Chapter 37

Early romance, this ship, will capsize sooner or later.

The prerequisite is,

I have to get on the ship first.

——Little Monster's Diary

Kong Shadi and Song Ziqi were dating.

Upon receiving this news, Ding Xian stared blankly with wide eyes at the shy girl in front of her, not quite processing it. Kong Shadi's face was flushed red, truly like a ripe apple.

"Early romance, huh?" Ding Xian regained her senses and whispered.

Kong Shadi made a shushing gesture, "Liu Jiang has been cracking down on it recently, you have to help me keep it a secret."

Ding Xian nodded seriously, pressing her lips together.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's just, you two... how did you suddenly..."

Kong Shadi showed a smug smile, "A while ago, wasn't there a boy from Eighteenth High School chasing me? Then that Song Ziqi started various mocking modes. I felt like the situation wasn't quite right, so I took the initiative to try something. I didn't expect him to be so inexperienced; I thought he was a seasoned player in romance..."

Ding Xian clapped her hands dumbfounded, "Impressive!"

Kong Shadi grunted, "You better hurry up, don't let anyone take advantage of your vulnerability."

Ding Xian lowered her head, glanced in a certain someone's direction, and sighed inwardly, 'Zhou Siyue, that kind of person, probably wouldn't get involved in early romance, right?'

When Song Ziqi learned that a hoodlum from Eighteenth High School was chasing Kong Shadi, his first reaction was to mock her. He attacked Kong Shadi for a good while, saying, "What kind of undesirable suitors do you attract?" Kong Shadi scoffed at this, retorting, "You don't even have undesirable suitors, and you're talking about me?"

The two of them gave each other the cold shoulder for a week.

Until that weekend at KTV, Song Ziqi and Jiang Chen had opened a private room. Someone said they saw Kong Shadi in the next room, and that little girl was dressed so damn nicely, her figure was getting better and better. Song Ziqi was sitting on a chair, feeling sleepy, and hearing this, he couldn't help but sneer, "How good could that little bean bun's figure be?"

The person then added, "Don't mention it, that little skirt was short... she was singing karaoke with a few boys from Eighteenth High School."

Song Ziqi's eyes instantly snapped open, "Lu Huaizheng and his gang?"

The person nodded, "Yeah, didn't see Brother Lu, but I saw that kid who waited for Kong Shadi at the school gate last time."

That afternoon, Song Ziqi dragged her out of the adjacent private room, hauled her to the main entrance, and unleashed a barrage of Beijing-style scolding: "Did your brain get hit by a cannon, filled with shit? Why are you getting involved in such nonsense with them? Aren't you tired of having enough undesirable suitors already? What are you doing dressed like that? I think you could primp yourself up and go busking on the streets now..."

He immediately made Kong Shadi cry. She squatted on the ground, sobbing and wiping away tears, not even looking at him.

Song Ziqi showed no tenderness, picking her up from the ground, and dragging her home, threatening her as he went: "Don't cry, if you cry again I'll go home and tell your parents."

"You jerk!"

"I know if I'm a jerk or not, but you, you don't look like a good girl at all..."

Kong Shadi grew anxious, raising her foot to kick him, "Get lost."

"You tell me to get lost and I get lost? That's too humiliating. Besides, what's our relationship? Why should I get lost just because you tell me to?"

"Then what right do you have to control me? I'll hang out with whoever I want, what right do you have to interfere?"

The two walked along, arguing and bickering, until they reached the Hutong's entrance. The afterglow of the setting sun hung obliquely behind them, like a sky-covering curtain. The shadows of the two teenagers bickered and played on the road. When they reached the Hutong's entrance, Song Ziqi suddenly stopped, turned his back to look at her, lowered his head slightly, bent over, and said with a mischievous smile:

"Alright, since you put it that way, how about we just confirm our relationship now, so you won't go fooling around anymore..."

Kong Shadi was completely stunned. Even the air seemed to stand still, and the setting sun gradually sank. She heard her heartbeat, pounding as if it would explode.

"What do you mean?"

"Literal meaning, of course." Song Ziqi glanced at her, a slight smile fading, and deliberately said, "If you don't agree, then forget it."

"Wait."

Kong Shadi: "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

When overwhelmed by immense happiness, every word sounded like a joke, but she quickly regained her composure and pretended to be calm, saying, "Who the hell was fooling around?"

Song Ziqi didn't answer but laughed, "Alright, I'll take that as a 'yes'. Don't run around with those boys from Eighteenth High School anymore. Follow Big Bro and study properly."

Bullshit.

After cursing, Kong Shadi suddenly stood on tiptoe and kissed Song Ziqi on the lips. She quickly stepped back with her head lowered, then looked up, and both of them awkwardly turned their heads away.

Kong Shadi quickly finished recounting last night's experience. Ding Xian listened, utterly bewildered, a head full of questions, and a million "what the heck"s stampeded through her mind...

Kong Shadi continued to share first-hand news with her.

"You know Yang Chunzi used to be in the same class as your Young Master Zhou, right?"

"Zhou Siyue." Ding Xian corrected her.

Kong Shadi ignored her and continued, "The two of them participated in a math competition together before, and I heard they even won awards at the same time. Zhou Siyue had a good relationship with her, they often discussed problems and such. It was a pity for our school heartthrob. Xia Sihan had been chasing Yang Chunzi for many years, but you know, Xia Sihan, that innocent and clueless type who is unaware of the hardships of the world, naturally wasn't on the same intellectual level as Miss Yang Chunzi. Your Young Master Zhou appeared around that time, and both the height and dimension of his thoughts were very compatible with Miss Yang Chunzi. However, scientific research has also shown that two people who are too similar aren't easily attracted to each other. To be precise, your Young Master Zhou was missing a screw in his head; he didn't have those kinds of thoughts. Yang Chunzi might have entertained the idea of liking Zhou Siyue—this is my own imagination. Song Ziqi said Yang Chunzi never liked Zhou Siyue, but as a girl's intuition, I think she did. It's just that later, due to a goddess's pride, she gave up. Looking back, Xia Sihan was still better, even though that guy is innocent and clueless, he was genuinely good to Yang Chunzi, showing her all kinds of concern, holding her in his hands for fear of dropping her, holding her in his mouth for fear of melting her, unlike your Young Master Zhou..."

At this point, Kong Shadi glanced at Ding Xian.

Ding Xian subconsciously said, "Actually, he's not that aloof and cool..."

"Then, our school heartthrob saw that Yang Chunzi and Zhou Siyue had a good relationship, so he became disheartened and gave up. Originally, Xia Sihan and Zhou Siyue had a pretty good relationship, but after that, Xia Sihan didn't really talk to Zhou Siyue much. Until a girl sent Xia Sihan a love letter, which made Yang Chunzi furious. So she intentionally used Zhou Siyue to provoke Xia Sihan, saying Zhou Siyue had confessed to her and they were about to get together..."

"And then?"

"Don't even mention it, it was quite tragic. Xia Sihan almost jumped off a building..."

Ding Xian truly never expected such an unconventional drama to happen to their school heartthrob.

"Your Young Master Zhou protected his own interests wisely and decided to stay away from those two lunatics. Think about it, if Xia Sihan had really jumped, Zhou Siyue would probably have been ruined by Yang Chunzi for life. If it were me, I'd hide every time I saw that girl."

"They seem to have reconciled recently..." Ding Xian said softly.

"Because Yang Chunzi just agreed to Xia Sihan, and they're together now. But Song Ziqi said they didn't really reconcile; they just cleared things up, and everyone felt at peace, I guess..."

For some reason, Ding Xian always felt a pang for Zhou Siyue. No matter what happened, she always cared deeply for this boy.

The days after resumed their calm. Facing the upcoming Senior Three, the teachers at Third High School ramped up their efforts again. Ding Xian found everything she studied recently to be a struggle and very strenuous. It was indeed as Liu Jiang had said; the gap between students would become more and more obvious. In the last monthly exam of the second semester of Senior Two, Ding Xian's grades plummeted, sliding out of the top thirty, with a total score just under six hundred.

Zhou Siyue was first in total score this time, and second in the school.

'She should feel sorry for herself instead.'

That evening after school, Zhou Siyue waited for her at the Hutong's entrance as usual. From afar, he saw her coming, carrying her bag, head drooping, and in low spirits. He leaned against the wall. The girl walked with her head down, not looking up, heading straight towards him.

Zhou Siyue smiled and called out a reminder, "You're going to bump."

Ding Xian looked up. The boy's leaning figure, smiling exceptionally cleanly under the streetlamp, momentarily captivated her.

Zhou Siyue extended his hand to her, his palm flat, broad and long, with clear lines.

"What?"

Zhou Siyue raised an eyebrow slightly, "I saw your score; only 98 in math. I'm very worried about you, Student Ding Xian."

He rarely called her by her full name. Usually, when they were together, he'd just say "Hey!" or not use her name at all. Suddenly calling her "Student Ding Xian" so seriously made her heart pound wildly for a few more seconds.

Ding Xian lowered her head and silently pulled out her math test paper from her bag. Zhou Siyue took it, quickly scanning it. Ding Xian watched his brows furrow tighter and tighter, creasing into the shape of the character 'Chuan'. When he reached the last major problem, he suddenly raised his eyebrows. The next second, his gaze swept over her like a whistle. Ding Xian was too scared to look up. She heard him say in a serious and earnest tone, repeatedly nodding, "Impressive! You sat with Kong Shadi for a few days, and your IQ was led astray by her? So all my teaching before was for nothing, was it?"

If she didn't do well, she was definitely more anxious than he was. Being scolded so vehemently made Ding Xian feel even worse. Her face fell as she said, "Give me back the paper."

"Have you been too comfortable lately? Your face has gotten rounder."

"Give me back the paper!" Ding Xian grew anxious.

Zhou Siyue slapped the paper against the wall, leaning on it with one hand, "Give it back to you? Do you even understand it all?"

Ding Xian didn't speak, mumbling softly, "It's none of your business even if I don't."

Zhou Siyue chuckled, curling his lips. He flattened the paper on the wall, turned around, his back to her, and crooked a finger at her, "Come here, I'll go over the wrong problems with you." After saying that, he ignored her, directly pulled a pen from his bag, bit it to take off the cap, the cap between his lips. When he turned back, the girl was still standing there dumbfounded. He tilted his head at her, raised an eyebrow, and made an indistinct "Hmm" sound, meaning, 'Hurry up.'

Ding Xian moved closer. The paper was pressed a bit high by him; she couldn't see it clearly even on her tiptoes, "Lower it a bit."

The boy pulled the paper down, flattened it, and muttered unhappily, "Can't you just grow taller?"

Ding Xian rolled her eyes at him, feigning impatience, "Are you going to teach or not?"

"Hmph—" Zhou Siyue pulled at the corners of his mouth, looking down at her, "You're getting impatient now? Who's here teaching you this paper on an empty stomach? You ungrateful thing."

"Teach if you want, don't if you don't."

Zhou Siyue chuckled, lowered his head, and continued writing steps on the paper, shaking his head and sighing, "You're only brave with me."

Ding Xian looked at him, blinking as she asked, "Do you know that Shadi and Song Ziqi are in a relationship?"

Zhou Siyue turned his head to look at her, nodding slightly, "Mm."

Ding Xian wanted to ask if he would get involved in a relationship, but the words were at the tip of her tongue and she couldn't say them. The back of this boy's head clearly read 'I love math forever,' so why should she court disaster?

By the time the paper was discussed, it was completely dark. The trees on both sides stood silently, and a crescent moon hung in the sky like a hook.

Zhou Siyue put his pen back in his bag, handed her the paper, and patted her head, saying, "Alright, I'm going home."

With that, he turned and walked away without looking back.

Ding Xian held the still-warm test paper, watching his swaying, receding back, feeling that the moonlight was blurry, making her unable to see the path ahead for the boy.

A long summer vacation passed. Ding Xian finally learned to trim her bangs herself, just enough to cover her eyebrows without being too long. Her originally shoulder-length hair was almost at her waist. One time, after washing her hair, she went to school with it down, not having time to tie it up. Kong Shadi circled her and looked for a long time, tutting repeatedly.

"Not bad, cutie, you've got a bit of a goddess vibe now."

Ding Xian lowered her head shyly for only a few seconds before Liu Jiang arrived, pointing at her hair and saying, "Tie it up, tie it up! What kind of appearance is it to have your hair down like that?"

Ding Xian glanced at the empty seat behind her and reluctantly tied her hair.

The bustling start of the Senior Three school year began, and a battle for the "college entrance examination" finally commenced.

The teachers were passionate and spirited, students wailed everywhere, and major and minor exams followed one after another. This silent war finally broke out completely, with everyone's brains taxed to their limits.

On the first day of school.

Kong Shadi, who knew where she had gotten the gossip, told Ding Xian.

Yang Chunzi and Xia Sihan had broken up again; Yang Chunzi initiated it, for the sake of the college entrance examination.

They were the first to get off the early romance ship for the sake of the college entrance examination.

Kong Shadi remarked, "Even if I'm going to die, I'll die on this ship with Song Ziqi."

Ding Xian looked back at Zhou Siyue. 'When will her lonely, drifting little boat finally be seen by him?'