Early in the morning, the sound of reading echoed through the corridor of the second-year building.

Li Sijia stood on the podium, leading everyone in reading English vocabulary.

Some people in the class were lying on their desks, some eating breakfast.

The row of words was read out in scattered fragments.

Li Sijia had a good temper and said nothing, but the class committee member stood up and said,

“Everyone read properly. Be careful—if Teacher Wang comes later and finds you slacking off, you’re done for.”

Hearing this, Zhao Mingqi hurriedly stuffed his half-eaten bun into a paper bag, shoved it into his desk, picked up his English book, and pretended to read.

Li Shuangjiang held up his book to cover his face, turned his head, and looked toward the empty desk behind him.

“Boss still not here yet?”

Fu Xiling shook her head. “I sent her a WeChat, no reply.”

She turned to glance around—Ji Fan wasn’t there either.

Li Shuangjiang sighed.

When the results sheet was posted yesterday, the entire class was shocked.

Li Shuangjiang had jumped up on the spot, yelling, “Holy shit!”

He puffed out his chest and looked at Wu Nan and Li Sijia, pride written all over his face.

“See that? Our class monitor improved by twenty-one points in just one month—third place in the grade! When was the last time you two improved by twenty-one points, huh? What year, what month?”

Wu Nan’s expression stiffened, and Li Sijia kept her head down without saying a word.

Beside them, a girl said indignantly, “She said she’d beat Jia Jia, but she didn’t. What’s there to be so smug about?”

Wu Nan frowned and tugged her sleeve. “Don’t say that. It was our fault.”

Jiang Zhengxun, sitting on the desk beside them, smiled and said in a mild tone, “Other than Huai-ge and the class rep, I don’t see anyone scoring higher than 139. Let’s see… oh—Gu Nana, 120 points. Not bad! Only about twenty points behind our vice class monitor. You’ll catch up in a month, keep it up.”

Gu Nana’s face turned blue, then purple from his sarcastic tone. She said nothing.

No one thought it was ridiculous that Tao Zhi didn’t beat the top student in the grade—that was expected.

But the fact that she shot up to 139 points in a single month, ranking just below Jiang Qihuai and Li Sijia, was a huge surprise.

Even those who’d seen firsthand how hard she worked—Li Shuangjiang and the others—were still stunned by how drastically her score had jumped in such a short time.

Zhao Mingqi let out a long sigh beside them. “Awesome,” he said.

Everyone turned in unison to look back, searching for Tao Zhi—but found the back of the classroom empty.

Fu Xiling stood alone at the back, still dazed.

Li Shuangjiang frowned. “Where’s the boss? Didn’t she come to check the scores?”

“She did,” Fu Xiling said softly. “Then she left.”

She hadn’t even reacted in time.

When she saw Tao Zhi’s English score, she was so happy she nearly shouted—but when she turned, she saw the girl with her eyes lowered, lips pressed into a faint curve, saying nothing as she turned to leave.

She slung on her backpack and walked away quietly, without a sound.

Fu Xiling wanted to chase after her, but Jiang Qihuai stopped her.

She looked again at Tao Zhi’s grades—aside from English, every other subject was lower than last time.

Her total score was almost the same as the previous monthly exam.

Fu Xiling pressed her lips together, listening to Li Shuangjiang brag excitedly beside her,

as if he were the one who had surpassed Jiang Qihuai to become first in the grade.

Boys’ nerves are always a bit thick; they probably couldn’t understand it right away.

Tao Zhi had given all of her time this past month to English.

She didn’t think she was chasing an impossible bet.

When everyone else doubted she could succeed, she had truly poured her whole heart into it, wanting to prove the words she’d said.

Perhaps she never even thought of it as merely a bet.

She must have been feeling very, very sad right now.

By the end of morning self-study, Tao Zhi still hadn’t come.

When Teacher Wang Zhezi entered the classroom, he only glanced once at the empty seat in the back, said nothing, and started class as usual.

But it was obvious that most of the students were distracted.

Every once in a while, Li Shuangjiang would turn to look at Tao Zhi’s empty desk, and uncharacteristically, Teacher Wang didn’t scold him.

At last, even the nerves of the boys—thick as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers—began to catch on.

When the bell rang, Li Shuangjiang sighed. “Boss must be really upset right now.”

“Probably feels embarrassed too,” his deskmate sighed as well.

“The class monitor’s always cared about her pride. But she did great this time—no one thinks she lost or should be ashamed. Except for Fu Xiling who tied with her, and those two above, no one in the whole grade got a higher score.”

Li Shuangjiang slapped the desk. “If she really doesn’t come today, we’ll go see her after school! Tell her she’s the most awesome!”

His deskmate rolled his eyes. “Stop being nosy. If it were me, I’d just want to be alone for a bit—to calm down.”

By the time school ended, Tao Zhi indeed hadn’t shown up.

Fu Xiling packed her bag, hesitated, then called home before taking the bus.

Following her memory, she arrived at Tao Zhi’s neighborhood gate, explained things to the guard, and went in.

Standing at the gate of Tao Zhi’s courtyard, Fu Xiling thought for a moment, then didn’t message Tao Zhi—she sent one to Ji Fan instead.

Within minutes, the boy came out, walking toward her.

He was wearing pajamas, yawning as he opened the door. “Wanna come in and sit?”

“No,” Fu Xiling said, head lowered. “I just wanted to check on her… but I don’t know if Zhizhi wants to see me.”

“Don’t overthink it. It’s nothing big,” Ji Fan waved dismissively.

“She’s been like this since she was little—gets upset, shuts down, pride’s bigger than the sky. She doesn’t want anyone to see her looking miserable. She’ll be fine in a few days.”

Fu Xiling nodded and insisted, “I won’t go in. Just make sure she eats properly.”

Ji Fan didn’t argue. He nodded too. “Then wait a sec.”

Two minutes later, the boy came out holding a sheet of paper.

“She told me this morning to give it to Li Sijia. But since she didn’t go to school, I didn’t want to go either—too boring alone. Help me pass it to her.”

Fu Xiling agreed, took the paper, and left.

On the bus, she found a seat, sat down, and looked at the thin sheet folded in her hand.

She didn’t open it—she already knew what it said.

Tao Zhi was just that kind of person.

Whoever lost had to write a self-reflection and apologize.

She wouldn’t go back on her word just because she’d exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Even though, in Fu Xiling’s heart, Tao Zhi had won beautifully and was the most incredible one of all—in Tao Zhi’s own eyes, losing was still losing.

Fu Xiling suddenly felt a deep, suffocating sense of grievance.

Why.

Why did it have to be like this?

Zhizhi had worked so hard. It was clearly others who had misunderstood her, they were the ones who poured a whole bucket of dirty water over her head—and in the end, she still had to apologize.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The next day, Tao Zhi still didn’t come.

After the first period, Fu Xiling stood up, holding the sheet of paper Ji Fan had given her, and looked toward Li Sijia’s side.

Jiang Qihuai, who was behind her, closed his book and noticed her gaze. He looked over. “What’s that?”

Fu Xiling froze for a moment, then said, “Zhizhi gave it to me—told me to pass it to Li Sijia.”

The classroom was very quiet.

Several girls sitting beside Li Sijia were chatting, not bothering to lower their voices, their words drifting faintly across the room.

“She didn’t come today either. So she thinks skipping school means she doesn’t have to apologize?” Gu Nana said. “Pretty calculating of her.”

“She did really well this time,” Wu Nan said. “It was our misunderstanding—we were wrong first.”

Gu Nana rolled her eyes and muttered, “Who knows how she got that score. Maybe she cheated this time too…”

Li Sijia kept her head down, putting the books on her desk into the drawer.

She had wanted to say that Tao Zhi hadn’t cheated last time either.

But if she said that aloud, she’d have to admit her own mistake in front of everyone, and lay bare the darker part of herself for all to see.

Li Sijia pressed her lips together, hesitated, and stayed silent.

Fu Xiling was furious. She clenched her teeth, ready to march over and confront them, when the screech of a chair leg dragging across the floor cut sharply through the air.

She turned her head.

Jiang Qihuai’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes narrowed slightly.

After two months of acquaintance, Fu Xiling was fairly familiar with this bigshot.

He always looked emotionless, but at this moment—even she could feel it—Jiang Qihuai wasn’t pleased either.

She could already guess what Tao Zhi had written; naturally, Jiang Qihuai could too.

He pushed his chair back, stood up, and said, “Give it to me.”

Fu Xiling let out a small “ah,” hesitated for a second, then handed the paper over.

Jiang Qihuai walked straight to Li Sijia’s desk and lightly tapped the corner of her table.

The group of girls was chatting away.

Secrets between close friends never stayed hidden for long—Tao Zhi and the others knew Li Sijia liked Jiang Qihuai because they had seen it.