5:50
An arm poked out from under the blanket and silenced the endlessly ringing alarm.
She rubbed her eyes, pulled the slipped strap of her nightdress back onto her shoulder, rolled out of bed, and shuffled into the bathroom in her slippers to wash up.
The girl in the mirror had a bird’s-nest mess of hair; there was no time to wash it at this hour.
Jiang Cheng barely managed to tame it with a comb and tied it into a high ponytail.
She applied sunscreen to her face, neck, and arms, then went back to her room to change into her school uniform.
6:05
Jiang Cheng took the bread and milk she’d bought yesterday from the fridge, fried two sunny-side-up eggs, and left one in the pan.
After eating, she hurriedly scribbled a note and slipped it under the table mat.
She grabbed her schoolbag, stuffed the still-unfinished milk inside while walking, picked up her water bottle, and changed shoes at the door.
6:43
The bus stopped at the school gate.
Jiang Cheng hopped off, and the moment she looked up, the sun was already piercing through the clouds.
Summer mornings always got bright early.
She could see many students yawning and dragging their feet.
Spring drowsiness, summer lethargy.
Jiang Cheng yawned along with them.
She really wanted to sleep.
Yesterday she had thought all day and still couldn’t sort out her feelings.
Fortunately, Mom hadn’t pressed her further afterward and had only reminded her of one thing.
“If Wang Ziyue asks you out, don’t agree.”
Jiang Cheng naturally promised her mother she wouldn’t.
Although Wang Ziyue hadn’t completely laid her cards on the table, if they met face-to-face…
Jiang Cheng felt she probably wouldn’t be able to respond properly right now.
So I’ll just be a turtle for a while.
She didn’t send Wang Ziyue any more messages, and the other party considerately gave her space as well.
Their chat window had gone completely quiet.
“Chengcheng, morning!”
Chen Ting jumped out from behind her, grabbing Jiang Cheng’s backpack strap and pressing her head into Jiang Cheng’s shoulder nook.
Like a koala.
“Mm, morning.”
Jiang Cheng struggled to peel her off and quickened her pace with a look of distaste.
“Hey, it was just a hug!”
Chen Ting thought Jiang Cheng had a special scent that made people want to keep sniffing.
“It’s too hot.”
Jiang Cheng fanned herself dramatically. Chen Ting could only helplessly walk beside her; the two now side by side.
“Yingying didn’t come with you?”
Jiang Cheng knew the two lived close by and usually went to and from school together.
“Oh, she’ll probably be a bit late today… Training camp starts soon. Once summer vacation hits, she’ll be even busier. It’ll be harder to see her then.”
Chen Ting spoke very slowly.
Jiang Cheng glanced at her thoughtfully.
Chen Ting was staring at a few people ahead who had crashed into each other, grinning like an idiot.
“Your smile is practically reaching the back of your head.”
“Huh? No way! Look at those two—they were trying to ollie onto the railing but collided perfectly with the guy sliding down.”
The school had all kinds of weird clubs; the skateboarding club was actually one of the bigger ones.
But for a homebody like Jiang Cheng, she didn’t pay much attention to them.
Once the college entrance exams ended in June, they would become the next batch everyone focused on.
Dangerous clubs like that were definitely off-limits, and more importantly, there simply wasn’t time.
“We still have to come back for summer remedial classes…”
Although the principal’s motto was “study when it’s time to study, play when it’s time to play,” in the final year, diligent study always came first.
“Half a month, right? We come back mid-August, I think?”
Jiang Cheng didn’t mind.
Her past summer vacations had rarely involved going out anyway.
It was too hot.
She just wanted to lie in the air-conditioned room, hugging the watermelon Mom cut for her while playing on her phone.
“Yeah. Do you have any plans? I’ll probably go on a trip in July. Mom said… this is my last chance to let loose before senior year. We’re planning a family trip.”
“Sounds nice.”
Jiang Cheng was actually a little envious—not of the trip itself, but of the fact that Chen Ting’s whole family would be with her.
She and her mom had no other relatives in this city.
Chen Ting realized she had said too much and awkwardly pinched Jiang Cheng’s arm.
“Why don’t you come with us, Chengcheng?”
“Nah, I’d rather stay home.”
Jiang Cheng pointed at her already slightly flushed cheeks.
She really was afraid of the sun.
“Aww, alright. But after graduation, the three of us have to go on a trip together.”
“Deal.”
Jiang Cheng smiled.
Graduation… Last year it still felt far away, but now it seemed like the blink of an eye.
What will it be like then?
The two walked into the classroom.
Wang Yu, playing with a paddle ball in the back row, greeted them with his usual enthusiasm.
“Morning, Sister Cheng! Oh, morning Sister Ting too.”
“So I’m just an afterthought?!” Chen Ting smacked his back with her backpack.
Wang Yu only let out a listless sigh.
His chicken-nest hair made it look like he’d just crawled out of a tunnel.
“What’s wrong with you? You look like you haven’t eaten.”
Wang Yu nodded heavily.
“Woke up late. Didn’t have breakfast.”
After his parents came back from Grandpa and Grandma’s, they’d been staying home, but they hadn’t cooked dinner, and all of Sunday he’d had to fend for himself.
They kept their door closed, as if discussing something.
Wang Yu even suspected they were planning to give him a little sister.
For that, he’d earned a solid knuckle rap from his dad.
“Raising you is already troublesome enough.”
Oh… so no plans to roll a new account for now.
Wang Yu had eaten takeout all day.
There was no hot breakfast the next day either—his parents’ strike had extended into Monday.
Having already woken up late, he’d come to school on an empty stomach.
There wasn’t even time to go to the school store now.
“I have milk in my bag. Want some?”
Jiang Cheng put down her bag, unzipped it, and pulled out a bottle of breakfast milk.
“My lifesaver! Sister Cheng, I’ve decided—you’re just like my auntie. My savior in times of crisis!”
Jiang Cheng’s hand froze. The milk slipped and fell to the floor, rolling once.
Fortunately, Wang Yu didn’t care about such things.
He picked it up, wiped the dust off with his sleeve, unscrewed the cap, and glug glug glug chugged it down.
In seconds, the bottle was empty.
“Haa… that’ll get me through morning self-study.” Wang Yu waved his paddle ball, feeling his strength return.
“You never stop talking nonsense.”
Chen Ting was also stunned by his earlier declaration and naturally didn’t think anything was odd about Jiang Cheng’s reaction.
“You said Chengcheng is like your auntie, so does that mean you’ll have to call her ‘little auntie’ from now on?”
“What’s wrong with that! Sister Cheng is my benefactor—she totally deserves to be called little auntie.”
Wang Yu thought to himself, Jiang Cheng is so pretty; who knows who comes out ahead by calling her auntie.
“Scram, scram, scram… trying to take advantage of our Chengcheng again.”
Chen Ting shooed him away like a protective mother hen.
Just then, the bell for class rang.
Jiang Cheng and Chen Ting returned to their seats.
Jiang Cheng, completely distracted, didn’t memorize a single word.
She just stared blankly at her book.
Fortunately, the English teacher only popped in briefly to check on morning self-study before leaving.
Jiang Cheng looked at the vocabulary list for a while, closed her eyes, and the image that appeared was Wang Ziyue picking her up in her arms.
That night’s scenes were becoming clearer and clearer.
There were even different angles—scenes that definitely weren’t part of her own memory… yet they weren’t purely imagined either.
Jiang Cheng realized she was starting to fill in more scenes in her mind.
Every single one of them involved Wang Ziyue.