A Sunny Day
A group of teenagers were playing basketball on the court of City Second High School.
Chu Han carried a stack of homework as she passed by the small path next to the basketball court. Tall phoenix trees lined both sides of the path, their dense leaves allowing sunlight to filter through.
She deliberately slowed her pace, her gaze frequently drifting towards the basketball court.
Chu Han was not walking very fast, and before long, the math class representative from the neighboring class, also carrying a stack of math assignments, caught up with her.
“Chu Han, do you want to hear some huge gossip?”
“What huge gossip?” Chu Han asked curiously.
“Our school beauty has started dating!”
“With whom?”
“You know Lu Qi from the vocational school, right? The tall, burly guy who’s amazing at basketball.”
“……”
Chu Han paused, “You mean Lu Qi and the school beauty are together?”
“This morning during break, I saw Lu Qi waiting for her outside the school gate. They were all lovey-dovey, obviously a new couple!”
“……”
Chu Han was distracted for the entire afternoon, spacing out in class multiple times and getting called out by the teacher.
After school, her deskmate couldn’t hold it in anymore. Lightly poking Chu Han’s hand, she asked, “What’s up with you today? You seem a bit down.”
Chu Han sighed while packing her things, “Maybe I’m heartbroken.”
Deskmate: “?”
Chu Han was almost done packing and was about to leave when she heard her deskmate’s incredulous voice, “You like the school beauty?”
Chu Han: “?”
The homeroom teacher’s final class meeting dragged on for over ten minutes. By the time Chu Han left the classroom, the school was nearly deserted.
Chu Han had never told anyone that she actually liked Lu Qi.
Lu Qi was not particularly handsome, nor was he academically strong. But he was very tall, great at basketball, and had a personality that girls liked.
However, Chu Han liked him not for his height or personality, but because he had saved her life. About three years ago, when her family’s old house caught fire, she was trapped inside. She thought she was going to die, but instead, she was saved.
In the hospital, someone told her that a young boy had carried her out.
That boy was Lu Qi.
Chu Han first saw Lu Qi on the day she was discharged from the hospital. Lu Qi happened to visit the hospital, and her mother had brought gifts to thank him. It was her first time meeting him—he was tall and robust, with a strong presence.
Initially, she hadn’t realized she liked Lu Qi. It was only after she started high school that she found out he was studying basketball at the vocational school.
Those days coincided with a few girls in the class being particularly fond of the boys in the vocational school basketball team. Chu Han didn’t know many people, the only one she knew was Lu Qi, so her attention to him was naturally more. Perhaps due to the aura of a lifesaver, she often found herself watching Lu Qi unconsciously. Every time she knew he would come to their school for a game, she would try every way to watch it.
Chu Han took a small path, and just as she reached the school gate, she unexpectedly noticed a boy and a girl standing under a big tree not far away. The boy was wearing sportswear, and the girl was in school uniform, looking down at something.
A gentle breeze blew, and a few leaves slowly fell.
Maybe it was because he felt her gaze, the boy suddenly raised his head and looked over at her.
Chu Han was stunned for a moment and quickly shifted her gaze. She clutched the strap of her backpack tightly and hurriedly left.
In the evening, after Chu Han got home, she didn’t have much of an appetite. She ate a little and went back to her room to do her homework.
The pressure in the second year of high school was not small, and there was a lot of homework. Chu Han usually did homework until about eleven o’clock. Today, she finished a bit earlier at ten-thirty because there was less homework. Since there was nothing else to do, she washed up briefly, turned off the lights, and prepared to sleep.
Maybe because she had something on her mind, Chu Han had insomnia. She couldn’t help but think of Lu Qi and some past events. She was struggling with whether she liked Lu Qi or not.
To say she liked him, it didn’t seem like an irreplaceable feeling, but to say she didn’t like him, she still felt sad knowing he was in a relationship.
After thinking for a long time, Chu Han concluded that her feelings were similar to idol-like admiration mixed with a touch of gratitude.
Her mother was very strict and wouldn’t let her date early. Although Chu Han would occasionally cause trouble, she was generally obedient. Her life was well-regulated, she worked hard in her studies, attended a good high school, planned to go to a good university, find a good job, and so on.
After a while, Chu Han decided that she and Lu Qi were from two different worlds. They hadn’t had much interaction before, and probably wouldn’t in the future.
Looking at the bright moon outside her window, Chu Han murmured, “Forget it, let it go.”
Previously never having liked anyone, her first crush was a failure. But Chu Han quickly adjusted her mood as she was a straightforward person. Once she decided not to like someone, she meant it.
She no longer unconsciously paid attention to Lu Qi or listened to people talking about him. After deciding not to like him, Lu Qi seemed to completely disappear from her world.
At times, thinking about this, Chu Han would marvel at how cold and decisive she was, capable of truly letting someone go.
High school life was busy, and days passed quickly. Chu Han was already a second-year student.
A particularly joyful event occurred during this period; her close friend An An successfully passed the entrance exam to the city’s No. 1 High School. They were now in the same place, with homes closer to each other.
Autumn arrived, and the leaves near the school gate began to turn yellow.
Recently, several food stalls appeared near the school gate, selling things like candied chestnuts, roasted sweet potatoes, and sugar-coated haws. Chu Han’s favorite was roasted sweet potatoes, which were especially soft, sweet, and syrupy.
Her best friend, Wen Ke’an, also loved roasted sweet potatoes. Seeing delicious roasted sweet potatoes always made Chu Han want to share them with her.
That day, with an early school dismissal, Chu Han left school earlier than usual to buy some roasted sweet potatoes for Wen Ke’an.
After picking a few good ones, school was dismissed, and a large crowd of students surged out, surrounding the roasted sweet potato stall. After paying, Chu Han squeezed her way out of the crowd.
Shortly after squeezing through the crowd, she heard several female classmates around her having an excited conversation.
“Wow, look at the guy over there! He’s really handsome!”
“Ahhh, is he here to pick up his younger siblings from school?”
“He’s wearing a black suit, just like a domineering CEO from a novel!”
Their comments caught Chu Han’s interest immediately. She looked in the direction they were pointing and saw a man in a suit standing not too far away. He looked clean-cut and tall, though not as brawny as Lu Qi from a distance.
Chu Han quietly shifted her gaze away. Currently, she wasn’t interested in this type of guy, even if he was really handsome.
She carried her roasted sweet potato and headed towards Yi Zhong. The two schools were close, only a ten-minute walk apart.
As Chu Han walked on, the image of that man in the suit kept popping into her mind. When she looked up earlier, he happened to glance over as well, so she only took a quick look and didn’t get a clear view. But she felt like she might have seen him somewhere before.
Interestingly, Chu Han saw the man in the suit at the school gate several days in a row. After seeing him several times, she finally realized why he seemed familiar.
She did know him. He was her neighbor who she used to know when she was younger. Chu Han remembered that he went abroad to study four years ago, and they hadn’t seen each other since. Talking to him now would be awkward, and he probably didn’t remember her anymore.
Chu Han decided it would be better to pretend she didn’t recognize him.
Another day after school, as Chu Han walked out the school gate, the math representative from the neighboring class mysteriously tapped her shoulder and whispered, “Chu Han, do you know that guy over there?”
“Which guy?”
Chu Han instinctively wanted to turn around, but the math representative stopped her, “Don’t look back yet.”
Chu Han obediently didn’t turn around.
“The tall, handsome guy in the black suit who looks really rich.”
With that description, Chu Han immediately knew who it was.
“What about him?” Chu Han asked quietly.
“I always see him following you every time I come out.”
Chu Han was taken aback, “Following me?”
“Yeah, yesterday I watched for a while and noticed he always keeps some distance from you, so it’s understandable you didn’t notice.”
“…”
“I used to know him; he was a neighbor’s brother from before. But we haven’t seen each other for a long time.”
Chu Han still remembered the name of the neighbor’s brother, Xie Huaiyan.
Because she thought this name sounded nice, she hadn’t forgotten it.
“You haven’t seen each other for so long, why did he suddenly come back and even follow you home?”
Chu Han shook her head, “I don’t know.”
The math class representative thought for a moment, her expression becoming more fearful, “Oh no, could he be a pervert!”
The author has something to say: Xie ‘Sneaky’ Huaiyan: No, I’m not!
