Dew already clung to the early autumn leaves in the faint morning light, and the air was slightly chilly. Lu Mingfei walked along on his way to school, holding soy milk in one hand and a rice ball in the other. Today was the second day of the new semester, and as usual, Lu Mingfei was walking to school alone. His cousin Lu Mingze never liked walking with him and always left early.
"Hey, want a bite?" Seeing a small dog hiding behind a concrete pillar by the side of the road, Lu Mingfei held the rice ball out toward it.
"Woof." The dog wagged its tail, its eyes gleaming.
Just as the dog was about to snap up the ham inside the rice ball, Lu Mingfei lifted his hand slightly, making it bite into thin air.
"Awooo." The dog let out a protest.
"If you want to eat, go buy your own. I bought mine myself, too." Lu Mingfei brought the rice ball close again, wanting to tease the cute little pup.
Using the pillar for leverage, the dog launched itself off the wall, snatched Lu Mingfei's ham, and bolted away in a panic.
"Get back here!" Lu Mingfei froze for a second, then immediately gave chase.
"Don't you run, give me back my one-fifty!" His shouts amused a passing pedestrian.
He finally cut off the dog's path at the park: "Go on, run! You dare rob your daddy's ham? Can you outrun me?"
Lu Mingfei pried open its jaws, only to find nothing inside; the ham had likely already met a heroic end.
Lu Mingfei vigorously ruffled the dog's head. "You owe me a ham, and you're going to pay it back, you hear me?"
He set the dog down and broke off a bit more rice ball for it. To be honest, there were truly countless stray dogs like this one—small breeds that couldn't guard a house at all, kept purely for amusement. Some people got pets on a whim, and once the novelty wore off, they didn't want them anymore. Pets abandoned like this ended up wandering the streets with no hunting skills, forced to survive by rummaging through trash cans. They really were quite pitiful.
"The soy milk is mine, you're not allowed to steal it." Watching the dog wolf down the food, Lu Mingfei felt a pang of sympathy; he was just a stray little loser dog that nobody wanted either. He desperately wanted to take the dog home, but Aunt had made it crystal clear that she wouldn't let him keep it no matter what. "I have to go to school, so I'll leave the rest of the rice ball for you." Lu Mingfei put down the rice ball and hurried away.
The dog watched his retreating figure and wagged its tail. For it, this half of a rice ball was an entire day's meal. Surrounding stray dogs began to close in, looking unfriendly, baring their teeth, and making rumbling noises in their throats as they tried to steal its food. The dog quietly picked up half of it in its jaws and left the rest right where it was. Just like that human had left the rice ball for it, it left half for the other stray dogs in the park.
Passing a steamed bun shop, Lu Mingfei bought two meat buns to make up for the lost rice ball. As he walked out of the shop, he deliberately checked the time—it was exactly seven o'clock. With time to spare, he strolled leisurely, watching the commuters rushing past, feeling a slight sense of triumph.
A bicycle whizzed past him, nearly crashing into Lu Mingfei and costing him one of his buns in the process.
"Watch where you're riding!" Lu Mingfei cursed.
"I'm already late, who cares about you?" The boy on the bike was wearing the Shilan Middle School uniform, and he rode away without even looking back.
Lu Mingfei picked up the bun that had fallen to the ground, brushed off the dirt, and put it in his bag. It was no longer edible, so he might as well leave it for the dog and bring it over after school this evening.
He calculated the time: he had left the bun shop ten minutes ago at most, so how could he possibly be late? Truly bizarre.
Passing the bus stop, a bus happened to drive by. He glanced at the timetable—one every half hour, which meant this must be the seven-twenty-two bus. Could it be? Lu Mingfei quickened his pace. He could already see the large television screen set up by the TV station near Shilan Middle School. He squinted to check the time in the upper right corner: 7:23. Oh crap! Lu Mingfei broke into a full sprint. The clock at that bun shop must have been inaccurate.
He dashed through the school gate just as the clock struck seven-thirty. Before he could even catch his breath, he suddenly remembered that today was Tuesday, and the morning self-study supervisor was the math teacher. He bolted into motion again. The math teacher's surname was Ye, and she was very strict, placing special emphasis on punctuality. Any unpunctual behavior would get your name written down in her book. Once your name was in there, Lu Mingfei was in danger; whenever she couldn't think of anyone to call on during class, the math teacher would pull out her little name-recording notebook and randomly select a lucky audience member to answer questions.
"Ah." A familiar voice rang out beside his ear.
Lu Mingfei was so focused on watching the time that he didn't see anyone in front of him, crashing head-on into a girl. The soft, fragrant embrace caught Lu Mingfei off guard, and he quickly pushed her away.
"What are you doing?" Erii glared at him angrily.
"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Lu Mingfei hadn't expected to bump right into Erii just by failing to look ahead.
"You're going to get someone hurt doing that."
"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hug you." Recalling the soft warmth and faint scent from moments ago, Lu Mingfei felt a bit embarrassed.
"Breakfast. I mean my breakfast. My breakfast is gone." Erii pointed at the food on the ground.
Lu Mingfei originally wanted to mention the three-second rule—that you could still eat it if you picked it up fast enough—but clearly, three seconds had already passed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to." As he spoke, a rumbling sound came from Lu Mingfei's stomach.
"You didn't eat breakfast?"
"It's a long story. Since you didn't eat breakfast and I didn't either, we're even."
"How are we even?" Erii puffed out her cheeks in a pout, looking rather adorable.
"I already apologized, so forgive me. Teacher Ye is supervising this morning, and I really don't want to be late." Lu Mingfei pleaded for mercy, but it was already too late. The 7:40 morning class bell echoed in his ears, and Lu Mingfei knew he was completely cooked.
"What is wrong with the two of you? If you're late, stand outside the door." Walking side by side into the classroom, the two were blocked by the math teacher, who handed over a notebook. "Write your names down yourselves. You're seniors in high school and still late—what kind of example is that?"
Lu Mingfei looked at the notebook being handed over; this scene felt so familiar. He and Erii exchanged glances—wasn't this the exact method Erii used for chatting? Lu Mingfei obediently signed his full name, handed the notebook to Erii, and Erii neatly wrote down her name before returning the notebook to Teacher Ye.
"The two of you can do your review outside. Make good fools of yourselves and learn a lesson." Teacher Ye closed the classroom door, leaving the two of them hanging outside.
Watching the sunlight slowly crawl up the fifth-floor window sill, the corridor was already getting warm. Lu Mingfei took off his jacket, put it in his bag, and glanced at Erii, who seemed to be reading a novel.
"A mystery novel?" Lu Mingfei asked tentatively.
"Mhm."
"Is it good?"
"Not bad, a solid orthodox mystery." Erii closed the book. "Do you want to read it?"
"Sure." Lu Mingfei readily accepted, just as he was fretting over having nothing to pass the time with.
"Then let's read it together." Erii opened the book flat between them, and the two of them read the same novel.
This was the first time the school beauty had accompanied him while he was being punished to stand in the hallway. More importantly, the two of them had their heads close together reading a novel—something like this was the envy of everyone else.
Lu Mingfei turned his head to look at Erii. The sunlight shone on her fair face; her skin was white and delicate, like a piece of raw jade. The phrase "skin like congealed lard" must have been describing someone like her, making one unable to resist wanting to reach out and touch it.
Erii noticed his gaze and turned to look at him, their eyes meeting instantly.
"What are you two doing?" The window curtain was pulled open at an untimely moment, and the math teacher stood in front of the window with dark lines across her face, glaring at them. "You're seniors and you're already dating? Do you even want to go to college?"