Ding Xian hadn't quite come to her senses yet.

After the boy left, Deng Wanwan stepped forward and took Ding Xian's hand, smiling as she looked at her and said, "We'll move on Monday when we go back. To be honest, sitting at the back these past few days, I couldn't see anything clearly."

Huh?

How did it suddenly...

Ding Xian let her lead her by the hand, her mind in a muddle.

Deng Wanwan smiled and patted her head, glancing behind her. "Why are you spacing out? I know everything already."

Hearing this, Ding Xian quickly waved her hand. "No, I'm not..."

'Not what?'

'Hearing him tell you to move back, your little deer must be about to crash and die, right?'

Deng Wanwan didn't wait for her to finish, directly interrupting, "Alright, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The words sounded ambiguous, so ambiguous that Ding Xian didn't dare to look Deng Wanwan in the eye.

The young girl lowered her head, which further confirmed Deng Wanwan's thoughts.

Deng Wanwan smiled again. "We're all classmates. If you had just told me, of course, I wouldn't have disagreed."

'Just tell you?'

'How am I supposed to just tell you?'

Ding Xian pouted.

Deng Wanwan released her hand, glanced ahead, and said, "Alright, Zhou Siyue told me everything. Don't be shy. We'll move on Monday when we go back. I'm going to play first."

Wait, wait, wait... hold on?

Ding Xian reached out and grabbed her hand, staring blankly. "That jer... cough... what did Zhou Siyue tell you?"

Deng Wanwan answered cheerfully, "He said you just arrived in the city and aren't quite used to the climate. You've been running to the restroom a lot during class recently, so sitting in the back is more convenient."

...!!

'Is it too late to go over and smack him to death now?'

After Deng Wanwan finished speaking, she ran towards the basketball machine. Ding Xian glared at the tall back standing in front of the machine, gnashing her teeth in anger.

Zhou Siyue stood in front of the basketball machine, his posture standard for a fixed-point shot. The basketball arced in a smooth parabola over his head and fell into the opposing hoop. His hand speed was very fast; some balls hadn't even dropped before the next one was already thrown in.

There was a similar basketball machine in Yanping Town.

She had a childhood friend who was very good at it, and he loved to squat at the game arcade's basketball machine, trying to beat his own records. In less than a month, he had broken all records, and no one had ever surpassed his.

This was the second time Ding Xian had seen someone score 999 on the basketball machine.

As Zhou Siyue's last ball dropped, Song Ziqi and Jiang Chen's jeering and bragging voices reached her ears. Kong Shadi was shouting beside them, wanting to have a go herself, while Deng Wanwan went over to snatch Zhou Siyue's game coins.

Zhou Siyue said, oblivious, "Why are you snatching mine? Go change some yourself."

Song Ziqi whistled.

Kong Shadi chimed in, "Yeah, why are you snatching someone else's? If you want to play, go change some yourself."

Deng Wanwan huffed, carefully maintaining her pride, and said, "I'm not playing anymore."

Kong Shadi triumphantly raised an eyebrow at Ding Xian, her expression seeming to say, "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on things for you. Go find your brother in peace."

Meanwhile, the boy she was concerned about was completely unaware of all this, already engrossed in playing the claw machine by himself.

Ding Xian suddenly laughed out loud.

She remembered a sentence she had once read in a book—

Contradictions, like fish joined head to tail, persist in this world.

And teenagers in adolescence bring these contradictions to their fullest expression.

Ding Xian led Ding Juncong home. Ye Wanxian had just finished making dinner and, without much talk, urged them to quickly wash their hands and eat. Ding Juncong made a face at Ding Xian and quickly scurried into the restroom.

At the dinner table.

Ding Xian was listlessly scooping rice into her mouth. Ye Wanxian put a piece of fish into her bowl and casually asked, "How's your studying lately?"

Ding Xian put a mouthful of rice in her mouth and said, "It's alright."

Ye Wanxian nodded, her chopsticks clattering, and said, "If you have time tonight, tutor your brother in math."

"Oh."

Ye Wanxian then casually asked, "How are you getting along with Siyue?"

That name being suddenly mentioned by her family, that subtle feeling was probably something only Ding Xian could understand. Half a mouthful of rice choked in her throat. She coughed a few times, cleared her throat, and said in as steady a tone as possible, "He's doing well."

Ye Wanxian: "Get along well with him. How are his grades?"

A faint trace of sadness drifted through Ding Xian's heart. After searching for a long time, she couldn't find a suitable word to describe him, so she gave a very fair yet perfunctory evaluation— 'An academic ace.'

Ye Wanxian hadn't studied these terms. She nodded and said, "Indeed, Old Zhou used to say that his son excels at everything he learns and has an exceptionally good memory. But why did he only score so little in the high school entrance exam?"

'With his study attitude, it's a miracle he even scored that much, alright?'

Ding Xian roared in her heart.

Ye Wanxian: "He was really smart as a child, I wonder how he is now."

'Now he's a monster,' Ding Xian thought silently.

"Some children are exceptionally gifted, but if not nurtured properly, they can be overlooked. Look at Mrs. Zhou, she plays mahjong all day and doesn't manage him much, and Old Zhou is busy with work, where does he have time to raise a child? I think our Congcong will definitely be more accomplished than him in the future."

Ding Xian glanced at her brother, who was eating furiously, and sneered, "He should at least get into a decent middle school before we talk about accomplishments."

...

That really hit home.

Even Ye Wanxian, uncharacteristically, didn't retort. Instead, she patted her brother's head and said, "Your sister is right, improving your grades is the most important thing."

Ding Juncong gave her a resentful look.

Ding Xian quickly finished her rice and went back to her room to preview the next week's lessons.

She flipped through two pages of her book, but not a single word registered. Outside the window, crooked tree leaves fluttered and settled, one pale yellow leaf stopping in front of her window, like a signal of autumn.

The sky gradually darkened, the twilight deepened, and a thousand li of misty waves merged into one color.

The not-quite-full moon slowly rose halfway into the sky. Its thin, gauze-like light gathered through the tree branches, casting dappled shadows on the blue flagstone path, like a young girl's unspoken thoughts, clearly visible yet with no way to express them.

She suddenly longed for Monday to come quickly.