In the beginning of ninth grade, Chen Xingze tells his parents, “I want to be a music student at Experimental High School.”
They’re surprised, but welcome his decision.
Experimental High School is the best high school in the city; perhaps even the best in the province. It takes extremely high marks to get in. Chen Xingze is a smart student and his grades aren’t the worst, but given he spent the majority of his middle school years on You Xiaolin, he doesn’t meet their minimum requirements.
Wu Xingzhi and Chen He had meant for their son to try getting into a private high school within his abilities, so it catches them off guard when he brings up Experimental High School on his own, and even wants to go for the musical concentration.
“My exam marks are sub-par, but their requirements are lower for students with specialisations, so I have a huge chance.” It’s rare for Chen Xingze to discuss things with his parents so seriously, which makes them regard the matter with much more sobriety.
“Experimental High School… your mother and I don’t know much about it, are they accepting music students for your class?”
“Yes, three.” He’d done the research already—not just of how many students they’re looking for in his year, but also all their past exam topics.
“Well, naturally it’d be wonderful if you got into Experimental High,” Wu Xingzhi says, but then she pats Chen Xingze on the shoulder comfortingly, having sensed his somberness. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, just do your best. But what gives, all of a sudden? You never used to study even when we forced you.”
He lowers his head and doesn’t answer her. After a moment, he gets up. “I’m going to go practise piano now.” When he reaches the door of the piano room, he suddenly remembers something. “Oh by the way, I won’t be going to badminton class anymore. You should call the coach and let him know.”
Once seated on the piano bench, he doesn’t start practising immediately. Instead, he stares at the black and white keys, deep in thought.
That morning, he called Zhang Yao.
Ever since The Incident, he’d decreased his calls to You Xiaolin until gradually, their once-a-week phone calls ceased. He told himself to not think of You Xiaolin in that way in the future; he could only be his friend.
The Incident had been traumatic for him. After being ill for a long time, he sunk into an emotional pit that he couldn’t crawl out of for a long time. His personality shrinks somewhat; he becomes more introverted, more inclined to hide his emotions. His parents signed him up for badminton lessons to try and bring him out of his dampened mood, but it didn’t do much.
He had thought in the beginning that as long as he stopped meeting You Xiaolin so much, stopped hearing his voice, his feelings would gradually fade into nothing. But when their exams ended, the teacher had randomly brought up You Xiaolin from Yutian Middle School, who’d scored full marks in every subject, and the effect that had had on him surpassed his own expectations.
He became like that, just having heard his name.
His mind floated away, out of his control.
He kept thinking to himself, wondering, what is You Xiaolin like now? Has he grown taller? Is he still so pale? Did he gain some weight?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“I don’t know about that, but he doesn’t even go to the cafeteria for lunch anymore, he just eats a piece of bread.”
“What?” Chen Xingze’s eyes had grown wide, “Why doesn’t your teacher do something about it?”
“What can they do? The teacher practically wishes he could set an example for the rest of the class. More importantly, he has no friends, so there’s no one to bring him lunch.”
He’d clung tighter onto the phone. If I were there.
“Also, the headmaster has high hopes for him,” Zhang Yao added secretively. “You know how he comes from a low-income family? The school waived all his lunch and textbook money just so he could focus on becoming this year’s high school entrance exam top scorer. Yutian hasn’t had a top scholar in years.”
Chen Xingze thought of the way You Xiaolin buried himself in his studies and felt a twinge in his heart. It was hard to control the wistful yearning inside. After a long pause, he asked in a low voice, “What high school is he trying to get into?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Experimental High, duh.”
And so he spent the remainder of the day researching the ins and outs of getting into Experimental High School, before presenting the subject to his parents at dinnertime.
He wants to stay by his side, even if just as a friend.
__
From the time Chen Xingze decides to get into Experimental High, he gets rid of all extraneous distractions in his mind. To some degree, his middle school life doesn’t seem to start for real until the third and last year. He doesn’t contact You Xiaolin for the whole of ninth grade, no matter how much he misses him. He tells himself that the next time they’ll meet will be on Experimental High School’s campus.
It sounds like a promise between two people, but unfortunately, it’s only one person who works towards fulfilling it.
Springs goes, autumn comes, and soon, a year has gone by. Chen Xingze gets his wish and receives an acceptance letter from Experimental High School, but You Xiaolin misses becoming top scholar by a mere two points. When Chen Xingze learns of this, he can’t help feeling upset, as if he was the one who didn’t make it to the top.
Much to his chagrin, the top scholar, Qin Bo, happens to come from his own Yuying Middle School. Chen Xingze has a vague impression of him; head of Yuying’s Revision Committee, with steady grades, always number one.
“So bothersome…” Chen Xingze thinks, from the bottom of his heart.
__
On orientation day, Chen Xingze walks slowly in the school’s courtyard. The incoming students have already been split into classes, announced on a giant display board in the yard. The board is a festive red colour. The homeroom teachers already sent notifications home, but there’s still a boisterous crowd of students gathered at the board, everyone trying to find their own names among the lists to snap photos with their cell phones as a memory keepsake.
Chen Xingze is in Class 6, but his eyes are fixed on Class 1’s spot. Class 1 and 2 are experimental classes consisting of students who were chosen because of their exam marks; You Xiaolin’s name is listed in Class 1’s roster. When Chen Xingze stares at those three delicate Chinese characters, it evokes a curious warmth and sense of pride within him.
“Hey…” Someone taps him roughly on the shoulder when he’s still staring mesmerisingly at You Xiaolin’s name. He turns around to a bright, beaming face.
“Ah! It’s really you! I was afraid I got the wrong person!”
This person is slightly taller than the rest of the students; his smile is a perfect fit for the blue skies of early autumn.
The lost expression on Chen Xingze’s face sends a wave of disappointment through the boy, like his enthusiasm has been trampled on.
“You don’t recognise me anymore? No way!” The boy is all bright forehead and shining eyes, the healthy muscles of his neck clearly visible from the neckline of his athletic hoodie.
Chen Xingze digs desperately through the spiderwebs in his brain, feeling that the situation is about to make a turn for the awkward, and then at last, he finds a vague something. “…You’re from badminton class?”
The boy’s expression relaxes a few, but it’s not over yet. He crosses his arms and studies Chen Xingze up and down. When he straightens his back, his sports backpack slides to the side of his body and a blue water bottle peeks out.
He must really like sports, Chen Xingze concludes silently to himself. He’s so much taller than everyone else; back in badminton class, they’d been nearly the same height.
“Name?” the boy suddenly asks.
“Huh?”
He narrows his eyes deviously. “I’m asking you what my name is.”
“…”
That was asking too much; when Chen Xingze had been attending badminton, he was still swimming in the trauma of the incident with You Xiaolin. He couldn’t even remember to eat, let alone have the spare time to remember the names of passing acquaintances.
He sinks into a long silence that seems to irk the boy even more. “My name is two characters!” he hints, vexed. “My surname starts with L, think carefully!”
Chen Xingze crinkles his brows, having slightly lost his patience. Thankfully, the school bell rings then. With a glance at the time, he tells the boy, “It’s time to go to our classrooms, so I’ll be leaving now.” He heads off into the building, leaving behind the boy dumbstruck and frozen. When Chen Xingze reaches the third floor, a sudden bulb flashes in his mind. His footsteps stall for a second as he goes “ah”, and then he continues on.
The pitiful boy is left standing alone outside. After a long time passes, he shakes his shoulders with zest, his face flush with anger, neck tense. “What the heck?! What is wrong with that asshole?”
Ten minutes later, the still-seething boy and Chen Xingze meet again in Class 6. They don’t have assigned seats yet, so everyone chooses a seat at random. On account of the fact that he’s so tall, the boy immediately heads towards the back of the classroom. At first he doesn’t even notice Chen Xingze, too focused on making a beeline for the last row, brows still furrowed. When he looks up, he finds himself staring directly at Chen Xingze.
The boy sucks in a breath of air, about to say something, when Chen Xingze laughs.
“Lu Hao.”
“…”
“I remembered just now, coming upstairs. It’s Lu Hao, isn’t it? The young master with the super rich family.”
“………”
Emotions boil on Lu Hao’s darkened face until it turns red—because of Chen Xingze laughing, or because of his remark.
“Your memory sucks,” Lu Hao mutters, tossing his backpack to the side and taking a seat next to Chen Xingze. The desks up front are scattered about spaciously so that the last row is cramped. Lu Hao, being taller than everyone else, has no choice but to sit sideways, one leg sticking straight out from under the desk.
He’s still stewing over Chen Xingze not remembering his name, and thinks the latter will volunteer some form of conversation, when in fact, after the one remark, he doesn’t say anything else.
Soon, their homeroom teacher arrives in the form of a thirty-something man who introduces himself as Xie Dingnan. He makes them get up one by one to the blackboard to introduce themselves in turn. Chen Xingze’s self-introduction is short; all he offers is his name, the name of his middle school, and the fact that he’s in the music specialisation. As Lu Hao listens to him, curiousity quickly overtakes agitation, and as soon as Chen Xingze sits back down, he scoots up close.
“You’re a music specialisation student?”
“Mm.”
“You sing?”
“Play piano.”
“Damn, that’s amazing.”
Chen Xingze notices Lu Hao’s eyes flit to his hands, and he unconsciously curls his fingers inwards. “…It’s not that big of a deal.”
“I can’t play shit, I’ve been tone-deaf my whole life.”
“…”
“And lemme tell you a secret, I didn’t even get in to this school with my grades.” Lu Hao leaned in close and spoke conspiratorially into Chen Xingze’s ear, “You know how the school has donor programmes? My mum donated a bunch of money so I could get in. Don’t tell anyone, it’s so embarrassing!”
“…”
So why would you tell me then, Chen Xingze thinks as he stares numbly at Lu Hao, not even knowing what to say to that.
What is up with this weird triangle.. no line thing? Lu Hao is obsessed (maybe) with Chen Xingze while Chen Xingze is obsessed with You Xiaolin and You Xiaolin is sort of oblivious lol
thanks for the chapter! <3
Thank you for the chapter
It’d be for the Best If You Xiaolin is banished from Chen Xingze’s heart… He’s Just gonna suffer If that one sided love continues.
Thanks for the chapter!