The first day of the start of a new term of Senior High 1.
Chen Xiaoxi integrated with her classmates very quickly, actually their small town wasn't big to begin with, there were quite a few classmates in her class whom she formerly knew, when class ended, a group of them crowded at the back of the classroom, buzzing and chattering as they discussed the plot of the television serial last night.
And Jiang Chen sat at his seat that had been temporarily allocated, flipping through the new textbook that had just been distributed.
For some unfathomable reason, Chen Xiaoxi felt that in this moment, Jiang Chen's back profile appeared to be extremely lonesome. Of course, 'lonesome' was a maverick and cultured word, Chen Xiaoxi, being the sort of person whose brain had yet to develop properly was unable to think of such (a word), she only thought, why was he sitting there all by himself, not talking to other people and not playing with other people, that was too boring. Hence Chen Xiaoxi ran up with thudding sounds, and clapped Jiang Chen's shoulder in a bro-like fashion, and said thick-skinned-ly, "Jiang Chen Jiang Chen, they're still talking about the matter of me having a crush on you, it's been such a long time, they really have no creativity."
Jiang Chen coldly shot a glance at Chen Xiaoxi, and turned his body slightly to dodge the hand she clapped his shoulder with.
He was not in a good mood currently, last night his father returned from a business dinner party drunk, his mother refused to open the door to let his father enter the room no matter what, hence the two of them began to argue across the door, smashing things with banging and pinging sounds. It was truly laughable, both were people who were respected and dignified in public, but once they started arguing all sorts of disgusting language would come out of their mouths.
Chen Xiaoxi was a person who had yet to master the art of observing and reading one's words and mood, she thought that he was being angry about how other people were putting them together and gossiping about them, hence she then comforted him by saying, "They're only joking, how pure and open and magnanimous we are."
Jiang Chen sneered, "Open and magnanimous are we, then next time, don't stick paper clips in the shape of a heart on my books, don't fold a bunch of stars and paper cranes for me, I've nowhere to place them in my house."
Originally, there were already many eyes watching them attentively when Chen Xiaoxi had run over to talk to Jiang Chen, the moment Jiang Chen said such words, everyone began to hoot with laughter.
Chen Xiaoxi momentarily was unable to find a way to escape out of such embarrassment, she forcefully squeezed out a smile, and retorted, "Hehe, if you don't want (them) then so be it, I was only practising how to fold, and gave them to you in passing seeing that you live closer to me."
"Then give them to me in passing next time." A peculiar voice suddenly came from the back of the classroom, only then did Chen Xiaoxi realise, Wang Dazhuang was actually in the same class as them, he was wearing a black T-shirt, sitting beside the rubbish bin, crooking his mouth as he smiled in an incomparably sinister way.
Chen Xiaoxi thought to herself senselessly, (he was) like a sinister black lotus flower blooming from the rubbish pile.
The majority of boys began to heckle, give me, give me, my room is big, there's space to fit them no matter how much (you give).
The situation went a little out of control, Chen Xiaoxi stood blankly by Jiang Chen's side, a little vacant, flustered and at a complete loss of what to do.
Thankfully, at that moment, the bell indicating the start of lesson rang in a very timely fashion, Jiang Chen expressionlessly said a sentence, "Quickly return to your seat."
Everything returned to a peaceful state.
The art teacher at the front was using a very pretty piece of chalk to write his own name, he too didn't know, that before the start of lesson bell rang, there was a girl who was bewilderedly forcing a happy laugh in the midst of everyone's guffawing.
Xiaoxi listened to this lesson with particular attention, she held a grateful attitude in her heart as she listened to that young arts teacher use her voice brimming with enthusiasm to introduce how to deal with shadows, how to aim angles, how to cut up a tableau……
Jiang Chen and Wang Da Zhuang were both a little distracted, faintly thinking that they seemed to have gone a little overboard, then comforting themselves with conviction by saying that she deserved it, who asked her to bring it upon herself.
Today after school Chen Xiaoxi did not loiter around wanting to leave together with Jiang Chen, however this also wasn't because she was still bearing grudges for what had happened earlier, it was their teacher-in-charge who wanted her to stay back, saying that he wanted to discuss about the matter of being a class officer with her. Teachers all liked students like Chen Xiaoxi, their grades weren't particularly great but they had some street-smarts, they were enthusiastic, optimistic and willing to work like an ox and a horse* for their classes. (T/N: meaning to work extremely hard)
As Jiang Chen walked out of the classroom, he turned his head slightly to aim a glance at Chen Xiaoxi, and saw her keeping the stationery on her desk in a flurry. The corners of his mouth lifted up without leaving a trace, and he continued to walk ahead. When he reached the head of the flight of stairs, he again couldn't help but pause his steps, tch, (she) hasn't caught up yet, how long does it take to pack a schoolbag?
"Jiang Chen, can I take a few minutes of your time?"
Jiang Chen turned his head around, a girl with long hair that reached her shoulders was holding a book with both her hands, and smiling faintly as she waited for him to reply. He searched through his brain, she seemed like someone from their class, hence he said, "What's the matter?"
"I don't really understand this math question that the teacher explained today, can you explain it to me?" Her voice was pleasant and sweet, she lifted her head, her entire face full of anticipation.
His eyes drifted towards the direction of their classroom, and stopped for two seconds before turning back to look at the girl in front of his eyes, he said, "Which question do you not understand?"
Jiang Chen finished explaining the question, and even learnt that this girl in front of him was called Li Wei, and was in the same class as him now, in the past she was in Class 3 from Li Xi Junior High, her father knew his father, and she liked cats and dogs.
Chen Xiaoxi still hadn't come out.
Chen Xiaoxi was originally waiting, full of zeal, for her teacher-in-charge to give her a major official position such as class monitor to take on, who knew that the teacher-in-charge after prattling on for half a day, waved his hand and said that in the future, you are to be the Culture and Entertainment Committee Member or the Publicity Committee Member, the characteristic trait of being a committee member was that you had much work, little power, and people disliked you. She felt extremely disinterested, but she still had to 'give face 'to her teacher-in-charge, she could only act like she was a thousand-mile horse who had found her Bo Le*, and listen to her teacher's unfettered imagination about her future. Sometimes, she looked at her teacher's face that was like a large flat bread and his freckles, and thought about sesame-flavoured pancakes in her heart. (T/N: This refers to a story from Spring and Autumn period, where Bo Le who was a horse connoisseur was tasked by the King of Chu to look for a steed that could traverse a thousand miles (or thousand li, where one li is about 500 kilometres). Bo Le came across this tired and panting horse that was pulling a cart of salt and recognized that it was a fine horse with a lot of potential, and got it from the owner who thought that Bo Le was being silly as the horse appeared to be in such bad shape. The King of Chu doubted Bo Le looking at this worn-down horse still the horse was nursed back to health and indeed fulfilled its potential. Later on the horse went into the battlefield with the King of Chu and was instrumental in a lot of his war successes. To this day, 'Bo Le' is a term which one uses to address someone who recognized your talents and provided you with opportunities (you being the thousand mile horse))
She looked out of the window absent-mindedly, the sun was already inclining towards the west, and most of the students had already left, the sports field was shrouded in saffron light rays, as if someone in between heaven and earth had spilled a giant bottle of orange juice. Then she saw that familiar back view, how much time had passed, when she diligently followed behind this back view, and now, this back view that she would recognize even if it turned to ash was walking side by side with a girl, she had black and long hair like a waterfall, and was lifting her tiny face to look at Jiang Chen speaking, that face sure was small - Chen Xiaoxi turned her head to look at her teacher-in-charge's giant pancake face, uh, (it's size) was a third of that.
Chen Xiaoxi turned her head back again to look, that girl's tiny face was captivatingly red, not sure if it was because of the setting sun, or because of Jiang Chen.
Translator's Corner:
Hello… I’m so sorry guys (Amy here) for the lack of updates the past three weeks. ): It’s totally my fault, because I was super caught up in my last stretch of studying for finals. I thought I could manage an update but I was dealing with some personal stuff as well and I was just so exhausted everyday that I simply couldn’t muster up the time/energy to continue translating. SO SORRY GUYS ): And so sorry to Dolly and Xri as well for holding up the entire translation chain omg. I will work harder in upcoming weeks!!!!!
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