They say half of a boy's campus memories are in the restroom, and Zhang Shutong thought there was some truth to that.
He lifted the rubber curtain, and the inside was crowded with people, bustling like a meeting.
He didn't need to use the restroom, nor was he prepared to attend the meeting. He just wanted to reminisce, but this part of the past smelled too bad, so he took two looks, pinched his nose, and backed out.
At this moment, someone clapped him hard on the shoulder, and a voice followed:
"Brother, you're welcome!"
Zhang Shutong was really startled.
He had just been stabbed a few hours ago, which made him feel uneasy whenever someone approached him from behind.
He turned his head and saw Du Kang's smiling face.
Many thoughts condensed into one sentence:
"You really haven't changed at all."
Zhang Shutong was a bit emotional. The other party had a baby face. He looked a bit younger than them now, but he wouldn't look old in the future either.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm complimenting you on being young. What did you say just now, 'You're welcome'?"
"I handed in your homework for you. It was a small thing. Buy me some spicy sticks?"
"Pick whatever you want, but I have something to do after school, so it might be a bit late."
Zhang Shutong said with a chuckle.
Just like eight years later, the two of them started chatting familiarly. But after only a few words, Du Kang looked at his watch, turned his head and ran, shouting as he ran:
"I'm going to get the milk. Don't forget what you promised me for the next class! A meal at KFC!"
Wait, what did I promise you?
Now it was Zhang Shutong's turn to be confused.
He stood there for a long time, thinking that this kid was just like he would be in the future, only saying half of what he meant.
This was Du Kang, the kind of boy every class has. He would be in a rush all day long, running around, not knowing what he was busy with, but he was always super busy.
However, the phrase "get the milk" he said just now was a real thing.
"Milk" referred to the student milk, a small square carton, which seemed to be a product of the nutrition project that was promoted in the early 21st century.
There were all kinds of flavors: vanilla, strawberry, papaya, chocolate... and plain milk that no one drank.
Zhang Shutong knew that in most schools, student milk was handed out in the morning, probably during the break of the second class. But since they were on a small island, the student milk had to travel by water, so it couldn't be delivered in the morning. And since noon was too close to mealtime, they moved it to the afternoon.
Every class had a "milk fetcher," who would get it from the warehouse behind the academic building, bring it to the classroom, and distribute it uniformly. It was considered a position.
They say that positions before college are useless, having no real power or extra credit, but this milk fetcher, as far as Zhang Shutong knew, could really get some "benefits."
This was actually the extra milk that was sent.
Maybe to account for shipping damage, they would always send a few extra boxes of milk, which meant several cartons for each class. As for how these few cartons were distributed, the teacher couldn't be bothered to care, and it was all up to the milk fetcher.
Du Kang was clearly loyal. The benefits shouldn't flow to outsiders, so the extra cartons always ended up in the hands of his best friends. After a while, it felt like they were getting a shipment.
He still remembered that Qingyi liked chocolate, Ruoping liked papaya, Du Kang liked vanilla... So many details, even Zhang Shutong himself was a bit surprised;
But that's how things are. Many things you think you remember are actually forgotten; and many things you forget, suddenly you remember them at a certain moment. They have always been in your mind, they never left.
But the reason he remembered so clearly was another dramatic thing—he liked the strawberry flavor, and by coincidence, Lu Qinglian also liked this one.
So, the question of who to give the extra strawberry milk to—a best friend or the girl he liked—became a very difficult problem for Du Kang.
But this guy was indeed loyal. Although every time he almost squeezed the carton flat, he was so reluctant, like he was looking at his wife, but in the end, it still ended up in Zhang Shutong's hands.
Although sometimes he would pathetically say, "Just one carton, just let me keep one more," that was it.
And then the three of them would join in to tease him.
"You abandon righteousness for the sake of beauty." That was Ruoping.
"You put women before your friends." That was Qingyi.
"I completely agree." That was the only beneficiary, himself.
Thinking about it now, it was really a terrible thing to do. Zhang Shutong smiled and self-reflected at the same time.
Du Kang had failed to win Lu Qinglian's heart for so many years. Maybe it was just those few cartons of strawberry milk that made the difference?
This matter was indeed related to him.
Hmm, he definitely wouldn't drink it next time.
Then he went back to the classroom to get his backpack and stood in line in the hallway, waiting to change seats for the next class.
The class teacher was already standing at the front. He rolled up his sleeves and yelled:
"You little rascals, hurry up. If you need to use the restroom, go now. You only have five minutes..."
"Hurry, hurry, I'm talking to you, I'm talking to you. Why are you sneaking around like a weasel stealing a chicken? Can't you pick up your backpack..."
"Oh, Shutong. You come to the front. You're the first one anyway."
The man was about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, a little older than his pre-reversion self. He was over 1.8 meters tall, with an aquiline nose, a long face, and a square chin, showing a resolute demeanor.
His voice was so loud that it echoed a bit. If he didn't like the looks of someone, he would push them on the shoulder, completely lacking the gentlemanly manner he had when he was talking to Lu Qinglian just now.
But the students he was talking to weren't annoyed. Some would cheekily talk back.
This was their class teacher, the teacher Zhang Shutong liked the most throughout his school years—Song Nanshan.
Song Nanshan was a typical rough man. The first button on his shirt was always missing, his hair was messy, and there was a stubble on his chin. He was a bit sloppy, but also had a rugged masculinity.
In class, his sleeves were always rolled up to his elbows. Once, during an open class for the city, he heard the grade director coughing several times behind him, but he didn't even notice. He wrote in a grand and flamboyant style on the blackboard, spitting all over the place.
He was also a bit unreliable. He would lose the test paper while explaining it and have to move a stool to sit next to the student to explain.
But don't underestimate him because of this. Song Nanshan was originally a teacher at a key middle school in the city. He came to the island for a job promotion, to get some credit. He was supposed to leave after getting the promotion, but he stayed.
He got along well with the students in the class. He had an open mind. He could be a stern class teacher but also get along with the kids. He had the best relationship with him and his best friends.
He had a small red car, something called a Focus, with a manual transmission.
He liked to drive around on weekends. Sometimes, he would take Zhang Shutong and the others. They would smell the lingering cigarette smoke in the car, watch the class teacher drive gracefully through the mountain passes and around the bends, and then Ruoping would get out and throw up.
He also liked to take them fishing, but his skills were really bad, so he was very much despised by him.
The class teacher taught English. Thanks to him, Zhang Shutong's English was always good. He passed the CET-4 and CET-6 in his first year of college, and even his later remote job was related to translation.
Thinking about it now, his English grades in junior high never dropped below second place, which made the class teacher proud. He always called him his "favorite student."
But the English class representative was Lu Qinglian, so his love for him was probably not deep enough after all.
At this moment, Song Nanshan asked him in a loud voice:
"You're not doing well this time, kid. Why were you only fifth on the monthly exam? Do you have the confidence to be in the top three next time?"
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that not being in the bottom three would be a good thing next time. He glanced at him and couldn't help but remind him:
"Your cigarette pack is showing."
"Oh, oh..."
The other party quickly stuffed it into his pants pocket and went to the back of the line to call out to the students.
They changed seats in their class after the monthly exam. Speaking of which, even changing seats was a special thing—
In other classes, the teachers, if they were a bit snobbish, would usually arrange seats according to test scores;
If they were more responsible, they would form groups of four and move the groups as a whole every month.
But with Song Nanshan, he managed to create a "priority seat selection."
It couldn't be said that it was useless. Anyway, Du Kang had moved up twenty spots, reaching the middle of the class, but he was still too far from the first place, Lu Qinglian.
Zhang Shutong was in second place.
Thinking of this, he finally remembered what Du Kang had "promised."
It was to save a seat for him.
The mind of a teenage boy is very complex, shy yet stubborn. For example, Du Kang wanted to sit next to Lu Qinglian, but he didn't dare to be her deskmate. The best position was in front of or behind her.
So what to do?
He had to ask himself to sit in front of or behind Lu Qinglian, and then be his deskmate to achieve his goal. The whole operation was quite complicated.
Zhang Shutong was a bit speechless.
But it wasn't a big deal. A teenage crush was a huge thing. It wasn't easy for the other party to ask. So he didn't care.
With the class teacher's urging, the students finally lined up, and then he started to read the list of rankings:
"Second place, Zhang Shutong."
As for why he didn't read the first place, it was because the first place in their class was always fixed—Lu Qinglian didn't even come out to line up, nor did she have to pack up her things. Every time, she would just move her desk to the spot she wanted.
Later, everyone got used to it, and even the class teacher would start reading from the second place.
Zhang Shutong responded and entered the classroom, seeing the girl sitting by the window.
The small island was north of the Qinling-Huaihe Line, so the classroom had heaters, which were a whole row under the windows.
The heating system started every year around this time. The most comfortable seat in winter was by the window, and in summer, it was against the wall.
This spot was just what Zhang Shutong wanted. It seemed that Lu Qinglian was also well aware of this. She really was the number one student in the grade.
He was no longer young—although he wasn't that old now—but as a child, he really had no concept of "cold." In the autumn, he would still use a fan and walk around the house in a T-shirt;
But in recent years, he had to wear his thermal underwear to sleep and didn't even dare to expose his shoulders.
When choosing a seat in the front or back, he thought for a moment. Because he didn't want to be stared at from behind, he sat in the seat to the side and behind Lu Qinglian. The seat directly behind her was, of course, reserved for Du Kang.
After he had put his things away, he propped his face up with his hand and watched the students come in one by one, trying to remember their names.
"...Du Tingting."
A slightly chubby girl.
"...Zhou Ziheng."
A dark-skinned boy.
For some reason, the other party was startled when he saw him.
"...Meng Qingyi."
Then a very cool boy walked in, with short black hair, a white turtleneck sweater, hands in his pockets, and a blank expression. He looked like a handsome man with a paralyzed face.
Then the boy gave him a thumbs-up, accompanied by a look of admiration, which probably meant "you're awesome."
Zhang Shutong returned the thumbs-up, indicating that he was also awesome, although he had no idea what his best friend meant.
He was a little embarrassed. Du Kang went to get the milk. What if someone wanted to sit next to him? He would have to refuse, which felt like bullying a kid.
But after looking around, the rankings were all in the tens. No one had any intention of sitting over here.
Lu Qinglian's front row was taken. But the area behind her, besides himself, was a vacuum, as if the feng shui here was bad and everyone avoided it.
Zhang Shutong was a bit strange.
He knew that many people in the class liked Lu Qinglian. It should have been the case that a boy would come over. Even if they didn't have a crush on her, the seat near the heater was a good spot.
Could it be his problem?
Zhang Shutong patted his face.
To get a familiar face, he had been staring at everyone who came in, which might have looked a bit gloomy.
But it couldn't be that bad. Even if he was "cool and aloof," he wasn't scary enough to scare people away.
Just as he was thinking this, a short-haired girl walked over quickly. She tapped on his desk, and he could see the light pink manicure on her hands.
Before Zhang Shutong could speak, Feng Ruoping whispered:
"Are you still half-asleep?"
"What?"
"Why are you so silly as to sit next to the 'young miss'?"
She covered her mouth and chuckled, giving him a look of solemnity before she left, similar to how she looked at Lu Qinglian's photo a few hours ago.
Young miss?
Next to?
Thinking about it this way, it was as if memories that had been hidden for many years were reawakened.
Zhang Shutong looked into the desk drawer next to him. There were still a few books that hadn't been packed, and he immediately understood.
The seat next to him was Gu Qiumian's. Although he had seen it a few times in the last class, he really didn't remember where she sat.
And the other party had a strange habit, or rather, a strong sense of territory. Like a young lioness, she had moved to the window seat after the first monthly exam and had never moved since.
It wasn't a scene where "the young miss pulled out a few banknotes, sneered, and said, 'This is my seat. Be smart and leave quickly. I'll add more if it's not enough.'"
Most people, as if following a certain unspoken understanding, knew it was just a seat, and it wasn't worth it to provoke her.
This also had to do with Gu Qiumian's strange social niche in the class.
The kids on the island were classmates in class, but if they met outside the school, they were mostly related to each other: someone's father was a cousin of someone else, someone's grandfather was an old comrade-in-arms of someone else... it was all very normal.
So the students had fixed circles.
For example, a group of people just played basketball on Friday, and on the weekend, a great aunt came to visit a family, and the great aunt's son was the kid who dunked on Friday.
Their relationships extended beyond the school gate and often involved their families. This was an experience that kids in the city didn't have.
Because of this, Gu Qiumian didn't make any decent friends in class. To fit into a small circle, the most important thing was to be "social."
Especially in girls' circles, the lines had to be even clearer.
But if you tried hard, it wasn't that difficult to blend in. Just like when Zhang Shutong first came, he also had no friends, but he tried hard... well, he didn't seem to try that hard. He just suddenly made a few new friends, and then they became best friends.
For Gu Qiumian, she wasn't a social girl, but no one dared to deliberately ostracize her. Although what he was about to say might sound a bit arrogant, in fact—
She had isolated everyone else in the class by herself.
You could look down on her ability to make friends, but you absolutely could not look down on her pride and her wallet.
The young miss clearly understood the theory of relativity. Ever since the chocolate incident, she had been met with a snub. Regardless of who was right or wrong, she was absolutely not going to stick her warm face on a cold butt. She simply decided to expand her social circle outside the class.
You won't let me into your circle? Fine, I'll just build my own.
Gu Qiumian's minions were all outside the class.
In the four grades of junior high, there were Pokémon she had tamed everywhere.
Sometimes, people would see her taking her Pokémon to play on the island.
They would gather at the pier at 10 a.m. on a Saturday. A group of minions would have their bikes parked neatly on both sides.
Then the black Audi would drive into the middle of the group, and a piece of fair and slender calf would stick out of the car. Everyone would then follow the owner of the calf and board the boat.
—Actually, they could have ridden their bikes onto the boat. The ferry that traveled to and from the small island didn't have a cabin, only a huge deck. It cost three yuan for a person, five yuan for a bike, and ten yuan for a car.
But the young miss didn't have a bike and didn't know how to ride one. She also didn't want her family's driver to follow her. Wouldn't it be a loss of face if everyone else was riding a bike and she was walking alone?
So she just had everyone walk.
Anyway, as soon as the ferry docked, she could just wave and call a few taxis. She would then direct who should get into which car;
Then she would lift her chin, and the red and silver convoy would drive majestically towards the nearest gym... no, shopping mall, as if they were filming a TV show.
The taxi fare was of course all covered by Gu Qiumian.
Once, when Zhang Shutong was going to the island to buy books, he ran into this group. At the time, he spat out his gum, wrapped it in paper, and wondered why there were so many students today.
Someone lowered their voice and asked him:
"Brother, why did you push your bike up? Aren't you afraid?"
While constantly hinting at the bike in his hand with his eyes.
Zhang Shutong talked to him for a long time before he understood the reason, and he was deeply speechless;
So much so that he forgot that he had already spat out his gum. He chewed hard and bit the soft flesh in his mouth, which hurt a lot. This was how he developed that small gesture.
Then, when the boat docked, Gu Qiumian came over from who knows where. She folded her arms across her chest, her hair was blown to her lips by the wind, and she had the look of a victor. After a long while, she asked:
"Zhang... Shutong?"
Her tone was similar to Ash saying, "Char... izard?"
Thank you so much for still remembering me, this Pokémon.
In reality, he didn't have so many thoughts back then. He just nodded nonchalantly, treating it as an accidental encounter with a classmate, got on his bike and left, leaving Miss Gu to feel confused in the lake breeze.
The name "traitor" was thus heavily noted down again.
In short, Gu Qiumian didn't lack playmates. Sometimes, she would even invite a few of her good girlfriends to sing karaoke, and she didn't have to leave the island. They could just go to her four-story detached villa;
In the dictionary of Zhang Shutong and his best friends back then, this place was called the "castle," and they would only look at it from behind the impressive iron fence.
The entire basement floor was used as a home theater.
She didn't have any decent friends in class, but that was just friends. It didn't mean that there were no boys who had a crush on her.
What topics did fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys usually talk about?
Zhang Shutong's answer was the fish in the lake, the straight branches he picked up on the way to school, and the comics in magazines. But unfortunately, the people around him were all talking about the most beautiful girls.
Their class was divided into two factions: Lu Qinglian's and Gu Qiumian's. The former had more people. The latter also had some, but they would always talk about her nonchalantly and chat about her cautiously, afraid that their feelings would be discovered.
The seat next to Gu Qiumian would often be for the boys who had a crush on her.
She herself knew this. Sometimes it would annoy her, but it wasn't all the boys' fault;
She liked to eat snacks. There was a special pocket in her backpack just for them. She not only ate them herself but also fed them to her minions.
Once, Du Kang lost a game of Truth or Dare. He was persuaded by Ruoping to ask Gu Qiumian for a snack with a bitter face. Everyone around them was holding back their laughter, but she actually nodded and gave him some.
Everyone watched in stunned silence as she poured a pile of snacks out of her backpack and absent-mindedly asked Du Kang to take whatever he wanted.
But most of the time, if she brought too many snacks or didn't want to eat them, she would just casually give some to her deskmate.
She was quite generous, but for her, it was a selfless act, and for the boy who ate it, it meant something more;
A boy of that age would doubt if a girl had a crush on him if she just looked at him a little more, let alone giving him snacks. Of course, he would be flattered.
As a result, one unfortunate boy got too carried away.
At the time, the boy was Gu Qiumian's deskmate. He had just been given a few wafer cookies. He was bragging while chewing loudly. The cookie crumbs were falling from the back row all the way to the podium;
Then, for some reason, he got a crazy idea and thought he had a close relationship with Miss Gu. He thought he could say something that was not so "superficial," and then he went and told a dirty joke.
It was probably a vulgar joke about a girl's body, which was usually only told among boys. As for girls who were good friends... it mainly depended on how good the relationship was;
But who would have thought that he would be so bold, because the main character of the dirty joke was Gu Qiumian herself.
He finished and laughed twice, but Gu Qiumian's face immediately turned cold, and she knocked his pencil case to the floor.
"Say that again?"
The boy was embarrassed, and it was a time in his life when he cared about his face the most. Moreover, he had just bragged about how good his relationship was with her. He refused to back down, stuck his neck out, and said it loudly again. In the end, he said resentfully:
"Are you sick? It's just a joke."
Gu Qiumian didn't even look at him. She just walked away.
In the next class, the boy was called out, then he was publicly criticized and had to stay at home for a few days. When he came back, he was directly moved to a new class.
It was then that everyone had a deeper understanding of Miss Gu. They used to think that they were people from two different worlds, and they wouldn't cross paths;
But in fact, she was just too lazy to cross paths. If you really did, it would be like an egg hitting a rock. Their world would immediately shatter into crumbs like a wafer cookie. After this incident, there were many more terrifying rumors about her family in the class. Some even reached a vicious level.
He didn't know if she was aware of them. Maybe not, since no one told her;
But even if she did know, she had an attitude of "I don't care about what others think." It didn't affect her going to and from class every day. And when she was in a good mood, she would draw ghost faces on the window.
And now, he was the one next to the ghost face.
Zhang Shutong finally knew where those surprised looks came from.
Gu Qiumian was this kind of person, like a thorny rose. If you didn't provoke her, she was too lazy to bother with you;
And if you accidentally did, then you'd have to talk about the story of a prominent school alumnus, the donor of the library and the track field, the super-rich man on the island, the father of the young miss—Gu Jianhong.
Anyway, Zhang Shutong admitted to himself that he couldn't afford to provoke so many people.
Speaking of which, where did he sit back then?
Maybe it was in front of Lu Qinglian, and he intentionally avoided this seat.
He didn't expect that after he came back, with just a small change in his mind, it would be like a butterfly flapping its wings, and the past would change with it.
It's still not too late to change seats... he thought.
He calculated the time. "That thing" should have happened not long ago.
He vaguely remembered that their relationship was at an all-time low right now.
But before he could act, following the class teacher's voice once again, talk of the devil and she shall appear:
"Next, Gu Qiumian."
The small leather shoes made a tapping sound on the floor;
Then, a pair of very lively and beautiful eyes glared over first.