Classmate Number Seven - 4
Back at his desk, Chen Xifan propped one foot against the crossbar beneath the table and leaned lazily against the wall, looking thoroughly unmotivated.
It was break time, and the classroom had turned into a marketplace, students rushing around and making a tremendous racket. He was tired, but he was particular about his sleeping environment. He could never fall asleep somewhere too noisy.
Chen Xifan yawned, ran a hand through the stray strands of hair over his forehead, and prepared to put on his noise-canceling headphones for a nap.
Suddenly, someone sprang out from the desk beside him and threw an arm around his shoulders.
The force of it tilted Chen Xifan sideways. He braced one hand against the desk and shoved the person away.
His voice was low and languid. “He Xiao, you have too much free time?”
“Of course. If I weren’t free, would I have time to come find you?” He Xiao said shamelessly. “Where did you go this morning? Miss Xu was looking for you.”
Chen Xifan tipped his head back against the chair.
“The school invited a professor from Jingping University’s mathematics department to give a lecture. The competition students were asked to attend.”
Jingping University’s mathematics department ranked first nationwide. Since Jingda High School and Jingping University were right next to each other, inviting a professor over for a lecture was hardly difficult.
He Xiao gave an understanding nod. “Oh, right. I almost forgot. Our mathematical genius here signed up for the AMC. How was the lecture by the Jingping professor? Could you understand it?”
“Not bad.”
He Xiao knew that when Chen Xifan answered like that, it generally meant he had understood every word. He patted his friend on the shoulder and pointed his chin toward a certain direction.
“See that? This semester’s going to be lively. Besides Miss Xu, we’ve got another transfer student.”
Chen Xifan couldn't be bothered to respond.
“She’s sitting next to Xu Youfei. The one named Qi Xia. Pretty cute, right? Just now, when she was introducing herself, Chu Yang was already hitting on her.”
The circle of children from prestigious compound families was neither particularly large nor particularly small. They had grown up playing together, their families connected by blood or long-standing relationships. By the time they reached high school, plenty of them ended up at the same school, even in the same class.
Chen Xifan was well-liked, but in Class 5, He Xiao and Chu Yang were closer to him because of their family connections.
He hadn't paid attention to Qi Xia when he delivered the forms earlier. Only now did he notice her.
Chen Xifan was slightly surprised. His gaze rested on her for a second.
She looked exactly as she had a few days ago: slender and delicate, her black hair tied into a low ponytail, revealing a patch of pale skin behind her ear.
He thought nothing of it and had no interest in judging someone else’s appearance. He simply put on his headphones, lowered his head, and went to sleep.
At lunchtime, Xu Youfei planned to eat with Chen Xifan and the others. She asked Qi Xia and Xing Anya if they wanted to come along.
Xing Anya shook her head, and Qi Xia declined as well, so Xu Youfei left first.
Qi Xia and Xing Anya ate spicy rice noodles in a clay pot at the cafeteria before returning to the classroom for their lunch break.
“Do you need to fill your water bottle? I can do it for you.”
Xing Anya handed Qi Xia her bottle with a bright smile. “Thank you.”
“It’s no trouble.”
The water dispenser stood by the classroom door. As Qi Xia bent over to fill the bottle with hot water, she sensed someone behind her and moved aside.
Chu Yang stood next to her and smiled.
“New student, have you eaten lunch?”
Qi Xia looked up and recognized him as the boy who had teased her about being a little fairy from the south that morning. She nodded and answered politely.
“Mm. I have.”
And just like that, the conversation died.
When Qi Xia returned to her seat carrying both water bottles, Xing Anya pulled her over and whispered, “The boy who just spoke to you is Chu Yang. His family’s rich, but his grades are terrible. A textbook spoiled rich kid.”
As they spoke, a girl from another class appeared at the classroom entrance. Chu Yang went out into the hallway to talk to her.
Qi Xia couldn't resist asking, “Is that his girlfriend?”
“Probably. Anyway, there are always lots of girls hanging around Chu Yang.”
That afternoon, the class monitor, Wei Yupeng, came over to add the two transfer students on QQ.
By that year, WeChat had already become widespread, but most students still used QQ.
After adding them, Wei Yupeng pulled them into the class group and reminded them, “Remember to change your group nickname. If you don’t, you’ll be kicked out of the group in three days.”
Qi Xia changed hers immediately.
She opened the group member list and scrolled down. Before long, she saw the name Chen Xifan.
His profile picture was a stretch of pale blue sky. With so many people around her in the classroom, Qi Xia restrained herself and didn't click on it right away.
Instead, she scrolled past his name, found Xing Anya and Xu Youfei, and sent them friend requests.
The first day of school passed quickly. When four twenty-one arrived, the students packed up and vanished in a rush.
After dinner, Qi Xia studied in the lecture hall until nine, then took the bus back to Baita Lane.
She had just stepped through the entrance when she happened to run into Qi Lanjing.
Qi Lanjing asked how school had been. Qi Xia answered honestly, “The teachers and students are all very nice. I just haven’t been able to keep up with the lessons, so I stayed a little longer to study.”
“That’s what you should do. Do you have enough spending money?”
Qi Lanjing gave her two hundred yuan in living expenses every week. To Qi Xia, it was a considerable sum.
She nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“Good.” Relieved, Qi Lanjing returned to her room to check on Grandma Chen.
After washing up, Qi Xia lay down in bed. Then, almost on instinct, she took out her phone and found Chen Xifan’s profile picture in the QQ class group.
Her finger hovered over the screen.
The heating in the room made the air warm and stuffy.
She was alone, yet she still felt as though she were doing something illicit, like a thief caught in the act.
Taking a deep breath, Qi Xia tapped Chen Xifan’s QQ profile.
The instant it opened, her cheeks began to burn.
Because of the poor connection, the screen remained blank for several seconds before gradually loading.
Chen Xifan’s five-character nickname was Stars in Splendor View.
Qi Xia immediately recognized the reference. It came from a poem by Du Mu. The preceding line was Distant fires, faintly discerned.
After reading his nickname, Qi Xia enlarged his profile picture.
It turned out that the picture wasn't simply a patch of pale blue sky. Looking closely, she could see a white airplane, a string of numbers printed along its fuselage. The font was too small to make them out.
That was all.
His QQ Space was closed to strangers, and his personal signature was blank.
Astonishingly, this almost barren profile had received more than four hundred thousand likes, more than enough to show just how popular Chen Xifan was.
Qi Xia stared at the blue Add Friend button at the bottom of the screen. After a few seconds, she finally withdrew from his profile without a sound.
Without any reasonable excuse, she didn't have the courage to add him as a friend. All she wanted was to look at him secretly.
To draw a little closer to him through the internet, to learn a few scattered traces of his life, was already enough.
The following day was rainy.
As Qi Xia was leaving the house, she noticed the black umbrella on her desk and paused.
She had originally planned to return it the next time Chen Xifan came to Baita Lane, finding an opportunity to hand it over. But after paying attention, she realized that Chen Xifan didn't come every weekend. And since Qi Xia spent her weekends at Dongmian Residential Complex, the two of them were unlikely to cross paths.
With that in mind, Qi Xia slipped the umbrella into her schoolbag.
That morning’s self-study session was taught by Hu Zhonghai, who taught Chinese. Perhaps because of the rain, most of the students arrived late.
Five minutes before the session began, Hu Zhonghai appeared in the classroom carrying his thermos. When he saw more than a dozen empty seats, his brows drew together.
With his hands clasped behind his back, he paced around the classroom and muttered, “Just started the semester, and they’re already getting carried away.”
He raised his wrist to check the time, then said to Wei Yupeng, “Same as usual. Write down the names of anyone late for morning self-study. Have them copy The Pipa Song twenty times and hand it in to me next Monday.”
Qi Xia’s seat wasn't far from Wei Yupeng’s. When she heard this, she instinctively turned to look behind her.
It was almost seven-thirty, but Chen Xifan’s seat was still empty.
Qi Xia’s brows knitted slightly.
Would he be punished with copying?
For the next few minutes, she couldn't concentrate on memorizing her lesson. Every so often, she felt the urge to turn around and look toward the back of the classroom.
Once or twice would have been fine, but after doing it repeatedly, she worried someone might notice. In the end, she could only force herself to stay still.
At seven-thirty, the bell for morning self-study rang.
Standing by the back door, Hu Zhonghai shouted, “Move faster! Why are you all dragging your feet?”
His booming voice drew everyone’s attention. Qi Xia was secretly relieved. At last, she had a legitimate reason to turn around and look.
And then she saw him.
One second before the bell finished ringing, Chen Xifan walked into the classroom, his face heavy with sleep. His hands were loosely tucked into his trouser pockets, his schoolbag hanging from his left shoulder. He made his way to his seat at an unhurried pace.
He dropped his bag onto the desk, pulled out his chair, and habitually lowered his head to exchange a few words with his deskmate.
From across more than half the classroom, Qi Xia couldn't hear what he was saying. But when she saw the faint smile at the corners of the boy’s lips, her own mood lightened.
He hadn't been late.
He wouldn't have to copy anything.
It rained throughout the entire morning. Since the third-period extended break was canceled for the usual exercises, the whole teaching building erupted into chaos, noisy enough to shake the walls.
Like her brother, Xu Youfei was a master of cutting things close. At that moment, she was sprawled across her desk, sleeping so deeply that no one could wake her.
Xing Anya whispered, “Xia Xia, do you have anything to eat? I’m hungry.”
“Want a boiled egg?”
“Yes, yes. I’m not picky.”
At the affiliated high school cafeteria, several items were offered at a fixed discount during each meal. That morning, plain boiled eggs were on sale at one yuan for two. Qi Xia had eaten one and saved the other.
She reached into her schoolbag for the egg. When Xing Anya lowered her head, she happened to notice the black umbrella inside.
“Wow, Xiaxia. You use such an expensive umbrella?”
Qi Xia did not understand. “Huh?”
“I’ve seen the umbrella in your bag in a magazine before. It costs more than seven thousand yuan, doesn’t it?” Xing Anya grinned. “Let me interview you. What’s it like using a designer umbrella? Does it hurt a little every time you open it in the rain?”
Qi Xia froze when she heard the price.
She lowered her head and examined the logo on the umbrella. It belonged to a foreign brand. She thought she had seen shirts from the same brand on television before, each costing tens of thousands of yuan.
So on that rainy night, had Chen Xifan handed her a piece of gold?
Qi Xia quickly explained, “Someone lent it to me.”
“Who’s that generous?” Xing Anya exclaimed. “They lend out an umbrella worth several thousand yuan just like that? What kind of family are they from?”
The name rose to Qi Xia’s lips, but she hesitated.
She had her own selfish reasons. She didn't want anyone to know about that rainy night. Chen Xifan was the small stroke of happiness she had been given that evening, as well as a secret she could never speak aloud.
Besides, although she and Chen Xifan were now classmates, they came from completely different worlds. Explaining how two people like them had crossed paths would be a complicated task in itself.
Qi Xia carefully chose her words.
“Someone I’m not very familiar with.”
The umbrella’s exorbitant price left Qi Xia feeling burdened. She decided that she would return it to Chen Xifan that very day.
But it wasn't going to be easy.
After observing him for a while, Qi Xia discovered that during breaks, Chen Xifan was either sleeping with his head on the desk or going out to play basketball with his close friends. Even when he stayed in the classroom, there was always a crowd around his seat: people asking him questions, chatting about sports, and talking over one another.
He was the kind of person who seemed to carry his own halo. Wherever he went, voices gathered around him.
With her quiet temperament, Qi Xia could not bring herself to return the umbrella in front of everyone. She spent the entire day worrying over how to do it.
Before she knew it, school was over. Some students went to club activities, while others packed their bags and headed home.
Xing Anya had already left for her tutoring class. Xu Youfei was heading to the traditional clothing club. She swung her schoolbag onto her back and waved at Qi Xia.
“I’m off, Xiaxia. See you tomorrow! Oh, and I’ve claimed your biology homework. I’ll copy it first thing tomorrow morning.”
Apart from mathematics and physics, Qi Xia’s grades in her other subjects were fairly good, since they involved a lot of memorization.
She answered honestly, “Okay. I’ll save it for you.”
“Love you!”
Xu Youfei sent her a heart.
Qi Xia smiled shyly. “Go already. Don’t be so cheesy.”
“How am I being cheesy? Let me give you one more kiss. Mwah!”
At five-thirty, golden silence settled over the teaching building. A few scattered voices drifted through the hallway from time to time.
After finishing her mathematics homework, Qi Xia looked up and realized that the classroom was completely empty.
She stared at Chen Xifan’s seat for a while, then let out a quiet sigh.
They were in the same class, yet speaking to him was so difficult.
They were like two parallel tracks, with no point where their paths could meet.
Qi Xia sat in a daze, dispirited, before gathering her things and putting on her schoolbag. As she passed through the back door, she took advantage of the empty classroom to glance at Chen Xifan’s seat a few more times.
His desk was against the wall. He must have tidied it regularly, because it was remarkably clean. His textbooks and notebooks were arranged in neat rows across half the desktop, while the other half held several pens.
Qi Xia stood there quietly for a moment.
In the end, she placed the umbrella inside Chen Xifan’s desk, along with a green sticky note.
She would return it this way.
An umbrella that expensive wasn't something she could reasonably keep.
After leaving the classroom, she hadn't gone far when she bumped into a girl.
The girl had long, seaweed-like hair that fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Her eyes were large and doll-like.
Qi Xia stepped back and hurriedly said, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I wasn’t paying attention either.” The girl smiled politely. “Are you in Class 5?”
“Yes.”
“That’s perfect. Could you do me a favor? Put this box of chocolates on Chen Xifan’s desk.”
She shook the box in her hand, her manner open and straightforward.
“Or you can just tell me where he sits, and I’ll put it there myself.”
It was obvious that thought had gone into the gift.
The chocolates were wrapped in a pink box, tied with a white ribbon and an elaborate bow. Its meaning could not have been clearer.
Qi Xia stared at it, stunned, her entire body going rigid.
It was like biting into a slice of lime, the sourness spreading slowly through her throat…
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