Little Garden - 4
At half past nine that morning, Fang Zhixiao finally arrived.
She wasn't very tall. Dressed in overalls with her hair pulled into a high ponytail, she came bouncing toward Li Kuiyi like a little spring. A long, clingy hug wasn't enough. She planted a loud kiss on Li Kuiyi's cheek.
Li Kuiyi lifted a hand and wiped her cheek.
Fang Zhixiao squawked. "What's that supposed to mean? You're disgusted by me?"
Li Kuiyi said nothing, only pressed her lips together to hide a smile.
Fang Zhixiao's grandmother had come too. The old woman stood below the bleachers, not quite following the way young people joked with each other. When she saw this, she hurriedly said, “Xiaoxiao, don't bully her.”
“Who’s bullying who?” Fang Zhixiao muttered, pouting as she took Li Kuiyi's hand and led her down. “Grandma, whose side are you on? I'm your actual granddaughter."
Her grandmother said solemnly, “I side with whoever's right."
Li Kuiyi laughed at the two of them. She was very familiar with Fang Zhixiao's whole family. Back when they were boarding students in middle school, she had spent many weekends at Fang Zhixiao's house. First, they would have one of Fang Zhixiao's father's delicious dinners, then the two girls would squeeze together on Fang Zhixiao's little bed, and the next day they would go to the city library together to do their homework.
At first, Li Kuiyi had felt embarrassed about imposing, but Fang Zhixiao's family had been so warm, her mother even bought her a gift to thank her. “It's all thanks to you helping Xiaoxiao with her studies. She went from failing math to scoring over 110. We have you to thank for that.”
When the high school entrance examination results came out, Fang Zhixiao's whole family went even further and treated Li Kuiyi to a lavish meal at a restaurant. According to them, if it weren't for her help, Fang Zhixiao would never have gotten into No. 1 High School.
Li Kuiyi felt bashful, certain that Fang Zhixiao must have exaggerated her accomplishments in front of her family. Fang Zhixiao actually worked pretty hard. She was just a little too reckless about it, studying one thing here and another there until she ended up thoroughly confused. All Li Kuiyi had done was point her in the right direction, teaching her how to build a coherent knowledge framework and how to read a test question the way the person who wrote it wanted you to.
Fang Zhixiao always said she had x-ray eyes. One glance at a problem and she immediately knows what method to use to solve it. It was a skill Fang Zhixiao remained intensely envious of to this day.
“By the way, where's the handsome guy? Did he already leave?” Fang Zhixiao rose onto her toes and scanned the gymnasium, asking with obvious disappointment.
“Yeah, he already left.” Li Kuiyi nodded, remembering what He Youyuan had looked like when he walked away. “And he left looking pretty angry. That's why I told you not to get your hopes up too high. He might have a temper."
Fang Zhixiao was always remarkably generous when it came to handsome guys. “Doesn't matter. Good food is worth the wait. I'll see him this afternoon. Besides, what's a little temper on a handsome face?"
Li Kuiyi was speechless. Fang Zhixiao's grandmother, however, seemed to have figured out what her granddaughter was talking about and started in on one of her lectures. “When you judge a person, the last thing you look at is their appearance. No matter how good-looking someone is, if he's a…”
After registering, Fang Zhixiao and Li Kuiyi went together to get their meal cards and day-student passes, then took her grandmother on a tour of the new campus. No. 1 High School was huge. Between the deep green shade of the trees, glimpses of red-brick buildings appeared. Sunlight filtered through the leaves in shifting patches across the paths. There was a lake, pavilions, a wisteria-covered walkway, fountains, and artificial rockeries…
That rockery was seriously tall, almost level with the third floor of the teaching building. Its surface was wet from the fountain, furred with patches of moss, it looked slippery. Li Kuiyi decided that schoolwide disciplinary notice for He Youyuan wasn't excessive.
Moving at grandmother's pace, the two girls walked slowly. By the time they finished touring the campus, it was nearly eleven. The old woman refused to eat the fried skewers, hand-held pancakes, and malatang that young people liked around the school, so she took a bus home by herself. Fang Zhixiao, meanwhile, dragged Li Kuiyi to Raoji Hot-and-Sour Rice Noodles, saying she'd seen an upperclassman recommend it on the school forum and that it was supposedly delicious.
Li Kuiyi couldn't say if it was delicious. All she knew was that the chili packed a serious punch. It burned her mouth red, her eyes red, her cheeks red, and eventually left her brain completely scalded. Fang Zhixiao watched her sit there in rare, dazed silence and howled with laughter. "Crayon Kui, you're so pitiful."
They went to a milk tea shop for iced lemon water, so Li Kuiyi could recover. There was air-conditioning in the shop, so they simply stayed there until one in the afternoon before leisurely making their way to the teaching building.
Class 1 was on the first floor, while Class 12 was on the third. Normally Fang Zhixiao would have complained about that at least twice, but she was far too excited now. “Wait for me after school!” she called over her shoulder, already bounding up the stairs. “Yes! Time to see the handsome guy!”
The joy of a face-obsessed girl was a simple thing.
Li Kuiyi shook her head helplessly and turned into the classroom. Only four or five people were there, scattered, quiet, still shy with each other. She picked a seat by the window. She had noticed it while standing outside the classroom. The window looked directly onto a small garden with a shallow pond, the view was quite nice.
She pulled a book from her schoolbag. Suddenly, the phone tucked inside the inner compartment vibrated.
Fang Zhixiao: The handsome guy isn't here yet QAQ.
Li Kuiyi: He'll come eventually.
Then a series of crisp footsteps sounded from the corridor and carried into the classroom. Tap. Tap. Tap. The rhythm was light and pleasing, like raindrops falling at an even pace beneath the eaves.
Everyone looked over.
It was a beautiful girl. She walked into the classroom arm in arm with another girl, the two of them looked close and familiar. After looking around the room, she pointed to a seat in the middle of the third row. “Let's sit here. It's the easiest spot for the teacher to see us.”
On the surface, that sentence sounded like nothing. Think about it for a moment, though, and it was almost brazenly confident.
It seemed that once most people entered adolescence, their goal became not to be seen. They hid imperfect bodies beneath loose clothes, preferring to lose themselves in diaries and blogs rather than interact with the outside world. Like a young tree that had been growing wild, suddenly pruning itself.
Li Kuiyi figured this was the awakening of self-awareness. The whole world became one's “imaginary audience,” yet one had not reached the standard of perfection required to stand before that audience, so the instinct was to hide.
Then what did that make the proud girl in front of her?
A hundred percent confidence in herself. I'm good. I'm perfect. So go ahead and look at me.
Like a flawless, lustrous pearl, glowing in the light.
After taking her seat, the Pearl Girl quieted down as well. She pulled out her phone and began typing rapidly, apparently messaging someone. Li Kuiyi turned her attention back to the book she had brought from home, an outside reading selection called Flowers for Algernon.
She read with total focus. Students came and went around the classroom, and the room gradually grew noisier, but she noticed none of it. Not until someone dropped into the seat beside her and she looked up, dazed.
Oh. It was the big-eyed girl with blunt bangs and a headband. Seeing Li Kuiyi looking at her, the girl gave her a shy smile. “Hi, I'm Zhou Fanghua.”
Li Kuiyi: “…”
So Zhou Fanghua was a girl.
“Hi, I'm Li Kuiyi.”
"You're the citywide top scorer!" Zhou Fanghua's eyes went even wider, surprise written all over her face.
A boy in the row ahead heard their conversation and suddenly turned around. “Wow, number one. Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand. “Hi, I'm Pan Junmeng.”
Li Kuiyi: “…”
Why was Pan Junmeng a boy?!
Li Kuiyi pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was three minutes before two, and the screen was overflowing with unread messages from Fang Zhixiao.
Fang Zhixiao: Ahhh he's seriously so handsome!
Fang Zhixiao: The second he walked in, I knew he was the handsome guy you were talking about!
Fang Zhixiao: He's sitting diagonally behind me!!!
Fang Zhixiao: I can see him out of the corner of my eye!
A few minutes later.
Fang Zhixiao: His name is He Youyuan!
Fang Zhixiao: Even his name sounds so good!
Fang Zhixiao: Ah, I'm in love!
Li Kuiyi: Congratulations!
She swept her gaze around the classroom. It was already packed, a sea of full heads stretching as far as she could see. Just then, the homeroom teacher entered carrying a stack of class lists and handbooks. Li Kuiyi slipped her phone into the drawer beneath her desk.
The classroom quickly fell silent. The homeroom teacher placed everything on the lectern and smiled gently. “Hello, everyone. My name is Liu Xinzhao. I'm your homeroom teacher and your Chinese teacher. I'll be spending the first half of Grade One with all of you.”
“Why only half a year?” someone asked, clearly confused.
Liu Xinzhao said, “Because next semester we'll be splitting into arts and science tracks, of course.”
“Ahhh!” Her words instantly sent a wave crashing through the classroom. Everyone looked at everyone else. “We're splitting this early? Isn't it supposed to happen in Grade Two?”
There were also students who clearly knew how things worked. “No. 1 has always done it this way. You split in the second semester of Grade One."
Liu Xinzhao tapped the lectern, signaling for everyone to quiet down. “So, every monthly exam, midterm, and final in the first semester of Grade One will be taken into consideration when the classes are reorganized later. Your scores will determine whether you can make it back into the experimental class.”
She said it with a bright smile, but the pressure landed immediately. The classroom went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“You don't all need to look so serious,” Liu Xinzhao reassured them. “The first exam is still at least a month away. For now, you've got a new high school life waiting for you to experience. For example…”
Everyone held their breath expectantly.
“Military training!”
“Ughhh!” The classroom erupted in groans.
“Life can't possibly get any worse than military training! Unless…” Liu Xinzhao gave them a sly smile. “Before military training, every student has to come up here and give a one-minute self-introduction.”
The collective wailing nearly blew the roof off.
“Our homeroom teacher is such a troll,” Zhou Fanghua whispered, leaning toward Li Kuiyi.
Li Kuiyi nodded in agreement. But Pan Junmeng suddenly turned around and chimed in. “If a homeroom teacher acts easygoing but her students consistently get great results, watch out. She's probably a serious powerhouse.”
The words had barely left his mouth when Liu Xinzhao said, “Then let's have Pan Junmeng start the self-introductions.”
Li Kuiyi and Zhou Fanghua exchanged a look and shut up immediately.
Caught and sent to the front of the classroom without warning, Pan Junmeng scratched his head and stammered, “Hi, everyone. I'm Pan Junmeng. Heh, my name sounds a little like a girl's name…”
Everyone obligingly chuckled.
“Um, I usually like watching movies, listening to music, and playing games sometimes…” He cautiously glanced at Liu Xinzhao, then immediately course-corrected himself. “But I absolutely do not get addicted to games! That's it. Thank you.”
“Do you think that was a minute?” Liu Xinzhao asked.
“No!” The classmates shouted at full volume, delighted to see him suffer.
“Looks like everyone isn't willing to let you off that easily!”
So Pan Junmeng stood at the front and rambled on, somehow managing to introduce his entire household, including the fact that they had three people, one cat, and one dog, until he finally filled the full minute. Down below, the other students hurriedly began composing their own speeches in their heads, ready to strategically cough a few times when their turns came and pad out the clock.
Li Kuiyi hated introducing herself. Put simply, there wasn't much interesting about her, so when her turn came, she could only make herself the punchline. “Hi, everyone. I'm Li Kuiyi, though a lot of people still habitually call me Li Kui.”
Self-deprecation was always the easiest way to close the distance between people. The class laughed amiably.
"So, my hobbies are drinking, eating meat, and gambling, and I wholeheartedly support my brother Song Jiang's glorious cause, and I also like reading and music. As for my favorite books, definitely not Water Margin or The Conquerors, because the endings for me are just too tragic. I prefer Yu Hua, Eileen Chang, and Kafka because I enjoy watching other people suffer. My favorite song is ‘Song of the Heroes,’ though sometimes I like to keep up with the times and listen to Jay Chou and One Direction…”
Li Kuiyi delivered all of this with a perfectly calm expression and an even tone. The more solemnly she presented such a bizarre self-introduction, the funnier it became.
Although she had only covered her name and hobbies, she had somehow filled the entire minute with ease.
Thank God for Li Kui. Amen.
When she returned to her seat, Pan Junmeng turned around again, looking envious. “You must never have trouble meeting the word count in essays…”
Li Kuiyi only listened to the other students' introductions with half an ear. The one thing that reassured her was that the beautiful girl really was named Xia Leyi. She said she liked cosplay and studying birth charts.
Once everyone had finished introducing themselves, Liu Xinzhao also selected a class monitor to coordinate the work during military training. Xia Leyi was the only student who raised her hand to run, so she was elected class monitor.
After handing out the military training uniforms and going over a few things they needed to know, Liu Xinzhao dismissed the students. But she stopped Li Kuiyi and told her that the opening ceremony would be held on the day military training ended. As the school's top student, she would be representing the entire student body and giving a speech onstage, so she should find some time to write the draft.
Li Kuiyi agreed.
She said goodbye to Liu Xinzhao and waited in the classroom for Fang Zhixiao. Another message came through.
Fang Zhixiao: Li Kui, I've fallen out of love.
Li Kuiyi: ?
Li Kuiyi: That was fast.
Maybe He Youyuan already had a girlfriend, Li Kuiyi thought.
She waited almost half an hour before Class 12 let out. Fang Zhixiao threw herself straight into Li Kuiyi's arms and said miserably, “The handsome guy wasn't what I imagined.”
“How so?” Li Kuiyi asked.
“He was sitting by the window, right? Well, part of the wall had fallen off there, so he crushed up some chalk, mixed it with water, and patched the wall himself. The homeroom teacher was talking at the front and he was down there repairing the wall… then the teacher hauled him up to stand by the podium."
Li Kuiyi had no idea what to make of that. “That…” In the end, she could only say, “Helpful?”
"You don't get it." Fang Zhixiao's mouth drooped. "I love aloof beauty. Not a helpful citizen who goes around patching walls.”
“It's okay. Plenty of fish in the sea.” Li Kuiyi patted Fang Zhixiao's shoulder in consolation.
“Exactly!” Fang Zhixiao clenched her fist, a new light flashing in her eyes. “I've decided to keep liking Su Jianlin!”
Su Jianlin, Li Kuiyi's younger uncle, the true aloof beauty.
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