Summer in Your Name - 11
Gift
She'd written an argumentative essay. If he couldn't understand it, did that mean her reasoning was flawed?
Sheng Xia lowered her voice. "Zhang Shu... was my essay hard to understand?”
"If you've got something to say, say it. Stop calling my name." Zhang Shu spun his pen, glancing at her.
Sheng Xia: ... Isn't that what a name is for?
But she kept the thought to herself, simply nodding. "Oh. Well, my essay..."
"It's awesome," he said.
His tone was dismissive, and he'd sounded kind of harsh just now. Sheng Xia took the hint and didn't push further.
She looked down, clearly dejected. This only confused Zhang Shu. He complimented her, and it's still not right?
"You really think I didn't understand it?"
Sheng Xia perked up again. "Then you did understand it?"
Zhang Shu was caught off guard by the question. "I may never see a pig run. Doesn't mean I haven't eaten pork."
He couldn't write like her, but that didn't mean he had no appreciation for it.
Sheng Xia's expression was earnest. "Then why did you write 'don't understand—'"
Zhang Shu looked down at his own review. He'd just taken the easy way out.
He pulled his essay out from under her hand and saw her beautiful, neat handwriting. She even wrote critiques with such literary flair?
Fine. Fair's fair.
He drew a line through "Don't understand, but awesome" and wrote after it: "Badass handwriti…"
Before he could finish the last character, a soft, firm warning came from beside him. "Keep it clean..."
Zhang Shu glanced at her, annoyed. The girl, for once, wasn't trembling. Her eyes held a quiet insistence.
His pen paused. He scratched out the crude word and wrote: Awesome handwriting. Awesome phrasing. Awesome argument. Awesome logic. Super awesome!!
Zhang Shu: "Satisfied?"
Sheng Xia: ...
---
After the peer review, Fu Jie explained the prompt. As expected, Zhang Shu's central idea only ranked as third-tier at best. Not a high-scoring essay.
He didn't seem to care much, though. He just kept looking over Sheng Xia's paper, lost in thought about something. Sheng Xia ended up using his paper to follow the lesson.
He didn't give hers back until class ended, then immediately left with Hou Junqi.
Lu Youze came by to collect the essays. He glanced at Sheng Xia's paper. "Sheng Xia, your handwriting keeps getting better!"
"Thanks," she managed, not sure what else to say.
"Zhang Shu's essay doesn't have a name on it." Lu Youze pulled Zhang Shu's paper out and put it on her desk. "You can write it for him."
He still had other rows’ essays to collect.
"Oh, okay." In the name field, Sheng Xia wrote: Zhang Shu (张数).
Then she handed it in.
---
After dinner, as usual, Sheng Xia went to the fruit shop to buy a cup of cucumber juice.
It was really just fresh cucumber juice with sugar. The owner said it was a limited summer special. Sheng Xia loved the light, sweet taste, refreshing and perfect for beating the heat.
She and Xin Xiaohe strolled slowly from the North Gate back to the classroom.
They talked about homework, about exams, about Zhang Shu.
When Sheng Xia mentioned the "Don't understand, but awesome" comment, Xin Xiaohe doubled over laughing, clutching her stomach. "If he weren't so insufferable, he'd probably be popular with everyone. Actually, the guys in our class all really like him, they're kind of envy and admire him at the same time, you know? The girls don’t dare get close, but trust me, plenty of them are into him. You should hear how the girls from other classes talk about him, it’s insane.”
Sheng Xia was curious. "So why isn't he in a relationship? Is it for his study?"
Xin Xiaohe's expression turned mysterious. "Study? Have you seen him actually devote himself fully to studying?"
Sheng Xia shook her head. No, she hadn't.
In the two days she'd been his deskmate, she'd noticed: Zhang Shu was a master of cutting it close. Morning, afternoon, evening study—he arrived exactly on time, occasionally late, but never early.
But according to Xin Xiaohe, he was always one of the last ones to leave.
He was a day student like Sheng Xia, but he stayed for the third evening study session with the boarders. If he hadn't finished his assignments, he'd keep working until the school bell rang for lights-out.
"Looks lazy on the surface," Xin Xiaohe commented, "but actually pretty hard working."
Sheng Xia sipped her cucumber juice and nodded. "Top students don't get there by accident."
Xin Xiaohe hugged her hot water bottle and sighed. "But there are so many people way more hard working than him. That one percent talent just crushes the ninety-nine percent effort every time."
"Then again," Xin Xiaohe lowered her voice, "what's the use of all those girls liking him? Everyone knows he's been chasing Chen Mengyao for years, since middle school, and still hasn’t won her over.”
Sheng Xia: "Why not..."
Xin Xiaohe: "Because he's poor? Well, not poor exactly, just... ordinary. But for a girl like Chen Mengyao, that counts as poor. She says She’s going to be a star someday, why would she waste time on some ordinary guy? The guys from vocational high school shower her with bags, phones, even cars, I heard. But she’s not into those nouveau riche types either. Chen Mengyao is after someone with money and an elite like Lu Youze…”
Sheng Xia asked, "Do you know her too?"
"Who, Chen Mengyao?" Xin Xiaohe was a bit surprised Sheng Xia was engaging. "She's friend with my roommate's, Zhou Xuanxuan, our class's arts committee member. She used to be in the Music Club with Chen Mengyao and Zhang Shu. She's tight with Chen Mengyao. Knows everything."
Sheng Xia sipped her cucumber juice, silent.
If they were that tight, would you tell other people your friend's business? Weird friendship.
So... Zhang Shu suddenly becoming top of the class, working so hard to make money, was it all to prove something to the girl he liked?
That must've not been easy for someone as proud as him.
But still... he couldn't break the law.
"What are you thinking about?" Xin Xiaohe noticed her spacing out and teased, "You're not falling for Zhang Shu, are you?"
Sheng Xia quickly shook her head, deflecting. "I was just wondering if I should stay for one more study session before going home…”
Even though she also burned the midnight oil at home, her efficiency was never as good as in the classroom. She'd actually been thinking about this for a few days.
Xin Xiaohe: "That’d be past ten-thirty. Won't you be scared of going home that late?”
"I will..." Sheng Xia quickly conceded.
Xin Xiaohe: "Let's just make every minute we have count."
They returned to the classroom and buried themselves in assignment.
Sheng Xia was focused on a problem when she heard a soft tap on the window. She turned to see two girls standing outside, hesitating, nudging each other forward.
She didn't recognize them, but she slid the window open anyway.
One of them was pushed forward. Nervously, she held out a gift box and said in quiet voice, "Hey, could you give this to Zhang Shu for us?"
Sheng Xia was stunned.
Her expression must have seemed hesitant, because the other girl added, "Just put it on his desk. Thanks!"
Then they left the box on the windowsill and scurried away, still nudging each other.
Sheng Xia: ...
Someone in the classroom noticed and kindly explained, "Probably another birthday gift for Zhang Shu. Just put it in his desk drawer."
"Oh, okay."
Sheng Xia bent down to place the box in Zhang Shu's drawer, only to find it already contained gift boxes of varying sizes...
She guessed her classmates had put them there; they didn't need to go through her.
This guy was really popular.
She ended up just putting it on his desk.
Five minutes after the evening study bell rang, Zhang Shu sauntered in, late as usual. Sheng Xia hesitated, wondering if she should tell him about the gifts, but he just casually stacked them on the floor by his desk, not looking the least bit surprised.
She swallowed her words.
Sheng Xia thought that was the end of it. But the next morning, before morning reading started, she'd accepted two more gifts for him. Same situation as the night before. He just stacked them on the floor again, without even glancing at them, let alone opening them.
So what had happened to the ones from last night?
She didn't want to meddle, but she couldn't help thinking about those girls' faces, full of hope and affection.
"Zhang Shu..." she said softly.
Cautiously.
He turned. "What now?"
What did he mean, "now"?
She hadn't even spoken to him yet today.
He was really a little unreasonable.
But since she'd already started, Sheng Xia decided to see it through. "Aren't you going to open the gifts?"
Zhang Shu looked at her, his gaze appraising. "You want to?"
Before she could respond, he scooped up the stack of boxes from the floor and placed them on her book crate. "Here."
Sheng Xia: ...?
"Don't girls like opening gifts?" he asked when she made no move.
Sheng Xia felt indignant on behalf of the girls. How could he just let someone else open them? "These are gifts for you. People put thought into them!"
There was a hint of anger in her voice.
That was new.
Zhang Shu raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
What was she getting at?
Then something seemed to click, he put on a wronged expression. “What, I’m supposed to open them here, in class? I’d have to take them home first, wouldn’t I?”
Sheng Xia flushed, realizing she’d jumped to conclusions. “Oh. That’s... good.”
As long as he wasn't throwing them away.
Zhang Shu let out a laugh, somewhere between amused and exasperated, shaking his head as he stared at her flushed face.
Look at this clay Bodhisattva with a heart of gold, standing firm in her righteousness.
---
Since he opened them after all, she had a gift she wanted to give him too.
Instead of going home after lunch, Sheng Xia took a cab straight to Yifang Bookstore.
The owner was puzzled. "No school today?"
"I do have school. I… wanted to buy a criminal law book," Sheng Xia said.
"Criminal law?" The owner came out from behind the counter to look for it. "Statutes or a textbook?"
Sheng Xia asked, "Can an ordinary person understand the statutes?"
"Probably, yeah."
"I'll take the statutes, then."
The owner handed her a little red book. It took Sheng Xia a while just to find the right section in the table of contents. She located it in Volume Two, Chapter Six, Section Nine of the Specific Provisions: [Crime of Producing, Copying, Publishing, Selling, or Disseminating Pornographic Materials for Profit]. She paid, and was about to mark the page when an idea struck her. She called out to the owner again. "Excuse me, could you do me a favor..."
---
Leaving the bookstore, it was still early. Sheng Xia stopped at a stationery store and bought a beautiful gift box. She put the little red book at the bottom, then thought giving someone a criminal law book for their birthday might be a little much, so she ducked into the sporting goods store next door, bought a set of sports knee pads, and put those in the box too.
While everyone else was napping, she slipped the gift box into Zhang Shu's desk drawer.
That afternoon, Zhang Shu showed up at the last possible minute as usual. When he pulled out his books and saw the box, he didn’t react much, simply set it aside on his desk like the others.
He didn't open it all through class. When school let out, he just left, carrying two or three boxes like it was any other day.
But Sheng Xia's nerves had been wound tight all day.
She'd imagined many scenarios of him discovering the law book. He'd be angry. He'd definitely wonder who sent it. He might even flash that fierce look of his...
He wouldn't think of her, would he? His partners, his customers, all those girls with crushes on him who watched his every move… it could be any of them.
But what if, by some chance, he did think of her?
She couldn't worry about that now. She just hoped he'd see the error of his ways.
Actually, a lot of people, especially guys, probably didn't even realize that kind of thing was a crime, right?
He was so smart. He had such a bright future ahead of him. He wouldn't mess it up over something like this. He'd weigh the pros and cons.
At this thought, Sheng Xia feel a little better.
After dinner, she rested for a bit, but still felt restless and anxious. She opened the window, but the summer evening breeze was hot and did nothing to ease her agitation. For a moment, she almost wished he'd find it sooner rather than later and get it over with.
She decided to go to the North Gate for a cup of cucumber juice.
It was almost time for evening study. The cucumber juice was sold out, it was in high demand. The owner enthusiastically offered to peel some fresh cucumbers and make her one right away.
Unable to refuse his earnest offer, she could only wait.
The moment she got her juice, the evening study bell started ringing sharply Sheng Xia hurried, half-jogging back to the classroom.
Lu Youze was handing out the essays from the other day. Everyone was comparing scores, papers flying everywhere as ceiling fans whirred overhead. Sheng Xia was grateful for the chaos; she slipped into the classroom unnoticed.
Miraculously, Zhang Shu had arrived before her.
She squeezed past him to her seat, still catching her breath, and immediately sensed his mood was off.
Before she could even sit down properly, Zhang Shu suddenly turned to face her. He planted a foot on the rung of her chair and rested his arm on the back of it, effectively cornering her. The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Sheng Xia."
It was the first time he'd ever said her name.
Each syllable deliberate, almost gritted through his teeth.
He'd found out?
Sheng Xia's rapid breaths hitched. She held her breath, looking back at him as if waiting for a judgement.
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