Mid-September 2018.
This year's summer was exceptionally long.
The sun is blazing outside the window and the cicadas are chirping.
In a classroom on the third floor of the high school teaching building of Fenghan Middle School, Luo Yiping stood on the podium, holding a test paper and giving a lecture. He stopped midway to unscrew the lid of the thermos and took a sip of water.
In this hot weather, the air is filled with stuffiness, and the fan on the ceiling of the classroom squeaks. It has been running all day but cannot dissipate the heat at all.
Meng Yao sat on his seat, turned over the test paper impatiently, and looked out the window.
After a while, someone touched her arm. She looked away and lowered her head. Song Siqi, her deskmate, put two fingers on the thin piece of paper and gently pushed it towards her.
Meng Yao turned his head, and Song Siqi stared at the blackboard without blinking.
"..."
This pretentious ability is really amazing.
Meng Yao took out the note and looked down. Song Siqi's neat handwriting wrote: Do you want to go to the canteen after class?
Meng Yao held the pen and wrote: No time, let's go during lunch time.
Song Siqi glanced at Luo Yiping who was chattering on the podium and drew a question mark on the note.
Meng Yao held his forehead with one hand and lowered his head to write: I have to go to the office.
Um?
Song Siqi asked: Why go to the office?
Just as Meng Yao was about to start writing, Luo Yiping suddenly stopped speaking on the podium. His eyes swept in this direction and finally settled on Meng Yao. He frowned and said in a deep voice: "Meng——"
Another word was hidden in the sudden ringing of the school bell.
Meng Yao noticed something, raised his head, and looked back at Luo Yiping with a pair of clear and translucent eyes. His face was calm and calm, as if he had not done anything shady.
Luo Yiping: "..."
After class, Meng Yao went to the Chinese teacher's office.
The Chinese teacher's surname is Shen, Shen Heyi. In addition to being the Chinese teacher of their class, he also serves as the head teacher of their class. She was looking for Meng Yao for no other reason than that the school had recently held an essay contest, and she hoped that Meng Yao, as the representative of the Chinese class, could participate.
"After all, we are a liberal arts class, and you should be more experienced in this kind of essay competition."
Meng Yao once won the second prize in a provincial composition competition.
"But you don't need to be too stressed. This is just an activity held by the school. The important thing is to participate." Shen Heyi said.
Meng Yao nodded.
Shen Heyi handed her another stack of test papers: "Take this and pass it out to the class. I'll give it in the next class."
Meng Yao lowered his head and glanced at the weekly exam papers from the previous two days. The first one was hers, with a bright score of 132.
Shen Heyi noticed her gaze and said, "I have been a little relaxed during this period and took a step back."
"The highest score in the grade was taken by someone else, 135 points, Xu Yao from Class 1, Science."
Hearing this name, Meng Yao's eyelashes trembled imperceptibly.
Shen Heyi didn't know how many times he sighed to Meng Yao: "You are good at everything, but you are partial to subjects. Look at Xu Yao in the science class, who has both arts and sciences. Like him, he chooses liberal arts or sciences purely based on his interest."
The Chinese teacher in charge of Science Class 1 happened to be in the office. Shen Heyi turned around and asked, "Hey, will your class Xu Yaoshen participate in the school's essay competition this time?"
Meng Yao raised his eyes and listened with concentration.
"Xu Yao?" The Chinese teacher in Class 1 shook his head, helpless, "I asked him, but he said he was not interested. He also said that if he had the time, it would be better to do a few more mathematics, physics and chemistry papers."
Meng Yao felt a little disappointed.
Shen Heyi laughed: "Yeah, it's quite partial."
"That's too biased." The Chinese teacher of Class 1 said angrily, "I've been caught doing other test papers several times in my class."
Having said that, his eyes were filled with a proud smile.
For students like this, having a bright report card is equivalent to having a privilege among teachers.
Back in the classroom, Meng Yao handed out the test papers one by one, sat back in his seat, and rested his forehead on the edge of the desk. He looked a little listless, which startled Song Siqi.
"What's wrong? Did you get scolded?"
Song Siqi said: "There is no reason. You are not our head teacher's heart, okay?"
Meng Yao thought of the scene in the office and denied: "I'm not, someone else has changed."
Song Siqi took her test paper and looked at it, thinking that the score was not bad, not bad, but asked curiously: "Who is it?"
Meng Yao licked his lips and slowly said the name: "Xu Yao."
"Hey." Song Siqi comforted her with an expression of "who do I think I am?" "It's normal. Just tell me, who is Xu Yao's favorite?"
This makes sense.
Song Siqi added: "From school leaders and teachers to nearly half of the girls in the second and first grades of high school, he takes advantage of all the young and old."
"Before we were divided into classes last semester, we were in the same class. I don't know how many fanatic fans I saw stuffing love letters into his desk."
"But this weekly exam is quite difficult. How many points did he get?"
Meng Yao shook his head: "I don't know about the others, Chinese Language 135."
"Damn it." Song Siqi said in admiration, "That's awesome."
The class bell rang, and Meng Yao said an inaudible "hmm".
At noon, Meng Yao and Song Siqi went to the cafeteria together. As soon as it's meal time, the cafeteria is extremely crowded, and all kinds of voices are intertwined, making it very lively.
Meng Yao and Song Siqi found a window with few people to queue up, ordered a simple meal of two dishes and one soup, and found two seats to sit down. Neither Meng Yao nor Song Siqi are picky eaters, and they can finish the meal quickly.
After the meal, the two of them went to the canteen together.
Fenghan's canteen is no different from the small supermarket outside the school, with all kinds of snacks and snacks.
Many people don't want to go to the canteen to get food at noon, so they choose to go to the canteen to buy some food such as oden or instant noodles to cope with the problem.
Meng Yao loved the grilled sausages in the tuck shop. They were shiny and fragrant on the outside and tender on the inside. She had to buy them every time she came back.
Song Siqi asked her to come to the canteen mainly to stock up on snacks on her desk. She claimed that she had hypoglycemia, was not hungry all the time, and had a craving for sweets.
The canteen will only be more crowded than the canteen at the moment.
Meng Yao accompanied Song Siqi to pick out a few snacks. Suddenly she remembered that she was almost running out of draft paper, so she told Song Siqi and walked to another area.
She bought a few black pen refills by the way, took the scratch paper, and when she went back to find Song Siqi, she saw Song Siqi talking to a boy. She walked over and vaguely heard the word "treat".
"We're not in the same class anymore, so you still haven't let go of the opportunity to exploit me." A clear male voice sounded.
Song Siqi said plausibly: "Because we are no longer in the same class, the opportunities for exploitation have been greatly reduced, so we cannot let it go easily."
The boy seemed to be speechless by these words, and nodded helplessly after a while: "Okay, please."
Song Siqi smiled proudly.
Just as Meng Yao walked up to her, she took Meng Yao's arm and introduced, "This is my friend and new deskmate, Meng Yao."
"Oh, yes." Song Siqi pointed her other finger at the boy, looked at Meng Yao and said, "This is my former deskmate, Zheng Hua."
Meng Yao looked at Zheng Hua and nodded slightly.
Zheng Hua also looked at her for a while.
Meng Yao was dressed in ordinary clothes, with short shoulder-length hair and a set of eyes on the bridge of his nose, looking like a typical good student. Very thin, with a thin body and seemingly no nutrition.
The only thing that stands out is the skin.
White, flawless, and very much like an egg after being peeled.
Zheng Hua didn't pay too much attention to her, he just said hello politely and said hello. He turned his head and criticized Song Siqi: "What kind of introduction do you have? It's like a new love and an old love."
Not to be outdone in front of him, Song Siqi retorted: "Old love? Are you qualified?"
"Okay, not qualified."
"But, Meng Yao?" Zheng Hua repeated, looking thoughtful, "This name..."
Song Siqi glared at him: "What's wrong with this name?"
"No." Zheng Hua laughed and said, "I just think it sounds familiar. Don't look at me like this, like a mother chicken guarding her cubs."
Song Siqi bared her teeth and almost couldn't help but take action.
The two quarreled for a while before Song Siqi said: "It's normal for me to be familiar. Meng Yao is already well-known in our liberal arts class."
Zheng Hua smiled and said nonchalantly, "Really?"
Song Siqi nodded heavily: "Of course, talented woman."
Meng Yao stood aside quietly, listening to the two of them talking back and forth. Even when she was mentioned, she had no emotion and treated it as a joke.
Song Siqi thought of something when she mentioned the word "talented woman". She looked next to Zheng Hua and asked curiously: "Where is the top student? You two are not together?"
"You mean Xu Yao?"
Zheng Hua said: "He is buying something on the other side and should be coming over."
Meng Yao had some reaction when he heard the name.
Song Siqi gossiped: "Have your scores for other subjects in this weekly test come out? I heard that Xu Yao scored 115 in Chinese."
"No need to ask." Zheng Hua looked unsurprised, "He is the first in the grade again."
"That's not right." Zheng Hua reacted, "Shouldn't you ask him to treat you? After all, you won the first place in grade. What's the deal with me?"
Song Siqi smiled sheepishly: "Isn't it because you are easier to bully?"
"..." Zheng Hua laughed angrily.
Said Cao Cao Cao Cao has arrived.
Xu Yao turned from the other side of the canteen. Zheng Hua was afraid that he might not see him, so he shouted, and when Xu Yao looked over, he waved to him through the crowd.
Meng Yao raised his eyes and his eyes instantly caught the most eye-catching boy among the crowd.
He wore ordinary white short-sleeved clothes, and his hair was short and neat, exposing his forehead. There seemed to be light in his eyes, and his dark pupils were shining brightly.
He looks very decent, not aggressive, but not milky either.
It's not a photographic memory, but it's very comfortable to look at.
In the hot weather, he looked fresh and clean.
Meng Yao followed him step by step with his eyes.
When he came forward, he restrained himself and lowered his eyes naturally.
Her eyes fell on his hands.
He was carrying an ordinary, simple glass.
Zheng Hua also saw it and commented with a hint of disgust: "The purchasing aunt at the canteen needs to improve her aesthetics."
Xu Yao was very casual and whispered: "It doesn't matter, as long as you can drink water."
He saw Song Siqi and nodded lightly as a greeting.
Zheng Hua said: "You are really unlucky. Someone threw a book and your cup suffered."
"I remember that cup of yours isn't cheap, is it? It seems to be a co-branded product brought back by your aunt from abroad? Do you really want them to compensate?"
"Forget it." Xu Yao said, "It's just a cup."
"Okay." The parties involved said so, and Zheng Hua did not express any further opinions.
It was almost lunch break, Xu Yao tilted his head and asked Zheng Hua if he had finished shopping.
"I bought it, but" Zheng Hua teased him in a long voice, "Song Siqi and I were chatting just now. You ranked first in the exam this time. Do you need a treat?"
Song Siqi and Xu Yao were not that familiar, so she was a little embarrassed and quickly jumped out to clarify: "I originally planned to trick Zheng Hua, and it was Zheng Hua who came up with the idea to trick you."
Zheng Hua expressed his disdain for her betrayal of her teammates and shouted dissatisfied: "Then don't eat it later."
Song Siqi: "Impossible!"
There was a fuss again.
Xu Yao smiled and asked them: "What do you want to eat?"
Zheng Hua: "I want ice Coke."
Song Siqi didn't have the nerve to ask, so she said, "We can do it all."
Zheng Hua did not ignore Meng Yao, who had been silent next to Song Siqi, and specifically said to Xu Yao: "Including yourself, you have to buy four copies in total."
Xu Yao's eyes seemed to fall on Meng Yao for a moment. She lowered her head and did not give her a straight face. Xu Yao quickly looked away and nodded.
Xu Yao was very fast. At Zheng Hua's request, he brought him a bottle of iced Coke and two pieces of ice cream.
One was handed to Song Siqi, and the other was handed to Meng Yao.
When Xu Yao's clearly knuckled hand stretched out in front of her, Meng Yao raised his head, took the ice cream, and said thank you quickly.
Her voice was very low, almost inaudible in the noisy canteen, but Xu Yao heard her and responded with a gentle voice.
When she raised her head, her fair face was clearly revealed. Behind the large spectacle frames, her eyes were round and deer-like, as if there was a clear spring in her eyes, which was lively and lively.
She looked at Xu Yao quietly.
Tiny drops of water appeared on the ice cream shell paper, making my palms moist.
Xu Yao gave her a friendly smile.
Meng Yao looked away in panic and grabbed the draft paper with his other hand.
It's so hot in summer.
Almost melting her.
