Chapter 36

The transfer student finished introducing himself, and a buzz of conversation rippled through the classroom.

"He looks quite sunny when he smiles," Yang Bingbing remarked to Xu Xieyi as she sized him up on the podium.

Xu Xieyi didn't respond; she remained stunned in her seat for several seconds. The person on the podium was quite different from the thin boy in her memories. Xu Muzhou seemed to have grown taller, and his features had fully matured; if one didn't look closely, they might not even recognize him as the same person. His skin had a slightly wheaten tone, as if it had been kissed by the sun.

Tan Xiaotong had mentioned that Xu Muzhou was transferring to No. 2 High School, but Xu Xieyi never imagined that out of the dozen or so classes in the grade, he would coincidentally end up in Class 5.

Standing on the podium, Xu Muzhou didn't seem nervous at all, despite being stared at by dozens of people. He swept his gaze across the room with ease. Xu Xieyi’s grip tightened on her pen, and a layer of sweat suddenly broke out on her palms, but she quickly relaxed her hand—the boy’s gaze had swept over her face without lingering.

Gao Changyang pointed to a seat in the sixth row: "You're tall, so just sit there."

Without a word, Xu Muzhou nodded slightly and stepped off the podium, heading straight for the back row. Yang Bingbing watched him pass by the aisle and take his seat before turning back to Xu Xieyi. "Actually, he’s kind of handsome if you look closely. Hey, Xuxu, why aren't you curious at all, you lonely soul?"

Xu Xieyi carefully lowered her voice. "I'm not..."

"Still saying you aren't."

"Stop talking, class is starting."

At the front, the head teacher tapped his lesson plan, signaling for everyone to quiet down. Yang Bingbing knew Xu Xieyi didn't interact much with boys, so she peeked at her and didn't dare to keep talking.

Xu Xieyi followed Gao Changyang’s instructions and opened her math textbook, but her peripheral vision drifted toward the back, even though the angle made it impossible to see anything. She couldn't see him, yet there was a keen sixth sense extending through the air. She couldn't help but pay attention to the back of the room. She stared mechanically at the blackboard while thinking: *Did Xu Muzhou just not see me? Or did he not want to greet me?* She was beginning to doubt if that "Summer Solstice Time" account had been added by the wrong person.

***

During the break, the more outgoing students in the class crowded around the transfer student. The boys were loud, and even from the third row, Xu Xieyi could hear them clearly.

"Which characters are in your name, 'Mu' and 'Zhou'?" Li Xiaochuan asked, picking up Xu Muzhou's basketball.

"Is your brain fed to the dogs, Li Xiaochuan? It’s written on the book cover!" Tang Zhou smacked Xu Muzhou’s math book against Li Xiaochuan’s forehead, then pulled his arm back and draped it casually over Xu Muzhou’s shoulder. "Muzhou, which school did you say you transferred from?"

Xu Xieyi pricked up her ears and heard a clear, moderate voice: "Ze'an No. 1 High School."

"Why transfer in the third year of high school? Aren't you worried about your grades?"

"My parents' work." His pronunciation was very distinct.

"Oh, I see."

The sound of a basketball hitting the floor echoed from the back. That group of boys seemed to have inexhaustible energy; they would play with a single basketball every break, their voices loud enough to be heard in the classroom across the hall.

"Xu Muzhou, that move you used to pick up the ball on the podium was cool. How did you do it?"

He seemed to have a good personality. "It's simple. Like this."

"Holy crap! That’s cool, man," Tang Zhou said.

"Slow down, slow down, I didn't see it clearly."

"Hey, Li Xiaochuan, your eyesight is terrible! Muzhou, teach him again."

On her draft paper, Xu Xieyi had been working on the periodic table for half the period, but it was fragmented and incomplete. Unconsciously, her focus remained on the back. Listening to the boy’s voice, he didn't seem to mind the other person's clumsiness: "No problem. Watch my left hand!"

Two thuds of the basketball hitting the floor followed, then a group of boys clapped and jeered, making a ruckus while inviting Xu Muzhou to play ball at noon. He readily agreed.

Yang Bingbing turned around openly to look, commenting with conviction, "He’s so good at basketball, his grades probably aren't great. Sigh... another noisy person has joined the class."

"But," she added, "his looks are decent. The more you look at him, the more pleasant he seems."

Xu Xieyi glanced at her and finally turned her head toward the back row. She responded to Yang Bingbing’s words in her heart: *He was a "heartthrob" level figure at Ze'an No. 1 High School, after all. He couldn't be that ugly.*

The boy had his back to her. He wasn't wearing a school uniform, likely because he hadn't received one yet. On such a cold day, he was just wearing a dark teal long-sleeved T-shirt with letter patterns, sweatpants, and slightly dirty white sneakers—the most common attire for high school boys. Balanced and pleasing to the eye.

Xu Muzhou leaned against the edge of the desk, rolled up his sleeves, and caught the basketball passed by Tang Zhou with ease. His arms were slender, his back lean.

"Not bad, you're almost getting the hang of it." He tossed the ball to the other person with one hand. "I’ll practice with you alone at noon."

Li Xiaochuan was delighted. "Damn, you're a loyal brother! Thanks!"

The others joined in the rowdiness. Xu Xieyi turned back and continued writing her periodic table. *Since he didn't send a QQ message and didn't acknowledge her in person, then... there's no need for me to greet him either.*

***

The buzz around the new student continued. At noon, Xu Muzhou played basketball with Li Xiaochuan and Tang Zhou in the biting cold wind. Xu Xieyi was heading out of the cafeteria when she happened to pass the basketball court and heard the rhythmic thumping of the ball from afar.

"Xuxu, let’s go! Let's go watch, there are so many people," Zhang Xiaoli suggested.

Xu Xieyi pulled her hand away. "I’m not going. You go... I’m going back to the classroom to take a nap..."

"Huh? You can nap later. The new student is playing, let’s go see."

Xu Xieyi shook her head, so Zhang Xiaoli went by herself. Xu Xieyi walked toward the classroom alone. The leaves of the plane trees along the path had fallen heavily, covering the ground in withered yellow, too many to be swept away. She couldn't explain why, but she felt a bit... guilty. She was interested, yet she resisted getting close to that area.

After walking for a while, she looked back at the basketball court. A crowd of boys and girls surrounded the court, and the tall, lean boy dashed toward the basket, his movements agile. The hoop clattered loudly. The ball went in.

The crowd whistled and cheered, mingled with the teasing laughter of Li Xiaochuan and the others: "Wow, Muzhou, you're good! That layup was so smooth."

Xu Muzhou tied his shoelaces and looked up, his expression bright. "It was okay!"

Xu Xieyi lowered her head and returned to the classroom. In any case, she had never had much interaction with people who hung around in such groups. She had always been the honest student who followed the teacher's arrangements.

***

Time flew by, and the whole day passed. Xu Xieyi looked at the watch on her desk; there were three minutes left of evening self-study. She took out her phone and opened the "Summer Solstice Time" QQ profile.

Not a single greeting.

She didn't know what Xu Muzhou meant. Perhaps... he just added her randomly? The fact that she was actually holding her phone and waiting was too embarrassing and stupid...

The boys in the back were often quite frivolous, discussing girls' figures behind their backs, chatting with leering smiles about lewd topics, and calling her "Teacher X"... Perhaps Xu Muzhou was just like them.

Suppressing a slight sense of disappointment, Xu Xieyi rested her chin on her hand, took a long breath, and stared blankly for a moment. A young girl’s secret crush was always melancholy. She often thought about that person in her mind, and the more she did, the more intoxicated and unable to extricate herself she became. But when she actually saw that person, he felt a bit like a stranger, as if he were... different from what she had imagined. Shifting left and right, there was an intangible sense of gain and loss.

When Xu Xieyi came back to her senses, a few minutes had already