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墨書 Inktalez
After tearing it up, he felt much better inside.
A small green sticky note was now in pieces, scattered in his palm. Jiang Wen quickly tucked the scarf and chocolate into the drawer and stood up from the chair.
The Cultural Committee was standing on the podium directing a few boys to move tables and chairs, clearing the space for the New Year's Day party.
Zhao Binlin finished talking with someone and turned around to find Jiang Wen's seat empty. He tilted his head to look around but saw no one. He sent a WeChat message:
[? Where did you go?]
"Throwing away trash."
*
For some reason, even though the car was moving slowly, the return journey felt particularly short.
Upon arriving at her destination, Meng Taoyu almost didn't recognize the entrance of Qide. The driver honked the horn, and she snapped back to reality.
Struggling a bit, she held two plastic bags. Just as she closed the car door, her hands suddenly felt lighter. She turned her head.
Meng Hanmo had taken the large bag from her. He stood casually, towering at about six feet tall; even with her thick snow boots, she barely reached his shoulder.
Meng Taoyu blinked and thanked him in a soft voice.
They walked side by side, and she caught a faint smell of smoke on him. Today was New Year's Day, and there were no restrictions at the school gate, so Meng Hanmo walked right in.
As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, a group of boys from Class Nine walked by. She glanced at them and, taking a step back, said loudly, "Hey, Meng Taoyu, who is that? Your boyfriend?!"
The word "boyfriend" caught her off guard, stirring her already chaotic heart even more.
"No!" Meng Taoyu hurriedly explained, "He's not my boyfriend, don't say that..."
Meng Hanmo remained calm and lowered his voice, "They've already left."
Meng Taoyu gasped and locked eyes with him for two seconds, as if waking from a dream. "Oh, oh."
She focused on the tassels at her feet when suddenly someone grabbed her arm.
His grip was strong, his knuckles rough, with thick calluses on both his middle and index fingers. Meng Taoyu looked up in shock to see a stone pillar right in front of her.
He withdrew his hand. "Watch where you're going."
Frustration surged within her. Meng Taoyu felt extremely dejected, unsure why she had been so clumsy today. In front of him, she was so flustered that she couldn't even speak properly.
Through several layers of clothing, she could still feel the lingering touch on her arm. Meng Taoyu suddenly felt a sense of unreality. Everything that had happened today seemed like a dream.
*
From a distance, Jiang Wen spotted Feng Ning standing at the entrance of the classroom.
He paused for a moment.
Her ankle hadn't fully healed yet, and like a landlady, she casually moved a chair to sit in the corridor, tilting her head up to talk to a man.
The moment he saw Meng Hanmo, he recognized her instantly.
As Jiang Wen walked by, she was happily chatting away, a silly smile on her face, not even glancing at him.
Jiang Wen thought her happy expression looked really unpleasant.
Feng Ning, having heard about what happened on East Street today, cursed, "Damn it, what kind of heartless taxi driver is this? Just because Chang Zheng is far from here, they deliberately took the long way around, thinking your students are easy to bully."
On her knee lay a large bag of snacks that Meng Taoyu had just bought. Feng Ning casually picked out a few small packets of preserved plums and stuffed them into Meng Hanmo's hands. "Here, take this."
After handing them over, she tilted her head and slyly glanced around before quietly asking Meng Taoyu, "This doesn't count as misusing class funds, right?"
"It's fine," Meng Taoyu also looked around. "Does... your brother like this?"
Feng Ning nodded vigorously. "Yes! This is his favorite!"
Hearing this, Meng Taoyu quickly pulled out a handful from the pocket of her down jacket. "I have more." She spread her hands and offered them to Meng Hanmo. "Here you go."
Feng Ning squinted and laughed. "Meng classmate, what's going on? You're giving everything to my brother; what will the classmates eat?"
"No, no." Meng Taoyu quickly explained, "I really like eating this... I bought all of these myself."
Meng Hanmo unexpectedly didn't refuse and casually picked two from her hand. "Thank you."
"What about the rest? Don't you want them?" She felt a bit disappointed.
Meng Hanmo seemed to smile slightly. "I won't compete with a child for snacks." His features were sharp, and even when he smiled, there was little emotion.
"Alright." Meng Taoyu felt a bit embarrassed by his words.
He glanced at his phone and put it away. "I'm leaving now. You all enjoy yourselves."
Feng Ning nodded a couple of times and waved at him. "Be careful on the way."
"Wait!"
Meng Taoyu suddenly called out.
Meng Hanmo turned to look at her, then at the hand gripping his clothes.
Feng Ning also looked at her.
His profile was handsome, and Meng Taoyu's expression instantly became awkward. Feeling as if she had been electrocuted, she immediately let go. "Um, can you wait for me for two minutes? I have something to give you."
She ran into the classroom, rummaged through her seat for a moment, and hurriedly ran back out, probably not even taking a minute.
In her hand was a New Year card, one she had written a week ago. She had also written one during Christmas, intending to ask Feng Ning to deliver it, but after much hesitation, she felt that it would come off as awkward no matter how she did it.
"Thank you..." Meng Taoyu panted lightly as she handed the card to Meng Hanmo. She paused for a moment, unsure of how to express herself, "Thank you for helping me today."
While waiting for the bus by the roadside, as she fished out her lighter from her pocket, she touched something hard and cardboard-like. Meng Hanmo smoothly pulled out the card.
Opening it gently, the young girl’s handwriting was neat and elegant, each character written with great care, without any cursive.
Meng Hanmo recalled her face and then looked at the three characters "Meng Taoyu" written in the lower right corner. He smiled.
*
At that moment, Feng Ning couldn't detect anything unusual; it truly felt suspicious.
Meng Taoyu was still gazing out the window in a daze when a slow voice drifted into her ears, "Meng classmate."
"Hmm?"
"You're back to your senses."
She said nothing, but Meng Taoyu understood immediately, looking as if her innermost thoughts had been exposed, unsure of where to place her hands.
Feng Ning asked, "Do you know how old my brother is?"
"How old..."
"23? Almost 24, right?"
Meng Taoyu tried to keep her expression natural. "At that age... does he have a girlfriend?"
"Sister-in-law?" Feng Ning pretended to think. "It seems like my brother doesn't have a girlfriend, but he does have a few friends with benefits."
"Friends with benefits?" Meng Taoyu was confused.
Feng Ning teased her, "You know, friends who hook up in bed."
After two seconds of processing, Meng Taoyu's face turned red and then pale. "Oh, oh, a few..." She stammered, repeating, "A few?"
Seeing that Meng Taoyu was struggling to speak, Feng Ning bent over laughing and said, "Why do you believe everything I say? I was just joking."
The host of the New Year's Day party began announcing. The overhead incandescent lights turned off, and the dim classroom created a bit of atmosphere. Feng Ning munched on sunflower seeds, enjoying the moment.
Suddenly, she remembered something and pulled out a notebook from her backpack. She hobbled over to sit next to Jiang Wen.
At this lively moment, no one noticed the commotion over here. Jiang Wen was wearing headphones and watching a video.
Feng Ning tapped Jiang Wen, and when he looked over, she pointed to her ear, signaling him to take off his headphones.
Zhao Binlin saw her and asked, "Hey, Feng Ning, who was that person talking to you at the door?"
"My brother." Feng Ning casually flipped through Chubby Kid's notebook. It was written quite seriously, with crooked annotations at the bottom of each chapter indicating which page in the book it referred to. She smiled, her lips curling up.
Jiang Wen's hand, which was in the process of removing his headphones, paused in mid-air. "Isn't he your boyfriend?"
Closing the notebook, Feng Ning glanced at his serious expression. "When did I say I had a boyfriend?" She handed the notebook to Jiang Wen. "By the way, this is written by Zhao Fanyu. Take it home for your sister and have her look at it for now, along with her homework."
He only caught the first half of her words.
Jiang Wen took it, momentarily pausing without showing any signs. A wave of joy surged within him that he couldn't suppress. He felt a bit guilty about it and forced himself to push down this bittersweet emotion.
But another thought quickly emerged.
"Then who does she like?"
Jiang Wen wouldn't dare to ask that out loud; if he did, she would just laugh at him. He had to control himself. So he said calmly, "Sorry, I misunderstood you." He was referring to what he had said earlier about her being indecisive.
Feng Ning generously replied, "It's okay, I forgive you."
The next program was the New Year greetings from Class Nine's classmates. The class monitor bent down and opened the video file on the computer desktop.
After letting more than a dozen people in, a loud commotion suddenly erupted in the classroom. Jiang Wen casually glanced at the projector, and just that one glance nearly made him explode.
The video background showed a banquet at the Jiang family home, with Jiang Wen appearing to be only four or five years old, resembling a white jade dumpling. A small red dot marked his forehead, and he looked round and soft. When teased by someone, he sweetly said in a baby voice, "Happy New Year."
All eyes turned to Jiang Wen's face. Some struggled to hold back laughter, while others couldn't contain themselves and burst out laughing.
Zhao Binlin and Xi Gaoyuan exchanged glances, both of them howling with laughter as if they were about to jump out of their seats.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" The words were almost forced out through gritted teeth by Jiang Wen.
This was infuriating.
Usually composed and rarely showing emotions in front of others, Jiang Wen now found it hard to manage his expression; his handsome brows were nearly twisted together in anger.
Xi Gaoyuan laughed so hard he was pounding his thigh. "We got this from Sister Yun! It's just to liven up the New Year celebration!"
Feng Ning was taking pictures with her phone, laughing as she snapped away. "Oh my god!!"
Zhao Binlin came over to tease him, but Jiang Wen retaliated with a heavy elbow to his side. Zhao Binlin winced in pain, clutching his stomach. "Hey, you’re really ruthless!"
Jiang Wen stepped on his limited-edition sneakers and even ground down a bit. "Are you crazy?"
"Whoa, you jerk! That's too much!" Zhao Binlin loved his shoes dearly and immediately jumped up in excitement. His leg landed on Jiang Wen's lap, and the two began playfully wrestling together as Xi Gaoyuan joined in the fun.
The three of them tangled for a long time, and Jiang Wen pushed the two away from him, panting, with his hair in disarray, looking quite messy yet somewhat adorable.
After the interlude, the next program quickly began.
The Class Representative started singing "Old Boy" by Chopstick Brothers in a quacking voice, and someone in the audience teased him.
Amidst the laughter and joy, Feng Ning stood up.
Everyone was immersed in the Class Representative's performance, paying no attention to where she was going.
Jiang Wen, however, was not focused on the show.
His ears were filled with the cheers of his classmates and the Class Representative's shout of "Youth is like a rushing river."
He didn't catch a single word.
*
His feet crunched lightly on the unmelted snow.
The campus was enveloped in nightfall, with few students wandering outside and no extra sounds around.
Feng Ning sat on a bench with a tree behind her, smoking casually as she exhaled wisps of light white smoke while counting the stars in the sky.
He stood not far away.
She skillfully exhaled smoke, flicking the ash, and Jiang Wen's mind drifted back to that night. Feng Ning, with a worldly and carefree demeanor, elegantly blocked their path, pouring bottle after bottle of liquor.
Suddenly, his heart ached sharply.
Jiang Wen didn’t even know why he followed her out and stood there; she ignored him, and he didn’t leave, acting like a fool.
Or perhaps a pervert.
After a moment of silence, Feng Ning suddenly turned her head, using her usual joking tone with a hint of coolness, "What are you doing standing there?"
"I was passing by on my way to the restroom."
She smiled slightly, leaning back on her hands, looking up with a light gesture, "Then go ahead. Did I scare you into needing the restroom, little buddy?"
Her words made him irritated.
After a long silence, Jiang Wen took her cigarette away.
Feng Ning didn’t mind, "What do you want from me?"
"You deleted my..." Jiang Wen quickly thought of an excuse, "You deleted my photo."
"What photo?"
"The one I just took."
After a two-second pause, seemingly finding it amusing, Feng Ning actually took out his phone and operated it for a while. "Deleted."
Jiang Wen spread his hands. "Give it to me."
"What do you want it for?"
He wanted to check if she had deleted it properly.
The lighting here was dim, and Jiang Wen squinted his eyes to adjust to the bright white screen of the phone. The main interface of the album displayed a short video of Zhao Binlin's performance of Michael Jackson's space dance at the New Year's Day party.
He scrolled back a few photos, all from the New Year's Day party. He searched through these photos and finally found one where he was in the frame, taken while he was playfully messing around with Zhao Binlin and the others.
Jiang Wen felt a bit annoyed; what kind of terrible phone was this that made him look so ugly in the picture?
Without hesitation, he deleted it.
Going through someone else's photo album like this was really quite rude and lacking in manners. Normally, Jiang Wen would never do something like this. But at this moment, he felt as if he were under a dark spell and couldn't stop himself.
After nearly two minutes, Feng Ning lazily asked, "Are you done looking?"
"Right away." Jiang Wen finished checking. Just as he was about to turn off his phone, his finger instinctively swiped to the side, and suddenly an incongruous photo popped up.
It was a picture of a bare back.
The white and slender butterfly bones were prominent, damp black hair cascading over the shoulders and neck. Feng Ning, wrapped in a towel, slightly turned her face towards the camera.
His brain took 0.1 seconds to process the image. His heart pounded heavily in his chest, and his eyes felt as if they were on fire.
At that moment, Feng Ning leaned over, saying, "You haven't finished checking yet..."
Jiang Wen was caught off guard and, in a panic, tried to press the lock screen but ended up hitting the volume button instead.
Feng Ning's words were cut short as she quickly snatched the phone from him, accusing, "What are you doing!! I knew you were looking at it for too long!"
Jiang Wen immediately denied it: "I wasn't looking at that."
Feng Ning shouted, "Thank goodness I caught it in time; otherwise, my innocence would have been exposed!"
"I... didn't..." Jiang Wen's mind went blank.
"You didn't what?" Feng Ning's voice echoed in the quiet campus: "You little pervert!!!!"
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