Making up

The bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period.

Jiang Nian, who had found an excuse to skip the entire class, emerged from the empty cafeteria rubbing his stomach in satisfaction, walking against the sunlit stream of students rushing to get lunch.

Golden sunlight filtered through the thick foliage of the great banyan tree, scattering patches of light beside the pool tables.

As he passed, he looked up and squinted. He had no idea why Old Liu cared so much about Yu Tongjie, but at least he had managed to negotiate something out of it.

Permission to miss evening study once or twice a week.

There were plenty of restrictions: he had to notify the teacher in advance and check in with a photo. But that was no problem for Jiang Nian. Whether Yu Tongjie could even pass the joint exam at the end of the month was still up in the air.

Every evening off he could wheedle out of them counted. Every second of comfort was a second gained.

Before he knew it, evening had arrived. After three periods of evening study, Jiang Nian grabbed his bag, took out his phone, and headed out. He followed the crowd downstairs as though nothing were amiss, showing no intention of stopping when he passed the third floor.

Xu Qianqian stood in the corridor outside her classroom, watching that familiar back of his head slowly disappear into the nighttime crowd below.

She took out her phone, wanting to ask him something. Then she suddenly remembered that she had left early yesterday without explaining herself either, and she did not know how to bring it up.

Their habit of walking home together seemed to have lasted only two weeks.

We never used to do that anyway. I broke the routine first, and that was that. I should have explained yesterday. Would things have gone back to normal today if I had?

Preoccupied, Xu Qianqian headed downstairs with her schoolbag on her back and put in her earbuds.

The clamor temporarily receded, leaving only the songs from the album Cicada Green playing in her ears. By the end of the first track, she had already left the school gates.

During the third track-or perhaps the fourth-someone plucked out one of her Bluetooth earbuds.

"Come pay for this."

On the lamplit street, amid the alternating light and shadow along Zhen Nan's long main road, that familiar, annoying voice sounded beside her. The place she had just passed was probably a little convenience store.

Xu Qianqian froze and turned to look.

Jiang Nian took a bottle of ice-cold cola from the large refrigerator, cold mist rising from it. Under the lights, his face looked rather punchable, yet particularly handsome.

So he hadn't gone far?

Her lips twitched. "Don't you have your own money?"

Jiang Nian snapped his fingers. "You even found out something that private? Don't tell me you sleep with my bank card under your head."

"Call me Dad." With a reluctant beep, Xu Qianqian scanned the payment code, the corners of her lips curling slightly.

With the friendship reconciliation fee paid, the two naturally fell into step together.

Her two Bluetooth earbuds became one, with the other now in Jiang Nian's ear. There was no reason to give back something he had snatched, and the same went for the free cola.

The cola hissed as he twisted it open.

Beneath the dim streetlights, they walked side by side with their schoolbags on their backs, two fists' worth of space between them.

Jiang Nian was about to take a drink when he suddenly asked, "Can you have something cold today?"

"Stop prying into girl stuff."

"Where did your mind go? I'm not planning to secretly note down your safe days and keep calculating them. Only a creep would do that."

Xu Qianqian turned to him, utterly stunned. "Jiang Nian, have you no shame?"

"Holy shit, you sell human organs too? Hardcore. Seriously hardcore."

Xu Qianqian had nothing to say to him. The moment she got involved with Jiang Nian, she was done for, constantly sucked into a spiral of irritation and fury. Clearly, he had not been beaten enough as a kid.

After a brief silence, she ventured cautiously.

"Didn't you leave ages ago today?"

"Because I picked up an absolutely unbeatable stick on the way and forgot to show you." Jiang Nian pulled a smooth stick from his open schoolbag, making Xu Qianqian's eyelid twitch.

"What's so special about it?" She was speechless, and faintly disappointed too.

Jiang Nian gave a cold laugh and spat out two words. "Dead straight."

After she got home.

Xu Qianqian reached for her phone in its waterproof pouch while showering. In the steam-filled bathroom, her fair, curvy figure showed through the mist, her face flushed slightly from the heat.

"?"

Jiang Nian: "?"

Xu Qianqian: "My phone ran out of battery yesterday and shut down."

She finished typing, then deleted it.

What does that have to do with leaving without saying anything? He probably felt the same way yesterday as I did today, right?

"I think dating in school gets in the way of studying."

Deleted.

That's not right either. There's nothing going on between us in the first place. That's as ridiculous as getting pregnant from one glance. It's just my own feelings messing with me. Of course, I don't have any feelings for him.

After all, this was Jiang Nian. Being with him would surely wear her out so badly it would shave years off her life.

"I thought you had a secret crush on me and were interfering with your dad's studies, so I left first yesterday. Sorry."

With a swoosh, she sent it.

Across the hall, at the Jiang Family's home.

"Holy shit." Jiang Nian sprang up from his bed, grabbed his phone, and rapidly typed a reply. "All right, all right, all right. Nice line. Stealing it."

A neat bit of tai chi, turning aside a massive blow with the lightest touch.

They traded messages back and forth until midnight. There was nothing novel about the conversation, and the intensity of their attacks rose and fell, but they tacitly kept them within certain bounds.

At the end, Xu Qianqian sent one last message.

"Don't leave after school tomorrow night. Wait for me outside the classroom."

She had meant to add, "I've got a brick with your name on it," but when Jiang Nian replied, "Okay," she suddenly could not bring herself to type it. Lying in bed, she stared at the dark ceiling and sank into thought.

The next day.

During morning reading, Ma Guojun left his seat, walked over to Jiang Nian, and adjusted his glasses.

"Holy shit, that's so fucking straight. Where'd you steal it?"

The boys all around him scrutinized the perfectly straight stick as though they were admiring Jiangnan's most celebrated courtesan. That chest, that waist, those legs-pure lust. Top-grade lust.

"Picked it up on the way. Awesome, right?" Jiang Nian basked in glory as though he were being crowned king.

"Fuck, I can't even find anything to criticize. I'm a student, so give it to me." Li Hua could not bear to let go of the stick. "It's so smooth. Jiang Nian, did you lick it last night?"

"Completely natural. May I drop dead if I did anything to it," he said.

"All right, all right, all right. A divine artifact of immortal quality." Li Hua's eyes shone with a hunger worthy of a man who had not seen a woman in twenty years. "With this sword in my hand, no stray dog within ten miles would stand a chance."

A boy from the neighboring seating group came over too. "Let me touch it. That's just unbeatable."

The boys in the first group lost all interest in morning reading as well, leaving their seats en masse to join the excitement. Those who arrived later could not even squeeze into the inner circle and had to peer through gaps.

"Long and straight. Absolutely top-tier."

The boys were making such a racket that Zhang Ningzhi, seated in front, secretly glanced back. Confusion flickered in her eyes. It was just a stick. Why were they all acting like monkeys?

At the height of the cheering, Qianbao, their English teacher, walked in with a stern face.

One minute later, Qianbao was making her rounds through the classroom with a perfectly straight, smooth stick in her hand. Wherever she went, the boys watched her with envy.

After a moment's thought, Qianbao had a flash of inspiration and went to inspect the class next door.

Hearing the astonished cries of the boys next door, Li Hua and Jiang Nian were heartbroken, pounding their desks and stamping their feet.

"Fuck, the wound of betrayal never heals. This is like having your wife stolen!"

Thanks to Ye Yang Weiming for the 2,000 Qidian coins, Mo Mo Mo Mo S for the 400 Qidian coins, and Yan Yici for the 500 Qidian coins.

There are too many monthly votes for this humble consort to thank everyone individually. All I can do is thank all you bosses for your support, and wish you strong backs and healthy kidneys.

I'll write a little more and build up a stockpile of chapters.

(End of chapter)