The next day, when Lin Weixia arrived at school, she found that the focus and discussion on her became more frequent. When she put down her schoolbag and took out a sandwich to prepare for breakfast, a magnified round face suddenly appeared in front of her, which frightened her heart. Fang Mo tilted her head and said:
"It turns out fairies also need breakfast."
Lin Weixia tapped her forehead and said in a non-serious tone: "Yes, not only will I eat breakfast, I will also have to collect your Chinese homework later."
Fang Mo's eyes widened as she came back to her senses. She slapped her head and immediately turned around and muttered, "It's over, it's over. I didn't finish my homework."
The class was still lively before morning reading. Lin Weixia was sitting in her seat doing her work. She had a faint smile on her lips when she was teasing Fang Mo. When Liu Sijia and Li Shengran walked into the classroom arm in arm, the atmosphere changed subtly.
Several A students in uniform subconsciously looked at Lin Weixia with a hint of sympathy and a bit of disgust in their eyes.
Lin Weixia was not affected and continued to organize her homework.
During the break, Lin Weixia went downstairs alone. Liu Sijia no longer waited for her, and walked away like a queen, with her long brown curly hair shining as always.
At the end, Lin Weixia followed the crowd up the stairs. She glanced down inadvertently at the corner and saw Liu Sijia being held by a girl's arm, with her bright red lips curled into an arc.
Someone bumped into her accidentally. Lin Weixia came back to her senses, put her hand on the handrail of the stairwell, withdrew her gaze from Liu Sijia, and followed the crowd upstairs.
The sun is shining brightly today, the light is warm orange and transparent. Many people are crowded in the corridor outside the door of Class 1, Grade 2, basking in the sun, it is very lively. Lin Weixia is basking in the sun, her arms resting on the railing, squinting her eyes and daydreaming.
Ban Sheng leaned lazily on the railing, his back slightly arched with a slightly protruding ridge. Qiu Minghua leaned over to one side, and they were playing with a drone.
Li Shengran was painting Liu Sijia’s nails, and the latter joked, “Hey, Shengran, can you do it?”
"Of course, but you have to hurry up and apply it. Old Liu will be here soon, and I have to put away my manicure tools." Li Shengran patted her arm.
The expression on Lin Weixia's face was distant and there was no change, but her heart was like a household rice cooker at the boiling point, bubbling non-stop, and then it burst with a "pop".
She had always cherished this friendship, but unfortunately, the promises made between adolescent girls would break as quickly as fragile works of art unless they were carefully looked after at all times.
Li Shengran saw Ban Sheng and asked with a smile, with a hint of coquettishness: "Brother Ban Sheng, Sijia and I want to go surfing at Fenghai this weekend. Do you have time to teach us?"
Under the girl's expectant gaze, Ban Sheng held the handle of the drone in his hand, chewed gum intermittently, and did not answer.
Ning Chao was there too. He leaned aside and touched his short hair as usual. He glanced at the two girls behind Lin Weixia and spoke to Ban Sheng in a casual tone, but with a hint of meaning:
"Hey, you don't really think my sister tore her cello during her performance last night, do you? Why don't you check it out?"
With just this one sentence, the atmosphere suddenly became very weird. Even the students who were playing nearby stopped and looked at Ban Sheng, waiting for him to speak.
Ban Sheng paused holding the remote control of the drone, turned his head to look at Lin Weixia, his eyebrows and eyes were full of pressure, and asked slowly: "Is there anyone there?"
"Yes." Lin Weixia looked back.
The next second, Liu Sijia behind him called out, "Shengran, you've painted your nail polish outside the boundary."
His vision was blocked by the figures, and Ning Chao looked at the two girls. One had her usual cool look, while the other had a panicked look. She lowered her head, took out a nail polish remover towel and removed the red nail polish on the edges.
Ning Chao sneered when he saw this.
Li Shengran's face didn't look very good. She was about to speak loudly, but Ban Sheng looked at her and she automatically fell silent.
He looked at Lin Weixia and motioned her to continue. Lin Weixia paused and smiled easily: "It's impossible. I was too nervous on stage and broke the string with just one effort."
"I'm really sorry for breaking your piano."
Ban Sheng lowered his neck slightly, looked into Lin Weixia's eyes, and confirmed with her: "Are you sure?"
Lin Weixia also looked back at him. No one dared to speak, let alone influence his judgment and decision.
As long as she tells him her grievances, he will stand up for her.
She also knew that it would be easy for Ban Sheng to check if he wanted to, and it would be easy for him to deal with such a thing. But Lin Weixia still shook her head and insisted: "No, it was my own carelessness."
"Ding ding ding--" the class bell rang at the right time, and boys and girls returned to the classroom one after another. Lin Weixia was about to return to the class. Li Shengran walked past her with Liu Sijia's arm. He had a cold face and didn't even look at her. With a "bang", he bumped into Lin Weixia's shoulder.
Lin Weixia frowned in pain.
The final exams were coming up soon, and the class was tense and tense, much more so than usual. Liu Sijia still talked to Lin Weixia, but they were much more distant.
The people in the class could see the changes between the two. People often envy the strong and subconsciously choose to stand on the side. The girls naturally didn't care about her as much as before, and they were not as enthusiastic as before. They would target her from time to time, but Lin Weixia also adapted.
She can always adapt to various changes in the ecological environment.
Three days before the exam, Lin Weixia was sitting in the classroom reviewing her lessons when a commotion broke out in the front row. Immediately afterwards, the sound of a great many people talking reached her left ear.
"Scarlett, have you changed your bag?"
"Wow, this must be a limited edition. I've always wanted this backpack, but unfortunately I can't buy it." A girl said with envy.
"Yes, it's time to change it. That kind of schoolbag doesn't suit you. You look poor and always want other people's things."
It seemed like a reminder that Lin Weixia, a F student, was not worthy of being their friend.
Liu Sijia interrupted them with a slightly impatient tone: "Okay, stop talking about those nonsense."
The sounds of chatting and laughing gradually faded away. Lin Weixia paused with the tip of the pen she was holding, leaving a dot on the white paper. She glanced at the relatively new Japanese-style schoolbag in the drawer, the one that Liu Sijia had given her.
Lin Weixia also hung her lucky charm on it, then retracted her gaze and looked back at the book to continue studying.
At noon after school, Fang Mo sat in her seat, sorted out her textbooks, and was happily preparing to go to lunch with her friends. She saw Lin Weixia sitting alone in her seat doing homework and asked:
"Weixia, are you alone? Do you want to join us?"
Lin Weixia smiled gently: "It's okay, you guys go first, I'm almost done."
She can be alone. She can walk in the same sunshine with her good friends, or she can be alone and be a lonely animal.
It rained during the final exam. Winter rain is always cold and gloomy. When Lin Weixia went out in the morning, she changed into a misty blue tweed coat and wore a black beret. Her skin was as white as mutton-fat jade, and her temperament was cold and lonely.
Before leaving, I received a text message from Ban Sheng, and his tone was extremely arrogant—
[Ban: Do you need me to give you some slack so you can beat me in the exam? ]
This is basically impossible, and even if we let him off, it won't change that, unless Ban Sheng misses the exam. Lin Weixia didn't reply to her, and went out with an umbrella. As a result, as soon as she went out, she ran into Ban Sheng, who was waiting outside to take her to school.
Ban Sheng was wearing a black coat, with a smooth profile. He rubbed the phalanges on the back of his left hand with his thumb, and was smoking a cigarette with his cheeks flushed.
He was so handsome and unreasonably cool that passers-by kept glancing at him.
As soon as he saw Lin Weixia, Ban Sheng put out his cigarette, walked over with breakfast in hand, glanced at her outfit today, revealed a meaningful look, and spoke in an extremely serious tone:
"You don't dress like brother and sister today."
Lin Weixia looked at him in confusion: "Huh?"
"Like a couple."
…
It rained for three days in a row, and when I finished my last exam, it was still raining, but the semester was over.
It’s not a complete loss.
When Lin Weixia went out with the white examination document bag, she saw Liu Sijia surrounded by the crowd through the distant crowd.
Liu Sijia didn't know what she said to the others, and they left one after another. Lin Weixia walked towards Liu Sijia with an umbrella, and she stood there with her arms folded, and neither of them spoke.
Liu Sijia crossed her arms, looked at her sideways, and spoke first: "I didn't do that."
"Yeah, I know." Lin Weixia said slowly.
The two of them were silent, and Lin Weixia said softly: "Thank you for your care this semester, Sijia."
The rain became a little heavier. Lin Weixia opened her umbrella and hurried into the rain curtain woven into thin threads. The water droplets hit the white transparent umbrella paper and swirled into small flowers one after another.
Winter vacation came quickly, just before the Chinese New Year, and Nanjiang Street was decorated with red lanterns, and the flow of people became larger and larger. Gao Hang's aunt enrolled him in three cram schools, which made him, a teenager who was in puberty and only wanted to play games all day, complain bitterly.
As it was near the end of the year, my aunt's store was too busy to handle the business, so she called Lin Weixia to come over to help. She was in charge of the cashier and doing odd jobs like cutting fresh fruits every day. It seemed easy, but after a busy day she was so tired that her back and waist ached.
During the entire winter vacation, Lin Weixia basically didn't contact anyone. Ban Sheng went abroad and would occasionally send her a few photos.
Two days before the New Year, the fruit shop finally closed for a break. After the New Year's Eve dinner on New Year's Eve, the aunt gave each of them a big red envelope. Gao Hang glanced at the thicker red envelope in Lin Weixia's hand and pretended to be dissatisfied: "Mom, why is my sister's red envelope thicker than mine?"
My aunt was carrying a plate. Without thinking, she slapped him on the back of the head and scolded him, "How dare you say that? How long has your sister worked hard in the store during the winter vacation? How about you? You've almost polished the gaming keyboard in your room."
Gao Hang immediately started to act funny, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious with the sound of the Spring Festival Gala skits on TV. After Lin Weixia helped to clean up the dishes, she took her clothes and prepared to take a shower. She glanced at the phone on the blue bed sheet and found that the screen kept lighting up.
Lin Weixia picked up her phone and sat on the edge of the bed. She logged into WeChat and found that Fang Mo Ning had sent her New Year greetings. She replied to them one by one with a smile. The class group was also very lively. Lao Liu was also generous in the group and started a red envelope rain.
Lin Weixia glanced at the phone screen for a few times and was about to turn off the screen when her eyes suddenly caught sight of Liu Sijia appearing in her chat dialog box. She clicked on it and saw a series of New Year greetings, which were obviously copied from the Internet. Before she had time to read it carefully, the message was suddenly withdrawn and the chat interface returned to a blank.
A moment later, Liu Sijia sent a message, her tone was as cold as ever: "My hand slipped, this is a group message."
Not sure if it was really Liu Sijia who accidentally sent a group New Year's greeting message to her, or if it was a test to make peace, Lin Weixia replied seriously: [Sijia, Happy New Year. ]
After sending the message, Lin Weixia went to the bathroom to take a shower. When she came out, she was wearing cotton pajamas, and the area from her neck to her collarbone was turned pink by the steam.
While she kept wrapping her wet hair with a white towel in her right hand, she picked up her cell phone and sat at the table by the window. Only then did she see that Qianmo had sent her several messages half an hour ago.
Fang Mo: [Ah, have you checked Ban Sheng’s Moments? ]
Fang Mo immediately sent a screenshot, and Lin Weixia clicked it to check and found that it was a screenshot of Qiu Minghua's Moments. A user with the nickname ban and a black profile picture posted a photo of the night sky with the caption: Waiting for someone to say Happy New Year to me.
The location was Canada, and the tone was ambiguous, which made people more suspicious. Qiu Minghua and Ban Sheng's mutual friends all made comments below, some were stirring up trouble, some were making trouble.
A: [Who is that person? ]
B: [Happy New Year, I am someone. ]
C: [Wow, Bansheng, you are in Canada, happy new year. ]
Qiu Minghua blurred the post and took a screenshot and posted it in a private group, hoping to create chaos. As a result, the news spread from one person to ten people, and from ten to a hundred. Now even students who did not have Ban Sheng’s WeChat account knew about it.
Fang Mo was still gossiping: [Weixia, this someone—isn’t he talking about you? Hehehe.]
Lin Weixia lowered her eyelashes and trembled. The next second, a text message came in the message bar. She clicked it and saw that it was Ban Sheng's usual nonchalant tone. He said:
[Hey, someone.]
Lin Weixia began to feel the phone getting hot while holding it, and water droplets kept dripping onto the screen through her hair. He clearly didn't say anything, he just sent a text, but it seemed like it was automatically translated into a low voice that was shaking her ears.
She typed and deleted words in the dialog box.
Ban Sheng's phone showed that the other party was typing, as if he couldn't hold it back. He was annoyed by the typing and pressed the microphone to send a voice message.
As soon as I pressed the play button, the boy's slightly hoarse voice echoed back into the room, with a hint of helplessness:
[It’s Chinese New Year today, and I’m alone abroad.]
[I just want you to say Happy New Year to me.]
Lin Weixia thought of the photo that Ban Sheng had just sent. The night sky was gray without a single star. It was unlike home, where fireworks were rising over Lijiang Bay and it was extremely lively.
She was typing, water droplets from her hair dripped onto the screen, and the input method did not display Chinese characters, so Lin Weixia simply sent a voice message.
A soft female voice came through the unstable radio waves. She spoke with a serious tone:
—Happy New Year, Bansheng.
Then Lin Weixia went to blow dry her hair, and when she came back to check the messages, she found that Ban Sheng had not replied to her messages. She felt an indescribable emotion in her heart, but she no longer paid attention to it.
Lin Weixia was scrolling through her phone when suddenly, her fingers stopped. She stared at a small area of the screen for a long time and suddenly leaned back on the bed. The sweet fragrance of the fruit trees outside the window filled the air and went into her nose bit by bit, attacking her tightly closed heart and making her feel itchy and numb.
With his arms across his side, the screen of his tightly held phone lit up, showing that the other party had changed his nickname. Ban Sheng’s current WeChat name was:
I heard
It was like conveying a response that no one else knew but only she knew.