The autumn wind blew with great force.
Young Zhu Yun followed her mother to school.
Today was registration day, but Zhu Yun didn’t need to go through the complicated procedures — she was already familiar with all of it. Her mother was the head of the high school department, and the elementary school she had previously attended wasn’t far away; after school she would often come here to wait for her mother to finish work so they could go home together.
Her mother led her to the entrance of the teaching building and said, “Wait here for me. I’ll go greet your homeroom teacher first.”
Zhu Yun nodded obediently.
Her mother had been gone for a little while when Zhu Yun, bored, began glancing around — and suddenly, a figure caught her eye.
The figure stood beside the flower bed in front of the teaching building. It was a girl, her head lowered. A few seconds later, the girl seemed to sense something and turned her face toward her.
Zhu Yun quickly looked away.
After a brief pause, Zhu Yun stole another glance and found that the girl had lowered her head again.
Then she started watching her once more.
The autumn breeze left Zhu Yun’s mind completely blank.
While other students walked back and forth around them, only the two of them stood quietly at the entrance of the teaching building. As if passing the time, Zhu Yun kept stealing looks at her, and after a few exchanges of glances, her gaze was caught red-handed. Her heart gave a little jump, and just as she was about to look away again, she saw the girl wave at her.
Zhu Yun looked left and right, then pointed at herself.
“…Me?”
The girl waved again.
So it really was her.
The girl was slightly taller than Zhu Yun, slender in build, with medium-length hair, fair skin, and delicate features…
Zhu Yun stepped a little closer, and was startled to discover that the girl was actually wearing makeup.
A pale face, thick black eyeliner — she held lightly between her lips the stamen of a scarlet salvia flower, long and slender and vivid, the only spot of color on her entire face.
Zhu Yun’s footsteps came to a halt.
This was the first time she had ever seen a middle school student wearing makeup. It went against everything she had ever been taught.
The girl casually plucked another scarlet salvia stamen from the flower bed and held it out to Zhu Yun.
Zhu Yun took it, holding it carefully in her hand. The girl tilted her chin up slightly and murmured —
“It’s sweet.”
That was Zhu Yun’s first encounter with Liu Xiaoyan.
They only had time to exchange names before Zhu Yun was called away by her mother. When her mother came out of the teaching building, her expression was not entirely pleasant. She muttered to herself the whole way, “How did we end up with this teacher — I’ll have to look into switching classes when the opportunity comes…”
Zhu Yun had no idea what she meant. When school started and she finally met her homeroom teacher, Ms. Wang, she found a female Chinese language teacher in her thirties, slightly plump, with an exceptionally gentle nature. No matter what a student did wrong, she always spoke in a soft, measured voice and never raised her voice in criticism.
Zhu Yun liked her very much.
When Zhu Yun encountered Liu Xiaoyan again in class, during self-introductions, Liu Xiaoyan’s was the briefest of all — and without waiting for anyone to applaud, she turned and made her way back to her seat in the rear. As she passed Zhu Yun’s desk, Liu Xiaoyan glanced down at her for a moment.
“That girl’s so cold,” said the boy in the seat behind Zhu Yun.
Zhu Yun turned to look at him sideways. What was his name again — Fang Zhijing?
“Surprisingly though, her entrance exam scores were pretty high,” Fang Zhijing continued, talking to the student beside him.
That’s true…
Zhu Yun was also a little surprised.
This was the best middle school in the entire city, and Zhu Yun’s class was an advanced experimental track to begin with — yet Liu Xiaoyan had still placed third in the entire class on the entrance exam, which was an extraordinary result.
But in the days that followed, Liu Xiaoyan showed none of the qualities typically expected of a “good student.” She never spoke up in class, never approached teachers with questions afterward, and while everyone else bought supplementary workbooks to practice with, she finished only the assigned homework each day and did no further studying.
She seemed to care about only one subject: English.
Liu Xiaoyan paid especially close attention during English class. Every time Zhu Yun was on cleaning duty and swept past Liu Xiaoyan’s spot, she could see stacks of English books piled up inside her desk.
Maybe she wanted to go abroad?
Liu Xiaoyan also kept a notebook, and whenever she had a free moment she would write in it, keeping it tucked at the very back of her desk.
After that first day of school, Zhu Yun never managed to exchange another word with Liu Xiaoyan — and in truth, hardly anyone else in the class did either. Liu Xiaoyan was far too much her own person: the makeup alone set her apart from the group in a way that couldn’t be ignored.
Zhu Yun’s mother had heard about this unconventional student, and she was deeply displeased by Liu Xiaoyan’s habit of coming to school in makeup. On several occasions she demanded that the homeroom teacher intervene, but all the way to the end, Ms. Wang never placed too many restrictions on Liu Xiaoyan.
Zhu Yun had her next real conversation with Liu Xiaoyan back at that same flower bed. It was during a free activity period, and Liu Xiaoyan was sitting on the steps, head bent, writing something.
There was no one else around. Zhu Yun crept up behind Liu Xiaoyan and saw that the notebook was filled entirely with English. Liu Xiaoyan’s English handwriting was beautiful — practiced cursive script — and while Zhu Yun’s own English was decent, it was still a noticeable distance from hers.
Just as Zhu Yun was squinting to try to make out the words, Liu Xiaoyan turned her head.
On pure reflex, Zhu Yun plucked a salvia stamen from the flower bed, popped it in her mouth, and fixed her gaze on the distant sports field, pretending she had simply been strolling past.
Hmm, this one tastes a bit… tingly, Zhu Yun thought, though she didn’t dare let it show on her face. The last thing she needed was to look unnatural.
Liu Xiaoyan was still watching her.
Don’t panic, stay calm, Zhu Yun coached herself. I’m just here to eat salvia flowers. That’s all.
“How can you even put that in your mouth,” Liu Xiaoyan said.