Chapter 24

For the last Chinese lesson before the exam, the usual teacher had to apply for emergency leave, so the other class’ teacher came in as a substitute. He was an old man with white hair, surnamed Lin.

Old man Lin had a habit, he like to get students to sit together to discuss questions. If you weren’t sitting next to someone, you would be made to move your table next to someone.

“Alright, the two students in the last row, move your tables together to the middle!” He pointed at the empty space behind the second and third groups.

Yi Ran was originally slouching on her table and dozing off, but she immediately startled awake and dragged her table over to Song Yu Meng’s as the whole class watched.

After Song Yu Meng adjusted her table, Yi Ran crossed her legs and folded her arms, leaning back against her chair with a look of disdain.

Song Yu Meng said defensively: “Hey, what’s with that look of contempt? You think this lady wants to sit beside you?”

Yi Ran turned away to look at the teacher, and the corner of her lip twisted up on the side that Song Yu Meng couldn’t see.

“Okay students, open book two. We’ll be going over 《Mang》[1].”

Old man Lin let them read the poem a few times before he started explaining the meaning. When he got to “women shouldn’t lose their sense of self in a relationship”, Yi Ran teased Song Yu Meng: “Heard that? Even the textbook is telling you not to lose who you are in a relationship.”

“The book also tells you not to be a nosy person!” Song Yu Meng scolded, half embarrassed and half in anger.

“I want to ask something, do you really like Liu Luo Yang that much?”

“Yes!” Song Yu Meng answered immediately.

Yi Ran paused for a moment, the gentle smile disappearing. She asked without any trace of amusement: “Then why do you like him?”

The sudden change in Yi Ran’s expression caught Song Yu Meng off guard and she turned away and mumbled: “I just like him……”

Yi Ran “oh”-ed, her heart suddenly tight. She didn’t say anything for the rest of the class, even when the teacher asked the students to discuss amongst themselves, they stayed silent.

It wasn’t that Song Yu Meng didn’t notice her abnormal behaviour, but she couldn’t figure out what had riled up this person again. Or rather, why did it matter to her if her enemy was angry?

Even though she thought that, her heart was still in a bit of a fluster. She couldn’t pay attention to the teacher, nor could she absorb anything from reading the text. She didn’t want to see Yi Ran’s expressionless face again.

Thus, Song Yu Meng chose to pretend to sleep, then it wouldn’t be awkward.

Unfortunately, she accidentally really fell asleep. Nobody could resist taking a nap during the first class of the afternoon.

She only woke up when old man Lin picked her to answer a question.

“That girl who’s lying on the table in the last row, get up and answer the question!” Old man Lin’s voice was harsh, he hated students sleeping in class.

Song Yu Meng was too deeply asleep, she didn’t hear it at all. Yi Ran shook her head helplessly, thinking she was really sleeping like a pig, and used a bit of strength to push her.

Song Yu Meng woke from her sleep and was about to fall off her seat. Yi Ran was frightened and quickly pulled her back to let her catch her balance.

Yi Ran laughed at the scene and Song Yu Meng glared at her. It was hard not to suspect it was on purpose, maybe it was for revenge.

Old man Lin said: “Tell me, what’s the answer to this question?”

Song Yu Meng hurriedly “ah”-ed. The red patch on her face hadn’t receded yet and she looked particularly soft and vulnerable. Yi Ran’s heart almost melted, is that the same person she knew?

Old man Lin continued: “What ah, I’m asking you, what’s the answer?”

“Um…” She was frantically trying to figure out the answer when suddenly, Yi Ran’s voice floated over. “Choose B.”

“It’s B.” She didn’t doubt Yi Ran at all.

And then……

“What?! It’s B?” Old man Lin looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “I just explained this question and you’re guessing it!”

Yi Ran hid her mouth and smiled, clearly happy. Song Yu Meng finally realised she was tricked. She shouldn’t have trusted her, how could you believe Crazy Yi? This scheming fellow!

“Then what’s the answer to the next question?” Old man Lin asked again, his face dark and indicating he was about to explode.

Song Yu Meng quickly glanced at the question and Yi Ran’s voice floated over again: “Choose B.”

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Song Yu Meng was determined not to listen to Yi Ran again, so she confidently said “It’s C.”

“I just said the answer’s B and you said it’s C. Are you trying to disrupt the class on purpose?”

The entire class burst out laughing and Yi Ran was the one smiling the happiest. Song Yu Meng’s face was all red, she had already cursed Yi Ran god-knows-how-many-times in her heart.

Irritating brat!

……

Soon, it was time for the mid-term exam.

The two of them were the lowest-ranked students, so they were seated close by again.

Sitting in the last row, Song Yu Meng glared at Yi Ran. She didn’t forget about yesterday. Yi Ran had embarrassed her so thoroughly, she wouldn’t forget it for the rest of her life.

Yi Ran looked at her without the slightest bit of shame and even smiled. Song Yu Meng was so angry her lips were twitching. If it wasn’t for the fact she was in the exam hall, she would have rushed up and punched her.

Looking at her smugly sitting there was so irritating!

Yi Ran almost laughed. With how petty she was, she would remember every slight for the rest of her life.

When it was time for the English Exam, Yi Ran felt devastated looking at all the words on the paper. She guessed the answers for the multiple-choice, then left all the long-form answers blank.

Feeling bored, she looked at every student before she glanced at Song Yu Meng. She saw how she was knitting her brows at the paper and contemplating hard.

Yi Ran guessed the question should be pretty difficult, so she picked up the exam booklet and took a look. She put it down almost immediately again. She had forgotten her standard of English, there was no difference between easy or hard, she couldn’t understand most of it.

But she did understand the essay prompt, “My Friend”.

She usually left the essay parts blank, but this time…… Yi Ran bit on her pen and looked at Song Yu Meng’s side profile for a while. She finally uncapped her pen and started to write.

【I have a friend, a proud girl, but I think she is very very very stupid. She always says ‘hate me’, but I think it’s just her kidding……】[2]

Yi Ran’s English really wasn’t that good, and she took a while to string together these easy words. Some of them, she even had to find in the questions themself.

When Song Yu Meng started writing, Yi Ran wondered who she was writing about. She figured it would probably be Su Xiao Xiao, or maybe even Liu Luo Yang, but it definitely couldn’t be Xu Yuan.

In her heart, she secretly hoped Song Yu Meng would write about her. But it wouldn’t fit the topic. If it was “my enemy” or something like that, then there would at least be a possibility.

……

School was released early after the mid-term exams ended.

Song Yu Meng was alone in the walkway when Yi Ran caught up to her and walked on her left. She wasn’t displeased by Yi Ran suddenly appearing.

Yi Ran spoke first, smiling slightly: “Hey, guess what I wrote about for the English paper?”

“Are you mad? How would I know what you wrote?”

“I knew you couldn’t guess it.”

Song Yu Meng guessed Yi Ran wrote about her, but she couldn’t be sure and she was too embarrassed to ask. So she looked at Yi Ran and said: “Oh, if you’re so clever, then guess what I wrote?”

“Did you write about me?” Yi Ran replied quickly, eyes twinkling with anticipation.

Song Yu Meng’s face flushed immediately and her heart started thumping as she quickly denied it: “What! What’s there to write about you? There are so many people I could write about, why would I write about you?!”

She was a little tongue-tied because she did write about Yi Ran, but the whole essay was about her shortcomings, so in the end, she wrote a “so I say she is my ‘friend’”, with quotation marks around “friend”.

Yi Ran seemed to have seen through her, and smiled: “I wrote about you.”

Yi Ran’s hands were in her pocket, with her hood up and she was smiling as she walked backwards. Song Yu Meng’s hands were on her bag straps and she was looking at Yi Ran, walking in accordance with Yi Ran backing up.

The sun rays shone into the hallway, and the two of them walking down the hall was a picture-perfect scene.

“What did you write about this lady for, who’s your friend!” Song Yu Meng said bitingly, but she secretly felt a fleeting happiness.

“So what if I think we’re friends on my part?”

Song Yu Meng “oh”-ed, a hint of shyness crossing her face.

The two of them had walked to the school gates, and Yi Ran’s electric scooter was parked there.

Yi Ran slung a leg across the seat and wore her helmet. She was about to leave, and Song Yu Meng felt a little sad.

“Hey, Crazy Yi, you’re not allowed to tail me on your scooter like last time.”

Yi Ran smiled as if she had heard the best joke in the world. “Only a crazy person would tail you.” Then she sped off, leaving a white cloud of smoke.

“Aren’t you crazy then! Crazy Yi——” Song Yu Meng raised her fist in the air and shouted, not caring if anybody around was watching.

Yi Ran’s silhouette disappeared from her line of sight and she felt a bit empty inside, as if something was missing.

On her way home, Song Yu Meng saw the familiar intersection and remembered this was the place where she shook out Crazy Yi the last time.

Who would loop back purposely to irritate someone, she was too immature!

But at this moment, Song Yu Meng suddenly heard the sound of an electric scooter behind her.

Yi Ran was that immature, she had looped around again.

“Want me to send you home?”

“No.” Song Yu Meng still rejected, even though she secretly wanted to in her heart. But she was still a bit scared since it looked quite dangerous.

Yi Ran “oh”-ed, but slowed down and kept pace beside her.

Song Yu Meng laughed: “Crazy Yi, what are you doing?”

“Following you. I’m a crazy person in your eyes anyway.”

“Immature!”

……

[1] 氓 – This is a poem talking about a woman’s journey from falling in love, to getting married and eventually being abused and abandoned by her husband. Just to give a bit of context as to why Yi Ran would remind Song Yu Meng not to forget her sense of self after falling in love.

[2] I didn’t edit this for grammar or punctuation, I just added spacing between the words. It’s word for word what Yi Ran wrote lol.