Time Passed Us By - Chapter 3

The winter vacation passed quickly. Song Jianan lived a quiet life of her own: doing her winter vacation homework, making a study plan for herself, and working hard to complete it. She didn’t even respond to her friends’ calls to go hang out. On the day before school started, Duan Jiachen, who came to teach math, brought her some squabbling/noise.

“Add an auxiliary line here, make it higher, and then it will be fine.”

“Hey, Duan Jiachen, wait, where are we?”

“Song Jianan, you’re so stupid. Here, add here, and then make it higher. Now that you know the length here, you can find the length of this side. Understood?”

She bit her lip with difficulty and said, “I still can’t do it. Can you go slower? I can’t react that fast.”

Duan Jiachen slumped in his chair with his head and said, “Song Jianan, you really are stupid. I give up. I already told you that people without talent shouldn’t study math, otherwise they’ll just be torturing themselves.”

“I don’t want to learn math. I hate it. If it weren’t for the college entrance examination, I wouldn’t be working so hard on math problems. I get so nervous before every math test that I can’t sleep.” Song Jianan lowered her head slightly. “I know you need talent to learn math, but I really don’t have the knack.”

Duan Jiachen felt a little regretful after hearing this, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I spoke too harshly. Take it slow, since you can’t get a high score, just keep a basic score. If it’s not a particularly abnormal test paper, the basic score can be from 110 to 120 points.”

“Look, this question is about arithmetic progression…”

The door lock turned gently, and a sweaty middle-aged woman came in carrying a

few plastic bags. When Song Jianan saw her, she quickly dropped the pen in his hand and ran over, “Mom, let me help you.”

Duan Jiachen also stood up, and Song Jianan’s mother waved her hands quickly, “No, no, it’s ok. I just bought a watermelon. Nannan, put it in the refrigerator for me first, and when Xiaochen leaves, give him half of it. The watermelon sold today was very ripe, it’s almost all gritty.”

Duan Jiachen smiled awkwardly, “No need, Auntie. I’m going to my uncle’s house for dinner today, so it’s not convenient.”

“Alas, we’ve been neighbors for so many years, but you’re still so polite to Auntie. By the way, my Nannan’s math is so bad that she didn’t even pass the average score on the final exam, and it made me feel so anxious. Fortunately, I met your mother last time…”

Mother Song became more and more excited as she spoke, and Song Jianan quickly interrupted, “Mom, I still have a few questions to ask Duan Jiachen, you can go ahead, and I’ll put the watermelon away.”

“Okay Nannan, make sure to learn well from Xiao Chen. I’ll be busy now.”

The room was quiet again. The scorching sun shone through the glass windows, spreading the heat into the air. The air conditioner blew out cool breezes, causing the study plans and reference books to rustle.

Duan Jiachen felt a little uncomfortable with the praise, and he was unable to come back to his senses for a long time, while Song Jianan was completely attracted by the chirping sparrows perched on the windowsill. It was rare to see these flying animals on her floor level, and she couldn’t help but smile secretly.

He picked up the study plan and saw a wrong answer. He wanted to call Song Jianan to correct it, but when he raised his eyes he was stunned. He didn’t know what to say for a long time, opening his mouth and closing it again.

She tilted her head, lying motionless on the table as if she was staring at something intently. The sunlight fell on her face through the window. She didn’t know what she was smiling at. Her white teeth were exposed, and the dimples at the corners of her mouth were deeply sunken. Her eyes were bright and lively, like morning dewdrops rolling on lotus leaves, and the smile reached the bottom of her eyes.

Just at that moment, his heart was hit hard. Reason told Duan Jianchen that it was wrong to look at a girl so unscrupulously, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her face.

Her face was pure white and innocent like the sun, blooming fiercely in the darkness of heavy clouds, so gleaming that it made people’s hearts beat fast.

Song Jianan didn’t notice Duan Jiachen’s strange behavior. The sparrow outside the

window flapped its wings and flew away. She turned around and saw Duan Jiachen’s

empty eyes. She waved her hand in front of his eyes and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

He was startled, and quickly came to his senses, picking up the study plan to cover

up, “Nothing, this part is wrong.”

“Ah– wrong again? I took so long figuring it out.” Song Jianan picked up the pen in frustration, “I get a headache whenever I think about math. Duan Jiachen, why are you so good at math? If only you could give me half of your skills.”

He suddenly felt at a loss and said, “If I could, I would definitely give you a half.”

Song Jianan was a little surprised that he didn’t insult her this time. A little joy flashed

across her eyes, and then she smiled. While checking the problem, she said nonchalantly, “Duan Jiachen, sometimes you like to attack me, but sometimes you’re nice to me. It’s really hard to hate you– oops, I remembered the trigonometric function wrong.”

She hurriedly used transparent tape to cover the wrong steps, pursed her lips habitually, and nervously wrote down every step of the calculation formula. It was just such an ordinary action, but it caused ripples in Duan Jiachen’s heart.

After finishing going through homework, Duan Jiachen said he wanted to go out for dinner, and Song Jianan’s mother didn’t keep him, so she asked Song Jianan to cut half of the watermelon and carry it over for him. It was so hot outside that Song Jianan was too lazy to speak, and Duan Jiachen was also unusually silent.

They walked downstairs to Duan Jiachen’s place. Song Jianan didn’t want to stay

outside for another moment and hurriedly said that she wanted to go home and to continue

enjoy the air conditioning. Duan Jiachen suddenly wanted to say something, so he stopped her, “Hey, that, that…”

“What?” Song Jianan retracted her outstretched foot. “What’s the matter?”

But he suddenly didn’t know how to start the conversation, and touched his hair, “Well, I…” He hesitated for a long time and couldn’t find any topic to start.

Song Jianan wiped the sweat from her forehead and said impatiently, “Duan Jiachen, if you have anything to say, just say it. It’s so hot, you can’t just let me stand here!”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. I just wanted to ask you what time you’ll arrive at school.”

“Oh, what kind of question is that? Of course we have to report at nine o’clock the day after

tomorrow, and don’t forget to bring the tuition.” Song Jianan waved her hand, “I’m going to leave now. If you have anything else, just call me.”

Still holding half of a watermelon in his hand, the cool waterdrops fell to a dry place, as if they instantly evaporated without a trace. Duan Jiachen felt a little anxious, but also a little chill, as if he was soaked in lemon water, indescribably comfortable.

School started on the next day, and Song Jianan planned to go to the bookstore to buy the reference books listed by the teacher. She wandered around the bookstore for a long time, and then went to McDonald’s to buy an ice cream cone as a reward for herself.

She was waiting for the train at the subway station. The girls passing by were all young, dressed fashionably and cutely. The suspender skirts, denim jeans, and shiny jewelry dazzled her eyes. She herself, dressed in a plain sports T-shirt and shorts, reflected against a bright pillar, had an ordinary face that was even a little too mature for her age and seemed out of place within the surroundings.

She was neither pretty nor had outstanding academic performances. She was just like a grain of sand on the beach, and no one could be more ordinary. When she gets into college, she would change into a completely different person.

The train passed by her at high speed, then slowly stopped. The automatic door opened, someone got off, and she followed the crowd in. There were so many people in the carriage that she had to lean on the railing. She looked at the people around her. Suddenly, a figure caught her eye. Such a familiar figure, who else could it be except Su Li?

Her eyes lit up, and she wanted to move forward so that she could get a closer view, but the carriage was so packed that even breathing was difficult. She finally waited until the train stopped before she was able to move forward a little, but Su Li’s figure flashed, and he followed the crowd out of the carriage and disappeared.

The car door closed gradually, and the white light slowly disappeared, steadily closing in the gap like curtains, as if separating two worlds and cutting off the frozen sight.

Song Jianan breathed out a long sigh of relief, thinking that it was actually a good thing

that she didn’t have to awkwardly meet him face to face.

After summer vacation, she would have more opportunities to see him. Thinking of this, she felt pretty good.

As usual, a baseline test was held on the second day of school. All students in the

grade were shuffled, and the examination rooms were arranged according to the system

of the Academic Affairs Office. Song Jianan was lucky enough to stay in her class and happened to sit in Duan Jiachen’s seat.

Duan Jiachen’s desk was very clean, and he didn’t draw on it like other boys. Song Jianan talked to Duan Jiachen who was packing his school bag, “It would be nice if I could borrow some of your luck by sitting in your seat. I’m really scared of math.”

“You’ll be fine if you read the questions carefully. For the last two big questions, just answer the simple parts at the beginning.” Duan Jiachen smiled, “If you do well in the exam, treat me to a meal.”

“That’s no problem. If I do well in math, my mom will want to treat you to a meal.”

Duan Jiachen carried his schoolbag and said, “I’m taking the exam in Class 3. I’ll go home straight after the exam. If you have any questions when you’re reviewing physics or chemistry, you can come to me. I’m going now. Good luck!”

Song Jianan waved her hand back, “Okay, good luck to you too!”

The bright sunshine outside the window covered the sky, but the September sky still carried the afterglow of summer. On both sides of the teaching building were lush sycamore trees, and every summer, the whole road was covered with a dense shade.

People came and went in the class. She held her head and looked at the sunlight outside. The electric fan was whirring above her head. Then someone walked up to her and sat down, pushing the window forward. Song Jianan looked up and saw Su Li sitting in the seat in front of her. He took out a pen from his schoolbag and sat there alone quietly.

Because school had not officially started yet, he did not wear a school uniform. The light blue shirt suited his temperament very well. He closed his eyes and wore headphones as usual. The volume was very loud. Song Jianan could vaguely distinguish the intermittent lyrics: “Thank you for breaking my heart. Thank you for tearing me up. Now I am a strong, strong heart.”

It’s a Sinead O’Connor song, sung by the thoughtful but sorrowful Irish woman.

Song Jianan silently stared at the thin and lonely boy in front of her. She suddenly remembered that every time she met him, she was always used to his back. He seemed to be unaware and was still cold.

He always lived in his world, and she made up stories about him in her world.