Summer in Your Name - 3

Know What's Up

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Sheng Xia walked down the long corridors to Class 6, Grade Three, at the far west end. Every room she passed was full, students clustered in groups, talking and laughing. The whole floor was buzzing.

The first day back was the most lively. Even at a key high school.

Class 6, by contrast, was noticeably quieter. Wang Wei stood at the podium, arms crossed, a stack of notebooks tucked under one arm. His expression was grim, chin bobbing as he counted heads, while the students below sat on edge.

He was the first to notice Sheng Xia lingering hesitantly in the hallway.

He gave a short nod and stepped out. Inside, heads craned to look.

"Hello, Teacher," Sheng Xia said first.

"Student Sheng Xia! You're here." Wang Wei's face shifted into a smile. He pointed to a desk in the back. "Your seat is the last one in the third row for now. Don't worry, we do a weekly shuffle; everyone moves one row right, one seat back. Next week, you'll be in the first row."

She didn't quite follow the mechanics, but her eyesight was fine and she was tall enough. The seat wasn't a concern. She just nodded.

Wang Wei started to lead her to the front for an introduction, but she stopped him. "Teacher Wang, may I go to my seat directly?"

He understood. The girl was shy. He didn't push it. "Go ahead. I'll introduce you."

Sheng Xia slipped in through the back door from the hallway and sat down.

Aside from the single row of desks against the wall, hers was the closest to the door. No need to weave through the classroom and run a gauntlet of stares, which suited her just fine.

Still. She couldn't escape being the object of everyone's attention.

Wang Wei tapped the podium. "We have a new classmate this semester. Sheng Xia. Everyone make her feel welcome. Help her get settled. Share your knowledge."

"Yes, Teacher!" A bright female voice cut through the scattered murmurs.

It was her deskmate. A girl with tan skin and a sweet smile. Right now, her pearly whites were on full display, dimples nesting at the corners of her lips as she beamed at Sheng Xia.

Wang Wei acknowledged her. "Very well, Xin Xiaohe. Take good care of your deskmate."

Xin Xiaohe tipped her chair back, balancing on two legs, one arm raised high in a full-body stretch. "No problem!"

When the chair wobbled, Sheng Xia's hand shot out and steadied it.

Seeing this, Wang Wei barked, "Xin Xiaohe! Sit properly! You want to break something and miss months of school? What about your college exam then?"

"Yes, sir." Xin Xiaohe folded back into her seat, still grinning.

Wang Wei sent a few boys to fetch the new textbooks. The moment they were out the door, the classroom buzzed back to life.

People stole glances at the new girl, some subtle, some less so, but no one took the initiative to approach.

"Sheng Xia, right? Welcome. You're with me now. I'm Xin Xiaohe." Her deskmate introduced herself.

"Thank you," Sheng Xia said. "Which ‘he’ is it?"

Xin Xiaohe, hearing her soft voice, unconsciously softened her own. "’He’ as in 'seedling.'"

Sheng Xia: “So special.”

"Really?"

Sheng Xia thought for a second. "A seedling in the morning light. Full of hope."

Xin Xiaohe laughed. This new girl was adorable, all serious like that. "It's not 'morning,' actually. It's the 'xiao' with the bamboo radical."

"Even more special, then. A little seedling growing next to a bamboo stalk," Sheng Xia said. "Resilient."

Xin Xiaohe lost it. Her carefully modulated softness vanished, replaced by a full-throated laugh. "Hahahaha! My mom just picked two random characters out of a dictionary. If she knew you were giving them such a cultured explanation, she'd die laughing!"

She slapped Sheng Xia on the shoulder.

Sheng Xia winced, wondering if she'd said something wrong. Her smile turned a little strained.

The boy in front of them, who'd been listening to this whole exchange, turned around just in time to see it. He shot Xin Xiaohe a disapproving look. "Xin Xiaohe, don't bully the new kid!"

“What crap are you spouting, Yang Linyu! We're having a soulful conversation! You wouldn't get it. Stay out of pretty girls' business!" Xin Xiaohe had completely shed her gentle facade, popping off like a firecracker now.

The boy put his hands up in surrender with a 'can’t-be-bothered' look on his face. Muttering as he turned back, "Pretty girl? That's a stretch..."

Whap.

Xin Xiaohe's notebook came crashing down on the boy’s head.

The slap was followed by a pained "Oof!" from the boy. Sheng Xia's heart did a little leap.

Her deskmate was... kind of fierce.

---

By the end of the first period, the new textbooks were distributed. The seats to Sheng Xia's right and in front of her were still empty. But she knew they were taken; the stacks of books on them were piled high, forming small mountains.

The one to her right was the single row against the wall, separated from her by an aisle.

The desk in front had a deskmate who'd at least neatened the pile. The one to her right was a teetering tower of neglect, on the verge of collapse.

Sheng Xia leaned over and tried to push the stack back. The book covers were too slick. The pile, which had been maintaining a delicate balance, collapsed at her touch, spilling everywhere.

In the noisy classroom, it barely registered. But Sheng Xia froze, like she'd done something wrong. She scrambled to pick them up, and, afraid they'd fall again, stacked them neatly by size, squaring off the corners with almost obsessive care.

Xin Xiaohe had spent the first period telling Sheng Xia all about Affiliated High. She'd talked herself hoarse and was now slumped over, half-asleep. The sound of falling books woke her. She opened her eyes to see the girl meticulously arranging each book, lining up the corners just so. The light caught her pale cheek, the fine hairs on her skin luminous in the glare.

"What a little angel," Xin Xiaohe murmured to herself.

Just then, Zhang Shu and Hou Junqi strode in through the back door. They both stopped short at the sight of a familiar-yet-completely-out-of-place girl standing by their seats.

Hou Junqi even backed out into the hall to check the door sign. "Grade Three, Class 6. Yeah, no mistake. Am I seeing things?"

The frequency of these encounters made Sheng Xia want to ask the same thing.

This time, she didn’t need to guess. The two empty seats had to belong to these two ‘strangers’ whom she was now meeting for the third time in a single week.

And she'd just learned from Xin Xiaohe that Affiliated High had a whole system for seating.

First, they took the top eight students and put them in the single row.

Then, the rest were seated according to the "Tutoring Principle": the better your score, the worse your deskmate's score. So ninth place sat with last place. Tenth with second-to-last. And so on.

Then, they tried to keep girls with girls and boys with boys, making simple swaps based on the list from the last step.

Finally, seats were rotated weekly. Everyone moved one row right, one seat back.

This ensured fairness, reduced parent interference, and guaranteed that everyone was surrounded by both top achievers and struggling peers, facilitating mutual growth.

As for why the single row existed?

"So you can get some time alone," Xin Xiaohe said. "Clear your head after a period of shared desk life.”

Why does she made it sound like cohabitation? 

After absorbing this complex system, Sheng Xia's first thought was that key schools really did things differently.

Her second thought naturally went to her own grades. Xin Xiaohe was eleventh. Which meant Sheng Xia was... near the bottom.

Xin Xiaohe had reassured her, saying the last few spots were all boys, so they'd swapped a few people around.

But ut wasn't very reassuring. However you sliced it, she was still the bottom among the girls.

Also. Next week, when they rotate, she'd move right, into that single row. The week after, she'd move to the northernmost row.

Her deskmate would become the person to her right—

Who was at this moment pulling out his chair, tossing his bag over the back, and looking down at her with a raised eyebrow."What are you standing there for?"

No greeting, no name, a tone neither warm nor cold. Between acquaintances, it would be nothing.

But between two strangers, it landed a little harsh.

Add to that the fact that he was a head taller and gazing down at her. It felt... intimidating.

Sheng Xia's hand, still holding a book corner, went stiff. She silently retreated to her own seat.

"Zhang Shu, are you a dog? Barking everywhere!" Xin Xiaohe shot up, hands on her hips.

The boy glanced up, baffled, shooting her a look that said: What’s your problem?

"She was nice enough to tidy up your books for you! They would've been trampled by now if not for her. Ever heard of gratitude?" She smacked the head of the boy in front of her. "Yang Linyu. Get up. This is what bullying a new kid looks like."

Yang Linyu rubbed the back of his head. "Can’t you just talk without throwing hands? Keep this up and no one’ll ever marry you!"

"Why do you care!"

And they were off bickering again.

Zhang Shu. Sheng Xia rolled the name around in her head.

The one who'd driven Wang Wei up the wall. The one who threatened to report the school for extra classes. The rebel.

And, according to the seating chart, the first-place student who'd ground the self-esteem of every top student at No. 1 and No. 2 High into the ground.

All those labels on one person. It really was... something.

Zhang Shu glanced at his neatly arranged books and raised an eyebrow. "Thanks."

Before Sheng Xia could respond, a large presence crashed into the seat in front of her.

Hou Junqi plopped down, twisted around, and beamed at her. "New classmate! What a coincidence!"

His pivot made her desk vibrate.

He was... massive.

"Hello," Sheng Xia managed, her voice a tiny rabbit squeak next to Hou Junqi's boom.

"Where'd you transfer from?" Hou Junqi asked.

"No. 2 High."

"Middle school?"

"No. 8 Middle."

"I went to No. 15."

"Oh." Also a key middle school.

"What's your name?"

"Sheng Xia."

"I'm Hou Junqi. Hou as in 'marquis,' Jun as in 'steed,' Qi as in 'medicine.'"

Sheng Xia: “Hou, Jun, Qi. Hello.”

Hou Junqi jerked a chin over his shoulder. "That's Zhang Shu."

"Oh."

"No. 35 Middle."

"I see." She had no real impression of the school. It should be far from the city center, out in the suburbs.

From the corner of her eye, Sheng Xia noticed the subject of this forced introduction turn to glance at them.

Hou Junqi suddenly leaned closer, lowering his voice with a conspiratorial look. “Now that we know each other so well, that makes us friends, right?”

Sheng Xia: ?

"En."

Hou Junqi: "Then you gotta keep tonight's thing a secret for your friend."

Secret? Sheng Xia was slow on the uptake. "What thing?"

But her delayed reaction, in Hou Junqi's eyes, was a knowing ‘I’ve-already-forgotten.’

He slapped his thigh and shot up, beaming at her with the look of a man who'd just found a kindred spirit. "New classmate! You know what's up!"

Sheng Xia: ...?

A short laugh came from her right.

Zhang Shu muttered, "God. What a fool."

Hard to tell who he was talking about.

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