The boy spoke these words naturally, not feeling that there was anything wrong.
Lin Tiao looked at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
The dim yellow light in the living room cast different shadows on his face, the short hair at his forehead creating a delicate shadow beneath his nose.
His skin was really fair and hardly tanned.
During those days in Hai Cheng, even though it had been drizzly and overcast, the geographical location near the equator still left Lin Tiao half a shade darker.
But Jiang Yan hadn’t changed; he seemed to have a peculiar skin type that got even whiter the more he was exposed to the sun. At this moment, he was wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt that revealed a still gleaming white arm, paired with ash-gray cotton pants and cotton slippers, giving him a warm appearance.
Lin Tiao’s thoughts gradually shifted from his words to his attire.
She noticed that it seemed he could only find clothes in black, white, or gray; even the room’s decor featured these three colors, typical of a minimalist aesthetic.
Lin Tiao recalled some popular romance novels she had read with Meng Xin in their first year of high school. The male leads in those stories often had a cold and aloof demeanor in public but were tender and clingy toward the female leads in private.
As she pondered this, she couldn’t help but think deeper. If he were to start a relationship in the future, would he be like that too—clingy and gentle?
Lin Tiao abruptly halted her wandering thoughts and, regaining her senses, noticed Jiang Yan staring at her with a teasing smile. Her cheeks flushed uncontrollably, and she avoided his gaze, speaking awkwardly, “I’ll head back now.”
She hurriedly took the water and rushed out.
After running back into the private room, Lin Tiao set the water down on the table, covering her face with her hands, feeling both frustrated and confused.
What was wrong with her? Wasn’t it still early spring? Why did she keep having such chaotic thoughts?
Covering her face, she pondered for a moment and involuntarily recalled the boy’s earlier words:
“Alright, I’ll listen to you.”
“....”
She couldn’t take it anymore.
Lin Tiao felt her heart racing as if it might leap out of her chest. Those words were truly too overstepping.
What did it mean that he would listen to everything she said?
Did that mean that whatever she said in the future, he would comply?
But he didn’t look like he was joking at all; his tone was as ordinary as if he were responding to her question about whether he had eaten that day.
Lin Tiao almost wanted to slam the table, to rush over and shake his shoulders, asking, “Do you like me or not? If you do, why don’t you tell me?”
I’m not indifferent to you either!
A string of unanswered questions plunged the girl, who was experiencing her first crush, back into existential contemplation.
The eight-day short holiday slipped away quietly, and during those few short days, Lin Tiao opened another door to her life.
She had fallen in love early.
To be precise, she had boarded the ship of early love, but she didn’t know if the person standing on the shore would board the same ship with her.
So she had to find a way to figure out the thoughts of the person on the shore and then successfully get him on board.
—
Early Monday morning, the autumn sun was abundant. After a night of autumn rain, the city was covered in fallen leaves, the sycamore trees along the streets revealing their bare branches, with sunlight streaming down without obstruction.
As usual, Lin Tiao took the bus to school. The bus moved slowly, and the scenery outside was all laid bare; everywhere she looked, orange and yellow figures filled the streets. As they passed by, everything was clean.
A couple of girls in school uniforms boarded the bus a few stops away from Shi Zhong. One of them sat down in the empty seat next to Lin Tiao while her companion sat across the aisle.
The girl next to Lin Tiao turned sideways to talk to her friend, “Did you hear? A few senior girls from our school ran into an exhibitionist at the bus stop last night after school.”
Her friend looked incredulous, “No way, really?”
“Of course it’s true! Right at the bus stop in front of our school. It was already past ten, and there weren’t many people around. That pervert suddenly rushed out and took off his pants in front of the senior girls.”
“Oh my god, how can there still be such disgusting people?”
“Who knows?”
Hearing this, Lin Tiao couldn’t help but sit up straight, glancing at the girls' uniforms, which were gray and white—the uniforms of the nearby Ba Zhong.
Ba Zhong and Shi Zhong were just a wall apart. The bus stop they mentioned was where Lin Tiao usually waited for the bus after school.
“...”
The two girls continued chatting. “Anyway, our class teacher said in the group yesterday that for the time being, we’ll only have two classes during evening study sessions, so we should head home early and not linger outside.”
“I don’t know when they’ll catch that pervert. I hope we don’t run into him; it’s just too disgusting.”
The topic abruptly ended as the bus arrived at the stop.
Lin Tiao got off behind them and looked around the bus station. There were early risers everywhere, each person seemingly filled with hope for the new day, none of them looking like the type to do something like that.
She let out a slight sigh of relief and thought, it’s still broad daylight, so what’s there to be afraid of?
The bus stop was a few hundred meters away from the school gate, and since Lin Tiao hadn’t had breakfast that morning, and it was still early, she decided to stop by a breakfast shop at the alley’s entrance to order a bowl of wontons.
The wonton shop wasn’t a fancy place; it was just a stall set up in the alley with a few wooden tables inside. After ordering, Lin Tiao sat at one of the tables and pulled out her phone to browse some posts.
Recently, she had downloaded an app related to relationships, which featured various forums about love—crushes, breakups, current relationships, marriage, divorce, infidelity, and even coming out. Anything one could think of could be found there.
It felt like opening up a new world.
At first, Lin Tiao spent most of her time reading posts about crushes. Everyone wrote about their unrequited loves, portraying a rather negative image filled with sadness and longing.
She felt that the theme of unrequited love didn’t align with her own aspirations. What she wanted was a fulfilling love story: mutual affection, lifelong companionship, growing old together, and having children.
Having children was a bit too far off.
Eventually, she found a forum dedicated to flirting.
Yesterday, she had no particular plans at home, so she spent the whole day reading posts and felt as if she had entered yet another new world.
As the mist in the urban area faded, the warmth from nearby food stalls filled the air. The wonton shop was small and crowded; Lin Tiao waited for five or six minutes before her order was ready.
The wonton wrappers were thin and filled generously with meat, the broth delicious. After finishing, Lin Tiao felt a bit unsatisfied but didn’t plan to order more. She got up to pay.
The wonton stall was located at the mouth of the alley, where there were plenty of similar stalls. Residents on both sides had their doors open, chatting and having breakfast.
She had to wait in line to check out.
While waiting, Lin Tiao went back to browsing the flirting forum and noticed a prominently bolded featured post on the homepage:
“How to Turn My Cold and Distant School God Deskmate into My Boyfriend.”
The post had been published a few days ago, but for some reason, it had already garnered thousands of comments and likes, indicating its high popularity.
Lin Tiao clicked to read it. The first few hundred words detailed the background between the poster and her school god deskmate, describing how she had fallen in love at first sight during the opening ceremony and later discovered they were in the same class and became deskmates by coincidence.
The latter part shared the poster's daily interactions with the school god and some flirting tips she had summarized herself.
Lin Tiao glanced at it, quickly added it to her favorites, and when she finished paying, she looked into the alley and suddenly saw a familiar figure.
Every Monday, the school had a flag-raising ceremony, and as the class monitor, he had to wear his uniform and hold up the class sign at the front of the line.
Jiang Yan basically wore his uniform every time, and today was no exception. He had on the blue and white uniform, open at the front to reveal a white T-shirt underneath, black jeans, and white sneakers, carrying his backpack in one hand.
In the distance, the morning sun was bright and the sunlight streamed into the alley through the complex tangle of overhead wires.
He walked in the light.
Inevitably, they bumped into each other. Jiang Yan suddenly stopped, shifted his backpack to his right shoulder, and walked step by step toward her, his familiar scent enveloping her. “Good morning.”
His voice was slightly hoarse, carrying a hint of drowsiness from just waking up. “Have you eaten?”
Lin Tiao was about to say she had, but then she suddenly recalled a tip she had seen earlier: don’t miss any opportunity to be alone with him.
“Not yet, I just got here,” Lin Tiao replied nonchalantly. “Have you eaten?”
He shook his head and asked, “Want to eat together?”
“Sure.”
Jiang Yan ordered two servings of wontons. He seemed concerned about not getting enough to eat, so he also ordered a steamer of soup dumplings and grabbed two eggs.
“....”
Lin Tiao felt she might burst from eating too much in this little breakfast shop today.
The two found a place to sit down.
Jiang Yan placed his backpack on the empty chair next to him, picked up one of the eggs, gently tapped it against the edge of the table, and peeled it open carefully.
His fingers were long and fair, with neatly trimmed nails, and he was meticulous in these small tasks.
With his long eyelashes lowered, Lin Tiao noticed a faint bluish tint under his eyes, likely from staying up late again last night.
Jiang Yan placed the peeled egg into her bowl and handed her a pair of chopsticks he had taken from the table. “Here, eat.”
Lin Tiao hesitated for a moment but, adhering to the idea of not missing any opportunity for contact, reached out to take it, her voice low. “Thank you.”
Jiang Yan smiled lightly but didn’t say anything, peeled another egg in a few swift motions, and their two bowls of wontons were served shortly afterward.
The shop owner, seeing the young girl sitting inside, was surprised and exclaimed, “Aren’t you the one who just…”
Lin Tiao was still eating the egg when she heard the owner’s words, and as she opened her mouth, the egg got stuck in her throat, causing her to cough violently.
It looked extremely uncomfortable.
Jiang Yan poured a cup of water from the table and handed it to Lin Tiao, glancing at the owner standing next to their table with an indifferent expression.
The owner thought, “What have I done wrong again?”
—
The classroom was livelier than usual on the first day of the new week. Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan walked in as the bell rang for class. In the back row, Hu Hanghang and Song Yuan were sprawled across their desks, sound asleep, showing no signs of their usual ruckus.
In the last row of the classroom, Tao Jia was discussing something with her friends, her eyes sparkling with laughter. When she noticed Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan entering the classroom, her gaze flickered for a moment.
Lin Tiao inadvertently met her gaze, and in that brief moment, Tao Jia smiled at her before quickly averting her eyes and turning back to her friends.
Lin Tiao usually paid little attention to such things. She sat down, shoved her backpack into the drawer, and casually opened a Chinese literature book on her desk.
Then, she took out her phone and continued browsing the post from the morning.
She appeared entirely absorbed, like a girl addicted to the internet.
As the morning study session began, Old Yu entered the classroom with his unique thermos cup. Seeing the bustling classroom, he didn’t get angry; he was in such a good mood that he felt like he had eaten rainbow candy for several days.
He truly wasn’t upset.
These seemingly aimless kids had really made him proud this time; in the recent monthly exam, their class had sent seven or eight students into the top fifty, one of whom even ranked first in the grade.
Old Yu scanned the classroom and noticed his top student sprawled across the desk, feeling quite satisfied.
At least he hadn’t skipped class; he knew to come to class, which showed he was still a student worth cultivating.
Perhaps if he focused on nurturing him now, he could become a top-notch teacher who produced a student who would top the exams.
The more he thought like this, the kinder and more cheerful his gaze became as he looked at Jiang Yan, and he casually glanced at the student sitting next to Jiang Yan, who ranked fiftieth in the grade.
The girl hadn’t noticed him yet, her head down, seemingly captivated by whatever she was looking at on her phone.
Old Yu tiptoed over, stopping by her desk. He glanced down and saw the girl’s phone screen.
“What to do if my crush is too hard to figure out? How can I tell if my crush likes me? Early love is such a difficult ship to board!”
Seeing this, Old Yu suddenly realized the reason for Lin Tiao's obvious decline this time. He frowned, feeling that the situation was not simple.
Lin Tiao, realizing it too late, noticed Old Yu's presence. She quickly raised her head and stuffed her phone under her book, giving an awkward smile. "Old Yu, why are you standing there without saying anything?"
Old Yu stared at Lin Tiao for a few seconds, deciding not to alarm her. He continued to smile, "It's nothing; you can continue with what you were doing."
After saying that, he turned back with his thermos cup, pondering how to bring this misguided student back on track.
It was a bit challenging.
In the past, when other homeroom teachers in the office encountered such situations, they would first find the student involved to chat. If a gentle approach didn't work, they would start with "coercive questioning," which often ended with both sides parting unhappily.
Old Yu considered himself a reasonable person and didn’t want to take such a foolish route.
He needed to think it through carefully.
—
After the two morning classes, the sky was clear, and the flag-raising ceremony was held as usual. Students from each class, carrying their class banners and moving flags, surged toward the playground.
Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan squeezed through the crowd, making their way with difficulty.
Behind them, someone began talking about the topic Lin Tiao had overheard on the bus.
"Have you heard? There's an exhibitionist at the bus stop near our school. During morning study, our Old Zhou even said in class that girls should get home early at night."
"Damn, that’s so disgusting! I hope I don’t run into him; otherwise, I’ll beat him to a pulp."
Lin Tiao's eyelids twitched, and Jiang Yan glanced at her. "The bus stop near our school—is it the one you take home?"
"It should be; I’m not too sure which one it is."
The morning sun shone brightly around nine o'clock, warming the playground.
Students from each class had scattered to their designated spots. Class 18 stood near the flag-raising platform, at the front. As they passed other classes, some boys greeted Jiang Yan.
"Yan, are you coming out to play ball this afternoon?"
Jiang Yan chuckled but didn't reply, "I’m a good student; I don’t skip class."
Laughter erupted around them.
Lin Tiao noticed the bright smile on his lips, feeling a warmth in her heart.
They quickly reached the spot for Class 18, where Lin Tiao stood at the back of the girls’ line, keeping some distance from the person in front of her, while Jiang Yan stopped beside her.
The class banner was brought over by other boys first. Jiang Yan was supposed to stand at the front of the line, but he didn’t move until more students gradually arrived.
Jiang Yan shifted his shoulders slightly, pulled up the zipper of his school uniform, and his blue and white outfit accentuated his fair complexion. He looked at Lin Tiao with his light brown eyes, his voice clear and pleasant. "Wait for me after class tonight."
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