The Scorching Sun - 9

Fang Zhuo paid no mind to Yan Lie's odd behavior. He always had the strangest things that amused him. She opened the lunchbox instead, curious to see what was inside.

She had already eaten lunch and had drunk a huge cup of water earlier, so she wasn't hungry. Fortunately, Ye Yuncheng hadn't packed any rice for her.

The top tier held several crispy fried fish, a few pieces of braised pork ribs, a serving of shredded potatoes, and two small spring rolls. It looked like just enough for her to finish.

Zhao Jiayou wandered over with a registration sheet in hand and tapped it against Yan Lie's desk. "The relay lineup still isn't settled. Lie-Lie, which leg are you running?"

Yan Lie pulled his gaze away from the lunchboxes. "Whatever works."

Zhao Jiayou lowered his head to note it down. "Then I'll take the first leg. You anchor the fourth."

As Fang Zhuo unwrapped her chopsticks, she casually chimed in, "Can I sign up for something too?"

"Oh?" Zhao Jiayou looked pleasantly surprised. It was the first time Fang Zhuo had volunteered for a class activity, which alone deserved encouragement. "Sure! What do you want? We still have openings for the fun events."

Fang Zhuo’s response dropped like a bomb: "Sign me up for the 3000 meters race."

The entire classroom fell silent.

Shen Musi whipped around as though he'd seen a ghost, staring at her with open concern, wondering if she'd suffered some kind of mental breakdown.

Zhao Jiayou froze with his pen halfway across the page. "...Our school doesn't have a 3000-meter event for girls. The longest is 1500."

Fang Zhuo sounded genuinely disappointed. "Then the 1500 it is."

Zhao Jiayou didn’t respond. He just shifted his gaze to Yan Lie, silently asking for help.

Fang Zhuo frowned. "Why are you looking at him? I'm the one signing up."

Even Yan Lie was too stunned not to ask, "Are you... sure? 1500. That's almost four full laps around our big track."

That slight frame of hers. Wouldn't she just collapse halfway through?

Fang Zhuo found everyone's skepticism completely unreasonable. "I can do it. Just sign me up."

Since no girls wanted to run the 1500 anyway, Zhao Jiayou, seeing her insistence, went ahead and wrote her name in. Anyway, their class never competed for rankings at the sports meet. Even if she backed out later, it wouldn't make much difference.

Once he'd finished registering everyone, Zhao Jiayou trotted off to hand the form to their homeroom teacher. Fang Zhuo opened the second lunchbox.

Inside was a cake.

A thick layer of whipped cream covered the top, and judging by its surprising weight, it was packed with fruit between the layers. Whoever made it hadn't been stingy.

In this weather, it would probably spoil if it sat around until evening.

Fang Zhuo was starting to get a headache over what to do with it when her deskmate suddenly nudged her elbow.

Since when had he ever started a conversation this politely?

She turned toward him in surprise.

Resting his chin on one hand, Yan Lie asked with unusual tact, "Are you in a really good mood today?"

Fang Zhuo looked at him. "Didn't you just say I was blooming?"

Yan Lie grinned. "Then can I ask you something?"

A faint sense of unease crept over her. "...sure."

"Do you like cake?"

She wasn't particularly fond of sweets, so she shook her head.

Yan Lie, radiating pure innocence, asked. "Then how do you suppose the God of Wealth knew that I like cake?"

Fang Zhuo: "..."

Right.

Understood.

On it.

Without another word, she slid the cake in front of Yan Lie, gesturing him to help himself.

His usual laziness vanished instantly as a radiant smile spread across his face. "Thank you, God of Wealth!"

Shen Musi spun around at lightning speed, only to have Yan Lie shove him back before he could say a word. "Nothing for you. Go do your homework!"

Shen Musi let out a long, helpless sigh.

Written in frosting across the cream was a number, with a few crooked little candles drawn beside it. It was obviously a birthday cake.

Yan Lie scooped a bite from the corner and tugged at Fang Zhuo’s sleeve to share his discovery. “It’s really good.”

"Okay," Fang Zhuo replied.

“I'm cutting into the number now?”

"Go ahead."

"..."

No matter what decision Yan Lie made, he always seemed to want Fang Zhuo involved somehow. She was completely baffled by it, but there wasn't much she could say. She could only offer the occasional perfunctory response from the side.

To make matters worse, Yan Lie suddenly became unusually chatty. By the time he finished the cake, Fang Zhuo felt as though she'd tasted every bite herself from listening to his running commentary.

After putting the lid back on the lunchbox, Yan Lie stopped her just as she reached out to take it. Somehow, he produced a lighter from nowhere and flicked it open. Holding the tiny flame aloft between them, he said with a smile.

"Happy birthday."

Fang Zhuo leaned forward and blew out the flame in a single breath. Just as she was about to explain, a thunderous roar exploded from behind them. 

"Yan Lie!"

He hurriedly stuffed the lighter away, but it was already too late. Their homeroom teacher grabbed him by the collar and hauled him to his feet. "You smoke?"

"I don't!" Yan Lie protested with complete sincerity.

"Then why are you carrying a lighter?"

The teacher dragged him to the back of the classroom and ordered Shen Musi to search him.

Shen Musi turned out every pocket on Yan Lie's clothes. In the end, all he found were a few bills and some loose coins.

"This guy's got nothing but money on him!" Shen Musi declared mournfully. "He hides his vices too well!"

Yan Lie burst out laughing. "Get lost!"

With no proof, the homeroom teacher had no choice but to let him go, though she confiscated the lighter anyway. Maintaining an intimidating air, she made one slow circuit around the classroom before heading back to her office.

Not long afterward, she returned, quietly placed a book on Fang Zhuo's desk, and left again just as hurriedly.

It was a used study guide.

Puzzled, Fang Zhuo flipped through it. Inside were neatly organized class notes, key concepts highlighted throughout, classic example problems, and complete step-by-step solutions.

She had only transferred into A High School in her second year. The school she'd attended before couldn't compare with A High School in either teaching quality or academic standards. There were significant gaps in both her fundamentals and her problem-solving techniques.

Classes at A High School moved at a relentless pace, and the workload was overwhelming. The teachers couldn't slow down the curriculum just to accommodate her, and she had little time to go back and rebuild her foundation.

For science subjects, she usually compensated for her lack of technique with sheer calculation. Fortunately, her mind worked exceptionally fast. Even when she didn't use the most efficient method, she could still solve problems as quickly as most students.

The notes in this guidebook, however, explained every major test point with remarkable clarity and detail. They even included concepts that dated back to middle school.

Yan Lie recognized the name on the cover. "This guy was from the class ahead of us," he explained. "Famous dark horse. In one year, he jumped from four-hundred-something in the rankings to the top fifty. What do you call that again? A prodigal son returning to the right path?"

After a pause, he added, "Still, his grades weren't necessarily better than mine. If there's anything you don't understand, you can always ask me."

Fang Zhuo was genuinely grateful. Although her science grades were decent, she'd been stuck at a plateau for a long time.

She had no idea how their teacher had managed to find something like this. It might not mean much to other students, but to her, it was like finding a lamp in the darkness.

"If I get stuck, I'll ask you," Fang Zhuo said. "Thank you."

Fang Zhuo washed the lunchboxes and left them in a well-ventilated spot to dry.

Though the pink-and-white color scheme didn't exactly match her usual aesthetic, she found herself rather fond of the pair. The next day, she brought them with her to the cafeteria.

She usually arrived after the lunch rush and only ordered a single dish, the cafeteria staff all recognized her by now.

The moment she appeared, the auntie behind the serving window instinctively reached for a tray and heaped a generous scoop of rice onto it.

"I'll use this today." Fang Zhuo handed over the lunchbox. "I'd like it packed to go."

"New lunchbox?" the auntie teased with a smile.

Fang Zhuo smiled back. "Yeah."

So, small things like this could make a day feel a little brighter.

The auntie deliberately scooped extra vegetables into her container. "We’ve got chicken soup today. Want me to ladle you some?” 

Fang Zhuo nodded. "Thank you."

More than half the seats in the cafeteria were already empty, and the staff had begun wiping down the tables.

She chose a clean spot and had barely sat down when a shadow settled into the seat across from her.

Thinking Bai Lufei had come to bother her again, Fang Zhuo looked up with a slight frown. When she realized it was Yan Lie instead, her expression relaxed. "What are you doing?"

Yan Lie glanced at her lunchbox. Resting on top of the rice was nothing but a serving of plain stir-fried cabbage.

He set his large bowl down and declared, with righteous conviction, "Eating from my own bowl while coveting another's pot. Yesterday you shared your cake with me. Today I'm sharing my lunch with you."

Fang Zhuo was about to decline, but Yan Lie moved faster. He scooped a good half of her rice into his own bowl, then split his freshly fried noodles in half and piled it into her lunchbox.

Since they had both come late, her food was already a little cold.

His noodles, however, had just been stir-fried. Steam still billowed from them. He had even paid extra for meat and an egg, it looked especially appetizing.

Fang Zhuo opened her mouth to protest, but Yan Lie cut her off first. "You need meat if you want to grow. You're so thin a gust of wind could carry you away. And you think you can run 1500 meters? What, planning to fly around the track like a kite?"

He separated the noodles with his chopsticks, then took a couple bites of her rice. Because it had cooled, the flavor didn't hit him at first. But as the rich taste spread across his tongue, he paused in surprise. "Your rice is actually delicious!"

Fang Zhuo: "..."

Her chicken-soup-soaked rice…. 

***

After finishing lunch and returning their trays, they walked back to the classroom together.

Yan Lie strolled beside Fang Zhuo with noticeably lighter steps. At last, he found an opportunity to ask, "Why didn't you stay at your uncle's place last week?"

Fang Zhuo had no idea how to answer without sounding foolish, so she simply pretended she hadn't heard him and quietly turned her head away.

Yan Lie casually rested one hand on her shoulder, a helpless laugh escaping him. "Your pretending-not-to-hear act isn't very convincing, you know."

One after the other, they walked into the classroom.

Yan Lie was pulling out his chair to sit when he noticed a delicately wrapped cake box placed at the corner of his desk. Beneath one of his textbooks, a note peeked out from under the pages, revealing just one corner.

Fang Zhuo caught only a brief glimpse before Yan Lie tore the note away. Without asking what it said, she calmly looked away, picked up the lunchboxes, and headed to the sink to wash them.

By the time she returned, the cake box was gone. Yan Lie was chatting with someone beside the windows, looking completely at ease, as though nothing had happened.

First period that afternoon was math. The teacher was a middle-aged man whose hairline was steadily surrendering to baldness.

He strode in just after lunch break ended, a stack of test papers tucked beneath his arm. After handing them to the students in the front row to pass back, he clicked the mouse and pulled up the lesson slides.

A few minutes later, he finally noticed the gift waiting beside the lectern. He immediately laughed. "Who gave me this? Why am I suddenly getting cake? If you've done something wrong, now's the time to confess. Don't pull stunts like this. You're making me nervous!"

The students looked up, still not fully awake from their post-nap stupor, all looking uniformly drowsy. 

Carrying the cake box, the math teacher walked around the room, then peeled a heart-shaped note from the back.

Reading it aloud with a grin, he said, "'To the most esteemed teacher, from all the students of Senior 3, Class 1’… This handwriting, it's Lie Lie, isn't it? It doesn't even say who it's for. Is this really for me?"

Yan Lie applauded enthusiastically. "Thanks for all your hard work, Teacher!"

The boys immediately joined in, clapping and cheering.

"It really is for me?" the teacher asked suspiciously. "You're all being this nice for no reason? Sounds like you're plotting something."

Yan Lie answered without missing a beat."Because you're sweet!"

The classroom burst into laughter, and even the teacher couldn't help smiling.

After thinking it over for a while, he asked, pointedly, "Am I the only one, or did the other teachers get cake too?"

"Only you," Yan Lie replied. "I only had one."

"Well then." The teacher carefully set the cake aside and rubbed his hands together. "Since you're all being so good to me, I should return the favor, shouldn't I? I'll assign a little less homework over the Mid-Autumn Festival break."

"Yes!"

The room instantly came alive. Everyone sat bolt upright, eyes wide with delight.

"Take out the paper you just received," the math teacher said. "The last fill-in-the-blank problem? Skip it. And the third sub-question on that final long problem? Skip that too."

The students looked more closely.

It turned out the paper was from another province's college entrance exam with different test points. The two problems he'd crossed off weren't even in their review scope.

Realizing they'd been tricked, the classroom immediately erupted into loud groans.

"Class is in session!” The man at the podium put on a stern face and huffed dismissively. "You're in you senior year and still want to slack off! Trying to bribe me? You guys are cute, I'll give you that. But your ideas? Not so cute!"

"Ooooh..."

The students clutched their heads and let out a chorus of long, conflicted sighs.

As cheesy as the teacher's joke was, it somehow softened everyone's frustration, and the earlier complaints quickly faded away.

Wei Xi raised a hand. "Teacher, please stop. We'll do the homework! Just promise us you'll spend less time reading internet jokes."

Fang Zhuo folded her test paper and wrote her name neatly across the front. She had long since noticed Yan Lie's gaze drifting toward her from beside her desk.

After finishing the last stroke, she finally turned to him, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Why do you keep looking at me?"

She had expected him to show at least a little embarrassment. Instead, Yan Lie simply lowered his folded arms and smiled with the same open sincerity that somehow never made him seem annoying. "Because you look beautiful when you smile."

Fang Zhuo spent two full seconds trying to formulate a response. This person seemed to have a gift to throw her language systems into disarray. Finding no coherent thread, she simply cast him a light, sidelong glance before lowering her head and returning her attention to her workbook.

That single glance, however, was enough to temper Yan Lie's boldness. It felt as though a gentle rain had quietly washed over his heart. He straightened up, picked up his textbook, and listened attentively as the lesson began.

---

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