In July, she took the entrance exam for the No. 1 Middle School and entered Class 349 of the humanities stream with the highest score, sitting in the second to last row.
She didn't move into the school dormitory, but instead went to her aunt's house nearby, as arranged by her parents. Song Jing began a regular life. She would get up at five o'clock, warm up breakfast, go to the classroom to study at five-thirty, go home for dinner after class, take a short nap, go to class, go home for a shower and dinner, then study, read, and sleep. She worked like crazy, doing exercises and memorizing, going to bed at one-thirty at night and waking up promptly at five. She was extremely attentive in class, writing swiftly and never hesitating to ask questions. That year was the happiest year for Song's parents, because Song Jing's grades seemed to be exactly as the saying goes: rising step by step.
She started at number 90 in the whole school, then moved to number 40 the following month, number 24 the month after that, and finally, she managed to squeeze into the top 15 in the whole school.
The teacher likes Song Jing; a diligent student is always a source of comfort.
But Song Jing's heart was barren, overgrown with weeds. Her English, math, history, politics, and geography scores soared, but her Chinese scores hovered between 90 and 100, because her essays consistently scored between 30 and 35. Song Jing was helpless in the face of this situation, and could only meekly promise her teacher, "I will work hard and definitely improve my grades."
Her hair had grown past her shoulders without her noticing, falling down her back. Song Jing was too lazy to style it; a black leather band tied it into a ponytail, which she tossed around, exuding youthful energy. In truth, Song Jing remained melancholic, seemingly even more so. She spoke less and less; if it weren't for her outstanding grades, she would practically be invisible in class. Slender, arched eyebrows, tightly pursed lips, and a smile that appeared only after a long pause—this was the stubborn, sorrowful Song Jing.
But one day, someone said to Song Jing, "Hey! Smile at me!"
The man leaned down, placed his hand on the armrest next to her, and revealed a confident smile, a smile that seemed to suggest he was invincible.
"Smile at me, and I'll obediently listen to everything you say and be the best person in the world to you!" he said with a smile, his eyes full of nonchalance.
"What? Not good? Seriously? I'm so handsome, so young, and so rich, and you're not even considering me?!" He held his heart in one hand, his eyes sparkling, his coquettish manner incredibly charming.
"Alright, if you don't say anything, I'll take it as your agreement! Be good, let me hold your hand just once and that'll be the seal of our deal. I'm selling myself to you for life!" After he finished speaking, he really did grab her hand, making a gesture of interlocking their fingers.
Almost simultaneously, she dodged his hand, turned her head away, and refused to look into his disappointed eyes.
Chapter Seven
Updated: 2008-04-26 13:42:59 Words: 0
Chapter Seven
The bus moved forward, stopping and starting, with people coming and going.
The weather was very hot, and it seemed like there hadn't been a year with such abundant rainfall since that one. Song Jing, clutching the piece of paper in her hand, thought for a moment and asked, "Where was I?..."
"...Every time that girl went to the boy's school to take an exam, you know, there are always a few fixed exam rooms here. She would squat under the scorching sun, searching for the boy's name among the thousands of names on the exam room schedule, just to know he was there... However, she was always disappointed, because no matter how many times she looked at it from beginning to end, she couldn't find the boy's name anywhere... Later, someone told her that the students from this school didn't take the exam together with the students from other schools, so their names wouldn't be on the schedule... That girl was so silly, wasn't she?"
Looking out the window, Song Jing asked the person sitting next to her in a calm tone.
He replied, "How stupid."
Yes, that's really stupid.
***
Li Cheng noticed that Song Jing's transfer wasn't voluntary. The new semester hadn't even started yet, and he was still looking forward to the holidays when a new classmate suddenly transferred in—which wouldn't have mattered to him if the new classmate hadn't been assigned to sit next to him by the teacher. He was used to sitting alone, and suddenly having someone next to him made him feel very uncomfortable.
"Hey!" He nudged Song Jing's arm with his pen.
"Hmm?" Song Jing looked up slightly from her book, staring at him with a puzzled expression.
Li Cheng had a very handsome face, a bright smile, and looked very eye-catching. However, Song Jing didn't feel anything. Apart from Ouyang Xiao's tilted-head smile that she still couldn't forget, everyone else seemed the same to her.
"Where are you from?" Li Cheng didn't know how to say the word "polite."
"Hmm?" Although Song Jing didn't quite understand what he meant, she still told him the name of her hometown, that small rural town.
"A farmer?" Li Cheng murmured.
"What?"
I said you're a farmer!
“Oh, I am,” Song Jing replied casually, then buried her head back into her book. She couldn’t see the contempt in Li Cheng’s eyes, and even if she did, Song Jing wouldn’t say or do anything. She was indeed a farmer’s child; she grew up in the countryside for seventeen years. Her feelings for that land were neither particularly deep nor shallow.
Li Cheng initially disliked Song Jing; her sudden appearance and sullen demeanor were hardly amusing. But soon, he discovered Song Jing was quite easy to tease. When she got angry, a sliver of color returned to her pale face, and her eyes sparkled, giving Li Cheng a fleeting, almost unbelievable, sense of beauty. To prove it was just his imagination, he often—
Poke! Tap! Pull! Tear!
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Song Jing puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily. Song Jing's eyes weren't big, and although she was nearsighted, she wouldn't wear her glasses unless she was in class. With that glare, her small eyes bulged out like a frog's, making her look ridiculously funny!
Ignoring Song Jing's unpleasant expression, Li Cheng continued poking and pulling until Song Jing couldn't take it anymore and threw a vicious punch. Song Jing always believed that if civilization encouraged uncivilized behavior, then violence was necessary. Unfortunately…
"Ouch! Don't you have any flesh on your body?! You're all bones..." Song Jing complained, rubbing her hand, and then groaned several more times. Li Cheng wasn't one to show mercy to women; if he was hit, he'd hit back immediately—that was his style. And he'd retaliate tenfold.
"Show me your hands." Li Cheng was completely idle.
"Oh." Song Jing innocently stretched out her hand for him to see, and sure enough, her fair hand was covered in red.
"Serves you right!" Li Cheng said with a grin.
Song Jing curled her lip and turned her head away disdainfully, burying herself in her book.
Li Cheng discovered that he absolutely adored Song Jing's expression when she wanted to throw a tantrum but held it in. Her small, pale face would turn bright red in an instant, her mouth slightly open as she breathed heavily—it was incredibly cute! At that time, he didn't quite understand his own feelings. His greatest pleasure every day was to bully Song Jing and then rest his chin on his hand to enjoy Song Jing's indignation.
This continued until Song Jing was moved to the front row. Watching Song Jing's brightly squinted eyes, forming crescent moons, from afar, Li Cheng was extremely annoyed. But he quickly realized that, comparatively, the joy he felt seeing Song Jing's silly, smiling face was only slightly less than his annoyance. So, Li Cheng developed a new hobby: secretly taking pictures of Song Jing's smiles—smiling, laughing, silly grins, gentle smiles… all sorts of smiles from Song Jing.
He felt terrible, absolutely terrible, especially that evening during self-study when that idiot poured ink all over himself.
In late autumn, October, the scorching National Day holiday had just passed. Half of the class was still immersed in the wonderfully relaxing mood of the Golden Week, and some people had not even returned yet and were still on their way.
Song Jing went home. Her family was preparing to move from their rural village to the city. Song Jing's mother planned to open a bookstore, and Song Jing's father, of course, strongly supported it. Song Jing's older sister got married this National Day holiday, marrying a man from the next village who had a slight mental disability. Song Jing didn't say anything. Her sister always thought of herself first; she wouldn't let herself be taken advantage of.
"With my height, who can I marry!" Song Jing's sister retorted loudly with red eyes when Song Jing's mother objected.
Song Jing's mother fell silent.
Song Jing was furious. She pulled her mother's hand away from her irrational sister and tried to comfort her mother from behind. Song's mother disliked Song Jing's brother-in-law, finding him unreasonable and demanding. Song Jing's sister, only 1.2 meters tall, suffered greatly from dwarfism. She was determined to live her own life, and no one could stop her. Anyone who dared to stand in her way would be eliminated. Song Jing understood her sister's stubbornness and silently wished her happiness.
The National Day holiday was over, and Song Jing focused her attention back on her studies.
Not long ago, she changed seats, moving from the second-to-last row to the first row. Song Jing was very anxious because on her first day sitting there, she had two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon. Whenever the teacher called on someone to answer a question, the first person called on her was: "Song Jing! You answer this question."
As they moved on, whenever they asked someone to answer a question, someone would yell from behind, "Song Jing! It's Song Jing again!"
Song Jing remained expressionless, trying her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling. She believed she had been careful in her conduct, hadn't wronged anyone, and no one would inexplicably come looking for her. So how could... she actually knew that the people who yelled at her must have included her former deskmate, as well as her former deskmate's brothers and sisters who lived nearby.
Song Jing's attitude towards Li Cheng was that of her former deskmate. Similarly, her impression of the people in her current class was that of her classmates. City people are different from country people; they seem to wear a mask of superiority, looking down on you with sidelong glances, smiling and talking to you intimately, linking arms with you like family, but then, turn around, and you might hear that person casually mentioning you to others. That feeling made Song Jing very uncomfortable, so she simply avoided getting close to anyone; everyone was the same.
Song Jing assumed Li Cheng disliked her, or at least disrespected her, so she tried her best to ignore him. Unexpectedly, he kept appearing in front of her.
"Jing! You look so beautiful when you smile!" One noon, Qin Nan, a girl who was very close to Li Cheng, was sitting behind Song Jing when she suddenly blurted out this comment while Song Jing was chatting casually with her deskmate.
Song Jing was simply happy, so she smiled. But after hearing what she said, she paused, her smile faded, and she sat down quietly.
"Hey! Why aren't you smiling anymore! You look so beautiful when you smile! Li Cheng said he loves seeing you smile the most!" Qin Nan persisted.
"Ah...oh...is that so?" Song Jing was slightly at a loss. She turned her head to look at the door, just as Li Cheng walked in with his half-wet hair. She was so embarrassed that she quickly turned her head back and buried her head in her book.
Qin Nan wasn't about to let her off so easily. She waved at Li Cheng and loudly asked, "Li Cheng, tell me yourself, isn't Song Jingxiao your favorite?!"
Song Jing didn't know what Li Cheng said, because when Qin Nan asked that question, Song Jing suddenly pushed the stool back, stood up, and ran away.
As Song Jing ran out, a thunderous burst of laughter suddenly erupted in the classroom.
Song Jing ran into the bathroom, turned on the tap, washed her face, and stared blankly at herself in the mirror for a long time. The person in the mirror had a pale face, inconspicuous features, and rough skin. She didn't know what was wrong with her face that brought them so much pleasure.
After that, you could often hear the voices of the group of people who were close to Li Cheng teasing her in the classroom.
Even during class, he showed no restraint and acted arrogantly and recklessly.
Song Jing turned her head to the side, suddenly recalling Li Cheng's undisguised mockery one evening. She pursed her lips, and the tip of her pen drew a long black line on the white draft paper.
The culprit that day was the pen in her hand.
Song Jing was used to doing math problems at night, and after finishing her math problems, she would start doing her English exercises. She didn't choose a ballpoint pen, but a fountain pen; ballpoint pens don't last long, while fountain pens only need one bottle of ink. As she wrote, the ink ran out. Song Jing took out the ink bottle from the drawer, unscrewed the cap, and refilled it. Then, she pulled out a tissue to wipe the pen clean. Perhaps she was too absorbed in her work, but Song Jing didn't even see the ink bottle beside her. She reached up with her sleeve—and lo and behold! The ink gushed out, spilling all over her.
Song Jing was half helpless, but mostly stunned. She did nothing, just staring blankly at the black stains on her sleeves and thighs.
After a while, she realized what had happened. She put away her notebook and pen, went outside to get a mop, cleaned up the ink on the floor, took off her school uniform jacket and scrubbed it under the bathroom faucet for a long time, then casually continued working on her problems. However, the soft, rustling sounds continued, even louder than when she had passed by him.
"I told you so!"
"..."
"She can't do it! She's so stupid! She definitely can't do it! Look at the way she was just now..."
"whee……"
Song Jing turned her head away again, pretending she hadn't heard anything. But with such close proximity, pretending was useless. So, as she passed by again with the mop, she quietly, when no one was looking, punched the man with the foul mouth hard. He flinched slightly, but couldn't dodge, and the one who suffered was still not him, but Song Jing. Song Jing's hand turned red again. That man, 1.8 meters tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, was all hard bones, like a shield. How could Song Jing possibly gain the upper hand!
This was the most memorable thing Song Jing had of Li Cheng. Much later, Song Jing unexpectedly ran into him in a coffee shop. The man opposite him froze for a moment, then broke into a smile brighter than the sun, exclaiming with great delight, "Hey! Isn't this Song Jing?! Long time no see! Let's sit down for a bit!"
Song Jing was about to leave when the person she was waiting for arrived, and they were about to go home together. Hearing him say that, Ouyang Xiao smiled and said, "I'll wait for you at home."
So they sat facing each other, speechless. No, it was that Song Jing stared at Li Cheng, who was still smiling brightly, and didn't react for a long time. He smiled, but suddenly, the smile vanished like flowing water. His hand naturally slid across Song Jing's face, brushing a few unruly strands of hair behind her ear.
He only said one sentence from beginning to end, and he said it with such a melancholy yet nostalgic tone: "How come you're still just as stupid as ever!"
She immediately thought of that night when she spilled the ink bottle, and he was sitting in the second-to-last row, laughing and joking with the brothers and sisters around him, and casually labeling her as: Song Jing is so stupid, she's completely incompetent!
So, Song Jing instinctively clenched her fist and punched him hard, then immediately pulled her hand back and breathed on it. Even after all these years, he was still thin, his bones as strong as a shield, and her hand naturally turned red quickly. In that instant, she breathed on her hand, stunned, and suddenly tears streamed down her face.
That was the second time Li Cheng had seen Song Jing's tears. The first time was when they were still deskmates, on an early autumn evening. Their classroom faced north, and sunlight always streamed through the brown glass windows. Tall camphor trees covered half the floor, their outstretched branches brushing against the windows. At the doorway, two phoenix trees lay their fiery red petals scattered on the ground. He and she sat by the window, facing the verdant camphor tree leaves.
"Really? Haha... You're really funny!" Li Cheng was chatting enthusiastically with the person next to him, laughing so hard he was doubled over, when he suddenly noticed that the person next to him was unusually quiet today. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then glanced at her again, and then glanced at her a third time.
The chair, usually so comfortable, suddenly felt uncomfortable. The person next to him was saying something hilarious, but he couldn't hear a word. The world was a cacophony of noise; his only focus was on the person silently weeping beside him. That person was crying silently, their fingers gripping a black pen, frantically scribbling on a piece of paper, writing a jumbled mess of words. He couldn't help himself; he leaned forward and scoffed.
"Ha! You want to go home! Hey! Farmer, where is your hometown? Isn't the boundless land your home?" He tried to make the sentence sound lighthearted, with a strong sense of teasing and mockery.
Forget about going home! Forget about it! If you forget, then stop crying!
Song Jing was clearly startled. She turned her head away, wiped away her tears, lowered her head, and turned back to give him only a stubborn back view.
"Hey!" he said angrily, his fingers itching, and he poked her back.
"What!" She turned around, her eyes and nose red, and glared at him fiercely.
"What's your house like?! It's not pitch black, and there's not even a single light, is it?!"
“My house is not like that! My house… my house is very big! There is a pond in front of the house, planted with lotus flowers, and the lotus flowers are so beautiful when they bloom in summer! Also… my newly built house has three floors, as big as two classrooms, much wider than this classroom… it’s just that… I always live there alone…” As she said this, Song Jing lowered her eyelids, and her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her face.
For a moment, Li Cheng almost reached out to touch Song Jing's eyelashes, to see if they were as soft as he imagined. But he resisted the urge and said nonchalantly, "Tch! Three floors and two classrooms is big? Last summer I went to the XX Military Region, but the troops had just left for some business... The whole building, seven floors, was even more spacious than our school's teaching building... At that time, it was just me and my cousin there... Hehe, at night we turned on all the lights on the floors, we were terrified!" After he finished speaking, he tried to look proud, glancing sideways at Song Jing.
Song Jing chuckled, making a fist and putting it to her mouth, chuckling, "Hehe... I didn't expect you to be afraid of ghosts!"
He saw her finally smile and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at her at a 45-degree angle: "What's the big deal! You dare say you're not afraid?!"
"Of course I'm not afraid! I haven't done anything wrong!" Song Jing pouted, barely able to suppress a smile.
He shrugged generously: "Go ahead and laugh! Look at you now, you're ruining the city's appearance!"
Then, Song Jing burst into laughter. His clear, crisp laughter seemed to still echo in his ears even after so many years.
Li Cheng thought dejectedly, "How could this happen?!"
When he realized he liked her, he struggled for three weeks, finally erupting when Wu Xinzhi gave his school uniform to Song Jing to replace it.