Chapter 1
Editors: Princess&Jodi
When Yu Pei returned to school for classes, it had already been half a year.
During his absence, the once withered red jacaranda trees on campus had sprouted fresh green buds, the new growth hanging vibrantly from the branches, giving the whole scene a lush, thriving look from afar.
It was a chilly spring day, and a gust of cold wind brushed past him. He accidentally inhaled two breaths of it, which immediately irritated his sensitive throat, causing it to spasm. He coughed twice, tugging his scarf up to cover more of his pale face before bowing his head and continuing towards the classroom.
Even with his face mostly hidden, his slim and quiet figure still caught the attention of many girls. They slowed their steps, quietly glancing at the part of his face that was exposed beyond the dark blue scarf, before hurrying off as the bell for class rang.
Having been away from school, Yu Pei didn’t repeat his second year but chose to advance directly to his third year, alongside his former classmates. His academic performance had never been great, and he didn’t have the resolve to suddenly become a top student even after half a year off. He figured even if he went through the second year again, his grades wouldn’t improve much, so he skipped the second half of the second year and jumped straight into the third. Fortunately, the classroom was still the same, sparing him the embarrassment of walking into the wrong one.
But his seat wasn’t the same anymore.
He searched for a while before finally seeing his former desk mate’s new location, only to see that they were now sitting with someone else.
The classroom, which had once been so familiar to him, now felt strangely foreign. The mural he had painstakingly drawn on the wall, a bunch of neat and delicate Weigela flowers, had been painted over with fresh white paint, leaving no trace of its previous existence—just like a real Weigela flower that, once its blooming season ended, completely withered away, disappearing into the soil.
“The principal said that since it’s the third year, too many murals on the walls would distract the students.”
The homeroom teacher explained, perhaps noticing his gaze lingering too long on the wall.
Yu Pei lowered his eyes, responding with a disinterested “Oh.”
He didn’t care much about the mural. Back when the school organized some “Diverse Campus” event, encouraging students to decorate their classrooms, the teachers knew he was good at drawing, and so asked him to handle it. At that time, he had thought it might help him connect better with his classmates, so he drew the Weigela flowers, wishing his classmates success in their futures.
However when the students from other classes drew passionate anime characters and he drew soft pink and white Weigela flowers, it only reinforced his classmates’ impression that he was gloomy and effeminate. They didn’t like his drawing, and they didn’t like him.
So now that the mural was gone, he thought it was probably for the best. After all, he had stared at enough blank white walls during his time in the hospital, so seeing them again at school didn’t bore or bother him.
“Your new seat is over there.” The homeroom teacher pointed to an empty seat along the wall in the middle of the classroom. “A new student will be joining us soon, and they’ll be your new desk mate…”
But Yu Pei wasn’t paying attention to the teacher’s words. He felt exhausted—perhaps his body hadn’t fully recovered yet, or maybe it was the effect of the medication he took that morning, which made him drowsy. As soon as the teacher finished speaking, he sat down at the desk, clutching his school bag, and his classmates immediately went silent, staring at him.
Actually, the moment he entered the classroom, everyone had noticed him, but very few recognized him right away. Part of the reason was because of the scarf that was covering half of his face. No one could quite believe that the formerly overweight Yu Pei had become so thin. Another reason was that after being absent for so long, the Yu Pei who had returned felt like a completely different person.
Sensing their gazes, Yu Pei looked up briefly, and when his eyes met theirs, they hesitated for a moment before giving him polite but hollow smiles, none of which reached their eyes as they greeted him with empty pleasantries. “Yu Pei, long time no see! You’re finally back? Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, much better. Thank you for asking.” Yu Pei answered with his eyes downcast, as he set out his textbooks and notebook for the next class.
His voice was low and muffled behind the scarf, making it hard to hear in the noisy classroom, and the long, untrimmed strands of hair nearly touched his eyelashes. Seeing his cool response, the others lost interest in chatting with him and turned away, laughing and talking with their friends. Hardly anyone glanced back at the solitary figure sitting by the wall.
But Yu Pei raised his eyes again, glancing around, and seeing that no one seemed to want to talk to him, his brows furrowed as he clenched his fist nervously, remembering the words Uncle Zhuang had repeatedly reminded him of before he got out of the car.
So taking a deep breath, he hesitated for a moment before poking the boy sitting in front of him lightly, speaking softly when he turned around, “Tan Qiming, can you—”
However before he could finish, the class bell rang, drowning out his already faint voice.
“What did you say?” Tan Qiming’s initial tone was sharp—he had never liked Yu Pei. After all, Yu Pei had been the fattest boy in class, and while it was fine during winter as everyone was bundled up in thick clothes, when it was summer, no one could stand the sight of his sweaty, pale flesh. It was gross to both the boys and girls.
But now, Yu Pei was thin. So thin that he almost didn’t look like the same person. He wasn’t the fat kid everyone disliked anymore, and there was something unsettlingly sad about his eyes as he looked over. His brows furrowed slightly, his long lashes trembled faintly, and the part of his face that was exposed beyond the scarf was as pale as the crescent moon.
What’s more as the morning light filtered through the windows, it cast a glow on his slender frame, making his pale brown eyes appear even more transparent, and he looked even more fragile—like a person who hadn’t fully recovered from a serious illness.
Hence Tan Qiming froze for a moment when their eyes met, then his tone softened unconsciously as he finished his sentence.
However Yu Pei hadn’t missed the initial impatience in Tan Qiming’s eyes. He dropped his gaze again, his long lashes concealing any trace of emotion in his eyes as he buried his face deeper into his scarf and mumbled, “Never mind.”
Tan Qiming frowned, finding his behavior odd, however he just turned away in the end.
The first class was language class. Yu Pei had taken his asthma medicine that morning, and now the effects were kicking in. He was so drowsy he could hardly keep his eyes open, but he didn’t dare fall asleep, because he was afraid the teacher would call him out and scold him.
He had just returned to school, so even if his grades couldn’t improve, he didn’t want to get in trouble for sleeping in class and cause more trouble for his family. He needed to behave…
With that thought, he pinched his thigh to keep himself awake, forcing his eyes to stay open and focus on the ancient poetry in his textbook. However he couldn’t concentrate, and by the end of class, he hadn’t absorbed anything.
Finally, when the bell rang, he slumped over his desk, taking the opportunity to nap a little. A few classmates were curious about his new, slimmer appearance and thought about talking to him but hesitated when they saw him resting.
When the bell rang for the next class, Yu Pei sat up again hurriedly, pretending to pay attention.
But he had never been good at studying, and after missing half a year of school, it was even harder for him to follow. Subjects like language and English were okay as it was just like memorization, so he could at least pass, but math and physics were like books that had dropped down from heaven.
He just stared at his math textbook for ages, but didn’t understand anything at all.
The day only got worse when he saw Qi Wenqiang.
She was called up by the teacher to solve a problem on the blackboard.
He closed his eyes, burying his face in his arms, hoping that by doing so, he could avoid seeing Qi Wenqiang, but he could still hear her footsteps, and even though she didn’t say a word, he knew when she walked past him and when she crossed the classroom to the other side.
And with all this, despite knowing that he might get called out by the teacher for slouching at his desk, he didn’t raise his head for the rest of the class.
At first, he had only wanted to avoid Qi Wenqiang, but perhaps due to the lingering effects of the medicine, he eventually drifted off to sleep. Miraculously, he wasn’t called on by the teacher, so he slept until he was startled awake by a soft sound nearby.
He lifted his head, still groggy, and blinked at the source of the noise. Then his eyes met a pair of blue ones.
Someone was sitting next to him now, in the seat that had been empty for the first two periods.
That person had deep blue eyes and features that were more defined than the average person. Yu Pei stared at him blankly, and the boy looked back, his thin lips parting slightly as he apologized, his voice low and husky, somewhere between a man’s and a young man’s. “Sorry for waking you.”
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