Ruan Mian returned home in a daze. Duan Ying was sitting in the living room with Zhao Shuyang, watching cartoons on TV.
Seeing her come back, Zhao Shuyang crawled up from the sofa and ran over to her, speaking softly, “Are you on vacation now?”
“Mmm, yes I’m on vacation.”
Ruan Mian took out some White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket and handed them over, “Want some?”
Zhao Shuyang took two pieces. Ruan Mian bent down and put the rest into his pocket, then straightened up and patted him on the head, “Go watch TV.”
He held on to the strap of Ruan Mian’s schoolbag and didn’t let go, eating the candy with bulging cheeks.
Duan Ying looked back with an indescribable indifference, “Shuyang, come here.”
“No.”
As he spoke, he couldn’t keep the candy in his mouth and drool trickled down from the corner of his lips. Ruan Mian took a tissue and wiped it for him, then looked up towards the sofa and said, “Granny, I’ll take Shuyang upstairs to play for a while.”
Duan Ying glanced at her and nodded, “Go ahead.”
Only then did Zhao Shuyang let go of the schoolbag strap he had been clutching. He turned around and leaned against the railing of the nearby stairs, climbing up step by step. Ruan Mian exhaled lightly and followed behind in small steps.
There were five or six Lego sets piled up in Ruan Mian’s room. A few were bought by Zhao Yingwei when they first moved in, and the rest were brought over from their old home in Nanhu Garden, all bought previously by Ruan Mingke.
Zhao Shuyang skipped into the room happily. Ruan Mian took out a new Lego set and placed it on the carpet, squatting down to say, “Is it okay to play with this?”
He nodded, took off his shoes and sat directly on the carpet.
Ruan Mian poured the pieces out onto the mat, dragged over a floor cushion and sat down, absent-mindedly keeping Zhao Shuyang company as he built with the Lego.
She couldn’t help turning her head to look at the heavy snow outside, constantly wondering where Chen Yi was now, what he was doing, and whether he was still with Sheng Huan.
With such heavy snow, would he send her home again?
The answer was unknown.
Thinking about it made her feel awful. She sighed deeply, picked up her phone beside her, and found Chen Yi’s name on QQ. She clicked in but didn’t know what to send, so she just scrolled up casually through their chat history.
Adding Chen Yi on QQ was something that happened more than a month ago. Not long before that, Chen Yi had said he would teach her writing and given her a reading list.
Ruan Mian went to buy the books that weekend, and when she came back she saw there was a new friend request on QQ. She clicked in and saw the verification request said ‘Chen Yi’.
She was stunned for a moment, exited and clicked back in again, realizing she wasn’t seeing things. She immediately accepted it.
Chen Yi’s avatar was that photo he took of an orange cat in his QQ album, and his nickname was a simple ‘Chen’.
After going to the same school for so long, Ruan Mian had never thought of adding Chen Yi as a friend on QQ, even though they were deskmates.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but more that she didn’t dare to at the time. They barely talked when sitting together, so what was the point of adding each other online?
The result was, of course…
Nothing.
In the long time since Ruan Mian and Chen Yi became QQ friends, their chat history only contained a few sparse sentences, mostly about whether they had written their reading reflections and when they were due.
Apart from that, the content was really pitifully scarce.
Just then, Ruan Mian only took less than two minutes to look through her chat history with Chen Yi. She went back and typed out a sentence in the input box, her finger hovering over the send key for a long time without pressing it.
Winter nights always came earlier than other seasons. Ruan Mian sat in the dim room, watching the streetlights on Pingjiang Mansion Road light up one by one in the distance.
When all the lights were on, a faint ray of light shone into this remote corner. She hesitated no more, and tapped send. The message was quickly delivered successfully.
Ruan Mian put her phone on the desk and went to turn on the light next to the door.
The moment the light came on, her phone buzzed twice on the wooden desk, shaking along with the vibrations.
She walked over and picked it up – Chen Yi had replied to her message.
30 seconds ago.
Ruan Mian: I’ve read half of the book list you gave me.
30 seconds later.
Chen Yi: Mm, finish the rest over winter break.
Chen Yi: Hand in the reading reflections to me when school starts.
Ruan Mian replied with an okay.
Chen Yi: Mm.
Ruan Mian stared at the screen for a while without replying further.
The next few days passed by monotonously for Ruan Mian. She went out with Meng Xinglan as agreed, and when she had nothing to do she would take Zhao Shuyang out around town, or spend half a day at Li Zhi’s shop.
As Li Zhi had said before, he paid Ruan Mian’s modeling fee from last time with two orange flavored lollipops.
The day to collect report cards at school was the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve. The heavy snowfall in Pingcheng had suddenly stopped, and the long-absent sun came out.
At school, the big rankings board was already posted under the teaching building.
Ruan Mian arrived early and there weren’t many people around. She stood there biting her soy milk bag, scanning down row by row until she found her name and grades on the first page, 49th row.
Chinese 112, Math 149, English 109, Integrated Science 289, total score 6561, class ranking 25th, grade ranking 49th.
As always, Chen Yi topped the grade and class rankings in first place. Ruan Mian finished the last mouthful of soy milk, just about to leave, when someone came over next to her.
“Why are you here so early?”
It was Jiang Rang.
Ruan Mian twisted the cap on her soy milk bag shut and gently said, “I live nearby, got up early since there was nothing to do, so came by first.”
Jiang Rang uttered an “oh”, glanced up at the rankings on the wall, and smiled, “You did pretty well this time, Chinese didn’t drag your score down too much.”
Ruan Mian smiled modestly, “It was alright, guess I didn’t write off-topic in the essay again.”
Jiang Rang smiled. “But your English is still no good.”
Right in the sore spot as always.
Jiang Rang looked over, his handsome features and rosy lips smiling brightly, “I mentioned supplementary classes over winter break last time, have you considered it?”
“Probably won’t work out, I already told my grandma I’m going back home tomorrow.”
“I see, then let’s talk about it again after school starts.”
Jiang Rang gave a disappointed laugh, “I was hoping to ask you for some tips and improve my math a little.”
He sounded pitiful. Ruan Mian hesitated and said, “We can stay in touch on QQ later.”
She remembered her grandma had an old desktop computer left behind by Ruan Mingke, it was outdated but still worked fine for regular use.
Jiang Rang’s eyes curved into a bright smile, “Sure.”
Ruan Mian stared at his smile for a few seconds before averting her gaze.
The classroom doors weren’t open yet. Some students from their class were standing in the corridor while others went to Teacher Zhou Hai’s office. Ruan Mian headed to Teacher Zhao Qi’s office.
Not only was Zhao Qi the Chinese teacher for Class 1, he was also the head teacher for Class 2. Of course he would be coming to hand out report cards.
When Ruan Mian went over, he had just finished sorting out the Chinese test papers for several classes. Seeing her knock, he smiled rarely, “Not bad this time.”
From his smile, Ruan Mian could tell she hadn’t written her essay off-topic again. Her heart, suspended all this way here, finally settled down. “Thank you Teacher Zhao.”
Zhao Qi took out her test paper. She got 41 for the essay, which wasn’t high, but was a big improvement compared to before.
He said with a smile, “Looks like studying with Chen Yi these past days has been quite beneficial for you. Remember to thank him when you go back.”
Ruan Mian nodded. “Teacher Zhao, can I take my test paper back with me?”
“Take it back, but don’t lose it. We’ll still go through it when school starts.”
Zhao Qi put away the remaining test papers into the drawer.
“Okay, thank you Teacher Zhao. I’ll head back to class then.”
He waved his hand. “Go on.”
Ruan Mian returned to the third floor. The classroom door was already open, and everyone had randomly pulled over stools to sit in the single-column seating arrangement from exams.
Meng Xinglan pulled Ruan Mian over to sit with her, beaming, “Do you have anything else to do after getting your report card today?”
“Should be nothing.”
Ruan Mian folded up the test paper in her hands, “What’s up?”
“Jiang Rang said we’re going to a haunted house in the city center this afternoon, he asked me to check if you want to join.”
Meng Xinglan nudged her shoulder with a meaningful, gossipy look. “Is he interested in you?”
Ruan Mian’s face grew hot. “How could that be possible?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
The more Meng Xinglan thought about it, the more possible it seemed. “I’ve known Jiang Rang so long, and besides me I haven’t seen him take the initiative to invite another girl to hang out with us before.”
Ruan Mian said helplessly, “If you keep saying that, I won’t go out with you guys this afternoon.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t say it, I won’t say it anymore!”
Meng Xinglan started whining, clinging to her arm and whimpering, “Dear Mian Mian, just pretend I farted earlier, don’t not come out with us, otherwise I’ll be the only girl going into the haunted house later.”
“It’s fine if it’s just you.”
Ruan Mian looked at her. “Anyway, Liang Yiran will protect you then.”
Meng Xinglan flushed red with embarrassment and cried out, “Ruan Mian!”
In the midst of their conversation, most of the class had arrived. Chen Yi also sauntered into the classroom a few minutes before Teacher Zhou came in with the report cards.
Boys this age didn’t seem to feel the cold. Today he wore a long black down jacket, with a white crew neck T-shirt inside, and light gray jeans wrapped around his long, straight legs. On his feet were black and white striped canvas shoes.
When he walked, the hems of his pants rode up slightly, revealing a slim ankle and sharply defined Achilles tendon, very sexy.
He looked like he just woke up, eyes still droopy, his whole face written with fatigue.
He sat with Jiang Rang over by Meng Xinglan, leaning against the wall with his arms draped lazily over the desks on both sides, casual and unrestrained.
Meng Xinglan chatted with Jiang Rang about plans for the afternoon. Ruan Mian sat behind Chen Yi – when he suddenly stretched his arm over the desk, she moved her hand that had been resting on the desk to her lap.
The classroom was still noisy after a few days’ break. Chen Yi ruffled his fluffy bangs a couple times and put his arm down. He turned his head to look over to the right, “Did you take your Chinese test paper back?”
Ruan Mian was caught off guard, seemingly puzzled how he knew she had taken her test paper back.
Chen Yi, who had been leaning on the table, lightly tapped the tabletop twice, guessing what she was thinking. “I ran into Teacher Zhao just now at the stairwell. He told me.”
I see.
Ruan Mian nodded and said “Oh”, then didn’t continue.
He suddenly laughed a little. “What are you ‘oh’-ing about? Show me your test paper.”
Ruan Mian instinctively oh’d again.
Her face slightly flushed as she took out the test paper folded into a square and handed it over. Chen Yi reached out to take it and flipped through it from beginning to end.
In just over two minutes, Ruan Mian felt extraordinarily agonized. On one hand because of the previous embarrassment, on the other hand because she was nervous about his assessment of her grades this time, whether good or bad.
In between, Chen Yi frowned three times, and her heartbeat shook three times with it, afraid that the next second he would throw the test paper in her face, and indifferently say a sentence like “What did you write?”
But…
After Chen Yi finished looking at the girl’s test paper, he refolded it along the original creases back into a square and handed it back. “The essay is fine, reading comprehension is a bit lacking. Spend some more time on it during winter break.”
Ruan Mian breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. “I understand.”
He hmm’d, and turned to join the circle of boys next to him.
When collecting the grade reports, Zhou Hai really fulfilled his promise, preparing red envelopes1 for every student in the class, the amounts weren’t high, only a few dozen yuan.
Later, someone discovered that the number on each person’s red envelope corresponded to their exam scores this time. For example, Ruan Mian’s total score was 656, so her red envelope was 65.6 yuan.
The boys slapped the table and cheered, “Old Zhou, you’re so romantic!”
Zhou Hai smiled and made an appointment with everyone that when they got admitted to university, he would give red envelopes according to however high their scores were, and he would absolutely fulfill his word.
There was a round of applause in the classroom.
After collecting the grade reports and with nothing else to announce, Zhou Hai didn’t stay long in the classroom. Ruan Mian had promised to go out and play with Meng Xinglan and the others in the afternoon, so she went home first before getting on the bus.
She took her phone and wallet at home, told Duan Ying she’d be back late today, and also called Fang Ruqing to let her know.
The bus stop was at the mouth of the alley. When Ruan Mian came back after getting her things, a large group of people were lining up to get on the bus. She joined the end of the line.
On the bus, Meng Xinglan had saved her a seat. Ruan Mian got on and squeezed through the crowd to sit down, and by the time she sat down she felt like she was sweating.
She opened the window a crack, and the cold wind blew straight in. “How come there are so many people?”
“Oh, after you left, other classmates in our class heard me and Jiang Rang talking about going to a haunted house to play in the afternoon, and they also said they wanted to come. Then Shen Yu brought some classmates from Class 2, and Liang Yiran also brought classmates from their class. “
Meng Xinglan spread her hands: “So it became what it is now.”
Their day trip to the haunted house had a huge group, almost filling up a bus. The other passengers who were already on the bus and didn’t understand the situation thought they were going on a winter field trip, and smiled as they marveled at the energy of youth.
In the crowded mass of people, Ruan Mian actually saw Zhao Shutang as well.
She tugged Meng Xinglan’s arm. “Zhao Shutang is coming with us too?”
“Yeah.”
Meng Xinglan had a somewhat indescribable awkward expression. “Actually, Zhao Shutang was quite popular in her class in 10th grade. If you didn’t have that kind of relationship with her, she wouldn’t oppose you like this, so…hmm…”
Ruan Mian smiled. “I know what you mean. I’m not bothered by it. I was just a little surprised.”
Normally, Zhao Shutang gave her the feeling of being cold as ice, not at all like someone who would go out and play with everyone.
Meng Xinglan hugged her arm. “Oh forget it, there are so many people anyway, you two probably won’t run into each other.”
“Mm.”
The bus started up quickly.
On the bus, Ruan Mian and Meng Xinglan sat in the last row, with Chen Yi and Liang Yiran in front of them.
Midway, the bus entered a short tunnel, and the carriage suddenly sank into darkness. Surrounding cries of alarm sounded, and Ruan Mian took advantage of the weak light from outside the bus to see Chen Yi’s indistinct side profile reflected in the window glass.
The boy was leaning back in his seat, the wide brim of his hat pulled down to cover his entire face.
The carriage was noisy and chaotic. Ruan Mian tilted her head against the window, her fingers resting on the glass gently tapping a few times, her gaze filled only with him.
And those heartaches and sorrows that had once arisen because of him also vanished into thin air the moment the bus drove out of the tunnel.
This haunted house in the city center had been open for less than half a year. Their large group got off the bus and went to a nearby KFC to take care of lunch first.
In the meantime, Jiang Rang and Shen Yu tallied up the total number of people – 39, which just happened to meet the requirements for a group ticket, so they simply bought a group ticket.
The haunted house took up a huge area, contained escape room elements, with one large entrance and four paths in. It could fit forty people entering at a time, with at most ten per path.
Ruan Mian’s group, with Meng Xinglan as the link, had the boys Chen Yi, Jiang Rang, Shen Yu, Liang Yiran, Lin Chuan, two were classmates of Shen Yu’s from his class, and one other girl who was Ruan Mian’s deskmate Fu Guangsi.
The ten of them were the first to form a group, and chose the path with the highest difficulty and horror factors before lining up to enter.
This was Ruan Mian’s first time at a haunted house. She had a strong science brain and always remained unaffected by these kinds of ghosts and monsters. On the contrary, Meng Xinglan was already getting cold feet before even going in, and clung to Ruan Mian’s arm on both sides, shivering.
Following behind, Jiang Rang laughed. “You two like this, how is Ruan Mian supposed to walk?”
Liang Yiran walking in front looked back at them, silently pulled Meng Xinglan’s arm over to his side.
Shen Yu started jeering.
Meng Xinglan was extremely embarrassed, wanted to say something, but Liang Yiran lifted the hand on her shoulder and covered her mouth. “Let’s go.”
After fully entering the path, everyone spread out, looking for clues and chatting idly.
Shen Yu was fiddling with a prop Rubik’s cube in his hand, and quietly asked Chen Yi, “What’s going on with you and Sheng Huan? She’s looking for you, sending me messages.”
“Nothing’s going on.”
Chen Yi tried out a string of numbers he found in the corner on a safe lock.
Shen Yu laughed. “You really don’t like her?”
“Mm.”
“But I heard Jiang Rang telling me that you went to see a movie with her earlier.”
At that moment, Ruan Mian accidentally stepped on something beside them, and the small room suddenly made a sound, startling the three girls.
It was the phone on the wall ringing.
Jiang Rang, who was closest, picked up. First there was a bizarre audio clip, followed by a woman singing Peking opera – she was singing Farewell My Concubine2.
It sounded like a useless clue.
Shen Yu and Chen Yi continued their previous conversation.
“I went to the movies with her in exchange for her not coming to Class 1 to look for me anymore.”
Chen Yi sounded a bit annoyed talking about this.
Shen Yu laughed. “I think Sheng Huan is pretty good, beautiful and confident, having a girlfriend like that would give you a lot of face.”
Chen Yi glanced at him, his tone devoid of emotion. “Am I that shallow?”
“Maybe you are.”
Shen Yu solved the Rubik’s cube in his hand, and a clue dropped out from inside, prompting what to do next and where.
Chen Yi also opened the safe and found another clue.
Everything was proceeding smoothly.
Unintentionally overhearing the gossip, Ruan Mian stood frozen in place. Fu Guangsi nudged her arm before she came back to her senses. She gathered her thoughts and went to look for clues together with her.
The first two rooms went without incident. Upon pushing open the door to the third room, a prop ghost jumped out from the corner.
It was chaos.
In the darkness, Ruan Mian was bumped by Lin Chuan, who was shouting and running around randomly. As she reached back to steady herself but failed to catch her balance, she was about to fall when a hand stretched over from the side, grabbing her collar and hauling her back up.
This posture really couldn’t be described as romantic at all.
The boy’s grip was very strong, and Ruan Mian was choked. Just as she was about to be unable to breathe, he let go, and she immediately lowered her head, coughing.
Chen Yi shifted two steps to the side in the dark, and kicked away the stool behind her. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
Ruan Mian caught her breath. “Thanks just now.” She said in a low voice.
“You’re welcome.”
To tell the truth, Chen Yi wasn’t scared by the ghosts in this house at all, but was genuinely frightened by that scene just now.
A minute ago as he walked this way, Lin Chuan ran past him. He turned his head and saw the girl falling backwards, his gaze going down, there was a stool by the wall.
If he hadn’t caught the person just now, the consequences were unimaginable.
Thinking of this, Chen Yi lifted his foot again and kicked the stool aside. He hadn’t expected to just kick it casually like that, and the originally somewhat damaged stool directly collapsed with a clatter.
Ruan Mian, who had started walking forward, looked back. “What happened?”
Chen Yi’s expression was calm as ever, his hand in his coat pocket. He walked forward on his own, his tone as tranquil as always. “Nothing. Let’s go.”
That day’s haunted house adventure didn’t fully end until evening.
T/N: Unusually long chapter; splitting it into two parts!
- From my understanding (T/N: may be outdated, let me know if it’s wrong!), the maximum overall score is 750. Compulsory subjects are a max of 150 points each, and the integrated science is a total of 300 points. Generally in gaokao >600 points is considered really good and gets you into tier 1 universities (but it depends, e.g., Tsinghua’s minimum is like 680). Obviously not the same as internal school exams, but as a reference for Ruan Mian’s scores! ↩︎
- ???? (Farewell My Concubine) – A classic Peking opera; a tragic tale of love and sacrifice of Xiang Yu and his beloved concubine Yu Ji. The phrase has become symbolic of heart-wrenching farewells and enduring love. ↩︎
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