The school cafeteria buzzed with chatter as students crowded together for their midday meal.
"Did you hear? Cheng Xing and Chen Qing almost got into a fight outside the school just now!" someone exclaimed, their voice brimming with urgency.
This eager storyteller, who had only caught part of the drama, had rushed back to share the news.
Word spread quickly, especially during lunch break. Within minutes, it seemed like everyone in the cafeteria was talking about it.
"Really? That's impossible," someone said skeptically. "Cheng Xing likes Chen Qing. Why would he fight her?"
"Why would I make it up?" the original storyteller countered. "A friend of mine saw it with their own eyes—right at that street food stall selling shuiluomo outside the school. They said Chen Qing was furious. It was terrifying."
"I bet it's because Cheng Xing confessed to her last week, and she rejected him," another student chimed in.
"Probably," someone else agreed. "Who doesn't know Cheng Xing? He's the biggest troublemaker in school. Chen Qing might be bold enough to turn him down, but now that she's caught his attention, she'll have to deal with the consequences. It's not easy to shake him off once he's fixated on you."
"Well, can you blame him?" a boy joked, grinning. "She's gorgeous. If I were Cheng Xing, I'd be pestering her too."
Seated nearby, Jiang Luxi shrank into herself, nibbling nervously on her steamed bun. She had heard similar rumors before—that Cheng Xing liked Chen Qing—but now it seemed those rumors were true. Yet, despite his supposed feelings, he had almost fought with her.
If he's like that with someone he likes, how would he treat someone he doesn't like?
Her thoughts drifted back to her own tense encounter with Cheng Xing earlier that day. Though she had tried to convince herself it wouldn't be a big deal if he hit her—just once—so long as it got him to leave her alone, the truth was she was scared. Terrified, even.
From now on, she resolved, she would avoid him at all costs. The farther away, the better. Wherever Cheng Xing was, she would take a detour. If she provoked him again and he really did hit her, she wouldn't even be able to continue attending school.
Lost in thought, Jiang Luxi finished her steamed bun, washing it down with a bite of cabbage before tidying her lunch tray. Once her tray was clean, she made her way back to the classroom.
As soon as she sat at her desk, Chen Qing stormed in. Her face was grim, confirming the cafeteria gossip. Even when Cheng Xing had written her that love letter last week, Chen Qing hadn't looked this angry.
Close behind her was Li Dan, her expression even darker. The stares of their classmates only seemed to deepen her embarrassment. She couldn't help recalling her own words to Cheng Xing earlier:
"Just because we can't cut in line here doesn't mean we can't cut in line elsewhere."
Her cheeks burned at the memory. The humiliation was too much to bear, so she quickly pulled out her phone to send a message to her boyfriend, Zhang Qi.
Not long after, Zheng Hua, their homeroom teacher, entered the classroom. He clapped his hands sharply.
"All right, sit down and recite your lessons. It's still morning—don't look so sluggish. What kind of image are you projecting?" he scolded before turning to Cheng Xing.
"Zhao Long is sick today. You're in charge of organizing the first row to handle campus cleanup."
Cheng Xing groaned, rolling his eyes. That Zhao Long… The guy always had some excuse to skip school.
Zhao Long sat in the last row and was, by far, the worst student in the class—his grades were even lower than Cheng Xing's. At least Cheng Xing occasionally passed Chinese. Zhao Long? Not a single subject. Yet, somehow, he had ended up as the class hygiene monitor. It was an old school tradition: the weakest students were assigned the job so they wouldn't disrupt those who were actually trying to learn.
Still, Zhao Long barely did his duties. He was absent more often than not, often spending his "sick days" at internet cafes. Cheng Xing had even heard that during their second semester of senior year, Zhao had once lived in an internet cafe for two months straight.
Whenever Zhao was absent, the responsibility of overseeing hygiene tasks fell to Cheng Xing.
With a resigned sigh, Cheng Xing stood up and barked, "Who didn't clean the classroom this morning in the first row?"
Several hands went up.
"Everyone who skipped their turn, come with me downstairs to clean," he said.
A few students grabbed brooms and followed him out.
The class rotated cleaning duties daily. Each group was assigned to either clean the classroom or tidy specific areas of the school grounds. Today, Class Three was responsible for the small cafeteria and the bike shed.
For students like Cheng Xing and the other academically weaker ones who sat in the back rows, outdoor cleaning was a blessing. They could dawdle, chat, or wander around until the bell rang, free from the teacher's watchful eyes. It was far better than sitting through lessons.
By contrast, diligent students preferred indoor cleaning. It was quicker, and they could return to studying afterward.
"You four handle the cafeteria. Jiang Luxi, you take the bike shed," Cheng Xing said after they reached the ground floor.
The bike shed was the easiest to clean since it had the least amount of trash.
The cafeteria, on the other hand, was a war zone of spilled food and scattered trash.
Jiang Luxi grabbed a broom and headed toward the bike shed, while the others grumbled and began cleaning the cafeteria.
Cheng Xing watched them for a moment before wandering off to the bike shed. He wasn't planning to work—just find a bike to lean against and relax. But as soon as he arrived, he spotted Jiang Luxi fumbling with her broom.
She accidentally let go, and the broom clattered onto a bicycle. The poorly parked bike wobbled before toppling over. Then, like a row of dominos, the rest of the bikes in the row collapsed one after another, the loud crashes echoing through the shed.