A little favoritism

The repair shop fell silent for a few seconds.

Pu Yu still hadn't caught on. Her voice was soft. "Didn't you mean first in our year?"

"When did I ever say first in your year?"

Yuan Su raised his head, the light outlining his cool, sharp jaw. "Does first in one subject not count as first? Do you look down on Chinese or English?"

His words left Pu Yu speechless.

As she watched him act so utterly justified, the disappointment in her chest somehow gave way to a soft warmth.

"Who counts it like that..."

"I do."

Yuan Su picked up the Walkman and casually tossed it back into her arms. "Take your stuff. Don't go looking for trouble and making more work for me."

What did he mean, making more work?

He was clearly bending the rules, openly taking her side.

Pu Yu hugged the Walkman tight, little sparks of light dancing in her eyes.

"Thank you, Yuan Su."

Yuan Su's hands paused. He didn't turn around. "For what?"

Pu Yu pressed her lips together, watching him intently as she said softly, "For being willing to... let me win like this."

"Did you get the direction of the magnetic field backward?" he suddenly asked.

Pu Yu froze. "What?"

Yuan Su glanced at the science score on her report card and asked, "On the last big physics problem in this exam, did you get the magnetic field's direction backward?"

Pu Yu's face instantly flushed.

How did he know?!

That was indeed the problem she'd been least confident about. In the last few minutes before handing in her paper, she'd hastily reversed the direction of the magnetic field she'd originally drawn correctly.

Then, when she checked the answers afterward, she discovered she'd changed it to the wrong one...

"I..." Pu Yu's cheeks burned, and she lowered her head guiltily. "I had it right at first, but my reasoning always goes wrong, so this time I thought I'd try doing the opposite!"

Yuan Su stared at her for two seconds, then let out an exasperated laugh.

"All that teaching for nothing."

"That problem was really complicated," Pu Yu tried to argue. "There was so little time during the exam. I was just a tiny bit careless. Besides, I couldn't even do those big problems before. This time, I nearly got it right!"

She tipped her face up, looking at him with shining eyes as though waiting for praise.

Yuan Su looked away, a rare hint of teasing in his voice. "What, you want me to praise you now?"

"I wouldn't mind..." Pu Yu muttered.

Yuan Su didn't answer. He simply turned back to his repairs, leaving her with an indifferent view of his back.

Having recovered her Walkman, Pu Yu was overjoyed.

For once, she didn't sit down to do her homework. Instead, she leaned over the edge of the table and watched him.

"Yuan Su, what rank did you get this time?"

"What's it to you?"

"Let me see."

"No."

"Stingy."

Inside the quiet repair shop.

The girl's laughing voice mingled with the boy's impatient replies.

That was when Xu Suiran suddenly appeared.

She knocked on the door and leaned halfway inside, wearing an awkward smile that said, "Did I come at a bad time?" "Um... am I interrupting?"

Pu Yu jumped, then smiled. "Sui Sui, what brings you here?"

"I came bearing treats!" Xu Suiran waved the plastic bag in her hand, which held three cartons of strawberry milk and three bags of chips. "To celebrate the end of midterms! My results were a total disaster, but that's okay! It's the participation that counts!"

Although Xu Suiran barely knew Yuan Su, Pu Yu was here.

There was no helping it.

For the sake of some juicy gossip, she couldn't worry about how well she knew him.

Xu Suiran walked in without hesitation and handed two cartons of milk to Pu Yu, gesturing for her to give one to Yuan Su. "Ahem!"

Pu Yu took them instinctively and turned to pass one to Yuan Su.

Seeing that he was busy, she carefully set it on the corner of the table instead.

Xu Suiran pulled up a little stool beside Pu Yu. Although she couldn't make sense of those complicated physics problems, under Pu Yu's supervision, she had at least become much more serious about studying.

She didn't dare get too carried away in front of Yuan Su, but occasionally she still couldn't resist sneaking a snack or whispering about the gossip in class.

"I was going to tell you at school tomorrow, but I couldn't hold it in. Gossip has to be shared right away!"

"You know Li Yunyi, who came first in our year on the midterms?"

"Yes. She's really impressive."

Xu Suiran chuckled. "I've got a secret to tell you, Yu."

Pu Yu looked up. "Hmm?"

"That Li Yunyi from Class One. I heard from a friend in her class that she seems to be pursuing my deskmate! Our class monitor, Song Jinnian!"

"Huh?"

"It's true! Someone saw her give Song Jinnian a letter, and I even caught a glimpse of our class monitor putting that pink envelope into his schoolbag!"

Pu Yu felt a little awkward listening to gossip like this. "S-surely not?"

Xu Suiran's eyes sparkled as she argued, "Why not? One's first in our year, and the other's second. They're such a good match! What do you call that? A power couple, a match made in heaven!"

The repair shop suddenly grew lively.

Yuan Su kept his head down, continuing to work on the object in his hands.

The windowpane faintly reflected the scene inside: two girls sitting close together, laughing and chatting, and his own solitary profile.

But somehow... he didn't seem quite so alone anymore.

He picked up the carton of milk on the table, pushed in the straw, and took a sip.

Sweet.

On the day of the Start of Winter, a damp chill hung in the town's air.

Li Suhua got busy early that morning, mixing glutinous rice flour with sugar and kneading it into plump white dumplings, soft and sticky.

The sweet scent of glutinous rice drifted from every household in the lanes.

The instant the steamer lid was lifted, white vapor billowed out with a whoosh, obscuring their view.

"Wow! They're so pretty," Pu Yu couldn't help saying.

"Take them all out. There's another batch coming."

Pu Yu helped lift the translucent dumplings one by one onto a woven bamboo tray to cool. Her grandmother soon filled the steamer again.

"Grandma, we can't finish this many, can we?"

Li Suhua paused, then gave a soft snort. "If you want to take him some, go ahead. No need to beat around the bush."

Pu Yu's cheeks warmed, and she smiled shyly. "I just, I just thought Yuan Su lives alone, so he probably doesn't have time to make these..."

"All right." Li Suhua turned and took an insulated lunchbox from the cupboard, rinsing it with boiling water. "Pack them while they're hot. Come back early after you deliver them. We still need to check the quantities in that batch of pillowcases today."

"Okay, Grandma!"

Pu Yu took the insulated lunchbox and carefully wiped away the water droplets inside.

She picked out several of the most evenly shaped dumplings and arranged them in layers, filling the box to the brim. After securing the lid, she wrapped a thick cotton towel around it to keep the heat from escaping too quickly.

As she stepped outside with the warm lunchbox in her arms, a cold wind hit her face.

Pu Yu tucked her neck down and headed toward the repair shop with light steps.

But when she reached the old street.

The repair shop's familiar rolling shutter was firmly closed.

Pu Yu froze for a moment.

This was the first time she'd seen the repair shop closed on a Saturday. Usually, business was much better on weekends than on weekdays.

And today was the Start of Winter. Had he gone to pick up supplies?

As she hesitated over whether to leave, the owner of the hardware store next door happened to push open his door and step outside. Pu Yu quickly asked, "Sir, do you know where Yuan Su went?"