CH 5

There are many things that would be inconvenient with one hand, such as changing the ink of the fountain pen.

Li Wei unskillfully unscrewed the ink bottle and the back cap of the fountain pen with one hand, but he accidentally scuffed the ink on his hand when he was handling it. He looked at the dirty ink on his hand with a stunned look, a trace of chagrin flashed in his eyes.

Zhang Man just happened to go to the third class to look for his best friend Chen Feier during class, and when she returned, she saw him sitting dumbly, his hands full of black ink.

“Why didn’t you wait for me to come back when you changed the ink?” Zhang Man looked at him somewhat reproachfully, “Why are you still sitting stupidly, go wash your hands.”

The young man seemed to have just regained consciousness and stood up blankly and walked to the bathroom. When he finally washed his hands and returned to his place, he found that everything on the table was all neatly packed.

The desk stained with a small dribble of ink had been wiped clean with a wet rag, the pen had been inked and capped, and the ink bottle had been placed closed in its box.

He pursed his lips and looked at the young girl at the side, she was talking to the students in front of her, her voice was low, with little expression, and the neat bangs on her forehead bobbed as she nodded and shook her head.

After one day, Li Wei felt that she was a bit strange. Most of the time she was extremely quiet, and had no presence when talking to others, and didn’t like to smile, just like now.

But sometimes she was different, such as downstairs when she stepped on Liu Chang’s foot, he saw clearly that it was obviously intentional; she pulled his hand to the infirmary and wouldn’t allow him to refuse in the slightest; in the morning, she reported loudly to the teacher that he was hit by someone, with a trace of anger flashing in her eyes.

And just now, chiding himself for not waiting for her to come back, the anger in her eyes, was as if he belonged to her.

Li Wei suddenly felt a bit irritated.

Why bother, she’ll change in a few days anyway.

He shook his head and focused his thoughts on the formula that he had just not finished pushing. He knew that there were still some things in this world that were eternal and unchanging, they were always there quietly waiting for him and would never lie to him.

When Zhang Man saw Li Wei was starting to read, she consciously unscrewed the cap of the pen for him, buckled it on the end and handed it to him. She also prepared a few pieces of draft paper for him and placed them on the top of the desk.

She did this quite naturally, except this time it was laborious.

The young man, somewhat overreacting, set down the pen she had shoved into his hand heavily, and went specifically to retrieve a new one from his pencil pouch. He pushed the draft she’d prepared onto her own desk and spread out an exercise book for himself, to work out the calculations.

It was as if he was against her.

His long and slender fingers and knuckles were still stained with a bit of ink, as if they couldn’t be washed clean, and he held the pen so tightly that Zhang Man was worried that the pen would be crushed.

Zhang Man took a deep breath, but she wasn’t frustrated. It was only the first day, so he should always be given some time to adjust.

Even a stray kitten would be confused and anxious for a long time when it was adopted, not to mention a person who had been alone for so many years .

……

On the first day of school, the teachers of the various subjects basically didn’t teach any serious classes or leave homework. At the end of class, her best friend Chen Feier came over to look for her, and they went to the milk tea shop at the entrance together.

“My God, Man Man, that boy just now is your new desk-mate? He’s so handsome, ah! Do you have his contact information?”

As soon as she left the classroom, Chen Feier began to ask a series of questions, her eyes wide with excitement.

Chen Feier and her have been best friends since elementary school and are currently in the same high school, though she is in a regular class. She was very lively, optimistic and jumpy, and could always face whatever came her way in a positive way. This was also the reason why Zhang Man liked being with her the most, her happiness is always spread partly to her.

This time however, Zhang Man was a bit helpless: “Feier, don’t hit on him, he’s the one I like.”

Chen Feier was a bit confused, completely disbelieving that such words would come out of the mouth of the loveless woman herself, Zhang Man.

She seriously suspected that she had misheard.

“What did you just say?”

Zhang Man repeated in a bad mood, “I said, I like him, I want to be with him, that’s all.”

“……”, Chen Feier opened her mouth a bit in shock, “Oh, shoot! No, What’s with you, did you knock your socks off? Is it your mom? Did she have a new boyfriend that made you feel that way?”

As Chen Feier spoke she even nervously approached to touch Zhang Man’s forehead.

Zhang Man laughed helplessly and slapped her hand away, “What are you talking nonsense? I’m serious with you, I’m chasing him.”

In her previous life, when she told Chen Feier that she had liked Li Wei since transferring to another school, she was also shocked, but more than that, she was relieved. After all, at that time, like the other students, she already knew those things about Li Wei and perhaps felt fortunate that Zhang Man didn’t end up with him.

Chen Feier instantly jumped up and down: “Wow, after spending three years of high school together, you want to betray me on the first day, Man Man? Even if he’s this handsome, he’s not that good, is he? Say, do you know him already? Otherwise, the speed at which you fall in love is on par with your mother.”

Zhang Man shook her head.

She knew him more then …… but couldn’t say anything.

They walked to the milk tea shop, Chen Feier ordered a cup of her favorite boba milk tea with a deluxe cheese topping.

Zhang Man ordered two cups of Mango Sago, she vaguely remembered Li Wei love to eat mangoes, in her previous life she went to his home to study physics, and would always carry a few of them to his home.

Chen Feier saw her buy two cups, rolled her eyes: “Come on Man Man, he hasn’t become your boyfriend yet, and you’re so considerate to him already? Tsk tsk …… really didn’t expect to see you like this one day, I simply lived long enough to see it. Do you know that your impression in my heart has always been the kind of person who would never get married even into their thirties, since you are the one with no desires yourself!”

Zhang Man was amused by her, the corners of her mouth slightly hooked. The one who knew her best was indeed Chen Feier, and it was also true that she had not married in her previous life when she was in her thirties.

Chen Feier was a little surprised to see her laughing again, “Man Man, you’ve laughed several times today. You’re actually really pretty when you smile.”

She added, “Man Man, no matter who you like, it’s good that you’re happy.”

……

Back to the classroom, Zhang Man put one of the cup of sago to Li Wei’s desk corner, and also thoughtfully gave him a straw.

The teenager was biting his pencil trying to think of a formula, pushing a few strokes on the draft paper from time to time, not noticing her actions at all.

The trash bin under his drawer was already littered with scrap papers.

Zhang Man flipped through it, and it was filled with complicated formulas, many of which even she, a former high school physics teacher, had never seen before. Moreover, there were two unopened love letters in the trash.

Zhang Man propped her chin up to look at him.

He always had a habit of biting his pen when he was thinking about a problem, and some of the gold lacquer from the circle on the cap of his fountain pen had fallen off. Probably thinking about a difficult problem, his eyebrows narrowed in a frown, his long lashes casting a shadow on his cheeks.

She liked that about him, with his eyes in focus, his whole body looked like it sprung to life, no longer like a cold doll.

It stayed that way for about five minutes, as the young man wrote a few formulas on a piece of paper with a pen and lightly nodded his head, as if affirming the ideas in his head.

After writing the last stroke, he covered the book, and his expression gradually became happy.

So much that when he happened to look up at her, the pleasure and gentleness in his eyes hadn’t dissipated yet.

Zhang Man gave him a wink and pushed the mango sago in the corner of the table in front of him: “Are you tired? Here’s a drink, I bought a buy one get one free at the milk tea shop at the entrance.”

The young man returned to his usual indifferent self at this point and pushed the Mango sago back onto her table.

“I saw you there with your friend.”

Zhang Man was stunned and only then reacted that he was calling her a liar. Since she was there with a friend, the buy one get one free one should have been one cup for her and Chen Feier respectively.

Zhang Man chuckled lightly, it was true that sometimes having a slower reaction was not enough to keep up with his thinking.

“Alright, it’s the one I bought specifically for you. I think it tastes good, want to try it?”

The young man pursed his lips without speaking, and after a long time, he suddenly looked up at her.

His eyes were serious with a certain distance. “What do you want?”

That was the question, but the look on his face was so obvious – ‘whatever you want, you won’t get it from me.’ She was reaching the limit of his patience with her series of actions.