That day, Jiang Du wasn't the only one who fainted. After standing for nearly three hours, it was said that a boy from Class Twelve had collapsed straight down. In the teachers' mouths, this kind of incident only served to prove that the physical constitution of today's children was poor, and so on.

But Wei Qingyue was the only one who dared to bypass the teachers, discard his prepared speech, act on his own initiative, and change his words on the spot.

Now, there was no one who didn't know him.

As for whether he was criticized by the teachers, no one knew. But according to the logic of high school students, for an outstanding student, teachers wouldn't pursue a minor, harmless mistake. What's more, in the eyes of the new first-year students at Mei Zhong, Wei Qingyue had suddenly become a symbol of unique individuality. At this age, everyone wanted to show off their uniqueness, and when someone did what others didn't dare to do, he became an idol.

Not to mention, Wei Qingyue had the built-in halo of a top student.

The weather forecast said it would be clear and sunny all week. Not to mention rain, there wasn't even a wisp of a cloud.

The scorching sun was overhead, the cicadas still chirped, and everyone's faces were oily from the sun, their bangs hanging in greasy strands, forcing them to wash their hair every day. The drill instructor was fierce and liked to launch sneak attacks, suddenly kicking the back of your knees from behind just to see if you were really standing ramrod straight. Unfortunately, out of every ten he kicked, nine would have their legs buckle, almost losing their balance.

Those who were kicked would first be startled, then secretly curse the instructor in their hearts.

Everyone's face was tanned red. On the vast training ground, if you saw a class already resting in the shade of the trees, you would definitely be green with envy.

Jiang Du sat on the side alone in her military training uniform. Due to her physical condition, she couldn't participate, but she insisted on staying on the training grounds until dismissal.

"Damn, it's scorching hot. I'm seriously afraid I'll die suddenly," Wang Jingjing said as she ran over to sit next to Jiang Du during a break. Just as her butt hit the ground, Lin Haiyang came over with several bottles of water, giving one to Jiang Du first, then another to Wang Jingjing.

"So generous of you," Wang Jingjing said, twisting off the cap and chugging the water.

"I'm just presenting Buddha with borrowed flowers, it's no trouble at all." Lin Haiyang lifted his chin, signaling for the two to look south. Over there, a girl with slightly dark skin, slightly protruding lips, but very beautiful eyes was handing out water to everyone.

It was Zhang Xiaoqiang.

Wang Jingjing remembered that during self-introductions, everyone had laughed when this name was announced. Zhang Xiaoqiang wasn't tall and had especially white teeth. Seeing everyone laugh, she wasn't flustered or annoyed. She wrote three beautiful characters on the blackboard with chalk and told everyone, "It's the 'Qiang' from 'qiangwei'—rose. Please don't get it wrong."

She was the top student in Class Two, her entrance exam score second only to Wei Qingyue's. When she wrote that, coupled with her confident and bright smile, everyone immediately felt that they were the uncultured ones.

Xiao Xu had already appointed her as the academic representative.

But at this moment, Zhang Xiaoqiang was acting like a class president, methodically taking care of her classmates.

Wang Jingjing clicked her tongue twice. "Did she buy the water with her own money?"

"Yeah, Zhang Xiaoqiang is generous. My roommate knows her. Her family is well-off. Her dad is an official and her mom is a university professor, both respectable figures." There was nothing Lin Haiyang didn't know; he knew the inside story of everything. He looked delighted as he started gossiping.

Wang Jingjing looked down on this kind of talk. She curled her lip. "For a guy, you're such a gossip. And a snob, too. I mean, do you guys really like to talk about a girl's family background behind her back? What business is it of yours? Are you all trying to suck up to Zhang Xiaoqiang?"

"Hey, why are you cursing me out of the blue? Zhang Xiaoqiang just comes from a good background. Are you jealous?"

The two started bickering back and forth. Wang Jingjing chewed Lin Haiyang out, but he didn't get angry and even laughed. This made Wang Jingjing even more furious, and she called Lin Haiyang a little jerk.

They were just new classmates who had known each other for two days, yet their friendship was advancing by leaps and bounds through their verbal spars.

Jiang Du was smiling quietly the whole time. She shifted her position a little, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire if Wang Jingjing started chasing and hitting Lin Haiyang.

"Jiang Du, how are you feeling? Are you okay?" Zhang Xiaoqiang walked over, her tone concerned. This was a task Xiao Xu had given her.

Jiang Du didn't want to be treated specially. Fainting at the ceremony was embarrassing enough, and some people in class had already started secretly calling her Lin Daiyu. This nickname made her unhappy. It seemed that anyone with a slightly weaker constitution could easily be called Lin Daiyu. If that was the case, the name Lin Daiyu felt a bit too cheap.

She pulled out the newspaper she was sitting on and placed it beside her. "Zhang Xiaoqiang, do you want to sit for a while? I'm fine."

Zhang Xiaoqiang smiled faintly and pushed another bottle of water into her hand. "If you feel unwell, you must say so right away. Don't be a stranger." The girl had a mature kind of liveliness, a feeling that was hard to pin down, as it was rare to see it so harmoniously balanced in a high school student.

Just as Jiang Du was about to say something more, her breath caught. A not-unfamiliar figure was walking this way. The boy had taken off his hat and was holding it, tapping it against his leg intermittently.

As he came over, pairs of watching eyes followed him from not far away.

"You bought the water?" Wei Qingyue was speaking to Zhang Xiaoqiang. He seemed indifferent, and the way he slightly frowned when he spoke always made people feel he wasn't someone to mess with. "Can I take one?"

He wasn't talking to her. Jiang Du lowered her eyes, her gaze tremulously slipping downwards. She clutched the water bottle in her hand, motionless as if stunned, staring intently at the sandy ground by her feet.

She didn't know why her heart was beating so fast, feeling a little flustered, but her ears were exceptionally sharp. She heard the hint of a smile in Zhang Xiaoqiang's voice.

"Go ahead, why be so polite with me? Take a few more."

"Thanks." Wei Qingyue made a gesture. His gaze dropped, carelessly glancing at Jiang Du, then lifted again to meet Wang Jingjing's eager eyes. It was obvious the girl was excitedly plotting how to strike up a conversation with him.

Infatuated fool.

Wei Qingyue looked away with a hint of disgust and turned to leave.

"Ah, you know Wei Qingyue?" Wang Jingjing asked Zhang Xiaoqiang.

Zhang Xiaoqiang looked nonchalant. "We know each other. We were classmates in junior high. Sometimes I came in first, sometimes he did. Unfortunately, I couldn't beat him in the high school entrance exams." Her superiority as a top student was unintentionally revealed, leaving Wang Jingjing to only sigh in admiration, "You're all so amazing!"

Before she could ask more about Wei Qingyue, a whistle blew. Wang Jingjing had no choice but to pat Jiang Du. "So annoying, it's starting again. I'm off now!"

Jiang Du just felt an uncomfortable pounding in her chest. After everyone had walked away and she felt she was in a safe place, she secretly let her gaze travel far, searching for that tall figure in the sea of identical green uniforms.

From this far away, no one knew who her eyes were searching for.

But she was terrible at it. From this far away, she really couldn't find him. Wei Qingyue wasn't the only tall boy in Class One.

She couldn't tell if it was her stomach or her abdomen, but waves of discomfort were growing more and more distinct. Jiang Du grabbed her hat and got up, heading toward the restrooms.

This was terrible. Her period had been extremely irregular since it first started. It had only been ten days, and it was here again. Jiang Du rushed out of the restroom in a fluster, without even washing her hands.

A figure blocked her path.

"We've met before, haven't we?" Wei Qingyue's voice rang out very clearly. Jiang Du froze.

The campus was quiet; everyone was at military training on the field. Sunlight filtered through the leaves in halos, dappling the boy's face. She could even see the texture of his skin with perfect clarity.

Jiang Du felt like her mouth had gone stiff. She nodded mechanically.

"Don't run your mouth." Wei Qingyue spoke only three words.

The words sounded harsh. Jiang Du couldn't help but clench the fabric of her long pants, her face filled with embarrassment. "What?" Her face, so pale it was almost translucent, flushed bright red.

She truly hadn't understood the threat.

"Classmate, we met at the police station during summer break. Act like you saw nothing. If you're not an idiot, you should understand what I'm saying." As soon as Wei Qingyue spoke, he exuded a hostile air, completely opposite to the top student in Jiang Du's perception, and even a far cry from the boy who had spoken on the stage.

A lump formed in her throat. She lowered her head, a little constrained, and said, "I haven't spread anything about you. I don't even know you."

Jiang Du thought Wei Qingyue might hit her.

She was actually very timid, afraid of causing trouble and, of course, afraid of getting beaten up.

Looking back at that accident during summer break, she herself didn't know where she had found the courage at the time.

"Don't know me?" Wei Qingyue let out an imperceptible laugh. His arrogance carried a hint of precocious viciousness. "You know my name."

Jiang Du couldn't deny it, so she could only nod lightly.

How did Wei Qingyue resemble a top student at all? With his attitude, he was more like a school tyrant who didn't study, specialized in fighting, and always had his parents called in.

In fact, if you looked closely at the boy's features, he had an incipient handsomeness with a scholarly air, yet his every move was tense and sharp.

Those eyes, the ones she occasionally remembered over the summer, were now staring at her without a hint of goodwill. When Jiang Du got nervous, she felt the urge to pretend to tie her shoelaces.

As if possessed, she squatted down, mumbling, "Don't worry, I don't like to talk about other people's business."

Her heart felt like it was shrinking into a tiny apricot pit.

His shadow fell over her shoes. Jiang Du's fingers were sometimes in his shadow, sometimes in the sunlight—bright one moment, dark the next. When she suddenly stood up, her vision truly went black for a moment.

She grabbed Wei Qingyue's arm almost instinctively.

The boy steadied her as a reflex, his tone icy. "What, what are you doing? I didn't do anything to you."

It took Jiang Du a few seconds for her vision to clear up bit by bit.

Her complexion wasn't good. Her gaze was weak as she looked at Wei Qingyue with a somewhat dazed expression. His brows were tightly furrowed. "Are you sick?"

No matter how you heard it, it sounded like a curse.

Jiang Du really wanted to explain that she wasn't feeling well, that she had gotten her period again, but she definitely couldn't say that out loud. But now, it wasn't a question of whether she should say it. Instead, a surge of air suddenly shot up from her stomach, rushing straight to her throat.

The next second, she threw up on Wei Qingyue.

Jiang Du's mind exploded with a bang. This time, she was sure Wei Qingyue was going to hit someone.

Sure enough, Wei Qingyue's expression turned ugly. With a cold face, he directly took off his jacket, revealing the white short-sleeved shirt underneath.

"Classmate, please wash it and return it to me."

The boy shoved the sour-smelling clothes into Jiang Du's arms. Jiang Du was on the verge of tears. She didn't even dare to look Wei Qingyue in the eyes, feeling utterly mortified. Her brain was running on autopilot, commanding her mouth to speak:

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know..."

"Apologies are useless. Just remember to wash my clothes." Wei Qingyue had no interest in empty verbal platitudes. He glanced at her, then pointed. "The infirmary is in that direction."

He had absolutely no intention of taking her there. After speaking, the boy walked off in the direction of the large training field outside the school.

The incessant chirping of the cicadas was loud enough to deafen a person. Jiang Du hugged the boy's soiled clothes and stood frozen in place for a moment.