As she was typing, she casually wrote: Why is it so sunny this afternoon?
After chatting for a while, she switched to reluctantly responded to He Yang.
Da Zhuang: You fell? Are you okay?
Da Zhuang: Later we don’t need to take the bus back to school, we can disperse freely. What about you guys? Want to walk together later?
Lin Zhexia replied: I’m fine, not sure, maybe.
Da Zhuang: I advise you to chat less with Chi Yao.
Da Zhuang: Bad company corrupts good character.
Lin Zhexia: .
Da Zhuang: You even use “.” now? You’ve mastered the essence of my bro Yao’s chat style.
Lin Zhexia typed: I can be even more essential
Da Zhuang: How so
Lin Zhexia: Annoy me again, and I’ll block you
Da Zhuang surrendered: …Impressive.
She and He Yang often privately made fun of Chi Yao like this. Mid-conversation, something very light suddenly pressed down, completely covering her head. Her vision went black for a moment, and at the same time, the intense sunlight was completely blocked.
After two seconds, she realized what was covering her head was a jacket.
“Too hot,” Chi Yao had appeared behind her at some point. After dropping the jacket, he stood up and said as if depositing an item: “Hold this for me.”
“…?”
Lin Zhexia pushed the jacket back a bit and turned to look at him. “Can’t you hold it yourself?”
Chi Yao: “Too lazy to hold it.”
Lin Zhexia wanted to say something more, but Chi Yao had already gone down the stands.
She sat with the jacket on for a while and found that it did block the sun.
After a while, it wasn’t as sunny as before.
…
So had he specially come to bring her the jacket?
She thought, as if anticipating a certain answer.
Lin Zhexia checked her chat history with Chi Yao. Among the dense race commentary, her casually typed “Why is it so sunny this afternoon?” lay inconspicuously.
But the next second, she denied it to herself.
What was she thinking?
The sports meet ended. Since they didn’t need to return to school, the three took transportation back together.
Lin Zhexia’s knee was still injured. Sitting in the stands had been fine, but the distance from the bus stop to the residential area was a bit too long for her. Her movement became slower and slower.
Midway, Chi Yao wanted to carry her on his back, but Lin Zhexia suddenly felt an inexplicable awkwardness and didn’t want to be too close to him: “I can walk by myself.”
He Yang admired: “My Summer-bro has a will of steel.”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
The three walked slowly toward Nanxiang Street.
He Yang brought up something about their class and asked Chi Yao: “I heard you met our classmate in the infirmary?”
Chi Yao didn’t feel like discussing this.
He Yang continued: “A girl, quite pretty, very popular in our class. After returning from the infirmary, she started cursing you in the class group chat.”
Chi Yao: “Don’t remember.”
“…”
As a long-time best friend, He Yang couldn’t help but remark: “You were even on our school’s confession wall before. Anyway, after this incident, the girls who still wanted to ask for your contact info don’t want it anymore. Your reputation is exactly like it was in middle school.”
He Yang added: “No, it’s even worse.”
Lin Zhexia didn’t know much about what happened during their middle school years. The only impression she had was that phrase “don’t approach” from the post, and the few words He Yang had mentioned to her before.
She couldn’t help asking: “What reputation?”
He Yang: “Notoriously handsome guy.”
“…”
Very accurate.
“It’s a talent of his,” He Yang said, “wasting that face.”
As they talked, the three reached the Nanxiang Street sign.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tree’s shade. The bluestone pavement was scorching hot, and the air was stuffy and hot, but Lin Zhexia felt a bit happy.
It was a happiness that rationally shouldn’t exist but still couldn’t be controlled, emerging from a deeply hidden place.