BSS - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Xu Wei couldn't help but glance over at Deng Chuan. She saw the girl looking down, her long lashes slightly lowered, her expression unreadable. She looked exhausted.
Qin Shu recognized Deng Chuan and didn't take the comment to heart, chiming in at the perfect moment to prevent any awkwardness. "That's true. Society is more open now, and Deng Chuan is tall. It's quite suitable for her to find a girlfriend."
The topic quickly passed. Yu Xiao and the others started reminiscing about the sports meets from their first and second years.
"Back then, we even had a calligraphy display. A whole group of us holding a banner, it seems so silly thinking back on it now!"
"Us too! We held up a couplet. I remember in our year, someone got a nosebleed during a long-distance run. He just kept running while bleeding, half his face was covered in blood. It scared us half to death."
Deng Chuan and Xu Wei just listened without speaking. The atmosphere between them was a bit quiet, but not oppressive.
After a moment of silence, Xu Wei leaned in closer and asked in a low voice, "Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Deng Chuan raised a hand to rub her eyes and nodded. "Yeah."
Xu Wei added, "Go rest early after lunch."
"Okay." Deng Chuan still looked very tired and didn't say much more.
Xu Wei sat up straight again. Her eyes watched the classes passing below, and she fell silent as well.
Once all the classes had entered the field, the school leaders began their speeches, officially declaring the start of the sports meet. Xu Wei scrolled through her phone messages and said to Qin Shu, "The cat food arrived. Remember to pick it up."
Qin Shu acknowledged her with a sound of agreement, not feeling at all that it was strange to be ordered around.
Yu Xiao let out a "wow." "Teacher, you got a cat?"
Qin Shu smiled brightly. "Yep." She proactively opened her phone's photo album to show them pictures. "Super cute."
"Did you bring it from home?"
"It was a stray," Qin Shu said, casually resting her hand on Xu Wei's leg. "It showed up at our dorm door, and your Teacher Xu took it in."
Yu Xiao looked at Xu Wei with some surprise. "Teacher, you're so kind-hearted."
"The teacher is not kind-hearted. The teacher is very fierce." Qin Shu leaned in, playfully calling Xu Wei out. "You haven't seen Teacher Xu disciplining the cat. So fierce. I've never seen someone who can get angry even at a little kitten."
She exaggerated, making the surrounding students laugh.
Xu Wei finally smiled too, reaching out to push the leaning Qin Shu back. "What are you talking about? I was a little annoyed, but I wasn't fierce, okay?"
Yu Xiao chimed in, "Exactly, Teacher, you're exaggerating. We've never seen Teacher Xu get angry."
"Do you want to?"
"No! No, no, no!"
Listening to them talk, Deng Chuan's lips curved into a faint smile. She straightened her back and pulled down the hood of her sweatshirt. She pressed her hand to her forehead, trying to wake herself up a bit.
Xu Wei caught the movement in her peripheral vision and turned to suggest to the group, "It should be over. Let's go eat, rest up, and get ready for the afternoon classes."
The group got up one by one.
Qin Shu pulled Xu Wei to her feet, suggesting they go pick up the package first.
Xu Wei understood her meaning; it was always a bit inconvenient to eat with students. So she nodded.
Under the bright sun, a light breeze was blowing, unexpectedly.
Deng Chuan turned with the others, her eyes unintentionally sweeping over their intertwined fingertips.
Xu Wei's fingers were fair, her nails neatly trimmed. Qin Shu didn't hold them for long; she quickly pulled her hand back and turned slightly to the side, seemingly preparing to wait for Deng Chuan and Yu Xiao to pass so she could catch up with Wu Fuwu.
She didn't look down, but her eyes were lowered unconsciously, her long lashes fluttering like a butterfly's wings. In the sunlight, her skin was so fair it was almost translucent.
Whether intentionally or not, Deng Chuan didn't move past her. She stood rooted to the spot, her eyes glued to Xu Wei. The exhaustion made her thoughts ache with a dull pain.
Neither of them moved.
At that moment, the wind rustled the treetops, and the clamor of the crowd could be heard in the distance. Higher up, clouds drifted lazily across the sky. Everything seemed to ripple like water. But here, time experienced a small, momentary pause.
Those lowered eyes, following the direction of the wind's caress, lifted to glance at Deng Chuan. As the butterfly wings fluttered, her gaze swept past in an instant, as fleeting as a dream. A dream like a white butterfly.
Xu Wei turned. Deng Chuan followed behind her, her shadow cast on the ground. The hem of Xu Wei's skirt danced in sync with it.
On the surface, it seemed as if nothing had changed at all.
There was a half-day off for the sports meet, and classes resumed as usual in the afternoon.
During the break, Su Mian made a rare appearance in their classroom to find Deng Chuan.
Su Mian's mother was an English teacher at their school. Su Mian was planning to study abroad for her undergraduate degree. She didn't care about the Gaokao and was focused on preparing for the TOEFL, so she often skipped class to take online TOEFL courses in her mom's dorm room. Being late and leaving early were routine for her, and the teachers, aware of her situation, turned a blind eye.
Su Mian said her mom had made corn and pork rib soup and wanted Deng Chuan to come to her dorm to have some.
Deng Chuan asked, "Now?"
"No, my mom finished her classes and went home. She left it for us in a stew pot to keep warm. We can go have it tonight." Su Mian toyed with Deng Chuan's pen. "Why don't you skip class tonight? Take a leave of absence, and we can study together in my mom's dorm."
Deng Chuan was a little hesitant.
"Come on, it's so boring being in the classroom all the time."
Deng Chuan tried to take her pen back, but Su Mian wouldn't let go. "So? Are you coming or not?"
Deng Chuan gave her a perfunctory answer. "I want to, but how do I ask for leave?"
"That's easy. Just say you're not feeling well."
"That's... not a good idea, is it?" Deng Chuan recalled Xu Wei's gaze. "Our teacher isn't easy to fool."
"Xu Wei? She's not that old-fashioned, is she? She won't be that strict."
"Hmm..." Deng Chuan was still hesitating. Seeing this, Su Mian said decisively, "Stop agonizing over it. Worst case, I'll send the message for you."
"Well... okay then."
Hearing Deng Chuan agree, Su Mian returned the pen and said happily, "Then come find me after school, and we'll go eat together."
"Okay."
Su Mian lingered at Deng Chuan's desk for a while longer, chatting about this and that. It wasn't until the bell for class rang that she scurried back.
In the evening, the two of them sat across from each other, eating.
Deng Chuan didn't have much experience asking for leave. "Should I ask for leave now?"
Su Mian took a bite of a chicken leg and shook her head. After swallowing, she said, "Not yet. Wait until it's almost time for class, then ask. It'll show your struggle."
"What?"
"It shows that you really wanted to go to evening self-study, that you held out until the very last minute before you had to ask for leave."
She looked at Deng Chuan's somewhat speechless expression and asked, "What? Doesn't that make you more believable?"
"Such a drama queen," Deng Chuan commented, lowering her head to eat her noodles.
After a moment's thought, she added, "Forget it. You don't have to help me later. I'll send her the message myself."
"Oh."
The cursor blinked in the text box. Deng Chuan stared at Xu Wei's profile picture for a while.
Su Mian had suggested she send a text message, but she didn't have Xu Wei's phone number. Luckily, they had added each other on WeChat before; otherwise, she would have had to endure the torment of waiting for the request to be approved again.
The school didn't allow students to have phones, but that was only the official rule. In reality, students and teachers had a tacit understanding, maintaining a consensus not to use electronic devices in teaching areas.
Deng Chuan typed and deleted several times before finally sending the message:
"Teacher Xu, this is Deng Chuan. I'm not feeling well tonight. I'd like to request leave from evening self-study. I hope for your approval."
Xu Wei replied quickly.
Two or three minutes later, her message came in: "Okay." Followed by another: "Make sure you rest."
Seeing the concerned message made Deng Chuan feel a little guilty.
The dorms at No. 1 High School were quite nice. Though it was called a teacher's dorm, the layout was more like a small apartment.
Su Mian was in the kitchen, fussing with the soup. She brought the whole pot out and placed it on the dining table. "How'd it go? Did you get the leave?"
Deng Chuan put her phone away and walked over. "It's all set."
"What did Xu Wei say?"
"She said okay."
"See? I told you. For teachers, approving leave is just a casual thing. They're not going to agonize over whether you're really sick or not."
Deng Chuan suddenly felt annoyed. "Stop talking. Let's have the soup."
"Oh, okay." Su Mian didn't notice her mood. As she ladled the soup, she said, "I just added salt, but I didn't dare add too much. Try it and see if it's salty enough. We can add more if it's not."
Deng Chuan looked closely at the pot of soup, which was filled to the brim with corn and pork ribs. "Isn't this a bit too much?"
"Hey, hey, don't say that. My mom said we have to finish it, it can't be left overnight." Su Mian pushed a bowl toward her. "Drink up."
Both of them had already eaten dinner, and after one bowl each, they were too full to drink any more. There was too much soup. Forget finishing it, they couldn't even finish the ingredients.
Su Mian looked at the pot, worried. "What are we going to do?"
Deng Chuan said, "Maybe we can save it for later."
Su Mian was dejected. "We won't be able to finish it later either."
"Then..."
As they were talking, Deng Chuan's phone vibrated in her pocket.
"Whose call is it?" Su Mian asked.
Deng Chuan took out her phone. "My mom."
"Oh, crap. Don't tell me Xu Wei notified your family?"
"I don't know."
Deng Chuan got up and went to the balcony to answer the call.
The call was from her mom. Xu Wei had indeed informed her parents that she wasn't feeling well. Deng Chuan didn't say much, only that she had already taken medicine at Su Mian's mother's dorm and would be fine after some rest. It took a great deal of effort to talk her mom out of her grand plan to come to the school and take her to the doctor.
After hanging up, she turned around and went back inside to see Su Mian walking out of the bathroom with the pot.
She was beaming. "Deng Chuan, aren't I a genius?"
"What did you do?"
"I poured out the soup. We couldn't finish it anyway." Su Mian showed her the bottom of the pot.
"...What about the corn and pork ribs inside?" Deng Chuan suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Poured them out too."
"Where did you pour them?"
"In the toilet."
"Are you crazy?" For the first time, Deng Chuan wanted to curse at her. She knew Su Mian had never lifted a finger to do housework at home, but for someone to be so lacking in common sense was truly... unbelievable.
She said irritably, "It's going to clog."
"I flushed."
"There's no way it flushed down. Go look now, I bet it's still there."
Deng Chuan didn't even want to walk over. She stood where she was and watched Su Mian turn and enter the bathroom. A moment later, a wail of despair came out: "Why won't it flush!"
"Isn't the toilet supposed to be able to take anything!"
Deng Chuan had wanted to scold her, but seeing her looking as if her entire worldview was collapsing, she found it somewhat amusing. "Fish it out."
"What?"
"Fish it out. Otherwise, what will your mom do when she sees it tomorrow?"
Su Mian's face scrunched up. "How am I supposed to fish it out?"
Deng Chuan suppressed a laugh. "With chopsticks?"
"You can't be serious?" Su Mian stood there, waging an intense internal struggle. After a long moment, she finally steeled herself, grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the kitchen, and went into the bathroom.
Deng Chuan thoughtfully handed her a plastic bag and leaned leisurely against the doorframe. "You won't be able to use those chopsticks after this."
"Ugh... Isn't that obvious?" Su Mian gagged as she fished things out.
After finally getting all the corn and pork ribs out, Su Mian gingerly held the bag with two fingers to throw it away, saying weakly:
"I'm never eating corn again."
After their little episode, they both finally sat down to study. Deng Chuan worked on a practice test, while Su Mian listened to TOEFL materials with her headphones on.
The end-of-class bell rang once. Both of them were completely focused and didn't move.
Suddenly.
A few soft knocks came from the door.
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