ATLAS TRANSLATES

The Olympiad Winter Training Camp selected a different school as their training location each year, and this year it happened to be held at Imperial Affiliated High School.

The scope and depth of the final exam’s content were far beyond the difficulty of college entrance exams, let alone the midterm exam’s high school second-year knowledge points. This kind of test was truly something Jiang Qi Huai didn’t need to worry about.

The questions he casually answered were already at Tao Zhi’s current ability limit.

This was the distance between them.

A far and realistic gap.

To say she wasn’t discouraged would be a lie. Tao Zhi even somewhat regretted wasting those three years.

Every action taken by every person at every stage influences their life’s trajectory. She didn’t know if she went back to that time, whether she would still be equally rebellious to the point of self-destruction.

Tao Zhi thought, if only fate had let her meet Jiang Qi Huai a little earlier, just a tiny bit earlier.

At an age when she was just beginning to understand love, or even at an age when she didn’t know such feelings between men and women existed — if it had been him, the flower in her heart would surely have bloomed for him, and she would have fallen for him.

Maybe then she would be able to stand beside him now.

She pulled out her phone from her pocket, opened WeChat, and stared at Jiang Qi Huai’s profile picture for a while.

When she realized she liked him, she changed his contact name to “A Secret.”

Then pinned the chat.

Their conversation had stopped at the midterm exam, when she went to the first exam room to find him, asking him to come out.

Tao Zhi’s finger hovered over the screen for a long time before clicking on his profile picture and unpinning the chat.

He was already standing too high.

She couldn’t let him occupy the top of her social media too.

Tao Zhi’s academic improvement was astonishingly fast. Even Teacher Wang said she was the student who had shown the fastest progress in all his years of teaching. Wang Er specifically called her to his office and gave her a small photo frame as a reward.

A nearby teacher who was grading papers turned around and smiled, “Teacher Wang, what did you say last time? Something about doing a handstand for your student?”

Another teacher also turned around, clearly enjoying the drama: “Oh, is that so? Teacher Wang, you can’t go back on your word. We teachers need to set an example for our students.”

Wang Er: “…”

He turned his head to see Tao Zhi looking at him expectantly: “Teacher Wang, are you really going to do a handstand?”

“Like hell I will!” Wang Er’s face turned red as he laughed and scolded her. “That’s enough from you. We’re barely getting started here. You’re already satisfied with scoring 110? Let me tell you, in my class, you can only go up, never down. For me, you’ve barely qualified to begin. Don’t let this little bit of success go to your head.”

Tao Zhi responded with a sound of agreement, hugging the photo frame and a stack of test papers as she left the office.

She knew better than anyone that she had indeed just barely qualified to begin.

For an entire week, Tao Zhi hadn’t sent any WeChat messages to Jiang Qi Huai.

Ever since the little girl had made her feelings known, her actions and words had become increasingly uninhibited. She often bothered her pursuit target over trivial matters, usually with meaningless chatter, and sometimes she would send him pictures of problems she couldn’t solve.

Although this happened less frequently after she got a tutor, she still found reasons to chat with him.

But for this entire week, she had disappeared completely, falling completely silent.

Jiang Qi Huai guessed it was because she hadn’t done well on the midterm exam.

The evening before the final competition, he sent a WeChat message to Li Shuang Jiang.

[Are the results out?]

The evening self-study session at Experimental was coming to an end. Li Shuang Jiang was struggling with the last question in his sea of practice problems when he received the message, checking several times to confirm it was really from Jiang Qi Huai.

[Li Shuang Jiang]: You still care about this?

[Li Shuang Jiang]: They’re out. Don’t worry, your position as top student remains unshaken, and the gap with second place has even widened.

Jiang Qi Huai sat at his desk in the dormitory, pressing his lips together.

At this time, he was alone in the dorm. Two roommates were in the library, and another had gone to shower and hadn’t returned yet. In the quiet, spacious room, Jiang Qi Huai’s fingertip hovered over the screen, paused for a moment, but still typed.

[Jiang Qi Huai]: What about our vice class president?

[Li Shuang Jiang]: Her progress is terrifyingly good.

The corner of Jiang Qi Huai’s lips curved up silently.

He hadn’t seen the grade sheet yet and didn’t know how much Tao Zhi had scored. He had waited a week for the little girl to come ask for praise, but ended up waiting in vain.

He thought it was because she hadn’t done well.

Jiang Qi Huai wanted to see her scores for each subject.

[Jiang Qi Huai]: Send me a photo.

Li Shuang Jiang was quiet for a moment, then promptly sent a photo.

The classroom was brightly lit, showing the girl holding a pen, lying on her desk working on test papers. Her brows were slightly furrowed, long eyelashes lowered, seemingly stuck on a difficult problem, her expression looking somewhat troubled.

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

He didn’t quite understand Li Shuang Jiang’s thought process. His request should have been clear to any normal person — he wanted a photo of the grade sheet, not of Tao Zhi herself.

Jiang Qi Huai lowered his gaze, his eyes falling on the little girl in the photo, fixed there.

The dormitory door was pushed open as his roommate leisurely walked in carrying a book. He placed the book on the nearby desk and casually glanced at Jiang Qi Huai’s phone screen.

Lu Jia Heng initially thought his lone wolf roommate, who normally couldn’t be bothered with anyone, was secretly looking at pretty girl pictures while they were all away.

He leaned forward slightly, moving closer to get a better look at the photo, only to realize it was clearly an amateur candid shot taken in a classroom.

The young man was amused, as if he’d found something new to be entertained by: “Is this your girlfriend?”

Jiang Qi Huai turned his head, closing WeChat as the girl’s face disappeared from the phone screen: “No.”

Lu Jia Heng squinted his eyes, leaning against the bed ladder, looking at him with interest: “Then why were you staring at her photo endlessly? Your head was almost going into the screen.”

Jiang Qi Huai remained silent.

Lu Jia Heng thought this was truly extraordinary.

They had known each other for over a year, and while their relationship wasn’t close, it wasn’t distant either. Later, when Jiang Qi Huai transferred, although they had only been roommates for this short week, it was enough to understand Jiang Qi Huai’s personality.

He was indifferent to both people and things, had no friends, no emotions, no humanity, wouldn’t yield to either kindness or force, very difficult to deal with.

Lu Jia Heng was a gentleman when it came to girls, but Jiang Qi Huai wasn’t.

He treated everyone equally — in his world, perhaps regardless of gender, everyone except himself was garbage in his eyes.

Lu Jia Heng pulled out the chair beside him and sat down, continuing to ask: “This little girl is quite pretty, is she from Experimental?”

Jiang Qi Huai glanced at him: “Are you very free?”

“Just trying to understand Old Jiang’s hard-won love life,” Lu Jia Heng slid his chair closer, unusually interested. “Want some brotherly advice?”

“Stay away from me.”

Just as Lu Jia Heng was about to speak again, the dormitory door opened once more. Despite the cold winter, a young man walked in wearing only boxers, his upper body’s muscle lines flowing smoothly as he held a towel pressed against his wet hair.

“Boss He,” Lu Jia Heng waved at him, “do you have a girlfriend?”

“No,” He Zhi Xun pulled the towel off his head, carelessly replying, “what would I want that for?”

Lu Jia Heng pointed at Jiang Qi Huai and said: “Your opposite bed has one.”

He Zhi Xun froze, turned around, genuinely confused: “Someone actually likes him?”

“And it’s a pretty girl too.” Lu Jia Heng said flippantly.

He Zhi Xun: “Hidden depths.”

Lu Jia Heng: “Can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“…”

Jiang Qi Huai clicked his phone lock with a “ka-cha” sound and threw it on the desk, expressionless: “I said it’s not like that.”

He Zhi Xun: “Haven’t won her over yet?”

Jiang Qi Huai was silent for a moment: “Still a bit short.”

Lu Jia Heng: “How much short?”

Jiang Qi Huai pulled a book from the desk, picked up his pen, and said flatly: “350 points, probably.”

Lu Jia Heng: “…”

He Zhi Xun: “…”

Tao Zhi had been listless for an entire week. While it wasn’t obvious at school, it was particularly noticeable at home.

As soon as school ended, she would hole up in her room, and wouldn’t be seen until mealtime. After dinner, she would silently run back upstairs again, barely saying a word.

Ji Fan couldn’t stand it anymore.

After dinner, just as Tao Zhi was about to go upstairs, he grabbed her and pulled her back.

“What’s going on with you?” Ji Fan frowned.

Tao Zhi was a bit full from dinner and let out a burp: “What do you mean what’s going on?”

Ji Fan: “Did you fight with Jiang Qi Huai?”

Tao Zhi blinked: “No.”

“Did he bully you?”

“No.”

“Then why have you been half-dead these past few days,” Ji Fan said somewhat irritably, “just because he hasn’t been at school for a week, you’re pining away like this? If you want to see him, just go find him, what’s the problem?”

Tao Zhi pouted: “Why should I go find him? I haven’t scored enough points yet.”

Ji Fan looked at her in disbelief: “Are you serious? You like someone so much you’ve forgotten who you are? You’ve always been the type to do whatever you want. Why are you overthinking things so much?”

Tao Zhi didn’t say anything.

Ji Fan continued: “Besides, if Jiang Qi Huai really only cared about scores, wouldn’t he have just gotten together with Li Si Jia? Why would he reject her? You think he’s a university admissions officer, only accepting applications over 700 points?”

Tao Zhi froze for a moment.

Ji Fan raised his hand, waving it in front of her eyes: “Are you listening?”

Tao Zhi licked her lips.

Maybe he was right.

Why had she suddenly gotten stuck on this idea that she had to reach such a high level before she deserved to be with him?

She could actually do both things simultaneously.

Liking someone was supposed to be a pure and simple thing. Because it was him, she just liked him. Even if Jiang Qi Huai’s grades suddenly plummeted and he scored 300 points every time, she would still like him.

It was because he was Jiang Qi Huai — that alone was enough.

If possible, she hoped he would be the same as her, not considering any other reasons or conditions, just because she was herself.

If possible.

Tao Zhi suddenly lifted her head. She walked to the entrance, grabbed her coat, put on her shoes, and headed out: “I’m going out for a bit, tell Dad for me!”

Before her words finished, the door had already closed behind her with a “bang.”

“…”

Ji Fan rolled his eyes.

The winter training camp was at Affiliated this year, Jiang Qi Huai’s former school. It was almost on the opposite side of the city from Experimental, one in the east and one in the west, also far from Tao Zhi’s home.

It was during rush hour, and traffic was a bit congested. After an hour’s delay, Tao Zhi arrived around eight o’clock.

Because tomorrow was the final competition, evening self-study for the training team was cancelled, and all participating students had gone back to prepare. Tao Zhi asked the security guard at the gate and walked towards the training team’s dormitory building.

The path was very quiet. The lights in the senior year teaching building were bright, and as the winter wind swept by, Tao Zhi hunched her neck against the wind as she walked forward.

She stood at the bottom of the dormitory building and reached for her pocket, wanting to send Jiang Qi Huai a message, only to realize she had left in such a hurry that she hadn’t brought her phone.

She hesitated for a moment, then walked directly into the dormitory building.

The training camp’s temporary dormitory building had two separate floors, with mixed accommodations — second floor for male students, third floor for female students.

When she went in, the aunt at the desk only glanced at her once, probably assuming she was also part of the training team, and didn’t say anything.

Tao Zhi went up to the second floor, and from the stairwell, she could hear male voices coming through. She hesitated for a moment, then pushed open the stairwell door and walked into the corridor.

Two boys carrying washbasins and towels were walking towards the bathroom at the end of the corridor. They were startled when they suddenly saw a girl appear at the corridor entrance.

Tao Zhi maintained a calm face and asked very composedly: “Excuse me, I’d like to ask if you know Jiang Qi Huai?”

One of the boys looked at the other: “He’s from your dorm, right?”

The boy made an “ah” sound and turned back: “Are you looking for him?”

Tao Zhi nodded.

The boy handed his towel to the other person: “I’ll go call him, wait here for a bit.”

Tao Zhi let out a long breath, leaning against the wall with her head down, standing quietly and waiting.

The other boy had already gone into the bathroom with his things. The corridor was empty, with a silver-gray radiator right beside her. Tao Zhi shuffled sideways a bit, pressing her cold fingers against the warm radiator.

She let out a comfortable sigh.

There was a sound in the corridor as one of the dormitory doors opened. Tao Zhi lifted her head at the sound, and under the bright lights, a head suddenly popped out from that doorway.

Then another head popped out.

Then, the head of the boy who had just gone to help her call Jiang Qi Huai also popped out.

Three boys’ heads, just like that, across half a corridor, peering around the door frame, examining her curiously.

“Is it her?”

“Yeah, it’s the girl from the photo.”

“Damn, she’s real.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

She straightened up from the radiator and saw Jiang Qi Huai walk out from behind those three heads, casually smacking one of the heads as he passed.

The heads disappeared back inside.

Jiang Qi Huai turned back to close the door, then walked over.

He stepped through the shadows one step at a time as he approached. Tao Zhi watched as the distance between them gradually shortened, feeling uncontrollably nervous.

Until he stood in front of her, casting a shadow over her eyes, he raised an eyebrow: “Sneaking into the boys’ dormitory at night?”

Tao Zhi was so nervous she could no longer feel the heat from the radiator. She cleared her throat: “I thought about it—”

“…”

She thought about it some more.

Jiang Qi Huai made an “mm” sound, patiently: “Go on.”

“I still didn’t score 700 on this midterm, even with a discount it’s not enough, but you agreed yourself that I could take several tests.”

Once she got started, it became easier to breathe, and Tao Zhi felt her breathing become smoother. “So just let me take two tests, how about that?”

Jiang Qi Huai looked at her strangely and asked: “Two tests will be enough?”

“It’s enough,” Tao Zhi held up two fingers, “I scored 350 last time, and this time I got 580, added together that’s 930.”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

Tao Zhi lifted her eyes slightly, carefully observing his expression: “That’s over 200 points higher than you.”

“…”

“So?” Jiang Qi Huai continued asking.

“So,” Tao Zhi said slowly, “I’ve scored enough points now, when are you going to agree to be my boyfriend?”

A moment of silence.

Jiang Qi Huai looked down at her, the corner of his lips curving up as he suddenly smiled.

He stepped forward half a step and bent down, raising his hand to lean on the radiator behind her.

As his height lowered and the distance suddenly decreased, the radiator’s heat burned his palm and crept upward, making his whole body start to burn.

Jiang Qi Huai bent down to encircle her in front of him, looking up with a direct gaze: “Remind me of something.”

The boy’s warm breath was close enough to feel, his presence extremely tangible and overwhelming, surrounding her completely. Tao Zhi’s head felt a bit fuzzy as she stammered quietly: “…what?”

Jiang Qi Huai looked straight at her, his light-colored eyes darkening slightly as he said in a low voice: “When exactly did I say I would only be your boyfriend if you scored enough points?”