Spend Summer Chapter 2

First meeting?

The underground garage was cool and dim. Shen Wan sat in the driver’s seat, while Lin Jiayue chose the back.

In silence, Shen Wan silently drove out of the underground garage.

The world outside suddenly became bright. A black fur ball hanging from the rearview mirror swayed back and forth, catching the eye.

Shen Wan dropped Lin Jiayue off at her home first.

Lin Jiayue got out of the car, waved her hand with her back turned, and said, “I’m heading in. There’s a bottle of insomnia medicine in the back. I read online that it works well, so remember to take it.”

Shen Wan turned to look at the back seat. There was a small bottle of medicine with English labels; it seemed to be imported.

She lowered her head and smiled softly, her eyes brimming with warmth. This time, the smile was genuine.

At ten o’clock at night, Chuzhou was still bustling. Under the bright moonlight, Shen Wan returned to her rented apartment.

Carrying the medicine Lin Jiayue gave her, Shen Wan entered the elevator alone. With a ding as the elevator reached her floor, Shen Wan’s thoughts were pulled back to the present.

She turned on the lights, and the room instantly brightened, revealing its emptiness.

Shen Wan rarely returned to this place. Usually, she stayed in the laboratory doing research, almost day and night.

Shen Wan went into the bathroom to shower first. Warm water flowed from the showerhead, soaking her hair and body.

After finishing, she casually ran her fingers through her hair. Droplets of water fell from her strands, splashing onto her thin shoulders and the tiles with a faint pitter-patter.

Shen Wan didn’t blow-dry her hair. She stepped out in slippers and looked for water. She opened the refrigerator, but it was empty.

Shen Wan didn’t mind. She checked the medicine’s instructions, poured out two pills, and swallowed them with effort.

Sitting on the sofa, she plugged her phone in to charge. She gave her dripping hair a quick rub with a towel, tossed the towel onto the table, and leaned back against the sofa with her eyes closed.

Perhaps the high school reunion had brought back memories of her school days, or perhaps Lin Jiayue’s medicine was truly effective. For the first time in a long while, Shen Wan dreamed of her.

–

On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the weather in Chuzhou was still cold, with a thin layer of ice covering the ground.

Yet Shen Wan wore only a gray hoodie. The style looked several years old and quite dated.

The cold wind snuck in through the gap at her neck, dispersing the warmth she had managed to trap. But no matter how cold it was, she kept her back straight.

Shen Wan was very thin. Enveloped in the oversized hoodie, she looked like a child wearing an adult’s clothes. In this chilly weather, she was particularly conspicuous.

Fortunately, classes were still in session. There were few people on the playground, so Shen Wan slowly made her way to the second floor of the Wenbo Building.

During the first year of high school, students chose their streams and were re-sorted into classes. Shen Wan had chosen the Full Science Stream and was assigned to Class 3.

Shen Wan knocked on the office door. There was no response, likely because classes were ongoing. Carrying her faded backpack, she stared at the floor and waited quietly.

A few minutes later, the bell rang. Students swarmed out. Seeing Shen Wan standing at the office door, they turned their heads curiously to look at her.

The Head Teacher of Class 3 also came out. Seeing Shen Wan with her head bowed, she was puzzled at first, then suddenly understood.

“You’re Shen Wan, right? Come in,” she said, holding books in one hand and her coat in the other as she pushed open the office door.

Shen Wan snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at her.

The teacher had neat short hair and looked to be about forty. Likely because it was hot during class, she carried her coat and wore a black mock-neck sweater.

Shen Wan followed her in. Once the teacher sat down, Shen Wan quickly bowed. “Hello, Teacher. I am the new student—Shen Wan.”

Li Yuanfang put down her books and waved her hand. “No need to be so formal. Fill this out first.”

Shen Wan nodded. She took a pen from her backpack and accepted the paper from Li Yuanfang. It was for personal information collection. The other students had already filled it out; only her row was left.

Shen Wan glanced at it. The person next to her was a girl named Ji Zhao.

Shen Wan filled in her name and home address one by one. When she reached the emergency contact number, her hand, red from the cold, paused for a moment. Finally, she wrote down her grandmother’s number.

Li Yuanfang tucked the paper under the books on the right. Seeing the bruises on Shen Wan’s neck, she frowned deeply. Although she had learned about the situation from Shen Wan’s previous Head Teacher, seeing it in person still made Li Yuanfang very angry.

She couldn’t understand how there could be parents like that.

Glancing subtly at the medicine sitting by the window, Li Yuanfang said to Shen Wan, “Why don’t you sit here and wait for a moment? I’ll take you in later.” As she spoke, she pushed a chair toward Shen Wan.

Shen Wan nodded and sat down stiffly, clutching her backpack.

.

While time felt like an eternity here, the classroom was a scene of clamor.

Wang Fei stood on the podium, shouting at the top of her lungs, “Extra, extra! Everyone, guess who I saw?”

Having been together for half a year, everyone already knew Wang Fei’s temperament. They waved her off. “If you’re going to say it, say it. If not, forget it!”

Lin Jiayue also chimed in, “Exactly, Wang Fei, don’t keep us in suspense!”

Wang Fei chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. “Don’t be in such a hurry, I’m getting to it. I just saw—”

She paused, drawing out her voice. “The other big shot in our grade!”

“The other big shot?”

“From our grade? Who is it?”

Everyone looked at each other, confused.

Wang Fei clenched her fist. “You don’t know, do you? Let me tell you, it’s the one who competes with our Sister Zhao for the spot of Grade Topper… her name is Shen Wan.”

Lin Jiayue grew interested and turned to look at Ji Zhao behind her. “Hey, Sister Zhao, did you hear that? Your rival is here.”

Ji Zhao was currently catching up on sleep. Hearing Lin Jiayue speak, she frowned and looked up. “What rival? If someone gets first place, it’s because of their own ability.”

Lin Jiayue thought about it and said, “True. She really is quite impressive. I heard her family situation is very poor, yet she can still maintain her rank as first or second in the grade.”

Ji Zhao gave a perfunctory reply, “Impressive, impressive.”

Then she buried her head back down to sleep. She had stayed up a bit too late doing practice problems last night and had been exhausted since waking up. She could hardly keep her eyes open.

Lin Jiayue turned back around dejectedly and started chatting with her deskmate. “I wonder what Shen Wan looks like. Can she compare to our Sister Zhao?”

“I think it’ll be hard. Our Sister Zhao isn’t someone just anyone can compare to…”

Amidst their discussion, the bell rang. Ji Zhao looked up and rubbed her face. Her gaze suddenly froze, staring intently at Shen Wan, who was walking in behind the Head Teacher.

Her skin was very pale, so pale that the faint blue veins beneath were visible. Her neck was slender, and the knuckles of the hand gripping her backpack strap were prominent.

She carried an innate sense of aloofness.

Perhaps sensing Ji Zhao’s burning gaze, Shen Wan glanced over. That single look made Ji Zhao’s heart pound wildly, and her face suddenly turned pale.

The cold wind poured in from the window, blowing away her sleepiness.

Shen Wan was puzzled and shifted her gaze to the other students.

The Head Teacher, Li Yuanfang, stood on the podium and said, “This is Shen Wan, a new member of our class. Everyone, please welcome her.”

Everyone was curious about Shen Wan and clapped enthusiastically.

A round of applause broke out.

“Welcome, welcome!”

“Doesn’t that mean the first and second place in the grade are both in our class now?”

“That’s right! Does that mean we don’t have to worry about our class’s average score anymore?”

“You certainly know how to pick out the important part.”

“Hehe…”

Li Yuanfang clapped her hands together. “Alright, alright, quiet down everyone!”

The classroom fell silent instantly as everyone looked at Li Yuanfang.

Li Yuanfang looked at Shen Wan. “Would you like to introduce yourself?”

Shen Wan nodded, her voice cool and clear. “Shen Wan. Hello, everyone.”

After Shen Wan finished her introduction, Li Yuanfang looked at the only empty seat. “Then, Shen Wan, you can sit there for now.”

Shen Wan looked where she was pointing, nodded, and walked down from the podium carrying her backpack.

The eyes of the people on both sides of the aisle followed her curiously.

Ji Zhao’s face turned bright red. She quickly stood up. “Can you… can you sit on the inside?”

Shen Wan gave a soft “mm” and brushed past Ji Zhao, leaving a ripple in her wake.

Seeing Shen Wan sit down, Ji Zhao watched from the side as she took things out of her backpack. There wasn’t much, and most of it looked well-worn.

Ji Zhao took the initiative to say, “Shall I help you?”

Shen Wan finally looked Ji Zhao directly in the eye. Her glossy black hair was tied in a high ponytail. Her face was full and healthy, her skin delicate with a rosy glow.

She was currently smiling at her, her eyes curving into crescents, but her gaze was as bright as sunlight.

This light stung Shen Wan. She shook her head in refusal.

Ji Zhao wasn’t angry. She leaned on the desk and watched Shen Wan, wanting to ask something but not knowing how.

Feeling the intense gaze, Shen Wan frowned. Finally unable to endure it, she said in a low voice, “Could you please do your own homework?”

Ji Zhao broke into a smile. “Sure, I’ll do it right now.”

Shen Wan frowned in confusion. She really didn’t understand what this person meant. Was she afraid Shen Wan would steal her top spot? Surely not?

In front of them, Lin Jiayue, who was listening intently, was also bewildered. Although Sister Zhao did have a very good temper, this was the first time she had seen her being so eager to please someone who was essentially a stranger.

She couldn’t figure it out, so she simply stopped thinking about it. Mainly, Li Yuanfang had come down from the podium and was walking toward them.

Standing by the last row, Li Yuanfang looked at Shen Wan, who was bowing her head to write, and nodded in satisfaction. Then she gave a warning look to Lin Jiayue, who was peeking back secretly.

Lin Jiayue gave an awkward, placating smile and slowly turned her head back, but her attention remained fixed on what was happening behind her.

Li Yuanfang picked up Shen Wan’s homework and looked through it. She marked the incorrect questions and said softly, “Think about these few again.”

Shen Wan took it back and nodded. Out of habit, she tapped her forehead with her pen as she pondered.

Ji Zhao curiously tried to lean in to look. Shen Wan suddenly pulled away, looking at her warily.

Ji Zhao forced an awkward smile. “You look… you look at it yourself.”

Shen Wan also realized her reaction was a bit extreme. She pursed her lips slightly, her brow furrowed, unsure for a moment how to handle the situation.

Since she couldn’t figure it out, Shen Wan stopped thinking about it. She simply immersed herself in her studies and continued with her problems.

Ji Zhao didn’t know what Shen Wan was thinking. She felt that she had suddenly leaned in and startled Shen Wan, so she should apologize.

If you did something wrong, you had to fix it. Ji Zhao had been raised with this teaching. So, she immediately tore a slip of paper from her notebook, wrote on it, and pushed it toward Shen Wan.

Her train of thought was interrupted again, but Shen Wan didn’t get angry. This happened often; getting angry every time was too draining, and she didn’t have that much energy to waste on anger.

However, what she hadn’t expected was that it would be like this at school, just as it was at home.

Shen Wan tilted her head slightly to look. The first thing she saw was Ji Zhao’s hand, then her gaze moved to the note. On it were several large words: “I’m sorry, I startled you. I didn’t mean to. Cry cry…”