JFWCM Chapter 3
by VolareAfter dealing with the matters at the infirmary, Jiang Wan’yuan glanced at her watch and gasped, “Crap! Next is Old Chen’s physics class!”
Yi Shang, who had already hurried to the corner of the corridor, paused upon hearing this. Sunlight streamed in from the window at the end of the corridor, casting a golden edge around her slender figure. She tilted her head slightly, her amber eyes appearing exceptionally bright in the light. “Seven minutes.”
“What?” Jiang Wan’yuan frantically organized her schoolbag.
“From the infirmary to the classroom, it normally takes seven minutes.” Yi Shang’s voice remained calm, but her pace quickened noticeably. “There are four minutes and thirty seconds left.”
Jiang Wan’yuan’s eyes widened. “How do you even know that…?”
Before she could finish, Yi Shang had already turned and taken long strides. Her gait was fast and steady, the hem of her white school uniform tracing neat arcs in the air. Jiang Wan’yuan hurriedly chased after her, her schoolbag bouncing against her back.
“Wait for me!” Jiang Wan’yuan panted as she caught up, running alongside Yi Shang. She then realized that Yi Shang had deliberately slowed down, maintaining the same pace as her.
As they rounded the second corner, Jiang Wan’yuan’s shoelace suddenly came undone. She stumbled, nearly bumping into Yi Shang in front. In the next second, a cool hand firmly grasped her wrist.
“Watch where you’re going,” Yi Shang said without turning her head, but the strength in her hand was unbelievably gentle.
Jiang Wan’yuan stared blankly at their clasped wrists. Yi Shang’s fingertips were a little cold, but her palm carried an unexpected warmth. This usually icy girl was now holding her tightly, as if afraid she would fall.
“What are you spacing out for?” Yi Shang released her hand and pointed ahead. “Two minutes left.”
Jiang Wan’yuan then snapped back to reality and hurriedly tied her shoelaces. When she looked up again, she found Yi Shang standing at the corner of the staircase, waiting for her, sunlight casting dappled shadows on her through the glass window. In that instant, Jiang Wan’yuan suddenly felt her heart skip a beat.
“Hurry,” Yi Shang urged, but her tone no longer held its usual coldness.
The two finally rushed into the classroom just before the bell rang. Old Chen pushed up his glasses and glanced meaningfully at the two girls who appeared at the door simultaneously. Jiang Wan’yuan returned to her seat, blushing, while Yi Shang remained as expressionless as ever.
But no one noticed that when Yi Shang opened her textbook, her fingertips lightly caressed the inside of her wrist—where the warmth of Jiang Wan’yuan still lingered.
Jiang Wan’yuan and Yi Shang walked into the classroom one after the other. The early summer sunlight streamed diagonally through the windows onto the desks, cutting the classroom into a pattern of light and dark geometry. Jiang Wan’yuan habitually walked half a step behind Yi Shang, letting her friend shield her from most of the gazes as usual.
“Where did you guys go?” Lin Jichuan turned around from his seat, his gaze shifting between the two, eventually landing on Jiang Wan’yuan. He twirled a pen in his hand, the cap reflecting a blinding glint of light in the sunlight.
Yi Shang coldly pulled out her chair and sat down. “Infirmary.”
Jiang Wan’yuan lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously stroking the cuff of her uniform. She felt Jichuan’s gaze still lingering on her, that feeling of being watched making her back slightly tense. She quickly sat down in her seat and hid her arms under the desk.
As soon as Jiang Wan’yuan sat down, she heard a light chuckle from the front row. She looked up and met Jichuan’s meaningful gaze, the other party silently mouthing, “Liar.”
Her ears instantly burned. The fingers under the desk unconsciously intertwined, the knuckles turning white. The physics textbook lay open on the desk, those formulas and symbols now all turning into wriggling black bugs.
“Jiang Wan’yuan,” Old Chen’s voice suddenly rang out from above. “Please explain this question.”
Everyone’s gaze instantly focused on her. Jiang Wan’yuan abruptly stood up, her chair scraping harshly against the floor. Her gaze frantically searched the blackboard, but found it empty.
“Textbook, page 78, Example 3,” Yi Shang’s voice floated faintly from the right. She remained in her reading posture, only her slender fingers lightly tapping on the bottom of the page.
Jiang Wan’yuan opened her textbook as if she had been saved, but froze when she saw the question—it was a difficult electromagnetism problem she hadn’t previewed at all. Sweat quietly trickled down her back, she felt like something was blocking her throat.
“Do I need to repeat the question?” Old Chen pushed up his glasses, the gaze behind the lenses carrying scrutiny.
The sound of a chair moving suddenly came from the back of the classroom. Yi Shang stood up, her short, black hair swaying slightly with the movement. “Teacher, I’d like to supplement with a simpler solution to this question.”
Without waiting for Old Chen to respond, she had already walked to the blackboard, picked up the chalk, and began to calculate. White chalk dust fell rustlingly, Yi Shang’s handwriting as clean and neat as she was. Jiang Wan’yuan stared blankly at that back, discovering that Yi Shang had a faint red mark on her right wrist at some point—the place where she had accidentally scratched her in the corridor just now.
“So the final answer is √(2mE)/Bq.” Yi Shang put down the chalk, and her gaze swept unintentionally over Jiang Wan’yuan as she turned her head. “Of course, the traditional solution that Jiang Wan’yuan was about to mention is also correct.”
Old Chen revealed a satisfied expression, signaling the two to sit down. As Jiang Wan’yuan slowly sat down, she discovered that there was an extra sticky note in her textbook, with Yi Shang’s neat handwriting: [Don’t leave after class].
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Jichuan in the front row suddenly turned his head, his gaze darting between the two of them, and finally stopped on that sticky note. He hooked the corner of his mouth and suddenly reached out to snatch the note.
“Give it back!” Jiang Wan’yuan lowered her voice to snatch it back, but saw that Jichuan had already crumpled the note into a ball and tossed it to the boy in the next group. The crumpled paper traced a parabola in the classroom, finally landing on the edge of the trash can and bouncing a few times before falling into the trash can.
Yi Shang’s gaze coldly swept over, but Jichuan raised his eyebrows provocatively. Jiang Wan’yuan saw Yi Shang’s fingers tightening on the edge of the desk, her knuckles turning bluish-white, but in the end, she said nothing.
When the bell rang for the end of class, Jiang Wan’yuan found Yi Shang’s seat already empty. A physics notebook lay quietly on the desk, the open page densely covered with annotations. She reached out to pick it up, and a photo slipped out from between the pages—it was a side profile of Yi Shang standing under a cherry blossom tree that she had secretly taken during PE class last week.
On the back of the photo was a line of small characters: [Next time, just ask me directly].
Jiang Wan’yuan pinched that photo, her fingertips trembling slightly. In the photo, Yi Shang stood under the cherry blossom tree, sunlight casting dappled spots of light on her through the gaps in the petals, her side profile appearing especially clean and cold in the soft light, yet inexplicably gentle.
Just as she was about to put the photo back into her textbook, she suddenly heard a commotion coming from the back door of the classroom. Looking up, Jichuan was leaning against the door frame, waving a crumpled piece of paper in his hand—the very one that had been thrown into the trash can.
“So nervous?” Jichuan tilted his head, smiling playfully. “What did Yi Shang write to you?”
Jiang Wan’yuan suddenly stood up, reaching out to snatch it back: “Give it back!”
Jichuan easily dodged, raising the note high, deliberately drawing out the words as he read: “‘Don’t leave after class’—wow, how ambiguous.” The surrounding students immediately cheered, someone whistled.
Jiang Wan’yuan’s face instantly flushed red, she bit her lip, just about to retort, when she suddenly heard a cold voice coming from the classroom door:
“Give it back to her.”
Yi Shang had returned at some point, holding a bottle of ice-cold soda in her hand, her fingertips still wet with droplets. Her gaze landed on the note in Jichuan’s hand, her eyes as cold as ice.
Jichuan raised his eyebrows. “Oh, being protective?”
Yi Shang ignored him, walking straight to Jiang Wan’yuan’s side, placing the soda on her desk, then reaching out her hand: “Photo.”
Jiang Wan’yuan was stunned, subconsciously handing over the photo. Yi Shang took it, glanced down, the corner of her mouth lifting ever so slightly, then quickly returning to its usual calmness. She raised her eyes to look at Jichuan, her tone cold: “Note, return it.”
Jichuan scoffed. “What if I don’t?”
Yi Shang didn’t say anything, just quietly looked at him. The classroom suddenly fell silent, the air seeming to freeze. After a few seconds, Jichuan shrugged, tossing the note over. “Fine, fine, here you go, no fun at all.”
Jiang Wan’yuan quickly caught the note, carefully unfolding it, discovering that besides the four words “Don’t leave after class,” there was also a line of small words that were almost unreadable after being crumpled: [Taking you for ice cream].
Her heart skipped a beat, secretly glancing at Yi Shang. Yi Shang had already turned to leave, only leaving behind the words: “Keep up.”
Jiang Wan’yuan frantically packed her schoolbag, jogging to chase after her. In the corridor, Yi Shang slowed down to wait for her, sunlight streaming through the glass window and outlining her slender figure.
“That…” Jiang Wan’yuan spoke softly, “About the photo…”
“The shot’s not bad,” Yi Shang said without turning her head, her voice faint. “Don’t take pictures secretly next time.”
Jiang Wan’yuan’s ears heated up, just about to explain, when Yi Shang suddenly stopped and turned to look at her: “But, if you want a group photo, you can say so directly.”
Jiang Wan’yuan was stunned, before she could react, Yi Shang had already reached out and gently grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards the school gate.
“Now, let’s go get ice cream.”
As the last few petals of the cherry blossoms outside the school gate were blown away by the summer breeze, Jiang Wan’yuan’s fingertips were unconsciously stroking the water droplets on the glass cup. The old-fashioned fan in the ice cream shop squeaked and turned, causing Yi Shang’s falling strands of hair to sway slightly, casting fragmented shadows on the wooden table.
“So…” Jiang Wan’yuan poked the unmelted ice at the bottom of her cup with a straw, “That photo…”
Yi Shang suddenly reached out, her cool fingertips gently touching her reddening earlobe. This sudden action made Jiang Wan’yuan freeze, her breathing stagnating for half a beat.
“You secretly photographed me three times.” Yi Shang withdrew her hand, her tone as calm as if discussing the weather. “During PE class, in the library, and when you were on duty last week.”
Jiang Wan’yuan’s spoon clattered and fell on the table. She hadn’t expected that all her little actions had been seen clearly, even more so that Yi Shang would settle the score at this time. The summer heatwave suddenly became concrete, burning from her neck all the way to her cheeks.
“I, I just…” Her voice grew softer and softer, eventually turning into a mosquito-like mumble. “Thought you were pretty…”
Yi Shang’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. She lowered her head to stir the red bean ice in her cup, the snow-white cream gradually melting into the amber syrup. “You don’t have to take photos secretly in the future.” She pushed her phone over, the lock screen interface clearly showing a side profile of Jiang Wan’yuan sleeping soundly on her desk. “I have a lot of them saved in my phone.”
Jiang Wan’yuan’s eyes widened, suddenly reaching out to snatch it. Yi Shang raised her arm as if she had expected it, and her other hand accurately grabbed her wrist. In the dim light of the ice cream shop, they faced each other across a table of melting desserts, Yi Shang’s usually cold eyes now filled with a rare smile.
“Unfair…” Jiang Wan’yuan protested softly, but couldn’t help but smile along. She felt Yi Shang’s thumb lightly caressing her wrist, where the gauze from the bandage at the infirmary this morning was still there.
Suddenly, a clear bicycle bell rang out from outside the window. Jichuan rode past the shop door, deliberately whistling. Jiang Wan’yuan subconsciously wanted to withdraw her hand, but Yi Shang grabbed it even tighter.
“Ignore him.” Yi Shang wiped the cream from the corner of her mouth with her fingertip, this action so intimate that Jiang Wan’yuan’s heart raced. “Starting tomorrow, we’ll walk openly.”
As dusk deepened, they shared an umbrella on the way home. Jiang Wan’yuan discovered that Yi Shang always tilted the umbrella towards her side without making a sound, just like she always remembered that she had low blood sugar, always defused her embarrassment in time when she was in a jam, and always hid those unspoken concerns in seemingly cold actions.
“Yi Shang,” At the intersection where they parted, Jiang Wan’yuan suddenly grabbed her schoolbag strap. “Actually, at the infirmary… I wasn’t dizzy.”
Yi Shang turned around, the setting sun plating her silhouette in a warm gold. She reached out to tuck Jiang Wan’yuan’s hair, which had been messed up by the wind, behind her ear, her fingertip lingering on her earlobe for a second.
“I know,” she said.