After military training ended, life back at school remained much the same as before.
Amidst busy studies and exams, half the semester flew by in a flash.
Once midterms finished, Lin Zhexia finally felt the mountain weighing on her chest lighten somewhat.
The midterm exams ran for three consecutive days. In the days before, she frequently visited Chi Yao’s place, asking him to highlight important points for her.
“You’re so accurate with your predictions,” Lin Zhexia said that morning while waiting for the bus, holding a carton of milk. “You correctly predicted the last two major problems in math.”
Chi Yao leaned against the railing of the waiting area in his school uniform, looking not fully awake.
Lin Zhexia: “Though the question format changed somewhat. I still couldn’t solve the final part.”
Chi Yao glanced up: “It’s fine, at least you recognized that these two problems were of the same type.”
Lin Zhexia: “I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t argue with you.”
As they spoke, the bus slowly pulled into the station.
On the bus, Lin Zhexia sipped her milk, curious about what song Chi Yao was listening to: “What are you listening to? I want to hear it too.”
Chi Yao was huddled in the back row by the window, eyes closed, catching up on sleep.
Hearing her, he raised one hand, lifting the earbud dangling on his other side and passing it to her.
Lin Zhexia took it and heard low electronic music.
She couldn’t understand the song—it was quite different from her usual music taste. Before the song ended, she nudged Chi Yao with her elbow: “Change the song, play something else.”
“Not changing it,” Chi Yao said. “Take it or leave it.”
Lin Zhexia: “There’s a popular song lately, I want to hear that one.”
Chi Yao: “I don’t want to.”
Lin Zhexia: “Just give it a listen, you might like it too.”
Chi Yao: “Give me back my earbuds.”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
Early in the morning, the two childishly argued back and forth about changing songs.
He Yang, sitting in front of them, shook his head, unsurprised, and continued sneaking in time to copy homework that he needed to submit once they reached school.
Daily life after arriving at school remained routine. Halfway through the semester, Lin Zhexia had become familiar with her classmates. She, Chen Lin, and Tang Shuxuan formed a small group.
When they gathered to chat during breaks, two male students from the back row would also join the conversation.
The boy sitting behind her had a gentle appearance and usually didn’t talk much.
Tang Shuxuan: “Just now in class, Teacher Wu’s face when he realized he calculated the data wrong—I died laughing.”
Chen Lin didn’t say anything; she was always busy with her phone during breaks.
Tang Shuxuan: “Stop surfing the internet. Why are you always on your phone?”
Chen Lin didn’t look up, continuing to surf and post on the forum with flying fingers, casually sharing with them: “I’m busy. Do you know about the neighboring school?”
Lin Zhexia: “Neighboring school?”
Chen Lin: “The Experimental Affiliated School.”
This rang a bell.
He Yang’s school.
Lin Zhexia: “The one… three bus stops away from No. 2 High School?”
“Yes,” Chen Lin said. “I’m arguing with people from their school.”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
The internet truly brings people closer together.
Speaking of phones, the boy sitting behind suddenly said, “I just realized we haven’t added each other as contacts yet.”
For classmates, exchanging contact information wasn’t unusual.
After adding Tang Shuxuan and Chen Lin, he turned to Lin Zhexia: “Um, Lin, could I add you as a contact?”
Lin Zhexia had no reason to refuse, so she gave him her number.
At noon, Lin Zhexia and Chen Lin went to the cafeteria to get food.
The No. 2 High School cafeteria offered abundant food options of decent quality. Lin Zhexia, carrying her tray, looked around for a seat. She spotted two empty spots at Chi Yao’s table.
“Nobody’s sitting here, right?” Lin Zhexia approached with her tray. “If not, I’ll allow you to dine with this young master.”
Chi Yao was struck by her “young master” reference: “It’s empty, but people with brain problems aren’t welcome.”
Lin Zhexia: “This young master has an IQ of 280, belonging to the high-intelligence group.”
Chi Yao slowly looked at her: “To me, you seem more like 250.”
The boy who delivered water sat across from Chi Yao and found this exchange hilarious. He greeted Lin Zhexia, playing along: “Master Lin, what a coincidence meeting you here.”
Lin Zhexia gave him approval: “At least Xu knows how to play along, unlike some people.”