It is said that the length of a large administrative sedan generally exceeds five meters. Useless knowledge suddenly came to Zhang Shutong's mind.
From this, it can be seen that the gate of a school named "Yingcai Junior High" would not be wider than six meters.
In front of the less than six-meter-wide gate, a girl named Gu Qiumian got out of the car. Today, she was wearing a very fashionable light-brown dress with a pair of gray leggings, but it still couldn't hide the slender lines of her calves. Zhang Shutong didn't understand girls' fashion, but he felt a sense of retro style for some reason.
She was like a fashionable girl walking on the streets. Every corner of the city was old, but it was covered up by the vibrant aura she exuded in her every move; but this was a small island, so she should have been awakening the vitality of the morning.
Then, the girl's small leather boots stood daintily on the ground. Gu Qiumian leaned out of the car. The cold wind blew, and she first tightened the woolen coat on her body. It was a short, khaki-colored coat. The collar of the coat nestled against her flushed cheeks, making her look even smaller.
At this time, the driver's window rolled down, and a man's voice floated out:
"Be happy in school. If you run into that kind of thing again, just tell me..."
Gu Qiumian didn't look at the car window. She just stared at the school gate and nodded absent-mindedly.
Then the man said again:
"Then Dad's going to go now, Mianmian..."
The girl's movements froze. She frowned, and her delicate nose also wrinkled. "Oh! I told you not to call me that..."
She always liked to add particles when she spoke, but it didn't sound pretentious. On the contrary, when she was annoyed, her tone would become a little softer, which weakened her intimidating aura. As she said this, Gu Qiumian subconsciously turned her head and looked behind her, just in time to meet the gaze of a boy pushing a bicycle.
"You!" the girl gritted her teeth.
"Morning," the boy greeted her calmly.
After he said that, Zhang Shutong blinked.
Did he... just hear something he shouldn't have heard?
She seemed to want to say, "How dare you eavesdrop on me?" but Zhang Shutong was really just passing by by chance.
To be honest, he didn't mind hearing other people's nicknames. His own nickname was Tongtong. He was still living his life as Tongtong, but it seemed that Mianmian herself really minded it. She felt that her day was ruined from the start:
He saw Gu Qiumian's beautiful eyes glaring at him again. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something else, but the white steam from her breath had already come out. In the end, she just stomped her foot fiercely, glared at who knows whom, and ignored the two men, one big and one small, behind her;
She quickly turned her head, and the pendant on her hair swung with her. She left with a huff. The small ruffles on her skirt almost moved slower than her.
A man's bitter smile came from the car window. Zhang Shutong also shrugged.
The Audi started, and a stream of black exhaust smoke shot out in the clean morning, as if to foreshadow that the new school life would be filled with the smell of gunpowder from the very beginning.
Zhang Shutong then pushed his bike into the school gate. While locking his bike, he wondered in his mind if he had heard their conversation correctly. Was it Mianmian or Meimei?
But he couldn't bring this up. If someone asked, he would just say that Tongtong wanted to live a peaceful life... He suddenly felt disgusted with himself and swore that he would never use reduplication again.
But whether it was Mian or Mie, it reminded him of a sheep. He guessed that this was the reason why Gu Qiumian liked to draw sheep.
There were students on duty sweeping the ground outside the academic building. The large brooms made of sorghum ears might not be the most suitable for sweeping, but they were great for weapons. At the moment, two boys were fighting with them. One used it as a sword and rushed forward with a yell;
The other held it under his arm and shot at him. The other guy charged for two steps, covered his heart, and fell down. He acted like it was real.
A broom looked different in every boy's heart. Zhang Shutong watched with relish. He was about to share his own insights, but when he saw the two students on duty, he suddenly remembered that he had to take over their duty next week because he hadn't turned in his homework from the day before yesterday. He immediately lost interest.
Speaking of homework, it seemed he hadn't done yesterday's either...
That's bad.
But on second thought, the four of them had a good excuse now after their good deed last night.
So he would just not do it for now. He hoped Old Song would be understanding.
His hurried steps slowed down again.
As he went up the stairs, he could hear the sound of morning reading coming from the classroom in the hallway;
He walked into the classroom and saw a boy standing by his seat. The boy had dark skin, and his name was... Zhou something? He only remembered that he used to be Gu Qiumian's deskmate.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that their relationship was really good. He was indeed a man who could see that Gu Qiumian was drawing a sheep... no, a boy. He was already catching up with her so early in the morning. He was so embarrassed that he didn't want to sit there.
Maybe he had taken away the privilege of being fed snacks;
Maybe he had separated the only person who could appreciate Gu Qiumian;
Zhang Shutong felt that he was a sinner.
But he saw the boy talking for a long time, and he had no intention of sitting down. He was just standing there, leaning on his desk, mumbling something.
Zhang Shutong looked at it from a different angle and suddenly wanted to laugh—
He didn't not want to sit, he couldn't sit.
He saw that Gu Qiumian had thrown her backpack on his seat, like a natural trench, keeping the two of them far apart.
The boy had no choice but to pretend not to see it and continued to chat.
Zhang Shutong ignored them. He looked ahead. Lu Qinglian was already sitting in her seat. She always arrived earlier than everyone else. She had to walk a mountain path to get to school every day, and her home was far away, so she must have to wake up very early.
Was six o'clock early enough? Speaking of which, how did she eat on the mountain? Did she cook for herself, or did she buy something on the way to school?
A series of questions popped up. He thought about it and felt that none of these were right. It should be another scenario—
Didn't Lu Qinglian have a grandma? An old woman would definitely dote on her only granddaughter. Such a pair of grandmother and granddaughter who depended on each other was very common in TV shows, comics, and other works;
He guessed that her grandma must have woken up early and made breakfast. Then, after Lu Qinglian woke up and ate, the old grandma and the girl would sit under the eaves of the temple in the morning mist, holding bowls and sipping porridge while looking at the water vapor on the green tiles... It was a very heartwarming scene.
Thinking that Lu Qinglian also had a very down-to-earth side, even Zhang Shutong smiled and thought it was a good thing;
He looked at the girl herself. She was sitting there quietly, wearing a simple school uniform jacket, with a high ponytail hanging down her back, but it still couldn't hide her otherworldly aura. She was holding a textbook in her hand in front of her face, and her lips were slightly parted, as if everything from last night had never happened;
It was as if she was saying, "Even though I bravely took down an armed thug yesterday, it doesn't stop me from having to study hard this morning..." Zhang Shutong felt that she exuded this kind of aura and felt a sense of inadequacy. He felt that even a magical girl couldn't compare to her.
After glancing at a few people, he was not in a hurry to go back to his seat. There was something else he needed to do. He walked to the bookcase and rummaged through his things, but he still couldn't find Lu Qinglian's history notes;
He felt a bit guilty for some reason. The person was so dedicated to her studies, but he had lost her notes. That was not a good thing.
When he returned to his seat, he was about to remind the boy to move and that he could talk to the young miss at another time, but he heard their conversation:
"I just want to tell you..."
"Don't take this lightly..."
"I really saw it at the time..."
The boy lowered his voice, but Gu Qiumian wasn't listening at all. At first, she was packing her backpack and would give a perfunctory "hmm" sometimes. Later, she took out her textbook and started morning reading. She didn't even have that little bit of movement anymore.
In the end, she just put down her textbook, frowned, and said directly:
"Are you done talking?"
"I..."
"I need to study now."
She no longer added any particles to her sentences. Every sentence she said was crisp and to the point, like a small, sharp silver knife cutting directly into a block of butter.
The butter awkwardly walked away. He was not even as good as Du Kang, who at least knew how to struggle a little.
Zhang Shutong saw this and thought that his days would be very peaceful. His deskmate and the person in front of him were both quiet girls. There was nothing better than two quiet people;
He watched the boy leave, pulled out his chair, and knew that Miss Gu was in a bad mood, so he didn't even plan to say hello. Just as he was about to sit down, he saw Gu Qiumian, who had just said, "I need to study now," suddenly put down her textbook in front of her and glared at Zhang Shutong again.
Zhang Shutong was a bit confused. He wondered why she was glaring at him instead of that Zhou something.
Was it because of the nickname? It seemed that this had really hurt Mianmian.
Zhang Shutong couldn't guess what was on her mind, but it was always right to say hello:
"Morning..."
Just as Zhang Shutong was about to speak, Gu Qiumian interrupted him. The small silver knife from before had now turned into scissors, making a snipping sound:
"It's not morning at all. Why are you so slow!"
"Slow?"
"Didn't I just see you at the school gate?"
The girl moved her backpack to make a spot for him and said accusingly:
"If you had come earlier, I wouldn't have had to listen to him ramble on!"