Lu Yang rushed back from his morning exercise just before morning reading ended, the temples of his buzz cut damp with sweat.
The class representative up front was already calling for the end of morning reading and collection of math homework, but he was still rummaging through his backpack. He finally found it, but it was in his desk.
“No wonder last night’s homework seemed so little. I thought my efficiency had improved, but it turns out I just didn’t bring it home!” Lu Yang was anxious and flustered. “What do I do, what do I do? I didn’t do it.”
His deskmate was propping up an English textbook, secretly eating like a hamster. He kindly handed over his exercise sheet. “Homework, do you want to copy it?”
Lu Yang glanced at him and weighed the option in his heart.
They both sat in the last row of the classroom; what quality could Tian Fengyu’s homework possibly be?
“Isn’t copying someone else’s homework is fraud?” Lu Yang put on a stern, righteous expression. “If you copy homework today, you’d dare to copy someone else’s exam paper tomorrow. I won’t do it. I’ll hand in a blank one.”
Tian Fengyu looked at his deskmate with newfound respect. “Wow, Lu Yang, I thought you were just slacking, but it turns out you have your own pride.”
“You’re even willing to go through several math lessons standing. With that kind of willpower, you’ll succeed at anything you do.” Tian Fengyu put a piece of bread in his mouth and gave Lu Yang a fist-and-palm salute. “I’m impressed, truly impressed.”
Lu Yang: “What do you mean?”
Tian Fengyu: “Old Tan said it yesterday. Those who don’t hand in their homework today will have to listen to lessons standing under the blackboard for the next half month.”
Xin Hexue could hear the commotion from two aisles away.
He sighed softly, took out a blank sheet of paper, and copied the answers onto it.
Their group’s math homework had been collected quickly, even before morning reading. But Xin Hexue had a very good memory; he could just write down the question numbers and answers from memory.
Xin Hexue crumpled the paper into a ball, wrapped an eraser inside for weight, and once the grade head teacher on patrol walked away, he raised his hand and threw it in perfect parabola, landing it right in front of Lu Yang.
Pies don’t fall from the sky, but answers from a soft-hearted childhood friend do.
Lu Yang treated it like a treasure, picking up his pen and swiftly filling in the exercise sheet.
Tian Fengyu: “?”
‘Didn’t you say copying was fraud?’
Lu Yang said solemnly, “But these are Xin Hexue’s answers.”
If the princess was kind enough to let him copy, how could he not?
If he didn’t copy, he’d be standing under the blackboard.
Lu Yang still understood ros and cons. He was just a little slow witted, not stupid.
Having handed in his math homework on time, Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief.
But when they returned after the morning break exercises, the math teacher strode in just as the bell for the third period rang. He slammed the graded homework onto the podium, and the moment the chalk dust flew up, Lu Yang had a bad feeling.
“Some students, what is your attitude towards homework? What is your mentality? You are studying for yourselves, not just to fool the teacher.” The math teacher’s gaze swept across the classroom, full of pressure. He called out by name, “Lu Yang, go stand at the back.”
Lu Yang was reluctant. “Teacher, what did I get wrong?”
He had copied Xin Hexue’s answers; surely Xin Hexue couldn’t have gotten it wrong too?
Old Tan: “What did you get right? Just take the first fill-in-the-blank question. There are two sets in the question, asking for the number of elements in the overlapping shaded area between set A and set B. Why did you write 7.3?”
Lu Yang, holding his book and pen, spent the whole lesson standing under the blackboard, feeling dejected.
After class, Xin Hexue walked over, hesitated, but still said, “The ‘7’ was the question number. Why did you copy the question number too?”
Lu Yang: “Wasn’t I in a hurry?”
Xin Hexue looked a little troubled. “Don’t do this next time.”
“I’ll make sure to look carefully before copying next time,” Lu Yang said, correcting his attitude.
Xin Hexue: “…I meant, remember to do your homework next time.”
“Class is over, class is over. Come on, I’ll get water for you.”
Having stood under the blackboard in front of everyone for a whole math lesson, Lu Yang scratched the back of his head indifferently, walked over, and picked up the water cup on Xin Hexue’s desk.
Lu Yang had just turned and taken a step towards the back door when his enthusiastic steps paused again.
Lin Oufei was sitting on the innermost side of the classroom and by the window. Because his deskmate had asked him a question, he was helping explain it. Suddenly, the sound of his pen scratching stopped. His phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze flicking towards the back door.
The school uniform, as a classic garment, was extremely picky about who wore it.
The color scheme was simple, but on some people, paired with a good-looking face, it didn’t feel monotonous. The cut was loose, but some people could still wear it with a sense of slender, jade-like elegance.
Xin Hexue fell into this category, and so did the girl standing facing him at the back door.
Lin Oufei knew that girl with the high ponytail. She lived in the same power plant residential compound as them, was in the same class in elementary school, and in the neighboring class in middle school, but they had almost no interaction.
Miao Ling handed a carton of milk she bought on the way to Xin Hexue.
The two exchanged a few words, and the girl smiled brightly.
The back door was some distance from Lin Oufei’s seat. During the break, it was noisy and crowded with people coming and going, so the content wasn’t very clear.
“Top student, can you explain this problem to me again?”
His deskmate interrupted at an inopportune time.
Lin Oufei frowned, pushed his chair back with his hands on the desk, the chair legs scraping sharply on the floor. “I’m going to get water. I’ll tell you when I get back.”
The deskmate was taken aback, retracting his neck. “Oh, oh, okay.”
‘Why did Lin Oufei seem so fierce just now?’
‘Was it an illusion?’
The girl just delivered a carton of milk and left, merely an interlude during the break.
On the way to get water, Lu Yang was uncharacteristically quiet.
Lin Oufei went to fill his cup at the water dispenser and asked, “What did Miao Ling come to find you for just now?”
Xin Hexue took a sip of warm water and turned his head. “Hmm? Someone pulled the valve stem of her bicycle yesterday, so I lent her my bike. She just came over to thank me.”
“Oh.”
Lin Oufei responded indifferently, showing no more interest.
But Lu Yang was like a spark hitting gunpowder, and said anxiously: “Xin Hexue, you’re not going to start puppy love, are you?!”
Previously, some idiot at school was conducting some kind of school flower/ class flower contest. One day, the handwritten slips ended up in his hands. He didn’t recognize any of the names. While complaining that these people had too much time on their hands, he resolutely wrote Xin Hexue’s name in the school flower column.
He didn’t pay much attention to the result, but it seemed those idiots organizing the contest actually started secretly calling Xin Hexue “school flower” behind his back afterwards.
Thinking back now, it seemed he did recognize some of the names. Miao Ling from two classes over was clearly on the list.
Remembering the “golden boy and jade girl” jokes the aunts and uncles in the compound used to make when they were kids, Lu Yang now felt a lump in his throat.
He grabbed Xin Hexue’s shoulders and said very seriously. “You absolutely cannot start puppy love!”
“If you start puppy love, you can’t go play arcade games with your brothers, you can’t go for rides together to and from school, and you can’t even sleep in the same bed on New Year’s Eve.”
Just thinking about future New Years, where Xin Hexue might run off to play with fireworks with a girlfriend, and they could never play “Fight the Landlord” together again, made Lu Yang feel like the sky was falling.
Who even invented girlfriends?
If someone was dating Xin Hexue, they’d get to hold hands, hug, even kiss him. How could one person get all the good stuff?
Lu Yang’s eyes widened. Just thinking about it made him feel like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.
“I wouldn’t even be able to get water for you.”
He looked at Xin Hexue’s blue water cup sadly. “Little Blue…”
He had given this to Xin Hexue for his birthday the year before last.
Xin Hexue felt baffled, protecting his water cup. “What are you talking about?”
Lin Oufei spoke up: “He thinks you’re going to start dating Miao Ling.”
He fixed his gaze on Xin Hexue.
High school was the age when puppy love often started. Last year, two students in the senior class started dating, and as a result, their grades dropped. The teachers at No. 1 High were now going all out to prevent student relationships. They repeatedly emphasized the rules, and would even specifically watch at the school gate to see which boys and girls were getting too close coming to and from school.
“What are you thinking? Your train of thought is too jumpy.” Xin Hexue explained helplessly to Lu Yang. “I just lent her my bicycle. It’s not like I let her ride on the back and took her home.”
Hearing this, Lu Yang thought it made sense.
Even the teachers watching at the bicycle shed weren’t randomly catching people; they were targeting those who dared to openly ride on the same bicycle.
Lin Oufei, however, had a strange expression for a mom, but quickly returned to normal. He put his hands back in his school uniform pockets and said calmly, “That’s good. Puppy love affects studies.”
Xin Hexue was still trying to straighten out Lu Yang’s thought process. “I lent her my bike, she felt bad about it, so she gave me a carton of milk to say thanks. That’s very normal. Stop imagining things. Are you the dean of students?”
Lu Yang kept a straight face, still somewhat concerned. “Then tell her to borrow mine next time.”
Xin Hexue: “…You could just say you want to ride on my back seat.”
Miao Ling probably didn’t want her valve stem pulled out again.
Lin Oufei laughed at Lu Yang.
……
The three of them finished getting water during the break and returned to the classroom. Lu Yang was the first to notice the stack of test papers on his desk.
He found it baffling: “Why did the math class representative pile all these papers on my desk? Does he want me to hand them out?”
Tian Fengyu, who had been catching up on sleep with his head on the desk, turned over, looking disoriented and not fully awake. “What are you talking about? This is all for you alone. The May Day holiday is five days, and all this is holiday homework. Did you think Old Tan would go easy on us?”
Tian Fengyu lifted his crossed arms, gesturing for Lu Yang to look. He had just as many test papers pressed under his own arms, enough to use as a pillow.
Lu Yang sat down: “This many? Why weren’t they handed out earlier? If it was during the Qingming Festival, I could have burned them for my ancestors.”
“Be careful, or your ancestors will visit you in your dreams at night.” Tian Fengyu suddenly thought of something and leaned closer. “Right after May Day, they’ll definitely start rushing us about the final exams. What are you planning to choose, Arts or Sciences?”
“Why are you so concerned about me?” After the incident with Miao Ling’s bicycle, Lu Yang’s nerves were on high alert. “Do you have a crush on me?”
Tian Fengyu pretended to vomit.
“We’re the only two in the class training for sports. Who else would I discuss this with, the top student?” Tian Fengyu said. “If we end up in the same class, we can look out for each other.”
Tian Fengyu patted his chest, making a solid thumping sound, putting on a “brothers sticking together” act. He gave Lu Yang a thumbs-up. “With you here, I won’t come in last place.”
The one who came in last place: “…”
The one who came in last place continued: “Last time was a fluke. Xin Hexue said he’ll tutor me during May Day. Just wait, I’m about to overtake on the curve.”
Tian Fengyu didn’t take his challenge seriously. “My mom said Arts are easier and told me to choose Arts. Do you think that makes sense?”
Lu Yang thought about his own performance in Arts subjects and shook his head vigorously.
Last semester, he had even managed to write on the monthly exam paper that Yang Jian had opened the Grand Canal, and that Zhang Chao had been sent on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions.
The history teacher had asked him who Zhang Chao was?
Lu Yang couldn’t answer. The teacher, taking pity, told him to check the textbook. Lu Yang looked through it, then raised his head and said maybe he was the son of Zhang Qian and Ban Chao.
**Lu Yang combined the names of two famous historical figures, Zhang Qian (explorer of the Silk Road) and Ban Chao (a general who secured the Western Regions), into a single, non-existent person, “Zhang Chao.”
Study Arts? Him?
The history teacher would be the first to advise him against it.
But it wasn’t completely impossible.
Lu Yang sat down. “I’ll choose whatever Xin Hexue chooses.”
Tian Fengyu was shocked. “Don’t you have any opinions of your own?”
Lu Yang looked at Tian Fengyu, as if the other person’s question was strange. “Didn’t I just say? Whatever Xin Hexue chooses, I choose. That is my opinion.”
Faced with someone whose sole principle was to follow Xin Hexue’s lead, Tian Fengyu was genuinely astonished. “Are you two that close? Did you grow up sharing the same pair of pants?”
Lu Yang was amused: “How did you know?”
Lu Yang: “But Xin Hexue’s pants are a smaller size than mine. They’re tight.”
His tone suddenly turned a bit wistful. Lu Yang looked towards Xin Hexue. “It’s different now. When I go to his place, he won’t even let me near his closet anymore. He’s afraid I’ll steal them and wear them.”
Tian Fengyu: “…”
‘…Wait, that’s not right.’
Lu Yang composed his expression again: “I’m just messing with you. I’m not a pervert. But it’s something like that.”
‘Something like a pervert?’
Tian Fengyu’s eyebrows rose, one higher than the other.
Lu Yang cleared his throat: “Xin Hexue and I have been the best brothers in the world since kindergarten.”
He enunciated clearly and raised his volume, though it was unclear who he was saying it for.
“Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your own opinion about subject selection, right?”
Tian Fengyu, who had only ever had friends in phases, couldn’t understand. Even a henpecked, pathetic husband wouldn’t be like this.
“You’re Xin Hexue’s good brother, not his dog.”
As soon as Tian Fengyu said this, he saw Lu Yang’s eyes light up.
‘…Oh no.’
He wanted to jokingly ask if Lu Yang had a crush on Xin Hexue, but an inexplicable intuition made him shut his mouth.
Fortunately, the teacher for the last class of the morning arrived just then. They stood up, said “Good morning, teacher” in unison, and sat back down.
Tian Fengyu pulled the history textbook from his desk drawer and lowered his voice to speak to Lu Yang: “When we first started high school, I originally thought you were the kind of troublemaker who was hard to deal with. I didn’t expect your temper to be quite good.”
“Is that so?” Lu Yang said. “You should be glad you didn’t meet me in kindergarten.”
Otherwise, on the very first day of school, Tian Fengyu would have been beaten until he cried and wailed for stealing all his tissues.
The history teacher was droning on about stuff that made people want to sleep again. Lu Yang propped his head up with his hand and gazed at the back of Xin Hexue’s head in the right front row, as if trying to stare a flower into blooming.
Without any warning, the school flower glanced back over his shoulder and gave him a light look, mouthing: “Pay attention in class.”
Lu Yang straightened his posture.
Just as Tian Fengyu had said, his temper was quite good now, and it had improved by more than just a little bit.
After undergoing the princess’s socialization training, Lu Yang’s current level was that of a royal guard dog, who would not easily get into a fight.
He had worked so hard to get into No. 1 High School precisely to follow Xin Hexue. If they were separated by the Arts and Sciences split, wouldn’t all that effort have been wasted?
Lu Yang would only feel at ease if he kept Xin Hexue within his sight.
………
Not long after returning from the May Day holiday, just as predicted, the teachers began frequently mentioning the final exams.
In the blink of an eye, the hottest sun of late June arrived.
In the height of summer, the fan on the wall whirred and wheezed, shaking its head with all its might, but it couldn’t drive away the stifling heat that made palms stick to the test papers.
Lu Yang used a coke bought from the school store to cool his brain, forcing his temperature down as he scribbled furiously.
After this exam, there would be a summer vacation lasting almost two months. Lu Yang still wanted to go to the internet cafe with Xin Hexue to play Red Alert.
At this point, Lu Yang suddenly thought, if only he could grow up faster, then he could do things that only adults were allowed to do.
He also wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught by the dean of students for frequenting unlicensed internet cafes.
The bell in the corridor rang out sharply. Test papers were collected one after another, and only then did the true summer that belonged to them begin.
Lu Yang felt like cheering and jumping for joy.
Lin Oufei wasn’t going back with them this time either, saying he had something to do. Xin Hexue mentioned that he had heard Auntie Lin and Lin Oufei arguing the night before.
The two families lived next door to each other, and the soundproofing in the tube-shaped apartment building wasn’t great. Auntie Lin was shouting very fiercely, but he didn’t hear Lin Oufei talk back.
Xin Hexue also told Lu Yang that he couldn’t accompany him to the internet cafe to play games this summer because he was going back to his maternal grandmother’s house with Zhuang Tongguang. His grandmother had fallen and hurt herself, and while she wasn’t seriously hurt, the two brothers decided to go visit her during the summer break.
Lu Yang, who had just finished his finals, felt like a pot of hot water doused with cold water. Disappointed, he parted ways with Xin Hexue downstairs at the tube-shaped apartment building.
………
A sporadic, sharp sound in the middle of the night woke Xin Hexue.
It turned out to be from the neighbors next door…a glass cup had been thrown forcefully to the ground.
He woke up groggily and, just as he stepped into the living room, saw Xin Zhiying, in her pajamas, going to knock on the door to mediate.
Zhuang Ping felt it wasn’t his place to say much. Seeing that both children had come out of their rooms, he reassured them, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Go back to your rooms and sleep.”
With eyes heavy with sleep, Xin Hexue nodded.
He gave a small yawn and had just returned to his room and closed the door when the corner of his clothes was tugged.
A tall figure stood before him. Xin Hexue looked in surprise at the open window behind Lin Oufei.
Lin Oufei’s dark bangs fell across his brow, his lips pressed into a cold, hard line.
He lowered his gaze. “Xin Hexue, I don’t want to transfer schools, and I don’t want to go to summer camp. Take me away with you.”
When he was ten years old, because of some completely unfounded rumors, he was dragged by his mother from the provincial capital to Lingzhou to avoid gossip, forcing him to sever ties with his previous life. That time was an unprecedented low point for Lin Oufei.
But in that gloomy, rainy period, he was able to see a princess whose smile could dispel the dark clouds.
Once again, he was asking the princess to dispel the dark clouds over his head and take him away to trample that puddle.
“Okay.”
There was a hint of a smile in Xin Hexue’s eyes.
………
“…”
Looking at the scenery that was completely different from Lingzhou.
The verdant mountains in the distance, the winding river with its many bends, the uneven asphalt road in front of them, and the yellow walking tractor parked by the roadside.
Lin Oufei fell into silence, a leather checkered suitcase beside him.
“What are you standing there for?” Xin Hexue waved to him. “Hurry up and put the luggage on, let’s get on.”
The princess got on the tractor.
The feeling of these two things that had absolutely no connection, was like someone standing in front of Lin Oufei holding a twin-tailed cockroach and telling him it was a butterfly, just one that had undergone a genetic mutation.
All four of them sat neatly in the trailer bed.
Lu Yang found it all so novel, touching this and peering at that.
“Uncle, we can go now.”
Xin Hexue called to the front.
The uncle’s voice was cheerful: “Alright! Your grandma has been waiting anxiously, just counting the moments. We’ll head home now.”
The bumpy ride made Lin Oufei feel like he was a harvested crop.
It was the afternoon of a midsummer day, and the sun was undeniably intense.
The brilliant light made Lin Oufei narrow his eyes slightly. Xin Hexue, who was next to him and afraid of getting sunburned, simply put on a hat. It was a hand-woven straw hat whose wide brim conveniently sought the shade.
His fair skin was tinged with a faint blush, the hair at his temples damp with sweat. He tilted his face slightly and said to Lin Oufei, “We’ll be in the village soon.”
Lin Oufei: “I know.”
Little Village Flower.
