May 12.
Early that morning, Shao Wu walked into the classroom and found a huge bright-red gift box standing on his desk, tied crosswise with pale green ribbon and topped with a wrinkled bow. No matter how he looked at it, it was ugly as hell. Zhu Jingjing had obviously done it on purpose. She sidled over with a grin. “Are you going to open it now?”
Shao Wu strongly suspected Zhu Jingjing had given him some kind of prank gift, the sort where a fist would spring out the moment he opened the box, so he said calmly, “No. I’ll open it at home.”
Zhu Jingjing shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Her attitude only made Shao Wu more suspicious, alarm bells going off in his head. Could it be even scarier than a prank? Zhu Jingjing wouldn’t have given him something age-restricted, would she…? After all, those sports-track students always acted like they “knew” about that sort of thing. He had better make sure his parents were nowhere around when he opened it at home.
Zheng Xiaoning pulled a rectangular gift box out of her desk drawer. It was small and flat, and Shao Wu guessed there might be a fountain pen inside. Zheng Xiaoning’s taste was obviously more normal than Zhu Jingjing’s. The box was silver-gray with a tiny wine-red bow stuck to the top. Zhu Jingjing covered her mouth and shrieked in an exaggerated, teasing voice, “Well, look at that. Why is it so fancy?”
Zheng Xiaoning’s cheeks reddened slightly. “Is it? This… the shop owner just wrapped it for me…”
Shao Wu accepted the gift and smiled. “Then I’ll open this one at home too.”
Before long, Zhou Lei and Han Huiyuan arrived. They were still deskmates this semester. Zhou Lei set the plastic bag he was carrying directly on Shao Wu’s desk. “Here. Present. The class monitor and I got it together!”
Printed across the bag were the four large characters for “Jinbang Teaching Aids.” Shao Wu opened it and, sure enough, found three sets of Huanggang Secret Exam Papers inside, one each for Chinese, mathematics, and English.
Shao Wu: “…”
Zhu Jingjing immediately put on a nosy expression. “Hey, Class Monitor, why did you and Zhou Lei combine your presents?”
Han Huiyuan answered frankly, “We bought them together.”
Zhu Jingjing: “You bought them together, so you have to give them together too?”
Han Huiyuan: “…Uh, is that not allowed?”
“It’s not like it isn’t allowed.” Zhu Jingjing winked at Zhou Lei. “It’s just, think about it. If one of your relatives got married, would your mom and dad give separate gifts?”
Han Huiyuan froze for a few seconds, then flushed all the way to her ears and hurried to explain. “No, we just happened to go to the bookstore together… We didn’t…”
Zhou Lei shoved Zhu Jingjing’s head. “Why do you have to stick your nose into everything?” But there was a smile tugging at his lips. Zhu Jingjing had obviously hit the mark.
After all that horsing around, several other classmates who were close to Shao Wu came over with presents. Shao Wu thanked them one by one and put the gifts into his desk drawer.
Class was almost about to start now. There were only two minutes left before the bell. For who knew how many times, Shao Wu turned around, and finally saw Yang Shuyi slowly get up as though he had only just woken, then walk toward him.
His hands were empty. Shao Wu’s heart sped up.
“Are you free after school at noon?” Yang Shuyi really had just woken up; his voice was still a little hoarse.
“I am!” Shao Wu suddenly felt like a puppy wagging its tail. No, he had to show a little restraint. He added, “Mm… I should be free. Why?”
Yang Shuyi said, “Birthday present.”
With that, he turned around and walked off looking mysterious.
For the rest of the morning, Shao Wu kept turning to look at the clock. The last period was mathematics, and Old Chen was famous for speaking slowly. Normally Shao Wu liked his classes precisely because he talked slowly and therefore explained problems slowly, giving everyone plenty of time to follow along. But today was different. Old Chen’s unhurried voice seemed to stretch those forty-five minutes out endlessly. In the rise and fall of his Chongqing accent, every minute swelled into five.
“Shao Wu!” Old Chen tapped the blackboard. “Come up and draw the auxiliary line.”
“Huh? Oh!” Shao Wu snapped back to himself and hurried to stand.
The whole class burst out laughing. Zheng Xiaoning whispered, “This problem is asking for the derivative!”
Shao Wu: “…”
Old Chen sighed, still speaking at the same slow pace. “Finished laughing? All right, Shao Wu, sit down. Students, you walk past the senior-year building every day. Can’t you see the gaokao countdown sign out front? That’s your countdown to senior year too! The moment they finish their exams, you become seniors. Do you look like seniors in this state? Shao Wu, hmm, you can already solve every final problem now, is that it? Craning your neck to look behind you. Are you that desperate for class to end?”
At long last, school let out. After making a fool of himself in front of the entire class, Shao Wu asked Yang Shuyi sheepishly, “Where are we going?”
Yang Shuyi slung an arm over Shao Wu’s shoulders. “Follow me.”
They left the school, rode the bus for two stops, passed an elementary school, then cut through a wet market. The two of them stopped in front of an old, dilapidated corridor-style apartment building.
Yang Shuyi smiled, then suddenly looked embarrassed. “I don’t have enough money to buy you anything good… This, I don’t know if you’ll like it.”
Shao Wu could not imagine what kind of gift had to be given here.
“Come on,” Yang Shuyi said.
Shao Wu followed him, crunching over gravel and avoiding stinking piles of trash as they circled around to the back of the building.
“Here. This is the best place to stand.” Yang Shuyi wrapped an arm around Shao Wu’s shoulders and guided him into position.
Behind the building stood a low wall, its ends already crumbling, its surface gray-white.
And where Shao Wu stood, he was facing the middle of that wall directly.
On the wall, Yang Shuyi had painted graffiti of the five Fuwa in blue, black, red, yellow, and green. His drawing skills were obviously nothing special. The Fuwa were supposed to have oversized heads and short limbs, yet he had given all five pairs of long legs. But still, here, in this foul-smelling place surrounded by garbage, how long had he spent painting them?
Shao Wu stared at the Fuwa, completely stunned.
“I was going to spray-paint something like ‘May Your Name Appear on the Honor Roll,’ but that was way too cheesy.” Standing beside Shao Wu, Yang Shuyi sighed softly. “Though this seems pretty cheesy too… Do you like it?”
“Shao Wu?”
“I love it!” Shao Wu suddenly grabbed the sleeve of Yang Shuyi’s school uniform, almost incoherent. “I really, really love it, Yang Shuyi. I… I really love it.”
Yang Shuyi smiled. “Good.”
Shao Wu wanted so badly to throw himself at Yang Shuyi and hug him, but he forcibly held back. Little flames flared alive inside him again. This old building, this crumbling wall, this graffiti all seemed to have been prepared for him by Yang Shuyi, as if they existed here solely for the two of them.
I really, really love it, Shao Wu thought.
But he still loved Yang Shuyi most.