If you have feelings that aren’t reciprocated, how long can these feelings last? A year? A month? A week?
It definitely can’t [last] for a day, right?
Li Er Qin helplessly poked the words on her notebook, Rong Si, Rong Si. This name was written all over her journal page and called one’s eyes to it.
How was it a month? It was definitely not even a day. This annoying secret crush had already been going on for a whole year, but she hadn’t even properly spoken any words to him before this. Ugh, so frustrating!
A yellow notebook sat on the table. Outside the window were trees full of green leaves a little sunshine that shone through the leaves of the trees. Li Erqin sat in a seat near the window, and was so comfortable she practically almost fell asleep.
But it wasn’t just practically falling asleep, but she really had already fallen asleep. The hand that supported her chin slipped towards the end of the table while bringing down the notebook beside it.
Pa! She fell onto the floor.
The confused Li Erqin was still half asleep. Thus, a hand could only stretch out and pick up the notebook and gently place it inside the desk.
A breeze blew past, blowing through the semi-yellow pages, bringing with it, a light scent of fragrance, and a tiny secret.
The boy who had originally been walking past, slightly glanced at it, and later squinted his eyes.
If I liked you, would you happen to like me during that period?
Rong Si pursed his light colored lips, sitting down beside Li Erqin with an asking demeanor, as he put his hand on his chin to think for a moment. His line of sight fell on the test that had been thrown to one side, and the corners of his lips pulled upwards, with a laughing demeanor.
59
That was really not bad of a score
When Li Erqin woke up, she almost bit off her tongue, as she looked at Rong Si who had helped her correct her test. She didn’t react for a long time.
It was Rong Si who first noticed her gaze, as he turned his head towards her and said, with calm and unrippled eyes that brought with it a hint of a smile: “You still have time to save it.”
Li Erqin didn’t know what he was talking about.
Rong Si used his pen to point at the test: “If you can be more careful, you definitely won’t get this score.”
Li Erqin still stared at him.
Rong Si’s inner smile spread to his mouth, as he laughed huskily: “There is a vacant position on my end – are you interested in applying for the position?”
“What?”
“Girlfriend.”
Who was Rong Si?
Rong Si was the distinguished student who had stood on the stage at the opening ceremony and recited his speech. His voice was forever husky and low, with a dry and cool feeling.
Rong Si was the quiet and warm boy who sat at the back of the classroom, with a perfect sideview of his face, with a slender stature. When he answered questions, his fingers had to be clean- white to the point of being incredible.
Rong Si was the focal point on the basketball court, clean and neat, and not arrogant or impatient. Even the angle the basketball entered the net was perfect.
Li Erqin had met with rare extremely hot weather, right before entering the school for military training. The feeling of the sun baking on one’s body made one feel a connection with the squid on the hot iron plate for fast grilling. In the ranks of the military training, when she collapsed due to sunstroke, Li Erqin who did not fit in with the rest of her group, suffered from a heavy cold. Her mental state became so coarse that even when she was sent to the front of the infirmary, she could not understand whether her extreme body temperatures were because of the sizzling hot weather or her high fever.
As for Rong Si, he was a fresh and cool boy that Li Erqin had met in the infirmary before military training had begun.
At 3:00 pm, from the sound of cicadas that began to sound in the stuffy air, the orderly marches in the sports field could also be heard as well as the timely slogans that were shouted. When you compared the two, it almost seemed as if Li Erqin, who was in the infirmary all by herself appeared a bit excessive.
Rong Si accompanied Peng Zige into the infirmary, and the first face he saw was Li Erqin in the shady corner, who was injecting herself with a needle in her right hand, while being lost in thought.
Rong Si’s line of sight naturally followed Li Erqin’s line of sight until it fell on her right hand. The space between his eyebrows could not help but crease, and he began to warm: “Fellow student, your needle has slipped.”
The dizzy Li Erqin dimly felt that she heard a deep and low pleasant voice. Thus, her eyes moved away from her right hand which had swelled until it appeared just like a steamed bun. As she followed the voice little by little and lifted her head, she was met with a pair of nice eyes.
This was the first time Li Erqin and Rong Si met in the midst of their very long life.
The air contained sterilizing water and the hint of summer. Li Erqin would remember this for the rest of her life.
She watched the happy and delicate and pretty youngster by the door, and spoke: “I know.”
“How long has it been?”
Li Erqin thought: “Pretty long.”
Rong Si turned his head and walked back, leaving behind Peng Zige, who stood there awkwardly. She foolishly smiled at Li Erqin: “Did you get heatstroke?”
Only then did Li Erqin realize there had been someone else by Rong Si, and breathed through her congested nose, as her voice droned: “No, I’ve caught a cold.”
“Oh.” Peng Zige walked to her side and sat down, and pointed at the back of her hand: “Does this have anything to do with it?”
Li Erqin looked at her weirdly: “Of course it has something to do with it.”
“……”
Peng Zige was left speechless. At this time, Rong Si brought one of the medical personnel inside.
The medical personnel practically walked straight towards Li Erqin. Then, with agile motions, he pulled out the needle and switched it to the left hand.
When the needle repierced her skin, Li Erqin’s heart tightened, as she subconsciously turned her head towards the window, secretly biting her lower lip.
Her tiny petty maneuvers still caught the eye of Rong Si.
He suddenly asked: “Which class are you in?”
Regarding the boy’s sudden question, Li Erqin was startled, before successfully diverting her attention: “Class 2.”
Rong Si evidently nodded his head. Peng Zige was the first to excitedly say: “We are too!”
Military training would separate the boys and girls, but as for the students that had yet to be initiated, they were no doubt brimming with curiosity and expectation towards the opposite sex of their own class. Unexpectedly, they had run into each other. Peng Zige excitedly sized up Li Erqin many times, before concluding: “Not bad.”
Li Erqin only looked at her oddly again.
“All done.” The medical personnel stood up after injecting the needle.
Li Erqin heard the sound and lowered her head to look at her left hand, only to find that she hadn’t noticed when he had injected the needle, and she didn’t feel any pain.
The medical personnel clapped his hands and knit his brows, as he asked reproachingly: “It’s already become swollen to this extent. Did you see it? Why didn’t you call for anyone?”
“I called already.”
The medical personnel was stumped for words by Li Erqin’s cold answer, and he heard her say: “I called for a pretty long time, and no one answered.”
“HAHA!” Peng Zige couldn’t help it as he laughed. Even Rong Si was unable to restrain a smile.
Translator’s Thoughts:
First off…I thought Peng Zige was a girl until I got to Chapter 4 so that may be why you see some strange gender discrepancies.
Now on to Li Erqin. I notice that she doesn’t really react a lot, and I think that’s part of her shyness and her charm. She has her own world that she lives in, and a lot of it is full of innocence and pureness. So even if she does handle things in a way that makes normal people wonder why, don’t judge her based off of how she interacts with other people, because even if she doesn’t really know how to interact with other people (maybe due to her half-introverted-ness), she is still super warm hearted and happy. I know she comes off as cold a lot, but honestly, give her some time to open up, and you’ll see.
The book has a very slow pace to it throughout, which is very fundamental in setting the innocence of the whole plot. It may be too slow for a lot of you, but to document the happiest years of many of our lives, the author really does focus on many of the beautiful things amidst everything that happens. And it is done in a way that really makes you reminisce on those years.