Chapter 8

The evening sunset painted the horizon crimson, leaving behind soft, ambiguous shades that spread across the buildings of the affiliated high school.

When the final exam ended, the entire campus erupted with excitement.

Students poured out of the examination halls, every face carrying the relief of finally being free.

With her backpack slung over one shoulder, Song Jianan crossed the athletic field, walked around the pond, and passed the flower trellis, now completely covered with thick green ivy.

Thousands of examinees streamed toward the school gates.

Song Jianan wasn’t in a hurry.

She had taken the humanities exams at a different school instead of her own, and since it was her first time visiting this campus, she couldn’t help looking around with curiosity.

After all…

This had also been Su Li’s middle school.

Behind the gymnasium lay a small grove.

Fan-shaped ginkgo leaves drifted gently to the ground, carrying the fresh scent unique to trees.

Without warning, the image of that handsome, melancholy boy surfaced in her mind.

She smiled faintly.

A quiet longing slowly welled up in her heart.

Ever since senior year began and she had moved to the humanities building, she had hardly ever seen Su Li again.

She rarely even heard anyone mention him.

If someone truly chose to cut another person out of their life, then even searching to the ends of the earth would never bring them back.

Yet…

She still thought of him from time to time.

She kept telling herself that it had merely been a young girl’s fantasy.

A beautiful…

Yet cruel dream from an ignorant age.

The wind rustled through the trees.

Rustle… rustle…

At the same moment, her phone rang.

It was Zhang Jingkang.

Unable to hide her excitement and relief, Zhang Jingkang immediately asked,

“Song Jianan! How do you think you did?”

Song Jianan smiled lightly.

“Not bad, I guess. It wasn’t too difficult. What about you?”

“Ah! The physics exam was unbelievably hard! I asked a bunch of people just now, and almost everyone said they bombed it. Oh well, forget it. We’re taking our graduation photos tomorrow, and afterward we’re all meeting at Hotpot City. Are you coming?”

Song Jianan thought for a moment.

“Sure. Just give me a call tomorrow.”

Zhang Jingkang sounded delighted.

“No problem! I’ll call you, and we’ll all go together.”

Everyone held brightly colored graduation autograph books in their hands.

The girls had finally shed their heavy, unattractive school uniforms, replacing them with light summer dresses as they wandered through the crowd asking classmates to leave messages.

Song Jianan’s hand was almost numb from writing.

Helplessly, she turned to the girl sitting beside her.

“It feels like we’re saying goodbye forever. By the end, I’ve completely run out of things to write. Signing these has become such a burden.”

Her deskmate smiled shyly.

Opening her own autograph book, she sighed with emotion.

“Before the college entrance exam, everyone passed these around like members of some underground organization. We were so enthusiastic back then. The homeroom teacher caught us several times.”

She laughed softly.

“But now… somehow nobody seems interested anymore.”

“Back then, it was happiness mixed with repression.”

Song Jianan summarized with a smile.

“Luckily, I was never that interested in autograph books.”

The girl turned to look toward the flower beds.

After a long silence, she suddenly asked,

“Song Jianan… is there someone you especially wish would sign your book?”

“The kind of person you’ve never spoken to…”

“…who probably doesn’t even know you exist?”

Song Jianan froze.

The first person who appeared in her mind…

Was Su Li.

Almost by instinct, her eyes drifted toward Class Eight.

But that familiar figure wasn’t there.

She quickly looked away.

“No.”

She forced herself to answer calmly.

“How could that happen? If I don’t even know someone, why would I want their autograph?”

The girl looked slightly disappointed.

Just then, the homeroom teacher walked over, clapping his hands.

“Everyone line up according to height! We’re about to take the graduation photo for the entire senior class. And open your eyes properly this time—I don’t want anyone looking half asleep in the picture!”

Song Jianan was tall.

Naturally, she ended up standing in the last row among the girls.

Some boys standing behind her recognized her and casually struck up a conversation.

Absentmindedly, she glanced upward.

There…

At the very edge of the last row…

Su Li stood quietly in a white shirt.

His hands rested casually in his pockets.

His chin was slightly raised, as though he were gazing at the sky.

Above him, enormous clouds drifted rapidly across the heavens.

The melancholy calm surrounding the boy in white blended perfectly into the silent sea of sky above.

For that single moment…

Song Jianan’s eyes could see no one except Su Li.

Just one second.

Yet she suddenly didn’t know how she was supposed to face the emotions surging inside her.

She could only force herself to look away.

Her heart…

Slowly began to ache.

She would never be bright enough…

To belong beneath a sky that suited someone like him.

All she could do…

Was leave everything to time.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The night before the college entrance examination scores were released, Song Jianan couldn’t sleep at all.

When the results finally came out, the entire Song family was overwhelmed with joy.

She had performed exactly as expected.

In fact…

She had done even better.

Phone calls poured in one after another.

Classmates kept calling to ask about her score.

She answered politely while also comforting those who were disappointed.

This year’s science students had been devastated by the physics exam.

For the first time, the humanities students’ scores had surpassed those of the science students.

Without realizing it, she found herself worrying about Su Li.

But she no longer had any way to contact him.

All she could do was quietly ask around among classmates from the science track, hoping to hear something when everyone gathered to fill out their university applications.

She never got the chance.

Before the school organized the application process, her cousin, who was studying in Singapore, invited her to travel there.

Her mother handled all of her university applications.

Both good news and bad news gradually spread among her classmates.

Duan Jiachen had been admitted to the architecture program at the city’s best university.

He had also become the top student from their former class.

Meanwhile, many classmates who had once been outstanding students performed far below expectations.

Some celebrated.

Others grieved.

Yet throughout it all…

No one ever mentioned Su Li.

By the time Song Jianan returned from Singapore…

Her admission letter had already arrived.

She went to collect it on a blazing summer afternoon.

The campus was completely deserted.

Only a few teachers remained on duty in the office, painstakingly recording the collection of admission letters.

After she gave her name, one teacher immediately smiled.

“So it’s you.”

“You were the only student from our school admitted to Sun Yat-sen University this year.”

“You did extremely well.”

The teacher turned and entered the records room to retrieve her EMS envelope.

Leaning forward slightly, Song Jianan glanced at the registration list on the desk.

Duan Jiachen had already collected his admission letter.

Sure enough…

It was the university he’d hoped for.

Before she could look more carefully, the teacher returned and handed her the EMS envelope.

As he filled in the register, he casually remarked,

“Only two students came to collect their admission letters today. It’s just too hot outside.”

“This morning there was another boy.”

“He got into Renmin University too. Excellent results.”

Song Jianan smiled politely.

Almost casually, she asked,

“Teacher… what’s his name? Maybe I know him.”

The teacher glanced down at the list.

“Oh.”

“Su Li.”

“There aren’t many people with the surname Su these days.”

The school had recently moved to a new campus.

Beyond it stretched vast suburban fields.

Unknown grasses grew waist-high.

Wild flowers called twin ginger grass lined the roadside.

Their leaves and blossoms were edible.

They thrived everywhere.

Dark red and withered yellow intertwined beneath the blazing summer sun, making even midsummer seem to carry the loneliness of autumn.

Green vines climbed over the wooden fences lining the road.

Song Jianan suddenly ran wildly across the open fields.

She shouted into the empty air with all her strength.

The startled birds resting on the fence took flight.

With a flutter of wings…

Ripples spread across the sky.

She kept running…

Until she was completely exhausted.

Years of pressure suddenly poured out all at once.

The scorching summer wind rolled over her.

Her cheeks burned red beneath the blazing sun.

Then…

She thought of Su Li.

Renmin University…

Sun Yat-sen University…

One in the north.

One in the south.

Perfectly moving farther and farther away from each other.

Without warning…

Tears slipped quietly down her face.

Just as quietly…

They stopped.

It all felt like a dream.

Everything connected to Su Li…

Had been an ending without ever having truly begun.

Many years later, whenever Song Jianan thought back to that boy…

She finally understood.

He had become…

The one regret in all of her youth that could never be made whole.

The distant way he lowered his eyes…

The way she always looked up at him…

His quiet, melancholy gaze…

Among every memory of her innocent younger years…

There seemed to be no one else…

Only him.