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 was countless.
Everyone at Ancheng No. 1 High School knew that Cheng Xing liked Chen Qing. Even the school staff, including the old gatekeeper, had heard the rumors. During his two years at the school, Cheng Xing had gotten into many fights because of 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 that Cheng Xing had written Chen Qing a love letter. After the 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. It was a hot day, and nobody wanted to be stuck in a stuffy classroom. They were all surprised to find themselves at the basketball court, the perfect place for drama.
After the shock, they rushed back to class, but the tidbit was burning inside them. They couldn't wait to share the exciting news with others.
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 mean by that? 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 minx. 'Oh, come on, don't play dumb. Aren't you going out with Zhang Qi from another school?'" Chen Qing said teasingly.
"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 away slowly, welcoming his sight: a tree-lined path that connected the basketball court to the teaching building. Rows of parasol trees lined both sides, their branches casting dappled shadows on the ground below.
Cheng Xing often mused whether every youthful tale involved such a picturesque avenue, having encountered it countless times in movies and novels.
He looked up through the lush canopy, where the brilliant sunlight pierced the leaves.
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, mixing 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 had been quite slender in high school, but she had put on some weight later on. After finishing 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.
Cheng Xing sat down in his seat. He wasn't a top student, so he had to sit in the back row. On his desk were new books, fresh from the start of the semester. Of course, these were mostly review materials. Cheng Xing opened a book and inhaled the pleasant scent of paper. He loved the smell of new books at the beginning of each semester. It was simply delightful.
Unfortunately, no more textbooks would be issued in senior year.
"The fragrance of fresh ink and paper in new textbooks is simply divine," Cheng Xing said while savoring the scent of the 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.
Zhou Yuan gave Cheng Xing a thumbs-up, praising, "Brother Cheng, you're incredible! You completely turned that awkward situation around. Now, Chen Qing should be the one feeling embarrassed."
Zhou Yuan tried to comfort Cheng Xing, saying, "Don't be upset, Brother Cheng. I think Chen Qing still has feelings for you. She probably turned you down because of the rumors and the fear of her parents and teachers finding out."
He continued, "Think about it, besides you, who else has been as close to Chen Qing in the past two years?" Zhou Yuan noticed Cheng Xing was still lost in his thoughts, flipping through a book. Worried that Cheng Xing was feeling down, he offered his words of encouragement.
Cheng Xing smiled. "I'm fine." 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 his textbooks from the first and second years of high school. It was common for poor students to lose their textbooks before the semester even ended. Obviously, he was one of them.
"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, but I still have the ones from the second year," 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.