Zhou Dongdong cried for a while, then stood there sucking on her fingers and watching Liu Chang'an sell dog meat, repeating the same little phrase under her breath.
Before long, someone spotted Liu Chang'an's setup and came over to take a look. Wiping her nose, Old Lady Liu asked him where he'd gotten the dog.
"Last night, I was watching a construction site for someone when I ran into a person walking a dog. The dog actually came charging over to bite me, so I punched it in the head and killed it. The owner was pretty nice about it. He didn't give me any trouble, didn't want the dog back, and even invited me to tea."
"And you killed it with one punch? Who do you think you are, Wu Song?" Old Lady Liu said disdainfully. "You're not being honest. This dog doesn't have rabies, does it?"
"No way. Dogs like this have usually been vaccinated. A dog that died of rabies would be skinny, with patches where the skin and flesh were broken. Look how full this dog's coat is. Does it look sick to you?"
Old Lady Liu nodded. She held up three fingers, thought for a moment, then held up five.
Quite a few people in Junsha liked eating dog meat; they just weren't keen on buying it from market stalls. For one thing, it looked unhygienic. For another, they worried about where the dogs came from. But when someone had slaughtered a dog themselves, everyone wanted to try some while it was fresh. The dog weighed over a hundred jin, and people bought three jin here, five jin there. By the end of the morning, it was all gone.
Liu Chang'an gave Zhou Dongdong, who had been crying as she watched him sell dog meat, three jin of it. She cried even harder as she stared at the meat in her hands, then trotted home with it.
By the time he'd sold the dog meat, the dog's innards had finished stewing too. But there wasn't time to make dog-meat sauce, and by the time Liu Chang'an got to school, he was already late.
"You're still late every day at a time like this. You might as well stay home and study." Huang Shan had stopped Liu Chang'an at the school gate again.
"Last night, I ran into a dog and killed it to sell as dog meat. I made a little over a thousand yuan." Liu Chang'an explained why he was late.
Huang Shan held up a finger, at a loss for words. He knew perfectly well that Liu Chang'an hadn't made up that excuse. That was exactly why it struck him as so absurd. In all his years as a teacher, he'd never heard anything like it.
"Go on in." Huang Shan waved him away and shook his head helplessly. Since Liu Chang'an was clearly more self-reliant than an ordinary student, he couldn't be bothered to make an issue of it.
When Liu Chang'an entered the classroom, Miao Yingying was sitting in his seat chatting with Bai Hui. He returned to his old spot and said to An Nuan and Gao Dewei, "I killed a dog last night. Come to my place for dog meat tonight."
"No. I have to study." Gao Dewei was still hopelessly absorbed in his studies and had no interest in anything else.
"What about you?"
"I... I..."
"Never mind. I'll eat it by myself."
An Nuan picked up a paper ball and threw it at Liu Chang'an. He nimbly dodged, and it hit Miao Yingying, who was walking back to her seat.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Right, right, it's all Liu Chang'an's fault... Hee-hee..."
Miao Yingying sat down, glanced at Gao Dewei, who was working on exercises with full concentration, then turned to look at Lin Xinhuai, who was dozing with his head on his desk. There was no need to ask. Lin Xinhuai had definitely spent another all-nighter at an internet café.
Bai Hui still wasn't speaking to Liu Chang'an today. She was also wearing a mask, a cute little duck drawn on its pristine white surface.
At noon, Bai Hui took the mask off. She looked unhappy all day because she'd quietly noticed the copy of Zi Bu Yu that Liu Chang'an often read. He'd left a bookmark on the page titled "Duck Favorite." When he left the classroom, she'd casually flipped to it for a look, and immediately regretted being so nosy.
Why had it taken her until high school was nearly over to realize there was someone as annoying as Liu Chang'an in her class? And why had she ever thought he'd had a crush on her for three years? The thought made her cheeks burn with the shame of a young girl.
After class in the second-to-last period, An Nuan noticed that Huang Shan's car had left early. Before class started, she slung her schoolbag over her shoulder and slipped out through the back of the classroom. She got along well with her classmates, and as class monitor, she turned a blind eye to plenty of things and didn't treat anyone too harshly. She wasn't afraid anyone would report her for sneaking out once. The last period was only self-study, anyway.
Liu Chang'an left just as leisurely, of course. Miao Yingying couldn't help nudging Gao Dewei beside her. "Liu Chang'an and An Nuan skip class all the time. How can you get along with them?"
Gao Dewei thought for a moment, glanced at Miao Yingying, and said, "Because they're good at studying."
Miao Yingying rolled her eyes at him. Someone like that would never find a girlfriend, even in college.
An Nuan didn't actually skip class often. Sometimes she just had to go practice, and when she was at school, she spent most of her time in the gym instead of the classroom. Liu Chang'an, on the other hand, was guilty as charged.
An Nuan waited for Liu Chang'an beside the wall beneath the green cypress trees. Since it wasn't lunchtime or after school, the gate guards would surely question them if they tried to leave. Climbing the wall was the sensible choice.
When she saw Liu Chang'an strolling over at his own pace, An Nuan hopped and waved for him to hurry up. She had to be home before eight that evening, so if she wanted to go to his place for dog meat, skipping a class would give them more time.
"I've never climbed over a wall before." An Nuan clasped her hands behind her back and looked at the high wall, uncertain. This stretch was old, built of red brick and topped with shards of glass to keep people from climbing over. But so many people had climbed it that the glass was missing in patches here and there.
"You climb trees so fast. What's so hard about getting over a wall?" Liu Chang'an didn't believe her. Athletes, especially those who played court sports, had good jumping ability. Getting over a wall like this should be easy.
"When have I ever climbed a tree fast?" An Nuan stamped her foot. Loving sports didn't mean she couldn't be ladylike. A proper young lady wouldn't climb trees.
"Back in our first year, you were playing badminton in PE. The shuttlecock got stuck in a tree, and you climbed up like a monkey and plucked it right down."
An Nuan was a little pleased that Liu Chang'an remembered something she barely did, but displeased that what he remembered was her climbing a tree—and that he'd compared her to a monkey.
An Nuan lifted her leg and kicked at Liu Chang'an, but he nimbly dodged. She glared at him. "Give me a boost."
Since he'd already called her out, An Nuan stopped being coy. She jumped up and grabbed the top of the wall, then turned to signal Liu Chang'an to give her a boost. Climbing was safer with someone helping, and she wouldn't have to struggle and scrape herself on the glass shards nearby.
Liu Chang'an reached out, cupped An Nuan's bottom, and pushed her up. A strange feeling stirred in her heart. Once she'd climbed onto the wall, she turned around and sat down, swinging her long, slender legs. "I'm not letting you up!"
Liu Chang'an stood below, watching her swing her legs. The sunlight glowed behind her, and the strands of hair beside her ears fluttered in the golden-orange light. A faint smile appeared on her lovely face, and her eyes held a playful, accompanying triumph. She softly hummed a little tune, as if notes were tumbling out and swaying along with her beautiful legs.
The tendons behind An Nuan's heels were long, stretching her calves into a taut, slender line. They were beautiful.
"Dummy." An Nuan saw Liu Chang'an looking up at her with a faint smile. She pressed her lips together and chided him, "Hurry up and get up here."
A girl could change her mind in an instant. A moment ago, she hadn't wanted him to climb up; now, if he didn't hurry, he was a dummy.
Liu Chang'an climbed up and sat beside An Nuan. They sat together on the green, moss-covered wall for five minutes, then climbed down on the other side and headed to Liu Chang'an's home.
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