Confession to You in Early Summer - Chapter 4

The 29th was a Friday. Waking up and staring at the dormitory ceiling, Yan Wei felt a strange restlessness stirring within her.

Jiang Youyi continued to avoid Yan Wei. During breaks, to keep her mind from wandering, she even started doing homework seriously.

In math class, the pop quiz from the previous day was handed back. The math teacher asked the students to review their mistakes first, then called Yan Wei’s name: “Yan Wei, bring your test paper up here.”

Zhou Xiaoxiao was a bit worried. Yesterday, she had watched Yan Wei hand in her paper, which had many blank answers. Yan Wei was definitely going to get scolded.

But the person in question looked completely unfazed. Yan Wei glanced briefly at the test paper, folded it in half, and stood up. Her heel bumped against the leg of the chair, making a sharp clack.

Several classmates looked over but quickly lowered their heads to review their mistakes. However, two pairs of eyes followed Yan Wei out of the classroom, witnessing the math teacher sternly reprimanding the usually diligent student for her lax attitude in the hallway.

One pair belonged to Zhou Xiaoxiao, the other to a girl sitting by the window in the back row.

Jiang Youyi sat on the other side of the classroom, unable to hear the conversation in the hallway. She could only guess from the teacher’s and student’s expressions that Yan Wei was likely being criticized.

How odd.

After a moment, Yan Wei bowed slightly, as if admitting her mistake. The math teacher waved her hand, and the two walked back into the classroom one after the other.

Jiang Youyi promptly lowered her head, pretending nothing had happened.

As soon as Yan Wei returned to her seat, Zhou Xiaoxiao leaned over and whispered with concern, “Are you okay?”

Yan Wei couldn’t help but smile. Wasn’t it just getting pulled aside for handing in a blank test? What was the big deal?

As a student, if you never handed in a blank test a few times, your school years would be wasted. Losing the recklessness that youth should have would be the real regret.

This was something Yan Wei only realized after starting university.

Now, being able to relive that youthful feeling, Yan Wei thought it wasn’t so bad—even though she hadn’t intentionally handed in a blank test.

But it seemed that in Zhou Xiaoxiao’s eyes, this was truly a big deal.

To keep her deskmate from overreacting, Yan Wei said while reviewing her mistakes on the test paper, “Things like this will happen often from now on. You’d better get used to it.”

“Huh?” Zhou Xiaoxiao looked utterly confused.

Yan Wei didn’t explain further. She wasn’t joking with Zhou Xiaoxiao. For her now, these test papers were practically incomprehensible. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to do well—she simply couldn’t.

She had graduated from high school six years ago. Choosing science in high school had been her parents’ strict requirement. Later, after Jiang Youyi’s incident, she became extremely rebellious overnight.

Failing the college entrance exam, she repeated her senior year of high school. Ignoring her parents’ scolding, she transferred mid-year into the liberal arts class. With the city’s top score, she gave up Tsinghua University in the capital and enrolled in the country’s most prestigious law school, located locally.

During university, she studied law, continued her studies in graduate school, and completely transformed into a liberal arts student. She had almost forgotten the knowledge from her high school science, math, chemistry, and biology textbooks. It would take time to relearn it all.

Yan Wei began comparing her mistakes and flipping through the textbook for solutions. Zhou Xiaoxiao turned away, looking dazed. She was completely out of it for the entire class, lost in her own thoughts. Yan Wei didn’t bother her.

After class, Yan Wei was called to the office by the teacher for the next lesson. Jiang Youyi took her water bottle to the front of the classroom to fill it with hot water. On her way back, she passed Yan Wei’s desk, where a blank test paper was openly spread out. The familiar red crosses, low score, and familiar name were all there, but seeing these two elements together was truly shocking news.

Throughout the entire Friday, Yan Wei didn’t manage to speak with Jiang Youyi. As a local, Jiang Youyi didn’t stay in the dormitory over the weekend. After finishing her classes in the afternoon, she packed her things to go home but was stopped by someone at the classroom door.

“What do you want?” Jiang Youyi looked at the girl blocking her way, her expression indifferent.

Yan Wei hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back, then finally asked stiffly, “Going home?”

Jiang Youyi: “…”

She shrugged slightly, her backpack hanging loosely from one shoulder. Wasn’t it obvious?

The top student seemed a bit off these past two days.

“You should go to the cafeteria for dinner,” Jiang Youyi said.

Her refusal to engage was too obvious. Yan Wei only lasted five seconds before retreating under the awkward atmosphere. Jiang Youyi quickly walked past her and turned the corner to go downstairs.

Another failure.

Yan Wei felt a bit dejected and downcast.

Friday evening self-study wasn’t strictly monitored. Many students skipped it to go online outside the school, leaving more than half the seats in the classroom empty.

After dinner, Zhou Xiaoxiao passed by the small shop under the teaching building and bought an extra bottle of yogurt to bring to the classroom. To her surprise, she found that her deskmate, the top student, wasn’t studying at this time.

She turned around and asked the girl sitting behind her, “Yan Wei didn’t come?”

The girl looked up and glanced at the empty seat next to Zhou Xiaoxiao. “Didn’t notice. I don’t think I saw her.”

The top student really seemed off these past two days.

Zhou Xiaoxiao leaned back on her desk, absentmindedly twirling her pen. Before long, she finished a box of yogurt.

She tossed the empty box into the plastic bag by her desk, which served as a temporary trash bin, sighed at the extra box on the corner of her desk, and then buried herself in solving two problems.

She was too restless and unsettled.

Unable to focus on her homework, Zhou Xiaoxiao simply put down her pen, picked up the yogurt, and returned to the dormitory.

The girl sitting behind her watched Zhou Xiaoxiao leave, blinking in confusion. Were the top students skipping self-study today?

Yan Wei wasn’t in the classroom or the dormitory, and no one knew where she had gone. She returned just before lights-out, didn’t speak to anyone, took a shower, and went straight to bed.

Before going to sleep, Zhou Xiaoxiao, in the lower bunk, threw away another yogurt box. After brushing her teeth, she lay in bed, lost in thought as she stared at the upper bunk’s bed board.

Jiang Youyi didn’t return to school until Monday morning. Amid the crowd heading to morning self-study, she walked alone toward the dormitory.

By the time she went upstairs, the dormitory was mostly empty. As usual, she planned to sleep through the first two classes before heading to the classroom, but she unexpectedly ran into Yan Wei, who had just stepped out, at the stairwell.

Jiang Youyi: “…”

She turned to leave, but Yan Wei quickly ran over and stopped her.

“How did you get that injury on your face?” Yan Wei asked anxiously, speaking faster than usual, not giving herself time to think or hesitate.

Jiang Youyi didn’t answer and instead asked, “Why are you still in the dormitory?”

“Tell me first,” Yan Wei insisted, staring unblinkingly at the large bruise on Jiang Youyi’s mouth. The corner of her lip was swollen, and her lower lip was broken, with a scab forming.

Jiang Youyi felt uncomfortable under the gaze, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. Her tone was cold and sharp. “It’s none of your business. If you don’t leave now, you’ll be late for morning self-study.”

Yan Wei still refused to leave, stubbornly insisting on getting an answer.

It was a side of her she hadn’t seen before, and it stirred something in her heart.

Ugh, no—no stirring allowed.

“What will you do even if you know? Offer condolences on behalf of the class?” Jiang Youyi’s patience was wearing thin, her tone noticeably irritable.

This time, Yan Wei didn’t back down. She blurted out in one breath, “No matter what, as long as you’re willing to tell me, I’ll definitely stand by your side.”

It was the longest sentence she’d spoken since their reunion.

Jiang Youyi was taken aback for a moment, then the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile—a smile filled with sarcasm that made Yan Wei deeply uncomfortable, as if silently asking her, “What do you even know?”

But Jiang Youyi didn’t voice that question. Instead, she rephrased it: “Want to help me as a friend? Stand up for me?”

Yan Wei: “…Yeah.”

Actually, she wanted to say it wasn’t entirely that, but she had no right to.

Jiang Youyi’s smile gradually faded, and she spoke word by word, “I don’t need it.”

She turned sideways, trying to slip past Yan Wei, and tossed out another remark as she left: “Mind your own business. Don’t let your sympathy overflow. Not everyone is like some stray cat or dog, needing others’ pity.”

Jiang Youyi’s patience had run out, and her words were harsh and hurtful. If it were the Yan Wei from before, she would have been too stung to speak.

But this was Yan Wei, seven years later.

She wanted to change all of this.

Jiang Youyi didn’t manage to escape because Yan Wei grabbed her wrist: “What if I promise you? Then I wouldn’t be just ‘someone else.’”

For a moment, Jiang Youyi thought she was hallucinating.

Yan Wei’s focused, earnest gaze was truly captivating—just like back when they first became desk mates last semester. Once, when Jiang Youyi skipped class and Yan Wei caught her, Yan Wei blocked her path and told her skipping class was wrong. She was so serious it was almost stubborn, and a little cute.

But Jiang Youyi quickly snapped out of it, blinking hard to dispel the stinging wetness in her eyes. Her tone grew colder and more distant than before: “It’s April Fool’s Day, and your joke isn’t funny at all.”

With that, she shook off Yan Wei’s hand and headed toward the staircase, not returning to the dormitory but going straight to the classroom.

She wasn’t entirely unaware that Yan Wei wasn’t joking, but if Yan Wei was just pitying her, she found it utterly unnecessary—even infuriating.

Yan Wei wasn’t some benevolent savior, and she wasn’t some pitiful soul in need of saving.

Watching Jiang Youyi’s figure disappear around the corner, Yan Wei’s sudden burst of courage deflated like a punctured balloon.

She thought she understood why Jiang Youyi was angry, but upon closer reflection, she realized she didn’t understand at all.

Perhaps she didn’t really know Jiang Youyi. So, her presumptuous understanding and concern hadn’t had the intended effect—instead, they had deeply wounded Jiang Youyi’s pride.

Unsurprisingly, Yan Wei was late for morning reading. The Chinese teacher made her stand at the door and assigned a classical text to recite. Yan Wei’s memory for science subjects might have faded, but she was still good with humanities, so she didn’t embarrass herself in front of everyone.

Zhou Xiaoxiao was deeply concerned about her academically gifted desk mate’s unusual behavior.

During the long break, Yan Wei got up to use the restroom. Before leaving, she glanced at Jiang Youyi’s seat—she wasn’t there, having left earlier.

Jiang Youyi had injuries on her face, which were too conspicuous. She definitely wouldn’t go to crowded places.

Yan Wei climbed to the top floor of the teaching building. This floor was filled with laboratories and had few people. In the corner, there was a restroom with a broken faucet.

The person she was looking for was indeed here.

Jiang Youyi was leaning against the white-tiled wall, smoking. Seeing Yan Wei approach, she looked a little surprised, yet not entirely so.

This was a spot they often visited last semester.

Jiang Youyi didn’t try to hide. Instead, she raised the cigarette in her hand, letting the white smoke curl upward, and flicked off the ash. With a tone that was half-joking, half-mocking, she said, “Caught red-handed. Are you going to report me to the teacher, good student?”

Yan Wei had already taken a deep breath beforehand, mentally prepared. Without changing her expression, she walked over to Jiang Youyi, snatched the cigarette from her hand, and took a drag.

The ember glowed briefly before dimming, burning down to the filter. Yan Wei exhaled a puff of smoke, blowing it right into Jiang Youyi’s face.

Jiang Youyi watched as Yan Wei casually stubbed out the cigarette and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

The whole series of movements flowed smoothly, effortlessly. Then, Yan Wei turned back, patted her shoulder, and said, “This brand isn’t good—too strong and harsh.”

Yan Wei pulled out an unopened, elegantly designed cigarette case from her school uniform pocket and shoved it into Jiang Youyi’s hand. It was a relatively new brand of women’s cigarettes, not yet widely known, but one Yan Wei herself had come to favor.

“This one is milder, leaves less of a lingering smell, and isn’t as easily noticed by teachers,” Yan Wei said. After patting her hands clean, she turned and walked away without another word.

Jiang Youyi was stunned.