BSS - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Deng Chuan looked up and nudged Su Mian.
Su Mian took off her headphones and looked at her. "What's wrong?"
Deng Chuan whispered, "Someone's knocking."
"No way." Su Mian stood up doubtfully. "Who would come at this hour?"
The person outside knocked a few times and then fell silent. Su Mian cautiously pulled the door open.
For some reason, Deng Chuan suddenly felt a little nervous too.
"...Teacher Xu?"
Xu Wei looked over Su Mian's shoulder, her eyes meeting Deng Chuan's, who was sitting at the dining table.
Just one glance. Then she averted her gaze. She spoke gently to Su Mian, who had stepped aside for her, "It's nothing. I just came to check on you."
Deng Chuan froze, watching Xu Wei walk gracefully toward her. She felt the cool back of Xu Wei's hand touch her forehead, light as a dragonfly skimming water. "Feeling better?"
"Better, thank you, Teacher."
The two of them maintained a strange sort of calm.
Xu Wei placed the bag she was carrying on the table. "Your mother said you've already taken your medicine. This is an antiviral oral liquid and some cold granules. Remember to take them for the next few days."
She gave Deng Chuan a deep look. "The seasons are changing, and a lot of people are catching colds. You need to take better care of yourself."
After giving her instructions, Xu Wei turned and walked toward the door without waiting for Deng Chuan's reply. She spoke to Su Mian, who was standing frozen by the door, a smile playing on her lips. "It's a bit stuffy in your room. Deng Chuan isn't feeling well, so make sure to get some ventilation."
Su Mian numbly agreed. Xu Wei smiled at her again and closed the door.
The moment Xu Wei was out the door, Su Mian locked it from the inside.
"What's with Xu Wei? Does she chase down every student in your class who takes sick leave to deliver medicine?"
Deng Chuan, feeling agitated, tried to spin her pen. She fumbled it, and it clattered to the floor. "I don't know. I've never heard of her doing this before."
Su Mian came back and sat down. "She's so scary. She's not going to go find my mom, is she?"
Su Mian's mom was in the second-year English department. Deng Chuan thought for a moment. "Why would she look for your mom for no reason? She won't. They won't run into each other."
"True." Su Mian put on her headphones, then took them off again. "Do you think she's already figured it out?"
"I think so too." Thinking about Xu Wei's actions just now, Deng Chuan felt an unexplainable emptiness in her heart, like a valley that had lost its echo. Su Mian's words were like stones thrown into that valley.
"Oh god, this is so awkward."
"Forget it, it's fine." Deng Chuan composed herself and picked up her pen again. "Let's study."
"Okay." Su Mian paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you want to sleep here tonight?"
"The dorm auntie does checks."
"Just have your roommate spread your quilt out for you." Su Mian was very experienced with this.
She glanced at Deng Chuan's expression and suddenly lost her nerve. "On second thought, never mind. We don't want to get caught by Xu Wei again."
"Yeah." Deng Chuan looked down at her scratch paper and nodded lightly.
The evening self-study session passed quickly.
The bell rang, and Deng Chuan stood up to pack her things-pens, test papers, books, and scratch paper were spread all over the table. When she saw the bag of medicine Xu Wei had brought, she hesitated for a moment before picking it up. She turned to say goodbye to Su Mian.
Su Mian was staying the night, so she walked her to the door.
When Deng Chuan returned to her dorm, most of her roommates had already washed up and were lying in bed chatting, waiting for lights out. She put her things down and went to the balcony to wash up.
Outside, the dim yellow streetlights cast dancing shadows of the trees. The campus paths were empty, and the lights in the distant academic building had been turned off. As if possessed, she turned her head, wanting to see if the lights in the teachers' dormitory were still on. Unfortunately, the teachers' dorm was parallel to hers, so she couldn't see clearly.
As she was lost in thought, Li Mingtang passed behind her. Deng Chuan stepped aside to let her pass, and as they brushed against each other, she heard Li Mingtang ask, "Deng Chuan, which university are you planning to apply to?"
Deng Chuan's mind was blank, and she answered distractedly, "Depends on what my family wants." She didn't say it explicitly, but they both knew that with her grades, it would have to be one of the universities up north.
"What do you want to study in the future?"
"Probably something in finance."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Deng Chuan didn't say much more, and Li Mingtang didn't ask any further questions. They exchanged a few more words before Li Mingtang left.
On Thursday and Friday, the third-year students had classes as usual.
The third-year academic building was near the sports field, where the school's sports meet was in full swing. The announcements from the loudspeakers were so loud that, starting in the morning, teachers' lectures were interrupted several times. They could only stop and listen quietly with the class to the broadcast from the field:
"Jiang Yuan from Class 5, Grade 1! He fears no hardship! He's forging ahead bravely! Running at the very front of the pack! Go, Jiang Yuan! We cheer for you!"
The announcer was impassioned, their voice cracking with excitement on the final word, "cheer." You could practically hear three bolded exclamation points in their tone.
On the podium, Xu Wei lowered her head and smiled.
A few strands of her hair, hanging down, were haloed in gold by the sunlight from outside, illuminating her beautiful and serene profile.
No one noticed Xu Wei smiling; only Deng Chuan, who had been watching her the whole time, saw it.
In the crowd, only she sensed Xu Wei's relaxed mood, like discovering a flower blooming alone in a corner.
Xu Wei's smile seemed to be infectious, so Deng Chuan couldn't help but smile too.
The next second.
Xu Wei casually lifted her eyes and met her gaze, clearly pausing for a beat.
In an instant, she wiped the smile from her face, lowered her eyes to the book in her hands, and her entire aura became stern.
Deng Chuan froze, subconsciously feeling that something was wrong.
Xu Wei didn't give her time to think. She quickly handed out a few new test papers. The second monthly exam was approaching, and the whole class was buckling down, treating the noise from outside as nothing more than a mood regulator. No one was distracted.
For the next few days, the two still had no interaction. Only occasionally, when Deng Chuan left late after evening self-study, would she happen to run into Xu Wei, who was checking the classroom's doors, windows, and utilities.
When their eyes met, Xu Wei seemed unwilling to even speak to her. If interaction was unavoidable, she would just nod. On the way back, she would deliberately walk a few steps behind her.
She left plenty of space for her everywhere. It didn't seem awkward, though.
Deng Chuan wanted to dwell on it, but her academic life was packed, leaving her no time to worry about Xu Wei's subtle attitude. Naturally, she couldn't figure out how to resolve it either.
The monthly exam was uneventful for Deng Chuan. But after finishing the English exam in the afternoon, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, excitedly discussing their weekend plans. Listening to them, Deng Chuan's tense mood also relaxed.
Su Mian, along with the same group of friends from the movie last time, came to find her again. "Deng Chuan! Let's all stay at school this weekend!"
Deng Chuan hesitated. "Maybe not. It's a rare chance to go home."
Everyone chimed in to persuade her:
"You can go home anytime!"
"You're not going to relax with us after the monthly exam?"
"Yeah, yeah, if we stay over, we can all go out together this weekend."
Deng Chuan clutched her book. "...Go out and do what?"
"Anything." Su Mian, who knew Deng Chuan responded to persuasion but not pressure, pulled her along. "Where's your class's weekend stay-over sign-up sheet?"
Deng Chuan helplessly pointed toward the class president's desk.
Su Mian dragged her over. "Hey, can you add Deng Chuan's name to the sign-up sheet?"
The class president smiled. "Sure."
It was a done deal. Deng Chuan, who hadn't said a word, struggled against the hand gripping her wrist. "Okay, that's enough."
Her skin was fair, and Su Mian had gripped her tightly. The purplish-red finger marks on her wrist looked alarming.
Su Mian touched it. "Does it hurt?"
Deng Chuan shook her head. It looked scary, but it would fade soon enough. "What do you guys want to do?"
"Go out to eat, then see a movie, and then hang out at my mom's dorm tonight."
Hearing "my mom's dorm," Deng Chuan had a knee-jerk reaction of resistance.
In her spare moments these past few days, she had thought about it carefully. If Xu Wei was displeased with her about anything, it was probably that time she faked being sick to get leave.
If she could do it over, she would never agree to Su Mian's nonsense.
Just as she was thinking this, Xu Wei walked in through the front door, heading in their direction.
Deng Chuan looked up, then guiltily averted her gaze, pretending not to notice.
The group of students parted to let her through.
Xu Wei stopped in front of her. Deng Chuan waited for a moment, but Xu Wei didn't speak. She couldn't help but look up, only to inadvertently meet Xu Wei's calm eyes. She instantly looked away, then shifted her gaze back.
Xu Wei was no longer looking at her. She was standing next to Yu Xiao, speaking to a group of seated boys, her voice somewhat cold and hard:
"Clear everything off the desks. After you sweep the floor, you need to mop it. The podium needs to be wiped down too; it's covered in dust."
She was here to assign the weekend cleaning duties. Their classroom had been used as an exam hall, and after the test, it was a complete mess.
After speaking, Xu Wei tilted her head and glanced, as if unintentionally, at Deng Chuan's wrist. Then she looked at Su Mian, who was holding Deng Chuan's hand while talking to her.
Deng Chuan didn't look at her. Xu Wei added a few more words about being safe. Seeing the boys nod in agreement, she turned and left without another expression.
The weekend was indeed lively.
After a half-day of classes on Saturday, the group went off campus to eat. Their school was in the city center, surrounded by shopping malls. After their meal, the group was eager to see a movie. Since it wasn't a holiday, there weren't many good movies out. After much deliberation, they chose Dunkirk.
The movie theater was very quiet. Even though it was the weekend, there weren't many people.
The movie they chose had a title like a documentary, and the content was similar. Without prior research, it was quite soporific. Su Mian was completely lost and fell asleep leaning on Deng Chuan.
Deng Chuan, however, didn't feel much of anything. The plot wasn't very engaging, so she didn't pay close attention, instead turning down her phone's brightness to chat with her family.
They left the theater around three in the afternoon.
Someone needed to use the restroom, so the others waited for them at the exit in small groups.
Deng Chuan stood there idly, checking messages on her phone. In the family group chat, her mom, who hadn't seen her in a week, had heard from someone that it was popular for parents to bring soup and late-night snacks to third-year students. She was eagerly discussing with Deng Chuan whether she should do the same for her.
Deng Chuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and it took some effort to talk her mom out of the idea. A slight smile played on her lips, one she didn't even notice herself.
Beside her, Su Mian suddenly nudged her and asked in a low voice, "Isn't that Xu Wei?"
Deng Chuan looked up, a bit dazed. It really was Xu Wei. She was wearing a light blue dress with a thin knit cardigan, and light makeup that made her look radiant. Her whole appearance was very gentle.
Someone called out softly, "Teacher Xu-"
Xu Wei turned her head and happened to meet Deng Chuan's gaze. The girl was like a white bird, dressed in a white tracksuit with orange trim. Her eyes were clean and pure, and the knuckles of the hand holding her phone were distinct. Seeing Xu Wei look over, she offered a well-behaved and composed smile. "Teacher."
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