His words seemed to come out of nowhere, and Tao Zhi was confused: “What boyfriend?” Jiang Qi Huai didn’t speak, just pushed his phone forward. The phone screen showed their group chat from earlier, with the last messages being Li Shuang Jiang and Fu Xi Ling’s conversation about seeing Ji Fan when they got home.…

The evening rush hour bus was crowded, with office workers silently looking down at their phones while students chatted in small groups. The night breeze circulated through the bus, dispersing some of the stifling atmosphere. Jiang Qi Huai’s finger scrolled down the screen. The earlier messages were mostly Li Shuang Jiang talking about random things.…

After bowing, Tao Zhi remembered something else. She grabbed the microphone and stood up, casually adding: “Oh right, PS — if I see this kind of thing again, I might still lose control.” Tao Zhi held up her index and middle fingers in a V-shape, pointing forward. “I’m watching you.” The girl’s brazen voice echoed…

Early Monday morning, the campus was quiet with only a few early arrivers waiting at the school store, and boarding students leisurely walking to the teaching building while eating breakfast. Tao Zhi sat at the school gate holding a bottle of water, her head tilted lazily as she propped it up, yawning as she took…

Tao Zhi tried hard to imagine Jiang Qi Huai helping someone clean and disinfect wounds with a medical cotton swab, but found it difficult to picture. Such an absurd image was horrifying just to imagine. Jiang Qi Huai was the type of person where if he voluntarily offered to help you, you’d have to be…

The orange basketball bounced twice on the ground before rolling to the edge of the court. No one spoke, and no one knew what had happened. Only those few in the middle who were close enough heard clearly. Li Shuang Jiang vaguely guessed what was going on from their conversation. Similar things had happened with…

People who have shared secrets often feel their relationship has changed. For instance, those who glimpse another’s secrets might feel they’re now on equal footing. From every perspective. “Give me the test paper.” “No.” “Hand it over.” “I tore it up and ate it.” Ten minutes into lunch break, Tao Zhi sat at her desk,…

The handwriting was beautiful, so uniform that every character looked the same in height and width. Tao Zhi stared at those two print-like characters for five seconds, then raised her head expressionlessly: “I suddenly regret not encouraging Ji Shi Yu to make you wait four hours. You really do deserve a beating.” Jiang Qi Huai…

Tao Zhi leaned against the wall sideways, her entire body hidden in the shadows, watching the two people’s awkward encounter through the glass window. She should have rushed in immediately to pull Song Jiang away, but each time she wanted to go in, she felt like she couldn’t take that step. Her gaze lingered on…

Jiang Qi Huai had actually just written down Tao Zhi’s name without much thought. He had no interest in running for class monitor, nor did he plan to get closer to his classmates during the remaining two years of high school. After a week of school, he had barely spoken to anyone in Class 1,…