“I’m not talking to you anymore, move.” Xu You couldn’t study with his disruptions, so she simply stood up.
Xie Ci raised his eyebrows with a mischievous look, “No way, let’s see if you can climb over me.”
He placed his foot on the crossbar under the desk, leaned back against the wall, effectively blocking all her escape routes.
Xu You looked at Xie Ci, finding it amusing: “I’m just going to get some hot water to take my medicine, what’s wrong with you?”
The medicine was Chinese herbal medicine for treating stomach issues, with an obvious bitter smell. Xu You gently swirled the thick brown liquid and took a small sip, immediately grimacing and sticking out her tongue from the bitterness.
“Wow, I was wondering what that smell was, it’s so damn awful!” The person in front turned around and noticed Xu You sitting next to Xie Ci, looking shocked, “Whoa, top student, when did you move here? You’re like a ghost.”
Their seats were near the back door, a relatively inconspicuous location in the classroom. Due to the temperature difference, the classroom windows were covered in white fog, making it impossible to see in from outside or out from inside.
Xu You wrinkled her nose, looking at the medicine in her cup, “Is it that bad? I’ll drink it quickly then.”
“What are you yelling about? Turn around.” Xie Ci said impatiently from the side, casually throwing a book.
When he spoke in the classroom, he was as loud as possible. Several students in front turned around to look, thinking there was something interesting going on.
After struggling for a while, Xu You finally prepared herself mentally, held her nose, and tilted her head back to drink the medicine.
Gulp gulp, the bitter brown liquid slid down her throat, the choking bitterness filling her nose and throat. She put down the nearly empty cup and scrunched up her entire face.
She couldn’t speak at all, it was too bitter.
“Do you have water? Let me drink some water.” Xu You couldn’t take it anymore and asked weakly.
Xie Ci went to get her some warm water. Xu You opened the back door, ran to the bathroom to rinse her mouth several times, but the unpleasant taste in her mouth still lingered.
When she returned to the classroom, Xie Ci was still sitting there, barely having changed his position.
His eyes fixed on her, “Feeling better?”
Xu You shook her head, gently closed the door, sat down, and said, “Too bitter, I’m dying from the bitterness.”
Xie Ci said something else, but she didn’t hear clearly and asked, “What?”
“I said,” Xie Ci lowered his head, unwrapped a candy and put it in his mouth, saying leisurely, “I have candy.”
He leaned slightly forward, putting his hand on the back of her chair, almost encircling her.
Xu You sensed something wasn’t right and backed away a bit. The next second, Xie Ci kissed her, holding her shoulder with one hand, tilting his head slightly to press his lips against hers.
Xu You froze as if struck by lightning.
He chuckled softly, eyes half-closed, his tongue parting her slightly open pink lips, passing the candy from his mouth to hers.
It was the sweetness of White Rabbit candy.
When she realized what happened, Xu You reflexively pushed him away. Her face uncontrollably grew redder and redder. She lay down on the desk beside her, burying her face in her arms, her face burning hot, her heart fizzing like an opened bottle of Sprite.
The milk candy remained on the tip of her tongue.
Xie Ci licked his lips contentedly, laughing softly, watching her shy expression. The satisfaction in his heart felt like it would overflow.
The three days of exams passed quickly.
With the final exam of the first semester of tenth grade concluded, the final list of students for the science focus class was also confirmed. This time there were four liberal arts classes, with Class 7 becoming the liberal arts focus class.
The science rocket class had 30 students total. Xu You and two other students from Class 9 got in unsurprisingly.
Class 0 started vacation a week later than other classes. Xu You was still resting at home when she received notice to go to school for classes the day after tomorrow at noon.
Students in Science Class 1 had always been the most noticed, and the teachers assigned to each subject were also the school’s top teaching resources. Even before the class assignments for other classes came out, the list of Class 0 students was posted on the bulletin board, full of names everyone basically knew, those who usually ranked at the top of the monthly rankings. Anyway, getting into this class was like having a shining gold label stuck on you.
The next day at school, Xu You didn’t have much trouble finding Class 0’s location on the first floor.
There were already quite a few people in the classroom, some who seemed to be former classmates, sitting in groups of two or three chatting. Since Xu You didn’t know anyone, she just chose a seat near the front and sat down.
The new head teacher’s surname was Wang, called Wang Xia Dong, in his forties, looking somewhat stern. He taught mathematics, and after going up to the podium, he first gave a self-introduction, then routinely shared some motivational speeches that everyone had heard since childhood until their ears had calluses.
Then the next part was self-introductions from each student in the class.
Actually, students with good grades weren’t necessarily all nerds. Some of the boys who went up before Xu You were particularly witty and humorous, able to talk about all sorts of things, making the whole class laugh.
When it was Xu You’s turn, she was rather plain and didn’t know what to say. First, she went to the blackboard and wrote her name stroke by stroke, then threw the chalk into the chalk box. Being stared at by so many people made her uncomfortable, and she paused for a moment before saying: “Hello everyone, I’m Xu You, the ‘You’ from ‘You You Lu Ming’, I’m very happy to become classmates with everyone, hope we can progress together in the coming year…”
It was a very conventional self-introduction, and she had nothing more to say after that.
But the applause from below still rang out as usual.
Xu You rested her chin on her left hand, absent-mindedly playing with her pen while waiting for the remaining students to introduce themselves one by one.
As she was spacing out, she suddenly heard a gentle female voice:
“—Hello everyone, I’m Qiu Qing Qing.”
At that moment, the voices of two girls sitting behind reached Xu You’s ears:
“Oh my, I noticed Shen Jia Yi is really pretty, so fair-skinned.”
“She’s okay, I think she’s just average.”
“I heard from my friend that she has a great personality too, I really envy girls like that, beautiful and good at studies…”
“No wonder so many boys in our grade chase after her, like that one, who also dated her.” One girl mentioned a name, “You know, Xie Ci.”
The other girl clicked her tongue twice, “Xie Ci is quite wild, I really don’t know how those two got together.”
“Come on, he’s handsome and his family is rich…”
“………..”
Xu You didn’t listen to what came after.
After evening classes ended, it was almost ten o’clock. As Xu You was packing up her things, a male student sitting across the aisle came to ask her questions. Since everyone’s grades were similar, difficult problems were mainly discussed together.
Through this interaction, Xu You became somewhat familiar with that boy. She learned his name was Shen Yang. Shen Yang always liked to discuss chemistry problems with Xu You after evening self-study, or rather debate them. He was the type to get stuck on things, always wanting to figure out problems he couldn’t understand. Xu You usually just listened quietly, pointing out the logical errors in his thinking. Then they would part ways at the school gate.
Studying in the science focus class didn’t feel particularly special. Just that the surrounding classmates became strangers, talked less, and everyone buried their heads in studying during breaks. Class 0 progressed quickly, and although they only had make-up classes for seven days, during these short few days, basically every subject teacher had finished new lessons and started comprehensive review.
As the Chinese New Year approached, Class 0 and the twelfth-grade students were let out for vacation. The winter break had arrived without anyone noticing.
After the class assignment results came out, former classmates and friends successively sent congratulatory messages to Xu You. There were former roommates, Liao Yue Min, Chen Xiao, Li Ling Fang, and some classmates from Class 9.
That day, Xu You was organizing things at home when she suddenly realized she hadn’t seen Xie Ci for a long time because she had been too busy. Her parents were watching TV in the living room while she sat on a small stool, organizing test papers under the dim yellow light of the desk lamp, and called Xie Ci.
She called several times, but there was no answer from the other end. Maybe he didn’t hear it, or for some other reason.
She dialed again, but this time it was deliberately cut off. She couldn’t guess what had happened and felt her mind becoming a bit confused.
Just then, Chen Xiu Yun pushed open the door, and Xu You casually put her phone aside, looking up and softly calling out: “Mom.”
“Mm, what are you doing?” Chen Xiu Yun had a faint smile on her face.
Ever since learning that Xu You had been assigned to the science focus class, their family atmosphere had been very good, and Xu’s father’s nagging had also decreased significantly.
“I’m organizing things, sorting through test papers.” Xu You answered honestly.
Chen Xiu Yun nodded, “How many days of vacation do you have?”
“12 days, classes start again on the seventh day of the lunar new year.”
Xu You calculated, “But the teachers assigned a lot of homework to do.”
Chen Xiu Yun was surprised, “Your class is managed that strictly?”
“Mm…” Xu You was distracted, unconsciously folding and refolding the test papers, her back slightly hunched against the edge of the bed.
After a while, the phone on the bed started vibrating. She glanced at the caller ID.
Chen Xiu Yun asked: “Your classmate?”
Xu You nodded, saying: “My former desk mate.”
After Chen Xiu Yun left the room, she picked up the phone. It was Fu Xue Li, with deafening music and cheering in the background.
Xu You spoke: “Xue Li?”
Fu Xue Li seemed to be talking to someone there, and after a while finally said hello, walking to a slightly quieter place, “You You, are you at home?”
“Yes.” She was quiet for a moment before saying, “It’s so late, why are you still out?”
“Class 9 is having a gathering today! Why didn’t you come? I called you many times this morning.”
Xu You explained, “We only got out of school this afternoon, I haven’t checked my phone.”
“What about dinner? Xu Xing Chun came too, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.” Fu Xue Li was clever and chose important things to say, “Xie Ci’s mood seems quite off today, do you want to come take a look?”
Hearing this, Xu You paused in her paper sorting, “Is Xie Ci having dinner with you all?”
“Yeah, though he didn’t hang out with us in the afternoon, he just came for dinner.” Fu Xue Li answered.
Xu You smiled slightly and said, “I see, I probably can’t make it today, help me apologize to everyone in class.”
Fu Xue Li hung up the phone, and Song Yi Fan beside her asked, “How is it, is Xu You coming?”
“She’s not coming.” Fu Xue Li put away her phone, pushed open the private room door to check the situation inside, and frowned, “What’s up with Xie Ci? He drank so much earlier, and now he’s still playing poker with Li Jie Yi and them.”
Song Yi Fan hemmed and hawed, looking hesitant.
The private room was filled with dim lights and swirling smoke.
Chen Jing leaned next to Xie Ci, threw his phone onto the coffee table, and said softly, “Ci, I finished the call.”
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