Chapter 01.2

“What’s this?”

“It’s boiled water, to sober up.”

Wen Tianyu suddenly laughed. It was only three cans of beer, but he still took the plain water and took a sip.

“It’s getting late, I’m going back first, you should go back early too.”

After saying that, she ran off. Wen Tianyu looked down and took another sip, with a hint of sweetness… like his mood. Wen Tianyu looked at the bright stars in the night sky, wondering how long it had been since he was cared for, even such a small gesture moved him. He laughed at himself and took another big gulp of beer…

The next day, Xiang Qing went to school. After her diagnosis, she was in the medication phase, so she continued to attend school. As soon as she entered the classroom, she saw Wen Tianyu at the back, seemingly asleep on his desk.

Because Xiang Qing was somewhat introverted and a good student, most of the girls in the class took care of her. Seeing her return, many girls came over to greet her warmly. Of course, Yi Yi was the first to do so. However, their commotion seemed to wake Wen Tianyu. He sleepily looked at their noisy area and then, without a word, went back to sleep…

Class started, and Xiang Qing had missed a week’s worth of lessons.

The teacher assigned Wen Tianyu the responsibility of catching her up, but forbidding private tutoring outside of school hours. This was also because the teacher feared that Wen Tianyu might lead her well-behaved and academically excellent Xiang Qing astray. But looking at the whole class, the previous week’s lessons were obscure and difficult to understand. Other students with good grades also struggled to comprehend, let alone teach others. Wen Tianyu had a unique understanding and his own ideas. The teacher hoped that Xiang Qing could learn from him, so that the two top students in their class could contribute significantly to the class ranking at the end of the term.

Xiang Qing studied very diligently. She always arrived at the classroom early to self-study. After discovering this, Wen Tianyu also began to arrive at school early. That day was no different; he brought soy milk and fried dough sticks, a standard breakfast, and placed them in front of Xiang Qing while he ate a steamed bun himself.

“Eat while it’s hot.”

Xiang Qing was still struggling with a math problem.

Looking at the breakfast that suddenly appeared in front of her, she remembered that she hadn’t eaten breakfast today. She ate while opening WeChat on her phone. Her chat history with Wen Tianyu was nothing but questions about homework. She efficiently transferred money to him. Wen Tianyu checked his phone and frowned slightly.

“What are you doing?”

Xiang Qing, with her mouth full of breakfast, mumbled unclearly: “I’m transferring money to you, thanks for bringing me breakfast.”

“Then don’t transfer money. It really hurts my male pride, okay? How about this, if you want to thank me, bring me a breakfast tomorrow.”

With Wen Tianyu’s cancellation of the transfer, Xiang Qing thought it made sense and nodded before diving back into her studies.

The back-and-forth interactions gradually brought them closer, and some classmates started to ship them together.

One day after school, YiYi interrogated her with a stern look, asking what exactly was her relationship with Wen Tianyu. She demanded honesty for leniency and warned that resistance would lead to strict consequences, otherwise, she would be responsible for the outcome. Xiang Qing held her forehead helplessly.

“Really, it’s nothing. We just often bring breakfast for each other, and that’s only because we study so hard that we don’t have time to eat at home in the morning before coming to the classroom.”

“Oh my, my dear sister, aren’t you two being ambiguous? I think that boy is quite interested in you.”

“Interested in me?”

“That means he likes you.”

Xiang Qing’s face turned red all of a sudden, and her heartbeat quickened. She scolded An Yi for talking nonsense, insisting that An Yi was trying to disrupt her determination to surpass her in the final exams. An Yi rolled her eyes and said with a laugh: she could never catch up with Xiang Qing’s grades anyway.

In the following days, Xiang Qing indeed started paying more attention to Wen Tianyu’s attitude towards her. The spring of youth sprouted for the first time, and sometimes she couldn’t help but show her girlish side. Wen Tianyu also noticed that Xiang Qing seemed more enthusiastic than usual, often making him nearly impulsively confess his feelings.

But their puberty came at an unfortunate time.

After the end-of-term exams, it was now the summer vacation of their second year in high school. When school resumed, they would be third-year students.

They were facing the most important crossroads in their lives, with little time to buffer. During the summer vacation, Wen Tianyu met a delinquent teenager named Jiang Sheng while working at a coffee shop.

Hearing about Wen Tianyu’s difficult family situation and bullying, Jiang Sheng felt indignant. Coincidentally, the boy was from the same school but a year younger. He took it upon himself to call Wen Tianyu “big brother.” When Xiang Qing found out, she thought Wen Tianyu was planning to drop out and become a delinquent with a follower.

Seeing the romantic bubbles between the two, Jiang Sheng cleverly called Xiang Qing “sister-in-law,” causing her face to instantly turn red. Wen Tianyu was also frightened and covered Jiang Sheng’s mouth, and gave him a knock on the head.

“His brain isn’t fully developed, don’t mind him,” then casually pushed Jiang Sheng aside.

Xiang Qing nodded slightly.

“Do you have something to ask me?”

“Oh, just… after graduating from high school, which college do you plan to go to?”

Wen Tianyu thought for a moment, “I haven’t thought about it, you?”

Xiang Qing lifted her head, her eyes filled with hope.

“I want to go to A University.”

Wen Tianyu paused for a moment. That was the best university, and it wouldn’t be easy to get in from a small county town.

But then he smiled, his little girl indeed deserved the best university.

“Then I’ll go to A University too.”

Xiang Qing looked at him blankly.

“But, A University is very hard to get into.”

“Then let’s work hard together.”

Xiang Qing’s heart, which had just calmed down, started to beat faster again.

“Okay!” She smiled brilliantly at Wen Tianyu for the first time.

It’s over… Wen Tianyu also felt his heartbeat quicken…

Time is always like this, when you need it, it always ends too quickly. With the company of friends and the atmosphere of studying hard, Xiang Qing felt that leukemia wasn’t so scary anymore. These days, taking her medication, her friends inevitably worried about her. To outsiders, she only said she was just anemic, and an old problem, nothing serious.

The new semester passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was New Year’s Day. After her checkup at the hospital and seeing her condition slowly improving, Xiang Qing felt much better. At that time, An Yi suddenly called her, saying this was their last New Year’s Eve in high school, and it would not be easy to gather like this in the future.

Xiang Qing thought that An Yi’s suggestion made sense. And, this was also her and Wen Tianyu’s first New Year’s Eve together, so she didn’t want to miss it. So, they decided to celebrate at Xiang Qing’s grandmother’s house, setting up a table and a hot pot in the large courtyard, and celebrating with the elderly together. Everyone had clear tasks: An Yi and Jiang Sheng, being more lively, took the hot pot ingredients to set up the table at grandma’s house and chat with the elderly to keep them happy, while Xiang Qing and Wen Tianyu went to the market and supermarket to buy the ingredients. When Xiang Qing stopped in front of a pack of beer, Wen Tianyu patted her shoulder and said: “You have a bad stomach, you shouldn’t drink.”

Xiang Qing smiled at him, “I won’t drink, but we should have some alcohol at the gathering, you guys drink.”

Wen Tianyu thought she made sense, then turned and grabbed a few cans of Wangzai milk, while Xiang Qing picked up a few bottles of cool boiled water.