For three days straight, the damp weather brought by the Returning-South Weather had hung over Yuecheng, and it seemed to be getting worse.
Walking to school for morning study through all that mist felt like commuting to work in the heavenly court.
"Why is it still raining?"
When the classroom loudspeaker announced that break-time exercises had been canceled again, Yu Xian slumped unhappily over her desk, her fine, soft, burgundy hair spilling loosely around her.
Wu Yu turned around from the row ahead and asked in confusion, "Rain is great, isn't it? We can catch some sleep. Didn't you used to hate going downstairs for exercises?"
Yu Xian stayed sprawled there without lifting her head, her muffled voice rising from beneath her. "That was before. Now I love break-time exercises. I want to do them every day, every break..."
"You're seriously nuts."
Wu Yu teased her, running her fingers through her best friend's hair. She couldn't help saying enviously, "I was the one getting my hair done. They just used a little leftover dye to give you some random highlights, so why did yours turn out so much better than mine?"
"It's like I paid to get your hair dyed!"
Pretending to be disgruntled, Wu Yu said, "When you get a boyfriend, you have to make him treat me to make up for it!"
Yu Xian said nothing, but her shaking shoulders gave away her silent laughter.
"You little brat, you're still laughing."
Wu Yu reached over and pinched her best friend's little ear. "Come to the school shop with me in a bit."
"No! I'm going to sleep!"
Yu Xian refused outright, then suddenly remembered something and whipped her head up, her eyes bright. "If we take the south stairs to the shop, don't we have to pass the two advanced classes? Come on, let's go. I'll come with you."
"Are you okay? Wouldn't it be quicker to go straight down the north stairs?"
Wu Yu was inexplicably pushed out of the classroom, still unable to understand why they needed to take this detour.
A long corridor stretched between Senior Year Class 1 and Senior Year Class 11. With no break-time exercises to do, plenty of students stood outside, laughing and chatting.
As Yu Xian and Wu Yu, two tall, pretty girls, walked arm in arm through the noisy corridor, the wind swept up their long hair. Behind them were the gazes of adolescent boys who wanted to look but were too shy to stare.
There was no denying that, from high school through university, girls studying the arts made a striking sight on campus, especially when two of them walked side by side.
When they reached the corridor outside the two advanced classes, there were noticeably fewer students outside. Most were resting at their desks or working on problems.
The occasional two or three who had come out for fresh air spoke quietly together, without any horseplay or shouting.
"Yu Xian, what exactly did you come over here for?"
Wu Yu hurried after her best friend as she asked.
Yu Xian said nothing. But when she passed Class 11, she noticeably slowed her steps and peered into the classroom through the window.
Yu Xian was no ordinary girl in their year. When she looked inside like that, plenty of students in Class 11 turned to look at her too.
The girls glanced at her, then quickly lowered their heads, perhaps feeling that they weren't as pretty as Yu Xian.
The boys also quickly lowered their heads after a glance, pretending to tidy their books while watching her out of the corners of their eyes.
But the "thing" Yu Xian wanted to see apparently wasn't in the classroom. She pursed her lips and strode away.
"Are you looking for someone?"
Wu Yu finally caught on, immediately eager to stir up trouble. "Tell me! Who exactly were you looking for? Don't tell me it was Song Shiwei. Are you planning to steal her school beauty title?"
"What would I want that for?"
Yu Xian said irritably, "I don't care about that. I came to find..."
Just as Yu Xian was about to reveal the answer, she ran into Zhang Chao coming around the corner from the stairs.
Naturally, Wu Yu knew this sports student. He was domineering, hot-tempered, and unreasonable. He had once tried to hold Yu Xian's hand, only to get slapped across the face.
He had been determined to recover his wounded pride ever since, often asking others to pass messages to Yu Xian: things like she had better not turn down the easy way and force him to get tough, or that dating him would make everyone happy.
Wu Yu watched Zhang Chao warily, making it clear that she would stand by her friend.
But then something unexpected happened!
When Zhang Chao saw Yu Xian, his expression froze for a moment. Then he turned and left without a word.
"Huh?"
That doesn't make sense, Wu Yu thought. There were no teachers here, yet Zhang Chao had actually backed off of his own accord?
"Didn't you want to go to the shop? Come on."
It was Yu Xian who finally reminded her. Wu Yu snapped out of it and hurried after her. "What happened? Has Zhang Chao turned over a new leaf?"
"Want to know why?"
Yu Xian turned around, her gaze playful and alluring.
"Tell me!"
Wu Yu immediately realized that something earth-shattering must have happened, and her thirst for gossip flared.
"Class is about to start."
Yu Xian deliberately checked the time. "Let's talk after class."
"We have math next. I'm skipping it!"
Wu Yu said decisively, "It's not like we understand any of it anyway."
"No, no. You might not want to learn, but I still do."
Yu Xian was deliberately keeping her in suspense. Only after school let out did Wu Yu hurriedly drag her to a bubble tea shop outside the school. She found a seat in a corner, bought two cups of bubble tea, and set them on the table with a bang.
"Spill it! I won't sleep until I know!"
Sipping her sweet bubble tea, Yu Xian slowly recounted those warm, sweet memories.
Every now and then, Wu Yu let out a shriek:
"Who the hell does Zhang Chao think he is? He actually had the nerve to go looking for you at the convenience store? Shameless..."
"Huh? Chen Zhu and another boy were there too, and they stepped in to stop Zhang Chao from going berserk..."
"Zhang Chao froze a little when he saw Chen Zhu lie down, right? Of course he did. He's stupid, sure, but he's not some uneducated street thug. Even the worst sports students at Zhizhong High School can get into a sports college. Unless he didn't want to go to college anymore..."
"Chen Zhu asked him to write and sign a pledge at the police station, and even burned the footage onto a disc afterward? He's pretty thorough..."
"So!"
Once Yu Xian had finished, Wu Yu looked at her best friend, whose eyes seemed to shine, and suddenly asked, "You fell in love with him because he helped you, didn't you?"
"No way!"
Yu Xian took a sip of bubble tea to soothe her throat after all that talking. "Even if he hadn't been there that day, I could have handled it myself. I'm not someone people can just bully!"
As she said that, Yu Xian seemed every bit the fiery, gorgeous Sichuan-Chongqing girl she had always been.
But a moment later, tenderness spread over her delicate, oval face. "But when Chen Zhu was worried I'd get hurt and insisted on taking the ballpoint pen out of my hand, my heart started racing. In that moment, I felt this spark, this affection, this feeling that I could lean on him."
"But!"
Yu Xian held out her fair, slender fingers and pinched the tip of her index finger. "All that attraction, affection, and dependence added together only amounts to this tiny little bit."
Her index finger and thumb crossed over each other, forming what looked like a little finger-heart gesture.
"Really? Just that much?"
Wu Yu wasn't quite convinced. Pointing at the bubble tea, she said, "Like I don't know you. You might think it's just a tiny bit, but inside you're probably overflowing with love, even fuller than this cup of bubble tea."
"No way!"
Yu Xian declared confidently.
"You dragged me along to see Chen Zhu today, and you only wanted to go downstairs for exercises so you could run into him..."
Wu Yu rolled her eyes. "Then let me ask you this. If you really do run into Chen Zhu at school from now on, will you pretend you don't know him?"
"Why would I?"
Yu Xian blinked in confusion. "Just because I like him, I have to act like we're strangers? Wu Yu, that's not who I am."
"Then you'll...?"
Wu Yu asked.
"I'll just say hi to him!"
Yu Xian answered brightly.
Three days later, a cold wind from the north finally began to drive the Returning-South Weather out of Yuecheng.
The long-absent sun came out again, and the long-absent break-time exercises finally returned too.
After the second morning lesson, the stirring Athletes' March rang out, and the students of Zhixin Middle School once again filled the sports field.
Class 11's homeroom teacher, Yin Yanqiu, had kept them past the bell again. By the time they came streaming onto the field, nearly all the other classes were already in position.
As Chen Zhu passed the line for Senior Year Class 1, he suddenly heard someone call to him, "Good morning, Chen Zhu!"
Chen Zhu turned.
Yu Xian tilted her head, her smile blooming in the brilliant sunshine.
"You're even prettier today than you were yesterday."
Chen Zhu casually offered up a compliment.
"Hehehe... You're such a liar. You didn't even see me yesterday!"
Yu Xian laughed and chided him, then greeted Huang Bohan behind him. "Good morning, Huang Bohan."
Yu Xian had specifically asked someone for Huang Bohan's name. After all, he had stood up to help at the convenience store that day too. They probably counted as friends now.
But Huang Bohan had never imagined that a girl beautiful enough to be the school beauty would actually greet him first.
This was Yu Xian: tall, sexy, gorgeous, and a full 1.7 meters in height.
Feeling all the looks his classmates cast his way, Huang Bohan's vanity was immensely satisfied.
It felt as though this moment was the true high point of his life across all three years at Zhixin Middle School.
Sorry, Song Shiwei.
You two used to be neck and neck in my heart, but from now on, Yu Xian is the school beauty of Zhizhong High School as far as I'm concerned!
That was what Huang Bohan thought.
(There'll be another chapter at eight tonight. Please vote, please vote.)
(End of chapter)
Before you continue