Times of Our Lives - Chapter 1
The summer cicadas were chirping noisily, and the sunlight streaming through the bus window shone on Xie Meng’s face. He couldn’t help but raise his hand to shield his forehead, his shirt already damp against his back.
The bus swayed as it pulled into the station, and Xie Meng squeezed out with the crowd. He wiped the sweat from his face with a frown and headed towards the school gate under the scorching sun.
It was the first day of the new students’ enrollment at W High. A festive red banner hung at the school gate with the cliché slogan, “Today I am proud of W High, tomorrow W High will be proud of me!” As a not-so-top-notch advanced school, W High’s faculty wasn’t particularly outstanding, leading to a rather pitifully small number of new students. The first-year cohort only had six classes, each with about 40 students. Even on the important first day of school, the campus didn’t seem very lively.
With only six classes, there was no distinction between experimental and non-experimental classes. Xie Meng found his name and student ID number under the list for Class Three. When he walked into the classroom, he saw that quite a few students had already arrived.
W High didn’t have a directly affiliated middle school, so most of the students were those who either failed the high school entrance exam or had middling grades in their previous schools. Some girls even wore light makeup and turned their heads curiously to look at Xie Meng.
There was no air conditioning in the classroom, and Xie Meng’s face was covered in sweat. His shirt clung to his body, and his fair neck glistened with moisture.
The whispering in the back row grew louder. Xie Meng wiped his sweat while pulling out a chair. He kept his head down, his freshly cut bangs shading his bright, dark eyes.
“Hey, classmate.” A petite girl approached him and struck up a conversation. “What’s your name?”
Xie Meng looked up and wiped the sweat from his forehead again.
“My name is Wu Xiaomei.” The girl extended her hand, tilting her head cutely. “And you?”
Xie Meng hesitated for a moment, wiped his sweaty hand on his pants leg, and gave Wu Xiaomei’s hand a loose shake. “Xie Meng.”
Wu Xiaomei said, “I graduated from Q Middle School.” She pointed to a few people in the back row. “They’re all from L Middle School. Only Mimi and I are the same.” The girl called Mimi smiled shyly at them from her seat.
Xie Meng was silent for a moment before slowly saying, “I came from S Middle School.”
“S Middle School?” Wu Xiaomei was surprised. “That’s the best key middle school in the province. I remember it has an affiliated high school, also the best in the province, right?”
Xie Meng mumbled an indistinct “Yeah,” and Wu Xiaomei seemed to want to ask more but had to stop as more new students trickled in.
“Do you want to sit with us?” Wu Xiaomei enthusiastically invited. “The teacher isn’t here yet anyway.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a chubby man with a Buddha-like smile walked in, laughing loudly, “Who said I’m not here yet? Quickly, find your seats.”
Wu Xiaomei pouted and reluctantly returned to her seat. With a few new students still missing, the chubby man started arranging seats impatiently.
“Hey, handsome.” The chubby man called out, “Sit in the middle. What’s your name?”
“Xie Meng.” Xie Meng picked up his backpack and moved over.
The chubby man looked at him and said, “I remember you. Your score was really high, just a point or two away from getting into S High directly.”
Xie Meng shook his head. “I didn’t perform well.”
The chubby man patted his shoulder. “Everyone stumbles sometimes. Keep working hard and don’t get discouraged.”
Xie Meng nodded seriously, “Thank you, teacher.”
The chubby man chuckled happily, thanked Xie Meng several times, and continued directing the remaining students to their seats.
“Wu Xiaomei!” The chubby man’s voice boomed, startling everyone. “Stop thinking about sitting next to the handsome guy! No early dating!”
Wu Xiaomei retorted impatiently, “Who’s dating? I just enjoy looking at handsome guys, okay?”
Everyone around them burst into good-natured laughter. Xie Meng also smiled a little. Wu Xiaomei blushed and playfully stuck out her tongue at him.
After arranging the seats, Xie Meng joined a few other boys to fetch books and uniforms. The books were so many and heavy that they had to make several trips. During one of the trips back, Xie Meng noticed a few boys blocking the door.
The chubby man seemed to be scolding someone, but his tone wasn’t harsh. “Not a good start, late on the first day! And dyed your hair, too? Get it fixed by tomorrow!”
Xie Meng said, “Excuse me,” as he squeezed through the two boys in the back row. The boy at the front glanced back at him.
“It’s my natural color.” The boy quickly retracted his gaze, lazily tugging at his bangs. “Dyeing it black would be dyeing it, teacher.”
The chubby man was amused and lightly tapped the boy’s head with the class list. “You look like a hooligan, not a student!”
The boy didn’t get angry, smiling roguishly as he found a seat with his friends. When Xie Meng went for another trip to fetch books, the boy stood up too.
“I’m Ji Qinyang.” The boy leaned against the desk, introducing himself casually. He tilted his head, sizing up Xie Meng with a charming smile.
“…Xie Meng.” Xie Meng paused for a moment before giving his name. Ji Qinyang nodded, and then repeated Xie Meng’s name as if mulling it over to himself.
Xie Meng instinctively looked up at him, and Ji Qinyang smiled back.
Someone came up behind Ji Qinyang and patted his shoulder. He seemed to be very popular, quickly blending in with the other boys in the class. Xie Meng followed them, and as they walked down the corridor, a breeze blew in through the windows, lifting the blue curtains. Xie Meng stopped, turned his head, and squinted his eyes, letting the refreshing summer wind blow over his face.
The next day, military training began. The original three-day program was condensed into one day. They practiced forming lines, marching, and standing at attention. By noon, many students were struggling.
Xie Meng took off his hat and went to the sink to wash his face. His bangs, wet with sweat, stuck to his forehead. He splashed his face with water and was fanning himself with his collar when he suddenly heard a loud whistle from the playground.
The instructor was playing basketball with a few boys, including Ji Qinyang.
The boy’s tall figure leaped into the air, his dark brown hair glowing in the sunlight. He skillfully dribbled past others and shouted as he made a basket.
Xie Meng watched the bright smile on Ji Qinyang’s face and silently put his hat back on.
Ji Qinyang and his group returned halfway through the lunch break, drenched in sweat and radiating heat. Xie Meng was bending over to change the drinking water when he turned around and saw Ji Qinyang standing behind him.
“Let me help you.” Ji Qinyang smiled, rolling up his sleeves, his sweat trickling down to his neck. Just standing next to him, Xie Meng could feel waves of heat.
Together, they changed the water bottle. Xie Meng thanked him and took the empty bottle out by himself. When he returned, he saw Ji Qinyang talking to another boy.
“Are you close with Xie Meng?” the boy asked without malice.
Ji Qinyang didn’t answer, just shook his head while drinking water.
The boy continued, “People from S Middle are really impressive. Not many in our class dare to talk to him.”
Ji Qinyang raised an eyebrow with a smile. “It’s not that exaggerated.”
The boy punched him playfully. “He’s good at studying and proud.”
“So what?” Ji Qinyang replied nonchalantly. “He’s still at our school now.”
Xie Meng leaned against the door, waiting for them to finish talking before entering. As he passed Ji Qinyang’s seat, he noticed Ji Qinyang sprawled out on the desk, possibly asleep.
Most of the girls were awake. Wu Xiaomei tiptoed over to Xie Meng, poked his shoulder, and cupped her hands around her mouth to whisper mysteriously, “Ji Qinyang, you know, he’s very famous at our school.”
Xie Meng, curious, mimicked her and whispered, “You two are from the same school?”
Wu Xiaomei nodded, blushing under his gaze, and boldly gossiped, “He has very extreme subject preferences. He’s won national awards for his Chinese essays and plays many instruments… I’ve heard he goes to some kind of place after school. Not sure if it’s true…”
“Some kind of place?” Xie Meng couldn’t help but repeat, “What kind of place?”
Wu Xiaomei’s gaze flickered, and she hesitated, “Somewhere not very good…”
Xie Meng blinked.
Wu Xiaomei quickly added, “It’s just what I’ve heard. It might not be true.”
Xie Meng made a sound of acknowledgment. Wu Xiaomei seemed to realize she had said too much and laughed awkwardly. They chatted for a while longer until the instructor came in.
The afternoon’s activities were the same as before, but the boys had an additional task of crawling. More than 20 boys were divided into two groups. The instructors set up a rope net on the ground, and after a few practice runs, they began timing them. The slowest group had to hop around the edge of the playground.
Xie Meng was the leader of the first group, and Ji Qinyang was the leader of the second group. The instructor suggested they arm wrestle to decide the order; the loser would go first.
Xie Meng rolled up his sleeves. His skin remained fair even after a day in the sun, but he didn’t look weak. The lines of his arms were smooth and graceful, reflecting the strength of youth. Ji Qinyang was already seated at the table, smiling broadly as he raised his arm.
The two clasped hands. Ji Qinyang’s hand was warmer and drier. Xie Meng momentarily lost his focus, and before he knew it, his wrist was halfway down.
The surrounding crowd erupted in cheers.
Ji Qinyang had a lot of strength. After gaining the upper hand, he clearly intended to push Xie Meng’s wrist down quickly. But it wasn’t as easy as he thought.
Xie Meng’s hand remained a safe distance from the table, steady and unshaking. Ji Qinyang raised an eyebrow, smiling as he looked across at Xie Meng, who was frowning back at him.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Xie Meng suddenly relaxed. To the onlookers, it seemed like Ji Qinyang had won by pressing Xie Meng’s wrist to the table, but only Ji Qinyang knew that Xie Meng had let his hand go down voluntarily.
Ji Qinyang didn’t show any particular joy or disappointment at winning. He smiled heartily and patted Xie Meng’s shoulder. “Thanks, buddy.”
Xie Meng replied calmly, “You’re welcome.”
At that moment, neither of them could have predicted that in the years to come, arm wrestling would become their preferred method for resolving disputes. Winning or losing might not matter much, as the outcomes often depended on more than just strength, like how Xie Meng intentionally lost to Ji Qinyang that day.
That day, Ji Qinyang’s group was two seconds slower than Xie Meng’s at crawling. The boys cheerfully went to frog-hop around the field. The setting sun cast its glow on the red brick track, their shadows slowly moving. Though Ji Qinyang’s face was blurry from the distance, Xie Meng was sure he was still smiling.
For no particular reason, he just felt it was so.
After military training ended, academic pressures gradually increased. The interactions between Xie Meng and Ji Qinyang were like raindrops falling into a lake, spreading ripples that soon dissipated. Aside from being in the same classroom, listening to the same teachers, and completing the same assignments, they had little else in common.
Xie Meng was the typical excellent student in the teachers’ eyes—calm, reserved, and a bit quiet. He didn’t talk much, and the only person he was close to was a boy named Zhang Ganggang, mainly because they were desk mates.
At first, Zhang Ganggang was somewhat intimidated by Xie Meng, thinking that as an S Middle graduate with excellent grades, Xie Meng would be aloof and look down on him. But as they got to know each other, he realized this wasn’t the case.
Xie Meng was very gentle.
Although describing a boy as gentle might sound a bit effeminate, Zhang Ganggang felt no one suited the term better than Xie Meng.
It was like a pretty hard candy. You almost don’t want to eat it because it’s so pretty. But once you do, it tastes sweet, and when you bite into it, you find even the center is soft.
Zhang Ganggang felt his description was a bit cheesy, but that’s truly how he thought.
Xie Meng, of course, had no idea how his desk mate perceived him. He was working on an algebra problem, and after solving it, he handed it to Zhang Ganggang.
“I’ve solved it for you. Take a look.” Xie Meng was very patient. After sitting together for nearly two months, they worked on classroom exercises and homework almost every day, not to mention corrections after quizzes.
Zhang Ganggang cheerfully took the notebook and, following Xie Meng’s steps, reworked the problem himself. After finishing, he erased Xie Meng’s work.
As he erased, Zhang Ganggang sighed, “The midterms are coming up.”
Xie Meng didn’t seem too concerned. “Yes.”
“What am I going to do about my math?” Zhang Ganggang lamented. “Even you can’t save me…”
Xie Meng thought to himself that he never intended to save him.
“But it’s okay.” Zhang Ganggang suddenly perked up, and Xie Meng could almost see his HP bar refill. “As long as Ji Qinyang is here, the Maitreya Buddha won’t bother me. Yang Ge not only has a lot of HP but also knows how to taunt!”
Xie Meng’s pen paused on the paper. “Ji Qinyang?”
Zhang Ganggang said, “Yang Ge1 scored 1 point in math in middle school. That point was because the teacher liked his handwriting and neat paper.”
Xie Meng: “He handed in a blank paper?”
Zhang Ganggang shook his head. “No, he wrote a lot, filled the paper. That’s why it was neat.”
Xie Meng was incredulous. “He wrote so much and got everything wrong?”
Zhang Ganggang looked understanding. “Exactly, he just doesn’t get it.”
This was unbelievable. Xie Meng twirled his pen absentmindedly and looked back at the last row. Ji Qinyang was writing something, and when his gaze met Xie Meng’s, he paused, then smiled.
Xie Meng looked at him for a moment before looking away.
Yang Ge1 – Brother Yang(Ji Qinyang)
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Alhena
Thank you for translating this!!!!