There was something strange about walking outside the classroom when they were supposed to be inside.
As they walked down the corridor, the sounds of students reading aloud drifted out from every classroom.
Carrying the trash can together, Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu went down the stairs on the left side by side, left through the ground-floor exit on the left, and reached the path leading to the school's north gate.
The path ran perfectly straight, with three classroom buildings on the right and the boundary wall on the left. Beyond the wall lay the world outside school.
Compared with the bustling main road leading to the front gate, this path was especially quiet and secluded.
The morning mist had yet to fully disperse, but pale golden sunlight had already spilled over the wall, spreading patches of warmth across the path;
A row of camphor trees lined the wall, their leaves rustling in the cool breeze;
The lawns on both sides had just been watered, and crystalline droplets perched on the tips of the grass, scattering tiny rainbows in the morning light;
Every so often, a few little birds flew up from the treetops and landed on the wall. They tilted their little heads as though listening to something, then lifted a wing to preen their feathers, fluttering up and down and squabbling among themselves...
Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu walked through this morning scene, carrying the trash can together.
"This path is really pretty. I've never been down here before."
Chen Shi'an strolled along at a leisurely pace, his gaze wandering freely over the scenery. Discovering this corner of campus felt no different from finding a little brook in the Mountains.
"..."
Certain that he must be talking to himself, Lin Meng Qiu did not respond.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, then followed his gaze toward the top of the wall. A few little birds were perched there. One held a grasshopper in its beak without eating it, making the chubby little birds beside it chirp excitedly.
"Those are white-faced tits. The one holding the grasshopper is the mother. The others only left the nest a few days ago. She's teaching them how to find food."
"..."
Lin Meng Qiu shifted her gaze from the birds to Chen Shi'an's face.
She was a little surprised. He did not seem to have looked at her, so how had he known she was watching the birds, or that she was curious?
Ignore him.
He must be talking to himself again.
But after another couple of steps, she could not resist asking, "How do you know?"
"I see them all the time in the Mountains. White-faced tits like nesting in cracks in rock faces, holes in walls, and gaps between stones. They build nests at our Taoist Temple every year."
"..."
Lin Meng Qiu thought their Taoist Temple must be pretty dilapidated, then. Otherwise, where would all those holes and cracks for nesting birds come from...?
"They're called white-faced tits?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah. That's what we call them locally, anyway. Some people call them whitefaces, too."
"What about that one?"
She did not point, merely giving a slight tilt of her head in a certain direction as she asked.
Yet Chen Shi'an knew exactly which bird she meant.
"That's a Chinese hwamei. They're the noisiest ones in the mornings and evenings."
"..."
Lin Meng Qiu had no idea how he recognized so many birds.
She had never heard of white-faced tits before. She had heard of Chinese hwameis, but had never known what they looked like. Now that he had explained, she finally knew. It turned out she had seen them before; she simply had never paid them any attention...
She remembered going back to her father's hometown with him as a child. When he took her wandering around the countryside, he had told her things like this too: what bird that was, what tree this was, what those wild berries were.
It had been her first trip to the countryside, and her first time seeing cattle with her own eyes.
Living cattle.
There had been yellow cattle and big water buffalo. The buffalo looked intimidating, but her father had said they were the gentlest of all.
Her father had talked about those things as though he knew them by heart. He had used local names for the birds and wild berries too, his words steeped in memories.
To her, everything had felt novel, yet so far removed from her own life.
She had never expected someone her own age, like Chen Shi'an, to know all these things so intimately.
As the memories welled up, Lin Meng Qiu tried to find the words:
"Do you know a kind of berry... out in the fields... red... lots of little beads... I think it had thorns too... and tasted sweet and sour..."
It had been so long that she could barely remember. Apart from the mosquito bites on her legs, those sweet-and-sour little berries had left the strongest impression.
"Wild raspberries?"
"...!"
Chen Shi'an's words suddenly brought back what her father had told her all those years ago: ["These are wild raspberries. When I was little, I craved these more than any other wild fruit. You only get them in March and April. Look... these green ones aren't ripe yet. The red ones are. The really dark ones like these are the sweetest. Try one..."]
"Wild raspberries... so that's what they're called..." Lin Meng Qiu nodded, murmuring to herself.
"You've tried them?" Chen Shi'an asked.
"Mm."
The girl was a woman of few words. She answered what she was asked and rarely took the initiative to expand on a topic.
The fact that she had talked to him "so much" probably had something to do with being outside the classroom. There were only the two of them on the path, with open space all around and a refreshing morning breeze. It was a rare moment of ease.
But even Lin Meng Qiu herself had not noticed that, on this morning's trip to take out the trash with Chen Shi'an, she was walking more slowly than she ever had with any other classmate... apart from the stretch just outside the classroom.
Class had already started, after all.
Lin Meng Qiu finally realized it.
His dawdling must have rubbed off on me. We're carrying the trash can together, after all. What am I supposed to do when he's dragging his feet like this?
His grades are already so bad, and he still doesn't want to hurry back and study... whatever. I'll deduct a point first!
After all that dawdling, they finally reached the school's north gate.
It was much smaller than the main gate, and both students and teachers usually called it the back gate.
The back gate was normally kept closed, opened only for delivery vehicles, such as those bringing vegetables to the cafeteria or collecting garbage.
The garbage collection pit stood beside the north gate. With so much trash produced at school every day, it obviously could not be placed among the classroom buildings. Two sanitation workers were shoveling garbage there, setting aside cardboard and plastic bottles that could be sold for recycling to earn a little extra money on top of their wages.
The school assigned people every morning and evening
to keep the area clean, so it was not terribly filthy or chaotic. But it was still where all the garbage accumulated. As they approached, a distinctive sour stench naturally reached their noses, and even from a distance, they could see trails of dirty liquid seeping across the concrete.
Lin Meng Qiu did not cover her nose, but her brows instinctively drew together, and she deliberately began holding her breath.
Chen Shi'an seemed entirely unaffected. Since Lin Meng Qiu said nothing, he did not offer to take over. They carried the trash can to the pit together, lifted it, and tipped its contents inside.
Clatter-
All kinds of garbage tumbled out: snack wrappers, balls of paper, drink bottles, used-up notebooks, and unfinished instant noodles some bastard had dumped into the can. The curly noodles slid over the rim along with the broth, which kept dripping and dripping, taking forever to drain...
Lin Meng Qiu's face turned pale.
Chen Shi'an rather admired her-he knew she had started holding her breath while they were still a long way from the pit. She had not simply let go and expected him to empty the trash because she was a girl. Instead, she stubbornly held her breath until her face changed color, insisting on emptying it with him. What kind of dedication was this?
Seeing that she looked ready to die if she did not breathe soon, Chen Shi'an finally offered, "Let me do it."
He tugged at the can, but the little hand on the other side still clung tightly to it.
Only when the last drop of noodle broth had drained away did Lin Meng Qiu finally reach her limit.
The usually quiet, gentle girl turned into a little rabbit. As though playing hopscotch, she nimbly avoided the trails of filthy water spreading from the pit across the concrete. In a few little hops, she reached a patch of fresh air and finally began gulping down breaths...
Chen Shi'an deftly turned the trash can upside down, gripped its sides, and knocked it against the edge of the pit until the last scraps stuck to the bottom fell free.
"Ma'am, there are lots of drink bottles over here."
"Oh! All right, thank you, young man!"
After coming up for air like a little whale, Lin Meng Qiu held her breath again and returned.
She took hold of the handle on the other side of the trash can herself. Unable to speak while holding her breath, she pointed toward the faucet beside the pit.
"Want to rinse the can?" Chen Shi'an asked.
"..." Lin Meng Qiu nodded.
They carried the can over to the faucet.
A flexible hose was attached to it. Chen Shi'an turned the tap on, not expecting such strong water pressure. The hose hissed and sprayed wildly, writhing like a snake out of control.
Startled, Lin Meng Qiu quickly hopped away like a little rabbit again. Fortunately, none of the water hit her. Still holding her breath, she said nothing, merely shooting Chen Shi'an a fierce glare.
"Sorry. Didn't get you, did I? I'll handle it, I'll handle it..."
"..."
This time, Lin Meng Qiu finally stayed back. There was only one hose, after all, so one of them had to wash the can.
Chen Shi'an moved with practiced ease. The enormous trash can behaved like a small, obedient object in his hands. He sprayed the inside clean, then turned it over and rinsed the outside too.
Lin Meng Qiu was rather surprised. Was he really that good at this? One simple rinse, and even the years-old grime inside had come right off?
Before she could think it through, another question from Chen Shi'an brought her back to her senses-
"Want to wash your hands?"
"..."
The girl stepped forward again, bent slightly at the waist, and held out her delicate, fair hands.
Chen Shi'an turned down the water pressure, and a gentle stream flowed from the hose onto her hands.
Lin Meng Qiu rubbed them clean. The cool water felt lovely, washing away all the germs she imagined clinging to her skin. At last, her tightly knitted brows quietly relaxed.
After washing her hands, she intended to return the favor by holding the hose for Chen Shi'an. But he needed no help, switching it from one hand to the other and rubbing his hands clean in a few quick motions.
Lin Meng Qiu discreetly withdrew the little hand she had half extended.
No teamwork at all.
The next time she held out her hand, she was holding a tissue.
"Thanks, class monitor."
Chen Shi'an accepted the tissue with a smile, dried his hands, and then wrapped it around the trash can's handle, copying what she had done.
"Head back?" he asked.
"..."
Lin Meng Qiu nodded.
Only after they left the garbage pit's polluted air behind did she finally speak a full sentence, having spent so long holding her breath:
"Remember to come earlier next time you're on cleaning duty."
"Got it-"
Before you continue