Chapter 76: What Program Are You Planning for New Year’s Day?

(1)

Winter—the season of the flu.

Two or three students in the class had taken leave, and the rest were almost drowned out by the sound of coughing.

By the end of the morning, there wasn’t a single class without someone coughing.

Quiet Wang Xinru, who usually sat at the back, was also absent today due to the flu.

Although the number of absent students wasn’t large, it inexplicably made the class feel emptier.

“Cough, cough… cough, cough, cough!!”

Zhang Qiqi covered her throat and coughed loudly.

Today, she didn’t seem in the mood to serve meals by group.

Instead, she waved her hand, telling everyone to line up and get their food themselves, then coughed again as she returned to her seat.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”

The relentless coughing made everyone uneasy.

Some of it was so severe it sounded like people were coughing their lungs out.

Sun Wei’s was probably the worst.

He coughed while eating, then suddenly vomited.

Because the windows hadn’t been opened due to the cold, the classroom was instantly filled with a sour, foul smell.

The fried fish cutlet was delicious, but today no one had an appetite for it.

“Damn, Awei, are you okay?”

The first to show concern was Fang Qiang, who sat closest to him.

“I’ll take you to the infirmary. Come on.”

“Ugh—”

Sun Wei waved his hand, stood up, and hurriedly left the classroom, trying to hold it in until he reached the restroom.

But once he was in the hallway, he couldn’t hold back anymore and vomited heavily against the corner of the wall.

Zhu Ying quietly closed her lunchbox and let out a soft sigh.

“You don’t feel like eating anymore?”

“No appetite left.”

“Cough. Me neither.”

“The smell in the classroom is awful.”

“Yeah… let’s go outside?”

“Mm… ah-choo!”

“You caught a cold too? That’s weird, you’re dressed so warmly.”

Zhu Ying didn’t respond directly.

Instead, she picked up her lunch and nudged Anjing’s back with her elbow.

“Let’s go outside.”

The hallway didn’t smell much better, since Sun Wei was still vomiting against the wall.

Anyone unaware might have thought the entire Xiaocheng No. 2 Middle School had been served some deadly food, poisoning the students.

Coughing echoed throughout the entire teaching building.

The students in the hallways looked weak and sickly; it felt less like a school and more like a hospital.

Sun Wei’s vomiting was so bad that two passing girls ended up throwing up too, making the scene chaotic.

“Ah Qiang, can you take Awei to the infirmary later?”

“I know!”

“I’m counting on you. I can’t take it anymore.”

Anjing covered her now sensitive nose, threw away her unfinished food into the trash bin, and quickly descended the stairs with Zhu Ying, leaving the constant coughing sounds behind.

There was no sun today, not even a glimpse of clouds.

The sky was gloomy, and a cold wind blew relentlessly.

Aside from a few boys on the basketball court, the playground was nearly empty.

Once out of the classroom, Zhu Ying put on her jacket and wrapped herself up like a fluffy little lamb.

The two sat in a sheltered corner at the edge of the playground.

Even Anjing had come closer today because of the cold.

If it weren’t for some lingering shyness and restraint, she probably would have hugged Zhu Ying by now—because Zhu Ying’s outfit looked really warm.

“So many people are catching colds lately,” Anjing said, feeling the warmth from Zhu Ying’s body.

She wanted to lean closer but felt a bit awkward—maybe it was embarrassment.

“It’s flu season.”

“Huh… that’s weird.”

“What is?”

“I usually cough every winter, but this year, not once.”

Anjing blinked.

“Could this old problem be cured?”

“Maybe it’s thanks to the meteor radiation?”

“If only all radiation could cure everything,” Anjing said, feeling her nose itch.

She suddenly looked up and sneezed.

“Ah-choo! Damn, am I going to catch a cold too?”

“It’s probably just the cold wind.”

Zhu Ying wrapped her scarf around Anjing’s neck again.

Their faces pressed close together.

“Next time, remember to wear a scarf when you go out, okay?”

“Cough.”

Anjing cleared her throat dryly and glanced sideways with a dodgy look.

“No need.”

“Too much trouble?”

“Ah… well… it’s just… fine like this…”

“Like what?”

“Just like this!”

Anjing hadn’t expected normally quick-witted Zhu Ying to have a slow day, but when she looked back at Zhu Ying’s half-smiling, half-smirking face, she immediately knew she was being teased again.

“In winter, when two people get close, it gets… warmer.”

“Warmer?”

“Hot.”

Anjing’s forehead was already sweating; her body felt hot and her lips a bit dry.

“You’re even cuter than in my dream.”

“So then, what kind of dream was that?”

“Let me think… where should I start…”

“Start from the beginning… There’s always next time if you can’t finish.”

Anjing was actually curious but did her best to look completely uninterested.

“Alright, then I’ll start from the first meeting in the dream. I was walking down a street when suddenly a huge mechanical monster fell…”

***

(2)

During the indoor lunch break, coughing still rose and fell in the classroom.

The homeroom teacher sat on the podium grading homework, while Zhang Qiqi held a form and stopped at each desk, as if she was taking attendance or registering something.

Anjing was still chewing over the dream Zhu Ying had told her.

It was a very boyish dream.

Especially with the large monsters and giant mechas—usually girls wouldn’t like those, and certainly wouldn’t dream about them at night.

Zhu Ying said she wasn’t particularly interested in that stuff either, but she had that dream anyway.

“You’ve been spacing out for a while. What are you thinking about?”

Zhu Ying popped a tangerine-flavored hard candy into her mouth and smiled faintly.

“Ah… just curious why you’d have a dream like that.”

“It’s strange, right?”

“Yeah… you don’t even watch that kind of stuff… hmm… I wonder if it wasn’t your dream.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe it was my dream, and I accidentally pulled you into it. It can’t be everyone’s dream—that would be way too chaotic if so many people shared the same dream.”

“Anjing.”

A voice suddenly interrupted her soft mumbling.

She looked up to see Zhang Qiqi, who looked exhausted, staring at her.

“Cough, cough… cough, cough, cough. What program are you planning for New Year’s Day?”

“Huh? There are lots of people performing on New Year’s, right?”

“There’s no group performance this year. Cough, cough… New Year’s cultural show. Cough, cough… you get it.”

Zhang Qiqi covered her mouth and coughed again.

“Each class is doing their own thing, so the more people who perform on stage, the better. Otherwise, the whole afternoon will just be self-study and homework.”

“I… don’t really have any talents to perform.”

“What about Zhu Ying? Singing should be fine, right?”

Zhang Qiqi glanced at Zhu Ying.

She didn’t seem well today and didn’t even have the energy to joke around.

“You and I will sing together.”

“Huh? Me, sing? No way! I’m totally tone-deaf!”

“If you don’t sing, I won’t either.”

Zhu Ying covered her mouth with her sleeve and winked playfully.

“Alright, Anjing and Zhu Ying will sing together. It’s settled.”

“Hey, hey!!”

“Stop avoiding it. It’s our last New Year’s Day here; let’s make the class lively.”

Zhang Qiqi waved her hand, then bent over coughing again.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”

“You’re coughing pretty badly too.”

“There’s this kid in kindergarten who’s sick and deliberately coughed at me—spit even got in my eyes.”

Zhang Qiqi grumbled as she bent over again.

“I knew I was going to catch a cold today.”

“Damn, then stay away from me…”

“Cough, cough, cough!!”

“Hey, you did that on purpose, didn’t you!”

“Absolutely not!”

“You definitely did!”

***

(3)

Recently, the teachers had been dragging their classes out longer and longer.

The last math class in the afternoon ran a full thirty minutes overtime.

By the time Class 5 was dismissed, the school had grown rather quiet, even the food stalls at the gate weren’t busy.

“Cough, cough… cough… whatever, just clean up casually. Sweep the trash, put the chairs away.”

Zhang Qiqi, who usually supervised the duty students to keep the classroom spotless, was unusually lax today.

“No need to clean the windowsills. The janitor can skip the mopping. Okay, done. Just take out the trash and that’s it.”

“Cough, uh—my throat really hurts.”

Zhou Chao rubbed his Adam’s apple as he stepped out of the classroom.

“Anjing, aren’t you leaving yet?”

“I’m waiting for Zhu Ying.”

“Damn, just help with the sweeping.”

“She won’t let me.”

“Oh? Hmm… alright.”

Zhou Chao patted Anjing’s shoulder then stepped back.

“Go home early. Don’t catch a cold.”

“The flu is really bad lately. You’re sick too.”

“I catch one every year anyway.”

“Really?”

“This year’s worse, maybe because I don’t have a woman around.”

“What the hell does that have to do with women?”

“No women means less care and nurturing, you know?”

“Damn, you have too much ‘nurturing’ already. It’s about to overflow.”

“Haha… cough, cough…”

Zhou Chao waved his hand.

“Alright, I’m out. I’m not doing homework today, going straight home to sleep.”

“No worries, come see me tomorrow.”

“Sure… see you tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow—cough, cough, cough… see you!”

“I hope I don’t wake up with a fever tomorrow…”

Anjing muttered softly, looking toward Zhu Ying, who was coming out of the classroom.

“Done cleaning?”

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

Zhu Ying suddenly stopped in her tracks.

“Anjing, your face looks a bit pale.”

“Huh? Damn, I hope I’m not really catching a cold.”

Anjing joked half-heartedly, but suddenly felt her throat itch and coughed hard.

“Cough… shouldn’t… be, right?”

“If you catch a cold, I’ll take care of you.”

“Damn, that just makes me even less want to catch a cold. That’s terrifying!”

“Huh? What’s terrifying?”

“I—I didn’t say anything!”