School

Books and exam papers piled on the classroom desks like crumbling city walls. Liu Chang'an sat in the last row, and only his desk was neatly organized. Most of his exam papers were pristine and clean.

The Affiliated High School's senior students studied in a separate old building, surrounded by quiet and peaceful grounds. The classrooms were small, yet crammed with seventy students. To save space, there was a single row of desks along each side of the classroom, while the middle rows seated three students each.

An Nuan and Liu Chang'an sat together, with a well-developed, chubby guy named Gao Dewei beside Liu Chang'an.

An Nuan sat at her desk with both legs stretched straight out, reminding Liu Chang'an of the giant compass the math teacher often used. Her slender calves were taut, with gently curving contours and not the slightest hint of slackness. Above the knees, her thighs were rounded and straight. In her athletic shorts, An Nuan had the figure every girl her age envied most.

Long legs, a slim waist, but not a flat chest.

When she saw Liu Chang'an, An Nuan smiled expectantly, her eyes and brows full of teasing. "You skipped class for no reason. Did Huang Shan make you copy the school rules?"

"No."

An Nuan looked a little disappointed, then lowered her voice. "I happened to notice yesterday that Huang Shan followed me on Weibo."

"Isn't that normal?" Liu Chang'an replied nonchalantly. An Nuan was the most popular girl at the Affiliated High School, with over a million followers on Weibo. Liu Chang'an knew that her mother actually managed the account. As a senior student, An Nuan hardly had the time to run an influencer account herself.

"Huang Shan follows a lot of female streamers, too. I never would've guessed," An Nuan said with a mischievous grin. Part of why she wanted to gossip about Huang Shan was that he and her mother had been college classmates, so he paid An Nuan extra attention at school.

"When people are young, they admire their parents; when they discover beauty, they admire young girls; when they have a wife, they admire their wife; when they serve in office, they admire their ruler; and when they have free time, they admire streamers. Isn't that perfectly normal?" Liu Chang'an said matter-of-factly. "Mencius said that."

An Nuan burst out laughing. "Then you must be the 'when they discover beauty, they admire young girls' type."

"'Young girls' means girls like you." Liu Chang'an glanced at An Nuan.

A faint blush tinged An Nuan's tender cheeks. She rolled her eyes at him. Perhaps because the college entrance exams were so close and they would soon be going their separate ways, Liu Chang'an seemed to be getting more and more shameless.

She remembered that back in their first year, Liu Chang'an had been a little dazed and slow, seeming to spend every day lost in thought. Gradually, though, he had become more normal, no different from the other students.

"Fatty, can I see your notes from yesterday? I wasn't here." An Nuan leaned past Liu Chang'an and asked Gao Dewei. It wasn't as if Liu Chang'an had been at school yesterday either, but even if he had, An Nuan wouldn't have expected him to take notes. As far as she remembered, Liu Chang'an only wrote reading notes and never took notes in class.

"Huh, you weren't here yesterday?" Gao Dewei asked, apparently only just realizing it. He handed her his notebook in surprise. "We covered some pretty important stuff yesterday. Take a look—it might even show up as a big exam question."

An Nuan took the notebook. Seeing how little Liu Chang'an seemed to care about why she'd been absent, she used Gao Dewei's notebook to smack him on the back. Liu Chang'an retaliated by jerking his elbow back and bumping into her.

An Nuan cried out in pain, clutched her chest, and slumped over her desk. You jerk!

Just then, Huang Shan came over. Seeing An Nuan's condition, he asked with concern, "An Nuan, has your fever gone down? If you're not feeling well, you can go home and rest for another day."

"I'm fine. I'm just a little sleepy. I'll be all right if I lie down for a bit." An Nuan raised her head and forced a smile.

"Take care of yourself. If you don't feel better, go see the school nurse."

After Huang Shan left, An Nuan turned to glare furiously at Liu Chang'an, her cheeks flushed.

"I've gotten a little stronger lately and haven't gotten used to it yet. I put too much force into that just now," Liu Chang'an said, somewhat embarrassed. An Nuan had turned sideways to take the notebook. He'd only meant to bump the arm she'd used to hit him, but he hadn't expected to hit the soft spot on her chest.

A young girl's chest was often described as soft and tender, and was naturally delicate and fragile.

"If this were one of the stories in Biographies of Exemplary Women, I'd have to cut it off!" An Nuan thought of the book Liu Chang'an had once held, that piece of feudal cultural trash, Biographies of Exemplary Women.

"I felt something unusual when I touched your chest just now. It might be a lump caused by poor circulation from your high fever." Liu Chang'an closed the copy of Zi Bu Yu in his hand, pressed his thumb into his palm, and held out his hand to An Nuan. "I can massage it for you to improve your circulation and fix the problem."

"Get lost!" An Nuan immediately picked up the notebook and slammed it down on Liu Chang'an's palm. She'd only put a foam pad in her bra.

After school, An Nuan called out to Liu Chang'an and asked him to walk home with her. But she wanted to practice setting in the gym for a while, so she told him to wait.

Liu Chang'an went to the gym and sat in the stands. A little while later, An Nuan changed into her sportswear, came onto the court, waved at Liu Chang'an, and began practicing.

An Nuan was one of the Affiliated High School's star volleyball players, and she was certainly skilled. Still, after watching them for a while, Liu Chang'an thought they had a long way to go compared with the young women of the eighties who had fought with everything they had to defend their country's honor.

This was an age of entertainment above all, when anything and everything could be entertainment. Liu Chang'an's gaze also settled on the beautiful girls' long legs. Perhaps influenced by An Nuan, the Affiliated High School's volleyball team took appearance into account when recruiting members. Besides, a high school team could hardly be all that professional. The masculine features and muscular builds of female athletes, as Liu Chang'an remembered them, were nowhere to be seen on the Affiliated High School team.

There would be a volleyball match after the college entrance exams, and it would be An Nuan's last time representing the Affiliated High School. In her six years there, she had grown deeply attached to the volleyball team and treasured this opportunity. So even with the exams fast approaching, she still made time to practice and keep from getting rusty. Besides, An Nuan believed that moderate exercise would help her stay in better shape and could only benefit her studies.

Seeing Liu Chang'an looking around, his gaze seeming to wander over the other girls instead of staying on her, An Nuan quietly stopped practicing, lifted her hand, and smacked the ball toward him.

As captain, An Nuan had enough strength and aim for that. Hearing the wind, Liu Chang'an reached out and caught the volleyball firmly.

"Not bad—you looked pretty cool!" An Nuan exclaimed in surprise, then clapped with a laugh. Most people would probably have batted the ball away or dodged it. Few could catch it so securely. Though An Nuan hadn't used all her strength, she knew it wasn't easy to catch the ball like that.

Liu Chang'an raised his hand and hit the ball back toward An Nuan.

Thinking about the way Liu Chang'an had caught it, An Nuan felt a sudden urge to try. She wanted to smack the ball back.

Only when the ball was halfway to her did An Nuan realize it was following an arc. She hurriedly turned sideways and leapt to block it.

"Smack!"

The volleyball hit An Nuan right in the face. She staggered backward several steps, cried out, and fell to the ground. Her nose hurt terribly, and blood immediately began to stream from it.

Liu Chang'an froze for a moment. What was the point of jumping up to block the ball with her face?