"Shi'an, over here-"
Once Chen Shi'an came fully into view, Li Wanyin called out to him with a smile and instinctively took a step toward the retractable gate at the school entrance.
Because their work and school schedules differed, Li Wanyin usually only saw Chen Shi'an when he came home after evening study hall. Now that she had come to the campus where he studied and saw him here in his school uniform, it felt quite extraordinary.
The midday sunshine was brilliant, and the campus before her brimmed with bright, youthful energy. Back when she was a student, she had never thought there was anything special about school. Now that she had graduated and started working, returning to this place she could no longer enter stirred a jumble of feelings in Li Wanyin.
Returning to a campus this way, bringing lunch to him as his older sister while he studied here, was something Li Wanyin had never imagined before.
II
The school had strict rules. During class hours, only staff and students could enter the campus. At the vast school entrance, only a small door beside the security office was open for staff to come and go. To avoid blocking anyone, the parents bringing meals and the students receiving them stood along opposite sides of the closed electric retractable gate.
Fortunately, the retractable gate was not tall enough to interfere with conversation or passing things across.
Chen Shi'an glanced around. Most of the parents bringing lunch or daily necessities at noon today seemed to have children in Senior Year Three. After all, students in Senior Year Two at least got a full day off, while those in Senior Year Three only got half a day. Wen Zhixia had mentioned that many students in Senior Year Three only went home about