The spring outing incident drew the school's attention. After 2002, the school no longer allowed teachers to take their classes on spring or autumn outings alone.
After this incident, Pei Chuan actually became more popular in class.
He usually kept a cold face, and no one in class would talk to him. But now, the boy sitting behind him mustered the courage to ask to borrow his eraser.
"Can I borrow it? I'll return it right after using it," said the bespectacled boy from the back seat, visibly nervous as he kept pushing up his glasses.
This was the first time Pei Chuan had encountered such a situation. He didn't move, just stared calmly at the boy. The boy was almost breaking out in a cold sweat: "N-never mind..."
Bei Yao reached across the childhood-drawn "38th parallel" line, fished out the eraser from Pei Chuan's pencil case, and quickly placed it on the back desk boy's table.
The boy said stiffly, "Thank you."
Bei Yao propped her chin in her hands and looked at Pei Chuan, her eyes sparkling with laughter like the summer flowers blooming brilliantly outside the window. Pei Chuan glanced at her and replied to the boy behind, "You're welcome."
Her eyes gradually brightened, and she spent the entire class secretly smiling.
After the bespectacled classmate discovered that Pei Chuan wasn't so scary, he even started asking Pei Chuan for help with problems sometimes.
Bei Yao listened too. Her grades could now maintain within the top three in class. First, thanks to memories from a few years ahead, and second, through hard work. She often started doing homework right after school.
Bei Yao realized that Pei Chuan was very smart, exceptionally so.
He could solve a math problem in many different ways. When explaining to others, he preferred not to talk much, just wrote out the steps.
But the steps were simple and clear, making everything immediately understandable.
Bei Yao marveled, how could he be so smart!
When graduating from elementary school in 2002, Pei Chuan was the grade's top student. The young, awkward boys and girls took a group photo under the phoenix trees, marking the end of their elementary school years.
The summer vacation after sixth grade was long and leisurely.
Zhao Zhilan spent this year enduring Zhao Xiu's provocations, like "What's the use of your daughter's good grades? My daughter is slender and charming like 'Chang Xue' - that's what's remarkable."
Zhao Zhilan came home from work and examined Bei Yao, whose cheeks still carried baby fat: "Yaoyao, your aunt has opened a dance class. How about I send you to learn dancing?"
Bei Yao shook her head: "I've missed the age for starting, it wouldn't be good to learn now."
Mainly, Bei Yao didn't really like her sharp-tongued aunt. Her uncle's family had borrowed money from them over three years ago and hadn't repaid a single cent, nor would they in the future.
"You can't just stay home during vacation, you need to get some exercise," Zhao Zhilan said. There were few girls in their residential area. Fang Minjun was aloof, and Bei Yao couldn't get along with her, so she spent more time at home during holidays.
"Then how about I follow exercise videos?"
"Alright, I'll buy a couple more discs tomorrow."
At that time, the internet was far less developed than in later years. Bei Yao's family had a DVD player where you could watch videos by inserting discs.
Bei Yao's family lived on the third floor, while Pei Chuan's family was on the opposite fourth floor.
They both lived in side bedrooms, where opening the window allowed them to see each other. However, Pei Chuan's room had a small balcony that he had curtained off since he was nine, so Bei Yao couldn't see him.
The late July sunlight spilled onto the floor. When Pei Chuan occasionally opened his window, he saw the blooming blue bellflowers by the young girl's window.
They hung like little bells, full of vitality.Bei Yao's room only had an old standing fan. After exercising until she was panting, she opened the window for fresh air. Pei Chuan lived on a higher floor, and when he casually glanced down, he spotted Bei Yao doing exercises across the way.
She stretched her limbs with a blend of youthful innocence and grace, raising her arms high.
Afraid of the heat, Bei Yao wore a light green tank top.
Her movements caused the tank top to ride up, revealing a glimpse of her strikingly fair waist and a small, adorable navel. Though not particularly slender overall, that section of her waist appeared soft and delicate, as if it could be encircled by a single hand.
Pei Chuan's expression shifted, and he abruptly yanked the curtains shut.
For the entire summer break, Bei Yao never saw the curtains across the way open again.
~
The exercises proved ineffective, as the young girl continued to grow along her natural trajectory.
Though Zhao Zhilan was disappointed, she understood that such things couldn't be forced. In September, they faced the transition to junior high school. The middle school in City C was actually farther from home, requiring a full forty-minute commute in a different direction from the elementary school.
To Bei Yao's relief, she and Pei Chuan remained in the same class.
Class 7 of Grade 7 was an experimental class.
The number of familiar faces in this class dropped significantly, as admission was based on final exam scores from sixth grade. Classes 7 and 8 were the experimental classes, while the rest were regular classes.
Chen Hu gloriously made it into Class 6, where he steadfastly maintained his position at the bottom of the rankings.
Class 7 still had several familiar faces: Fang Minjun, Hua Ting, and Li Da, who had barely scraped in. They were all classmates.
Chen Hu nearly cried over this—almost all the kids his age from their neighborhood had made it into the "top student class," except for him.
He received another beating from his father for it.
On the first day of seventh grade, students were allowed to choose their own seats.
Hua Ting happily clung to Bei Yao's arm and sat with her. Bei Yao instinctively glanced at Pei Chuan and noticed that a short-haired girl in a long skirt had somehow taken the seat beside him.
Bei Yao was taken aback, feeling an inevitable twinge of melancholy, but then she thought she should be happy for Pei Chuan.
She couldn't tell if Pei Chuan still wanted to be her deskmate, but the "dividing line" throughout their six years of elementary school had left her with the impression that he probably didn't like her much.
When Pei Chuan first started elementary school, he used a wheelchair, and everyone knew he had a leg disability. Now, in a new environment without the blunt Chen Hu around, it was natural for others to approach him.
The young boy had a refined appearance—tall and lean after getting his prosthetic leg, with a cool, aloof demeanor that made him stand out in a crowd.
In this new class, no one knew Pei Chuan had no legs; he could interact with others like anyone else. Once a good start was made, things would only get better.
After some thought, Bei Yao genuinely felt happy for him.
The girl sitting with Pei Chuan was named Zhuo Yingjing, who had transferred from a neighboring city for junior high. Most of the boys and girls had their own friends, and few seats were left empty. Though somewhat shy, Zhuo Yingjing still settled in beside Pei Chuan.
"Hi, I'm Zhuo Yingjing. What's your name?"
Pei Chuan's face darkened. He looked back—he had deliberately chosen the front row by the window, yet Bei Yao hadn't come over.
Did she finally feel free of him, the cripple?Pei Chuan was in a bad mood and had no desire to interact with his new deskmate, Zhuo Yingjing. Though not particularly beautiful, she had a delicate charm with her neat short hair. When Pei Chuan remained silent, she grew awkward and stopped trying to force conversation.
It wasn’t until after the textbooks were distributed and Pei Chuan had written his name in his that Zhuo Yingjing let out a soft gasp of surprise. "So you’re Pei Chuan, the top student in our class! I saw your grades—they’re amazing! You only lost one point in Chinese."
The boy’s profile still carried traces of youthful coldness. He closed his book and turned to look out the window.
Each autumn rain brought a deeper chill, and a few leaves on the lush plane trees had begun to yellow.
A heavy weight seemed to press on Pei Chuan’s heart, making him irritable. Though summer hadn’t fully retreated, the air in City C was dry. These days, he no longer held back from drinking water, but the water in his bottle was reserved for Bei Yao—it had become a habit.
At dusk, he suddenly unscrewed the cap and drank every last drop.
When school ended, Bei Yao didn’t leave with Hua Ting. She moved slowly, and by the time she had packed her new English textbook, Pei Chuan’s retreating figure had already vanished from the classroom doorway.
"Eh? Pei Chuan…"
He usually waited for her, but today he hadn’t even glanced back before walking off.
Flustered, Bei Yao hurriedly stuffed her homework and pencil case into her backpack and rushed after him. Her little panda keychain swung wildly, and the pens in her case clattered noisily.
Hearing the footsteps behind him, Pei Chuan pressed his lips into a thin, displeased line and quickened his pace.
"Pei Chuan." The girl’s voice was clear and sweet, though she was panting slightly. "Wait for me!"
The setting sun stretched their shadows long across the ground as Bei Yao finally caught up to him.
"What’s wrong? Weren’t we supposed to walk home together?"
He replied coldly, "Go with Hua Ting."
Bei Yao’s almond-shaped eyes filled with confusion. "Hua Ting doesn’t live in this direction."
His irritation flared. "Stop following me. Aren’t you annoying?"
Feeling hurt, Bei Yao didn’t understand why he was angry, and a touch of grievance crept into her voice. "But my home is this way."
Throughout his life, Pei Chuan had only two moods: either indifferent or outright hostile. Right now, he was in the latter. If he didn’t walk quickly, his prosthetic leg wouldn’t show any obvious abnormality, but today, as if out of spite, he strode ahead rapidly.
When they passed Li Da and Chen Hu, Chen Hu was stunned. Holy crap, is that Pei Chuan walking so fast and awkwardly?
A full week into the semester, Pei Chuan and Bei Yao still hadn’t reconciled.
On Friday afternoon, it was the first group’s turn for cleaning duty, which included Pei Chuan and his deskmate.
While moving a stool, a classmate had disorganized the books on Pei Chuan’s desk. Seeing this, Zhuo Yingjing brightened and began tidying them for her aloof deskmate.
There was no icy, invisible boundary drawn between them.
When Pei Chuan returned with a mop, his face instantly darkened. "Who said you could touch my things?"
His dark pupils were intense and intimidating when he wasn’t smiling. Zhuo Yingjing flinched. "I was just helping you organize—"
"I don’t need it," he snapped.
"How can you be like this!" Zhuo Yingjing, after all, was just a young girl. Days of facing Pei Chuan’s coldness had piled up her frustration. "I was just trying to be nice, to be your friend."
Their classmates were squabbling over brooms by the back door, leaving the classroom momentarily quiet.
A few plane tree leaves drifted down as the autumn wind picked up.
Pei Chuan’s lips curled into a faint, mocking smile, his cold youthful face tinged with bitterness. "Be friends? You want to be friends with a legless cripple?"
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