Chapter 3

It rained twice in succession in Huihe City, which slightly washed away the summer heat. Because she caught a mild cold, He Pingyi’s mother took IV drips for four days so that she could catch up with his father, who was on a business trip. He Pingyi asked for leave from school for these four days so he could look after her. When he went back to school, the pile of test papers and exercises on his desk made him wonder if the college entrance examination would be held next month.

Seeing his headache, Wang Xiaowei pulled six or seven sheets from the pile of test papers and said, “Do these first. These are the ones that we’re going to go over in class over the next few days.” 

He Pingyi stared at the words on the test paper and wondered in puzzlement: “Didn’t we finish our lesson on this topic? Why are there so many questions to do?”

“Yeah, I didn’t finish explaining.” Wang Xiaowei finished writing the word “proof”, then took his pen and tapped it twice on the head of a paper. “This is the lesson’s… After. Class. Questions, ah.”

When the class bell rang, He Pingyi pinched his eyebrows, took a deep breath, folded the test papers into a stack, and stuffed them into his desk drawer for the time being. The Chinese teacher walked into the classroom holding his textbook in his arms. Wang Xiaowei wrote the last formula, turned the paper over to the four blank questions on the back, and finally couldn’t help complaining in a low voice: “What are they talking about over and over again? What quality, well-rounded education? Fart…”

During the day the teacher was lecturing, so He Pingyi could only work on his assignments with all his might during the last free self-study session in the evening. But the problem was… 

He Pingyi looked at the geometric figure on the test paper and threw away his pen.

The problem was, he also couldn’t do it, ah.

“Alas.” He Pingyi sighed and didn’t want to write any more. But he knew that, in the future, he wouldn’t be able to reap anything without sowing, and he wouldn’t have a chance to get rich quick overnight, so now he could only resignedly pick up the pen he had thrown away and keep writing.

“Not going, ah?”

“You go first.” He Pingyi looked at his watch and thought about how he would have to look at the physics exercises after finishing the math test paper. That set of questions was so difficult that if he didn’t do it when the teacher explained, he was afraid that he might not be able to make sense of even half a word of it.

Everyone else in the classroom left one by one. When He Pingyi finished his assignments, it was already almost 11:30 pm. He rubbed his sore shoulders, stood up, yawned, and turned off the lights.

At this time, there were practically no people left inside the school, and even the dormitory building had entered its last short period of noise before turning off the lights. He Pingyi locked the door and briefly looked out over the railing. Several street lamps were still on, so there was virtually no darkness remaining in his field of view.

It was the first time that He Pingyi had seen such a quiet campus. On weekdays, he always rushed to arrive on time, flying in just on the edge of not being late. And then, at the end of the day, he once again hurried away, along with a large number of college entrance exam candidates leaving the campus. Ringing school bells, lectures, reciting words from memory, discussions, and test papers being turned over, there was no lack of sounds like these in the campus everyday. He Pingyi stopped, leaned against the railing, and stretched his arm out on top of the railing so he could look at the campus below. A lone figure happened to make its way into his field of vision, wearing a school uniform, carrying a schoolbag, and wearing thick glasses. 

He Pingyi stared blankly.

Jing Can?

He poked his neck out again and took a closer look at the figure. After confirming that it was Jing Can, He Pingyi bent his arms and rested his upper body on the railing to see what he was doing.

Downstairs, Jing Can trotted forward to a drainage grate on the side, extended one leg, assumed the posture of a drifting car, drew an arc on the ground with his foot, and turned around the corner. 

He Pingyi lifted his chin up from his arm. He saw Jing Can run two more steps, then stop and look back at the road he had just run.

“Hey.”

He Pingyi abruptly opened his mouth. Downstairs, Jing Can was startled and he trembled with fear, then he suddenly sharply raised his head to look up.

Seeing his flustered expression, He Pingyi kept smiling and asked, “I heard that you used the drainage grate to turn around the corner. It’s really bogus, ah?” 

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“Shall we take a lap?” He Pingyi said this, then turned around with a smile and went downstairs.

“Why haven’t you left yet?” When he saw that Jing Can was watching him walk over, He Pingyi raised his eyebrows and asked him this question. 

“Doing homework.”

A gust of wind suddenly arose. Jing Can was currently standing on a small stone step. When the wind blew, he didn’t know whether it was cold or not and stood firm. He came down from the stone step and stamped his foot. Jing Can’s hair on his forehead was too long. At that moment, he lowered his head and the hair on his forehead floated up in a sheet.

“The temperature has dropped recently. It’s colder in the morning and evening. You should wear more.”

The two people walked out along the teaching building side by side. Hearing what He Pingyi said, Jing Can looked at him quickly and replied seriously: “I’m also wearing a school uniform coat, but you’re only wearing short sleeves.” 

“Well,” without thinking, He Pingyi immediately said, “the problem is I’m not cold ah.”

Jing Can kicked a stone that was under his foot and whispered, “I’m not cold either.”

After saying this, Jing Can continued to take two steps, and then he sneezed. He Pingyi bowed his head and laughed out loud. Jing Can glanced at him quickly, then pursed his lips and didn’t speak.

“How are you going home?” He Pingyi changed the subject and asked, “Riding a bike?” 

“Walking.”

Probably in order to create a quiet learning atmosphere for senior high school Grade 3 students, the senior Grade 3 campus of No. 7 High School was no longer in the center of the city. To what extent was it separated from the city center? The campus had been built for five or six years, but the surrounding area had not been fully developed yet. There were no cars there during the day, and at night, you couldn’t even see a single person. Fortunately, Huihe City was small. Although this location was considered to be the edge of the city in a sense, it wasn’t far from the city center.

It was the first time Jing Can stayed so late at this school. After he finished speaking, he looked towards the direction of the school gate and somewhat helplessly lowered his eyes.

A rock rolled out again. Jing Can thought to himself, can’t they install more lamps. 

He Pingyi had been continuously paying attention to the changes in Jing Can’s expression. He suddenly felt that Jing Can was very contradictory, and in passing, he doubted whether his previous understanding of Jing Can was wrong. Before, when he saw Jing Can, He Pingyi completely could not guess what Jing Can was thinking when he didn’t speak. But at this moment, his thoughts and every shift in his state of mind were clearly synchronized to his face in real time, which was so simple it couldn’t be any simpler.

When He Pingyi saw that Jing Can’s brows were tightly locked in a frown but Jing Can didn’t say anything to him, he simply patted Jing Can on the shoulder . “Come with me to get my moped. It’s too late at night. Let’s go back together.”

In a split second, Jing Can’s face was full of pleasant surprise and relief, which didn’t disappear at all when he raised his head to look at He Pingyi.

He Pingyi once again denied his previous judgment of Jing Can in his heart. Such a child, how did he think that his thoughts were so deep? 

The two boys turned to go towards the vehicle shelter and, under the guidance of He Pingyi, walked straight to the side of a small electric moped.

Looking at the design of two small purple flowers on the handlebar, Jing Can hesitated for a few seconds and in a low voice asked the person who was unlocking the moped: “This is your moped ah?”

“Or else?” He Pingyi kicked away the kickstand, held the handles, and pushed the moped out. “Am I even stealing a moped here at night ah? Get on the moped, don’t be suspicious.”

Jing Can moved to the side of the back seat, turned, and uncertainly attempted to get on twice, but ultimately didn’t sit down. 

“Sit cross legged and be stable.” He Pingyi finished explaining and reached his hand back, “Give me your schoolbag.”

After waiting for a while, there was still no weight in his hand. He Pingyi turned around and saw Jing Can staring at his hand, lost in thought.

“Why are you in a daze?” He Pingyi turned to the side and held out his hand again. “Give it to me.”

Cycling was not allowed in the school, but at this time, He Pingyi and Jing Can rode the moped around the school for two laps, and there was no one there to control them. 

“Hey, do you also have a lot of homework in your liberal arts class?”

“What?”

He Pingyi spoke suddenly, and Jing Can‘s mind was wandering so he didn’t hear him clearly.

“Homework, why do I think these teachers leave too much homework? I was working on a test paper up until now, and I still have a huge pile of unfinished work.” He Pingyi adjusted the direction of the moped a little and went around the side of a speed bump. “What homework were you catching up on? Was it also an after-class question?” 

In the back seat, Jing Can pushed up his eyeglasses, paused for a moment, and then said unnaturally: “No it was, it was Chinese homework… composition.”

“Huh?” He Pingyi thought he had heard wrong, “Composition?”

“Well,” Jing Can answered honestly, “Can’t write it.”

He Pingyi didn’t know whether or not it was his illusion, but he heard a little grievance from the three words said by Jing Can behind him. 

“Me too,” He Pingyi smiled and tried to ease Jing Can’s embarrassment. “I also don’t know how to write a composition.”

Maybe because it wasn’t a glorious topic for him, Jing Can didn’t speak again. He Pingyi became lazy easily when he rode his moped, especially at times like this when the street was so quiet. If he didn’t take Jing Can with him, he might have ridden slowly until he fell asleep. He narrowed his eyes slightly and enjoyed the already somewhat cool evening breeze. The person behind him was also quiet the whole time.

“In the last few days, why haven’t I… why haven’t I run into you at all?”

Somewhat unexpectedly, after they passed one more block, Jing Can spoke first and broke the silence. 

“Oh, something happened at home. I asked for a few days off.” He Pingyi finished speaking and thought for a while, “But I also haven’t seen you before ah, maybe because I don’t go out of the classroom very often, so there aren’t many opportunities to meet.”

“Really?” Jing Can asked softly.

When he stopped at a red light, He Pingyi swept towards the direction of his home and suddenly recalled that he had just taken Jing Can and left without asking where his home was.

“Hey?” He Pingyi felt that his mind was probably not very bright at the moment. He Pingyi wanted to laugh, “Where is your home ah? I forgot to ask you and you also didn’t tell me. If I took you and dragged you away to sell you…” 

He didn’t finish his sentence because Jing Can suddenly reached out one hand and grabbed his clothes on one side of his waist. If his clothes didn’t tighten and stick to his skin, He Pingyi might not have noticed the weight at all.

The finger that peeked out on the side of his waist was so white that it was practically transparent. He Pingyi swept a glance at it and suddenly forgot what he wanted to say a moment ago.

Turn left.

“39 Yanchao Road.” 

All the way until He Pingyi drove to Yanchao Road and stopped, Jing Can’s hand didn’t let go of his waist. He Pingyi also thought that Jing Can was riding too steadily. It turned out that Jing Can actually fell asleep in the back seat, so He Pingyi turned back, removed Jing Can’s hand, and patted his arm. “We’ve arrived.”

“Oh.” Jing Can responded rather slowly, then very quickly got off the moped.

He Pingyi turned his head to the side, glanced at the big house to look inside, and found that all of the lights in it were turned off. He raised his chin and said, “Go back quickly. Your family members are all asleep.”

Jing Can nodded obediently and turned around, and He Pingyi watched him as he walked towards the house. Unexpectedly, after taking a few steps, Jing Can suddenly turned his head back. He looked like he wanted to say something but was hesitant. 

“What’s up?” He Pingyi took the initiative to ask.

“Earlier, you said it wrong.” Jing Can appeared to be somewhat nervous. He said this very slowly, as if he was testing whether He Pingyi would feel bad because of what he said. “It should be, ‘I also want to take a lap with you, do you have time?’”

He Pingyi just realized that what Jing Can said was the movie line he had said before.

“Oh?” Actually, he really didn’t remember this sentence clearly. He estimated that what Jing Can said should be right, but seeing that he corrected himself so seriously, he suddenly wanted to tease him, “Why do I think that what I said just now was right? Could you be remembering it incorrectly ah?” 

“Impossible.” Jing Can didn’t hesitate this time. He looked at He Pingyi and there were bright stars in his eyes. “It’s impossible for me to remember it incorrectly.”

At that moment, Jing Can’s face had a look that He Pingyi had never seen on it before  – self-confidence and certainty.

All of a sudden, He Pingyi was truly stunned.

Seeing that he didn’t respond, Jing Can’s face flashed with some chagrin. He thought he had rudely embarrassed He Pingyi, so he hurriedly said “goodbye” and turned to run away. 

“Hey.” He Pingyi didn’t understand why he suddenly fled. He slightly leaned forward and, with a smile on his face, called for him to stop.

Jing Can turned his head, stopped where he was, and gazed at him. He Pingyi hooked up one corner of his mouth and smiled roguishly.

“I have time ah,” He Pingyi said. “I’ll come to pick you up early tomorrow morning, 6:50.”

——————– 

A/N: Here are the lines of the movie “Initial D”, there is also a meme/catchphrase behind this.