Chapter 2: Su Xiaoyue

“Old Jiang.”

“Old Jiang!!”

Jiang Yueming heard someone calling him.

The voice sounded very distant, as if coming from another world through thick glass.

He wanted to respond, but his lips wouldn’t move.

He couldn’t tell if his eyes were closed or not.

A pitch-black world enveloped him, like being at the bottom of a ten-thousand-meter-deep ocean.

“Old Jiang!!!”

The voice suddenly turned sharp, like thunder piercing through dark clouds.

Jiang Yueming abruptly opened his eyes.

“Holy shit!”

A face was almost pressed against the tip of his nose, scaring him so badly that his whole body jerked, nearly causing him to roll off the desk.

“Why are you sleeping so deeply?” The face stepped back half a step, revealing a short, stout figure with a mischievous grin—it was his good buddy, Dong Ziyang.

“Did you secretly take off last night and forget to return?”

The classroom was noisy, with people laughing, shouting, and the scraping sound of chair legs against the floor.

Jiang Yueming closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

It felt like someone was beating a drum inside his head.

“What do you want, dad? Is school over?”

Dong Ziyang shook his head and pointed behind him.

“No, someone outside is looking for you.”

“Looking for me?”

Jiang Yueming followed the finger and looked over.

It was currently break time, and students were constantly coming in and out of the classroom door.

Boys and girls in school uniforms passed through his field of vision.

Some walked with arms around each other’s shoulders chatting, others chased and played in the corridor—everything seemed completely normal.

Behind those figures stood one person waiting.

“Who is it?”

“Speaking of which,” Dong Ziyang placed his chubby hand on his shoulder, “you’ve got game, man. You actually managed to hook up with School Flower Su? She’s even coming to find you herself.”

Jiang Yueming’s temples throbbed.

The headache made it hard for him to focus.

He frowned.

“What are you talking about? Hooking up with the school flower…”

“Alright, alright. Don’t make her wait too long.”

Dong Ziyang gave him a knowing look and pushed the just-standing Jiang Yueming out of the classroom without another word.

“Hey, hey! What are you doing?”

After being pushed to the classroom doorway, that damn fatty disappeared in a flash, leaving him standing at the threshold completely confused.

When he turned around, he froze.

A girl was standing by the corridor window.

She wore the standard school uniform and white shoes.

Her appearance could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful.

Under the countless curious gazes around her, she smiled and extended her hand toward Jiang Yueming.

“Hello, Jiang classmate.”

Jiang Yueming stared blankly at the hand she stretched out.

Her fingers were slender, her nails neatly trimmed, and a red string was tied around her wrist.

He stared at that red string for a moment before realizing it was quite rude to stare at someone’s hand like this.

Once he snapped out of it, he quickly shook her hand.

It felt warm and soft.

“My name is Su Xiaoyue,” the girl said with a smile. “From Class Three.”

Su Xiaoyue.

He had heard this name before.

During late-night dorm room chats after lights-out, the two names discussed most frequently by the boys were Xia He and Su Xiaoyue.

School flower, goddess—those titles always appeared alongside their names.

Jiang Yueming nodded.

“Mm, Su classmate.”

He withdrew his hand first.

There were many people in the corridor during break, and quite a few were looking their way.

He wasn’t used to being the center of attention, nor did he want people gossiping about this.

Besides, they were just students—why shake hands when meeting?

But since she had extended her hand first, it would have been rude to refuse.

Su Xiaoyue smiled and said, “Did I disturb your sleep? I saw that classmate calling you several times.”

“It’s fine.”

“That’s good.” She tilted her head slightly. “Actually, the reason I came to find you is because I have something to give you.”

Only then did Jiang Yueming notice the book in her hand—it was a Chinese language textbook.

“This,” she handed the book over, “you lent it to me. Remember?”

Jiang Yueming paused for a second, took the book, and flipped it open.

There was no name written on the first page, only a crudely drawn animal with a big head, small body, and legs of uneven length.

It was impossible to tell if it was a dog, a cat, or something else.

This was definitely his drawing.

They had only had two Chinese classes this morning.

How had he not even noticed that his textbook was missing?

Jiang Yueming felt embarrassed.

He accepted the book with an awkward cough.

“When… did I lend this to you?”

Su Xiaoyue blinked. “Last week. You said I could keep it for a couple of days. I stuffed it in my desk and forgot about it. I only found it when I was organizing things today and hurried to bring it back to you.”

Last week.

Jiang Yueming tried to recall what happened last week.

He had no memory of ever meeting this girl, let alone lending her a book.

He asked hesitantly, “Do we… know each other?”

Su Xiaoyue was momentarily stunned, then smiled.

“Of course we do,” she said. “I’m from Class Three. Didn’t we just do weekly duty together last time?”

“Really—?”

Jiang Yueming’s voice rose at the end, sounding uncertain.

He had indeed been on duty last week, but if he had done it together with a girl like her, there was no way he wouldn’t have any impression.

Su Xiaoyue puffed out her cheeks, her pretty eyebrows slightly lowered. “You don’t remember me?”

Her expression looked like she was acting spoiled, combined with just the right amount of subtle grievance.

For a moment, Jiang Yueming actually felt a little flustered.

He quickly let out a couple of dry laughs. “I remember, I remember. How could I forget?”

Su Xiaoyue gave him a skeptical look, then her eyes curved into a smile.

“That’s more like it.”

She took half a step forward, closing the distance between them.

“Do you also remember what you promised me last week?”

This question left Jiang Yueming completely lost.

He didn’t even have any impression of Su Xiaoyue as a person.

How could he remember promising her anything?

“Uh…” His mind spun rapidly. “It’s… that thing, yeah… I remember…”

He nodded as if it were obvious, wearing an expression that said ‘Of course I remember.’

Su Xiaoyue suddenly burst out laughing.

“You completely forgot, didn’t you?”

Caught red-handed, Jiang Yueming scratched his head in embarrassment.

Su Xiaoyue moved half a step closer again.

They were already only one step apart; now they were nearly touching.

Jiang Yueming’s eyes widened slightly as he subconsciously wanted to step back.

What did she want?

Students were passing by in the corridor.

Some slowed down and turned their heads to look, while others covered their mouths and whispered to the people next to them.

Su Xiaoyue didn’t care.

She stood on her tiptoes slightly and leaned toward his ear.

Her breath brushed against his ear, tickling him.

“Last week you said you would—”

Thud!

Before she could finish, the sound of something hard hitting the ground came from the other side of the corridor.

Something had fallen.

Jiang Yueming instinctively turned his head and saw a book lying on the floor.

The open pages looked like a Chinese textbook.

Its owner stood motionless, staring in their direction.

Jiang Yueming felt a headache coming on.

Socializing with a girl like Su Xiaoyue could easily attract unwanted attention if he wasn’t careful, and sometimes even cause trouble.

He let out a nearly imperceptible sigh and raised his gaze to the person’s face.

He froze on the spot.

He recognized the owner of that book.

Xia He.

On the day of the opening ceremony, she had gone on stage as the freshman representative to give a speech.

He had been sitting in the back row, dozing off, when Dong Ziyang suddenly poked him: “Quick, quick, look at the stage!”

He had looked up.

A girl stood on stage wearing the same school uniform as everyone else, yet under the spotlight, she seemed to glow.

Even Dong Ziyang, who usually only cared about playing games, had looked up from beginning to end that day.

The young miss of the Xia family—another eternal topic in the boys’ dorm night chats.

Why was she here?

Why was she looking at him like that?

Those eyes were fixed on him right now, staring steadily without blinking.

Something was surging within her pupils.

He couldn’t quite read it, but he could feel something pressing behind that gaze, ready to spill out at any moment.

It was something he couldn’t name.

Anger?

No, it wasn’t just anger…

Xia He stood motionless in place.

The book lay at her feet, yet she made no move to pick it up.

She simply stared at him like that.

What was wrong with her?

Jiang Yueming was completely puzzled.