Volume 2 - CH 5

Hearing the girl say that name, my heart felt like it was filled with lead. Every beat was unimaginably heavy.

“….”

“Don’t you dare say that name!”

I callously snapped at Jiang Muqing, and broke free from her grasp.

Every person has a secret past, a history that couldn’t be revealed. In my heart, I didn’t want to share this memory, pure as snow. I certainly didn’t want to share it with Jiang Muqing, who already has taken effect on it.

“Even if Fan doesn’t tell me, I know anyways.”

The girl’s voice became soft.

Does she know? It must’ve been my mother.

“Is she pretty?”

The girl whispered, her tone contained a shred of worry.

“I told you to not mention her!”

I shouted, and slammed the door behind me.

Ugh, give Jiang Muqing an inch, and she’ll take a full yard.

….

Because of Jiang Muqing’s interference, I was late in getting out of the house. I ran as fast as I could to the bus station, but the one I needed drove away before I got there.

It doesn’t matter, I’ll just take the next one.

I thought, and worriedly glanced at my watch.

The buses left one after another, trudging across the station. After a long while, the bus line I needed still didn’t make its appearance.

Today’s really been unlucky.

Waiting for buses are always like this. Whichever one you’re waiting for wouldn’t come for ages, and the other buses always come and go with speed. It’s really agonizing.

Looking at the time, it was clear that I wasn’t going to make it. As I considered breaking my wallet to pay for a cab, an occupied taxi peeled from a traffic line and stopped in front of me.

The front window rolled down, and a ponytailed girl poked her head out.

“Are you headed to the cram school?”

She asked.

Mo Shiyu? Why would she be here? According to her house address, she shouldn’t be going this way. I gaped at her appearance; even though it was summer break, she still wore her school uniform neatly.

“Yeah.”

I replied, I did sign up for the same cram class as last year. With last semesters’ results, I was satisfied with the class.

“Then get on.”

The girl spoke plainly.

How convenient, carpooling with Mo Shiyu could cut down costs by half.

But although it should be the guy who pays for the trip, and we were in the same class, we never spoke much, so we weren’t really acquainted. There wasn’t any need for politeness whatsoever.

A sensible, economic solution. That’s probably the reason she stopped to pick me up.

I frantically climbed into the backseat. I thought Mo Shiyu would tell the driver to keep going, but she asked him to stop, got out of the front passenger spot, and sat next to me.

Well, okay.

The front-passenger person is typically the one who pays. If everyone’s friends with each other, the front-passenger is most likely the one who foots the bill.

She’s probably afraid that I’ll think her as a friend.

“Drive!”

She urged the moment she sat down.

The surroundings started to blur as the car started moving.

During the ride, I felt that I should say something to her, but her head was always pointed towards the view outside, and didn’t look like she wanted to talk.

Our journey passed without a word. When we arrived, I paid for the whole fee.

What can I do when she just flung herself out the car door?! She should’ve stopped because she wanted to carpool with me?!

Women are so cruel.

I didn’t want to argue with her, men should be forgiving and responsible in these situations. I paid for the cab without a peep of protest, and walked in the building with her.

When we arrived at the classroom, the bell rang just in time. Curiously, Mo Shiyu signed up for the same class as I did.

She stepped in first, and I followed.

Because we came in late, the front seats were all taken, leaving only the back rows.

Mo Shiyu looked at the seating, and didn’t hesitate. She left her original seating, and plopped down beside me.

There were so many more equally bad seats, why do you want to sit right next to me? Girl deskmates give me anxiety, it can’t just melt away through time!

The girl didn’t seem to care for my pained expression. She took out a notebook and pencil, propped her head against her palm, and started taking notes in concentration.

Although I felt that she was emitting an unexplainable feeling of weirdness today, I didn’t think too much. Class was starting, so I took out the same utensils and focused on class.

The cram class churned sluggishly. Its atmosphere was looser than in school. Some people started to scroll through their phones, or doodle on their paper out of boredom.

Mo Shiyu and I kept up to speed with the board, until the teacher asked a question.

“The boy sitting in the back row with the girl, will you please solve this problem right here?” The teacher pointed towards a math equation.

Why am I getting called on just because I’m sitting with a girl?!

Thankfully, I had already studied ahead for the Year Two material on the board. It was just the example problem on the textbook, I quickly solved it and said the answer.

“Good.”

The teacher waved for me to sit down in satisfaction.

Then, he lectured for a while more. The teacher wrote some new problems on the board, and pointed his attention towards us again.

The probability that the teacher would call me again was near zero, because he was satisfied with my results. It was as if I were stamped with a seal, and deemed authorized. Next, he’ll direct some questions towards some other mind-wandering students.

“The girl besides that boy earlier, please solve this problem we discussed right here.”

He called the focused Mo Shiyu beside me?

“Umm….”

Mo Shiyu was taking notes steadily, but she seemed to wake from a trance when called by the teacher. She stood up, and looked at him blankly.

But it looked as if she wasn’t listening to the teacher’s lecture, and didn’t know what problem we were on.

“Uh, it’s…”

I tried to hint at her since I knew the answer, but she didn’t make a move.

“Listening in class is very important, don’t just copy down notes mindlessly. Notes do have to be taken at times, but the most important is that you store it in your brain.”

The teacher didn’t look too happy. He waved, signaling Mo Shiyu to sit down.

The girl smiled awkwardly, and slumped to her chair. The teacher called on another student.

The problem wasn’t difficult at all, the other student explained it quite simply. This content shouldn’t faze Mo Shiyu at all?! She’s really acting strange today.

But I didn’t think too much. I adjusted my posture, and kept focusing on class.

Until the bell rang, we didn’t utter a word to each to other; the both of us took notes in silence.

“Class Pres, if it’s alright, then I’ll take my leave?”

I asked after packing up my belongings.

“Wait. Lu Fan.”

She suddenly stood up, and stopped me.

“What’s wrong?”

I turned my head, curious.

“Does Lu Fan have any plans for this summer?”

She asked lightly.

“Yeah, I’m going to finish this cram class. Once it’s over, it won’t be long before school starts again. I’ll probably study at the public library, then.”

My schedule was nice and simple; I’ll use the summer break to study.

“Then can we study together?” She inquired.

?!

My heart thumped.

“Together?”

I didn’t understand what she meant.

“Lu Fan’s math and science are really strong, but Chinese and English scores were dragging down in finals, weren’t they?”

She was absolutely right. Literature was my weak point, the finals essay created a new low in my gradebook. The Chinese teacher told me, although my sentences were elegant and whole, they were empty like a termite-ridden tree.

The other literature content was equally confusing. My thoughts always clashed with the question, and English grammar was a massive headache to me, causing quite a spike in missed points.

“My math and sciences aren’t good, but literature is fine. Aren’t we compatible for each other?”

Mo Shiyu’s finals score fell within prediction. At Class A’s middle-lower average, her sciences were definitely a drag. She lost more than a couple points on her mathematics test.

“Yeah, we are!”

Even though her request was a bit strange, I agreed to this win-win studying tactic.

Because, high school is all about studying, right.