In September, Xicheng was still unbearably hot, with heat waves blowing in with the wind. Although it was only nine in the morning, the sunlight had already bathed the entire playground.
Today was the opening ceremony of No. 10 Middle School and the swearing-in ceremony for the new senior students. The school required all students to wear uniforms for the ceremony, making the vast playground look like a blue and white ocean from a distance.
Before the ceremony began, the head of the teaching department, Li Kun, along with the student council, was responsible for checking the attendance and dress standards of each class.
Class 28 of the second year was positioned directly beneath the stands. Lin Tiao stood in the girls' line, wearing an ill-fitting uniform, which attracted some attention.
She didn’t mind much; instead, she pulled her earphones out of the sleeve of her uniform to block out the noisy crowd, immersing herself in her own world.
When the song in her earphones reached the line, “…once upon a time / there was someone who loved you for a long time / but gradually / the wind blew the distance away…” Lin Tiao looked up and saw Jiang Yan standing at the front of the line.
The summer sunlight was bright and intense, and he stood in that light, making him seem to glow.
Lin Tiao suddenly remembered what had happened earlier that morning in the classroom—
He had reached into his desk to pull out his uniform jacket and handed it to her, speaking in his usual tone, “Here, wear mine. There will be a check in the morning.”
At that moment, Lin Tiao hadn’t dared to take it, unsure of what he was thinking.
Seeing her wary expression, Jiang Yan chuckled and said, “What, are you afraid I poisoned the uniform?”
Lin Tiao curled her lip and asked, “If you give me yours, what will you wear?”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Jiang Yan replied dismissively, tossing the uniform at her.
Instinctively, she reached out to catch it. The oversized uniform draped over her head, and she was hit with the indescribable scent of new clothes.
She draped the uniform over her arm and sincerely said, “Thank you.”
Jiang Yan shrugged nonchalantly, picked up his phone from the desk, stood up, and walked out of the classroom. He was tall and thin, walking with a straight back like a bamboo stalk.
As Lin Tiao thought about this, the figure in her mind unconsciously merged with the one standing at the front of the line.
At this moment, Jiang Yan, wearing a borrowed uniform, stood in front of Class 18, resting one hand on the class sign. He occasionally turned to talk to the boy next to him, his profile smooth and clear, with an unintentional smile that must have captured the hearts of many female classmates.
Lin Tiao lowered her eyes and increased the volume, the song in her earphones becoming even clearer.
“...On this windy day,
I tried to hold your hand,
But the rain gradually became so heavy that I couldn't see you anymore.
How long will it be until I can be by your side...”
--
The lengthy opening ceremony ended with the senior students' enthusiastic cheers. Old Yu had instructed them to return to the classroom directly after the ceremony, as he had something to announce.
After sending Meng Xin a message that she wouldn’t be having lunch with her, Lin Tiao went straight back to the classroom.
Upon entering the class, she noticed that all the students' names were written on the blackboard in pairs, arranged in rows of eight.
Two extra names were placed on either side of the teacher's desk, which could be considered the VIP seats of the class.
At the top of the names was written in large letters:
Class 18 Seating Chart.
Lin Tiao glanced at it and quickly found her name in the second-to-last row of the first group, also catching a glimpse of her deskmate's name.
Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan!?
Lin Tiao was filled with confusion, a question mark hanging over her head. The sip of water she had just taken got stuck in her throat, leaving her utterly stunned.
Old Yu really was someone you could never predict.
Soon, other classmates returned from the playground, and they were equally astonished upon seeing the seating chart on the blackboard.
“Damn, why did Old Yu put Liu Tianrun next to me? Doesn’t he know we fought in the first year?”
A boy in the class, seeing his name on the VIP seat, couldn’t help but curse, “Crap, does Old Yu have something against me? No way, I need to have a good talk with him.”
Of course, some were quite pleased with the new seating arrangement.
Xu Yichuan, who had just returned from the corner store with drinks, saw that his new deskmate was the class flower from Class 7 in their first year. He couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “Hahaha, Old Yu really knows me well.”
“I love him.”
“My springtime has come.”
Next to them, Hu Hanghang and Song Yuan exchanged eye-rolls when they saw they were each other’s deskmates. “I must have been cursed for eight lifetimes; I was your deskmate in the first year, and now in the second year, I’m still with you.”
Song Yuan also expressed his disdain, “Do you think I want to be your deskmate, Hu Pangpang?”
“Crap, Princess Song.” The three of them had grown up together, playing since they were little kids. When they were younger, Song Yuan was often dressed up like a girl by his mother, so Xu Yichuan had given him the nickname “Princess Song.”
“Hu Pangpang!”
The two of them bickered like kindergarteners.
Xu Yichuan glanced around the blackboard and suddenly made a startling discovery, tapping the shoulders of the two, “Hey, hey, hey, stop arguing. Look at who our Brother Yan’s deskmate is.”
They both turned to look at the blackboard and, upon seeing the name written there, exclaimed in unison, “Awesome, Old Yu.”
Xu Yichuan laughed uncontrollably, “I have a new expectation for high school life starting today, hahahaha.”
While they were talking, Jiang Yan returned from outside, having changed from the uniform jacket he was wearing to a short-sleeved shirt. “What are you laughing about?”
Xu Yichuan leaned in, “Bro, do you believe in fate?”
Jiang Yan pulled out a chair and sat down, “I believe in your mom.”
“My mom believes in fate too.” Xu Yichuan stepped aside and, along with the other two idiots, pointed at the blackboard, making sound effects with his mouth, “Look! Freshly baked Old Yu seating chart!”
Jiang Yan casually raised his head to glance forward, his narrow eyes squinting slightly as he found his name at the bottom and also saw his deskmate.
“…”
He clicked his tongue lightly, the tip of his tongue against his jaw, and suddenly burst into laughter, “Old Yu is really quite interesting.”
---
The new seating chart wasn’t mentioned until the afternoon physics class, when Old Yu finally brought it up. “When class is over, everyone will switch to the seating chart I wrote on the blackboard at noon.”
Old Yu smiled, looking very kind, “This seating chart was specially crafted overnight based on each of your characteristics. The deskmates I’ve chosen for you are the best match possible—absolutely perfect.”
Everyone: “…”
Lin Tiao: “Perfect my foot.”
With class ending soon, Old Yu stopped lecturing, “Alright, everyone, let’s get moving. Try to get your seats sorted before class ends, so it doesn’t delay your break.”
Lin Tiao’s deskmate, Du Wenbo, didn’t move his seat. As she was about to leave her seat after being his deskmate for one day, he finally made a show of it, lifting his head to glance at her for just a few seconds before looking down again.
“…”
Fine, fine, it’s the same class but different deskmates; it’s all fake, fake, fake.
However, when Lin Tiao turned around to see her actual new deskmate, she felt a flicker of wanting to drop out.
Jiang Yan, who had originally sat in the last row of the first group, had only moved one seat forward. Seeing Lin Tiao approach, he politely asked her, “Which side would you like to sit on?”
Lin Tiao, thinking it best not to trouble anyone in the future, placed her backpack on the desk closer to the aisle. “This one is fine.”
Jiang Yan nodded, then swung his long leg over to sit down in the inner seat, and Lin Tiao followed suit.
With the new school year just starting, there weren’t many books yet, so the other classmates quickly settled into their new positions.
Old Yu stood at the podium, noting how everyone had taken their seats as arranged, and spoke again, “From this moment on, you all are officially classmates and deskmates, protected by my rules.”
Hearing this, Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan instinctively glanced at each other, holding eye contact for about two or three seconds before each looking away.
Hu Hanghang, sitting behind them, remarked, “Doesn’t Old Yu sound like someone from the Civil Affairs Bureau?”
He mimicked the tone, saying, “From this moment on, you are officially a couple, and from now on, you shall not part in times of poverty or wealth.”
Lin Tiao: “…”
Not long after everyone had switched seats, class ended. The ten-minute break brought a lively atmosphere to the class, except for the area behind the first group, which felt as quiet as a graveyard, with an occasional cold breeze blowing through.
Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan remained seated, and the awkwardness was amplified by the fact that both of their arms were in casts, so whenever they sat next to each other, their casts would unintentionally bump together.
“Thud” on the left, “Thud” on the right.
It was a bit unnerving.
Hu Hanghang and Song Yuan squeezed over to Xu Yichuan’s seat as soon as class ended.
Hu Hanghang patted his chubby chest, “That’s not a place for humans to stay. Even though it’s summer, I still felt like it was winter.”
“If I’m sitting behind them, I might as well swap with Huang Jiji’s VIP seat.”
They were chatting excitedly over there.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan adhered to the principle that silence is golden.
Lin Tiao sat in her seat, rummaging through her bag for the textbook for the next class, pretending to prepare. Jiang Yan, on the other hand, had been looking at his phone since he sat down.
After a while, they both sensed the awkward atmosphere. Jiang Yan finally put down his phone, his eyes falling on Lin Tiao’s arm, and he managed to find a topic to break the silence, “How did you hurt your arm?”
Not expecting him to ask this, Lin Tiao instinctively replied, “I fell while riding a bike.” Then she added, trying to clarify, “It was an electric bike.”
“Oh.” Jiang Yan leaned back against the desk, his long fingers tapping lightly on the surface, waiting for her to ask him something.
A minute passed, and Lin Tiao remained silent.
Jiang Yan withdrew his fingers from the desk, propped his arm against his head, and tilted his head to look at her. “Aren’t you going to ask about my situation?”
Lin Tiao turned to him and asked sincerely, “Ask about what?”
“…” Jiang Yan clicked his tongue, his eyes blinking twice as he reminded her, “My arm.”
“Oh.” Lin Tiao averted her gaze, casually saying, “I don’t want to ask.”
“…”