Chapter 16

Chapter 16

When I returned to school and attended class again, I unexpectedly discovered that the teacher had changed the seating at some point.

Nian Nian and Ji Yunbai were sitting together.

Beside me was a girl with a straight fringe and black-rimmed glasses.

I remembered her name; she was Meng Tian.

She was very good at studies, never dropping out of the top five in class, always achieving near-perfect scores in English, a very quiet girl.

I ignored the strange feeling in my heart and smiled at my new deskmate.

“Hello, I’m Ruan He. Let’s get along well for a while.”

Monday morning, it was the customary flag-raising ceremony.

I habitually turned back to call Nian Nian to go together.

But I saw her linking arms with Ji Yunbai and disappearing through the back door.

I was a bit flustered, and chased to the stairway, pushing past one person after another.

Finally, I came up behind her.

“Then what about Ruan He? Aren’t you waiting for her?”

I heard Ji Yunbai’s voice.

“What’s there to wait for? If I wait for her, won’t you be sad?”

The hand I was about to pat her back with instantly stopped in midair.

Watching helplessly as the two of them walked away with the crowd.

I silently moved to the side and followed the crowd down the steps.

Why?

Why, when I had only gone home for a month, and during that month we chatted on WeChat every day, did you still become friends with someone else?

In my daze, someone patted my shoulder from behind.

I looked back blankly.

It was Xu Ge and that group of boys.

“What are you spacing out for?”

He had his hands slanted into his trouser pockets, his school uniform zipper open, revealing the white summer uniform inside.

He was standing one step higher than me, looking down at me.

I looked at his face, the words “I feel like I’ve lost my friend” just wouldn’t come out.

“Isn’t that the top student from Class 2?” A boy behind laughed teasingly. “Xu Ge, how do you know her?”

Only then did I belatedly realize we were at school.

At school, Xu Ge actually initiated a conversation with me?

Xu Ge gave an “mm,” which sort of answered that boy’s question.

My head in a fog, I walked with them to the sports ground.

When we reached the entrance to the sports ground, Xu Ge suddenly spoke: “My mom is sick and in the hospital. I plan to fly to Beijing this afternoon to see her.”

“Auntie is hospitalized?”

I jolted, suddenly coming back to my senses, unable to stop my worry.

Aunt Xu had always had good health. When she came back on New Year’s Eve this year, she looked full of energy and chatted with me the whole night.

How could she suddenly fall ill?

“It’s not a serious illness. They say there’s a growth in her stomach, benign. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. I’ll go over tonight to be with her.”

“Then I’ll come too-”

“Don’t go. You already missed a month of classes. Use this week to catch up on the lessons you fell behind on. Besides, if my dad sees me leading you around skipping class, he’ll definitely scold me to death.”

As Xu Ge was talking, we reached the class formation. A boy came up and patted his arm, and the two of them chatted and laughed their way to the back of the line.

I continued on to Class 2.

Unawares, I looked up and saw Nian Nian.

She was laughing and talking with Ji Yunbai, and she glanced sideways at me.

Suddenly, a cold snort.