Leaning against the doorway, the teacher turned back and, using the moonlight, glanced into the classroom and asked:
“Who can sing?”
The students immediately erupted, and after some clamor, one of them said:
“Teacher, Yu Tonglin has a nice voice!”
“Yu Tonglin, sing a song for us.” The class teacher clapped her hands to quiet everyone down and called on Yu Tonglin.
The classroom quieted down, and Yu Tonglin spoke up, “Then, teacher, I’ll sing Pu Shu’s ‘Birch Forest.'”
“Alright, everyone be quiet,” the class teacher maintained order.
After a few moments, Yu Tonglin cleared his throat and began to sing.
His clear, male voice filled the classroom, and the serene melody suited his voice well, sounding very pleasant.
Some of the girls began to murmur their admiration, boosting Yu Tonglin’s confidence, making him sing even more effortlessly.
“Why don’t you raise your hand to sing? Weren’t you singing pretty well when you sat behind me on Sunday?” Shen Mo poked Hua Jie’s arm.
Hua Jie, who was resting with her eyes closed, lying on the desk, whispered a low “shh.” She was just too happy and sang foolishly; was her level really up to performing?
Shen Mo lay back down on the desk, looking into the darkness ahead, listening to the classmate’s song, and suddenly whispered:
“What’s it like in the girls’ bathroom?”
She turned her head, seeing only a silhouette under the moonlight, thought for a moment, and then withdrew her gaze, whispering:
“It’s wonderful, with the kind of good figures, good skin, and good looks that I desire.”
At this age, both boys and girls are curious about the opposite sex, sometimes even recklessly so, yet they are profoundly secretive, harboring their newly awakened yearnings and observing in silence.
“…” The boy fell silent.
“And what about the boys’ bathroom?” she asked, equally curious but in a quieter voice.
“It’s hideous,” he scoffed.
She couldn’t help but chuckle.
Boys seem to always reject praising the bodies of other males, as if denying their peers is a way to express their own masculine appeal.
The two fell silent again, unsure whether they were brewing more curiosity in their minds or savoring the thrill of this secretive whispering.
Suddenly, the lights came back on.
The classmates began to get noisy again, but the teacher gestured for everyone to be quiet and waited for the girl who was singing to finish before saying:
“Let’s continue with the self-study.”
The students sighed in disappointment, wishing the power outage could last until school was dismissed so they wouldn’t have to do their homework and could just listen to music.
Hua Jie and Shen Mo, however, remained in their previous positions, silent and not looking at each other.
Hua Jie’s face was slightly flushed. In her previous life, she had never had a boyfriend or a male best friend, nor had she ever trusted someone enough to discuss such odd topics.
It was her first time talking like this, and her heart raced as if she had just run eight hundred meters.
She felt like a child who had just stolen candy from the shop, panicked and uneasy like a thief.
Continuing to write diligently, the shame from discussing taboo topics gradually subsided after about ten minutes, and she stealthily glanced at Shen Mo using her peripheral vision.
Unexpectedly, she saw him resting his head on his hand, unable to hide the blush on his cheek even with his short hair and hands.
She suddenly smiled, and her frantic heartbeat gradually steadied.
The evening breeze seeped through the cracks in the window, gently lifting the curtain as it cautiously brushed over the boy’s sleek black hair and flushed cheekbones.
He scratched his head in slight irritation, and his long, well-defined fingers tidied up the curtain and tied it to the side of the window.
The draft coming from below the window was blocked by Hua Jie’s small cardboard, but the sides and top still let in drafts, so he considered buying some clear tape to seal it.
Having done all this, Shen Mo quickly glanced back at the girl beside him, seeing her short hair covering her cheeks and revealing light pink earlobes.
Suddenly, without any apparent reason, he tugged at his lip, feeling inexplicably happy.
Inside, the classmates were engrossed in their self-study, the sounds of writing and flipping pages mixing softly.
There were also faint sounds of the wind, noises from afar outside the window at night, and the beating of hearts.
Thump, thump, thump.
…
…
Tonight, Bian Hong was on duty, and Hua Jie was silently reciting in her own class waiting for him to finish and come find her.
After waiting for ten minutes and growing tired, she stood up, packed her books, and stretched her neck and body.
The duty student in her class was watering and sweeping the floor. Seeing that the blackboard hadn’t been wiped yet, Hua Jie took the initiative to thoroughly clean it.
After she finished cleaning but still no sign of Bian Hong, she began drawing on the blackboard with colored chalk.
Her mind replayed the night before her rebirth when she stayed up late to work on a game commission.
A fantasy world of immortals, floating mountain gates, people flying on swords, bizarre celestial phenomena, dragons coiling around mountains, and various mythical creatures…
Just as she was finishing the drawing, Bian Hong knocked on the door.
Hua Jie had intended to erase the drawing before leaving, but the duty student, seeing that Bian Hong was in a hurry, said:
“Hua Jie, you can go ahead. We’ll wipe the blackboard later.”
“Thanks!” Hua Jie smiled in gratitude, grabbed her books, and ran out of the classroom.
“They are really good together,” remarked the chubby girl from the duty team after Hua Jie had left.
“Are they dating?” the tall male duty student suddenly realized.
“Yes, they’re together every day, come rain or shine,” the chubby girl clicked her tongue in admiration.
“Hey, you go wipe the blackboard. I’ll take out the trash,” the tall boy, apparently less interested in gossip, suggested.
“Ah… it’s so beautifully drawn, so imaginative. Look, it’s majestic. I don’t want to erase it,” the chubby girl stood in front of the podium, looking up at the entire drawing, holding the chalk eraser but hesitating to use it.
“…” The tall boy, holding the trash can, also looked at it for a while, “How about we leave it? Let more students appreciate it tomorrow morning, then erase it?”
“Sure,” the chubby girl immediately agreed.
…..
…..
That night, a rare snowstorm in September, seen only once every ten years, swept through.
In Jinsong City, all units were mobilized to clear the snow, with civil servants taking the lead to clean the roads. After all, visibility was low due to the snow and wind, and the roads were slippery, so many cars dared not venture out for fear of accidents.
While they were sweeping, small snowflakes continued to fall, swirling around people like special effects in a movie, cold enough to make everyone stomping their feet and rubbing their hands.
The situation at No. 1 High School was similar; all students were outside on the sports fields and around the buildings, clearing the snow.
There were students shoveling snow, chopping ice, and moving snow to the bases of walls, all bustling about, their little faces red from the cold.
Even those students who hadn’t received tools were running wildly on the sports fields, building snowmen or sliding on ice, having fun without feeling the cold.
Since no one was in the classrooms for morning self-study, Hua Jie’s drawing on the blackboard stayed up until the first class.
When the preparatory bell rang, teachers and students reluctantly headed back to the classroom.
Everyone saw Hua Jie’s drawing on the blackboard; even the teachers and students from Class 7 of the first year stopped to admire it.
Hua Jie, holding a broom, was patting the snow off her pants as she walked into the building when she suddenly saw the drawing on the blackboard and froze.
Huh? Why wasn’t it erased?
She quickly placed the broom at the back of the classroom and then ran to the podium to erase it.
The English teacher quickly said:
“No need to erase it, let it be, it looks quite nice.”
“…” Hua Jie hesitated before putting down the eraser and returning to her seat.
In the year 2000, there was no “Avatar” yet, special effects films were not yet prevalent, and games had not reached the stage of impressive graphics; Hua Jie’s drawing left many people amazed.
Elements like floating islands and various mythical creatures, which would be commonplace 20 years later, were extraordinary in an era where no one had seen such things.
This was a leap of imagination ahead of its time.
Even though it was just a static image, many students were as immersed as if they were watching a blockbuster with special effects, and those with vivid imaginations had already started to concoct stories in their heads.
“Wow, if current martial arts dramas could be made like this, that would be impressive.”
“If we could make our game look like this, it would be so cool.”
The students couldn’t help but indulge in ‘daydreams’.
The class advisor, Liang Ping, was passing by her own class and glanced at the students, stopping short when she saw the blackboard.
“Did Hua Jie draw this?” She guessed it was Hua Jie without much thought.
“Yes,” said the English teacher, who was standing at the door and hadn’t yet entered the classroom.
“It’s really well done,” Liang Ping couldn’t help but praise.
“I know, I don’t want to erase it.”
“Doesn’t this affect your writing on the board?” Liang Ping laughed.
“There’s not much board writing today,” said the English teacher.
“Hey, everyone pay attention to the lesson, don’t get distracted by this painting, alright?” Liang Ping ordered sternly before leaving.
The students all responded in agreement.
The bell for the start of the official class rang, and the English teacher then entered the classroom and closed the door.
When she needed to write on the board, she wrote on the right side of the drawing, erasing it after writing, careful not to cross the demarcation between the drawing and the writing area, keeping the large drawing on the left well protected.
After the first period, the director of studies, having heard about the drawing, also came to take a look.
Several art teachers came over to stand in front of the podium to critique it for a long while; one even roughly sketched a copy of Hua Jie’s drawing on paper.
“Such imagination, and the composition is also good.”
“To draw such a large piece, quite impressive for a first-year student, tsk tsk.”
“Wang Ting, this is your student, right?”
“Yes.” While Wang Ting felt proud, she also felt somewhat conflicted. To date, Hua Jie had not yet attended the self-study class in the school’s art studio. Was she still not planning to study art?
During the second period physics class, the older male teacher stared at the drawing for a long time, not erasing it, and continued to write board notes in the blank space on the right.
Even the Chinese teacher, who usually writes in large characters, had to switch to smaller writing due to the limited space on the right.
Throughout the morning, the students of Class 7, Grade 1, all tilted their heads and stretched their necks to decipher the board notes piled up on the right side.
It wasn’t until noon when school was let out that Hua Jie couldn’t stand it any longer. Ignoring everyone’s objections, she erased the blackboard.
It was simply too distracting for the students.
Moreover, she sat on the left side of the blackboard, and it was inconvenient for her to look at the notes written on the right side!
Many students sighed with regret as they watched her erase it.
In the afternoon, when the chemistry teacher did not see the drawing on the blackboard, there was even a sense of loss.
After school, the students were still talking about Hua Jie’s large drawing, discussing the scenery, mythical creatures, and the sword-flying immortals depicted in it.
“This style, if used for writing martial arts novels, could be China’s Harry Potter!” one boy loudly expressed his opinion.
“Have you read ‘The Legend of Swordsman of Shushan’ by Zhu Louzhu? My god, I think the world in the book should look just like what Hua Jie drew!”
Another boy, not yet done discussing, passed by Hua Jie and asked:
“Hua Jie, that drawing you did on the blackboard, can you draw it on paper? I want to buy it.”
“Sure, it’ll be 100 yuan.” Hua Jie crossed her index fingers, indicating the amount.
“Ah… I can’t afford that,” the boy was startled.
Hua Jie just smiled without responding further; the content of that drawing was somewhat ahead of its time, and she wasn’t ready to put it on paper just yet.
“Show-off.” Bian Ying had been holding her breath all day and passed by Hua Jie with her backpack, softly ‘tsk-ing’ as she went.
Hua Jie narrowed her eyes and suddenly grabbed Bian Ying’s shoulder, forcing her to stop and turn around with a defensive look.
Hua Jie tilted her head and smiled sweetly, her gaze sweeping across the classroom and meeting the eyes of the chemistry class representative, she said loudly without any reservation:
“Painting is pretty good, isn’t it? Although it’s different from dancing or singing, it seems quite impressive too, right?”
“…” The chemistry class representative, remembering how Hua Jie had shown off today and recalling her own previous disdainful remarks about painting, was at a loss for words.
Bian Ying, annoyed by Hua Jie’s smug look, raised her hand to shake off Hua Jie’s hand from her shoulder, but Hua Jie withdrew her hand first, even wiping it on the side of her pants as if she had touched something dirty.
“Hua Jie, how can you be so—” Bian Ying began to speak, trying to pin some blame on Hua Jie.
But Hua Jie suddenly reached out towards her mouth, startling her into retreating.
“Bye-bye~” Hua Jie didn’t actually cover Bian Ying’s mouth; she just wanted to scare her into silence.
Having achieved her goal, she didn’t linger any longer and turned to leave this place of conflict with her backpack.
Let Bian Ying be angry; after all, she loves to be jealous and bitter towards her.
Let her be, to her heart’s content.
It’s not like Hua Jie loses anything.
As long as she doesn’t take it to heart, it’s the others who will be infuriated to death.