04
Tong Yao accidentally interrupted someone’s confession to Jiang Jinyue. The day just happened to be May 20th, “520” 1.
Even after he returned to his seat, Tong Yao was still brooding over his discourteousness. But then he thought about it again——if he didn’t appear to disrupt them, what if the girl’s confession was successful?
There was only half a month before the college entrance examination2. How could Jiang Jinyue be distracted by miscellaneous things like early love3? He was someone who should be admitted into the best universities in the country, ranking first in their grade!
Thinking about it this way, the entanglement in Tong Yao’s heart faded a lot. But immediately after, his nose began to feel sore.
Jiang Jinyue would eventually fall in love one day. When that time comes, there would be no more college entrance examination, and it wouldn’t be early love. Tong Yao would have no reason to disturb Jiang Jinyue anymore.
Discouraged, Tong Yao laid down on his desk. When he looked down, he unexpectedly saw the corner of an envelope peeking out from the desk cubby. Tong Yao pulled it out to take a look.
It was a letter. Who would suddenly write a letter to him?
Tong Yao looked around and realized that nobody was paying attention to him, so he opened the envelope.
“Three years have passed, but you seem to never pay attention to me. I can’t bear it anymore. Today, I confess to you: Tong Yao, I like you. On June 8, after the end of the college entrance examination, I will be waiting for you in the school’s forest grove.”
Tong Yao’s jaw was about to fall down. A girl actually confessed to him!
Wasn’t this an honor only Jiang Jinyue could have? If it weren’t for the two characters “Tong Yao” written clearly on the paper, he would have thought this was a letter for Jiang Jingyue that had been stuffed inside the wrong desk.
Signed, Red Dot Bean? This was obviously a nickname, but who had a nickname like this? Tong Yao wasn’t familiar with the handwriting either.
He began thinking of his female classmates. Was it Mu Yuhong, the representative of the English class?
No way, that was impossible, the entire class knew she liked Jiang Jinyue.
Maybe Li Hongmiao?
No, that was even more impossible. She was already the sport committee representative’s girlfriend.
Seeing the chemistry teacher leisurely enter the classroom, Tong Yao wondered, it couldn’t be the chemistry teacher Chen Hongjuan, right?
He immediately shivered. He was really turning to any doctor one could find when critically ill4. Sister Juan already had two children!
But thinking about it, it didn’t really matter who it was. Because no matter who it was, Tong Yao wouldn’t be able to respond to that person.
He couldn’t imagine a world where he didn’t like Jiang Jinyue and liked other people instead. After all, Tong Yao already had a crush on Jiang Jinyue for three entire years.
From the first time he caught sight of Jiang Jinyue until now, his feelings haven’t disappeared for a single second.
05
When school was over, like usual, Jiang Jinyue threw his schoolbag on his back. Leaving the classroom first, he headed straight to the nanny car waiting for him at the school gate.
“Young master, your clothes have been prepared for you.”
As soon as Jiang Jinyue closed the car door, he quickly took off his “Fat Weeb” T-shirt, grabbed the Armani shirt from his butler’s hand and put it on.
Jiang Jinyue’s well-proportioned abdominal muscles and strong back were full of red dots, like an allergic reaction.
“Young master, why are you doing this? Not wearing your own clothes to wear such low-quality ones. If you want to make friends, you don’t need to have the exact things for clothing, food, housing and transportation. You can also make friends without doing this.”
The old butler has looked after Jiang Jinyue for more than ten years and considered Jiang Jinyue as his own child. Upon seeing the traces on Jiang Jinyue’s body, he of course felt distressed for him.
After Jiang Jinyue put on his shirt, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had easily allergic skin. This T-shirt, bought from a park stall for twenty dollars, had tortured him all day.
“Uncle Wu, you don’t understand. No matter what method I use, he won’t take a single look at me.”
Jiang Jinyue shifted his gaze out of the car window and looked at Tong Yao, who was walking out of the school gate with his backpack. He was still holding the straps of his bag with both hands, looking just like a primary school student.
Seeing his young master’s gaze, filled with loss, Butler Wu felt very shocked. There were actually people who were not attracted to Jiang Jinyue despite his charm. His young master was even working so hard!
Jiang Jinyue didn’t recollect his gaze until Tong Yao walked far away, becoming a small dot in the distance.
But it didn’t matter. He still had a last resort.
The car’s engine started. Jiang Jinyue leaned back onto his seat with his eyes closed.
After all, today, he saw Tong Yao open that envelope with his own eyes.
06
Time passed very fast, and it became June 1st in the blink of an eye. Their graduation yearbook began quietly circulating in the class.
Even Jiang Jinyue prepared one. His classmates all scrambled to leave a message on Jiang Jinyue’s copy.
Things like “Don’t forget each other, even if you become rich”, written in huge print, as if they were afraid that the top student of their class would forget them in the future.
When Jiang Jinyue’s graduation yearbook finally reached Tong Yao, the entire book was already completely filled with messages. Tong Yao could only leave a comment on the book’s spine.
The moment Tong Yao was about to write, his hands became all sweaty. He rubbed them hard on his clothes in fear of staining Jiang Jinyue’s book.
“When came the time to part with melancholy, with the full moon soaking in the boundless river.”
The strokes in the first four characters all looked shaky. Only for the last three characters, Tong Yao forcibly restrained the trembling of his right hand and wrote them seriously.
After he finished writing, Tong Yao suddenly realized that he had no room to sign his name……
But it didn’t matter. Even if Tong Yao signed his name, as an insignificant person, Jiang Jinyue wouldn’t remember him at all in the long years to come.
After all, there were seventy to eighty students in the class.
Maybe Jiang Jinyue didn’t even know a classmate like him existed at all.
With his message written, Tong Yao raised his head to look at Jiang Jinyue’s back. Just like before, Jiang Jinyue was wearing the same pure white T-shirt as him today.
“Li Wei, please help me pass on this yearbook to Jiang Jinyue. Thanks.” Tong Yao patted his classmate sitting in the row in front of him.
This was one of the few times Tong Yao could say Jiang Jingyue’s name without reading “Song of the Pipa”. Every single word was worthy of his careful attention.
After all, soon, the three characters “Jiang Jinyue” would forever become a symbol Tong Yao could only say but not see.
Taking advantage of how he could still watch Jiang Jinyue while saying his name, Tong Yao secretly murmured these three characters to himself in his heart:
Jiang Jinyue, Jiang Jinyue, Jiang Jinyue……
Amidst the sadness of parting that shrouded the entire class, Tong Yao thought:
Farewell, Jiang Jinyue.
07
The first thing Jiang Jinyue did after returning home was to take out the yearbook in his school bag.
After opening it, he carefully searched, page by page, full of expectations. But after turning the pages back and forth three full times, all of Jiang Jinyue’s expectations ultimately disappeared.
That person didn’t leave a message.
Jiang Jinyue closed the yearbook and threw it on his table. Coincidentally, the spine of the yearbook landed facing him.
Familiar handwriting was suddenly reflected in his eyes. “When came the time to part with melancholy, with the full moon soaking in the boundless river.”
Jiang Jinyue immediately picked up the yearbook and carefully touched the dried writing with his fingers. Even if this person didn’t leave their name, he still knew who wrote it.
Jiang Jinyue’s gaze floated across every character, with a total of fifty-two strokes.
And then he kissed the writing with his lips.
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- This is Chinese Valentine’s Day. For more information, check: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/7517/internet-valentines-day/.
- For more information, check: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaokao.
- This might seem a bit mean of Tong Yao to think this, but it’s a cultural difference. In China, dating before finishing your college entrance examination is frowned upon, because students are expected to put their all into studying for this exam (they can’t attend post-secondary education without passing) and dating is seen as a distraction. Most parents are very against it and in certain schools, teachers might reprimand students if they’re caught.
- Idiom for trying anyone or anything in a crisis.
hoecheng says:
awwwwww omg I’m going to have diabetes