When empty, the school teaching building seemed even older than usual.
Winter rain drizzled down.
The security guard uncle by the door was sleeping on a newspaper, and no more steam rose from his open cup of strong tea.
The small city’s Second Middle School had only one large iron gate.
On normal days, even if just one person walked in, the large gate had to be opened.
“Uncle—Uncle—! Security Uncle—!”
An Jing held an umbrella in one hand and vigorously shook the iron gate with the other.
The clanging sounds startled the half-asleep middle-aged man awake.
He suddenly sat up straight, then poked his head out to look.
“Coming to school so early!”
“Actually, it’s not that early, is it?”
An Jing coughed, feigning modesty.
The security guard uncle didn’t bother with an umbrella, running out directly into the rain.
He grabbed a jingling bunch of keys, found the largest one, twisted it a few times, and pulled the big iron gate open just enough for one person to pass through.
“Ha… Hoo.”
He yawned widely, smiling kindly at An Jing.
“What a good student, coming so early for self-study?”
“Ah…”
To be honest, although An Jing’s grades were good, she wasn’t a very diligent student.
She just completed her homework on time every day and rarely took the initiative to do self-study or review, so her answer was somewhat hesitant.
“Hurry back to your classroom. Do you have your key? Or should you take the key first?”
“TAT…”
The security guard uncle grinned and nodded.
He seemed to finally notice the cold raindrops falling on his head.
Without time to say anything else, he covered his head and ran back to the guardhouse.
An Jing twirled her rainbow-colored long-handled umbrella again, stepping on the floor tiles with water hidden in their cracks, and ran nimbly into the teaching building, darting up the stairs.
In the silent corridor, only the gentle patter of rain outside could be heard.
The entire teaching building was empty.
In the Class 3, Grade 5 classroom, the desks and chairs were askew, and a few wads of paper had not been swept away on the floor.
It seemed the students on cleaning duty on Friday had left in a hurry.
After all, school ended early on Friday; who wouldn’t want to take the opportunity to go out and play for a while?
Even in the third year of junior high…
In 2009, junior high in the small city wasn’t yet so strictly managed.
Most people still relied on their innate talent for studying; those who worked hard were still a minority.
An Jing shook the window glass at the back of the classroom and opened it very smoothly.
Occasionally, when students arrived early, they would just climb in through the window like this. It was almost the same for every class.
Some classrooms had broken windows, while others had a silent understanding among the last students to leave to keep one window unlocked.
An Jing’s backpack didn’t contain much.
She grasped the windowsill with one hand and very nimbly climbed inside.
That was how it was supposed to be in her imagination.
However, today she found that…
Her usually extremely practiced movements had become clumsy.
Her legs… seemed not long enough.
“Ugh—”
And she was stuck exactly halfway, unable to go up or down.
“Damn it…”
“Huh? An, An Jing?”
“Ah…?”
An Jing, who had only felt a little strained, suddenly panicked.
She turned her head slightly to look at the other end of the corridor.
“Ah… it’s you…”
It was a girl with big eyes but a bitter gourd-shaped face.
A bitter gourd face meant she always looked as if she had just finished crying.
In reality, it just meant the corners of her mouth and eyes drooped a little.
This was An Jing’s girlfriend from fourth grade of elementary school.
Of course, back then, she understood nothing.
The so-called “dating” was more like following a trend or just seeking a playmate after school.
“You, what’s, what’s wrong?”
“As you can see…”
An Jing pulled at the corners of her mouth helplessly.
“I’m trying to climb up, and then I realized… my legs are a bit short…”
“Huh? Is it hard?”
“It’s not hard, it’s just this position I’m stuck in. I can’t really move, my body’s a bit, a bit stiff, you know.”
“Then let me help you?”
“…No need, right?”
An Jing didn’t want to lose face in front of a girl, deliberately showing a confident smile.
“I just haven’t stretched today, I’ll climb right up after a few seconds of rest!”
“Are you… going into the classroom?”
“Nonsense, why else would I be climbing up?”
“Oh…”
Wang Xinru bit her lip, seemingly wanting to say something, but said nothing.
She just pulled a key from her pocket and, somewhat nervously, opened the classroom door.
An Jing, hanging on the windowsill, felt like a complete idiot.
But her male dignity made her absolutely refuse to jump down from the windowsill and then enter through the door.
Today, she must, absolutely, without fail, enter through the window!
“Be, be careful. It’s a bit high down there…”
“Pfft, is this height even considered high?”
An Jing gritted her teeth, finally managed to lift her dangling leg, and then jumped down without a moment’s hesitation.
She successfully entered the classroom through the window, as smug as if she had completed a hidden achievement in a game.
Then she sprained her ankle.
“Hiss, ah—ah—”
Although she tried hard to hold it in, she still cried out.
Because… both her ankles were sprained.
An Jing clutched the edge of a nearby desk, unable to even stand.
“Wh-What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!”
An Jing gritted her teeth.
“But your feet…”
“Just a slight twist!”
“But, but it looks like a sprain? If you don’t take care of it, it’ll hurt a lot, and it’ll heal very slowly.”
“It’s fine. Small injuries like this are as common as eating ice cream in winter for us men!”
“You still like eating ice cream in winter?”
Wang Xinru suddenly flushed with a bit of excitement, then flustered, she lowered her head.
“I, I’ll help you to your seat, An, An Jing?”
“I can walk by myself, no… hiss, ah… I’m fine!”
She tried to stand up straight, and then the nerves in her body sensing pain immediately began to teach her a lesson.
Disregarding An Jing’s protest, Wang Xinru still came forward, gently supported her, and with her slightly warm body, trembled slightly as she ‘carried’ her back to her seat.
Sitting down, she no longer needed to support herself with her feet.
An Jing also let out a breath.
“I said I could do it myself…”
But she still mumbled softly, as if saying that it wasn’t she who needed help, but Wang Xinru who insisted on helping her.
“Don’t push yourself, okay?”
She lifted her flushed little face, smiling gently, and lightly touched An Jing’s head.
“Let me put some medicine on it for you.”
“Huh? It’s just a sprained ankle…”
“Injuries that aren’t visible need even more careful treatment, or a small injury might become serious.”
“No, no need…”
Wang Xinru acted as if she hadn’t heard An Jing speak.
She calmly put down her backpack, then took out a first-aid kit, slightly larger than a pencil case, from inside.
Though the box was small, it had many compartments.
Each tiny compartment held small cut pieces of pills or tiny bottles of liquid medicine.
As if sensing An Jing’s gaze, Wang Xinru also became a bit nervous.
She stammered an explanation, “B-Because I-I’m not very healthy and get injured easily, so, so I always carry it with me…”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
An Jing licked the roof of her mouth, scratching her head with mixed feelings.
“Oh… but I remember now. Once you fell and scraped your arm and knees. Others scabbed over the next day, but yours bled for several days…”
“Y-Yes, that’s right…”
“I thought all girls were like that back then.”
Wang Xinru forced a bitter smile on her “bitter gourd” face, making the smile even more poignant, “I… I’ve always been rather frail. Um… can I help you take off your shoes and socks?”
“Ah! N-No, just give me the medicine! I can do it myself!”
“It’s okay, I’ll do it.”
“Th-This isn’t really appropriate… how… how awkward… um…”
“Pfft…”
Wang Xinru suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled.
“An Jing, you don’t have foot odor, do you?”
“Ah, sh-shouldn’t I? I don’t know, I heard you can’t smell your own!”
While An Jing was blushing, Wang Xinru had already carefully taken off her left shoe, and half-pulled down the gray men’s sock.
Half of a fair, small foot was exposed, tender and glistening, as beautiful as a work of art.
Wang Xinru used her slightly large, yet still soft hand to gently press An Jing’s ankle.
“Oh, ow, ow, ow!”
“Is it here?”
She nodded seriously, poured out some safflower oil with a strong spicy scent, first warmed it in her own palm, and then slowly rubbed it onto An Jing’s ankle.
A strange feeling welled up in An Jing’s heart, making her feel a bit awkward looking at her.
It felt… like a mother, gently caring for her child.
But the telepathy she had earlier heard revealed a different inner voice.
What kind of person was she, really?
Which one was her true self?
The young person, who had just turned fifteen after her birthday, felt the complexity of the human heart so strongly for the first time.
Wang Xinru’s massage technique was very gentle and comfortable.
Before she knew it, the medicine was almost applied to the second foot.
An Jing, snapping back from her daze, looked again at Wang Xinru’s gently swaying ponytail, then at her face, which was actually quite a bit prettier than Zhang Qiqi’s…
Then An Jing suddenly saw her take a deep breath over her foot, an unnatural flush rising on her face.
An Jing immediately broke out in goosebumps.
But she held back, not crying out.
It was probably better to pretend she hadn’t seen it at a time like this.
If she let her know she’d found out, things would only get more awkward…
“Hmm… Done.”
Wang Xinru reluctantly put her shoes back on, looked up, and smiled shyly, “Today, try, try not to move around too much, okay?”
“Ah… thank you.”
An Jing’s mood was complex at this moment; she didn’t know what expression to use to face her.
Although she hadn’t activated her telepathy, she felt like she could already guess what Wang Xinru was thinking in her heart…
Why did she try to go through the window 😠well tbh, I would’ve done that either lmao