Soon, Zhou Qingying’s breathing evened out.
Jiang Cheng stood up, drew the curtain on her side to block the light, then gave Chen Ting a look.
The two quietly stepped out of the infirmary.
The school nurse glanced up at them once before lowering her head back to her book.
The infirmary door closed silently.
They stood at the hallway entrance; classes were still in session, so the entire building was quiet.
“Didn’t you say the intensive training only starts in summer?”
Jiang Cheng shot Chen Ting a sideways glance.
Chen Ting looked miserable and reacted half a beat slow, still staring blankly at the floor tiles.
“Hm…”
She hadn’t heard Jiang Cheng clearly.
Only after a long pause did she suddenly look up.
“Ah?”
“I said—Yingying’s training isn’t supposed to start until summer vacation, right? What happened yesterday that made her so busy she didn’t even eat? And this morning too… Tingting, you know something, don’t you?”
Back at the school plaza, Jiang Cheng had already felt Chen Ting acting strange.
She had stiffly changed the subject.
Now, looking this distracted, it was obvious something was weighing heavily on her.
“I… do know a little of the reason, but I never asked Yingying directly, so it’s not really my place to say. Ah! Chengcheng, it’s just… it’s a bit complicated… it involves Yingying’s personal privacy. I… I can’t…”
The more Chen Ting spoke, the more nervous she became, her hands gesturing wildly.
She kept watching Jiang Cheng’s expression.
No matter how she explained it, it would still sound like she was shutting Jiang Cheng out.
We’re all friends on equal footing, so why can’t I know? Many people would think that.
Jiang Cheng inevitably felt a tiny stab in her heart.
But she also completely understood Chen Ting. If someone knew her own private matters, she wouldn’t want them spreading it either.
So it was just a little disappointment. Just a tiny bit…
“It’s fine. We definitely have to respect Yingying’s wishes first. You two have kept my secrets too, haven’t you?”
Jiang Cheng smiled and tugged at Chen Ting’s tense little hand.
Chen Ting remembered the mysterious “elder” Jiang Cheng had once mentioned.
Although she never knew the details, she had never breathed a word of it to anyone.
She smiled too and squeezed back to show she accepted the comfort.
“Jiang Cheng? Chen Ting?”
Principal Zhou suddenly appearing behind them startled both girls.
“Hello, Principal…”
The two turned and greeted him.
“Ah, you’re the ones who brought Qingying to the infirmary. Thank you for the trouble.”
Principal Zhou patted his somewhat thinning hair, suddenly realizing.
“It was nothing. Yingying just fell asleep.”
As Zhou Qingying’s best friend who had been with her all through school, Chen Ting had met Principal Zhou privately several times.
The principal and his wife often brought things for Zhou Qingying, and when Chen Ting was around, they would sometimes take both girls out to eat.
“She doesn’t look well.”
Chen Ting lowered her voice.
A shadow passed over Principal Zhou’s face.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin that he hadn’t shaved cleanly, thought for a moment, and said, “You two head back to class first. I’ll go check on her.”
He wants to talk to her alone?
Jiang Cheng walked slower and slower, falling behind Chen Ting.
She seemed to understand what Chen Ting meant by “complicated.”
Zhou Qingying’s listless state today was probably related to family matters.
The half-asleep murmur from earlier echoed in her ears again.
“Mom…”
“Chengcheng?”
Chen Ting noticed the person beside her was gone and turned to see Jiang Cheng standing there in a daze.
She thought she had called out, but her voice had been too soft for Chen Ting to hear.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Let’s head back to the classroom.”
Jiang Cheng walked down the steps.
Before leaving, she glanced once more at the infirmary.
No one had come out.
Zhou Qingying didn’t return for the rest of the day’s classes.
At lunch, only Jiang Cheng and Chen Ting ate together.
On the way back, they stopped by the office and heard from Teacher Ma that Zhou Qingying had already been picked up by her father.
“Sigh…”
Teacher Ma seemed about to say more, but in the end, it only turned into a soft sigh.
It was even harder to focus in the afternoon…
One moment Jiang Cheng was thinking about Wang Ziyue, the next she was worrying about Zhou Qingying’s health.
And…
The knot in her heart hadn’t loosened much since morning.
She couldn’t help wondering if she was being too petty.
She doodled all over her scratch paper, yet hadn’t touched a single question in her exercise book.
As soon as Chen Ting finished packing her bag, she saw Jiang Cheng biting her pen and staring into space.
An idea flashed through her mind.
“Chengcheng, want to visit Yingying after school?”
“Today?”
“Mm. I just messaged her dad—we can go now. And he has something to do later, so this timing is perfect.”
Jiang Cheng’s brows furrowed slightly.
Her thumb and forefinger rubbed together.
He’s not staying with his daughter?
“I’ll call my mom real quick… um, Tingting, wait for me a sec?”
“Okay, I’ll do some homework while I wait.”
Chen Ting nodded, put her bag back down, and pulled out a test paper.
“Alright.” Jiang Cheng took out her phone and walked toward the door while dialing.
After a short “toot,” a gentle female voice came through the receiver.
“Chengcheng, does Mommy need to come pick you up?”
Jiang Xiaoyue wasn’t working overtime today. She had just left the company building and was waiting at the nearby bus stop.
“No… Mom, Chen Ting and I are going to visit Zhou Qingying after school. She wasn’t feeling well today.”
“You’re going to see a classmate? Okay. Should we buy some fruit or something? Mommy will transfer you money. What time will you be back?”
“I still have pocket money. Um… I’ll probably be home a bit later tonight, but not too late… Yeah, I’ll come straight home after seeing her.”
“Okay, Mommy got it.” Jiang Xiaoyue glanced at her watch. Her heart skipped a beat at her daughter’s next words; her fingers unconsciously tightened around the phone.
“Mom… I want to call Big Sis… Wang Ziyue in a bit.”
Jiang Cheng spoke extremely slowly, silently counting the tiles on the corner wall of the hallway as she did.
“Now? Do you need something from her? Or is there something you can’t tell Mommy?”
“It’s… not really anything urgent. I just want to say a few words to her.”
So there’s something she wants to discuss with Wang Ziyue.
Jiang Xiaoyue’s mouth twitched. She was about to refuse, then held back—surely it wasn’t that serious.
It’s just a phone call to that person, haha, no big deal.
Her daughter even reported it to her first—nothing would happen, hahaha.
Her daughter was so good; it was just a few words…
“Just a few words?”
Jiang Xiaoyue switched the phone to her left hand; her right palm was starting to sweat.
“Mm, just the length of one phone call. It won’t be long.”
Hearing her mom agree, Jiang Cheng’s tone immediately lightened.
“Alright. If she invites you out or anything, refuse outright. The bus is here—Mom’s hanging up now—”
Jiang Xiaoyue added one last worried reminder.
“Okay, bye Mom~”
“Chengcheng, done with the call?”
Chen Ting leaned out the window, poking her head around.
“Give me a few more minutes… almost.” She waved her phone.
“Oh… no rush, I was just checking on you.”
Chen Ting caught a glimpse of Jiang Cheng’s phone screen as it flashed by—just for a second, but it looked like she was still on the contacts page?
Hadn’t Chengcheng called her mom yet?
She watched the girl nervously staring at her phone, carefully pressing it to her ear.
When she heard the voice on the other end, her expression relaxed, and an unconscious smile crept onto her lips.
“Hmm…”
Chen Ting thought it was a little odd but didn’t dwell on it.
She was still thinking about the question she hadn’t finished earlier and turned back to her seat.
The girl outside the door spoke much more softly than before.
“Hello…”
“Hello? Uh, Aunt?”
On the other end, Wang Ziyue double-checked the name on the screen, as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Big Sis, it’s me.”
“Jiang Jiang!”
Wang Ziyue leapt up from her chair, accidentally knocking over her water cup.
She frantically pulled out tissues to cover the spill.
“Big Sis?”
“Mm, it’s nothing—I just knocked over my cup. Why did you suddenly think to call me?”
“Who else would it be, my mom calling you?”
Jiang Cheng pouted, a little unhappy.
“Of course not! I just… uh, I’m too happy. I didn’t expect you to call me.”
Wang Ziyue had deliberately been giving them both some breathing room, never expecting Jiang Cheng to close the distance herself.
“I just… felt like calling you. Is that not allowed?”
“Of course it is!”
A knock came at the office door. Secretary Fang poked half her body in with a stack of files.
Wang Ziyue pointed at the desk; Secretary Fang understood, placed the files down, and left.
Who is President Wang talking to at this hour?
Secretary Fang recalled the radiant smile on her boss’s face—it definitely didn’t look like a work call.
“I just… um… have something I want to ask you.”
“Ask away. My home address is No. 18 Fuyuan, I currently own five cars, my bank card password is…”
“Not that!”
Jiang Cheng cut her off.
“I want your advice about something! To hear your thoughts!”
“Oh, oh, like that. Alright then.” Wang Ziyue had just opened a drawer to look for her household registration booklet.
“Mm… here’s the thing. If you’re really close with two other friends, but those two are a bit closer to each other… like, you know it’s normal, and they’re not excluding you, but when you realize they share secrets you’re not part of, you still feel a little upset—is that wrong…?”
Jiang Cheng’s words came out jumbled, whatever popped into her head first.
Wang Ziyue listened patiently until she finished.
“Jiang Jiang, that’s perfectly normal.”