The monthly exams at Mei Zhong were always a grand affair. They were held on weekends, with one student per desk. Each classroom held 30 people, with desks arranged in a specific formation. The desks had to be turned around, with exam numbers posted on them, and students had to clear out everything inside. Everything was done according to the Gaokao standards.

Therefore, moving books every time was a hassle. But starting this year, lockers had been placed at the end of the hallway, one for each student. Before the monthly exam, the area in front of the lockers was crowded with people from every class on the floor.

"Hey, how are your preparations going?" Zhang Xiaoqiang asked Wei Qingyue very naturally. The boy was bending over, stuffing books into his locker. He had the fewest things and couldn't even fill one locker. "Same as always."

The girl had always been very competitive with him, and sometimes, she did manage to outperform him. Wei Qingyue never took it to heart. Seeing that Zhang Xiaoqiang's locker was stuffed full with a pile of things still left over, he pointed to his own locker and said, "You can put them in here."

"Okay, thanks!" Zhang Xiaoqiang handed her things over without any hesitation. Wei Qingyue frowned. "You girls are so troublesome. What is all this?" He took a black plastic bag.

"I'm not telling you!" Zhang Xiaoqiang's tone was suddenly coquettish, very much like a young girl. Wei Qingyue was used to her acting like a considerate older sister, so he gave her a deep, sharp look. Zhang Xiaoqiang became a little awkward and said, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You were talking strangely just now," Wei Qingyue said bluntly.

The black plastic bag contained sanitary pads, tissues, and other such items—a girl's secrets. Zhang Xiaoqiang shrugged helplessly and said, "You really don't understand a girl's mind at all."

Wei Qingyue had no interest in this topic and didn't even respond. 'Why should I understand a girl's mind?'

From a distance, the two of them looked very close.

Jiang Du was originally heading this way to put away her books, but upon seeing this scene, her steps couldn't help but slow. Wind gusted in through the window, again and again, and something cool poured into her heart.

The girl couldn't help but hug the books in her arms tighter, silently watching the two top students talking with ease. Zhang Xiaoqiang was always so confident, revealing a set of small white teeth. Moreover, she dared to look Wei Qingyue in the eyes, and Wei Qingyue seemed to be very, very familiar with her. Jiang Du felt sour and bitter little bubbles rising somewhere in her heart.

'If only I had grades as good as Zhang Xiaoqiang's,' she thought. 'That way, the conversation would feel more like it was between equals.'

She waited until the two of them had left before walking over. After stopping, she secretly glanced at Wei Qingyue's locker. On it was his name, handwritten by him. It was his handwriting, the same as on that piece of scratch paper. She had almost wanted to frame the problem he had explained to her last time.

The girl looked at the three characters for "Wei Qingyue," a slightly melancholic expression on her face. In reality, it was just three characters, but they were already a world away.

That letter, which would never get a reply, had once made her remember it the instant she met him, so embarrassed she wanted to die. But now, it had clearly transformed into a different feeling: 'This is how it has to be.'

'If not, even if he had replied, I wouldn't have had the courage to admit that I like you.'

'But I can see his locker, his name, I've talked to him, and if nothing unexpected happens, I can see him at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday. I've walked the same paths as him, seen the same scenery, and perhaps even looked up at the same corner of the sky...' Jiang Du thought of this with warmth and weariness, and her spirits lifted.

For this monthly exam, it wasn't just the students who were nervous; the teachers were also eager to gauge their students' abilities.

In the classroom, Zhang Xiaoqiang was carefully posting the exam seating chart. The moment she finished, a crowd of people swarmed over. Wang Jingjing was shouting, "Don't push, hey, you're crushing me!" In reality, she was pushing more enthusiastically than anyone.

Lin Haiyang was also tall and had seen it long ago. He started playing a prank, flicking Wang Jingjing on her forehead. The sound was quite crisp. He said, "Push, push, push, what are you pushing for? You're taking the test in our own classroom, not in the same one as Wei Qingyue. Give up!"

Wang Jingjing clutched her forehead, about to die from anger. "Are you annoying or what!"

"Hey, hey, you're in the same class as me, Wang Jingjing. We're even sitting one behind the other! I think we're quite fated!" Lin Haiyang was being so obnoxious.

So, Wang Jingjing chased after him, hitting him. "Go die! Lin Haiyang, go eat poop in outer space!"

Everyone was laughing. It seemed that a girl liking Wei Qingyue was so common, so ordinary, that anyone could declare it openly and without restraint. After all, liking the most outstanding and handsome boy was such a natural thing that there was no need to be shy about it.

But for Jiang Du, it wasn't like that. He was the unspeakable one, her personal Waiting for Godot.

'I'm a person with common tastes, falling for someone everyone else likes.' Jiang Du wished so much that she would notice other boys. 'He might not be as smart or as special, but he's a very cute and interesting boy... No, no, no,' she was still grateful to have met Wei Qingyue. He could make a heart become exceptionally alive. He could make all of Mei Zhong colorful and brilliant. Because he was here, all the hard studying became fulfilling and happy, and all the imperfections became complete.

With a ripping sound, Jiang Du came back to her senses. It turned out Wang Jingjing had broken the zipper on Lin Haiyang's school uniform. Both of them were stunned for a moment. Though she was in the wrong, Wang Jingjing spoke first with misplaced confidence, "Serves you right for being so annoying!"

"Tsk," Lin Haiyang clearly didn't take it seriously. "You're so fierce, you'll never find a boyfriend in the future!"

"None of your damn business! It's not your place to worry, you piece of crap!"

The two were like cats and dogs, not a day went by without them quarreling. Jiang Du told Lin Haiyang, "My Grandma knows how to sew. Give it to me, I'll ask my Grandma to fix it for you and give it back."

"Look at Jiang Du!" This was Lin Haiyang's favorite thing to say. Wang Jingjing jumped up and hit his shoulder again.

For this monthly exam, Jiang Du was assigned to Class Five. In the hallway, some people were chatting, others were flipping through books. She silently walked to the railing, rested her book on it, and recited some classical poetry and prose for a while.

Later, the teacher told everyone to use the restroom before entering the classroom.

The exam room seating was all mixed up, and many students were from other classes whom Jiang Du didn't know at all. On her way back from the restroom, the boy in front of her turned around and asked about her grades. He was one of those students who paid high fees to get in. There were very few slackers at Mei Zhong, and this boy was one of them.

Jiang Du shook her head shyly. "I'm just average."

"Let me copy off you later," the boy said nonchalantly. A drink was sitting on the corner of his desk, and he casually pushed it towards her. "Just don't cover your paper, I'll just turn my head for a glance. Oh, right, for the English test, can you pass me the answers to the multiple-choice questions? I'll treat you to a meal."

'Then why even come to school?' Jiang Du thought to herself. 'Isn't this just fooling yourself? Who are you going to copy from during the Gaokao?'

Just as she was about to refuse, she noticed the boy's gaze had already moved away from her. He was following something with his eyes, and she instinctively looked in the same direction.

Jiang Du's heart immediately started beating wildly. That figure, clearly reflected in her trembling pupils, was Wei Qingyue. He was actually in this exam room too.

The boy was incredibly cool, carrying only a single pen and nothing else. He arrived fashionably late and sat down in the empty seat behind Jiang Du, his two long legs sprawling into the aisle.

It took Jiang Du a long moment to realize that she and Wei Qingyue had consecutive exam numbers.

Before she could think much about it, she was nudged by the boy in front of her. "Hey, classmate, want to switch seats with me?"

Of course, Jiang Du couldn't agree. While Wei Qingyue was a factor, more importantly, switching seats like this was against the rules. She knew what the boy was planning.

The boy laughed. "Classmate, don't be so rigid. If you don't say anything, the teacher won't know. We're all mixed up anyway, who does the teacher even recognize!"

"That's still not okay. It's not right," Jiang Du insisted. The boy looked helpless, as if he wanted to roast her, but there was nothing he could do. He sat back down sullenly.

Behind her, Wei Qingyue hadn't heard anything. He had come in wearing headphones. After sitting down, he idly twirled his pen, indifferent to his surroundings. He hadn't noticed at all who was sitting around him.

But many people glanced in his direction, whispering his name.

The teacher entered the classroom with the exam papers. And behind her, the Wei Qingyue behind her didn't greet her. Jiang Du knew he hadn't seen her at all.

For every subject, Wei Qingyue would leave as soon as he finished writing. The wind would blow his paper, causing it to rustle. The proctor came over and used a blackboard eraser to weigh down his test paper.

The dry orchid scent from the boy flashed by. Every time, Jiang Du would raise her head to look at that figure, watching him silently. That was probably the only thing she could do. But this was already wonderful; she was reluctant for the monthly exam to end.

It wasn't until the physics exam that Wei Qingyue suddenly realized the girl in front of him was Jiang Du. He greeted her, very casually, "What a coincidence. I didn't even notice you were in front of me."

'Yes, you never notice me,' Jiang Du thought silently. The moment their eyes met still flustered her, as if her fervent yet powerless secret would be seen through if she held his gaze for a few more seconds. Her eyes shifted away.

"You're in this exam room too?"

Jiang Du tried her best to look as if she had also just found out.

The corner of Wei Qingyue's mouth twitched slightly. This small gesture encouraged Jiang Du a little. She pretended to ask naturally, "You must have done pretty well on the test, right?"

"Yes." He wasn't being humble at all, but when words like these came from his mouth, they didn't make him seem arrogant or smug. Wei Qingyue said it as casually as answering "Have you eaten?" with "Yes."

This left Jiang Du at a loss for what to say next. She gave a reserved smile, and seeing that he had no intention of continuing the conversation, she slowly turned forward in the awkward silence. But her heart was still pounding as if it were banging against a wall.

The test papers were handed out, and the classroom fell silent. But it was obvious that the science subjects weren't as easy to bluff through as the liberal arts ones. Jiang Du's brows furrowed unconsciously.

She had long, black, smooth hair that spread thickly over her shoulders. The sunlight rimmed her head with a fuzzy and extremely soft halo. When Wei Qingyue looked up, he saw her slender shoulders, her cascading long hair, and under her loose school uniform, the faint outline of her bra... He didn't know how, but he made out its shape. For a moment, he felt inexplicably unnatural and averted his gaze.

Wei Qingyue didn't understand girls, but there were some things he knew. The eternal topic in the boys' dormitory was discussing girls. Even if he wasn't interested, he would still overhear a thing or two. What was most unsettling was that sometimes, late at night when he heard others talking nonsense, he would feel a certain restlessness. Pubertal hormones were at play everywhere, and he was no exception—or to be precise, at certain moments.

His legs were too long, and it wasn't comfortable no matter how he positioned them, so he simply stretched them out casually. In her peripheral vision, Jiang Du caught a glimpse of his sneakers—black canvas with snow-white laces. Wei Qingyue was really strange. Sometimes he was exceptionally neat, and other times he seemed completely unconcerned with his appearance. Once, at the flag-raising ceremony, his sneakers had been clearly filthy.

These messy thoughts startled Jiang Du. She restrained herself, shifted her gaze away, and refocused her attention on the test questions.

But the classroom was too quiet, so quiet that she could hear the sound of his pen touching the paper, the moment he stopped writing, and the dry scent that wafted from him when he stood up to leave.

Because someone had gone to the restroom mid-exam and happened to be returning just as Wei Qingyue was leaving, they passed each other. As they made way for one another, the other person was so tall and sturdy that Wei Qingyue's hand had to press down on the corner of her desk for support. His knuckles were well-defined, and the blue veins looked like a winding river.

Jiang Du's heart leaped into her throat. She watched this scene, almost holding her breath.

Wei Qingyue had pressed down on her pencil case. On the case was a small charm, a cute Tweety Bird. His palm landed right on it, and the hardness was uncomfortable, leaving an imprint of the little bird.

He frowned, then smiled and shook his hand. Only then did Jiang Du look up as if waking from a long dream. The boy was already walking towards the door.

After the bell rang, Jiang Du ran out. After looking around for a bit, she saw Wei Qingyue leaning alone on the railing, gazing into the distance. His body was tilted forward, headphones on his ears as usual, and there was no one around him.

Jiang Du felt like her brain had broken. A young girl's thoughts are an enigma. She desperately wanted to walk up to him and ask, 'My Tweety Bird, did it hurt your hand?'

This kind of question could be asked or not. It was too trivial, so trivial that asking it would seem like she was just trying to make conversation for the sake of it. It would all feel forced by her. Jiang Du stood where she was, hesitating. She was not far from him, yet also incredibly, incredibly distant. As if he sensed something, or perhaps unintentionally, Wei Qingyue turned his head and saw Jiang Du.

The girl instantly clutched the corner of her clothes, her eyes fluttering like a panicked little snake that instantly slithered away to hide deep in the grass—she turned and ran back into the exam room.