Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After winter set in this year, S City was particularly cold.

The Xu Family’s heating was on full, so every morning I would laze in bed a little longer.

Xu Ge always got up before me.

When I came downstairs, he was usually already sitting there having breakfast.

However, once, he had stayed up late the night before working on math problems, and so the next morning he got up late, hurriedly brushing his teeth and washing his face.

Aunt Su was packing his schoolbag for him, and in the rush, she accidentally stuffed his homework notebook into my bag.

I didn’t discover it until I got to school.

I was hesitating whether to take it to Xu Ge when he sent someone to pass a message to me.

“For afternoon math class, come get it at noon.”

At No. 1 Middle School, noon was lunchtime and generally no one was in the classroom.

Reassured, I took the boxed lunch Aunt Su had packed for me in the morning and went to the cafeteria to eat with Nian Nian.

After finishing, Nian Nian needed to go to the restroom, so I carried the washed lunchbox back to the classroom first.

And then I saw a scene I would never forget.

Ji Yunbai was standing on the podium.

Xu Ge held a math workbook in his left hand, leaning lazily against the doorframe of the back door, his long legs crossed, the zipper of his school uniform jacket only half-zipped, watching Ji Yunbai on the podium.

“My name is Ji Yunbai.”

Her voice was very pleasant.

Saying this, she wrote her name on the blackboard with chalk: “Yun from white cloud, Bai from white cloud.

“Hey, did you remember?”

I instinctively turned to Xu Ge.

In his eyes, there was a complex emotion I couldn’t understand.

The young man curved the corner of his lips slightly, the mole on the bridge of his nose looking charming: “I remember.”

A solitary, aloof girl.

A flamboyant, proud boy.

Standing in the corridor outside the classroom, I witnessed the birth of a grand adolescent love.

I thought I should have been very happy.

If I didn’t like Xu Ge.

……

Days went by as usual, and soon it was Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, S City had its first snowfall of the year.

While I was doing homework, Xu Ge, for the first time ever, knocked on my door.

I opened the door, and Xu Ge was standing outside.

He had just showered and was wearing loose, soft black lounge clothes.

His hair was only towel-dried to the point of not dripping.

“I want to ask you something.”

He raised a hand to scratch the bridge of his nose, and coughed lightly as if to cover something: “That girl in your class called Ji Yunbai, how much do you know about her?”

Outside, the wind and snow were swirling and falling.

My heart was colder than the depths of winter.

My eyelashes quivered, I forced a smile and said, “I’m not familiar with her.”

The boy lost interest immediately, just said “Oh” flatly, turned and left.

I called after him: “Xu Ge, you like her, don’t you?”

The boy stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around.

“It’s late, go to bed early.”

He said softly.