Chapter 4

The name of No. 9 High School didn’t match its ranking — it was actually six or seven places higher than it sounded.

That’s because in City H, No. 9 High School ranked in the top three.

Zhou Zhou, Chen Jing, and Cheng Yanran all studied at No. 9 High.

No. 9 High was in the old part of the city. A row of large French sycamore trees lined its entrance. When school started in autumn, everything was still lush and green. At sunset, golden light would shine through the leaves, making it feel like summer again.

To get into high school, students had to pass an entrance exam. Once they met the score line, they could choose which school they wanted to attend.

Zhou Zhou had great grades. Instead of going to No. 1 High — the top-ranked school — she chose No. 9 because it was closer to home. She could even bike there in just 15 minutes. No. 1 High was in a new district, more than 10 kilometers away, which made it inconvenient for her.

Though No. 9 High wasn’t quite as prestigious as No. 1, it was still full of talented students.

Chen Jing and Cheng Yanran also had good grades. But after the first monthly exam, when they heard that someone in their class got perfect scores in both Math and English, they were shocked.

That person was Zhou Zhou.

In the first month of school, Class 2 students didn’t know each other well yet. They mostly stuck with friends from their middle schools.

Chen Jing and Cheng Yanran lived in the same neighborhood and had been classmates since they were little.

Now in high school, they still biked to and from school together.

After the first monthly exam, Chen Jing was feeling proud. He had studied high school math during the summer.

“Yanran, I think I can score 140 in math this time,” he said.

Cheng Yanran was always calm. “High school math is harder than middle school,” he replied.

He wasn’t sure about two small questions, so he didn’t want to guess his score.

But when the scores came out, they were both stunned.

Chen Jing didn’t even get 120. Cheng Yanran only scored 126.

As for English, both had a good foundation and scored around 125.

High school subjects were much harder, and the first monthly exam crushed many students’ confidence.

Students who used to score 130 or 140 in middle school now dropped to 110 or 120.

So when the English and Math teachers announced that someone got full marks, the whole class was amazed — everyone gasped with “Wow” and “What?”

Zhou Zhou wasn’t especially beautiful, but her fair, smooth skin stood out. She was only about 1.6 meters tall and had a slightly long bob haircut, making her look more like a middle school student.

But this girl shattered the stereotype that girls’ math skills decline in high school.

Math had always been Chen Jing and Cheng Yanran’s strength, so now they paid more attention to Zhou Zhou.

After school, Chen Jing noticed that Zhou Zhou was biking the same way as them. He took the initiative to ask, “Hey, Zhou Zhou, how do you study?”

Cheng Yanran was also curious and listened closely.

Zhou Zhou was focused on biking and didn’t expect the question. She turned to see who it was.

She didn’t hide anything. “Math or English?” she asked.

“Both,” said Chen Jing bluntly.

“For math, I just do lots of problems and review them. For English, it’s about building up — listen more, read more, memorize more.”

What she said about math made sense. Her way of learning English surprised them.

Chen Jing then asked what practice books she used. Cheng Yanran gently followed up, “What do you listen to? What do you read?”

While asking, he looked at her bike. It was a new girls’ bicycle, not the typical pink color many girls liked — it was a light jade green, like lake water.

This color reminded Cheng Yanran of a trip he took to Lushan with his parents, where they saw Ruqin Lake — peaceful and beautiful like a jade stone.

“I listen to BBC and read English novels,” Zhou Zhou said.

“Huh? What? What C?” Chen Jing suddenly squeezed his brakes and stopped.

Zhou Zhou was startled. Her foot slipped on the pedal, and the bike wobbled. She was about to jump off when a hand steadied her handlebars.

It was Cheng Yanran.

She remembered he had done well in physics and had a nice name too.

“Thank you,” she said to him.

Cheng Yanran had planted one foot on the ground to hold his own bike steady while helping Zhou Zhou.

That way, neither of them would fall.

They were very close — close enough for him to see the tiny soft hairs on her face and the light blush on her porcelain-like skin, the kind of youthful glow only teenagers had.

He turned to Chen Jing and said, “What’s wrong with you? Talk properly.”

Chen Jing knew he was in the wrong. He laughed and apologized. Then, half-joking, he said, “Zhou the Genius, say it again. I only got 120 in English. I want to learn from you.”

Zhou Zhou wasn’t stingy about sharing her study methods. She told them they could buy an MP3 player or use a phone to download BBC news articles and listen to them. If their foundation wasn’t good, she suggested starting on a computer where they could read both English and Chinese versions side by side.

Her family ran a small business, so she could tell from their appearance that both boys were from well-off families — they probably had computers at home. That’s why she finally suggested using websites.

Indeed, both Chen Jing and Cheng Yanran had computers. During summer, they even played online games together a few times. They never expected that someone else was using the internet to read English news.

They both felt a little embarrassed.

Cheng Yanran asked again, “How did you know how to study English like this?”

“My older sister is in college. She’s majoring in English. She taught me.”

Now it all made sense to Cheng Yanran.

No wonder he often saw Zhou Zhou wearing headphones after school. She must have been listening to the news.

After getting such helpful advice, they didn’t want to bother her anymore. They just said, “Since we’re in the same class, let’s share study tips more often.”

They said this because they noticed Zhou Zhou always biked to school alone. She didn’t walk with a group like many other girls.

At first, they thought she was cold or unfriendly. But after today, they saw she was the kind of top student who didn’t hide her methods. She spoke kindly and clearly.

Chen Jing hated those students who pretended to slack off in front of others but secretly studied nonstop. The kind who’d say they just watched TV after school but were actually doing practice books all night.

Cheng Yanran disliked those kinds too — and he especially didn’t like girls who talked in a fake, overly sweet voice.

He didn’t understand — why couldn’t people just talk normally?

Being gentle and lovely didn’t mean acting fake.

He looked at Zhou Zhou riding ahead and thought quietly: “She’s perfect like this — calm and bright like spring wind and sunshine.”

This was the first time they had spoken to each other.