Chapter 42

Chapter 4: The cola incident

Rich boys like Zhang Xi really had not been wrong. Class Five of the first year soon became a lively place, and its abundance of pretty girls made it famous throughout the year. There was plenty of gossip at the start of the new term, but most of it centered on Tang Wu's identity, with no shortage of attention paid to Chen Lingshan, of course.

Next came the customary few days of military training at the start of high school. Chen Lingshan naturally discovered that Su Can was in her class too. She was a little taken aback, but amid the countless voices showering her with attention, that surprise was like a stone tossed into a stream: its ripples soon vanished.

No. 1 High School was full of outstanding students in the new term. Among the thousand-plus students in the first year of junior high, there were plenty with exceptional looks, excellent grades, or well-off families, and Su Can was merely one of the crowd. He was the sort who might stand out among ten people, but put him among a hundred, and the most eye-catching person certainly would not be him.

So Chen Lingshan had her own little reasons for occasionally greeting Xue Yiyang while deliberately treating Su Can with cold indifference. For one thing, it was retaliation for the little unpleasantness between them during the break after the high school entrance exams. For another, Su Can was nothing remarkable among the first-year high school students, much less the sort of boy girls competed over.

During military training, countless people began showing signs of interest in Chen Lingshan. Her coldness toward Su Can naturally had something to do with her pride.

Tang Wu, on the other hand, maintained a relationship with Su Can in which they sometimes exchanged a smile in greeting when they met. It was as calm as water, without a ripple, as though they had both buried that little walk on graduation day deep in their hearts, making it a sealed secret. Was it buried forever, or was it quietly waiting for the day that secret would be opened?

The military training did not require them to stay at school. It lasted a week, starting at eight in the morning and ending at six in the evening. The school issued pale green uniforms, and the great swaths of military green visible across the sports field were a sight in themselves.

Many things happened during military training, including plenty of topics the boarding girls discussed with relish in their rooms. One incident, however, caused a small stir throughout the year.

Because military training consumed so much energy, drinking ice-cold cola or sweet drinks that replenished both sugar and fluids was one of the greatest pleasures after training. Yet Su Can, who drank only the mineral water handed out by the school, actually became the subject of considerable private discussion.

After all, only two kinds of people drank the mineral water supplied by the school: the military instructors, and students from struggling families who would not spend three yuan, or even more than the price of a meal, on a cola.

Under the snobbish, piercing gazes of those around him, Su Can was clearly placed in the latter category. Quite a few people even mocked him behind his back.

After a disciplinary problem, Class Five's instructor canceled their break and made them train harder. Xiao Yunyun, known as Class Three's prettiest girl, did something unprecedented: after buying herself a bottle of Mirinda at the school shop, she paid for a bottle of cola and personally brought it over to Su Can as he endured the grueling training.

This prompted a chorus of shrieks from the onlookers eager for excitement, including Zhang Xi, Li Ai, and several other boys from Class Five who loved nothing more than stirring up trouble.

Xiao Yunyun looked fresh-faced and spirited in her slim-fitting military-green uniform, her long hair tied back. Fragrant sweat seeped from her temples, dampening the wisps of hair beside her ears. The close-fitting uniform traced the lovely curve of her waist as she bent down and held out the cola.

Su Can hesitated, then accepted it. Amid whistles from countless people, Xiao Yunyun turned and left, blushing with shyness. The scene left a faint sour taste.

A boy who looked neither striking nor outstanding, no different from any ordinary person, had somehow won the favor of Xiao Yunyun, Class Three's prettiest girl. For a time, Su Can became someone all the boys in Class Three discussed warily, even leveling hostile accusations at him.

Seeing Xiao Yunyun turn shy after his "Thank you!" stirred something faintly in Su Can's heart. Then he heard the whistles around him, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Weren't these people overdoing it a little?

Su Can knew about some of the talk that had been circulating, but he did not argue. His not drinking cola did not mean he had no money.

In his later life, Su Can had enjoyed carbonated drinks like cola. After his rebirth, however, he knew he was at a crucial stage of physical growth and would be better off drinking less of that sort of thing. Besides, he had lost his taste for it. He preferred tea, light and mild but with a lingering aftertaste. He liked that feeling.

After the cola incident, Su Can, who had previously attracted little attention in class, became one of its three most famous boys, alongside Zhang Xi, the rich boy who had been conspicuous even in junior high, and Mao Xiaoshi, the tallest boy in class, who looked every inch a basketball-playing Prince Charming.

It was said that after the incident, large numbers of boys began drinking the mineral water handed out by the school. But even when their blood sugar dropped so low that their vision swam, their princesses still failed to appear.

Whenever her many female friends brought up this sort of gossip, Chen Lingshan would blink innocently and ask with reserve, "Oh, something like that happened?"

In fact, she had been there at the time. Xiao Yunyun's sudden action had surprised her too. Xiao Yunyun was Class Three's prettiest girl, though there was a gap between them in popularity. Still, for her to suddenly do something so unexpected as bring cola to that blockhead Su Can was truly astonishing. After mentally weighing the gap between Xiao Yunyun and herself, Chen Lingshan felt somewhat disdainful, but she still looked toward Su Can and pursed her lips, feeling a little unconvinced.

Because of her cool aloofness, Tang Wu always kept to herself. Seeing this scene, she soon turned her gaze away. Yet at that moment, as sunlight pierced the dense trees and scattered little patches of light over her, a barely perceptible shadow passed through her beautiful eyes, like the great masses of gray yet magnificent, mysterious clouds darkening the sky beneath this autumn's slanting sunset.

"Remember what we agreed on before?" Su Can suddenly turned to Xue Yiyang with a smile as they left the school gates together.

The delighted expression Xue Yiyang had worn while chatting with a group of girls passing beside him suddenly froze. He turned toward Su Can little by little and ventured, "You wouldn't..."

Xue Yiyang really was the sort who could strike up a conversation with anyone. Back then, he had actually used Su Can's crush on Chen Lingshan to sell him out, chatting and joking his way into a friendship with the school beauty. Naturally, he was now having a lively conversation with the girls from their class walking home after military training. But while humoring Xue Yiyang's rambling talk about everything under the sun, the girls kept looking with an air of mystery at Su Can, who only occasionally spoke in reply.

Under Su Can's warm smile, the grin on Xue Yiyang's face crumbled bit by bit. He looked around at the peak after-school crowd and the few girls staring blankly, unaware of what was happening. Then his expression became extremely ugly, and he murmured, "You're not planning to kick my ass right here, are you? Come on, don't..."

Seeing that Su Can was still smiling, Xue Yiyang lost his last shred of hope. He lowered his head and scanned the smiling girls and the crowds streaming toward the gates like a tide. Gritting his teeth, he stepped forward as though resigning himself to punishment, then turned his back to Su Can.

Several girls had already covered their mouths, as though sensing that some major piece of gossip was about to unfold.

Xue Yiyang clenched his fists. He could feel the people around him walking more slowly, then more slowly still.

He had no idea what sort of news it would make if word spread tomorrow that someone had kicked his ass in public, just as he had no idea what glacier-shaking devastation would result if news of Jack climbing into Rose's bed aboard the Titanic reached high society.

The lingering sun on the horizon was blood-red, heralding his tragic life.

He waited a long time, but the world-shattering sound of a kick landing on his plump backside never came.

Someone gently patted his shoulder. He opened his eyes and turned his head. Su Can put an arm around his shoulders, ignoring the crowd waiting for a show. "Come on, you bum. Let's go home!"

The sun sank, and dense red clouds drifted overhead, leaving only two figures walking down the slope from No. 1 High School, arms tight around each other's shoulders and hands in their trouser pockets. That image, faintly intoxicating and hot-blooded, warmed the beginnings of a certain legend.