Confession to You in Early Summer - Chapter 6

Students who have never participated in a long-distance hike cannot truly understand the agony of walking seventeen kilometers. The freshmen who initially dismissed it as no big deal and eagerly dashed ahead all learned a painful lesson.

The more joyfully they ran at the start, the more excruciating it became when they had to crawl on their knees to finish the journey.

However, the sophomores, who had prepared in advance, didn’t fare much better either. The first half of the hike was filled with laughter and chatter, but in the second half, they dragged each other along, unwilling to continue yet forced to press on.

Yan Wei couldn’t bear it halfway through. Blisters had formed on the soles of her feet, and every step felt like a stab of pain. She simply found a relatively clean-looking rock by the roadside and sat down to rest for a while.

This outdoor activity was truly a test of both physical endurance and mental fortitude. Yan Wei could study in the classroom all day without losing focus, but her body succumbed to the seventeen-kilometer hike, forcing her to stop and massage her calves to give herself a break.

Jiang Youyi, having experienced Yan Wei’s water-snatching incident earlier, had long since run off without a word, not uttering a single syllable more. By now, she was probably almost at the finish line.

Zhou Xiaoxiao sat down beside Yan Wei. Classmates around them passed by one after another, while others, like Yan Wei, were too exhausted to continue, stopping in small groups to rest.

“Yan Wei, isn’t your family in Yizhou? The hike ends this afternoon, and then we have time off. Are you going home?” Zhou Xiaoxiao took a sip of water and chatted casually with Yan Wei.

The journey between Yizhou and Fudu took about four to five hours by car. Yan Wei usually stayed at the dormitory and rarely went home, only returning during longer holidays each semester. With the three-day Qingming Festival break, after deducting the time spent on the highway, she would have two days to rest.

“Yeah, I’m going back.” Mentioning going home, Yan Wei’s mood dipped slightly, though she didn’t let Zhou Xiaoxiao notice.

Zhou Xiaoxiao’s family lived in the same city, but they didn’t pay much attention to her, so she usually stayed at the dormitory on weekends as well. However, she would likely go home for Qingming Festival.

“Oh,” Zhou Xiaoxiao responded, sounding a bit disappointed.

Yan Wei asked her, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Zhou Xiaoxiao sighed, swinging her legs. “It’s just that my parents went back to our hometown for Qingming Festival without me and told me to stay at the dormitory. Everyone in the dorm is leaving, even the goddess is going. I’ll be all alone and miserable. It’s so hard!”

Yan Wei couldn’t help but chuckle. Unfortunately, she had to go back this time; otherwise, staying behind to keep Zhou Xiaoxiao company would have been nice.

“There are a few classmates in the neighboring dormitory whose homes are far away, so they probably won’t go back. You can invite them to hang out then. Two or three days will pass in no time.” Yan Wei, having rested enough, stood up and shook her legs.

Zhou Xiaoxiao shrugged without commenting.

The remaining half of the hike was particularly grueling for Yan Wei. If not for her concern about her image, she would have given up on the spot, pretended to be sick, and asked the patrolling teacher for a ride.

In the end, however, she persevered and completed the journey. Just before six o’clock, she and Zhou Xiaoxiao followed the last few unfamiliar students back to the parking area.

The students of Class Eleven had already gathered, with only Yan Wei and Zhou Xiaoxiao missing. After the ordeal of seventeen kilometers, the girls looked visibly worn out, leaning against their seats, some playing on their phones, others chatting.

The school had strict rules about mobile phones. Usually, teachers absolutely forbade students from bringing phones to class. But for this rare outdoor activity, Teacher Xu turned a blind eye to the phone usage, letting it slide.

The boys were howling and lamenting, yet they continued roughhousing in the bus, showing no signs of exhaustion.

Yan Wei and Zhou Xiaoxiao boarded the bus and found that the only two remaining seats were separated—one in the middle of the bus and the other at the back.

Two girls were sitting by the window, with Jiang Youyi occupying the seat at the back.

First come, first served. Since Yan Wei and Zhou Xiaoxiao arrived later, it wouldn’t be fair to ask others to move to the aisle seats. Yan Wei glanced at Jiang Youyi, then turned to Zhou Xiaoxiao behind her and said, “I’m not close with Zhang Yutong, so I’d feel awkward sitting next to her. Why don’t you take that seat?”

Zhou Xiaoxiao had no objections to Yan Wei’s arrangement. The front seat was slightly better than the back, and Yan Wei was giving her the better option.

But…

“Jiang Youyi seems to be in a bad mood. Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Zhou Xiaoxiao was a bit worried. Jiang Youyi’s emotions were too obvious—ever since she inexplicably got angry earlier, she had hardly spoken to anyone.

Yan Wei smiled. “It’s fine.”

“Alright,” Zhou Xiaoxiao replied, half-convinced.

Once Yan Wei and Zhou Xiaoxiao reached an agreement, Yan Wei headed straight for the back of the bus. Jiang Youyi was listening to music with her earbuds in. Amidst the noisy environment, she sat alone, gazing out the window, appearing exceptionally quiet.

Someone took the empty seat beside her, but Jiang Youyi didn’t turn around. It wasn’t until the bus started moving that she realized the person sitting next to her was Yan Wei.

Yan Wei took off the backpack she had been carrying and held it in her arms, unzipping it to rummage inside. She kept her head down, and a few strands of her long bangs, which had been tucked behind her ears, escaped, partially covering her face.

Her forehead, nose, lips, and jawline traced a soft yet dynamic curve. Her youthful face radiated a vibrant energy, yet she carried herself with a maturity and composure that surpassed most of her peers.

And she was exceptional.

Jiang Youyi added this thought in her mind.

Before Yan Wei found what she was looking for and lifted her head, Jiang Youyi turned her face away just in time, as if her earlier glance had been nothing more than a casual look. As the reflection in her pupils vanished, so did any trace of her lingering gaze.

A hand holding two adhesive bandages appeared before her. “Did you scrape your knee earlier?”

There was a small tear in Jiang Youyi’s pants, with a bit of blood seeping through the edges.

Earlier, she had been tricked by Yan Wei and stormed off in a fit of anger, even leaving behind the cola she had just bought.

Yan Wei had seen her fall from a distance. Although Jiang Youyi got up immediately and walked even faster around the corner, Yan Wei had noticed her limping slightly, her steps uneven.

Mentioning the earlier incident only made Jiang Youyi angrier. What exactly did Yan Wei mean by all this?

Unable to accept a confession from a girl of the same gender, yet insisting on being friends, making ambiguous gestures that invited speculation but were still within the bounds of friendship.

If you like someone, be with them. If you don’t, keep your distance. Choosing to settle for friendship because you can’t be lovers is nothing but self-deception, hurting both yourself and others.

She didn’t want to lie to herself and pretend she didn’t care, so she wanted to cut ties with Yan Wei. But Yan Wei—how could she act as if nothing had happened?

The adhesive bandages Yan Wei offered went unaccepted. Jiang Youyi ignored them, keeping her head down as she played on her phone, her fingers tapping rapidly on the screen as if she were playing some rhythm-based audio game.

Ever since earlier, Jiang Youyi had been unable to focus, making repeated mistakes in her gameplay. When the level ended, her score hit a new low. Frustrated and irritable, she felt an overwhelming urge to vent her anger.

That hand finally withdrew.

Jiang Youyi turned off her phone screen, tucked it into her school uniform pocket, and leaned her head against the window, ready to sleep.

Suddenly, the person beside her leaned over and, without warning, lifted the hem of her pants.

Caught off guard, Jiang Youyi was more startled than angry. She instinctively tried to pull her leg back, but Yan Wei skillfully pressed it down. “Don’t move.”

Yan Wei’s words were like a spell. Jiang Youyi indeed stopped struggling, but her calf remained tightly tensed, her fingers gripping the seam of her pants, like a tamed yet wary cat.

Jiang Youyi was wearing a pair of loose-fitting cropped jeans. She was already thin, so with just a lift of the pant leg, it easily rolled up to her knee, revealing a scraped wound about the size of a thumb.

The wound had already stopped bleeding, slightly redder than her normal skin tone, covered with a thin layer of dried blood.

Yan Wei didn’t offer meaningless concern. Instead, she silently tore open a bandage, gently placed it over the wound, carefully smoothed down the edges with her thumb, and then lowered the pant leg. She said to Jiang Youyi, “Be careful when bathing these next couple of days. Don’t let the wound get wet.”

Jiang Youyi: “…”

After speaking, Yan Wei retreated to her own seat, leaned back in the chair, and closed her eyes to rest.

The journey took half an hour, and it felt like they were back at school in the blink of an eye.

After the students in front had gradually left, Yan Wei stood up. As her foot touched the ground, a sharp pain shot through her sole. She steadied herself by holding onto the back of the seat in front of her.

After getting off the bus, Jiang Youyi wordlessly walked past Yan Wei, moving ahead from the side.

It wasn’t yet seven o’clock, and the sky was just beginning to darken. Many parents were waiting at the school gate to pick up their children for the holiday.

Yan Wei needed to take the school bus home, so she had to return to the dormitory first to pack her suitcase.

Zhou Xiaoxiao waited for Yan Wei to go back to the dormitory together. Only after Jiang Youyi had walked far away did she approach Yan Wei and whisper, “Jiang Youyi just slipped something into your bag.”

“Huh?” Yan Wei was surprised. “What is it?”

Following Zhou Xiaoxiao’s direction, she pulled a brand-new tube of ointment from the small side pocket of her backpack. After glancing at the ointment’s intended use, she couldn’t help but smile, her eyebrows curving upward.

An ointment for disinfecting external wounds—instead of keeping it for herself, she had secretly slipped it to her.

Yan Wei and Jiang Youyi had been in the same class since their first year of high school and even shared the same dormitory, though they usually didn’t interact much.

Last year, during the Qingming Festival, it had rained continuously for several days. The hiking activity was scheduled after the holiday. That day, Yan Wei had also developed blisters on her feet, which broke and became painful enough to keep her awake at night. The next day, the soles of her feet became infected and inflamed, and she even had to visit the school clinic. Everyone in the dormitory knew about it at the time.

What surprised Yan Wei was that Jiang Youyi even remembered this incident.

Looking up and not seeing Jiang Youyi anywhere, Zhou Xiaoxiao asked curiously, “Why did she give you ointment?”

Yan Wei put the ointment back into her backpack and smiled. “I asked her to buy it for me. I just forgot to ask her for it earlier.”

Zhou Xiaoxiao felt something was off, but compared to the oddity of Jiang Youyi’s behavior, she was more concerned about why Yan Wei had bought the ointment. “Are you injured?”

“Yeah, sort of,” Yan Wei said casually. “Just a little scrape, nothing serious.”

Zhou Xiaoxiao let out an “oh” and didn’t ask further.

When Yan Wei and Zhou Xiaoxiao returned to the dormitory, Jiang Youyi was already carrying a backpack, ready to leave.

“Jiang—” Zhou Xiaoxiao was about to greet Jiang Youyi, but Jiang Youyi dodged slightly, quickly walked past them, turned the corner, and went downstairs.

Zhou Xiaoxiao frowned. “What’s up with Jiang Youyi?”

One moment she’s giving Yan Wei something, the next she’s ignoring people.

But Yan Wei happily curled the corners of her lips into a smile.

“What are you laughing at?” Zhou Xiaoxiao was utterly baffled.

Yan Wei stopped laughing and shook her head. “Nothing.”

It was just that, a moment ago, she had seen a blushing Jiang Youyi.