During thе National Dау holidaу, Wei Qingyuе sрrаinеd his аnklе while plаying basketball. That lеttеr was оne hе idlу unfоldеd while lуing оn thе bаlсonу at dusk.
He hаd rеcеived many lеtters, oftеn tossing them аsidе саsuаllу. Wеi Qingyue hаd nо interеst in thе kind оf infatuаtion соmmon amоng middlе schоol students. Hе had never likеd аnу girl, not оnce.
Hаving grоwn uр amidst еnоugh mеlоdrаmаtic trоublеs in life, hе cоuldn’t see thе pоint in liking sоmеonе.
If thеrе wаs any cоincidence, it was аt this very momеnt—with the gentlе aftеrglоw of sunsеt falling on him like a pair of affectionate hands—that he opened the first letter.
The girl’s handwriting was childish, overly neat, and Wei Qingyue’s first impression was poor. He frowned almost imperceptibly.
"Hope this letter finds you well.
I know this letter might disturb you, but I couldn’t help myself. I imagine this is just one of the many letters you receive, quite ordinary, so if these words are seen by you, I’d consider myself lucky.
If you do open this letter, I wonder when it will be. I don’t know how the paper will pass through your fingers, or what you’ll feel the moment these words catch your eye. Perhaps you’ll feel nothing at all.
But I want to tell you that I’m writing this letter at night.
I love the night the most. Many of my female classmates are afraid of the dark, but I’m not. The quiet, silent darkness makes me feel safe, especially when I have things on my mind. The night feels like a barrier that keeps all disturbances at bay, allowing me to think quietly alone, with no one knowing. So, I chose my favorite time to pick up the pen.
I wonder which moment of the day you like best.
It’s autumn now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if you stand on the corridor outside the classroom and look southeast, you can see the plane trees near the library. Their leaves have already turned yellow. By winter, they’ll surely be bare, like an old monk with a thick skull.
Actually, just thinking that the few scenic spots in the school might have also caught your gaze makes me happy—as if you’ve breathed new life and soul into them (is that too exaggerated?). Of course, it’s not entirely like that. Even if you’ve never noticed them, I still love the environment at Mei Zhong.
I feel like I’ve written a lot of nonsense—boring, childish stuff. I hope you, a top student, won’t mind. I’d love to stay up all night writing this nonsense to you, but that’s impossible because I also have to study and prepare for college. I believe you do too. May I ask, which university do you aspire to attend? I want to study in Beijing. With my grades, I probably won’t get into a very good university. I might be the only person who wants to study in Beijing because of Mr. Yu Dafu’s essay 'Autumn in the Old Capital.'
You don’t have to answer these questions. I’ll be happy enough if you even see this letter.
If this letter gets thrown away and someone picks it up and reads it, I think I’ll be mortified. Whoever sees this letter, please don’t laugh at me too much. Thank you.
Ah, there’s a stray cat outside the window, meowing again and again. I saw them during the day—their eyes gleaming black, glancing at you for a moment before turning and silently walking away. My Grandma often feeds them leftovers.
I wanted to end this with something profound, but unfortunately, the stray cat interrupted me. I’ll stop here. All the best."
The letter ended abruptly.What is all this written? Wei Qingyue frowned as he read. Is this what a girl's love letter looks like? It wasn't that he had never opened one before—they didn't seem like this.
But he had to admit, he had actually read through it patiently. Perhaps, maybe, it was simply because someone else liked the night as much as he did.
Only then did Wei Qingyue notice that there was no salutation at the beginning and no signature at the end. In other words, if this letter hadn't been delivered to him, it could have been meant for anyone.
At the time, when the boy from the neighboring class handed him the letter, he hadn't paid attention to the girl's name. Now, no matter how hard he tried to recall, it was just a faint, distant voice.
But that didn't matter. Wei Qingyue knew this kind of behavior would eventually fade away—the only difference was how long it would take. He wouldn't reply, nor did he have much interest in finding out who liked him.
Especially when the handwriting was this poor. Wei Qingyue didn't know how he had managed to read it so patiently. Damn it.
He folded the letter and tossed it into the storage cabinet on the balcony. The neighborhood was planted with osmanthus trees, their rich fragrance wafting in waves with the wind, like surging tides. The boy suspected every neighborhood had such pungent flowers. He stood up and closed the window.
The holiday was long, and the city library was crowded every day. Jiang Du had come for several days in a row but hadn't seen the figure she wanted to see.
She returned home feeling dejected, and even the meal Grandma had prepared tasted bland.
At her desk, piles of books and materials awaited her, subject after subject, endless. Jiang Du occasionally looked up and stared out the window, lost in thought. The moment she remembered she had actually written such a letter to Wei Qingyue, she immediately felt deeply embarrassed. She turned and threw herself onto the bed, covering her head with a pillow.
She stayed in this oxygen-deprived state for ten seconds before releasing the pillow. With every breath, her heart pounded violently.
Jiang Du couldn't help but roll over on the bed.
It was so embarrassing. How could she have written something like that? The key was, the more she dwelled on it, the more awkward she felt. But the girl clearly knew she would relapse and write again.
Outside, Grandma was knocking on the door. Jiang Du sprang up like a carp leaping out of water, quickly smoothing her clothes.
When the door opened, Grandma's smiling face appeared before her: "Sweetie, Auntie Li downstairs gave you a Xinhua Bookstore gift card. You can use it to buy books. Take it."
Jiang Du's eyes lit up. She could buy books again, and in a way, it was free. She didn't like taking advantage of others, but she was still very happy that Auntie Li had given her the gift card.
"Your mother..." The old woman, seeing her reaction, instinctively started to say something but suddenly realized it was wrong and cut herself off. Looking at Grandma's evasive eyes, Jiang Du felt something surge into her chest, churning and stirring. She almost blurted out a question.
But she didn't. She said nothing, only smiled sweetly as if she hadn't heard anything: "I'll give Auntie Li one of my potted plants as a thank-you gift."
Those were flower seedlings Grandpa had brought back from the countryside during the summer vacation. Jiang Du had nurtured them, and each pot was thriving.After the holiday ended, Jiang Du hadn't seen Wei Qingyue at the city library. Instead, during the last two days, she unexpectedly ran into other classmates from her class. As they chatted idly, discussing their college application aspirations and mentioning which classmates from wealthy families might study abroad, Wei Qingyue's name suddenly came up. Jiang Du listened quietly like a silent little bug, regretting in her heart why she hadn't asked him that day which country he planned to go to or which university he would attend.
On the afternoon of the last day of the National Day holiday, students gradually returned to school. By evening self-study, the classroom was still buzzing with noise—everyone had days' worth of pent-up chatter to vent.
That letter seemed to have come to nothing. As Jiang Du passed by Class One, she quickly glanced over with the corner of her eye. Unfortunately, it was too fast—all she saw were overlapping figures in Class One, nothing else.
The next day, Monday, during the flag-raising ceremony, Wei Qingyue was unexpectedly absent. Jiang Du widened her eyes to confirm several times, but he was still nowhere to be seen.
This was very strange.
He was a flag-raiser—how could he not be there on a Monday? Throughout the holiday, he hadn't shown up at the library either. Was he sick? Or... had he gotten into a fight?
Driven by such thoughts, even the most honest and well-behaved girl could muster inexplicable courage. After hesitating for a few seconds, Jiang Du quietly tugged at Zhang Xiaoqiang, who was standing in front of her: "My stomach hurts. Can you tell Teacher Xu later that I went to the bathroom first?"
Heaven knew Jiang Du had learned to lie too. Her face flushed red, and her heart raced.
Heaven must be punishing her—as soon as she ran out, her stomach actually began to ache faintly. Jiang Du was shocked that the punishment had come so quickly and felt particularly annoyed, so she hurried toward the bathroom.
Actually, there were bathrooms on every floor of the teaching building, though they were smaller. There was also a large bathroom near the ginkgo forest to the left of the building. Sometimes, if students didn't want to wait in line for the floor bathrooms, they would come down here.
Sunlight filtered sparsely through the trees.
Jiang Du suddenly spotted a figure standing there, brazenly smoking. After not seeing him for a whole holiday, she wondered if it was an illusion—he seemed to have grown taller again, inexplicably reminding her of the trees in a primeval forest. No, more like the unknown plants hidden beneath those trees, seizing every ray of sunlight to shoot upward without hesitation, never missing a chance to grow.
The boy noticed her too. At first, his expression was blank, almost fierce and intimidating. For some reason, his demeanor made Jiang Du feel both curious and amused, and she couldn't help but curve her lips into a slight smile.
So this guy skipped the flag-raising ceremony to hide here and smoke secretly. Why did he always act like such a troublemaker?
As if noticing her faint smile, Wei Qingyue greeted her, calling her by name. Jiang Du pretended to be calm, nodding slightly and asking casually, "You didn't go to the flag-raising ceremony?"
She even seemed to have forgotten about her stomachache.
Wei Qingyue just smiled, pinching the cigarette between his index finger and thumb, taking a few deep drags before saying, "What a coincidence—you always catch me. Don't go reporting me to the dean, or I might just beat you up."
Listen to that—was this something the top student should be saying?
Jiang Du wanted to act more naturally, but then she remembered the letter. The feeling was as if she had suddenly been stripped naked in front of Wei Qingyue. He didn't know she was the one who wrote it... but it was still so embarrassing, utterly humiliating.Her face flushed red, and after a moment of stunned silence, she finally managed to blurt out, "I don't like gossiping about others." The rest of her words—the urge to advise him not to get into fights or to imitate adults by smoking—remained stuck in her throat. Yet, as she looked at his defiant and indifferent expression, Jiang Du, for the first time, understood what it meant to be at a loss for words.
OpenNovel