Embedded Files
Psst! We're moving!
When Lin Zhe Xia entered the house, Lin He scolded her: “Why are you coming home so late?”
Lin Zhe Xia was changing her shoes at the entrance and replied: “I… I went to the bookstore with Chi Yao.”
“Our Chinese teacher talked about essays today and recommended a set of books. We were advised to buy them, but after looking around in the bookstore, we couldn’t find them.”
Lin He didn’t suspect anything and said: “Do you have enough pocket money? If you need more for the books, remember to tell me.”
Lin Zhe Xia: “I have enough.”
When Lin Zhe Xia put down her schoolbag and sat at the table to eat, Lin He asked again: “Why is your face so red?”
Lin Zhe Xia hadn’t noticed that her face was flushed.
It wasn’t until she raised her hand to touch her cheek that she realized it was indeed a bit hot.
“It might be because the weather is too hot,” she said. “The temperature has been very high lately.”
Indeed, the weather had been getting hotter recently.
Lin He didn’t think much of it and placed a piece of food into her bowl: “That’s true. It’s been really hot lately. Be careful and don’t get heatstroke.”
In the evening, Chen Lin sent her a message.
Chen Lin: Did you go?
Lin Zhe Xia replied: Yes.
Chen Lin: See, I told you—it doesn’t hurt at all, right?
Lin Zhe Xia: …Uh-huh.
It didn’t hurt.
Because the person who got pierced wasn’t her.
Chen Lin then enthusiastically asked: What kind of earring did you choose?
Chen Lin: I actually really like those with dangling earrings.
Chen Lin: But they’re too noticeable—I’m afraid Teacher Xu will warn me.
Lin Zhe Xia didn’t know how to explain it to her, so she skipped over the topic.
Instead, she reminded Chen Lin: Stop playing with your phone. We have a lot of homework today. Hurry up and finish it.
For now, Lin Zhe Xia pushed aside the guilt of dragging Chi Yao to get his ear pierced. Even while doing homework, the image of the silver cross and Chi Yao’s face kept popping into her mind from time to time.
Before bed, she opened the chat box with Chi Yao and honestly apologized.
-Sorry.
She held her phone, enduring her burning ears, and typed out one character at a time: Big… Brother.
But even after typing it, she still didn’t have the courage to send it.
This title seemed to carry a special kind of magic.
After all, calling someone who wasn’t her brother “big brother” felt strange.
She turned over under the covers, grabbed her messy hair, and finally deleted the two characters.
In the end, she sent him a nickname they often used between each other.
-Dad orz
________________________________________
The next day, the first thing Chen Lin did when she arrived at school was to check Lin Zhe Xia’s ears.
However, the girl’s earlobes remained clean—there was nothing there.
Chen Lin asked: “Where’s your ear piercing?”
Lin Zhe Xia: “It’s a long story…”
Chen Lin: “Then make it short.”
After a few seconds of silence, Lin Zhe Xia said: “To make a long story short, the ear piercing ended up on someone else’s ear.”
Chen Lin: “???”
Before Chen Lin could recover from this answer, Tang Shuxuan happened to enter the classroom. She was late today, arriving just in time for class, and the first thing she said upon entering was an unusually vulgar exclamation: “Shit.”
Her next sentence was:
“Chi Yao is wearing an earring today.”
For high school students, getting an ear piercing was somewhat taboo. While girls getting their ears pierced was relatively common and something many teachers and students could overlook, boys wearing earrings—forget about their grade; even flipping through the entire school history, they probably wouldn’t find a second person.
Not to mention, the person wearing the earring was Chi Yao.
Even if he did nothing but sleep on his desk during breaks, he already stood out enough.
So Tang Shuxuan’s reaction to hearing this news was one of utter shock.
On the other hand, Lin Zhe Xia, as the instigator, felt a bit guilty and asked cautiously: “How did you find out?”
“It’s not just me—everyone in the grade knows.”
Tang Shuxuan said, “On my way to school, everyone around me was talking about it. And apparently, two people in the neighboring class have gone crazy over this.”
Lin Zhe Xia: “…”
Tang Shuxuan shared her thoughts: “Before I came, I even stopped by Class One’s door to take a look. Honestly speaking, if I didn’t consider his personality, Chi Yao wearing an earring would make me chase him for his contact information a thousand and eighty times, and I’d still dream about it years after graduation.”
Chen Lin also caught on and poked Lin Zhe Xia with her pen: “Your ear piercing… You didn’t get it on Chi Yao’s ear, did you?”
Lin Zhe Xia sheepishly admitted: “You guessed right.”
Since their class hadn’t performed well on last semester’s final exam, Class Seven had an extra mock test right at the start of their sophomore year.
The homeroom teacher stayed in the classroom almost all day.
During breaks, Lin Zhe Xia didn’t have much time to spare and couldn’t go to Class One to see Chi Yao. She could only indirectly gather updates about Class One from others.
From what others told her, Chi Yao seemed to have been ordered by the grade director, Old Liu, to stand as punishment for wearing an earring.
“He’s standing as punishment? That’s a bit excessive, isn’t it?”
“There are plenty of girls in our school who get their ears pierced.”
“…”
“Girls and boys are different, though. A boy wearing an earring—our school probably can’t ignore that.”
Amidst the quiet chatter,
Someone said: “That’s not punishment—it feels more like a public exhibition.”
“When he stands in the hallway, four or five classes in a row are watching him. My friend in Class Two told me that many people in their class today were staring out the window instead of paying attention to the lesson.”
Meanwhile, outside Class One on the second floor.
After the bell rang, students quickly filed into the classroom, and soon there was no one left in the hallway except for one slightly conspicuous figure.
Class One was located at the end of the corridor. The young man leaned against the wall, holding his phone in one hand and a textbook in the other.
He lowered his head, typing a message to someone.
Inside the classroom, Xu Ting was also looking at his phone.
After Chi Yao tapped him, he immediately replied:
-What’s up?
Cat Head sent a message: Got a pen?
Cat Head: If you do, toss one out.
Xu Ting: Funny you should ask. As the saying goes, bad students have plenty of stationery. I lack everything except pens.
Xu Ting even snapped a picture of his desk and sent it: [/image]
Xu Ting: Which one do you want?
Xu Ting: Are you looking for a simple yet classic Deli pen, or a noble yet stylish Japanese Pilot?
Cat Head responded with two words: Idiot.
And then another two: Whatever.
Before the teacher entered the classroom, Xu Ting raised his hand high and threw a pen out the window. The person outside casually caught it.
After throwing the pen, Xu Ting couldn’t help but send another message: But seriously, what’s with that earring?
Cat Head replied succinctly: Forgot to take it off.
After sending this reply, Chi Yao pressed the screen off and continued leaning against the wall, listening to the class with one hand holding his book.
He really had forgotten to take it off.
After being dragged by a certain cowardly debtor to get his ear pierced yesterday, he woke up the next morning forgetting that there was something new on his ear.
After all, in his sixteen years of life, he had never worn such a thing before.
It wasn’t until he entered the classroom that he realized even more people were staring at him than usual.
Until Xu Ting entered the class and exclaimed: “Damn, that earring looks pretty cool.”
Then, Old Liu passed by in the hallway and immediately noticed the commotion. Pushing through the crowd, he saw where everyone’s eyes were focused and, drawing deep from his diaphragm, erupted in anger: “Chi Yao—come to my office!”
Recalling this, Chi Yao absentmindedly listened to the lecture while idly scribbling along with the teacher’s explanations on the blackboard using a black pen in his notebook.
Lin Zhe Xia waited until dismissal in the evening before she had time to find Chi Yao.
Their last class of the day was going over the graded exam papers, and the teacher dragged class for nearly twenty minutes. By the time she packed her things, Chi Yao had already been waiting for her at the corner of the corridor for a while.
“We were discussing the test in our class,” she explained.
Chi Yao’s game had just ended on his phone, and he said: “I heard.”
Lin Zhe Xia: “Our Mr. Xu does have quite the loud voice.”
After a moment, she added: “Actually, standing here waiting for me while still listening to the lecture and reviewing problems isn’t a waste of time.”
Chi Yao: “Not just that—you can also listen to some comedy.”
As he spoke, he mimicked the conversation between her and Mr. Xu earlier in class: “‘Lin Zhe Xia, stand up and explain how to solve this problem.’”
“‘Teacher, I got this one wrong.’”
“‘Of course I know you got it wrong—that’s why I called on you. Go ahead, explain.’”
“‘But… Teacher, I only got it wrong because I didn’t know how to solve it.’”
Finally, he commented: “Quite entertaining. Definitely not a waste of time.”
Lin Zhe Xia: “…”
She didn’t feel like arguing with him and instinctively glanced at Chi Yao’s right ear.
The earring on his ear had been removed, leaving only a slightly red, unhealed piercing.
She asked: “Did Old Liu scold you?”
Chi Yao made a vague sound, clearly not bothered: “He said a few words to me.”
She had always found it odd how Chi Yao, as an honor student, didn’t fit the typical mold.
The necessary traits of a good student and some characteristics of a “bad student” were blended together in him in an incredibly subtle way.
Lin Zhe Xia: “Where’s your earring?”
Chi Yao: “I took it off.”
After saying that, he added: “Old Liu said I couldn’t wear it.”
Figures.
With her backpack slung over her shoulder, she casually remarked as she walked down the stairs: “It’s a shame. After this, we won’t see it anymore. That earring really suited you.”
Because Chi Yao had been punished for wearing the earring, Lin Zhe Xia felt a bit guilty. So after school, she took out a little more pocket money and splurged on an iced latte for Chi Yao.
On the bus ride back, the two weren’t sitting together—they were one row apart, seated front and back.
Lin Zhe Xia was bored sitting alone and stared out the window, suddenly recalling the website Chen Lin had shared with her at the beginning of freshman year.
With an indescribable feeling, she dug up the forum URL from their chat history.
She didn’t need to search for any keywords specifically.
Upon opening it, the homepage of the school forum was flooded with discussions about Chi Yao.
Even though they had moved on to sophomore year, the level of discussion about him within the school had only increased.
The post with the most replies, pinned to the top, was about the “earring.”
1L: [Does anyone not know yet? Chi Yao came to school wearing an earring today.]
2L: [I doubt anyone doesn’t know by now.]
3L: [Just found out, thanks. Right after class, I pretended to go to the office to ask the teacher a question but really just passed by Class One to take a peek.]
4L: [Hurry up and take a look—it won’t be long before Old Liu comes to patrol.]
…
Lin Zhe Xia’s finger hovered over the screen, slowly scrolling down.
The discussion quickly shifted from “hurry up and see” to “punishment.”
Someone even sneaked a blurry photo of him standing as punishment.
Lin Zhe Xia clicked on it, and what greeted her eyes was the school building’s long corridor. At the far end, a tall figure could be faintly seen. Even blurred into a mosaic, it was clear that this person was very good-looking.
She stared at the photo for a moment, secretly pressing the save button.
She saved it quickly, as if afraid of being caught.
After saving the image, she continued scrolling through the forum.
The discussions after that point had dwindled significantly.
146L: [Alright, let’s disperse. The earring is gone, the punishment is over—only a distracted me remains.]
147L: [Distracted +1.]
Some of the remaining comments echoed her own thoughts.
148L: [But I really haven’t seen enough. The earring appeared for such a short time.]
149L: [Old Liu’s eyesight is so sharp—why does it have to be this way? I hate it.]
150L: [Will we never see it again?]
151L: [Of course not. Old Liu already talked to him—it’s impossible for him to wear it again.]
…
After finishing browsing the forum, Lin Zhe Xia lowered her head and took a sip of the iced latte in her hand.
________________________________________
The next day was the weekend.
Lin Zhe Xia slept in and didn’t wake up until noon.
By the time she got up, both Lin He and Wei Ping were already out.
After a quick meal, she planned to start on her homework.
But after only solving a few problems, she realized this math assignment was particularly difficult.
Without thinking twice, she tapped Chi Yao’s profile on WeChat.
-Are you there?
As usual, he replied quickly.
-?
Lin Zhe Xia typed:
-You must be lonely doing homework by yourself.
-Professional homework companion, delivery within ten minutes. If interested, reply with a 1.
He replied with a single digit: 2.
…
Lin Zhe Xia didn’t care what he meant by that. She packed up her homework and headed straight for Chi Yao’s house.
Without hesitation, she rang the doorbell at Chi Yao’s place and called out from behind the door: “Hello—I’m your professional homework companion. Please sign for me.”
Chi Yao took his time opening the door.
The moment the door opened, the first thing Lin Zhe Xia saw wasn’t anything else—it was the silver cross earring still on Chi Yao’s right earlobe.
After changing out of his school uniform, Chi Yao’s appearance seemed even more striking than before.
Lin Zhe Xia couldn’t help but steal a few extra glances. It wasn’t until he spoke that she snapped back to reality: “What’s the return policy?”
“…”
“No returns,” Lin Zhe Xia said. “This is a forced buy-sell situation.”
Chi Yao looked at her, said nothing more, and stepped aside to let her in.
Familiar with the place, Lin Zhe Xia pulled up a chair and sat down on the other side of Chi Yao’s desk: “I don’t understand this problem. Can you explain it to me?”
Chi Yao watched as she pointed at the question with her pen and said: “Do you think I’m an audio book?”
Lin Zhe Xia replied: “Chi Yao-branded audio book—just point wherever you don’t understand.”
He extended his hand: “Pay up.”
Lin Zhe Xia: “Can we negotiate? Maybe I can freeload.”
Chi Yao sneered: “Nice try.”
Though he said that, he still started explaining the problem to her.
Taking the pen from her hand, he began working out the formula on a piece of paper.
His calculations were concise and clear. As Lin Zhe Xia stared at the draft paper, she understood halfway through.
Chi Yao kept writing.
After grasping the concept, Lin Zhe Xia’s gaze shifted elsewhere.
The earring was close to her.
She thought about those posts lamenting how unfortunate it was that they wouldn’t get to see it anymore.
Then she belatedly realized something.
She could see it.
In fact, it seemed like she might be the only one who could see it now.
Google Sites
Report abuse