Tuesday 8th of November.
6:00 am, Zhang Li's house.
"Zhang Li, wake up."
Zhang Li seemed to hear a faint voice calling him. His eyes opened slightly and he saw a hazy figure standing in front of his bed.
The curtain was open in his bedroom, but the faint morning light was not enough to see the figure clearly. He reached out his hands and tried to pass it through the fuzzy figure as if to test whether it was just an apparition.
Just when he felt his fingers touch something very soft, his hands were suddenly grabbed. He felt a sharp pain.
Looking at Zhang Yin who was standing above him with a red face, and the anger boiling in her eyes, he woke up instantly.
"Ahhhh!"
He jumped up like a frightened rabbit and let out a heart wrenching scream as he took his arms back. He looked at the bright red mark on his skin, which was still burning painfully, and tried to blow on it.
"What's wrong with you?! Why are you in my room?!" He turned to Zhang Yin who was standing in his room with her school uniform and was confused.
"What are you talking about? Did you already forget what you promised yesterday? It's already 6 o'clock, come on hurry up and get ready!" Zhang Yin reminded him angrily before quickly leaving.
After she left, Zhang Li sat on his bed for a moment, still shaken up and groggy. He had only just put his thoughts in order and remembered that Zhang Yin was meant to pick him up this morning. He groaned as he slowly got up from bed and rubbed his eyes.
"By the way, why did she pinch me?"
When Zhang Li finally rushed downstairs, it was almost 30 minutes later.
Zhang Li's parents were seated at the dinner table with Zhang Yin, and they were all eating breakfast. His parents usually ate this early, so they had just added an extra plate for Zhang Yin.
"Why did you take so long to shower and get ready? What were you doing in there?" Hearing his mother's loud voice along with her suspicious tone, Zhang Li was embarrassed.
"Mom, what are you talking about?!" Glancing at Zhang Yin who had already put her chopsticks down and was drinking a glass of water, he retorted angrily.
"Aunt Zhang, don't blame him. Young boys have a lot of energy in the morning." Zhang Yin dabbed her mouth elegantly with her handkerchief, and said to Zhang Li's mother beside her.
Zhang Li instantly blushed, he remembered that he was wearing boxers when she woke him up.
"You!"
"Why are you shouting? Now go get your bag, don't keep Zhang Yin waiting." Before Zhang Li could continue, his mother shut him off.
"But I haven't even had breakfast -"
"-There's no time. Zhang Yin has to be there early to open the classroom, isn't that right dear?" Aunt Jiang turned to Zhang Yin who nodded gently.
"Yes, Auntie. We really should get going. Thank you for breakfast."
"Haha, don't worry, don't worry. We're like family." Looking at this polite young girl, Aunt Jiang was very happy, thinking that she was much better than her own brat.
"..."
Seeing that both women weren't even paying attention to him, Zhang Li had no choice but to look for the only other person in the room.
"Dad, come on, say something." He grumbled and looked at the figure at the head of the table. Uncle Zhang was a tall man with a square face. The corners of his eyes were slightly wrinkled and you could see a little grey in his hair, but he still looked like a handsome middle aged man. At this time he had a stoic expression and was sipping his flask of wolfberry tea very seriously.
Listening to his useless son's plea, Uncle Zhang felt a little bad for the boy, so he turned to his wife and spoke seriously, "Dear, why don't you…"
"..." Uncle Zhang took one glance at his wife's expressionless face and instantly changed his tone.
"Hehe, I meant to say, you really should be more strict with this brat. You're always spoiling him." He chatisted her gently.
Then he pointed at Zhang Li and began speaking righteously, "You! Don't think I don't know what you got for your last monthly exam. And now that Zhang Yin is here to pick you up especially, you're complaining?! Look at you always stuffing your face, if you only spent half that time on actually studying!"
Looking at the spit flying across the room and the angry expression on his face, Zhang Li couldn't help but curse his father for being spineless.
…
…
…
Zhang Li had just put away his bicycle and was walking into the school building when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"For you. Eat quickly."
Zhang Yin was holding out a small plastic bag in her hands. He took the bag and looked inside. There were three buns and a small carton of soy milk.
Zhang Li was touched.
Zhang Yin didn't wait for him to speak and continued, "By the way, I've made some notes for you yesterday, I'll give it to you in class. It's for maths and comprehensive science. I tried to simplify it so that even someone like you could understand, make sure you read it carefully, okay?"
"Zhang Yin…you…"
"Alright, alright. I get it you almost want to cry because you're so grateful right. No need, just study hard. Now come on, I need to open the classroom."
Zhang Li watched her brisk figure walking ahead and bit into the meat bun.
It's sweet and sour pork, my favourite…
"What are you doing? Come on!" Hearing her shout from ahead, Zhang Li put away his thoughts and quickly followed.
Walking down the hallway, Zhang Li drained the last of the soy milk and threw it in a bin along with the plastic bag. He had finished the three meat buns in under a minute. Even Zhang Yin beside him was impressed.
When they reached their homeroom, surprisingly, there was already a student waiting there, leaning against the wall.
"Chen Shu, you're here."
"Class monitor, you're a little late today." The young man said in a slightly teasing tone.
Zhang Yin glared at Zhang Li fiercely then turned and said apologetically, "Sorry, I overslept. Let me open the door for you now."
"Oh." Chen Shu was surprised since she was usually always here before him. Then he glanced at Zhang Li who was ignoring him and squatting down next to the door with his eyes closed as if asleep.
He was here early yesterday as well, and they were walking together…
Classmate Chen Shu's face looked bad. He pushed up his glasses and then started coughing loudly.
"Huh, huh, what happened?!" Hearing the sudden noise, Zhang Li stumbled forward and almost fell on his face. He looked around confused. Upon seeing the empty hallway he then turned to Chen Shu who was standing beside him.
Seeing both Zhang Li and Zhang Yin had turned to look at him, Chen Shu had a calm expression on his face as he explained seriously, "Sorry, I have a little bit of a chest cough."
He coughed lightly a few more times as proof.
"Oh, if you're sick, you shouldn't come in so early." Zhang Yin said worriedly, while rummaging inside her bag.
"Hehe, no I'm fine, it's only a slight cold." Chen Shu was happy that Zhang Yin was actually worried about him. He glanced down at Zhang Li but found he had his eyes closed again.
"No, no, that won't do." She finally found what she was looking for and took it out of her bag and handed it to Chen Shu, "Here, I have a face mask with me. You should wear it so you don't get other people sick. By the way, you really shouldn't have come to school if you were sick, it's putting everyone else at risk."
Holding the white face mask in his hand and hearing her admonishing words, Chen Shu felt complicated. But thinking that she still cared about him enough to give him her mask, he felt a lot better.
"Oh also, the mask cost 5 yuan. You can pay me back tomorrow."
Chen Shu's face turned dark. What kind of face mask costs 5 dollars? What a rip off!
"Hehe, thank you…"
Zhang Li peered through his lightly closed eyes at Chen Shu's pitiful expression and felt a lot better about waking up early. This kid is always being sarcastic towards me, hmph, look at his face now!
Zhang Li was laughing in his mind when he suddenly paused and stared at Chen Shu with his eyes wide open. Then he turned to look at Zhang Yin who had just entered the classroom, and he felt something wrong.
Wait a second it can't be…
…
…
…
When Lin Yuan arrived in the classroom it was almost 7 am. He nodded at some classmates who greeted him and walked over to his desk. He was surprised to see Zhang Li was already there.
"You're early."
"..."
Putting down his bag, he glanced at Zhang Li who hadn't said anything and wondered if he was sleeping again.
Zhang Li had his head almost buried in his arm, but his eyes were staring forward intently toward the front of the classroom. Lin Yuan was curious so he followed his gaze and saw Chen Shu talking to the class monitor who was at her desk. He seemed to be showing her a problem and they were discussing it.
Although noting Zhang Li's intense gaze, Lin Yuan didn't say anything. Even though they had only been deskmates for two months now, Lin Yuan felt he knew Zhang Li pretty well. Zhang Li would tell him eventually anyway.
"Hey Lin Yuan, what do you think of Chen Shu?"
Lin Yuan was working on some English reading comprehension questions absentmindedly, when he heard Zhang Li voice.
"Huh? Um, he's alright."
Chen Shu was always ranked in the top 5 in the grade. Unlike Lin Yuan whose best subject was maths and science and relied on that to get high ranks, he was more like Zhang Yin and was more balanced.
He wasn't particularly athletic but he was tall and handsome, and would often help people around the class with schoolwork so he was pretty popular. Even Lin Yuan had a decent relationship with him.
"Hmmm…"
"Don't you think he's hanging around Zhang Yin alot? It's a bit weird." Zhang Li asked in a casual tone.
"It's not that strange. Zhang Yin is the class monitor and she's always ranked at the top of the grade."
Zhang Li didn't seem convinced and said, "Yeah but he's always bothering her during break, it's strange…You don't think he has a crush on her, right?"
Lin Yuan looked at his gossipy expression, "What if he does? Why do you care?"
"Well, I just feel bad for him. He doesn't know what she's really like. She tries to hide it from everyone but she's actually crazy." Zhang Li sighed wistfully, and couldn't help but feel pity for Chen Shu. Even though Chen Shu was annoying, he wouldn't wish that on him.
Seeing that Zhang Li's expression looked very sincere, Lin Yuan was confused.
"Actually, the monitor is pretty popular. I heard quite a few guys in our grade have a crush on her."
Lin Yuan wasn't lying. Even though Zhang Yin had a sharp tongue and was quite stubborn when it came to certain things, she was a beautiful girl who's always been at the top of the grade since the first year of highschool. Lots of boys liked her strict, studious image, but most of them were too afraid to say anything.
Lin Yuan turned to Zhang Li. Of course, this one is also very popular.
Zhang Li didn't believe him, however. His fluffy hair shook and he said in a shocked voice, "How is that possible? No way a girl like that is popular. How is it possible?! If only they knew, if only they knew…"
He couldn't understand how anyone could like such a vicious woman.
Listening to Zhang Li grumbling beside him, Lin Yuan was thoughtful. He knew that Zhang Li and Zhang Yin had known each other since they were little, so he couldn't help but feel curious. But he didn't say anything.
It's not good to talk about someone behind their back.
It's not that I'm afraid of her.
"By the way, what's wrong with you?"
"Huh?"
Lin Yuan was confused by his sudden question.
"I mean, you've been staring at that paper for the last 10 minutes." Zhang Li pointed at the exercise paper on Lin Yuan's desk. "Is that a reading comprehension question?"
"Oh…yeah."
"It takes you that long to do a multiple choice question? Wow, you really are bad at English Lin Yuan." Zhang Li said in a teasing voice. He then picked up the page from Lin Yuan's desk and looked through it.
"Huh? This isn't from the textbook, it doesn't look like one of the practice questions either. Wait a second Lin Yuan, are you going to a cram school?!"
"What?" Looking at Zhang Li's betrayed expression, Lin Yuan didn't understand how he came to that conclusion.
Zhang Li showed him the paper and pointed to the top right corner, "Look, it's the watermark. Zhang Yin was going there for a while. I heard it's very prestigious."
"Oh." His mother had told him Ning Qing used to be a cram school teacher. Lin Yuan guessed these questions were leftovers from that time.
"I can't believe you're really going to a cram school." Zhang Li handed his paper back and sighed sadly, "Everyone is working hard now…"
"I'm not, I…I just found these online."
"Really?" Zhang Li looked skeptical.
"Yeah."
"By the way, why are you here so early? You were early yesterday as well."
Hearing this Zhang Li just slumped back into his desk with a defeated expression.
"Don't talk about it. Why is everyone studying so seriously, it's still a long time from the entrance exams. Even you are secretly going to cram school." Seeing that even this kid was starting to work hard, Zhang Li couldn't help but feel that his high school life was already beginning to end even though there was nearly a year left.
"I'm also working hard now, I guess our high school life really is coming to an end…"
"I'm not going to cram school." Listening to him sighing nostalgically like an old man, Lin Yuan repeated with a dark face.
Also, you've only been coming early for two days.