Chapter 10: Returning to Alma Mater (3)

3:42 p.m.

Fuyuan Su woke up and checked her phone. Everyone had finished touring the school and was preparing to visit the teachers. The class monitor had just sent a message saying that Teacher Shen Lin had replied; if we wished, we could visit her in the faculty dormitory.

The school provided single-occupancy faculty dorms with quite good conditions, allowing teachers to live there with their families.

Moreover, the school was strict about academics. Most teachers stayed in their offices on Sundays and rarely went out. So even if they hadn’t informed us the day before, showing up unannounced now wouldn’t be considered inappropriate.

Fuyuan felt a slight headache. Frowning, she rubbed her temples with her index finger and felt a faint hunger in her stomach.

Yet she had hardly used any of her abilities this time.

She slowly rose from her seat and headed outside, pulling a small piece of dark Dove chocolate from her pocket. She tore open the yellow-black wrapper to find the chocolate slightly melted and stuck to the inner packaging.

She popped a piece into her mouth. The taste was not particularly pleasant—bitter with a hint of sweetness, but it contained crushed nuts. After eating five pieces in a row, the cloying sensation in her mouth finally subdued her hunger somewhat.

“I knew I’d find you here,” a voice said.

Just outside the library, the girl called “Yu Jie” from the morning suddenly appeared behind her, smiling. “I know you don’t like noise. This morning, we visited other subject teachers. Except for Teacher Liu from Chemistry and Old Shen, everyone else was in their offices.”

Fuyuan nodded. Those teachers were all nice; sometimes when she forgot to bring her cushion to class, they kindly allowed her to go back for it. “Then I’ll go see her later.”

Yu Jie grabbed her arm and pulled her in another direction. “The boys are playing basketball over there. Let’s join them, then go see Old Shen together. You’re coming too.”

Fuyuan had no objection; she had been meaning to find out what happened anyway. So, still half drowsy, she was led toward the basketball courts.

“You were eating chocolate just now,” Yu Jie suddenly remembered and turned around. “I don’t know if the school store is open. I’ll buy some soda for them too. Wait here.”

“Forget it, you go ahead—you’re slow,” Fuyuan said before Yu Jie could speak.

Without waiting, Yu Jie made her decision, waving her phone. “Check your messages.”

Fuyuan opened WeChat and saw a cluster of unread notifications.

Some people obsessively clear their unread badges; others, overwhelmed by the number, just leave them be. Fuyuan was the latter.

During the day, whether she saw messages depended on whether they happened to arrive when she was looking at her phone; otherwise, she’d clear them all before bed.

Scrolling down, she found a contact named “Yu Xin” and opened three messages: asking what she was doing, where she was, and whether she wanted to join.

She fell silent, unsure how to reply. After hesitating, she double-tapped Yu Xin’s profile picture.

[I tapped Yu Xin’s face and said, “Look, fireworks” (fireworks.jpg).]

Fuyuan: ?

She put away her phone and leisurely walked toward the basketball courts. Before she could arrive, Yu Xin caught up from behind, forcing Fuyuan to quicken her pace.

The school’s basketball courts were vast—three courts side by side, flanked by tiered stands of varying heights.

Everyone was there. The boys had left the court, mingling with a group of high school students to play a match. Most of the girls sat in the stands, cheering admiringly and occasionally shouting encouragement. Fuyuan glanced over with little interest.

“What’s the score?” Yu Xin asked as they circled to the stands. She carried two large bags of drinks, handing a bottle of sour plum juice to a fellow girl.

The girl glanced at Yu Xin, shifted to make room, and pointed to the scoreboard beside the referee. “6 to 24. The score is up there. It’s a half-hour game; when time’s up, whoever has more points wins.”

She checked her mechanical watch. “Five minutes left.”

Yu Xin sighed, “They don’t look like much, but they’re pretty strong.”

The girl gave her a strange look but said nothing, energetically cheering on her classmates.

Fuyuan sat down, half-closing her eyes as Yu Xin pressed two energy bars into her hand. Leaning close, Yu Xin whispered, “I heard people who use their brains a lot burn more physical energy.”

For a moment, Fuyuan felt awkward—neither wanting to take the bars nor to refuse.

How could she explain she had just been sleeping, still on alert?

They watched for a while until the class monitor weaved through the defense, performing feints and finally breaking free. With a high leap, he executed a stunning dunk, eliciting enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

After the game, both teams were delighted and excitedly took group photos, promising to play again.

On the way to visit Teacher Shen, the boys were still catching their breath, their breathing heavy. Some tugged at their soaked shirt hems, wiping their faces vigorously. Given the presence of girls, none took off their shirts.

Each boy had been handed a bottle of sports drink by Yu Xin; the girls had soda or yogurt drinks.

Yu Xin praised the class monitor, patting his back. “Impressive—graduated so long ago and still wiping the floor with those kids. Thought they were all just show.”

The class monitor smiled, twisting open his drink. Thinking she meant the last three minutes’ goal, he waved his hand modestly. “It’s the teamwork. Everyone passed well, so I had the chance for that final dunk.”

Yu Xin opened her yogurt and continued to flatter, “You’re too humble. Winning 6 to 25 shows you were on point the whole time.”

The atmosphere suddenly shifted oddly when a boy interrupted, “What 6 to 25?”

Yu Xin looked puzzled but laughed, patting his shoulder. “The score. When I went to find Fuyuan, you were down by three goals. Didn’t expect you to catch up and win after I left.”

The boys burst into awkward laughter, faces flushing. Some shy ones’ earlobes reddened, though their post-game rosy complexions masked it well.

A girl who’d watched the entire game suddenly understood, covering half her face and leaving them uncorrected.

The lively chatter was theirs to enjoy.

Fuyuan listened with half an ear, trailing behind without joining the talk. She ate three more small pieces of chocolate.

Noticing the chocolate bag was empty but still feeling a bit hungry, she unwrapped one of the green-packaged energy bars Yu Xin had given her, took a bite, and thought replacing chocolate with energy bars might be a good idea.