Chapter Summaries

After Pu Yu and Yuan Su received their exam results, Pu Yu followed him to Cheng Siyi’s office to defend him against a complaint that he had torn another student’s exam paper. Cheng Siyi promised to investigate the harassment claim and assigned Yuan Su a self-criticism, while his quiet acceptance showed that Pu Yu’s insistence had affected him.

• Cheng Siyi announced that Pu Yu ranked first in the year in Chinese and English, while Yuan Su scored full marks in physics and 148 in math.
• Cheng Siyi summoned Yuan Su over a complaint that he had torn another student’s exam paper and threatened him.
• Yuan Su told Pu Yu not to get involved and went to Cheng Siyi’s office, where he claimed he disliked the boy who complained.
• Pu Yu followed Yuan Su and explained that the boy had harassed her during the exam and tried to get her answers.
• Cheng Siyi decided to investigate the incident, required Yuan Su to write a thousand-word self-criticism, and said the other student would also face consequences if responsible.
• Yuan Su reluctantly accepted the outcome after Pu Yu insisted that right and wrong mattered.

After Pu Yu defended Yuan Su, he told her to stay out of his affairs, but she refused to let others misunderstand him. That evening, her model essay stirred jealousy in class and caught Yuan Su’s attention with its story of a seed surviving hardship.

• Yuan Su rebuked Pu Yu for intervening on his behalf and told her to stay out of his affairs, but Pu Yu insisted she would not stand by while people treated him unfairly.
• Cheng Siyi announced that Pu Yu’s Chinese essay had been selected as a model essay and distributed copies to the class.
• Xu Suiran defended Pu Yu when Zhou Tingting dismissed her high Chinese score as luck, and Pu Yu calmed her friend afterward.
• Yuan Su took Pu Yu’s exam paper and read her essay, “Light in the Cracks,” about a seed that survived and bloomed in harsh conditions.

After Pu Yu helped Yuan Su write a self-reflection, Yuan Su submitted a defiant account to Cheng Siyi. Remembering how prejudice had isolated him, Cheng Siyi reconsidered his seating and decided to make a bold change.

• Yuan Su brooded over Pu Yu's essay, and Pu Yu offered him a written account of the exam conflict to use in his self-reflection.
• Yuan Su copied Pu Yu's account, then added that he would tear up another exam paper if someone targeted a classmate again.
• Cheng Siyi read Yuan Su's self-reflection and reprimanded him for its openly defiant ending.
• Cheng Siyi recalled a parent's cruel attack on Yuan Su's family and questioned whether keeping him without a deskmate had isolated him.
• Cheng Siyi considered Pu Yu's needs alongside Yuan Su's and made a bold decision about the seating chart.

Cheng Siyi arranged for Pu Yu to keep sitting with Yuan Su as part of a new academic peer-support plan. When Yuan Su assumed Pu Yu stayed only because there were no other seats, he offered to bring her a new desk, leaving her to question whether he would let her leave.

• At lunch, Cheng Siyi asked Pu Yu whether she wanted to keep sitting beside Yuan Su, and Pu Yu agreed because his explanations had helped her.
• Cheng Siyi approved the arrangement for another month and warned Pu Yu that she would move her if her grades slipped or Yuan Su encouraged her to skip homework.
• The class changed seats, with Xu Suiran assigned to sit beside Song Jinnian while Pu Yu remained in her original seat.
• Yuan Su returned to class, heard students gossiping about him, and sat beside Pu Yu when he saw she had not moved.
• Pu Yu told Yuan Su that Teacher Cheng had said they should keep sitting together, and he asked if she wanted him to bring her a new desk.
• Yuan Su quietly agreed to bring Pu Yu a desk if she wanted to leave, while Pu Yu looked at him earnestly.

Pu Yu asked Yuan Su whether he wanted her to remain his deskmate, and he tried to discourage her by listing his flaws. After she told him she wanted to sit beside him, Yuan Su agreed to keep their seats, though he hid his blushing face behind a book.

• Pu Yu asked Yuan Su if he would let her remain his deskmate, and he said no.
• When Pu Yu stood to ask Teacher Cheng to change the seats, Yuan Su grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, asking if changing seats was a hassle.
• Yuan Su listed the trouble he could cause as a deskmate, and Pu Yu told him she still wanted to sit beside him.
• Teacher Cheng explained the one-on-one support study guidelines and final-year plans while Yuan Su stayed silent.
• After class, Yuan Su told Pu Yu they should keep their seats, then hid his blushing face behind a book.

Pu Yu shared persimmons from her grandmother’s tree with her classmates, including Yuan Su, who brought two to his mother, Lu Zhen. Lu Zhen asked about the classmate who gave them, and Yuan Su told her Pu Yu was very good to him.

• Li Suhua picked persimmons and asked Pu Yu to take some to school to share, especially with Xu Suiran.
• Pu Yu shared persimmons with Xu Suiran and Song Jinnian, then gave some to Yuan Su.
• Yuan Su initially refused the persimmons but accepted them after Pu Yu suggested he take them home for his mother.
• Yuan Su peeled and cut the persimmons for Lu Zhen at the clinic, and she asked which classmate had given them.
• Yuan Su told Lu Zhen the classmate was Pu Yu and said she was very good to him.

Yuan Su agreed to ask Pu Yu to visit his hospitalized mother, while Nurse Yao warned him that Lu Zhen’s condition had worsened. At school, Pu Yu found a Walkman on her desk and learned Xu Suiran had not left it, leaving its giver unknown.

• Lu Zhen asked Yuan Su to bring Pu Yu to meet her, and Yuan Su agreed to ask despite his reluctance.
• Nurse Yao told Yuan Su that Lu Zhen had refused her medicine, slept poorly, and repeatedly asked for him at night.
• Pu Yu found an old Sony Walkman and earphones on her desk and suspected Xu Suiran had bought them for her.
• Pu Yu took Xu Suiran aside to ask about the Walkman, but Xu Suiran denied buying it.
• Pu Yu was left wondering who had secretly placed the Walkman on her desk.

Pu Yu confronted Yuan Su at his repair shop about the portable player left on her desk, and he admitted he had fixed and given it to her. He refused her offer to repay him, leaving her flustered with a teasing remark about the value of his labor.

• Pu Yu spent the school day wondering whether Yuan Su had left her the portable player, while Xu Suiran guessed that he had.
• Pu Yu visited Yuan Su's repair shop after school and asked whether the player belonged to him.
• Pu Yu explained that an audio shop owner had praised the player's expert repairs, and she reasoned that Yuan Su was the only likely giver.
• Yuan Su admitted the player was his and claimed he had simply tossed it onto her desk because she wanted one.
• Pu Yu offered to repay Yuan Su or help at the shop, but he teased that even selling her would not cover his labor.

Pu Yu accepted Yuan Su’s repaired cassette player after agreeing to aim for first place in her year, and the two began helping each other as friends. When a heavy storm kept them at school, Pu Yu offered to walk Yuan Su to his repair shop, but he questioned whether she thought he needed protection.

• Yuan Su gave Pu Yu the cassette player and asked her to repay him by coming first in the next exam; she agreed to try.
• Yuan Su gave Pu Yu an English listening tape, and Pu Yu asked whether they were friends; he told her to think what she liked.
• Yuan Su returned to class over the next few days and helped Pu Yu with difficult physics problems.
• A heavy rainstorm began after school, and Pu Yu found Yuan Su asleep in the classroom without an umbrella.
• Pu Yu offered to walk Yuan Su to his repair shop, but he refused and asked whether she thought he needed protection.

Pu Yu and Yuan Su walked together beneath the rain as he took her to the repair shop, and he acknowledged that they were friends. Later, a storm damaged Pu Yu’s grandmother’s house, so Pu Yu went out in the rain to seek Yuan Su’s help.

• Pu Yu persuaded Yuan Su to share her umbrella and walk with her to the repair shop.
• Pu Yu thanked Yuan Su for helping her with English, and he agreed she could visit the shop with questions, as long as she thought them through first.
• Yuan Su shielded Pu Yu from the rain and muddy street before running to the repair shop alone.
• A nighttime storm opened leaks in Pu Yu’s roof, and Li Suhua nearly fell while trying to catch the water.
• Pu Yu learned that Uncle Wang was away and rushed through the storm to knock on the neighboring door for help.

During a violent storm, Yuan Su helped Pu Yu and her grandmother stop their leaking roof from flooding their home. Afterward, Pu Yu and Li Suhua insisted he warm up, and Pu Yu gently dried his hair, leaving him unexpectedly moved.

• Pu Yu ran to Yuan Su in the storm and asked him to help with her badly leaking roof.
• Yuan Su took a tarpaulin and rope to Pu Yu's house, then climbed onto the slippery roof while Pu Yu held the ladder and guided him to the leaks.
• Yuan Su secured the tarpaulin over the damaged roof, stopping the worst of the leaks.
• Pu Yu brought Yuan Su inside and Li Suhua urged him to drink hot ginger soup before he went home.
• Pu Yu dried Yuan Su's wet hair with a towel, and he was touched by her concern.

After Yuan Su left following the storm, Pu Yu worried when he failed to show up at school and wondered who looked after him. She got leave from evening study and hurried out, deciding that she would be there for him.

• Yuan Su left Pu Yu's home wearing her raincoat, and Pu Yu and Li Suhua spent the rest of the night cleaning up the leaked water.
• Pu Yu knocked at Yuan Su's door in the morning but got no answer, then went to school and found his seat empty throughout the day.
• Xu Suiran offered to ask her father and uncle to help repair Pu Yu's roof once the weather cleared.
• Pu Yu grew increasingly worried about Yuan Su's absence and how little support he had.
• Pu Yu asked Cheng Siyi for leave from evening study and ran from school, resolved to reach Yuan Su.

Pu Yu found Yuan Su gravely ill at home and stayed to care for him. As he drifted in and out of feverish sleep, he pleaded for his mother to be left alone and begged Pu Yu not to go.

• Pu Yu bought fever and cold medicine, then went to Yuan Su's home after finding his repair shop closed.
• Pu Yu entered Yuan Su's desolate home and found him unconscious with a dangerously high fever.
• Pu Yu brought him warm water, helped him take fever medicine, and placed a cool towel on his forehead.
• Yuan Su seized Pu Yu's wrist in his sleep and pleaded for the debt collectors not to touch his mother.
• Pu Yu held Yuan Su's hand and promised she would stay with him.

Pu Yu and Li Suhua cared for Yuan Su through a high fever, and Pu Yu stayed beside him until he woke. Seeing her there, Yuan Su realized his feelings for her had deepened, though he kept his longing unspoken.

• Pu Yu told Li Suhua that Yuan Su had a severe fever, and Li Suhua went with her to check on him.
• Li Suhua judged that Yuan Su was about to sweat and covered him with a thicker quilt, then left Pu Yu to watch over him.
• Pu Yu stayed by Yuan Su's bed, wiped away his sweat, and eventually fell asleep beside him.
• Yuan Su woke after his fever broke and realized Pu Yu had cared for him through the night.
• Pu Yu checked his forehead and offered him warm rice porridge, while Yuan Su silently felt his longing for her.

Pu Yu cared for Yuan Su while he recovered from a fever, bringing him porridge and warning him to be careful around debt collectors. The next morning, she delivered breakfast from Li Suhua and coaxed him into eating boiled eggs before returning home.

• Yuan Su accepted Pu Yu’s porridge and told her not to visit boys’ homes alone, but she insisted she did not want to leave him sick and by himself.
• Pu Yu left medicine and warm water for Yuan Su before returning home, and he privately admitted he could no longer push her away.
• Li Suhua prepared breakfast for Yuan Su, and Pu Yu brought him porridge and boiled eggs the next morning.
• Pu Yu checked that Yuan Su had taken his medicine and recovered from his fever, then threatened to have Sui Sui announce a message about him on the school broadcast if he refused the eggs.
• Yuan Su laughed at Pu Yu’s threat, ate one of the eggs, and watched her leave.

Pu Yu dedicated “Sunny Day” to the absent Yuan Su and later studied at his repair shop while preparing for midterms. After placing fifteenth overall, she returned his repaired cassette player, but Yuan Su pointed out that she had ranked first in Chinese and English.

• Xu Suiran hosted the lunchtime radio show and played Pu Yu’s dedication to Yuan Su, who was still absent from school.
• Pu Yu began bringing math and physics problems to Yuan Su’s repair shop, where he helped her study for the midterms.
• Yuan Su and Pu Yu took the midterms, and Yuan Su thought about whether she could solve the difficult science questions.
• Pu Yu found that she ranked fifteenth in the year and second in her class, so she brought her cassette player back to Yuan Su because she had not come first overall.
• Yuan Su checked Pu Yu’s results sheet and told her she had ranked first in both Chinese and English.

Yuan Su defended Pu Yu’s exam result, and the two grew more comfortable together before Xu Suiran visited with snacks and shared gossip about Li Yunyi and Song Jinnian. On the Start of Winter, Pu Yu brought Yuan Su homemade dumplings, but found his repair shop closed and asked the hardware store owner where he had gone.

• Yuan Su claimed Pu Yu had ranked first in a subject and teased her for reversing the magnetic-field direction on a physics problem.
• Pu Yu chatted with Yuan Su in the repair shop until Xu Suiran arrived with strawberry milk and chips.
• Xu Suiran told Pu Yu that Li Yunyi seemed to be pursuing Song Jinnian after giving him a pink letter.
• Yuan Su listened as Pu Yu and Xu Suiran talked, then drank the strawberry milk Pu Yu had set on the table.
• Pu Yu helped Li Suhua make glutinous rice dumplings and packed some to bring to Yuan Su.
• Pu Yu found Yuan Su’s repair shop closed and asked the hardware store owner where he had gone.

Pu Yu hurried to the town health center after learning Yuan Su’s mother was refusing her medicine. She reached Lu Zhen during a breakdown and proved to her that Yuan Su really had a friend, leaving Lu Zhen comforted and Yuan Su quietly watching.

• Pu Yu learned that Yuan Su had gone to the town health center because Lu Zhen was refusing her medicine, so she rushed there with an insulated food container.
• Pu Yu found Yuan Su trying to calm Lu Zhen, who accused him of lying about having friends and cut his fingers on broken glass.
• Pu Yu entered the room and introduced herself to Lu Zhen as Yuan Su’s friend.
• Pu Yu apologized for arriving late, and Lu Zhen’s confusion eased as she recognized Pu Yu as the girl who had given Yuan Su persimmons.

Pu Yu brought warm rice dumplings to Lu Zhen in the hospital, sharing a peaceful meal with her and Yuan Su before tending to Yuan Su’s cut. As they left, Pu Yu promised Lu Zhen she would keep visiting, and Yuan Su reluctantly let her.

• Pu Yu brought homemade rice dumplings to Lu Zhen, who ate with her and urged Yuan Su to share them.
• Lu Zhen talked with Pu Yu about Yuan Su until her medication made her fall asleep.
• Pu Yu took Yuan Su to the nurses’ station and treated the cut on his hand.
• Pu Yu reassured Yuan Su that Lu Zhen loved him and was trying hard to remember him.
• Pu Yu insisted she would visit Lu Zhen again, and Yuan Su reluctantly agreed.

Pu Yu spent more time at Yuan Su’s repair shop and visited Lu Zhen in the hospital, where her company helped Lu Zhen’s mood improve. When Li Suhua’s sewing machine broke, Yuan Su offered to search for a replacement gear in the city, and Pu Yu asked to go with him.

• Yuan Su kept Pu Yu away from the repair work and insisted she focus on her homework.
• Pu Yu visited Lu Zhen regularly, and Lu Zhen began supervising Yuan Su’s essays while her condition and mood improved.
• Pu Yu told Yuan Su that Lu Zhen’s happiness while watching him write showed how much the visits mattered to her.
• Li Suhua discovered that her sewing machine had jammed because a gear had broken, and Yuan Su said he would look for a replacement in the city.
• Pu Yu objected to Li Suhua traveling alone, and when Yuan Su offered to go, Pu Yu asked to accompany him.