In this hot weather, Feng Ning had been eavesdropping for less than ten minutes when she got four or five mosquito bites on her legs.
This must be karma for being nosy.
The bites were unbearably itchy, and she couldn’t stay still, so she quietly snuck away. She carefully counted the colored tiles beneath her feet – red, blue, green. By the time she reached one hundred, she had finished eating the remaining half of her apple. Satisfied, she tossed the core into a nearby trash bin.
When she returned to her dorm, her roommates weren’t there.
Feng Ning lazily went to the balcony to catch some breeze and brought in the laundry before taking a shower.
After her shower, she shook her wet hair and sat cross-legged on her bed. She applied some Six God Florida Water on her mosquito bites and called Qi Lan while leaning against her pillow.
“You wouldn’t believe how bizarre Wang Xiaoli from the cotton mill is. She cheats at mahjong right under my nose every day. Last week I caught her marking the tiles, and today when we were playing, she suddenly kicked my foot. I couldn’t be bothered to deal with her, so I just sat up on my chair.”
Feng Ning couldn’t stop laughing at her mother’s complaints. “Mom, you’re so childish.”
“If I wasn’t thinking about my mahjong parlor’s business, I would have kicked her out long ago,” Qi Lan grumbled, coughing twice. “By the way, are you adjusting well at school? How are things with your roommates? Do you have enough money? I haven’t been sleeping well lately, my chest feels tight, and I keep dreaming about you and your father.”
“I’m doing great! I study hard, eat regularly, and get along well with my classmates. Don’t worry about me,” Feng Ning said while scratching her mosquito bites. She continued, “If you’re not feeling well, make time for a medical checkup. Don’t be lazy about it – health is the most important thing. What would I do if something happened to you?”
“I know.”
Halfway through their call, Meng Taoyu came back with two cups of grass jelly drink.
She pulled up a chair and sat nearby, waiting for Feng Ning to finish her call. Then she took out a cup from the bag, inserted a straw, and handed it over. “Ning Ning, I bought this for you. Try it and see if it’s good. It’s from a new bubble tea shop near school. Everyone says it tastes great. I queued for a long time.”
Feng Ning giggled playfully and teased, “You’re so good to me, I can only repay you by offering myself in marriage.”
Meng Taoyu took a sip of her own drink, shaking her head vigorously before saying seriously, “I’m the one who should thank you. I don’t know how to repay your kindness, really.”
“How about offering yourself in marriage?”
Meng Taoyu burst out laughing and nodded repeatedly, “Sure!”
The incident between Duan Yuwei and Meng Taoyu had become a big deal, eventually requiring both sets of parents to come to school. Even the school forum had threads discussing it.
After laughing for a while, remembering her mother’s request, Meng Taoyu hurriedly said, “Oh right, Ning Ning, are you free this Saturday evening? My family wants to treat you to dinner, along with Xi Gaoyuan, Zhao Binlin, and Jiang Wen.”
“Oh? Why so formal?” Feng Ning asked with a questioning tone. After thinking for a moment, she said, “How about you tell me the location first? I usually work part-time during breaks. If you’re free, you can come find me after dinner. I did promise to treat them to drinks anyway.”
“Where can we find you?”
“Simple Sugar. I’ll send you the name. You can search it on Gaode Maps1 later.”
“Okay, but I don’t drink alcohol.”
Feng Ning patted her chest confidently, “I’ll personally mix you a virgin mojito, no alcohol content. It tastes amazing.”
She picked up her phone, “Around what time? Is the number of people confirmed? Weekend seats are hard to book. If you’re coming, I’ll reserve a booth in advance.”
“For dinner, we should be done by seven or eight.” Meng Taoyu showed a slightly troubled expression. “Jiang Wen and the others should all come because my dad… specifically went to ask Jiang Wen’s father, and made arrangements with Zhao Binlin’s parents too.”
“Wow, so formal. Your parents know each other?”
“No, it’s work-related. My parents are lawyers at Jiang Wen’s father’s company.”
As they were chatting, their other two roommates returned. Miao Le asked curiously, “Feng Ning, why didn’t you go to the classroom to study today?”
“Mm, gave myself a day off.”
“Want some lychees? Just bought them.”
“No thanks!”
Feng Ning moved from sitting to lying on her bed, drying her hair while scrolling through unread messages on her phone. She sorted out spam and confession messages from strangers, deleting them all.
Due to her obsessive-compulsive disorder, she needed to keep exactly ninety-nine messages. She found Zhao Huiyun’s number in her contacts and called her, “Boss, my mom’s been having chest pains lately, so I’m planning to take her for a medical checkup this week. I might be late to the shop.”
After a brief exchange, Zhao Huiyun said on the phone, “Are you free tomorrow noon? Help me take Fan Fan to KFC. I’ve been too busy to look after him, and he’s been complaining for days. I’ve already informed his teacher.”
Fan Fan was Zhao Huiyun’s son, whose full name was Zhao Yufan. He was in sixth grade, also studying at Qide School. Zhao Huiyun had been very kind to Feng Ning these past two years, and Feng Ning was grateful. Whenever she had free time on Saturdays, she would go to the shop early after lunch to help Zhao Yufan with his homework. This little chubby boy, like his cousin Zhao Weichen, really admired her.
Feng Ning readily agreed, “No problem.”
In less than half a day, the gossip about Jiang Wen’s love life spread quickly, catching the attention of the entire grade.
After hearing the news from others, Xi Gaoyuan ran over after class, “Is it true? Be honest! As your bro, how could you keep this from me??”
Other nosy boys gathered around to tease him. One spoke with an envious tone, “I’m jealous. Isn’t Cheng Jiajia the school beauty? Are you two really together? When did this happen?”
Another said: “It started during that time at the horse ranch, right?”
Jiang Wen was doing homework with his left hand supporting his head, and just gave a perfunctory “mm” in response.
“Hey Jiang Wen, here’s the sports meet registration form from the PE rep. You and Zhao Binlin need to fill it out,” Feng Ning called from behind, poking him with a pen.
He didn’t move.
She said impatiently, drawing out her words, “Come on, big brother, just acknowledge me.”
Jiang Wen turned another page in his book.
Feng Ning couldn’t be bothered to call him anymore.
These days, Jiang Wen would at least respond to everyone else who spoke to him, except Feng Ning.
Even Zhao Binlin noticed something was off and turned around to take the registration form, asking curiously, “Did you and Jiang Wen have a fight recently?”
“I didn’t,” Feng Ning shook her head, brushing it off lightly: “It’s one-sided on his part.”
After that night’s confrontation, Feng Ning had actually been hoping to reconcile with Jiang Wen. But he always maintained that terrible attitude – acting like a tsundere, fake coldness, refusing to talk properly.
Feng Ning got tired of offering warmth only to be met with coldness, so she stopped trying to make conversation.
Besides, wasn’t he with someone else now? She didn’t owe him anything.
“Oh right, Zhao Binlin, do you and Xi Gaoyuan have any plans after dinner with Meng Taoyu on Saturday?”
“Don’t know, probably not.”
“Well, if you don’t have plans, I’ll make some for you.”
Zhao Binlin tilted his head to look at her, “What plans?”
“Come to Simple Sugar! As promised, I owe you guys a round of drinks.”
“Sure!”
Hearing Feng Ning chatting and laughing with others while deliberately leaving out his name.
The fire in Jiang Wen’s heart started rising again bit by bit.
Xi Gaoyuan remembered that one of his friends who had good conditions and looked quite handsome had pursued Cheng Jiajia for half a year, but she hadn’t even spared him a glance, being incredibly proud. Thinking of this, he sighed for a moment, “How did you two get together? Knowing you, she must have pursued you. Though it’s rare to see our Question boy’s iron heart melting.”
He was about to ask more.
“How much more do you want to know?”
His tone was slightly angry, startling Xi Gaoyuan, “Bro, are you in a relationship or manning a fortress? Why so tense?”
Jiang Wen realized his own loss of composure and lowered his eyes in frustration, “Class is about to start, you should go.”
While the biology teacher was lecturing about evolution theory on the stage, Feng Ning was below, criticizing him to Meng Taoyu. She complained that his classes were boring, lacked liveliness, and his handwriting was ugly – a waste of Qide’s high salary. She insisted she could teach better. As she was talking, the Iron Lady teacher walked by the window slowly with a grim face.
Feng Ning immediately fell silent and stuck out her tongue.
The elementary section of Qide School got out half an hour earlier than the high school section. Zhao Yufan sat properly on the corridor bench with his little backpack, waiting for Feng Ning.
Someone passing by smiled and asked, “Who are you waiting for, little brother?”
Zhao Yufan answered seriously, “Waiting for Feng Ning.”
Feng Ning was still packing up when she heard someone shouting from outside, “Feng Ning, your brother is waiting for you.”
Feng Ning laughed and replied, “What brother? I don’t have a brother, I only have an illegitimate son.”
“That’s quite something.”
Class Nine was on the fourth floor. When Feng Ning came out, she was quite surprised, “How did you find your way up here?”
Zhao Yufan wrinkled his face maturely, “There are class signs, I’m not stupid.”
Feng Ning patted the little chubby’s head and took his backpack, “We’re just going to KFC, why did you bring your backpack?”
“Oh, take me to the supermarket later, I want to buy some snacks.”
Feng Ning winced in pain at her wallet and scolded, “You little rascal, you’re really milking me dry. Big sister is going bankrupt.”
Zhao Yufan hurriedly said, “I’ll use my own money, Mom gave me some!”
“I’m just kidding, big sister has money.”
In the crowded hallway, they held hands going down the stairs, not noticing two people following behind them.
“Should we go karting this weekend? Just the two of us, or we can invite others. It’s up to you.”
Seeing no response from the person beside her, Cheng Jiajia looked up at Jiang Wen.
Against the light, he seemed not to have heard her words, remaining motionless as he stared ahead.
Cheng Jiajia stopped, gazing at his profile – he was really handsome. Her annoyance at being ignored diminished slightly. She tugged at his sleeve, half-jokingly saying, “Jiang Wen, are you unhappy? If you have something on your mind, can you tell me?”
Jiang Wen slightly raised his eyes, “I don’t have anything on my mind.”
“Where’s your teacher’s permission slip? Let me see.”
Zhao Yufan pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Feng Ning.
The uniforms and school badges for Qide’s elementary, middle, and high school sections were all different. Elementary students couldn’t leave campus without a permission slip.
Feng Ning glanced at it briefly, “You’re quite the troublemaker, coming all this way just for KFC?”
“Of course not.”
The lunch break was about two hours long. Feng Ning took him to a shopping area near the school. After eating KFC, the chubby boy specifically didn’t want the Doraemon toy, and went to the counter to ask the staff to exchange it for a Frozen Anna princess toy instead.
Feng Ning laughed and teased him: “You’re such a girl, little fatty.”
Zhao Yufan glared at her, “You don’t understand, I’m giving it to someone else.”
“Oh~” Feng Ning realized, “Someone you like? A secret crush?”
The chubby boy fidgeted for a while before finally nodding.
Feng Ning secretly laughed, asking nosily: “What’s the little girl’s name?”
“Jiang…” The little chubby boy had just said the surname when he quickly shut his mouth, “I can’t tell you, and you can’t tell my mom.”
“Fine then.” Feng Ning gave him a light tap on the head, mocking: “Dating so early, quite trendy, aren’t you? Such capability at such a young age.”
Recently, life hadn’t been too busy, so Feng Ning kept a very regular schedule. She would go running in the evening and arrive at the classroom on time for self-study.
After working on homework for a while, a girl sat down in front of her. Within a few minutes, the air was filled with the scent of expensive perfume.
It wasn’t Florida Water, but it smelled quite nice.
Although the voice from the front row was quiet, Feng Ning sat close enough to hear some sounds.
“Jiang Wen, why do we need to draw auxiliary lines for this problem?”
“Why is the acceleration here different from there? How do you read these values?”
One meaningless question after another. By the end, Feng Ning wanted to roll up her sleeves, grab a pen, and go teach her herself. She could even promote her fifty-yuan notes which were better than any study materials – good-looking, easy to understand, and memorable.
She secretly criticized her own habit of eavesdropping. Perhaps this was how other couples developed their relationships?
Feng Ning packed up her exercise book, thinking quietly that it was time to find a new study spot.
Cheng Jiajia forced herself to look at the math problems for a while longer.
Suddenly, she heard brief, urgent whimpering sounds. These sounds were intermittent, very faint, and muffled with a hint of suppression.
It sounded like crying.
Noticing something unusual, Cheng Jiajia turned her head to look.
Feng Ning had her head resting on one arm, face buried below, her shoulders shaking up and down.
Cheng Jiajia put on a concerned expression and knocked on the corner of her desk, “Classmate, what’s wrong?”
Feng Ning didn’t respond – she hadn’t heard.
So Cheng Jiajia leaned close to Jiang Wen’s ear and said gently, “The girl behind you seems to be crying. What’s wrong with her? Is she okay? Should we ask?”
Jiang Wen’s face remained cold, and he said nothing.
Actually, Cheng Jiajia knew Feng Ning.
Feng Ning had the kind of looks that were hard to forget, extremely beautiful. Previously, Cheng Jiajia had heard about her pursuing Jiang Wen from Pei Shurong, and later when they met while having late-night snacks on East Street, she recognized her at first glance.
Cheng Jiajia thought with self-satisfaction mixed with pity: Feng Ning was going through a breakup, and it was indeed a bit cruel for her to be so lovey-dovey with Jiang Wen.
The thought that this boy who had broken so many hearts without looking back now belonged to her filled Cheng Jiajia with deep satisfaction.
This satisfaction was enough to make her overlook her inexplicable prejudice against Feng Ning.
Finally, she poked Feng Ning’s arm, “Are you okay?”
Jiang Wen also turned to look.
Feng Ning raised her face up, her cheeks slightly pink, teeth biting her lip which had turned the color of ripe cherries.
She reached up to pull out her earphones, her voice a bit hoarse from holding in laughter, but still soft, “Ah, what’s wrong?”
The earphone jack accidentally came unplugged, and Guo Degang’s loud voice suddenly filled the quiet classroom:
—I chase after you with Cupid’s bow and arrow, while you fly away wearing a bulletproof vest!
Cheng Jiajia paused, “You weren’t crying?”
“Huh, what?” Feng Ning was distracted while talking to them, and seeing no one speak further, she plugged her earphones back in and went back to looking at her phone screen.
Master Guo’s crosstalk2 was performing brilliantly, and she chuckled to herself, her eyelashes fluttering lightly, her eyes bright with moisture like stars fallen from the night sky.
Jiang Wen felt a tightness in his chest.
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