(1)
March 8, 2010—the annual International Women’s Day.
The city’s flower shops were once again bustling with business.
Men took this opportunity to give their beloved a small surprise, while boys used the occasion to express their love for their mothers.
Some even bought flowers for their teachers.
When they called out “Happy Women’s Day!” and saw the teachers’ faces light up with happiness, it was clear they felt joyful too.
Today was also An Jing’s first day back at school after winter break.
She had originally planned to hand in her homework, but upon seeing everyone’s assignments piled up in cardboard boxes by the door, she felt there was no real need to submit hers anymore.
—Those things would probably be sold to scrap collectors soon and turned into the class fund for the final semester of ninth grade.
The students in the classroom were quietly doing their morning reading in an orderly fashion.
An Jing, who couldn’t hear a thing, didn’t slack off at all; instead, she focused even more intently and silently mouthed the text from her textbook.
Zhu Ying quietly passed her a note: “Xiao Jing, we’re reading English now.”
An Jing’s previously serious expression blanked for a moment.
She awkwardly tilted her head to glance at the English book Zhu Ying was holding, then sheepishly pulled her own English book out of the drawer.
Xiao Cheng No. 2 Middle School wasn’t exactly a prestigious junior high, so even in ninth grade, morning reading still mainly involved memorizing vocabulary.
Not being able to hear others had its advantage—it allowed An Jing to control her own pace and easily immerse herself in her own world.
It wasn’t until she snapped back from her daydream that she realized the first class had already started.
The homeroom teacher, whose face was as round and flat as a large pancake, was tapping the chalkboard with a piece of chalk.
White chalk dust floated down, causing the unlucky student sitting next to the podium to cover his mouth as his shoulders shook.
—Probably coughing.
The teacher spent the entire class going over various cloze tests.
Judging by her expression, she seemed particularly displeased.
Sun Wei, who had briefly zoned out, got hit in the forehead by a flying piece of white chalk.
This forced An Jing, who had intended to quietly write her test since she couldn’t hear anything, to keep her attention fixed on the blackboard.
When you can’t hear, it’s easy to focus.
But at the same time… it’s easy to drift off.
An Jing’s eyes quickly lost focus, as if she was using a microscope.
A tiny white dot on the blackboard slowly expanded, pulling her into an even more mysterious and brilliant microscopic world…
Until Zhu Ying ‘tapped’ her shoulder, snapping her back to reality.
Looking again, there was no teacher in sight.
The classroom was lively, with students crowding together.
A few rowdy boys hadn’t yet settled into the final semester’s serious mood.
In their chasing and roughhousing, they knocked over a mountain of test papers and books on Wang Xinru’s desk, causing Zhang Qiqi nearby to bend over and curse loudly.
No need to guess—the ringleader of the chaos was definitely Sun Wei.
At this moment, An Jing felt as if she could almost hear that guy’s lecherous laughter…
The classroom remained as lively as ever.
But An Jing felt a tinge of melancholy.
It was already March, and the high school entrance exam was scheduled for mid-June, meaning the time left attending classes in this room was only about three months.
An Jing rested her chin in her hands and sighed deeply.
Zhu Ying reached into her drawer, pulled out a writing board, and wrote a few words: “What’s wrong? Feeling sad?”
An Jing stared blankly at Zhu Ying and shook her head in confusion.
“Bathroom?”
Another shake of her head.
At that moment, Zhou Chao and Fang Qiang also gathered around.
Fang Qiang gave a sheepish smile and nodded at An Jing.
He seemed to know she couldn’t hear, so he wasn’t sure how to express himself.
Zhou Chao laughed loudly, patted Fang Qiang on the back, then made a hugging gesture toward An Jing.
An Jing’s beautiful eyes curved like crescent moons as she opened her arms gracefully toward Fang Qiang.
But he nervously scratched his head and waved his hands, declining.
“Long time no see, bro,” Zhu Ying wrote on the board, pointing at Fang Qiang to indicate those were his words.
An Jing smiled wryly and stood up, giving Fang Qiang a firm elbow to the chest.
Just then, Sun Wei came running back, arms wide open for a big hug, but An Jing kicked out her foot ahead of time, forcing him to stop abruptly.
He immediately covered his lower body with his hands—a classic defensive stance signaling a fight between boys was about to break out.
An Jing rolled her eyes and plopped back into her chair.
Fang Qiang seemed to remember something and quickly bent down to say a few words to her.
Zhu Ying, who was acting as translator, nodded, then erased the words on the board and wrote again: “The physical education exam is coming soon.”
An Jing blinked, seemingly asking when exactly.
Fang Qiang probably understood, because he shook his head and shrugged, indicating he didn’t know either.
After that, no one spoke directly to An Jing, but they stayed close, chatting and laughing now and then.
Watching their smiles, An Jing’s silent world felt a little less lonely.
***
(2)
When you can’t hear any sound, the world turns into a silent play.
Although the scenes aren’t black and white, An Jing often felt like she was trapped in a Charlie Chaplin comedy.
During the afternoon PE class, the teacher waved a whistle tied to a rope and shouted loudly—pointing to the playground, then at the scattered line of ninth graders waiting to start.
To An Jing, the whole scene looked somewhat ridiculous.
Finally, the PE teacher blew the ‘silent’ whistle forcefully, and Fang Qiang, the class monitor for PE, took the lead in starting to run.
An Jing glanced back at two girls sitting on the flowerbed and suddenly wondered—what happens if a girl has her period on the day of the PE exam?
It didn’t seem possible to postpone it.
The physical education test was held on a single day; she’d never heard of multiple time slots being allowed.
Girls certainly had their share of troubles.
She just hoped she wouldn’t get her period during the exam…
But honestly, she wasn’t sure.
By rights, it should have started by now.
But it was still late.
If it didn’t come on time, it would feel torturous—always worrying it might sneak up unexpectedly when she least expected.
If a thief acts for a thousand days, the victim cannot be on guard for a thousand days.
Periods brought peace of mind only when they arrived as scheduled.
But after everything she had been through recently, maybe her body had changed—there was even a chance her period might stop altogether!
An Jing thought about this and felt a bit happy.
Girls had many bodily troubles, and the most troublesome was menstruation.
If it really stopped coming, it would be refreshing and uplifting.
Just the thought made An Jing feel much better.
But her mood quickly soured again.
Today, the PE teacher seemed determined to strengthen the students’ endurance.
Normally, they only had to run five laps, but after finishing five laps today, there was no sign of stopping.
Several girls were already gasping for air, and some overweight boys had fallen behind.
The PE teacher waved the whistle rope like driving a herd of slaves, constantly pointing forward to urge them to keep running.
It was a slow jog, so as long as she kept her breathing steady, she could hold on for a while.
She wasn’t sure if the daily jogs during winter break had helped, but although she was panting hard, her legs barely kept up.
The cost was high—she collapsed onto the flowerbed and couldn’t move.
For her, this recovery training was too intense…
Before she could catch her breath, her legs were suddenly pinned down, startling her into sitting upright.
She glanced helplessly at the one holding her down.
Contrary to her guess, it wasn’t Zhu Ying—it was Wang Xinru.
—No wonder her butt was so big.
Wang Xinru nervously waved her hand, signaling it was unintentional.
An Jing didn’t mind and simply nodded, lazily leaning against the tree trunk behind her.
She felt she had used up all her strength accumulated during rest these past few days, to the point she didn’t even want to walk home after school…
At times like this, she wished she had a bike.
But since the apartment was so close to school, she never bought one.
Whenever she thought of using saved pocket money to buy one, she felt it would be wasteful.
But then when she needed it, she regretted not buying it.
Still, it really wasn’t necessary now.
After graduating junior high, she would be living with her parents in H City.
The cost of moving a bike there would probably be higher than just buying a new one.
An Jing lightly swung her short legs.
Others who were tired from running gathered around.
Zhu Ying tried several gestures, but seeing An Jing didn’t understand, she took out her phone and sent a text message directly.
Her phone vibrated in her pant leg.
An Jing drooped her eyelids and took out the phone.
She opened Zhu Ying’s message: “PE exam is tomorrow.”
An Jing’s eyes widened instantly, then she took a deep, slow breath.
No matter what, the exam was coming.
But it was just too soon.
Winter break had only just ended; she was completely unprepared.
Perhaps the local education bureau wanted to finish the PE exam quickly so they could dedicate more class time to cultural subjects…
Maybe this was to boost students’ overall entrance exam scores.
Fang Qiang laughed heartily and slapped An Jing’s shoulder hard, giving her a thumbs-up.
Zhou Chao crossed his arms and shook his head with a worried look.
An Jing herself felt anxious.
After all, tomorrow’s PE exam required a girl’s body to complete the boys’ test events…
Could she really pass?