The basketball court at Ancheng No. 1 High School fell silent as everyone stared in disbelief. Cheng Xing and Chen Qing, two prominent figures in the school, were at the center of the commotion.
The former was the biggest troublemaker in the entire school, and few students dared to truly provoke him. The latter was considered one of the prettiest girls in the school by many of the boys. Coupled with Chen Qing's excellent academic performance and her father being the director of the city's cultural bureau, her family background was unmatched by many in the school, so the number of students who liked her were countless.
Everyone in the school knew that Cheng Xing liked Chen Qing. Even the school teachers, including the old man at the gate, had heard rumors about it. Because in the two years that Cheng Xing had been studying at Ancheng No. 1 High School, he had gotten into countless fights over Chen Qing.No matter what time it was, you could always see Cheng Xing by Chen Qing's side.Although the two of them were very close, Chen Qing and Cheng Xing were not together.Today at noon, word got out about Cheng Xing writing Chen Qing a love letter. After a lunch break, the news spread throughout the entire school. Subsequently, many people started paying attention to Chen Qing's reaction to receiving the love letter.When Chen Qing returned from eating lunch outside of school and overheard someone discussing this matter, she returned to her class with a gloomy expression. Without even looking at the love letter, she angrily took it and went to the basketball court to find Cheng Xing.Naturally, everyone else followed her.It had only been a few days since school started, and it was rare to have such a big piece of gossip.Naturally, no one wanted to sit in a stuffy classroom on such a hot day.The development of the situation was beyond their expectations.But this unexpected plot twist left everyone feeling uneasy.They had come to the right basketball court.They had also come to the right place for this gossip.After reacting, everyone rushed back to their respective classes as quickly as possible.This gossip, this piece of juicy news, was stuck in their throats, making them extremely uncomfortable.They were dying to share it with someone.Jiang Luxi glanced at the love letter in her hand, then left.On the originally bustling basketball court, only Chen Qing, Wang Yan, and Li Dan remained."What does Cheng Xing mean by this?" Li Dan asked in surprise."What else could he do? After being publicly rejected by our school belle Chen Qing, to save face, he had to find a way to retaliate and save himself some dignity," Wang Yan giggled. "But that was a pretty poor attempt."
"Oh, so that's how it is," Li Dan said with a smile, "But Cheng Xing is actually pretty good. He's been chasing after our Qing Qing for so many years, and he's also quite handsome and comes from a good family. It's just that his academic performance is a bit poor. Are you really not going to consider him?"
"What are you talking about? We're still just students, and besides, our school prohibits early dating," Chen Qing said with a smile after hearing Wang Yan's explanation.
"It says it prohibits early dating, but aren't people dating in private? Just in our class alone, you can't even count the number of couples on one hand," Li Dan said."That includes you too, you little hussy. Don't think I don't know. Aren't you dating Zhang Qi from another school? Chen Qing, you're so unfair. Don't tickle me anymore, or I'll tickle you back," Li Dan said as she ran away, laughing.The girl's silver bell-like laughter intertwined with the chirping of cicadas in the autumn.In this place called campus, a word called youth was formed.Cheng Xing walked slowly.A tree-lined path connected the basketball court to the teaching building.Rows of Chinese parasol trees lined both sides, their branches casting dappled shadows.
Cheng Xing often wondered if every youthful story featured such a picturesque avenue, having seen it time and time again in movies and novels.
Cheng Xing looked up and through the lush branches, he could see the brilliant sunlight.
This was not 2023, a period when time seemed to race by, making Cheng Xing feel prematurely aged. Rather, it was 2010, an era of slower pace and brilliant sunshine. In this time, those born in the 80s were young adults, while those born in the 90s were still teenagers.Cheng Xing picked up a fallen leaf from the road and rubbed the veins on it.
Reaching the end of the road, Cheng Xing smiled brightly.
Hello, 2010.
As the early autumn sun illuminated the path, Cheng Xing proceeded along the familiar corridor of the school building and climbed the steps to his old high school class, Class 3 of Senior Year.
Stepping into the classroom, the strange faces he had forgotten gradually became familiar again, merging with the faces that had been sealed away for over a decade. Cheng Xing could even remember many of their names.
"Sun Ping, why are you staring at me like that?" Cheng Xing asked the girl in the first row who had been looking at him.
"They're all looking," Sun Ping pointed to the people next to her.
"You look better this way. You should eat less snacks in the future," Cheng Xing smiled.
"Ah? Oh." Sun Ping's ears turned red, and she instantly lowered her head.
Cheng Xing smiled. Sun Ping was very thin in high school, but she had gained weight later. After graduating from university, she became a teacher .
Cheng Xing had seen her once a few years ago when he attended the Ancheng No.1 High School's anniversary celebration.
Before his regression, Zhou Yuan had originally planned to invite her to the reunion, but since the school had just started a new semester and she was too busy as a homeroom teacher, she had declined.
Time flies, and the seasons change.
Everyone is at their most youthful and brilliant age.
This feeling is so good.
Cheng Xing sat down in his seat.
His academic performance was not good, so he could only sit in the last row of the class.
On his desk, there were new books that had just been issued at the beginning of the semester.
Of course, all these new books were mainly review materials.
Cheng Xing opened the book and could smell the pleasant fragrance of paper.
Every time new books were issued at the beginning of the semester, Cheng Xing liked to gently sniff this fragrance.
Because the fragrance of new books was really nice.
Unfortunately, no more textbooks would be issued in senior year.
The fragrance of Chinese textbooks is the best-smelling of all these textbooks.
Cheng Xing flipped through these materials. He could still understand some of the Chinese language materials.
But things like math and chemistry were like looking at a book from another planet.
As Cheng Xing was flipping through these review materials, Zhou Yuan walked in from outside.
"Brother Cheng, you're still amazing," Zhou Yuan gave Cheng Xing a thumbs up. "Originally, it was a pretty embarrassing thing, but this way, Chen Qing should be the one feeling bad."
Zhou Yuan said, "Brother Cheng, don't be sad. I think Chen Qing still likes you, but because of the rumors in the school and fearing that the teachers and her parents would find out, she rejected you."
"Look, besides you, which other guy can get as close to Chen Qing in these two years?" Zhou Yuan saw that Cheng Xing was still flipping through the book, thinking that Cheng Xing was feeling sad and out of it, so he comforted him.
Cheng Xing smiled, 'I'm fine.' Then, he closed his books and asked, 'Do you have any old Chinese textbooks from the first or second year? I'd like to borrow them for a quick review.
Besides these newly issued review materials, Cheng Xing had lost all the books he had received in the first and second years of high school.
It was probably the standard for a poor student to lose their textbooks before the semester even ended.
Obviously, Cheng Xing belonged to this kind of person.
"Brother Cheng, are you okay?" Zhou Yuan asked in astonishment.
Cheng Xing wanted to borrow a book from him? Was the sun rising from the west?
"You didn't lose all yours too, did you?" Cheng Xing asked.
"No, I can't find the ones from the first year of high school, but I still have the ones from the second year of high school," Zhou Yuan said, taking a tattered second-year high school Chinese textbook from his drawer and handing it to him.
Cheng Xing took it and flipped through it casually. He saw that Zhou Yuan had left a classic painting on almost every page, including an indecent nude female art portrait.
Cheng Xing glanced at him, and this guy shamelessly asked, "How is it? Beautiful isn't it?"
Cheng Xing ignored him and was just about to read the articles in the textbook carefully when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. This figure was so quiet that Cheng Xing didn't notice it until he saw the light on the textbook dim.
Cheng Xing looked up and saw Jiang Luxi, wearing glasses, standing quietly in front of him, holding the love letter.
Cheng Xing instinctively wanted to close the book, but it was too late. He noticed the girl's ears flushing red.