Chapter 12

“You…” Song Cheng snapped back to reality as the sound of the orange juice dropping into the vending machine’s dispensing slot jolted her awake. She nearly bit her tongue.

Wait a minute, there was only one type of milk in the vending machine—the most common brand. Suddenly, Song Cheng realized what Wen Xiangyi was trying to do.

So Wen Xiangyi wasn’t here to buy milk; she was testing whether Song Cheng knew which brand of milk she liked.

Seriously, Wen Xiangyi is so insincere!

Song Cheng bent down to pick up the orange juice and held it alongside her hot water cup. Without looking to the side, she fixed her gaze straight ahead toward the classroom. “There’s only one kind of milk.”

Wen Xiangyi glanced at the vending machine window. “I just noticed.”

Still pretending! Song Cheng couldn’t be bothered to deal with her. She turned and walked away without looking back, acting particularly cold.

Song Cheng returned to the classroom. Wen Xiangyi lowered her gaze, deep in thought, as she bought the milk.

Song Cheng’s recent strange attempts at being friendly, Wen Xiangyi interpreted as a bid for academic help—otherwise, she couldn’t think of any other explanation. But why hadn’t Song Cheng asked for help directly yet? She wasn’t even acknowledging her own actions, and when Wen Xiangyi tried to probe her, Song Cheng would avoid the topic.

What else was she going to do?

As Wen Xiangyi pondered this, she followed Song Cheng into the classroom and returned to her seat. After the exercise run, Wen Xiangyi felt warm, so she unzipped her school jacket, revealing the cream-colored round-neck shirt and dark gray cardigan underneath.

Qin Li sat on her inside, and He Nianyao was at the desk in front. The two were chatting enthusiastically. Song Cheng handed the orange juice to He Nianyao, but with someone playing around behind her, she found herself stuck in place, her eyes drooping as she stood there.

Wen Xiangyi half-listened while casually solving a couple of problems.

He Nianyao: “History, 90; Geography, 100… You put down ‘Top 50’ for your school rank goal. Weren’t you ranked over 200 last time?”

Qin Li: “Well, we don’t have to turn these in. Let me see yours.”

He Nianyao passed her goal sheet over. “Don’t laugh when you see it.” Her grades were usually in the lower-middle range, not as good as Qin Li’s.

Qin Li pointed at He Nianyao’s class rank goal. “You ranked 35th last time, and you wrote 35 again this time?”

He Nianyao thought for a moment. “Should I change it to 34?”

Qin Li: “…”

He Nianyao had her own reasoning. “My grades have always been mediocre. It would be great if I could just maintain my current position, right?”

Qin Li disagreed and pointed to a line of small print at the bottom of the goal sheet.

“In most cases, progress comes from ambition.”

Qin Li: “The purpose of a goal sheet is to set a target to strive for, right? If your goal is just to maintain the status quo, how can we ever become better versions of ourselves?”

She got so fired up that her eyes swept around the room, finally landing on Song Cheng.

Qin Li thought that Song Cheng must be someone with great ambition.

Qin Li: “Song Cheng, show He Nianyao your goal sheet.”

Song Cheng really did have it on her. She reached into her pocket and placed it on Wen Xiangyi’s desk.

Qin Li’s enthusiasm had dragged Wen Xiangyi into the situation, whether she liked it or not.

Song Cheng’s goal sheet slid across the desk in front of Wen Xiangyi, where it was nudged to the center by a pair of clean, slender fingers. The space on the desk was limited, and the goal sheets of Song Cheng and Wen Xiangyi almost overlapped.

He Nianyao: “Look at Song Cheng’s, she’s nothing like—”

Qin Li’s words were abruptly cut off.

She couldn’t believe her eyes and rubbed them in disbelief.

He Nianyao took a look and was equally stunned.

He Nianyao: “Song Cheng, you…”

Even though Song Cheng and Wen Xiangyi’s grades were worlds apart, the two goal sheets placed together were indistinguishable—she couldn’t tell which one belonged to Wen Xiangyi and which to Song Cheng.

Duan Jia, craning her neck from the back row to join in, exclaimed in amazement, “Wow.”

Song Cheng had filled in the maximum possible scores for every subject and boldly wrote “1” for both her class and school rank goals.

In their class, the top student and the bottom student had somehow come to share identical goals.

Even Wen Xiangyi was speechless for a moment. She couldn’t help but glance at Song Cheng. Seeing that goal sheet, Wen Xiangyi suddenly felt she didn’t need to overthink things.

Song Cheng just didn’t play by the rules—there was no point in asking her or trying to figure her out.

Song Cheng, however, remained calm and composed.

She didn’t know how many points she could score, so she simply filled in the highest possible ones.

He Nianyao: “Should I learn from Song Cheng?”

Qin Li immediately hugged her. “You’re a good kid, a sensible child. We should aim for steady progress, not daydreaming.”

Song Cheng wasn’t convinced and looked directly at Wen Xiangyi. “Qin Li says I’m daydreaming.”

Wen Xiangyi, can you keep your friend in check?

Song Cheng’s complaint was so natural that Wen Xiangyi felt a slight sense of absurdity. Why was it her business if they were bickering?

But Song Cheng continued to stare at her, her black-and-white eyes full of stubbornness and an inexplicable trust, as if Wen Xiangyi’s words held decisive weight in her world.

After a moment of contemplation, Wen Xiangyi finally said, “Alright, don’t discourage Song Cheng’s enthusiasm for studying.”

Qin Li: “Huh?”

Song Cheng was satisfied. At least Wen Xiangyi understood the situation.

As the class bell rang, Song Cheng glanced at Qin Li before returning to her seat. Even though her face remained expressionless, Qin Li could still sense the subtle air of superiority, as if Song Cheng was saying, “Wen Xiangyi spoke up for me because of what I said.”

Qin Li wasn’t pleased and complained to Wen Xiangyi, “Why are you helping Song Cheng?”

Wen Xiangyi denied it, “I didn’t help her.”

Qin Li: “You totally did.”

Wen Xiangyi remained calm, softly replying, “I just wanted to end the conversation quickly.”

When Qin Li heard this, it made sense—it was exactly what Wen Xiangyi would do.

Qin Li: “So that’s how it is. I knew it.”

She thought, There’s no way Wen Xiangyi would take sides and help Song Cheng criticize me!

—

Fridays before the weekend always seemed to pass by quickly. The weekend before midterms saw a sudden spike in the number of second-year students staying for self-study. In class 5, there were usually only about a dozen students staying back, but this week the number surged to around thirty.

Wen Xiangyi stayed for self-study. He Nianyao had something to deal with at home and couldn’t come, and Qin Li had a concert out of town and had completely put the exams out of her mind.

The school only provided space for self-study without managing the students, and the cafeteria was closed, so everyone had to figure out their meals themselves.

Fortunately, on weekends, many street vendors would flock to the entrance of the school, forming a mini food street that stayed open all day. If that wasn’t enough, a large shopping mall was just one bus stop away, offering plenty of food and entertainment options. By the weekend, the mall was usually packed with students from the school.

Wen Xiangyi avoided street food. She picked up takeout at noon near the school gate, and by evening, after finishing her self-study session, she wanted to get some fresh air and planned to visit the mall.

It was already dark, but the food vendors’ lights kept the school gate lively. However, the wind was cold, so Wen Xiangyi zipped up her jacket. When she looked up, she saw Song Cheng standing with another girl in front of a food stall selling oden.

On weekends, the school didn’t require uniforms, so the girl was dressed quite stylishly, with her hair down and even a bit curled. The vendor handed over the food, and Song Cheng reached out to take it. But instead of eating it, she waited until the other girl finished with her phone before handing the oden over to her.

Before they could turn around, Wen Xiangyi quickly averted her gaze and moved to the roadside to hail a taxi.

Li Xueshan, biting into a tofu pouch, pleaded, “Song Cheng, just come to the mall with me.”

Song Cheng: “I need to go back and study.”

Li Xueshan: “They both ditched me. Am I supposed to go alone?”

Song Cheng: “Yes.”

Li Xueshan: “…”

Fine. She hadn’t had high hopes to begin with.

She had only run into Song Cheng at the noodle stand by the school gate, and after dragging her to buy some oden, she had tried to coax her into going to the mall.

“Fine, if you’re not going, I can go by myself,” Li Xueshan pouted. Just as she was about to turn toward the bus stop, she noticed Song Cheng had already started walking toward the roadside.

Li Xueshan was surprised and watched as Song Cheng walked toward a girl. From her angle, she could only see the back of the girl’s school uniform, but Song Cheng moved confidently, as if she had identified the girl by her silhouette in the dim light.

Li Xueshan instinctively followed.

As soon as she got close, she heard Song Cheng ask the girl, “Are you by yourself?”

The girl responded with a soft “Mm,” her tone short but inexplicably pleasant, giving the impression of someone beautiful just by the sound of her voice.

Song Cheng glanced up at the sky, her expression still indifferent as she said, “I happen to be going there too. Let’s go together.”

Li Xueshan: “???”

Song Cheng, since when are you ‘happening to go’ anywhere?!!