Summer in Your Name - 40

It was another Monday, and Zhang Shu moved to the fourth row in the northernmost part of the classroom, while Sheng Xia was seated alone by the window on the southern side.

She was immensely grateful for Affiliated High School’s peculiar seating arrangement.

As Xin Xiaohe had told her at the start of the semester—after spending some time with a deskmate, you get to be independent, stay clear-headed.

Right now, she really needed that.

Be independent.

Stay clear-headed.

Though they still ate lunch and dinner together, true independence was, of course, impossible.

Nor was staying truly clear-headed all that feasible.

Still, she had gotten fairly adept at navigating stairs with her crutches on her own, basically no longer needing Zhang Shu’s help.

Thankfully, senior year life left little time to dwell on trivial matters. With a clear direction, Sheng Xia was brimming with energy, tackling every problem with enthusiasm and finding joy in simplifying even the most complex solutions.

She never checked her actual ranking for the second monthly exam.

It didn’t matter anymore.

To her, this was a fresh starting point.

Her fracture had brought plenty of inconveniences, yet it also sharpened her awareness of time’s passage. Every day, every half-day, every hour was critical.

The seats kept changing, the countdown sign on the podium flipped again and again, finally turning the hundreds digit from ‘2’ to ‘1’.

180 days left until the college entrance exam.

A full six months, half a year.

At this critical stage, the grade held a parent-teacher meeting.

Affiliated High School rarely held parent-teacher meetings, disliking and discouraging them to avoid excessive parental interference in teaching. After all, the school’s academic results spoke for themselves, parents didn’t have much to complain about.

Wang Lianhua had asked multiple times, “Why don’t you ever have parent-teacher meetings?”

Well, here it was.

After all, it was senior year; one meeting per semester was still necessary.

Wang Wei set the theme for the parent-teacher meeting: Unify Thinking, Gather Strength.

He even wrote a speech for the occasion.

He’d been keeping it under wraps, but Fu Jie jokingly revealed it in class.

After saying it, Fu Jie dramatically covered her mouth, “Oh no, I just spilled Teacher Wang’s secret!”

The class burst into laughter.

Only someone close to each other would dare pull such things. 

“The teachers at Affiliated High School are really interesting,” Sheng Xia had told Wang Lianhua. “Totally different from those at No. 2 High School.”

So, no need for all those under-the-table gift-giving from before. 

Wang Lianhua raised an eyebrow, commenting lightly, “You're still young.”

Sheng Xia chose silence.

The parent-teacher meeting was scheduled for the last class on Saturday afternoon. This week, Sheng Xia and Zhang Shu were desk mates again, seated in a very conspicuous spot—first desk of the third row, right under the teacher’s nose.

As soon as he arrived in the classroom that afternoon, Zhang Shu noticed the girl looking like she was daydreaming.

“The sky’s not even dark yet; why are you sleepwalking already?” Zhang Shu waved a hand in front of her face.

Sheng Xia blinked, staring at him intently.

That look—

Zhang Shu could now pick up subtle differences in her wistful gazes: joyful, resentful, or pleading for something.

This time, it was the latter, a mix of confusion and a hint of pleading.

Zhang Shu, who’d been standing, sat down to meet her gaze at eye level. “Alright, spill it. What’s up?”

“Can I, um, put some stuff on your side?” the girl asked.

Zhang Shu frowned. Did she even need to ask?

Hadn’t she always just tossed her stuff there? Since when did she ask permission?

Though, to be fair, it was rarely intentional. She had a ton of weird, random items that just had a way of scattering everywhere.

Zhang Shu raised an eyebrow. “With that attitude, what exactly are you planning to dump on my desk?”

The girl’s eyes darted away. “Just some of my stationery, that’s all.”

Zhang Shu’s instincts told him it wasn’t that simple, but he nodded. “If it takes up too much space, you’re paying rent.”

“I’ll treat you to candy,” Sheng Xia replied, handing him a piece of chocolate.

Zhang Shu: …

Then, Zhang Shu watched her bustle about.

First, she tucked his black pencil case into his drawer and replaced it with her grass-green one.

He found it odd, she already used a pen holder, so why bother with a pencil case?

Next, she stashed his two brown-covered notebooks in his drawer, swapping them with her colorful, tablecloth-like notebook, which she slid into the edge of the bookend.

Then, she pulled out a sheet of stickers and asked, “Can I put these on your bookend? They’re glue-free, won't leave residue when you peel them off.”

Her expression was so earnest. Zhang Shu still didn't get it but nodded anyway.

She carefully selected a few stickers and placed them on the side of the bookend closest to her. The patterns were garish—bows, strawberries, cupcakes, floral prints…

Zhang Shu’s brows furrowed. What is this stuff? So ugly.

Finally, she stared at his desk for a moment, then clapped her hands as if struck by a revelation, muttering, “Oh, the water bottle!”

Zhang Shu: …?

She reached for his water bottle, which sat at the top-right corner of his desk.

Unable to stand, she stretched her arm as far as she could while seated, practically draping herself across him to reach it.

Zhang Shu, caught off guard, leaned back, raising both hands to give her space.

A faint fragrance filled his senses, he turned his head awkwardly, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

As she grabbed his water bottle, her angle was too steep, and she lost balance, tilting toward his lap.

A strong hand caught her elbow just in time, steadying her. Her heart skipped a beat—

Thank goodness, she didn’t fall.

At the same moment, a warm breath brushed her ear, and she heard Zhang Shu chuckle softly, whispering, “How are you this adorable?”

Sheng Xia’s heart, which had just calmed, started racing again.

Zhang Shu’s eyes were full of helpless amusement. If he still didn’t know what she was up to after all this, he’d have been her deskmate for nothing.

After her ‘makeover’, his desk now screamed girl’s desk.

Was she worried her mom would find out her deskmate was a guy at the parent-teacher meeting?

Zhang Shu could barely hold back a laugh. How could someone’s thought process be this simple?

If her mom chatted even briefly with his sister, wouldn’t the whole act fall apart?

Sheng Xia hurriedly sat upright, her ear he’d whispered into quietly turning pink.

His teasing remarks had been relentless lately, but she was starting to build immunity.

Not that she was unaffected, she’d simply learned to filter them out, tossing them into the mental recycling bin, ignoring them completely.

That night during the QQ space battle, she’d made up her mind—her brain’s storage was limited, and right now, it could only handle study-related files.

She was still holding his water bottle now, unsure what to do with it. The drawer was already full.

“Could you, um, put your water bottle in your backpack and take it with you later?” she asked.

Their grade was dismissed early for the parents’ meeting.

But with evening study sessions still scheduled, they couldn’t go home with their parents, so there was no need to wait around. Many students had already made plans to take advantage of this rare free time to relax.

For example, Xin Xiaohe’s dorm had teamed up with Yang Linyu’s dorm to play board games.

For example, Zhang Shu and Han Xiao had plans to play basketball.

Sometimes when he played basketball, Zhang Shu didn’t bring his backpack, just left it hanging on the back of his chair.

That wouldn’t do, his bag reeked too much of masculine energy. It had to go.

Zhang Shu pressed his lips together, barely holding back a grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement. He nodded. “Sure.”

What else could he say?

Sheng Xia beamed, satisfied. “Thanks!”

Zhang Shu: “No problem.”

By four in the afternoon, senior year classes were dismissed, and parents started arriving.

“A-Shu, let’s go!”

Han Xiao and the others were waiting for Zhang Shu at the classroom door. Wu Pengcheng spotted Sheng Xia looking over and waved. “Hey, beauty!”

Sheng Xia: …

Zhou Yingxiang, seeing Sheng Xia’s face clearly for the first time, was stunned and muttered, “Is this A-Shu’s goddess?”

Seated at the front desk near the door, Sheng Xia heard every word.

Did he think he was being quiet?

Zhang Shu tossed his water bottle into his backpack, glanced at the girl’s calm profile, and asked, “Want to check one more time?”

Just in case he’d left behind any trace of masculine energy.

The thought made Zhang Shu chuckle to himself, unaware of how brightly he was smiling.

Sheng Xia looked up, actually scanning his desk one last time. “All clear.”

“Then I’m off?”

“Mm.”

“Oh, yo, yo, yo!”

“Come on, it’s just playing basketball, does he need to report in?”

“We’ll bring A-Shu back soon, beauty. He’s all yours tonight.”

“Enough already! No wonder Old Hou’s wasting away—stuffed full of dog food all day, who’s got room for real food?”

“A 1.95-meter giant lightbulb, shining way too bright, huh, Old Hou?”

Hou Junqi: “Get lost! I’m suffering here.”

“Hahahahaha!”

This group, every time they showed up, it was always like this. So annoying! Sheng Xia ignored them, burying her head in her vocabulary book.

Zhang Shu shot them a look, and the group finally quieted down.

The boys left the classroom building.

Sheng Xia only glanced up then.

What a dazzling bunch.

What a noisy bunch.

The sound of the boys’ bickering faded into the distance.

Han Xiao groaned, “My dad’s gonna kill me tonight. My last monthly exam was a disaster. A-Shu, you gotta tutor me again.”

Zhang Shu laughed. “Accept your fate. You’ve gotta allow for the existence of ordinary people in this world…”

Han Xiao: …

The group: “Hahahahaha!”

Huh?

Didn’t he say to always believe the next time would work out?

So many of his words, were they just thrown out carelessly? And here she was taking them as gospel.

Sheng Xia shook her head.

With her leg still injured, she didn’t want to go anywhere. She sat under the corridor stairs with her vocabulary book, memorizing.

Lu Youze, skipping the usual eat-drink-play fun, also stayed.

They met under the corridor, exchanging smiles.

“Memorizing vocab?” Lu Youze asked, sitting beside her.

“Yeah.” Sheng Xia noticed the TOEFL book in his hand, surprised. “You’re already studying for the TOEFL?”

Lu Youze nodded. “Yeah, I'm planning to study abroad.”

Sheng Xia: “For undergrad?”

Lu Youze nodded again. “My grades don’t give me much of an edge here.”

Sheng Xia fell silent. His grades could easily get him into a top-tier 211 university, maybe even a 985 with some effort.

If his grades didn’t give him an edge, what hope did she have?

But with a family background like his, plenty of kids would’ve gone abroad even earlier, some as young as middle school.

Sheng Xia kept the conversation going. “If you had this plan, why didn’t you join the international class back then?”

Lu Youze replied, “I didn’t have this idea when I started high school. My grandpa had just passed away, and things at home were a mess.”

Oh… rich family drama.

The topic was getting a bit heavy, so Sheng Xia instinctively steered away. “Which country are you aiming for?”

“America.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Ha,” Lu Youze gave a self-deprecating chuckle, “just a coward running from reality.”

Sheng Xia: …

She could tell Lu Youze’s mood had been slipping this semester. He was nothing like the upbeat guy she’d met at the start of the semester, now carrying an air of defeat.

“Not at all. Getting into a good school in America is super tough too. It’s just a different path, all about becoming a better version of yourself, right?” Sheng Xia said.

Lu Youze pressed his lips together, lost in thought, but nodded. “Yeah.”

Just then, applause drifted from the classroom, it sounded like a parent representative was speaking.

“Good afternoon, dear parents. I’m Lu Youze’s guardian.”

Lu Youze’s dad?

With his status as a Junlan Group director, being a parent representative was no surprise. But Sheng Xia was still shocked. Someone that busy would come to a parents-teacher meeting? Besides, his voice sounded… pretty young.

"That's my uncle. My dad never comes to any of my parent-teacher meetings," Lu Youze suddenly explained, perhaps noticing Sheng Xia's confusion.

Sheng Xia glanced at him, catching the loneliness in his eyes.

She offered, “My dad’s never come either…”

They exchanged a look, and Lu Youze gave a small smile. “My uncle didn’t use to come either. He’s not here for me.”

If not for him, then who?

Sheng Xia wasn’t sure how to respond, so she just kept quiet, focusing on her vocabulary book.

The parent-teacher meeting lasted for nearly an hour before wrapping up. Sheng Xia’s phone buzzed, Wang Lianhua said she needed to talk to the subject teachers and asked her to wait a bit longer.

Sheng Xia had expected as much and wasn’t surprised.

Soon, the parents dispersed, and the teaching building fell quiet. Sheng Xia stayed put, still memorizing words.

Lu Youze didn’t move either. Sheng Xia figured his uncle was probably talking to teachers too and didn’t think much of it.

After a while, a familiar voice broke the silence.

“Let’s wait until after their college entrance exam,” a woman’s voice said, cool and striking, conjuring an image of icy elegance.

It was Zhang Sujin.

“End of this semester. It’s the New Year, a good time for them to meet. They’re classmates; one meeting won’t hurt.” A man’s voice replied, magnetic and deep.

It was the same voice that was speaking during the meeting earlier.

Sheng Xia instinctively glanced at Lu Youze, who gave a faint, humorless smile.

It was hard to pin down what kind of smile it was, but definitely not a happy one.

Zhang Shu’s sister and Lu Youze’s uncle?

They were talking at the edge of the corridor, hidden by the staircase, unaware of the boy and girl nearby.

Sheng Xia couldn’t see them either.

But their conversation was crystal clear.

It seemed Lu Youze knew about this and was troubled by it.

Sheng Xia couldn’t help but wonder: Did Zhang Shu know?

Zhang Sujin’s next words answered her question.

“No rush for now. Let’s wait until after the exam. A-Shu doesn’t know yet, and I need some time.”

The man sighed. “Doesn’t he want you to settle your life matters soon?”

“Let’s talk tomorrow. Not here.”

“Every time I bring this up, you dodge. What’s so shameful about it? Can’t we even have a conversation? Where am I embarrassing you?”

“That’s not what I mean. Let’s go. The restaurant’s about to open, I need to be there.”

Zhang Sujin walked off, with Lu Youze’s uncle trailing behind.

As they left the corridor, Sheng Xia and Lu Youze could see their backs.

Lu Youze’s uncle was tall and broad, dressed in a low-key but well-fitted casual suit, exuding charisma.

Their silhouettes looked like a perfect match.

But…

Zhang Shu had once said his sister started raising him when she was around her age. If she was seventeen then, that would make her about thirty-four or thirty-five now, right?

But Lu Youze’s uncle, with that neatly styled, K-pop-esque brown hair, didn’t look like a man in his thirties or forties.

Whoa, a little milk dog?

Sheng Xia startled herself with the thought and quickly looked down. Why was she speculating about other people’s family matters? She shouldn’t.

“I’m heading back,” Lu Youze said. “My uncle forgot he has a nephew, but the nephew’s gotta remember his uncle. I’m going to find him. You? Going to dinner?”

Sheng Xia replied, “I’m waiting for my mom.”

“Then I’ll go ahead first."

“Okay.”

---

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