Hopeless Romance (GL) - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

During the morning self-study session, Zhang Jianwei arranged for everyone to adjust their seats according to height. Ye Du was moved to a middle section; to her left was Shang Ruixi, and to her right was still Jiang Xinwan. As for the seat in front of her—it turned out to be Chen Pupu. Thinking about the awkward icebreaker she had used with her new classmate on the first day, Ye Du felt she had to thank the fresh milk she drank daily; at least it had made her tall enough to avoid being stared at directly, allowing her a bit more ease. Behind her sat Liu Zhou, who was always holding a paintbrush. But that was fine—there would be plenty of opportunities to pass back homework assignments later; no need to worry.

The bell for the first period rang punctually at eight o’clock. Those three crisp “ding-ding-ding” tones officially kicked off the prelude to Ye Du’s middle school life.

The curriculum for this semester was no longer fresh to Ye Du. Back when she was in the sixth grade, Ye Sangshu had already hired a one-on-one tutor to help her preview the seventh-grade material, including the three core subjects: Chinese, Math, and English. Ye Du couldn’t exactly be called a “model” student; she hated studying, yet she needed to study diligently to maintain her grades. She suspected she wouldn’t be able to handle the reality of academic failure—and even if she could, Ye Sangshu certainly wouldn’t be able to endure it. As the teacher explained knowledge points she was already familiar with, Ye Du couldn’t help but lose focus, especially since it was Math, her weakest subject. She doodled on her blank scratch paper or tried to scan the classroom with a natural expression, attempting to hide her daydreaming from the teacher.

Ye Du often observed others. The details she gathered would assemble in her mind like a puzzle of that person, becoming the starting point of a story she might place into her dreams to enrich her “nightlife.” Indeed, Ye Du referred to dreaming as her nightlife; in her view, the dreamscape was another possibility of life. While stretching her neck to relax, she noticed a boy in the adjacent row sitting in the very last seat. He was too tall; the space between the desk and the floor wasn’t even enough for him to stretch out. He probably got asked if he played basketball all the time. She had heard that very tall people didn’t usually have nice voices; she wondered what his sounded like. Lost in thought, she also grew curious: Does he actually play basketball?

When Huang Yuqin moved on to the topic of number lines, Ye Du propped her head up with her hand and decided to listen seriously for the rest of the class. However, the students in front of her were so enthusiastic that they sat perfectly upright, as if Ye Du were the only one not wearing a posture corrector. Unable to see the full blackboard, she simply stared at the back of Chen Pupu’s head and spaced out. She started looking for the whorl of hair on Chen Pupu’s head, guessing it was probably slightly to the right. Chen Pupu’s hair quality was truly excellent—dark, shiny, and not the fine, limp kind; she really should be invited to film shampoo commercials. Between the ends of her hair and the wide collar of the school uniform was a patch of exposed skin that looked exceptionally fair. Ye Du rolled up her sleeve to look at the skin on the inside of her upper arm—supposedly the whitest part of a person’s body. After a serious comparison, she realized she was more than a shade yellower than the other girl.

Chen Pupu must have felt the gaze from behind. Taking advantage of the moment Huang Yuqin turned to write on the board, she glanced back. Ye Du, snapping back from her reverie, instinctively widened her eyes, looking rather dim-witted. Chen Pupu couldn’t help a soft giggle before quickly turning back around.

Jiang Xinwan was poked awake by Ye Du.

“I say, Student Jiang, do you have some heavy study mission to complete at night?” Ye Du chose a more tactful way of asking, considering their relationship.

Hearing this, Jiang Xinwan’s pace toward the cafeteria slowed down. “Huh? Why do you say that?”

“It’s only been the first week of school, and do you know how many times I’ve had to poke you awake?” Ye Du presented the evidence, adhering to the principle of stating facts and reasoning.

“You’re overthinking it. I was just catching up on anime. My mom is on a business trip these few days, so I actually have a chance to watch. Once she’s back, she’ll definitely confiscate everything, so I have to watch to my heart’s content now!” The world of an anime girl was just that simple.

“Still, you should go to bed earlier. I feel like you didn’t hear a single word in class this morning.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Ye Du regretted them. Not only was her relationship with Jiang Xinwan not at that level, but this earnest, lecturing tone sounded exactly like Ye Sangshu. She even disgusted herself.

Jiang Xinwan didn’t mind at all. She laughed and said, “Why is it that when you say it, it’s not as annoying as when my mom says it? Looks like you have a real talent for being a mom.”

Ye Du regretted her previous regret and could only roll her eyes at her companion.

Yunchuan Middle School was not only top-tier in teaching quality but also exceptional in its cafeteria standards. The selection was rich and the flavors were excellent, featuring exquisite stir-fries, various noodle dishes, and even an à la carte option, though those were slightly more expensive. Besides that, there were the deep-fried skewers beloved by students, with a small window that was always crowded. As she had the past few days, Ye Du ordered tomato beef brisket and stir-fried greens. Jiang Xinwan, on the other hand, decided she would try every variety in the cafeteria and rank the top ten best dishes to “save” Ye Du from her monotonous palate.

While Ye Du was looking for a place where two people could sit while maintaining some distance from others, she saw Jiang Xinwan waving at her. As she approached, she realized today’s lunch wasn’t just the two of them—Chen Pupu and Wang Zhu were there too.

“Good thing I asked Wang Zhu to save seats before I joined the line, otherwise we’d be eating standing up,” Jiang Xinwan said to Ye Du while mixing her noodles and sauce.

Ye Du smiled at Chen Pupu and Wang Zhu sitting opposite her and said “thanks” as a greeting.

If the best way to get closer during student years was to be desk-mates, the second best was naturally eating together—after all, it was a friendship forged through the “favor” of securing seats in the cafeteria rush. The middle school cafeteria was always bustling. Groups of teenagers took full advantage of this gap in teacher supervision to chat freely. Against the background noise of the cafeteria ladies’ ladles clattering against metal trays, they enjoyed the bright sunlight, not needing to worry about what the future held.

“Ye Du, I heard your grades are really good, right?” Wang Zhu was the kind of girl who made people feel comfortable, so much so that her question didn’t bother Ye Du.

“Yes.” Ye Du had a brief moment of confusion—how could she be so shamelessly straightforward? Usually, regarding such questions, she would feign modesty and say “they’re okay.”

This answer made the other three burst into laughter simultaneously.

“Ye Du, you’re way too honest. Give this academic loser some face, will you?” Jiang Xinwan chimed in while chewing her noodles.

“Maybe finish eating before you talk,” Ye Du said after swallowing a piece of beef. After answering Jiang Xinwan, she looked up and met Chen Pupu’s beaming face. She couldn’t help but wonder: Is that answer really that funny?

“Then I’ll have to ask you for help a lot in the future! It took a huge effort for me to get into Yunchuan,” Chen Pupu said, poking at the fried rice on her plate with a spoon before taking a bite. When it came to studies, Chen Pupu had never been the “clever” type. Her elementary school teacher’s comments in her report cards were always about “diligence” and “seriousness”; adjectives like “sharp” or “quick-witted” rarely applied to her. Initially, she hadn’t wanted to take the entrance exam for Yunchuan, feeling that even if she got in, life would be difficult. Her older cousin had once told her that as you move up, the difficulty of every subject increases, and hard work alone isn’t enough; some things simply cannot be understood if you don’t have the knack for it. Those words had lingered in her young mind. However, Chen Sijun and Qin Wei were determined for their daughter to succeed, believing it was better to be the tail of a phoenix than the head of a chicken—attending the best school within her reach could only be a good thing. So, starting from the fifth grade, Chen Pupu began targeted preparation for Yunchuan’s independent enrollment exam. Fortunately, her efforts were not in vain, and she managed to get into the experimental class with a middling score. Her parents were thrilled, but when Chen Pupu thought back to those stacks of test papers, she just thought: It was so hard. Thus, when she saw Ye Du admit her academic excellence with such calm confidence, she felt a deep sense of envy. She thought that a child as excellent as Ye Du would naturally have an easier life than others.

“Sure. As long as it’s a problem I know how to do, I can explain it to you,” Ye Du replied. She wasn’t very good at saying no, so she figured she’d just agree for now.

“Ye Du, can I have a share of that too?” Wang Zhu didn’t want to miss such an opportunity. Seeing Ye Du hesitate, Wang Zhu added, “Pupu and I were elementary classmates, and our foundation is about the same. I can just listen in when you’re explaining things to her.”

“You two went to the same elementary school?” Jiang Xinwan was still more interested in things outside of studying.

“Yeah, we were both at Baishui Elementary, in adjacent classes. Oh, by the way, which school did you go to?”

“I was at Experimental Elementary,” Jiang Xinwan said, then turned to Ye Du, waiting for her answer.

“I know this one—Ye Du went to the Yunchuan Middle School Affiliated Primary School.” Ye Du silently congratulated Wang Zhu in her head: Correct answer.

Ye Du really wanted to talk about something else; she had heard enough about grades and schools at home. She asked Chen Pupu, who hadn’t said much: “Do you want to go buy some soda after lunch?”

“Sure, let’s go together,” Chen Pupu answered quickly after swallowing her rice.

The school canteen shop was very grand, with two service windows each taking up an entire wall. Several checkout ladies were busily working inside, and the area behind the window was even more chaotic during the lunch hour. Looking at the layers of students surrounding the windows, Ye Du felt that she and Chen Pupu would likely need five minutes just to break through and get within the ladies’ sight. Squeezing into the shop was one of Ye Du’s least favorite things; she disliked physical contact with strangers, but the crowd was like a human wall—you had to embed yourself into it just to reach the other side. People trying to struggle out and those fighting to move forward had no leverage; they couldn’t use their legs, so they used their hands, often resulting in innocent people being hit by “friendly fire.” Just before an unknown hand was about to land on Chen Pupu’s shoulder, Ye Du instinctively blocked it. When her forearm touched the palm, she felt uncomfortable—the thought “this is a sweaty hand” flashed through her mind—but she was worried that Chen Pupu, who was a head shorter than her, might be knocked straight to the ground if she were shoved like that.

In the end, Ye Du was the one who squeezed in first. She managed to guide Chen Pupu out and then asked her what she wanted to buy, getting drinks for Wang Zhu and Jiang Xinwan as well. She squeezed out from the side of the crowd. The moment her body broke free from the throng, Ye Du felt as if she had been reborn.

“Thank you,” Chen Pupu said, taking half of the drinks from Ye Du’s hands.

“It’s nothing,” Ye Du replied. As she twisted open the bottle of orange soda, she thought to herself: In terms of efficiency, next time I should just go to the shop alone. Otherwise, I have to spend extra time looking out for Chen Pupu—it’s not a very good deal.