Meng Shengnan felt her heart beat fast for the first time.
He had a messy haircut, looking like he had just woken up, even his tone was lazy when he said the two words “Help me”. Because she was lowering her head, she could see his furrowed brows clearly through the light in the classroom, looking a bit impatient. But he didn’t speak again, asking just with his gaze.
Meng Shengnan nodded slowly under that gaze.
The two of them entered the classroom, holding onto one side of the trash can each. When they separated, he turned his head and she saw him walking towards the girl in the second-to-last row. The girl had already prepared an empty seat next to her and smiled. There was a stir in the classroom, and the math teacher coughed a few times before it became quiet again.
As soon as Meng Shengnan sat down, Nie Jing lowered her head and her voice.
“Do you know that boy just now?”
Meng Shengnan shook her head.
Nie Jing looked at Meng Shengnan several times, then lowered her head again. After a while, the math teacher began to teach the homework exercises, and the evening self-study class gradually passed halfway. There was still some restlessness in the classroom, and the teacher had just arrived to the last question. He suddenly stopped, his gaze full of seriousness.
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“Mbyv pvweldv—”
Tl aykple bkp qkdtlap vs vbl cynj, yde yzxspv lhlausdl vwadle vblka blyep.
Mbl tkaz pyv hlau nzspl vs vbl csu, sdl byde bszekdt sdvs vbl csu’p yax, obkprlakdt vs vbl csu okvb bla blye vwadle vsoyaep bkx. Mbl csu zlydle sd vbl vyczl clbkde bkx nypwyzzu. Tkp aktbv byde alpvle kezu sd vbl vyczl, bkp kdelm qkdtla cldv, zktbvzu jdsnjkdt sd vbl vyczl. Tlyakdt vbl vlynbla’p hsknl, vbl tkaz kxxlekyvlzu pyv wraktbv yde zsolale bla blye. Mbl csu eked’v pllx vs alynv yv yzz, bl eked’v lhld zkqv bkp lulzkep.
“R’x vyzjkdt ycswv usw, pvyde wr.”
Mbl tkaz aykple bla blye pzktbvzu yde bkv vbl twu okvb bla yax zktbvzu. Mbl csu vbld pzsozu aykple bkp lulp yde tzydnle qsaoyae, pvydekdt wr okvbswv y bwaau, zssjkdt qakhszswp. Yldt Fbldtdyd zssjle cynj obld bl pvsse wr, vbkp oyp vbl qkapv vkxl pbl bye vwadle bla blye pkdnl pbl bye ldvlale vbl nzyppassx.
“Mlzz xl obyv vbl dlmv pvlr kp vs vbkp iwlpvksd?”
“R esd’v jdso.” Mbl hsknl oyp zygu.
“Fyu vbyv ytykd?”
He chuckled lightly, “Teacher, I really don’t know.”
That was the first time Meng Shengnan had seen someone like that.
Nie Jing leaned close to her and said in a low voice, “He is a classmate of my first year high school friend, none of the teachers can control him.”
“What’s your name?” The teacher said while suppressing his anger.
The boy didn’t even bother to open his mouth this time. This was probably the first time this teacher in his fifties had seen such a bad student, he was basically a hooligan who didn’t have knowledge or skill and also treated others with contempt. The teacher was so angry that his chest started to heave up and down.
“The class head, stand up.” The teacher snapped, “What’s his name?”
“Teacher, he is not in our class.”
“He’s not?”
“Yeah.” The class head affirmed and pushed his glasses up.
The teacher’s gaze fell back to the boy again, “Which class are you from?”
The boy stood with his hands in his pockets and didn’t answer the question.
“I’m asking you, which class are you from?”
The girl next to him could not sit still anymore, slowly standing up, with a delicate voice: “Teacher—”
“What do you want to say?”
“He is my classmate, he came to find me.”
“Does the classroom allow outsiders to enter casually?”
“Sorry teacher, it won’t happen next time.”
“Aren’t you leaving yet?”
As soon as the teacher uttered the word ‘leave’, the boy had already left his seat and walked out arrogantly. Within a few seconds, he was nowhere to be seen. Meng Shengnan was long dumbfounded, and Xue Lin went “wow” in an exaggerated tone. The wave of storm that had occurred in their evening self-study class did not dissipate even when the math teacher left angrily, but it actually worsened. Until school was over, the conversations around this topic only increased, and the girls in the back row were all noisily fooling around.
“Li Yan, your boyfriend is so handsome.”
“He is Chi Zheng, that was really eye-opening just now.”
“…”
Meng Shengnan packed her schoolbags and walked out.
Xue Lin sighed: “If I had such a ‘man’ boyfriend, I would have no regrets in this life.” After finishing speaking, she sighed vigorously, and then suddenly changed her tone: “Meng Shengnan, why are you leaving so actively tonight?”
Meng Shengnan stopped: “Well, what’s the matter?”
“Why are you so calm?”
“What?”
“It’s Chi Zheng.”
“Who?”
“My God, don’t you know?”
Meng Shengnan really didn’t know that he was Chi Zheng. Recalling vaguely in her memory, it seemed that there were several times when the school had outright disciplined this person when they were raising the flag. There was indeed such a person who was disciplined more frequently than winning an award.
“Why are you so excited?” Meng Shengnan asked her.
Xue Lin smiled embarrassedly: “Who doesn’t like such a good-looking and cool boy?”
“He has a girlfriend.”
Xue Lin laughed again and whispered: “His girlfriends don’t last for more than 3 months. If you don’t believe me, just wait and see.”
Nie Jing interrupted: “Does that relate to you?”
Xue Lin: “…”
Meng Shengnan was not interested in these topics and needed to hurry home. When leaving the classroom, looking back at Li Yan who was surrounded by a group of girls, the girl smiled sweetly and blushed. That’s true, who wouldn’t like such a good-looking and cool boy like that.
In regards to three months ago–
On the central street that was filled with warm yellow lights, she pushed her bicycle forward as the bicycle chain had come off while walking back. It was always common to experience nights like this, there were always many boys and girls passing by, smiling at each other.
That’s what youth should look like.
Behind her there was another wave of laughter and cursing coming towards her. Before Meng Shengnan took the next step, she was frozen. There was a girl’s cute voice, and a boy laughing lowly. Then a group of boys jeered.
“Chi Zheng, look at them!”
The boy was carrying the girl on his bike and laughed: “They are always like that, don’t you know.”
“Hmph.” The girl sat in the back seat, tilting her head to one side, pretending to be angry.
“Don’t be angry, Li Yan.” A boy joked.
A group of boys began to jeer again, one of them yelling directly: “Chi Zheng, I heard that you enjoyed the limelight in Li Yan’s class tonight. Tell everyone about it for some laughs!”
“That’s right, we’ll treat you leniently if you confess, but severely if you resist.”
“Li Yan isn’t shy, right?”
The girl lowered her head and hugged the boy’s waist without speaking.
The boy who was being hugged raised his voice and smiled, “That’s enough.”
At that time, Meng Shengnan was passing the crossroad. The group of people, including the boy who had just been in opposition against the teacher an hour ago, rode past her with joy, so youthful that it was like the wind. She was like the pot of golden chrysanthemums that circled up and around like a ladder and had been placed in the centre of this crossroad, it was as if she had long lost her original flavor and was full of loneliness on this night.
‘It’s like an old man full of white hairs has entered a place made for the youth on this very night.”
The poem that Bai Juyi had written about white chrysanthemums perfectly corresponded with the scene tonight. The scene tonight was a boy driving a girl along the central street, seeming to travel smoothly on the road after their self-study class, and she was the one who had accidentally run into it. That day was the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the Double Ninth Festival.
There was already some distance between them, but she could still hear someone shouting from a distance: “Hey, I say, next month’s World of Warcraft game…?”
The street gradually became deserted.
When she got home, Meng Shengnan felt very strange, there was a sort of frustration within that was stuck and couldn’t come out.
On QQ, Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted sent a line of messages: What are you doing, Xiao Meng1nickname, meaning little Meng?
Meng Shengnan: Nothing.
JiScholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted: I was talking to Zhou Ningchi two days ago, can you guess what this b*stard did?
Meng Shengnan: I don’t know.
Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted: He went to the No. 675 street to examine and approve the manuscripts! ! !
Meng Shengnan: Huh?
Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted: Terrifying, right? ? ? He has won the first prize of the New Concept Competition three times already, the judges treat him like a son, they specifically asked him to help review the manuscripts. Hey, but this is a good thing, we can go through the back door hahaha…
At this time, Meng Shengnan seemed to be more clear-headed.
Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted: How much have you written now?
Meng Shengnan: Zero words.
Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted: D*mn, are you being serious?
Meng Shengnan: I’m serious.
Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted: Be good, pat, pat.
After the two chatted for a while, Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted encouraged her not to write in a hurry, and that if she didn’t have any inspiration then she needed to go find some. Before going to sleep, Meng Shengnan turned off the computer and laid on her bed, her brain all muddled up, she didn’t even know when she had fallen asleep.
–
[Translator’s Note: I decided to change the nickname to ‘Scholar Jiang’s Talents Are Exhausted’ from ‘Jiang Yan’s Talents Are Exhausted’ in case you are confused, I think it suits better! Hope it’s not a big issue. By the way, we get to see our hooligan rebellious ML in action and a small interaction between them! Anyways, thank you for reading, part 2 is also up! Enjoy!]
Thank you!