Chapter 36

Time, please be kind to this young man.

-- Little Monster's Diary

The arts class had just finished PE. Students streamed out of the stadium one after another. Ding Xian was among the flowing crowd when she saw the backs of those two who rarely stood together. She stopped smiling and paused her steps. As she was about to turn and walk back, someone patted her shoulder. You Keke suddenly darted out from behind her, her gaze meaningfully sweeping behind Ding Xian before retracting, then she deliberately said loudly, "Ding Xian, what are you doing here?"

Sure enough, the two people behind them both turned around.

Ding Xian quickly hid behind You Keke, wishing she could strangle the girl, but You Keke completely disregarded it, winking at her and whispering, "Why are you hiding here? Go declare your sovereignty! You're not ambiguous at all with me, but when it comes to her, you get scared?"

'Scared of what?'

'I just haven't figured out what to say.'

You Keke then said, "I heard that someone from your family used to have a relationship with our Goddess Yang—" She didn't finish the sentence, but instead gave her a 'you know what I mean' look.

Ding Xian's heart felt a chill. Looking over again, Yang Chunzi was already gracefully walking towards them with water in hand. As she passed the two of them, she gave Ding Xian a slight smile, gentle like a swallow's feather, which instantly crushed Ding Xian's heart again. 'What was she being jealous about with such a wonderful girl?'

Ding Xian looked up and smiled, bravely met her gaze, and watched her walk out of the stadium.

At the same time, a voice came from beside her ear: "Fake."

Ding Xian suddenly turned her head, looking at You Keke, whose arms were crossed over her chest. "What are you doing?"

You Keke pouted. "Don't you think she's especially fake? Happy or not, she always has the same expression, as if she holds the winning ticket. It makes me sick just looking at her."

"You and Kong Shadi really could be good friends."

"Why?"

"Both so petty."

After Ding Xian finished speaking, You Keke slapped her hard on the forehead. "Damn it, I'm trying to help you, and you call me petty?"

Ding Xian winced in pain and belatedly realized that You Keke was sticking up for her. She quickly covered her head and apologized to her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that about you. I just think you and Shadi are really quite similar."

You Keke snorted. "Being similar is why we can't be friends. How's that Mute-di doing these days?"

Ding Xian corrected her, "It's Shadi."

"Whatever."

You Keke waved her hand, saying nonchalantly. As soon as she finished speaking, her peripheral vision caught sight of someone approaching with a ball. She shrewdly patted Ding Xian's head. "Alright, let's go. Talk next time."

Zhou Siyue held the ball and stopped in front of her, one hand in his pocket, looking down at her. "Why aren't you in class? What are you doing running off here?"

Ding Xian looked up, her gaze not avoiding his at all, staring straight at him. "What about you? You skipped two classes, what are you doing here?"

Zhou Siyue curled the corner of his mouth, glanced elsewhere, then suddenly balanced the basketball on his index finger, withdrawing his other hand to clap, looking very casual, and began to spin the ball in front of her. He said calmly, "Just out for some fresh air, what's wrong? Do you have to manage that too?"

His understated and carefree attitude instantly infuriated Ding Xian. She directly slapped the basketball, which was slowly rolling in his hand like a globe, off his hand. Zhou Siyue was stunned, watching the ball roll from his hand, drop to the ground with a thud, then roll a few more times, slowly stopping at his feet.

He put both hands into his pockets. Just as he was about to get angry, he heard the girl opposite him say coldly, "Do you know this affects other people?"

"Who did I affect?"

He stood backlit, every strand of his hair seeming to glow, the young man full of heroic spirit.

"I..." Ding Xian suddenly noticed him slightly squinting, she didn't know if it was because of the glaring sun or if he was startled by her "I..." She slightly lowered her head, all her previous arrogance was gone. "I... we're all very worried about you, afraid that you..."

"Afraid of what? Afraid I'll take it too hard?"

He suddenly smiled, then reached out and ruffled her hair. "I'm not that fragile."

Ding Xian's worry was not entirely unnecessary. He had grown up cherished by teachers and parents, had a smooth life all the way, and had never encountered setbacks. His psychological endurance would be much weaker compared to an average child, wouldn't it?

Clearly, she had underestimated Zhou Siyue a bit.

"I just want to tell you, it's okay not to make the National Team, it's okay not to win an award. These are all temporary. I've always believed you're a math genius, and you'll definitely achieve great things in mathematics in the future."

She was serious when she said this, but for some reason, it sounded a bit strange coming from her mouth. Zhou Siyue couldn't help but laugh and gently poked her forehead. "You math idiot, don't try to comfort me."

"..."

'You're the math idiot,' Ding Xian glared at him.

Zhou Siyue suddenly bent down, placed his large hand on top of her head, pressed it firmly, and met her gaze. "I'm not as fragile as you think. Life is inherently unpredictable, temporary ups and downs don't prove anything. I took the competition path not because I love math so much, but purely for the thrill of solving problems."

'The thrill of solving... solving... problems??'

'You academic elites' adjectives are really simple and crude.'

Zhou Siyue withdrew his hand, stood straight, scratched his eyebrow with his fingertip, and then said, "I once read a sentence in a book, and now that I think about it, it's quite profound..."

"What was it?"

He glanced at her, smiling. "Humans are so strange. If no one sympathized, you wouldn't care how much the wound hurt; if no one mocked, you wouldn't care how ugly the scar was; if no one compared, who would know what a future is..."

Ding Xian was surprised by Zhou Siyue's insight. The tolerance of an eighteen-year-old boy towards people and things completely impressed her. In the many years to come, she seemed to never encounter another boy like him. Even later, when she was studying in the retake class, whenever friends talked about some notable figure from this or that place, and curiosity made her take a second look, she would find that he was also an ordinary boy who would lose his temper if he didn't do well on a test, and would argue with others over different solutions to a problem, and would also do things to hurt others due to his own arrogance. But her friends would still be completely smitten. "No one is perfect, it's already hard to achieve this much."

Ding Xian shook her head, and said in her heart:

'You haven't seen him, you haven't.'

Indeed, when one is young, one should not meet someone too extraordinary, because that would mean the rest of your life would be nothing special.

Zhou Siyue and Yang Chunzi made up.

The two no longer deliberately avoided each other; occasionally meeting on the road, they would even casually chat a bit. Ding Xian ran into them several times: Zhou Siyue's tall figure, hands in pockets, walked towards the academic building, with Yang Chunzi, who would have been an impossible sight before, standing beside him.

Regarding this situation, Kong Shadi's sense of crisis was even stronger than Ding Xian's. "Keep pretending to be generous, and you'll go home and cry."

"He said he doesn't like Yang Chunzi. Am I supposed to question him like a busybody, 'What exactly happened between you and her before?' If he doesn't want to talk about it, he must have his reasons."

"You're really considerate."

Kong Shadi said sarcastically.

Later, Zhou Siyue told Ding Xian to move back. Ding Xian retorted with one sentence, "Move what? You keep your distance from me from now on."

Zhou Siyue was so angry he wanted to slap her. He gritted his teeth and endured it. "What's gotten into you now?"

Although she said that to Kong Shadi, at that sensitive, suspicious, and jealous age, reason was not enough to control her emotions. How could she not be jealous? Whenever someone said a few more words to him, she would get scared. No one could understand her feeling of apprehension and fear, so she blurted out, "Teacher Liu said we should keep our distance."

Only later did Zhou Siyue understand that someone had reported them, and now they were on Liu Jiang's special observation list.

During that period, Ding Xian's grades declined sharply. Without Zhou Siyue's supervision in math, her scores were terrible; she only scored 105 on the monthly exam, and when she got her paper, she suddenly cried.

When Zhou Siyue came back from playing basketball, she was still crying, slumped over her desk, her shoulders shaking, looking utterly pitiful.

Zhou Siyue didn't stop. He threw the ball into the hoop, packed his bag, and turned to leave. Ding Xian heard a very soft voice in the hallway: "Xia Sihan said let's eat together."

It was Yang Chunzi's voice.

"Mm." Zhou Siyue gave a very faint affirmative sound, and his footsteps gradually faded down the hallway.

The girl, who had been crying until only sobs remained, suddenly buried her face on the desk and wailed sadly again.

'Bastard.'

'Bastard.'

'Bastard.'

At seven o'clock, Ding Xian returned to Yansan Hutong. A bright red flower had sprouted from the flaking, grayish wall corner at some unknown time, surrounded by vibrant green moss, like a touch of spring blooming in a forgotten corner.

Ding Xian was lost in thought, gazing at the flower, when a lazy voice suddenly sounded behind her, "So late?"

Ding Xian suddenly turned around. Under the streetlamp, the familiar shadow was stretched long. With a bag slung over one shoulder and both hands in his pockets, he leaned against the old stone city wall at the Hutong's entrance, looking at her with a relaxed expression.

"Didn't you go eat with Yang Chunzi?" She stubbornly turned her head back, her gaze returning to the flower, gently swaying in the light breeze at the alley's entrance.

He lowered his head, scratched his hair with his fingertips, and smiled. "When I thought of you crying in the classroom, how could I still eat? I'm not as heartless as you are."

As he spoke, half a leaf fell from the flower. Ding Xian withdrew her gaze, and turned, walking briskly to stand before him. The streetlamp's light shone down on his head. She looked up, and he seemed like a source of light.

"Bastard."

She looked at him and softly cursed.

"Yeah, I am."

He said nonchalantly.

"Asshole."

Ding Xian cursed again.

He leaned against the wall, his backpack still on his back, lowering his eyes to glance at her, just smiling faintly, letting her curse, his expression seeming to say—

'Go ahead and curse, I'll take it all.'

The girl broke into a smile through her tears. The boy suddenly reached out and vigorously ruffled her hair, and said that familiar phrase again: "Are you stupid or not?"

In the back alley of Yansan there was a two-meter low wall, with white and black bricks stacked together. Two old sycamore trees stood at the alley's entrance, lush and green, their strong branches and leaves extending into the courtyard behind the wall. Ding Xian had never been here; it was pitch dark inside, looking a bit creepy, and she couldn't help but shiver.

"Where is this?"

Zhou Siyue handed his bag to Ding Xian, and in a few quick movements, he flipped over the low wall. He was already standing on top of the wall, reaching out to Ding Xian below.

"Come up."

Their fingertips lightly touched, the other's warmth transferred to her palm. Ding Xian felt a shock through her body. She hesitated slightly, then the boy urged, "Hurry."

When she climbed onto the wall, looking at the yellow earth bricks and tiles inside the courtyard, she was a bit lost in thought. "When did they build a temple here?"

The two sat on top of the wall, with their feet dangling. Zhou Siyue lifted his chin towards the small yellow-tiled house. "Open your eyes and look, is every yellow house a temple? Look how shallow your knowledge is. A mute lives inside, last name Zhang. Jiang Chen used to chat with him every day when he was little, chatted for a long time before realizing the person couldn't speak. It's good that he can't speak; you can tell him all your secrets and you won't feel uncomfortable keeping them bottled up."

"What have you told him?"

Zhou Siyue smiled. "Many things, I can't remember."

No sooner had he finished speaking, the small wooden door of the courtyard was pushed open. A man in his thirties or forties with a buzz cut, wearing a blue long gown, emerged from inside carrying a basin. His gaze slanted, and he saw the two on the wall, pointing a finger.

Zhou Siyue pulled her down.

"Come on, let's go say hello."

Mute Zhang really couldn't speak. He stared intently at Ding Xian and Zhou Siyue with wide eyes, until Ding Xian said, "My name is Ding Xian."

"He's naturally deaf, can't hear with his ears, so he can't hear what you say."

Zhou Siyue didn't know where he learned a set of sign language, and fluidly made a few gestures for him. Mute Zhang was delighted and happy, nodding repeatedly at Ding Xian. He also turned around, took two steamed buns from inside, and handed them to them, gesturing with his hand for them to eat, eat.

Ding Xian hesitated and took a bite. The bun was bland and dry. She roughly chewed it a few times in her mouth and swallowed it.

Zhou Siyue held the bun in his hand and chatted with him for a while. Ding Xian couldn't understand or hear what they were saying, so she could only stand silently on the side, chewing her bun, occasionally turning her head to look at the boy beside her. The young man, under the pale moonlight, slightly lowered his head, his gaze soft and earnest as he listened to the other person speak.

Yanping Town also once had a deaf-mute person with a hearing impairment, but the children there, apart from making faces and throwing stones at him, older boys would only tease him, with nothing but mockery and ridicule. Even she herself had once been afraid of deaf-mute people approaching, and every time she passed that small house, she couldn't help but quicken her pace.

Thinking back now, Zhou Siyue was right; her knowledge was indeed shallow.

On Monday, Kong Shadi told her some gossip she'd dug up from who-knows-where.

"I helped you infiltrate the enemy's ranks to snoop around. Your Young Master Zhou really never liked Yang Chunzi."

Ding Xian suddenly looked up. "What else did you hear?"

Kong Shadi swore on her hands and feet, "This time I guarantee it's 100% accurate. It's... anyway, just listen to me. I sacrificed a lot to get you this little bit of information."

Ding Xian reacted quickly. "What happened between you and Song Ziqi?"

Kong Shadi suddenly blushed, turned her head. "Do you want to hear it or not?"

Ding Xian glanced sideways at her. "You sacrificed so much. If I don't listen, wouldn't your sacrifice be in vain? But I'm curious, what exactly did you sacrifice?"

"Don't pry, kid!"

Kong Shadi lowered her head, her eyes flustered.