Not sure if it was because the volume of Fu Zhengchu’s voice was too loud or his words were too shocking, but Sang Zhi clearly looked stunned and froze in place.
Both of them stopped walking at the same time.
The silence made the atmosphere awkward.
Fu Zhengchu stared at her, his eyes gradually dodging, and his earlobes turned red. He scratched his head, trying to stay calm as he asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Sang Zhi was at a loss and could only utter, “Huh?”
She had been confessed to before, but usually, it was through love letters stuffed in her desk’s drawer or text messages. This was her first face-to-face confession, and it was so high-profile.
“Hey.” Sang Zhi accepted this scenario and suddenly became curious, “Do you remember knocking out one of my teeth?”
“……” Fu Zhengchu deeply regretted that incident, but he had indeed done it. He could only weakly defend himself, “How many years ago was that? And didn’t I break my finger then?”
Sang Zhi didn’t hold grudges. “True.”
Fu Zhengchu breathed a sigh of relief, his ears pricked up, anticipating her next words.
Sang Zhi straightforwardly said, “Then you better not like me. I don’t like younger guys.”
Fu Zhengchu paused, then angrily exclaimed, “That’s age discrimination!”
“……”
“Can’t you say something I can change?”
Sang Zhi thought for a moment. “I like good-looking people.”
“……” Fu Zhengchu took a deep breath, pointing at her. “Except for you, no one has ever called me ugly. Are you targeting me? Did you put an ugly filter on me?”
“It’s just,” Sang Zhi said softly, “everyone has different tastes.”
Fu Zhengchu was extremely aggrieved. “Should I get plastic surgery?”
“I didn’t mean that.” Sang Zhi felt a bit wronged by his yelling, muttering, “That’s why I told you not to like me.”
“Forget it.” Fu Zhengchu gave up on talking to her. “Pretend I didn’t say anything.”
Seeing his mood drop, Sang Zhi regretted her harsh words and hesitantly asked, “What do you like about me?”
Fu Zhengchu glanced at her. “You’re good-looking.”
“Oh.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“……”
They were still standing by the escalator on the third floor.
Fu Zhengchu suddenly felt very heavy-hearted. He stared at her for a long time before asking, “Do you not want to date early?”
Sang Zhi nodded. “That’s part of the reason.”
“And the other part is that you think I’m young and ugly.” The more he spoke, the more indignant he felt. Fu Zhengchu pursed his lips tightly, his eyes starting to redden. “Sang Zhi, today is my birthday. Couldn’t you have waited to reject me?”
“……” Sang Zhi was stunned. “Are you crying?”
“I’m not crying!” Fu Zhengchu felt embarrassed, turned away to rub his eyes, and was about to say something when he noticed someone standing behind him.
Fu Zhengchu made eye contact with the other person.
After a few seconds, Fu Zhengchu’s tears receded, feeling a strange sense of familiarity with the person before him.
But he couldn’t recall where he had seen him.
Noticing Fu Zhengchu’s prolonged silence, Sang Zhi suspiciously looked past him and saw Duan Jiaxu standing behind him.
She didn’t know how long he had been standing there.
Seeing their gazes shift, Duan Jiaxu raised an amused eyebrow. “Am I interrupting?”
“……”
Fu Zhengchu instantly remembered who he was.
Sang Zhi’s older brother.
He had seen him in the office last time when Sang Zhi’s guardian had been called to school.
Thinking of his previous words, Fu Zhengchu’s back stiffened. He quickly bowed and nervously said, “Hello, Sang Zhi’s brother!”
Duan Jiaxu responded with a simple “Mm.”
Fu Zhengchu awkwardly ran off in a hurry. “Goodbye, Sang Zhi’s brother!”
“……”
It was strange. Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, Sang Zhi felt a pang of guilt. After a few seconds of thought, she decided to confront Duan Jiaxu. “Brother, were you eavesdropping?”
Duan Jiaxu looked down at her. “Yes.”
“……”
He admitted it so openly that Sang Zhi swallowed her next words. She was at a loss, unsure what to say, and chose to remain silent. She continued to walk downstairs.
Duan Jiaxu leisurely followed behind her. “Our little Sang Zhi has quite the charm.”
“……”
He seemed to find it highly amusing and chuckled softly, the sound carrying lightly, “Even making a little boy cry.”
Sang Zhi didn’t know how to respond, her face turning red. “What do you want?”
“Brother is just showing concern for you.”
Sang Zhi felt uncomfortable. “Stop bringing it up.”
“Alright.” Duan Jiaxu changed the subject, his smile fading a bit. “After I talked to your teacher last time, do you remember what I told you?”
She immediately understood his underlying meaning.
“I don’t remember what you said, but I’m not dating early.” After a pause, Sang Zhi emphasized again, “Definitely not.”
“Good girl.”
Sang Zhi let out a displeased hum.
Duan Jiaxu thought for a moment and softly suggested, “Having such thoughts during adolescence is normal. But don’t hurt others. You can thank them for their feelings first, then reject them.”
“I didn’t hurt him.”
“But you made him cry?”
“I’ve made him cry many times before.” Sang Zhi said matter-of-factly. “We used to fight, and no matter who won, he always ended up crying.”
Duan Jiaxu looked her up and down, amused. “You used to fight?”
They exited the mall and waited at a nearby bus stop.
Sang Zhi honestly replied, “I used to fight when I was little.”
He lazily said, “You’re still little now.”
After a few seconds of silence, Sang Zhi couldn’t help but say, “I’m not little anymore.”
“Hmm?” Duan Jiaxu turned his head, smiled, and gestured to her height. “Alright, it seems you’ve grown a bit. You even know how to be good to Brother.”
Sang Zhi silently looked at him.
Duan Jiaxu said, “Put out your hand.”
Sang Zhi hesitated before extending her hand.
In the next second, Duan Jiaxu returned the ‘entire fortune’ Sang Zhi had just given him. With a smile, he said, “Thank you, little Sang Zhi.”
Sang Zhi looked up slowly.
“Do you know what people would say about me if this got out?” Duan Jiaxu drawled, “They’ll say I extorted a middle schooler and will want to throw me in jail.”
Sang Zhi said earnestly, “It’s not extortion, it’s the money I used to buy desserts.”
Duan Jiaxu replied, “You ate two hundred’s worth? People would say Brother is charging exorbitant prices.”
Unable to outargue him, Sang Zhi stuffed the money back into his hand. “Anyway, I’m giving it to you.”
“Why give me money?” Duan Jiaxu smiled. “Do you think Brother is pitiful?”
“No.” At his mention of this, Sang Zhi recalled how she had seemingly upset him earlier. She hesitated for a moment before apologizing, “I’m sorry, Brother.”
“Hmm?”
Sang Zhi stammered out the words she had been rehearsing all afternoon, “I shouldn’t have asked what I did earlier. I just saw you seemed very busy and I always trouble you, so I felt bad. Also, this is the money you worked hard to earn, I can’t just spend it like that. And I even brought a friend along.”
“……”
Duan Jiaxu’s expression softened and a smile tugged at his lips. “Why are you suddenly talking so formally?”
Sang Zhi answered honestly, “My dad says you have to admit when you’re wrong.”
“Who said you did anything wrong?”
“I felt like my question made you unhappy.” Sang Zhi said, “So that means I did something wrong.”
“It’s alright, I wasn’t unhappy.” Duan Jiaxu rubbed her head. “Take back the money and buy some candy.”
Sang Zhi hid her hands behind her back. “I don’t like candy.”
“Then buy something you like.” Duan Jiaxu lowered his eyelids and looked into her bright eyes. “When Brother is truly penniless in the future, I’ll come to borrow money from you, okay?”
———pr
This translation is by Pocketrobbin at S h a n g h a i f a n t a s y . c o m
Once on the bus, Sang Zhi sat by the window in the back seat. She glanced at Duan Jiaxu standing outside, then quickly looked away. She then stared at the money he had stuffed into her bag.
Sang Zhi zipped it up gloomily.
Night had yet to fall and the sky was a dark red, dyeing the vast clouds with color. The distant mountains looked like a painting, their contours clear and distinct, dotting the colorful expanse.
Sang Zhi extended her finger and traced the character ‘Duan’ on the window before quickly erasing it.
Her mood suddenly became very low.
She felt confused.
Does growing older mean having more worries?
But she didn’t think she was that old yet.
And Duan Jiaxu didn’t seem to be, either.
This unexpected encounter was the last time Sang Zhi saw Duan Jiaxu that summer. In the following month, Sang Zhi attended a summer painting class and started her holiday homework.
She became busy with the things someone her age should be busy with.
Sang Zhi never asked Sang Yan about Duan Jiaxu, nor did she reach out to him herself. She didn’t know if he ever went home or if he was still working hard at his part-time job.
But she quietly bought a piggy bank.
Quietly, she saved up a lot of unused pocket money in it.
Perhaps she might never use it.
But occasionally, she thought she might need it someday.
The new semester began and Sang Zhi was now in her second year of middle school.
In the placement exam at the start of the term, Sang Zhi performed normally and got into the advanced class. Most of her classmates were new faces, and even her closest friend Yin Zhenru was assigned to another class and ended up in the same class as Fu Zhengchu.
After changing classes, Yin Zhenru rarely sought out Sang Zhi to play anymore.
Sang Zhi wasn’t very proactive herself, so their contact grew less frequent. Being somewhat of a loner, she didn’t dwell on it.
In the blink of an eye, October passed.
Xuri Middle School began preparing for the school sports meet, borrowing facilities from the neighboring Nanwu University. Sang Zhi had no interest in sports, but with few girls in her class, her teacher strongly insisted she sign up for an event.
Reluctantly, Sang Zhi signed up for the long jump.
Her class even pooled money to get matching uniforms. The design was picked by Chen Mingxu, who allowed no objections. The central motif was a large sunflower, looking flamboyant.
It was the tackiest uniform Sang Zhi had ever seen.
———pr
The day of the sports meet.
Feeling embarrassed, Sang Zhi changed into the uniform only after arriving at school, then joined the large group heading to Nanwu University nearby.
This was her second time there since Sang Yan moved into his dorm, so it didn’t feel new.
The boys without events gathered in the stands to play Three Kingdoms Online. Sang Zhi watched for a while before hearing the broadcast call for second-year girls’ long jump registration. She went to the registration area with another girl from her class.
Besides the venue, Nanwu University had arranged a bunch of volunteers for them.
For instance, now.
At the registration area, Sang Zhi saw her older brother.
Sang Yan sat under the registration booth. Seeing her, a slight smile appeared on his lips and he tapped his pen on the table mischievously. “Student, you don’t meet the qualifications to participate. Go back.”
Sang Zhi swallowed her anger. “What qualification?”
“Your height.”
“I didn’t hear that height was a requirement to participate in the long jump.”
Sang Yan glanced at her and leaned back. “Well, you can’t be under 120 cm.” He then turned his head to the person sleeping beside him and laughed. “Right, Bro?”