In the following days, Jin Chao seemed very busy, and Jiang Mu hadn’t seen him come back at all. With Jin Qiang working during the day, Jiang Mu spent most of her time alone with Zhao Meijuan and her daughter, which made her rather uncomfortable. Fortunately, the school started soon after she arrived in Tonggang.
One day on her way back from school, she thought she saw a man who looked like Jin Chao driving a black Ford, but Jiang Mu figured she must have been mistaken since the last time Jin Chao was driving a white Volkswagen.
As someone with mild social anxiety, Jiang Mu didn’t quite fit in with Class 6 of Senior Year 3 at the affiliated high school. She barely talked to her classmates and kept to herself during the first week of school. Combined with her naturally unsmiling demeanor, she gave off an aloof and reclusive impression.
The girls here were either bold or outgoing, not only loud but mostly large-framed as well. Take her deskmate Yan Xiaoyi for example—far from being delicate, when she first sat down next to Jiang Mu, she shook the entire desk. The two of them sitting together looked like Baymax and Hiro from Big Hero 6.
Perhaps it was this stark contrast that made her already small frame appear even more pronounced. Within three days, many people had noticed this girl with her delicate features and pale skin, especially since she was a transfer student repeating her final year. This sparked intense curiosity in many people.
Among the most curious was Pan Kai from across the hallway. From Jiang Mu’s first day in class, this young man had been staring at her with an expression like he’d seen a celestial maiden descend from heaven. He stared during class, stared between classes—he might as well have had the word “smitten” plastered on his forehead.
Jiang Mu had received indirect attention from boys at her previous school, but she’d never encountered someone so blatant. She deliberately took detours to avoid him even when going to the bathroom. Despite this, her male classmates’ teasing continued unabated, and within a week, some people had started calling her “Pan’s wife” behind her back.
During the long break one day, Yan Xiaoyi told her, “Pan Shuai is a rich second generation. His family owns a factory that makes auto parts.”
Jiang Mu turned and asked, “Do you think if I asked him to give me his factory, he would agree?”
Yan Xiaoyi laughed foolishly, “You’re thinking too much.”
“Then what does his family having a factory have to do with me?”
“…”
Just then, their class monitor—who moved like he was having a seizure but stayed still like he was paralyzed—came running over. Speaking of their Class 6 monitor, he was round in appearance, named Huang He, but for some reason, everyone called him Chang Jiang. He said to Jiang Mu, “Teacher Ma is looking for you.”
Jiang Mu went to the office where Teacher Ma told her that before National Day, the school would be holding a classical Chinese culture performance. The senior year might not participate, but since city officials would be attending, everyone should wear their school uniforms.
Considering Jiang Mu was repeating the year, it wouldn’t make sense to buy a new uniform for just one year. He suggested she borrow one from a classmate, and if she couldn’t, let him know. Jiang Mu nodded.
After evening self-study, Jiang Mu had just packed her things and left the classroom when she noticed several people in the corridor discussing something while looking downstairs.
“Is that Teacher Ma’s friend? Teacher Ma just went down, and that person offered him a cigarette. They chatted for quite a while.”
Someone from Class 5 chimed in, “Not a friend. Teacher Ma mentioned earlier that it was his former star student. Could it be that senior student he used to talk about in class? Why didn’t he invite him up? I’ve never seen him in person.”
“As if I have.”
Jiang Mu glanced downstairs casually and saw quite a few people standing opposite the school who didn’t look like high school students. She paid no attention and walked downstairs with her backpack.
The bus stop was some distance from the school gate. As she was about to head toward it, she happened to look across the street. There were two cars parked there, one of which was a somewhat familiar black Ford. Her gaze focused again, looking at the few people standing in front of the Ford, landing on a man leaning against the hood. He had a corner of his black shirt casually tucked into his jeans, his long legs against the car particularly eye-catching. However, he wore a plain black baseball cap and was looking down with a cigarette in his mouth, the cap almost hiding his entire face.
As Jiang Mu stood studying him, the man seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up, his eyes meeting directly with Jiang Mu’s—it was Jin Chao, whom she hadn’t seen for a week.
He had seen Jiang Mu too, slowly removing the cigarette from his mouth, his expression unclear under the shadow of his cap brim.
Just as Jiang Mu was about to walk toward him, someone suddenly patted her shoulder, and a figure moved in front of her, completely blocking her view. Jiang Mu looked up to see Pan Kai, and asked, “Do you need something?”
Pan Kai smiled, showing his bright white teeth, and said somewhat sheepishly, “Are you taking Bus 8 home? Let’s walk together?”
Jiang Mu stepped aside saying, “We’re not going the same way.”
Her gaze returned to across the street. Jin Chao’s eyes hadn’t moved at all; though he was talking to people beside him, his gaze remained fixed straight on Jiang Mu.
Seeing Jiang Mu about to leave, Pan Kai quickly blocked her again: “We are going the same way, I’m taking Bus 8 too. You need to transfer buses, right? That’s not safe. Let me accompany you. I’m free anyway.”
Jiang Mu slightly furrowed her brows and looked up at him: “Have you finished your practice papers?”
Pan Kai seized the opportunity: “Speaking of papers, I have a few questions I wanted to ask you. We can discuss them on the way?”
Jin Chao silently watched Jiang Mu struggle with the boy for a while, took a final drag of his cigarette, and stubbed it out.
Jiang Mu said to Pan Kai, “I have something to do. Let’s talk tomorrow.”
Then she walked straight across the street. Besides Jin Chao leaning on the hood, of the other three people, two were standing and one was squatting on the curb. Jiang Mu immediately recognized the tall, thin man squatting on the curb as the one who had come looking for Jin Chao at home recently.
Today this man wore a white Chinese-style T-shirt with large characters for “China” on the chest, oddly paired with patterned shorts. His scraggly stubble made him look even more slovenly.
The group standing at the high school entrance gave off an intimidating aura. Pan Kai kept calling from behind Jiang Mu: “Where are you going? Don’t go over there!”
The group had been chatting casually, but they fell silent when they saw a pretty, well-behaved-looking girl walking toward them.
When Jiang Mu stopped in front of them, she looked at Jin Chao and said, “Did you come to pick me up?”
Although the school gate was bustling with students after evening self-study, Jiang Mu’s words still caused the air to fall silent for a few seconds.
The two standing men looked at her strangely, then turned to look at Jin Chao. The tall, thin man squatting suddenly burst out laughing.
Jin Chao gazed at her coolly, his black pupils suddenly glancing behind her. Just then, Jiang Mu sensed someone stop beside her and address Jin Chao: “Brother Seven, sorry to keep you waiting. Ao Bai talked too much, and delayed us half an hour.”
Jin Chao lowered his gaze and fiddled with the lighter in his hand. The tall, thin man raised his chin and snapped, “Kid, change how you address him. He hasn’t been Seven for a long time, call him Brother You Jiu.”
The person quickly nodded and said, “Sorry, Brother You Jiu.”
Jin Chao asked, “Did you bring the stuff?”
The person patted the backpack he was carrying: “It’s all in here.”
Only then did Jiang Mu turn to look, seeing that the person beside her wore an earring and wasn’t in the affiliated school uniform, but from his words, he was a student there. From the situation, Jin Chao and his group were here for this person, which explained why everyone had fallen silent at her earlier comment.
Jiang Mu awkwardly tugged at her backpack and said, “I’ll go first,” then turned to leave.
Jin Chao raised his gaze again, moving from Jiang Mu to Pan Kai who was still standing across the street. Pan Kai hadn’t left and kept glancing over. Jin Chao’s gaze met his briefly for a second, then he called out to Jiang Mu’s retreating figure: “Hey.”
Jiang Mu heard and stopped, turning back. Jin Chao lazily straightened up and glanced at her: “I’ll take you home.”
Then he turned to the men and said, “I leave this to you, I’ll be back later.” He patted the affiliated school student and looked toward Jiang Mu.
Jiang Mu didn’t move, still standing in place. Jin Chao adjusted his cap, his eyes flickering slightly: “Why are you just standing there? Need a formal invitation?”