After New Year’s Day, Sheng Tang went to school as usual.
Sun Xiaojun was wrapped up like a ball, wearing a mask and hat, looking increasingly emaciated.
He still insisted on attending school because the school promised him subsidies and even additional rewards if he made it to college.
He still hadn’t found his biological mother.
The bone marrow donation couldn’t proceed, so he was undergoing conservative treatnt while waiting.
He t Sheng Tang in the hallway outside the classroom.
"...It’s so cold, and you still co to class?" Sheng Tang looked at him with concern. "Aren’t you resting in the dormitory?"
Sun Xiaojun had leukemia and was very susceptible to bacterial infections, so the school specially provided him with a single-person dormitory.
Of course, blending into the overcrowded, poorly ventilated classroom every day made any kind of isolation futile.
He wore a mask all day long.
"No, I only attended two days of class last week; I’m afraid I’ll fall behind," Sun Xiaojun said.
This wasn’t the truth.
The first sester of senior year was almost over, and he had learned nearly everything he needed to.
In his last midterm exam, Sun Xiaojun had still maintained the second-highest score in humanities in the whole school, so he hadn’t fallen behind. If his body could hold out for another six months, getting into S University wouldn’t be a problem.
"Sheng Tang, you and Jiang Baocu go to the library to study after school, right?" Sun Xiaojun suddenly asked.
Sheng Tang nodded, "Yes."
"Today too?"
"Yes."
"Can I join you? I want to study with you," Sun Xiaojun said, then smiled at Sheng Tang, rare enough for him to joke, "Don’t worry, my illness isn’t contagious."
Sheng Tang also smiled.
She thought Sun Xiaojun was genuinely lonely.
After he got sick, he rarely participated in extracurricular activities and lived alone in the school’s dormitory. In the classroom, wearing a mask, his classmates were too afraid of bacterial infection to chat with him.
Wanting to talk was normal.
Unexpectedly, Sun Xiaojun had an ulterior motive.
After sitting down in the library, he didn’t say anything initially until Sheng Tang and Jiang Baocu had finished their howork, and Sheng Tang helped Jiang Baocu correct a few mistakes, almost wrapping up, before he spoke.
"Sheng Tang, did Lu Yuanyuan look for you before she left?" Sun Xiaojun suddenly asked.
Sheng Tang was slightly startled.
Jiang Baocu looked up warily.
Sun Xiaojun hurriedly explained, "Don’t misunderstand. It’s just that you two accompanied her back to the classroom that day, and her clothes were soaked. Everyone was looking at her, and I saw it too. Then I saw you and her roommate take her back to the dormitory."
Sheng Tang: "Yes."
"Did she... say anything to you?" Sun Xiaojun asked cautiously.
Jiang Baocu’s heart skipped a beat.
She was vaguely one of those who knew Lu Yuanyuan’s secret, so she looked nervously and eagerly at Sun Xiaojun.
Sheng Tang shook her head, "No, she just lost control of her emotions that day. Why?"
Sun Xiaojun didn’t know how to start.
Jiang Baocu was even more tense because Sun Xiaojun was also a scholarship recipient. If there was really sothing filthy going on in the school, the scholarship students would know.
"I don’t know how to say this..." Sun Xiaojun was very conflicted.
Sheng Tang said, "Let’s talk sowhere else."
She and Jiang Baocu took Sun Xiaojun to a restaurant outside the school, ordered a private room, and the three of them sat down to eat.
The private room was very quiet.
"...So, once I went to the head teacher’s office to fill out so forms. You know, I receive a lot of scholarships, so I often have to fill out various forms.
When I arrived, the head teacher’s door was closed, and there was the sound of her talking inside—although I am sick, my hearing is especially keen, just like before.
I heard her say, ’Tonight, wait for at the school gate. Rember to change clothes. And don’t cry, understand?’
After school that day, everyone had left. I was reading English behind Building No. 3, where I read every afternoon after school."
Building No. 3 was close to the school gate.
"And then?"
"Then, I saw Lu Yuanyuan walk out of the school gate. I wanted to call her, but through the gap in the gate, I saw the head teacher’s car," Sun Xiaojun said.
Reviews
All reviews (0)