Early Monday morning, the classroom was as turbulent as ever.
The various subject representatives rushed around collecting homework, other people rushed around copying copy homework, and a few rushed to stuff steamed buns into their mouths.
During the morning reading session, Wu GuoZhong announced the upcoming final exam period with great energy, "There are just two weeks left, so collect yourselves and concentrate. Don't think about the cultural festival or the New Year's Day holidays anymore, that's all in the past.
These final exams will be the district unified exams, so we'll get a district ranking. The time has finally come to reveal the strength of our First High students, don't make me lose face......"
In the entirety of Xi Cheng, First High was the bellwether¹, always leading in this kind of district unified exam by a wide margin. The students also cared about their own individual rankings, so after hearing Lao Wu's words, they really became a bit nervous.
That nervousness lasted for about five minutes.
After the reading session ended, those who had to finish eating breakfast went back to eating and those who had to finish chatting went back to chatting.
However, the teachers racked their brains to come up with a way to build a sense of tension before the final exams. In English class, Xu BeiNi handed out a set of test papers as soon as she entered the classroom, basically as a pop quiz.
"You better not have forgotten everything over your little vacation. The final exam is at hand, tongxue. If you don't score at least an 80% on this test, plenty of practice problems are ready and waiting for you."
Zhou HaoLiang muttered, "So cruel, five points per question and if you get five questions wrong, you fail."
He went to pass the answer sheets back, but as he turned around, he accidentally bumped into his deskmate and the corner of one of the remaining answer sheets bent.
"Ah! Sorry, Che Ge, this......"
"It's fine, I can still use it." Yin Che wasn't bothered, taking the answer sheet.
Zhou HaoLiang finally believed what Zhang Ke had said, that Yin Che actually wasn't that bad to talk to.
The last two answer sheets, one with a bent corner and one completely flat, were divided between the last two people. Yin Che dropped the one with the folded corner and silently threw the other answer sheet on Jiang Yao's desk.
Jiang Yao reached over his arm and took the one on his desk, "I want this one."
"......you crazy?" Yin Che stretched out his hand to grab it.
Jiang Yao leaned in towards his ear, "You want to go to the office hand-in-hand with me again?"
The last time when the two of them fought over a paper in math class and were called out by Chen ShuMei to be punished, in the end being forced to hold hands on the way to the office, was still vivid in his mind.
He had to put consideration for the surrounding circumstances above his instincts.
Yin Che retreated immediately, "You aren't allowed to snatch my stuff again."
Jiang Yao laughed, "If I snatch it, how will you take care of me?"
The mind of Zhou HaoLiang in the row in front of them was full of question marks. What the hell? Why are they fighting over a damaged answer sheet?
-
Just like that, one morning passed.
After experiencing the brainwashing and bombardment from their teachers in various subjects, the students' heads were spinning, finally full of fear of being dominated by the final exams.
In the afternoon physical education class, everyone was like little birds freed of the cage, heading straight for the athletic field.
First High truly knew how to win the hearts of the masses. Except for the week before exams, the school clearly stipulated that their studies couldn't take up the sessions of sports, fine arts, or other elective subjects, so as to avoid putting too much pressure on students.
Guo ZhiXiong had borrowed basketball before class and happily arranged a meeting with the sports committee representative of the next class over for a showdown.
"We will time your 800 meter and 1000 meter dashes next week."
With one sentence, the physical education teacher knocked everyone out.
Even the few students who could run relatively fast weren't willing to time their long-distance runs. Just like how someone could enjoy reading but hate doing reading comprehension, being interested in something and being forced to do something were two separate concepts.
Zhang Ke said, "I'm afraid I'll fail and have to repeat the run just like last year...... Yao Ge, teach me the skill of running fast."
When he brought it up, the others suddenly also remembered the bolt from the blue just a few months ago in the sports meet when Jiang Yao had amazed the world with a single brilliant feat.
Since then, the students in other classes would occasionally bring up that "one guy in your class who runs really fast".
"Jiang Yao, I never see you exercise, so how'd you do it? Do you train secretly?" Han Meng asked.
Jiang Yao laughed, "Well......my deskmate knows, ask him."
Everyone shifted the target of their attention, "Che Ge......?"
Yin Che said, "It's congenital, you all have no chance, so just give up."
"......"
"......"
Such ruthless words and so few of them, his persuasion skill level is top notch.
When their classmates all scattered off to exercise, Jiang Yao squeezed onto a bench with him, "I really was born with highly-developed motor skills, probably inherited from my dad. But I also exercise and train every day. Wouldn't you like to come to my room tonight? I'll teach you how to train your muscles."
"Not interested." Yin Che scooted over.
Jiang Yao scooted after him, "Actually it might be good if you don't come see. I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep after looking at Ge's body."
"So ugly I won't be able to sleep?"
"You really think that's possible?" Jiang Yao pulled down the zipper on his school uniform jacket, then lifted his sweater, revealing his tight undershirt.
He pointed a finger at his abdomen and whispered, "You're allowed to feel, but just once, not a touch more. Ge isn't some kind of cheap man, only a boyfriend can touch as freely as he pleases."
"......" Yin Che punched him in the lower abdomen, "How precious."
The sensation he felt through the punch was very firm and solid, rebounding instantly under his fist. There really were muscles under there.
Jiang Yao hunched over and clutched his stomach, "Ouch! You don't have to like me, but please don't hurt me!"
"I didn't use that much force, what an act."
"It really hurts...... I ate too much at lunch and I haven't completely digested it yet." Jiang Yao's eyebrows pinched together as he gritted his teeth. "I need the gentle caress of a boyfriend......"
Yin Che wavered at first, but when he heard the second comment, he punched him again.
The physical education class also failed to relieve the psychological pressure before the finals, instead becoming yet another burden.
The students were finally forced to enter a state of tension before the finals under the strong assault of pressure from all sides.
Every day was full of nothing but doing practice exams or talking about practice exams. When they returned home, even their homework was nothing but practice exams.
Students like Yang YiLe who were more attentive prepared a separate folder for each subject, sorting each and every paper, so they could find anything at a glance for the teachers.
And then there were some rough students, who were always in a state where they couldn't find any of their practice papers.
"Next, let's look at the fifth question...... Zhang Ke! I'm already on the fifth question, how have you not found your practice exam yet!" Xu BeiNi said angrily.
Zhang Ke also felt anxious. "I can't find it, Laoshi. Yesterday, it was definitely inside my desk......"
"If you can't find it, you can look at a tongxue's first, then come see me after the class to get a new set to redo."
"Okay......" Zhang Ke scowled in misery, shifting his chair and looking at the deskmate's beside him.
Xu BeiNi continued on, explaining the question. She raised her head and saw another person who had no practice test on his desk, "Jiang Yao, what's the matter with you? Where's your test paper?"
With particular calmness, Jiang Yao replied, "Laoshi, I can't find it."
"If you can't find it, are you just going to sit there in a daze? Zhang Ke spent so long looking for his. Did you just give up on looking?"
The other classmates were holding back their laughter, their shoulders shaking.
Jiang Yao had no choice but to say, "Laoshi, I want to look at my deskmate's, but he refuses to show it to me."
Yin Che: "......"
Xu BeiNi was also very familiar with Yin Che's temperament, so she didn't want to force him. "You're the one who can't find your own, no one else is obligated to show theirs to you. Why don't you just look for another tongxue? For example, ask the person at the desk in front of you."
Zhou HaoLiang nodded. Out of the spirit of unity and friendship between classmates, he was just about to extend a helping hand to the pitiful abandoned guy at the desk behind him——
Jiang Yao said, "Zhou HaoLiang's handwriting is too ugly, so I think I should look at my deskmate's."
Zhou HaoLiang: "???"
Fuck unity and friendship.
Xu BeiNi also laughed with a hint of anger, "You have the face to talk about others? Look at your own handwriting, I want to skip your homework every time I get to it."
The other students couldn't restrain themselves anymore, bursting out laughing.
Xu BeiNi snapped, "Quiet! Jiang Yao, hurry up, find a tongxue to join and look, don't keep chatting away."
"Okay, Laoshi." Jiang Yao started to stand up, planning to shift his chair away.
*Pa!* Yin Che slapped the test paper down between their desks.
Jiang Yao immediately sat back down and leaned forward, pressing his elbow against his deskmate's elbow. While Xu BeiNi walked over to another row, he whispered, "CheChe is better after all."
Zhou HaoLiang, who had already made room for Jiang Yao to sit down beside him: "......"
In the end, it was a waste of love......
The consequence of making this concession was that Yin Che couldn't listen for the rest of the class.
Jiang Yao was so close, but not close enough to disgust him. When he spoke, his whispering voice was like the twitter of a bird in his ear, very crisp and tingly.
He couldn't figure out why it was like that.
He had expected that after rejecting Jiang Yao, Jiang Yao would give up, would stay away, and would go chase after someone else.
Why is he getting closer to me instead......
Am I not acting cold enough?
"Hey." Jiang Yao poked the back of his hand with a pen, "Next Friday is my birthday. There's a get-together that night, wanna come?"
"Not coming."
"Come on......" Jiang Yao tugged on his jacket, "Even if no one else comes, you have to come."
"Not coming."
"Why?"
"Because I don't like you."
Jiang Yao fell silent for a while, then said, "Fine, then forget it."
Yin Che thought he was angry, but after a few seconds, he heard him say in a relaxed tone, "I won't go to the get-together and I won't go home next week. I'll stay with you at school. I'll treat you to some cake. Did you like the one from last time?"
In the end, whose birthday are we celebrating? Yin Che wanted to ask.
What I want to ask even more is, why won't you just give up after all this?
The whole week of review courses was nothing but torment and even the physical education class was shrouded by the dark cloud of long-distance running tests, so there was no place to find a relaxed, happy atmosphere.
After finally getting through to Friday, they recalled that the next week would be the last week before exams. All elective classes would be suspended and there would only be the one long-distance running test. The students began to miss having physical education class.
During lunch break, Guo ZhiXiong came over carrying a basketball, "Jiang Yao, wanna play ball?"
Jiang Yao wrapped his hands around the hot water he'd just fetched. "I can't stand the cold, I don't want to go out."
His act is so good. If he hadn't seen him after swimming out of the little pond the other night, not even shaking when he was soaked through, Yin Che might've actually believed it.
Guo ZhiXiong originally hadn't been expecting much, so he quickly turned to find someone else, "Han...... forget it."
Han Meng replied, "Why forget it? Why not just ask me, what if I agree?"
"Fine, you wanna go play basketball?"
"I won't go."
"......" Guo ZhiXiong got angry, "If I ever ask you again, I'm a dumbfuck!"
Han Meng watched him depart from behind, spitting with anger, and said in confusion, "Wasn't that answer obvious? Hasn't he known about me since the first day we met?"
Jiang Yao shouted at him from across the aisle, "Lao Han, how do you not get fat without exercising?"
"I do yoga......" Han Meng dramatically turned his head, then suddenly exclaimed in shock, "Fuck! Is it snowing?!"
He screamed so loudly that the others in the classroom heard and looked out the window. There were really scattered white flakes falling from the sky, though not that many so they couldn't bee seen unless you looked carefully.
People in the other classes had probably also noticed, because there was a commotion in the corridor outside the classroom, with students all rushing out to see the snow.
Here in the south, it rarely snowed, unlike in the north where people were accustomed to it, so it was considered great if they even saw snow once or twice a year. Those few small snowflakes ignited the atmosphere of the entire school.
The few students who had been unwilling to go outside just now ran down the stairs excitedly, cupping their hands together to catch the falling snowflakes, watching the snowflakes melt in their warm palms, smiling like fools who'd never seen snow in their entire lives.
Almost all the students in the Class 1 classroom ran out, though the remaining few by the window didn't leave. They remained sitting in their seats, looking out the window, feeling very excited.
"Today's weather forecast didn't say it would snow!"
"It's a bit light, who knows if it'll get heavier overnight though. I want to build a snowman and post it to my Friend Circle!"
"Aiya, if I'd known earlier, I would've secretly brought my phone, what should I do if school closes early!"
Yin Che's seat was also assigned next to the window this week, so he looked out at the snow floating down from the sky and remembered Qiao WanYun saying on the phone the previous night that the red plum flowers in the home garden were blooming.
If they were covered with snow, it would be a beautiful sight. I want to go back and see it, next year I might not be able to see it when the time comes.
But I just went home last weekend, I don't know if Yin Ze will be annoyed......
"Want to go downstairs to see?" Jiang Yao asked.
Yin Che shook his head and shifted his gaze back, "I'll just watch from here."
A breeze blew by. Though the bare tree trunks outside the window didn't sway, the trajectories of the snowflakes changed, flakes flying through the classroom window.
A few fluttering stragglers fell to rest on the tips of Yin Che's hair, so lightly that he didn't notice it.
Jiang Yao hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand, "You have snow on your hair."
He moved his hand quickly, so by the time he spoke, he'd already swept all the snow away before Yin Che could avoid it.
Jiang Yao didn't pull his hand back, holding it in the air above the back of his head. He chuckled softly, "I can touch your hair? Then what about this?"
He moved his hand forward slowly, his palm finally pressing against the soft hair, and then, softly, threading his five fingers into his hair.
Yin Che watched that face gradually fill his vision and his eyes lost focus, feeling a little dazed.
Since he was 7 years old, no one besides his parents had ever touched his hair so intimately.
His parents had secretly warned all his relatives, friends, and teachers that their family's child was introverted by nature, that they couldn't touch him because he'd have a bad reaction to it.
His bad reactions really were bad, but to go from a child who anyone could pat on the head and praise with a "really cute" when they met him to a child that everyone shunned overnight really didn't make him very happy.
Unfortunately, it was all for his own good, so how could he say anything.
"You aren't going to kick me for doing this?" Jiang Yao was already so close, their warm breaths mixing together so the air between them heated until snowflakes melted at a mere touch.
"Then can......I do something even more excessive?"
Jiang Yao smiled, his eyes reflecting the light outside the window and also reflecting the mirror image of the person in front of him.
His hand slowly dropped.
Yin Che suddenly felt a cold touch to the nape of his neck.
Jiang Yao's pinky slowly came to touch a small patch of skin that wasn't covered up by his turtleneck sweater.
That cool fingertip gently stroked back and forth, absorbing the warmth of his bare skin. The touch was as soft as a snowflake, but not as ephemeral as the touch of a snowflake.
On the contrary, it became even warmer as contact continued, causing the body temperature of that small patch of skin to keep rising.
Yin Che sat rigid in his seat, motionless as if he'd been ordered still.
"Why haven't you kicked me?" Jiang Yao asked in a low voice.
The look in his eyes was more excited than when those other students saw the snow.
As if he'd discovered some previously-unknown secret and also as if he'd just discovered a fresh, delicious prey, like a beast was beginning to stir deep down, building his energy for a strike, as if he were some kind of hungry carnivore.
"Brat......you being like this makes me feel so greedy²."
—
The author has something to say:
As long as you're bold enough, you could catch him tonight. If only you were strong enough, then you could immediately go out to book a room (sleep together).
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Footnotes:
1. Bellwether: term for the leading sheep of a flock, with a bell around its neck ↩
2. Extremely greedy (得寸进尺): idiom, give someone an inch, he'll take a mile; to want more than someone is willing to give ↩
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Hello, 911, I'd like to report a smooth operator