Some souls are born sensitive.

With just a light touch, Ding Xian suddenly sprang back as if she had seen a ghost, her back pressed against the cold green wall. Her eyes were wide like brass bells, and she stared blankly at the boy in front of her like a startled fawn.

Zhou Siyue smiled, then turned around and threw the basketball into the basket at the back of the classroom with a smooth arc. Only then did he turn back, looking at her askance, and said, "Silly, aren't you? That's water."

Only then did Ding Xian notice that his neck and the contours of his cheeks were still covered in trickling water droplets, which were rolling down his sleek lines into his jersey.

"Oh."

Ding Xian moved away from the wall and calmly dragged her chair back to its original position.

Zhou Siyue: "Dumb."

After saying that, he ignored her. He casually pulled out a book, opened it, flipped to a random page, and fanned himself with another book while reading. His bangs swayed gently with the breeze.

Everything was as a young man should be.

Recently, there had been a lot going on in Class Three: class committee elections, sports meet registration. After the diagnostic test came the three-day sports meet, and only then would be the National Day holiday.

Kong Shadi wanted to run for literary committee, and Song Ziqi wanted to run for sports committee.

In high school, everyone wanted to get some kind of position in the class, and also test their leadership and organizational skills. Positions like class monitor, Youth League secretary, and study committee member were truly busy and complex.

So, the literary and sports committee positions became popular at that time.

Song Ziqi encouraged Zhou Siyue to run for sports committee with him, but Young Master Zhou dismissed it with a mocking smile. It made sense; how could Young Master Zhou run for class committee? He didn't need to test his leadership at all; like his father, he was a natural leader, yet he was unconstrained.

Kong Shadi then encouraged Ding Xian: "Xianxian, I think you should try running for study committee. Youth League secretary or discipline committee member would also work." Before Ding Xian could reply, she directly told Song Ziqi to write it down.

"Don't—"

Her voice was loud and sharp, like a puppy whose tail had been stepped on, startling even Zhou Siyue, who was reading nearby. He couldn't help but look up and glance at her. "Who stepped on your tail again?"

Only then did Ding Xian come back to her senses, and she slowly said to Kong Shadi, "Don't write it. I don't want to be a class committee member."

Although she knew this wasn't the messy school in Yanping, she just wanted to study quietly and really didn't want to hold any complicated positions.

Kong Shadi was stunned by the shout, her mind slow to process. It took her a long while to finally react with "oh, oh, oh," and tell Song Ziqi to cross it out.

Zhou Siyue glanced at Ding Xian thoughtfully.

The young girl was sensitive, and upon noticing, she looked back. Their gazes met in the air, but with a surprising mutual understanding, they both looked away at the same time.

On the podium, the boisterous class committee elections began.

Song Ziqi easily won the sports committee position with a high number of votes. On the podium, the boy winked at Zhou Siyue over here, making one wonder what mischievous plans the two had concocted beforehand.

Since ancient times, literature and sports have been linked. After Song Ziqi's sports committee position was secured, Kong Shadi became even more eager to win the literary committee role.

But then, a dark horse emerged.

Yang Chunzi, a student who was usually quiet in class, suddenly applied to be the literary committee member.

If Zhou Siyue was the class heartthrob, then Yang Chunzi must be the class beauty.

This girl could be considered a female version of Zhou Siyue: 701 on her high school entrance exam, Grade 10 piano, and pretty. Actually, not exceptionally pretty, but that's if you include all those preceding qualifiers.

She should be considered top-tier pretty among academic achievers.

Ding Xian had always thought Kong Shadi was the prettiest in the class, provided Kong Shadi didn't speak. Once she spoke, her conversation couldn't even compare to half of Yang Chunzi's.

"Yang Chunzi or Kong Shadi, who do you choose?"

Ding Xian asked Zhou Siyue, who was diligently writing answers beside her.

"Choose what?"

Zhou Siyue was clearly out of it, only focused on the problem in front of him.

Ding Xian took a deep breath and tapped on his desk. "We're choosing class committee members! You should at least have some sense of collective honor!"

Zhou Siyue looked at her amused. "If you have so much collective honor, why don't you run? You run, and I'll choose you."

"Why choose me!"

Her heart pounded like a startled fawn. She felt flustered and anxious.

"Because you're silly."

"..."

"Now it's about choosing between Shadi and Yang Chunzi."

The boy thought for a moment, then gave his answer: "Yang Chunzi."

Ding Xian suddenly fell silent.

Kong Shadi wouldn't be sad because Zhou Siyue didn't choose her, but Ding Xian felt a bitter taste in her heart because Zhou Siyue chose Yang Chunzi.

At that moment.

Even if Zhou Siyue looked at Yang Chunzi one more time, Ding Xian would silently lower her head, deeply understanding the gap between herself and these people, deeply understanding that someone like Zhou Siyue could never like her.

Perhaps, he was like this with every one of his deskmates.

Maybe, three years later, she would go to Hangzhou, and he would stay in Beijing.

And everything that happened here would be like a splendid youthful dream, eventually burned into an absurdity by time.

Ding Xian suddenly began to scrutinize herself.

She had almost forgotten what she was supposed to do. After all, she was different from Zhou Siyue. He had a vast sky, he was free and unrestrained, naturally uninhibited. Peking University and Tsinghua University were beckoning to him.

And she, she was destined not to enter his life.

It was destined.

After realizing this, Ding Xian suddenly cheered up, unable to resist patting her own head.

"What were you doing before?!"

Zhou Siyue glanced at her, teasing with a smile, "Your brain isn't very bright to begin with. If you keep hitting it, do you still want to go to university?"

Ding Xian didn't even lift her head. "Of course I'll take the exam, of course."

Zhou Siyue: "Have you decided where you want to go?"

"Hangzhou, it's never changed."

Zhou Siyue shook his head. "Hopeless case."

"Does everyone have to get into Tsinghua or Peking Universities to be considered teachable?"

Seeing that Ding Xian was serious, Zhou Siyue immediately stopped smiling, flipped through his book, and said indifferently, "I was just joking. You can go wherever you want, I naturally have no objections."

The following days suddenly returned to normal.

Young Master Zhou continued to leisurely read his extracurricular books. Ding Xian kept battling shamelessly with math. After class, she would go to the restroom hand-in-hand with Kong Shadi as usual. Kong Shadi's appearance frequently attracted the close attention of boys from other classes.

And Ding Xian would follow beside her like a little girl.

Also, Kong Shadi's literary committee position was snatched by Yang Chunzi.

Although Kong Shadi didn't say anything outwardly, Ding Xian could feel her unhappiness and hostility towards Yang Chunzi.

The minds of girls are truly exceptionally sensitive; one glance is enough to feel the discord between two people. However, this doesn't work with boys. These two sides could be on the verge of fighting, and the boys over there would still be scratching their heads asking, "What are you two doing?"

Of course, Yang Chunzi didn't take Kong Shadi's malice seriously at all. She remained a goddess like the spring breeze, coming and going with grace. If they met on the road, she would nod and smile, then gracefully float past you like a fairy.

On this side, Kong Shadi was almost grinding her molars to dust, spitting out one word: "Fake."

'Where is she faking it?'

Ding Xian thought she was very natural, so natural it was as if she were a fairy floating down from the sky. So she patted Kong Shadi's shoulder and advised, "Jealousy makes people ugly."

Kong Shadi gasped, cupping her face, "Really?"

Ding Xian looked at Yang Chunzi's retreating figure and nodded seriously. "Yes."

Kong Shadi, however, suddenly grabbed her shoulders and said with utmost sincerity, "Actually, to be honest, I think if you dress up, you wouldn't be any less pretty than her." After saying that, she scrutinized Ding Xian's face. "Really, your forehead is just a bit high. How about you get bangs to cover it up? Want to come with me to get a haircut this weekend?"

To put it plainly, she wanted Ding Xian to accompany her to get a haircut.

"If you want me to go with you to get a haircut, just say so directly. I have to tutor my younger brother this weekend, so I can't come out."

Kong Shadi hugged her arm and whined, "How come every time I ask you, you never have time?"

Ding Xian whispered, "I really don't have time."

"Alright," Kong Shadi said disappointedly. "Then I'll just have to find my old friends. But what I said is true, you're actually very pretty, it's just that your forehead is a bit high, making it look big. But if you cover it up, it really would look good."

How would Ding Xian dare to cut bangs? She didn't even dare to have the thought. If one hair was touched on her head, Ye Wanxian would fight her to the death.

"The fortune teller said that a big forehead means you'll become an official later, so it can't be covered."

Kong Shadi giggled, amused by her. "You actually believe that?"

The two returned to the classroom. Zhou Siyue was leaning back in his chair in his usual lazy posture, chatting idly with Song Ziqi.

As soon as Ding Xian sat down, a piece of paper was slapped over. She looked closely—it was the sports meet registration form.

"What's this for?"

Young Master Zhou, with his legs crossed, said, "To sign up, of course."

There were few girls in Class Three, only a dozen or so. Even with each person signing up for two events, they barely met the required number. Ding Xian knew she couldn't hold the class back, so she pondered over the registration form for a long time, deciding to find two events she could muddle through.

Long jump and high jump.

Just as she finished writing, she saw Yang Chunzi walk over from the front, tossing two forms to Zhou Siyue.

"Fill these out with your deskmate."

Then Ding Xian saw Zhou Siyue suddenly uncross his legs.