poem in primary school..."

"You can have this bowl too. No need to thank me. Take your time, enjoy your meal, and please don't waste a single grain." An Nuan dumped all her rice into Liu Chang'an's bowl and stormed out of the dining hall.

Young girls sure had tempers. Liu Chang'an smiled and slowly ate his meal, not minding that An Nuan had already eaten from it. The college entrance exam was coming up, and An Nuan wasn't like Bai Hui. She should focus on her studies and stop getting distracted.

After finishing his meal, Liu Chang'an filled a bowl with the dining hall's free soup: pork bone and kelp. There was only one pork bone in the whole pot, but plenty of kelp in ragged pieces. It seemed they hadn't added anything but salt, so it tasted fairly plain. Liu Chang'an sipped it slowly. A few slices of ginger would have made it more savory. Fennel would have been good too, but it seemed rare these days. Not many people ate it, and it was expensive.

Liu Chang'an glanced at the news and received a message on WeChat.

"A boy in my class confessed to me while we were singing at a KTV... But I don't like him, and the college entrance exam is coming up. I don't want to get distracted by this, but he also sits next to me. What do you think I should do?"

There was a video attached, the one of Liu Chang'an at the KTV.

Liu Chang'an watched it. It was the first time he'd seen the video that had been circulating among their classmates. He didn't care what people thought of him because of it, but watching himself perform made him feel a little awkward. His mouth felt dry. He chuckled, then quickly took a sip of soup.

"Does the whole class know about it now? Even the homeroom teacher?" Liu Chang'an asked.

"Yes. My mom and our homeroom teacher were classmates. The teacher forwarded it to my mom, and now I'm so annoyed. The college entrance exam is so important! He picked the worst possible time. It's not just distracting me; it's bad for him too, and it sets a bad example for the class. I think it's really awful."

Liu Chang'an thought for a moment, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. He typed out a line: "Since he's the one-sidedly interested party, I think it'd be better if your mom talked to him."

"Isn't that the homeroom teacher's job?"

"The homeroom teacher can't do much. Besides, they're both his students... He probably thinks this is a critical time and that if he handles it badly, he'll be held responsible. Forwarding the video to your mom was his way of getting the parents involved."

"That makes sense. I'll think about it some more."

You'll think about it some more? Shouldn't you say, 'That makes sense. I'll ask my mom to think about it some more'?

Liu Chang'an carried the food he'd bought for Gao Dewei back to the classroom. He'd barely set it down when Huang Shan called him to the office.

Naturally, the reason he'd been called in was to discuss Liu Chang'an and An Nuan. Huang Shan made a point of telling him that An Nuan's mother already knew about the incident and had wanted to talk to Liu Chang'an. Huang Shan had stopped her. His position was that An Nuan's parents should handle calming her down, working through the issue with her, and communicating with her, while he would talk to Liu Chang'an.

Liu Chang'an felt a little disappointed. He'd actually been looking forward to meeting her mother.

Huang Shan had forwarded the video out of care for his students and concern for their friendships, not because he intended to leave the matter unhandled.

As an old hand at being a homeroom teacher, Huang Shan was naturally experienced at dealing with this sort of thing. After a long, earnest talk about the bigger picture, he arranged for Liu Chang'an to switch seats with Miao Yingying.

The college entrance exam was just around the corner. That made it all the more important to prevent any trouble. In Huang Shan's view, the matter had to be handled discreetly, gently, and firmly.

"What was our homeroom teacher thinking? Why'd he suddenly switch our seats?" Gao Dewei asked, sounding confused and annoyed. "I barely know Miao Yingying. I've hardly spoken to her. This is awkward."

Gao Dewei was the only one who didn't know why it had happened. No one had told him, because he never went out of his way to keep up with gossip.

"Maybe it's because graduation's coming up, and the homeroom teacher wants Liu Chang'an to get his wish." An Nuan tidied Liu Chang'an's desk, smiling brightly. "Off you go. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Gao Dewei did know the three-year-old rumor, but he also knew Huang Shan wouldn't have switched their seats for that reason. So he patted Liu Chang'an on the shoulder in sympathy.

"I'll come watch you play volleyball after school," Liu Chang'an told An Nuan.

An Nuan shot him a sidelong look. He was acting like nothing had happened... She couldn't help wondering: At the KTV, had he known Bai Hui would turn him down if he confessed, so he'd deliberately used a reverse strategy? Did he actually still like Bai Hui? Was An Nuan just a temporary shield for him?

If that was the case, Liu Chang'an was far too clever. He'd gotten exactly what he wanted and managed to get close to Bai Hui in the little time they had left!

"Ow!"

An Nuan's scalp hurt. She looked up and saw that Liu Chang'an had tapped her on the head.

An Nuan reached out to pinch his waist, but Liu Chang'an dodged.

"Study hard, and stop getting carried away. Otherwise, getting into the same university as me might be too much for you."

"Who wants to go to the same university as you?" An Nuan shot back. "Go to the same university as your Bai Hui."

Liu Chang'an tapped her on the head again, picked up his books, and left.

An Nuan watched Liu Chang'an's back, the empty seat beside her, and Miao Yingying's shy, blissful smile. Suddenly she felt a little bereft, as if the separation that would come after the college entrance exam had arrived early. Her heart felt empty, the space in front of her felt empty, and no matter what she tried to hold on to, she couldn't grasp it. The time she wanted so badly would never come back.

Scene after scene flowed through her mind like interwoven light and shadow. Habits were hard to change. Most people tried to change other things to suit their habits. An Nuan couldn't call Liu Chang'an back. She only felt that her routine had been forcibly changed, and everything from her hair to her toes felt wrong.

She took a deep breath. Even the air around her felt awkward.

"The three of us have about the same grades. It'd be nice if we could get into the same university." Gao Dewei sounded rather hopeful.

"Huh?" An Nuan came back to herself. Her grades really were about the same as Liu Chang'an's, but she still had some catching up to do to match Gao Dewei. In the practice exams the school held, everyone chased after each other, sometimes falling behind by ten or twenty points, only to catch up the next time. But the college entrance exam happened only once. If you scored ten or twenty points lower that day, you'd be ten or twenty points behind for the rest of your life. Gao Dewei was the one who would take up Huang Shan's charge—or, more accurately, the Affiliated High School's charge—and aim for the top science score in the province.

"The highest and lowest scores for admission to Wudaokou Vocational College in our province are fifty or sixty points apart every year. Sometimes it's even seventy or eighty," Gao Dewei said encouragingly. He thought An Nuan was worried because her score was so far behind his.

An Nuan rolled her eyes at Gao Dewei. If someone else had heard that encouragement, they would have thought he was showing off.

But An Nuan didn't mind. Suddenly, she realized what Liu Chang'an had meant: he wanted to go to the same university as her?

An Nuan couldn't help sneaking a glance at Liu Chang'an's back. She thought of scenes from all the novels and movies she'd seen, especially her favorite campus romance stories. Wasn't the biggest wish of the male and female leads to attend the same university?

An Nuan ground her teeth as she glared at Liu Chang'an. Just as she'd been thinking all this, he had settled into his new seat, facing Bai Hui and smiling like a chrysanthemum blooming beneath the bright autumn sun.

Yes, Miao Yingying's former deskmate had been Bai Hui. After switching seats with Miao Yingying, Liu Chang'an had become Bai Hui's deskmate.

June hadn't even arrived, and there was even less time left. Liu Chang'an was no longer An Nuan's deskmate.