BSS - Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Deng Chuan set down her water cup, her lips still a little damp, unaware of what had just happened behind her.
Everyone around her had their heads down, focused on their own work.
She picked up her pen, her back straightening unconsciously, and in an instant, she entered a state of study. Amidst Xu Wei's methodical and soothing voice, she focused intently and completed an entire geography analysis problem.
Just as she finished checking her answers, the class bell rang.
Everyone put away their test papers and took out their textbooks and notebooks.
Xu Wei started to leave. Seeing Deng Chuan's pen hanging precariously on the edge of the desk, she casually picked it up and placed it further in, all while dealing with a student who wanted to ask more questions:
"...If there's anything you don't understand, come to the office during evening self-study."
Her pace was a bit rushed. Not quite like her usual self.
Deng Chuan looked up, just in time to catch her graceful departing figure and the faint floral scent lingering in the air.
Morning light streamed in through the wide-open windows, making the classroom spacious and bright. It fell on people, outlining their silhouettes with a soft, fuzzy halo.
A warmth spread across her skin. Deng Chuan raised a hand and pressed the back of it to her cheek.
It held the heat that had filled her chest.
Xu Wei walked out of the classroom. The hallway was empty, with only the loud echo of her footsteps.
A breeze swept through the long corridor, but it wasn't bleak; instead, it cleared the mind. If it were to blow in the direction of Xu Wei's gaze, it would see the young, earnest face in the classroom.
After school in the afternoon, Deng Chuan stayed in the classroom as usual, waiting for the dinner rush to pass before preparing to head to the cafeteria.
It got dark early in winter. Twilight descended.
Su Mian ran over to find her, sat in Yu Xiao's seat, rested her head on Deng Chuan's desk, and peeked at her. "Deng Chuan-"
Her tone was drawn out, halfway between rising and falling, like she was whining playfully.
"Hm?" Deng Chuan was correcting mistakes in her error notebook. She didn't look at Su Mian, just hummed a response.
Su Mian hesitated for a long while, then sighed. She lay there for a bit without speaking.
When Deng Chuan didn't hear anything more, she looked at her. "What's wrong?"
She saw the other girl leaning on the desk, eyes downcast, fingertips fiddling with the corner of her book.
She looked as if she had lost something.
Deng Chuan thought for a moment, put down her pen, and straightened Su Mian's hair, which had been messed up by the desk.
After a pause, she spoke softly, her voice like a sigh, yet also full of tolerance. "Are you tired?"
Su Mian lifted her eyelids to glance at her.
Deng Chuan's expression was calm, her tone uncharacteristically gentle. She exuded a simple temperament, thoroughly polished by her academic life. She was focused, resolute, and composed, as if nothing could happen outside her expectations-
She had always been like this.
Su Mian couldn't imagine Deng Chuan becoming a different kind of adult, just as she couldn't imagine a future without her and Pei Qingyu.
But what can stay the same forever?
She was dazed, staring blankly. After a long moment, she heard her own voice:
"-Yeah. I'm tired."
"Deng Chuan," she said, "I'm actually a little scared-"
Scared of what, she stopped without saying, as if finding it hard to speak.
After thinking, she explained, "It's not really fear. I think I'm just a little flustered."
While she spoke, Deng Chuan watched her quietly. Su Mian drew a certain strength from her gaze and continued:
"Maybe it's because everything is so uncertain right now. I can't predict what will happen in the future. So…" Her tone was light and airy. "I'm a bit lost."
Hearing this, Deng Chuan's expression didn't change. She just said calmly, "Don't be scared."
"I'll always be here."
Her voice wasn't loud, and her enunciation was soft, yet it landed with weight, like she was making a promise that would last forever.
Hearing this, Su Mian was silent for a moment, then revealed a comforted smile. Before she could reply, she heard Deng Chuan say, "Don't tell me you have something else to tell me."
It was phrased as a question, but delivered with an affirmative tone.
"…"
She held it in for a moment, then finally said, as if deflated, "Yes."
She opened her mouth, then closed it, repeating this a few times before awkwardly covering her face. "-I can't say it out loud. I'll tell you on WeChat."
"Okay," Deng Chuan said unhurriedly. "I have something to tell you, too."
Su Mian lowered her hands. Hearing this, she asked with some curiosity, "What is it?"
But Deng Chuan didn't answer, just said mysteriously and seriously, "You'll know when the time comes."
Su Mian scratched her neck, a sudden chill running down her spine for no reason, as if something big was about to happen. "Then tell me after the exam. I'm a little scared."
As she spoke, she picked up Deng Chuan's cup, took a sip of water, and frowned at the bitterness of the lemon that had been steeping for too long.
"So bitter. Why don't you change the slice?"
Deng Chuan said casually, "It reduces internal heat."
"Is that so?"
She glanced downstairs, saw fewer people on the path, and got ready to go eat. She asked again:
"Are you staying at school tonight or going home?"
Su Mian said, "My flight to Beijing is Friday evening-"
Tomorrow was the final exam.
Deng Chuan was surprised for a moment, then understood. "Have you finished packing your things then?"
"Yeah."
The two were silent for a moment.
Su Mian's short hair had grown a bit, covering her neck. Her bangs hung down, hiding her eyebrows, making her almond-shaped eyes lose their sharpness and become soft and harmless.
The corners of her lips were no longer upturned, but pressed together slightly, a little stubborn, yet also a little dazed.
Deng Chuan looked at her. Seated before her was such a face-youthful, beautiful, the most familiar person from her past life, but now she was about to go far away. Beijing, the distant other side of the ocean, where the clouds and moon did not know them.
But she could only say softly, "Well, I wish you a safe journey."
And a bright future.
"...Alright."
Su Mian forced a smile and said, "I'll get going then. I have to go home for dinner."
"Okay."
Her blue and white figure disappeared into the gradually darkening sky.
Twilight rose from all around, and the surroundings were quiet.
Deng Chuan finished tidying her desk and stood up.
The classroom had to be cleared out to be used as an exam hall. The books everyone cleared from their desks were piled on the teacher's platform.
She weaved her way through the piles of books, and just as she finally reached the door, she ran into Xu Wei coming in from outside.
Their eyes met, and both of them froze for a second.
Her beautiful eyes were lowered. Half of her face was illuminated by the lights that had come on behind her, so clear that even the faint line of her cheekbone was visible, like a crescent moon resting on fair skin.
Deng Chuan was in the dark, she was in the light. For a moment, it was as if they were separated by a mirror, at the dividing line between light and shadow, carefully studying each other.
Perhaps the moon had already risen. Deng Chuan saw herself in Xu Wei's dark pupils.
Dazedly, she said, "Why haven't you left work yet?"
Her tone was not quite like her usual self.
Xu Wei's eyes curved into a smile. She lifted what was in her hand, a long, thin strip of paper unfurling in the air. "I'm here to set up the exam hall."
Deng Chuan quickly moved closer. "Let me help you."
She seemed a bit eager, which made Xu Wei give her a second look before calmly replying, "Okay."
The long strips of paper were printed with the candidates' personal information. Held in a stack, they were dense with Chinese characters and numbers, all in the same format and arrangement, yet each corresponding to a unique individual.
Xu Wei straightened the strips of paper and handed them to Deng Chuan.
But Deng Chuan didn't reach out to take them. She opened her palm, as if making some kind of invitation, and so there was a subtle, zero-distance contact between her palm and Xu Wei's fingertips.
Xu Wei placed the strips of paper down and, as if nothing happened, turned to rummage through the toolbox on the teacher's platform for the glue to stick them.
As she walked down the aisle, she said, "I thought the classroom would be empty by now."
Deng Chuan turned her head to look at her. "I'm usually here at this time."
What she said wasn't accurate, but she had no desire to correct herself. If a chance encounter could be turned into a tacitly understood crossing of paths, then what was the harm in telling a half-baked lie?
Xu Wei suppressed a smile, walked up to her, and said, "It's not good to eat so late."
But Deng Chuan retorted, as if in a pique, "What's not good about it?"
Xu Wei retorted as well, without hesitation, but her voice was very gentle. "What if you starve yourself?"
"...The cafeteria is too crowded."
The nameless emotion from after Su Mian left was somewhat soothed. Deng Chuan pulled out the strip of paper for seat number 1 and waited for instructions.
Xu Wei unhurriedly unscrewed the glue, peered carefully at the opening, and said softly, "You don't like crowds?"
Her tone was casual, as if it were just an offhand question.
But Deng Chuan's heart was pounding like a drum. After a long moment, she answered softly.
"Yeah."
The conversation came to an end. The two officially began their task.
The strip for seat number 1 was pressed onto the glue Xu Wei had applied. Deng Chuan pressed it with her fingertips, feeling the sticky, slick wetness behind the paper.
The sensation on her fingertips felt like a reminder. Deng Chuan intentionally slowed her movements.
By the time Xu Wei stopped at the fourth desk to wait for her, Deng Chuan was still looking down, slowly picking out the strip for seat number 3, contentedly bathing in her gaze.
This repeated several times, and even she felt she was being deliberate, but Xu Wei said nothing. She just stood quietly ahead, waiting for her to walk over.
And so, Deng Chuan pasted the next strip of paper with a world of feeling.
Xu Wei laughed softly and said, "You don't have to stick it on so tightly, or it'll be hard to peel off."
Deng Chuan muttered, "Oh."
By now, the sky had completely darkened, with only a sliver of the setting sun hanging mournfully on the horizon.
Deng Chuan glanced out the window at one point. The view of the horizon suddenly reminded her of the scene in Xu Wei's car that day. The same silence, the same endlessness.
She belatedly felt a strong sense of happiness that completely filled the void in her heart left by Su Mian's departure.
The classroom lights were off. Deng Chuan didn't want to turn them on, and Xu Wei didn't ask her to. In the twilight, she gazed at Xu Wei, at her shadowy nose, lips, and eyes, her gaze unconsciously becoming as gentle as water. Xu Wei also glanced at her occasionally. The light was so tender, it was almost as if they were looking at each other over a candlelight dinner.
The incandescent lights would be a bright cruelty at this moment.
The two tacitly postponed their dinner time by another fifteen minutes. They left the classroom one after the other just before the sky turned completely dark.
Deng Chuan was no longer wearing her puffy down jacket, but a loose black coat, which for no reason made her look several years older. Xu Wei estimated that if she were to wear this coat, it would probably look like she'd put on a burlap sack.
But a certain kid wore it with sharp lines, making her shoulders look broad. Against the gray-white backdrop of the school building, the sight brightened Xu Wei's eyes.
And so, after Deng Chuan washed her hands and took the paper towel Xu Wei handed her, she heard her say, "Pack up your things. Come have dinner with me."
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