DXXZL - 10

The car pulled into the courtyard. Zhu Xingyao stuffed Jiang Tu’s jacket into her backpack and stepped out of the car under Lao Liu’s complicated gaze. She carried her cello on her back and held her bag as she walked into the house.

“Mom, I’m home.”

Ding Yu emerged from the kitchen, holding a freshly squeezed glass of juice. Upon seeing her, she frowned, set the glass down, and walked over. “Where’s your coat? It’s so cold outside, and you’re only wearing one layer. What if you catch a cold?” As she spoke, she helped Zhu Xingyao take the cello off her shoulder.

Zhu Xingyao grabbed a handful of her hair and leaned toward Ding Yu, wrinkling her nose. “Do you smell that? Duck blood vermicelli! Someone bumped into me, and my coat got so dirty I had to throw it away. Are you mad at me?”

That coat had been brought back from abroad by someone Ding Yu had asked, and it really did cost over three thousand yuan.

Thinking about it now, Zhu Xingyao felt a twinge of regret. Maybe… she should have just washed it and kept it?

“You…” Ding Yu poked her cheek with her index finger, scolding her half-heartedly. “Your dad works so hard to earn money so you can buy whatever you like, and here you are being so extravagant, huh?”

Unable to tell the truth, Zhu Xingyao shot back: “You spend tens of thousands of yuan on bags every month, buying three in a row!”

Ding Yu rolled her eyes. “That’s my husband’s money. Why shouldn’t I spend it?”

Zhu Xingyao huffed. “When I start performing concerts, I’ll make a lot of money too. If you and Dad hadn’t stopped me from enrolling in the music program or taking endorsements, I might already be rich.”

She had started learning the cello at six, began performing on stage at eight, and held her first small solo recital at fourteen. After that, agents had approached her, but Zhu Yunping and Ding Yu had refused them. They were somewhat traditional in their thinking. At the time, she had wanted to enroll in a music program to focus more on practicing the cello. She had promised to work hard on her academics, but no matter how much she argued, they wouldn’t agree.

They believed studying music would interfere with her education. At the very least, she had to finish high school properly.

Sometimes, Zhu Xingyao thought about how children were always powerless against the rules set by adults. All she could do was compromise.

She hid in the bathroom for half an hour, washing her hair until she was sure only the scent of shampoo remained. After drying her hair, she suddenly remembered something and took the black jacket out of her bag. She brought it to her nose and sniffed carefully. Aside from the crisp, clean scent of laundry soap, there was still a faint trace of duck blood vermicelli—transferred from her hair.

In the middle of the night, Zhu Xingyao secretly tossed the jacket into the washing machine.

Half an hour later, she crept back to her room with the wet clothes, acting like a thief. She strung a line on the balcony railing and hung the jacket there to dry, ensuring her parents wouldn’t see it.

…

On Sunday evening, Lin Jiayu returned to the entrance of Hexi Alley after handing out flyers all day. She saw Jiang Tu walking out of the dry cleaner’s shop with a bag in his hand. She called out to him: “Jiang Tu!”

Jiang Tu stood on the steps and turned to look at her.

Lin Jiayu ran over, curious. “What were you doing at the dry cleaner’s?”

Jiang Tu continued walking ahead, unfazed. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? Then what’s that in your hand?” Lin Jiayu followed him. Did they even have anything worth taking to the dry cleaner’s? It was so expensive!

Jiang Tu ignored her. Lin Jiayu was used to this and automatically changed the subject: “This morning, Jiang Lu told me that he went out to eat duck blood vermicelli with you and a ‘goddess sister’ last night. You ran into Chen Yi and his gang, right? Was the goddess Zhu Xingyao?”

He paused mid-step and gave a faint “Mm.”

Lin Jiayu smiled. “It really was her! I’ve noticed you two seem to keep running into each other. It’s fate, isn’t it?”

Fate?

Jiang Tu’s lips twitched slightly. Perhaps.

He seemed to have unusually good luck when it came to encountering her. Since a year ago, without deliberately planning any chance meetings, he had often seen her.

“Jiang Lu said she was so cool—she just threw a three-thousand-yuan coat straight into the trash!” When Jiang Lu had recounted the story to her, he had done so animatedly, complete with gestures. Lin Jiayu could vividly imagine the scene. As she spoke, she suddenly glanced at the bag in Jiang Tu’s hand and guessed, “Is that Zhu Xingyao’s coat?”

Jiang Tu paused again and gave another faint “Mm.”

Lin Jiayu was so shocked she couldn’t move. “Did you go back to the shop last night and dig it out of the trash?”

Indeed, Jiang Tu had returned to the shop last night. The coat had already been picked up by the shopkeeper’s wife, who thought it looked beautiful on Zhu Xingyao and had heard it cost three thousand five hundred yuan. She decided to wash it and give it to her daughter to wear.

At the time, Chen Yi and his gang were still there, a group of rowdy thugs making a racket. When they saw Jiang Tu come back for the coat, they burst into laughter and hurled insults at him.

If the shopkeeper hadn’t intervened, shoving the coat into Jiang Tu’s arms and pushing him out of the shop, things might have escalated into a fight.

Jiang Tu lowered his eyes and said flatly: “Three thousand five hundred sixty-eight yuan.”

Lin Jiayu: “….”

She was stunned. She hadn’t expected a single coat to cost so much!

He continued walking forward. Whether it was three thousand five hundred sixty-eight yuan or sixty-eight yuan, he felt it shouldn’t be casually thrown away or worn by someone else. That coat belonged to Zhu Xingyao.

…

Monday arrived, and the seating arrangements for the midterm exams were announced. The exams were scheduled for Wednesday through Friday of that week.

Both Zhu Xingyao’s and Jiang Tu’s backpacks contained a bag holding the other’s jacket. When Li Xixi asked Zhu Xingyao about it, Zhu Xingyao told her what had happened that day. Li Xixi’s eyes widened in surprise: “So… the first time you wore a boy’s clothes, it was Jiang Tu’s?”

Zhu Xingyao froze. It was indeed the first time she had worn a boy’s clothes. A boy’s clothes were loose and warm, carrying his body heat, which felt completely different from wearing her own clothes.

The next moment, she suddenly remembered that she had held hands with Jiang Tu—it was the first time.

Li Xixi hugged her dramatically, feigning heartbreak. “Wuuu, why do I feel like our goddess has been stolen?”

“Who’s been stolen? Huh?” Zhu Xingyao snapped out of her thoughts and gave Li Xixi’s head a rough rub. “If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll rub your head bald.”

Li Xixi: “….”

She quickly shielded her head and wailed: “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Spare me… I don’t want to go bald!”

From the diagonal corner, Zhang Sheng: “….”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi had been whispering about going bald just now. He muttered under his breath: “Li Xixi, can you stop bringing up baldness all the time? Are you sick in the head?”

Li Xixi immediately turned around and retorted: “Are you talking about yourself? If you’re so sensitive, why don’t you go audition for acting schools? Beijing Film Academy or Shanghai Theatre Academy would welcome you!”

Zhang Sheng: “….”

The entire class burst into laughter.

Li Xixi was absolutely brilliant!

Zhang Sheng glanced at Jiang Tu and noticed the faint smile on his lips. He cursed again: “You damn bastard, don’t laugh at me!”

Ding Xiang found this odd. “It’s fine when others laugh, but you get upset when Jiang Tu laughs? What’s wrong with you?”

Yes, why? This had happened several times already.

Everyone else also found it strange.

Jiang Tu was smiling at the sight of Zhu Xingyao playfully wrestling with Li Xixi earlier. Sometimes Zhang Sheng really came across as foolish, and he knew people looked down on him—being mocked by them felt like an insult.

He shot a glance at Zhang Sheng and said indifferently: “What are you to me? Why should I care if I laugh or not?”

Zhang Sheng abruptly stood up. “What gives you the right to act so cocky?”

Just then, the bell rang for class. Cao Ming quickly pulled him back. “Sit down! Teacher Xie Ya is here.”

Sure enough, Xie Ya was already standing outside the classroom, holding her lesson plan and walking in with clicking heels. “Everyone, sit down.”

…

At noon, after school let out, everyone rushed off to eat. Only a few people remained scattered around the classroom.

Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi stood up. Zhu Xingyao picked up a bag and walked toward the back row. Jiang Tu saw the bag in her hand and realized she was returning his jacket.

She handed him the bag and whispered softly: “I washed it.”

Jiang Tu was momentarily stunned—he hadn’t expected her to wash his clothes. He took it from her, his voice low: “Thank you.”

Then, he stood up and pulled a bag out from under his desk, handing it to her. Zhu Xingyao took it with a puzzled expression, unzipped it, and froze. She looked up at him in surprise: “You…”

“It’s been cleaned thoroughly. It should still be wearable,” he said, slipping his phone and keys into his pocket. He glanced at her. “If you don’t want to wear it, that’s fine. Just don’t throw it away so casually next time.”

“… Thank you.”

Zhu Xingyao recalled how boldly she had quoted the price of the coat before tossing it into the trash that night… It probably seemed a bit foolish. Three thousand yuan was a significant amount for Jiang Tu, yet she had thrown it away so carelessly.

He must think she’s wasteful.

—

Another day passed, and the midterm exams began.

The seating arrangement for the exam was based on the results of the monthly test, with students placed in different rooms. Since Jiang Tu hadn’t participated in the monthly test, he was randomly assigned to a room with an empty seat. Coincidentally, he ended up sitting directly behind Zhu Xingyao.

The first exam was Chinese. After finishing her essay, Zhu Xingyao prepared to fill in her multiple-choice answers on the answer sheet. But when she opened her pencil case, she discovered that the lead in her 2B pencil had broken somehow, and she hadn’t brought a pencil sharpener.

She fell silent for two seconds.

The person sitting in front of her was from another class—someone she didn’t know.

She pursed her lips, leaned forward, and turned her head to look behind her, only to unexpectedly meet Jiang Tu’s dark eyes.

Jiang Tu had already finished his exam and taken off his glasses to rest. His gaze was lazily fixed on the girl in front of him when, suddenly, she leaned forward furtively to look back at him. Both were momentarily startled, and he narrowed his eyes slightly.

Zhu Xingyao snapped back to reality and mouthed silently: “Can I borrow a pencil?”

He stared at the small mole on her delicate nose, then lowered his gaze to the desk. On it lay two short stubs of a 2B pencil—the ones he had snapped in half last time. They were too short to be convenient.

Zhu Xingyao waited a few seconds.

The proctor stood up and frowned, clearing their throat. “Sit properly. No exchanging answers.”

Jiang Tu handed the short pencil stub to Zhu Xingyao, who quickly took it and held it up to show the teacher. “Teacher, I’m just borrowing a pencil.”