Yu Xian

Only after Yin Yanqiu finished announcing the three matters and tightening the screws on everyone did she begin the lesson.

Chen Zhu hadn't lost his ability to solve math problems, so he found the lesson fairly easy to follow. After two periods, at around 9:50, the rousing Athletes' March came over the school loudspeakers right on schedule. All the students had to go downstairs for their exercise break.

Usually, everyone was reluctant to go, dragging their feet. Some students who "thought they had connections and clout" simply put their heads down on their desks and slept.

If the student on duty came over to hurry them along, they'd get told to "piss off."

But if nobody actually paid them any attention, these "big shots" would foolishly lift their heads again, looking as though they had nowhere to show off.

Of course, most students dawdled a little before obediently heading downstairs to exercise. They generally found someone to go with, though, or that walk felt unbearably awkward.

Once everyone lined up by class, they followed the broadcast instructions. Whatever happened, you couldn't do the movements too properly, or everyone would make fun of you. Even now, Chen Zhu had no idea why.

Chen Zhu went along with everyone else, but when the sixth section, "Body turns," began, his old memories reminded him to pay attention.

Because this was the section where he could see Yu Xian.

Yu Xian was an art-track student in senior year Class 1, which stood right next to Chen Zhu's senior year Class 11, the first and last classes meeting at the ends.

From where Chen Zhu stood, if he deliberately lagged half a beat behind during the body turns, he could take a perfectly legitimate look at her.

Don't laugh. This was what a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old high school boy's genuine, bashful crush on a pretty girl looked like.

It was an innocent sort of crush. Sometimes, when rain meant the exercise break was canceled, he'd even feel a faint pang of sadness.

"One, two, three, four. Two, two, three, four..."

Listening to the count over the loudspeakers, Chen Zhu felt a flicker of impulse and deliberately fell half a beat behind, just as he used to.

Ahead and to his right, a tall, slender girl turned around, a stunning sight.

Yu Xian and Song Shiwei were two entirely different types of girls. Yu Xian wore her hair down to her waist, with several bold streaks of red.

Ordinary high school students could never get away with that sort of "privilege," but Yu Xian was an art student, and the school rules weren't enforced quite as strictly on them.

Her burgundy strands lay across her shoulders, bouncing with every movement of her body, like flowing flames beneath the sunlight.

Yu Xian had a delicate, oval face with a light layer of makeup. Beneath her long lashes, her bright, almond-shaped eyes held a hint of defiance and fieriness. Her nose was straight and high, her small, rosy mouth alluring.

Most devastating of all, she was actually wearing a fitted tank top beneath her unzipped school uniform jacket.

Guangzhou wasn't cold in early March. Most high school students wore a long- or short-sleeved T-shirt under their uniforms. Few dressed as boldly as Yu Xian.

The tank top was especially short, barely covering her navel, leaving her fair, slender waist and flat stomach openly exposed.

What teenage boy could see a girl like that without being stirred, physically and mentally?

Still, rumor had it that Yu Xian had a ferocious temper. Once, a sports-track boy had tried to take her hand in a crowd, and she'd answered him with a resounding slap on the spot.

After that, almost any boy who didn't think he could take a beating was afraid to pursue her.

Once the broadcast exercises ended, each class dispersed where they stood. Some students returned to their classrooms, some went to the toilets, and others headed to the school shop together.

Chen Zhu and Huang Bohan were also planning to buy a soda at the school shop, but as luck would have it, they ran into Yu Xian again on the way.

She walked ahead, arm in arm with another girl, her eyes curved into crescents as she occasionally let out a peal of clear, lilting laughter.

Huang Bohan nudged Chen Zhu and tipped his chin toward Yu Xian.

In high school, and even at university, friends seemed to love playing this game:

If A told B that he liked C, whenever they ran into C on campus, B might react more strongly than A.

Huang Bohan was exactly that sort. Every time they happened upon Yu Xian at school, the little bastard would wink and make faces at Chen Zhu, delighting in teasing him.

But Chen Zhu had now been reborn. After all those years, Yu Xian had become more of a symbol of a youthful crush in his memories. The old flutter in his heart was long gone.

So he merely murmured an acknowledgment, without much of a reaction.

"Huh?"

A little puzzled, Huang Bohan assumed Chen Zhu hadn't seen her, so he whispered, "Yu Xian's up ahead."

"Oh."

Chen Zhu's attitude remained unchanged.

Apparently unwilling to give up without seeing his best friend blush and squirm, Huang Bohan couldn't help raising his voice a little. "Chen Zhu, it's Yu Xian!"

Pretty girls' names seemed to be particularly attention-grabbing on campus. This time, not only did the surrounding students hear him, but Yu Xian herself turned around and fixed her gaze on Chen Zhu.

At that point, Huang Bohan, the culprit behind it all, ducked his head and didn't dare make a sound. Deep down, the guy was socially anxious.

In the past, faced with a situation like this, Chen Zhu would have felt like a thief caught by the owner. He wouldn't have dared say a word, just fled back to the classroom in red-faced embarrassment.

But the present Section Chief Chen naturally wasn't going to do anything as juvenile as turning tail and running. Looking at the flame-bright figure ahead, he silently cursed Huang Bohan for meddling, then greeted her in an open, easy, friendly tone:

"Hello, Yu Xian..."

"Don't even try it!"

To his surprise, Yu Xian didn't spare his dignity at all.

With her looks, almost every day brought several boys with terrible grades and inflated opinions of themselves trying to chat her up. She was thoroughly sick of it.

She'd finally managed to enjoy a chat with her friend, only to be interrupted again.

"Could you spend this time studying instead? Even if you can't get into a top-tier university, getting into a second-tier one would at least do your parents justice. Stop acting like an idiot who does nothing all day but chat up girls!"

Yu Xian's mouth was like a machine gun. After spraying him with accusations without bothering to understand the situation, she twisted her slender waist and walked away.

The boys around them were all smiling. Some were mocking him, thinking he was a toad lusting after a swan.

Others were sympathetic. There was nothing surprising about failing to win Yu Xian over; he wasn't the only boy she'd rejected.

Instead, it was the girl beside Yu Xian who apologized to Chen Zhu. "Yu Xian doesn't mean any harm. She just admires boys who get good grades."

"Oh."

Chen Zhu didn't bother explaining the misunderstanding. That girl's fiery temper really does live up to its reputation.

She was like Sichuan chili oil: delicious, certainly, and vividly colored, but one careless bite could leave your whole mouth burning raw.

After they returned to the classroom, Huang Bohan, feeling he'd caused trouble, began stammering out an apology. "Sorry. I didn't think Yu Xian would hear me."

Chen Zhu neither spoke nor responded, staring expressionlessly at his physics test paper.

Huang Bohan could only humble himself further. "How about I call you big brother? I'm a few months older than you, but I'll call you big brother anyway. Don't be mad anymore, okay?"

"Ah..."

Only then did Chen Zhu sigh and say, "I once had a dream of becoming a carefree butterfly, wandering around the world and playing. Don't call me big brother. Call me Butterfly-Die."

"Call you Die? Have you been watching too much My Fair Princess?"

Although Huang Bohan found it strange, to soothe his friend's anger over being embarrassed, he declared with great gusto, "Fine, fine, whatever you say! Die, Die, Die! Are you done being mad now?"

A girl in the row ahead named Liu Han suddenly turned to look at Huang Bohan, her expression rather odd.

"Okay."

Chen Zhu nodded readily. "We'll let that incident go. Next time you see Yu Xian, stop egging me on from the sidelines."

"What's wrong?"

Huang Bohan asked in confusion, "Don't you like Yu Xian anymore?"

Chen Zhu gave it serious thought. "I wouldn't put it that way. If I could date Yu Xian, I'd even be willing to live in a mansion and drive a luxury car."

"Pah!"

Big Huang spat in disgust.

(Chen Hansheng is Chen the Dog, and Chen Zhu is Chen the Second Dog. How did you guys come up with that...?)

(End of chapter)