“…Hua Jie of Class 1, Grade 7, has brought glory to our school, to encourage her…” The school broadcast repeated this three times, articulating each word clearly, making the girl’s name ring out loud and clear.
Clutching an assortment of large and small packages, Hua Jie stood at the door of the Grade One team’s office, her face flushing as she listened to the broadcast.
Even before her rebirth, when she was praised, it was hidden in Weibo comments.
Accustomed to the past solitude and working quietly, she had almost forgotten how ostentatiously the school acted to encourage students.
She was so embarrassed that she could toe-dig a villa into the ground.
More embarrassing than having a birthday at Haidilao.
The teachers in the office watched the girl hiding behind the door, too shy to step out, and found her youthful shyness endearing.
“Come on out, walk out proudly with your head held high and chest out,” her homeroom teacher, Liang Ping, teased with a smile, proud of Hua Jie for the recognition.
The girl indeed had a remarkable talent, which was wonderful.
“…” Hua Jie turned to give the homeroom teacher a weak smile.
Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head slightly, composed herself with an air of nonchalance, and decided to walk out with dignity.
But the moment she stepped out of the office, she heard an incredibly loud male voice behind her:
“Ah! Hua Jie! Did you hear the broadcast just now? Hua Jie has brought glory to our school!”
It was him again!!
Yao Nan, always lively with a booming voice, had just come upstairs, enthusiastically approached, and continued shouting thoughtlessly:
“That’s so cool, Hua Jie! Bringing glory to our class! I can go out now and brag about being in the same class as you, and it feels so prestigious.”
“Shh…” Hua Jie, burdened with a pile of things, wished she could move faster.
Students passing by all cast curious glances her way, making it embarrassingly awkward.
But Yao Nan, oblivious to the girl’s shyness, thought such a glorious moment needed to be flaunted.
He even raised his right arm high, pointing towards Hua Jie to the surrounding people, and then foolishly introduced:
“This is Hua Jie, from our class, just praised on the broadcast—”
But before he could finish, someone slapped him hard on the back of his head.
Even his tall frame nearly stumbled from the impact.
Looking back in anger, he met Shen Mo’s face and immediately turned his anger into a smile: “Mo, did you hear that? The broadcast was praising Hua Jie.”
“…” Shen Mo ignored him, took a step forward to the swiftly walking Hua Jie, stretched out his hand to grab the large bag she was holding, and shoved it directly into Yao Nan’s arms.
He also pulled down the two bags slung over her elbow and carried them all in one hand.
Hua Jie shook her slightly sore arms, jogged to catch up with the fast-walking Shen Mo, and smiled, saying:
“Thanks, desk mate.”
“…” Shen Mo didn’t respond, and after entering the classroom, he directly placed the items on the floor in front of her desk.
Yao Nan followed suit and set down the items, wanting to tease Hua Jie a bit more, but suddenly caught the cold gaze from his bro Shen Mo, quickly shut his mouth, turned around, and made himself scarce.
Back in her own class, Hua Jie came alive again, the shy awkwardness she felt in the hallway receded quite a bit. Sitting down at her seat, she regained her full sense of security and immediately began to feel proud, turning to Shen Mo and asking:
“Am I impressive or what?”
“It’s okay, I guess. Freezing like a dog in the dead of winter to paint such big walls, at least it wasn’t a waste.” Shen Mo scoffed, still thinking the school was too stingy.
Hua Jie giggled, feeling satisfied.
She put her hand in her pocket, pulled out a small item, held it in her palm, and punched him lightly with her little fist as she said:
“Guess what this is?”
“?” Shen Mo took out the textbooks for the next class, looked at them, and asked uncertainly:
“Is it… a fist?”
“Pfft.” Hua Jie gave him a light punch with her small metal fist, not wanting to keep him guessing any longer, flipped her hand open, and revealed the key in her palm, boasting:
“The art teacher gave this to me, it’s the key to our school’s art studio. She said I’m the only one in the whole school who has one, and I can go paint whenever I want.”
“…” Shen Mo glanced at it indifferently, not very interested.
“It’s a privilege, quite impressive!” Hua Jie immediately insisted vehemently.
“That crappy studio, what’s there to be happy about having free access? If you want, I can make you a copy of my house key; my dad has several studios. What don’t we have?” Shen Mo looked worldly.
“…” Hua Jie was stunned.
Seeing her speechless from his words, Shen Mo felt he had won the verbal exchange but, not wanting to hurt her too much, he quickly changed his tone to comfort her:
“It’s still good, even if you don’t go to the studio or use the key, you can still sell it for scrap and make some money.”
“…” Hua Jie suddenly grabbed his arm.
“?”
“Really?” She raised her eyebrows, her big eyes blinking at him.
“What do you mean, really?”
“Can you really make me a copy of your house key?” she asked.
“…” Shen Mo was caught off guard; he was just teasing her, but did she actually want it?
“Pfft!” Seeing Shen Mo dumbfounded, Hua Jie couldn’t help but chuckle.
Even if he gave it to her, she wouldn’t dare accept it.
She was just teasing him, look how scared he got.
“…” Shen Mo.
“Does this key to the school art studio just represent unrestricted access?” Hua Jie raised her eyebrows at him, then shook her index finger, “nonono, it represents honor! Trust! A high recognition of my skills and character, you don’t understand.”
She pouted at him, then noticed the teacher standing at the door, the class bell about to ring. She put away the key and took out her textbooks, ready to focus on the lesson.
Shen Mo watched her profile for a while, then suddenly pulled something out of his pocket and slapped it down on her desk.
“?” Hua Jie stared at the three keys hanging on a metal ring in front of her.
“Take these, go make a copy, and then return this set to me,” he said.
“…” Hua Jie was startled, hurriedly pushing the keys back to him.
He pushed them back to her.
She pushed them back again.
After several back-and-forths, a piece of chalk suddenly flew over and smacked down on the desk.
Startled, Hua Jie quickly withdrew her hand, no longer daring to push the keys with Shen Mo, and sat up straight, looking towards the podium.
“…” Shen Mo didn’t even glance at the podium, his gaze fixed on the girl, who was now diligently focusing on the blackboard, her awkward expression amusing him slightly.
Though he didn’t know what he had won, he felt like he had won again.
…
…
On Tuesday afternoon, there was physical education class, and the PE teacher was always the most popular, pursued by all.
All the students ran out as soon as the previous class ended, but Hua Jie, in the last minute before PE, still sat at her desk memorizing the text, scrutinizing every word, careful not to be careless.
It wasn’t until the warning bell rang that she stood up, slipping into her cotton jacket while still staring at her book.
With her fluffy ushanka hat on to protect her ears, she took out a small 16-opening sketchpad, clipped a few A4 sheets to it, and stuffed two pencils and an eraser into her pocket before clattering out of the classroom.
During the break in physical education class, she could still find time to draw.
Yao Nan ran back to fetch something and followed Hua Jie out.
“The chemistry teacher is really annoying, always looking down on us athletes, calling us out to answer questions every class, scolding us daily,” Yao Nan grumbled as he heard her muttering the text, making conversation.
“It’s because you guys sleep during class,” Hua Jie stopped reciting, turning her head to smile.
“Ah, playing basketball during break is also exhausting. Last week, the chemistry teacher even came to my house to buy furniture, and when my mom heard it was my teacher, she immediately wanted to sell at a loss. Luckily, none of our furniture caught the teacher’s eye, or we would have lost money,” Yao Nan grimaced.
“Your family owns a furniture mall?” Hua Jie raised an eyebrow.
“What furniture mall, just a street-facing shop near the city center.”
“Business wasn’t great before, but these past few years it’s been good.”
“My mom says now people in the north are getting richer, buying houses, and have spare money to think about decorating and keeping up with trends, showing off their wealth.”
Yao Nan brightened up and began chattering endlessly.
“…” Hua Jie listened intently, then suddenly had an immature idea, “Where do you guys source your furniture from?”
“We get our stock from out of town, big trucks bring it back, transportation is really a hassle, so now we mostly sell small to medium-sized furniture.”
“My mom says the stuff from our local Jinsong Furniture Factory is so outdated, people in the city who can afford better wouldn’t even look at it.”
As they walked, Yao Nan suddenly jumped up, miming a basketball shot and executing an air three-pointer.
“What’s your store called, and where is it?” Hua Jie pressed on.
“It’s on the first floor of the Fuyun Building in the city center, called Fuyun Furniture, right opposite the newly opened Wenzhou City,” Yao Nan raised his eyebrows, “Why? Your family looking to buy furniture?”
“No, I’ll come by to check it out,” Hua Jie unconsciously bit her lower lip, her mind racing.
She suddenly had an idea, and the more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
Yao Nan, observing her furrowed brow and thoughtful expression, resting her fist against her lips, knew she was deep in thought.
Wanting to continue rambling but fearing he might disturb her, he pressed his lips together, utterly bored, appearing restlessly uneasy with nowhere to vent his hyperactivity.
By the time the two crossed the playground and reached the ice rink, Hua Jie had already mapped out a promising blueprint in her mind. Occasionally, she got so excited that she punched her palm and drew a sharp breath, clicking her tongue twice—
Wooden furniture, ah!
Her dad was a carpenter, and she was training to be a designer. Wasn’t this a perfect match?
“Wow, it’s so dazzling!” Yao Nan suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Hua Jie’s train of thought.
A layer of loose snow on the ice rink reflected the sunlight, making it painfully bright to the point that it was hard to keep one’s eyes open.
Hua Jie squinted and raised her arm to shield her eyes.
Struggling with the glare, Yao Nan suddenly started hopping around, insisting on looking directly at the sun, continuously exclaiming:
“So dazzling! Ah, it’s so dazzling!”
“Why don’t you just not look that way? Just cover it up or look somewhere else,” Hua Jie advised gently.
“No! I must look! I want to defeat the sunlight!” Declaring this, Yao Nan glared fiercely toward the direction of the ice rink where the sunlight was reflecting most intensely.
In no time, he was dazzled to the point of tears streaming down his face.
“…” Hua Jie was speechless.
Yao Nan, a severe case of second-year syndrome, the incurable type.
…
Taking her student ID tag to the sports room to collect ice skates, then carrying them to the edge of the ice rink.
As everyone sat in a row to change shoes, any hole in someone’s socks was completely exposed.
The boys mercilessly teased their classmates whose big toes poked through their socks, and the laughter of those going through puberty echoed loudly.
Today for PE, Hua Jie had specifically worn a pair of clean, intact black socks to preserve her dignity.
Then, while changing shoes, she overheard some whispered gossip:
“Did you know? Shen Mo’s family is really rich!” a girl in a pink outfit said.
“Really? How can you tell?” asked a girl with a ponytail, puzzled.
“He wears new socks every day!”
“…” Truly an irrefutable piece of strong evidence.
“Couldn’t he just have bought several pairs of socks and changes them daily?” the girl with the ponytail reasonably countered.
“With all the money his family has, why would they need to wash socks? It would be so much better to wear new socks every day,” the girl in the pink outfit retorted with a raised eyebrow.