Chapter 1 – A Very Common Name

The season for the start of school.

Li Tang arrived at school at seven o’clock, but he only got up at ten past six. After a leisurely wash-up and dressing, he went downstairs where a steaming breakfast was laid out on the dining table.

Steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and soy milk – none of these were Li Tang’s favorites. He circled the dining table once before opening the refrigerator door, subtly turning his head to look into the kitchen.

This residence was a sizable semi-detached villa, not as spacious as the standalone house of the Li family in the capital, but it was considered a luxury home in the bottom-tier city of Xucheng, especially in its local context. The house had five floors, with the first floor’s living room having a double-height ceiling. The western-style kitchen was open-plan while the Chinese kitchen was enclosed, located on the north side of the entire floor.

The woman busy in the kitchen turned around, reporting to Li Tang upon seeing him, “Breakfast is on the table, Madam hasn’t gotten up yet.”

Li Tang hadn’t planned on asking her, which made him feel a bit embarrassed that his thoughts had been seen through.

He feigned nonchalance and looked away, taking a box of milk from the refrigerator. As he turned, he slammed the refrigerator door shut, leaving behind a sentence for the auntie who had just started working there less than a week ago, “Mm, I’ll go first.”

Leaving the house too late, even though the driver raced through the early morning rush hour traffic, they arrived at the school gate at half past seven.

Li Tang’s high school studies in the capital were at an international school, where neither the curriculum nor attendance evaluations were as strict as the ones at the Xucheng No.1 High School in front of him. But today was the first day of school, and Li Tang was a transfer student. Mr. Liu, the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Grade 2, picked him up from the gatehouse, took him to the office for registration, and then let him go.

Walking to the door, Li Tang suddenly heard Mr. Liu ask, “Wait a moment, haven’t you collected your new books yet?”

Thus, before Li Tang could enter the classroom, he was led by the class monitor to collect his books.

There were many subjects in the second year of high school, so naturally, there were many books. Li Tang couldn’t carry them all, fortunately, the class monitor helped him shoulder most of the load. On the way back to the classroom, Li Tang sensed a gaze resting on him. Turning his head with displeasure, he saw the class monitor, who had shaved his hair short, grin and say, “My name is Li Zichu.”

In return, Li Tang introduced himself.

Perhaps wanting to build a good relationship with the new classmate, Li Zichu stepped closer to Li Tang and lowered his voice to remind him, “The school doesn’t allow mobile phones; they’ll be confiscated. Remember to find a safe place to hide it.”

Li Tang, being new here, wouldn’t know where was safe.

During the morning break, Li Tang was left in the classroom because he wasn’t wearing the school uniform. With no one around, he openly took out his phone and opened the class group chat from his previous school.

Not having opened the group chat for two classes, there were already over a hundred unread messages. The classmates were chatting about where to go for fun on the weekend. They had heard that a new equestrian club had opened in the outskirts of the city, and a batch of quality foals were available for adoption.

Li Tang interjected a few times, and a classmate named Cao Yang asked how he felt about his new school. Li Tang lifted his head and surveyed the simple classroom filled with tables and chairs. Glancing at the blackboard poster left by the previous students with the words “Days until the college entrance exam,” he curled his lips in disdain and replied, “Not great.”

Cao Yang got along well with him and immediately messaged him privately, “What happened? Are the conditions bad?”

Li Tang replied, “How good can a small city school be?”

Cao Yang: “Right, you left in such a hurry, didn’t have time to ask, when do you plan to come back after this?”

Li Tang: “It’s not decided yet, my dad didn’t say.”

Cao Yang: “Latest would be for the college entrance exam?”

Li Tang: “Yeah.”

To be precise, Li Tang was a temporary student; his academic records were still in the capital. So no matter how long he stayed in Xucheng, he had to return to the capital for the college entrance exam.

Cao Yang asked again, “Wasn’t it your mom who took you back?”

Xucheng was Li Tang’s mother’s hometown. This time, the whole family moved from the capital to live here because his mother had fallen ill. Li Tang’s father, understanding her melancholy from marrying far away, specially sent her back to her hometown to recuperate quietly.

Actually, there was no need to bring Li Tang along, but he insisted on coming. Since he could remember, he had never left his mother and spent every day with her.

Li Tang: “Yeah, we should wait until Mom gets better.”

This answer was expected by Cao Yang, but he couldn’t help but complain, “I knew it, you’re such a mama’s boy!”

Li Tang didn’t deny it.

After a boring morning passed, during lunch break, Li Tang bought a sandwich from the small store outside the school. He tore open the packaging and took a bite, his brows furrowing instantly.

It had been a long time since he felt this way, eating merely to fill his stomach. Li Tang persisted in eating half of the sandwich that was hard enough to scrape his esophagus, chewing while reminiscing about his mother’s cooking.

Yes, reminiscing. His mother hadn’t cooked herself for many years.

Although the Xucheng No.1 High School had a cafeteria for its high school department, Li Tang didn’t eat there because he found it crowded.

With more than an hour left before afternoon classes began, Li Tang struggled through the throng of people rushing towards the cafeteria and arrived at the comprehensive building located on the north side of the campus.

It was relatively quiet here, and no one could be seen in the hallways.

In Li Tang’s memory, the comprehensive building was where the art and music classrooms were located, a place that could be overlooked by busy high school students, and a perfect place to rest.

However, perhaps worried about the loss of equipment, Li Tang climbed all the way to the fourth floor without finding a single classroom with its doors open.

Further up was the rooftop terrace. The weather in September still held the heat of summer, and Li Tang, afraid of the sun, was hesitating at the stairwell corner whether to go up or not. Perhaps there was a place to sit and rest up there.

Suddenly, he heard a girl’s sweet voice.

“What did Wang Yan say to you just now?”

Next came a male voice, “Nothing.”

“She said she liked you? Don’t believe it. She lost a bet and had no choice but to confess to you.”

“Oh.”

“You’re disappointed?”

“A little, I guess.”

“I knew it.” The girl sounded somewhat unhappy, “You guys are all like that.”

The guy chuckled softly, “Like what?”

Li Tang didn’t have the habit of eavesdropping, but he was somewhat curious.

Unable to resist, he stepped up a few stairs. The iron door leading to the rooftop wasn’t fully closed, leaving a gap. Li Tang leaned in, tilting his head to change his angle, and saw the back of the guy exactly.

Short black hair, tall and slim, his arms supporting the railing as he slightly bent over, the slightly loose school uniform T-shirt billowed in the wind.

It also blew Li Tang’s eyes shut for a moment, blurring the silhouette into a patch of light and shadow.

The girl stood to the right of the guy, her pleated skirt shortened, accentuating her slender waist and long legs. Dissatisfied with the guy’s indifferent attitude, the girl huffed again and reached out her hand, which was behind her back, “Here, take it.”

The guy glanced at the envelope in her hand, “What is it?”

“Don’t you like talented people who can write poetry?”

“Is that so?”

“It’s what Huo Xichen from your class said, hasn’t he gotten familiar with you already?”

“If he says so.”

“Can you take a look at how my poem is written?”

“Mm.”

The guy’s voice was deep, sounding unenthusiastic, so even though he replied promptly, it conveyed a sense of casual indifference.

In stark contrast to the girl’s shy and proud tone.

“Don’t read it now, read it at home.” The girl’s face flushed with a thin layer of red, and her voice dropped a few decibels, “Don’t let others see it.”

The guy smiled, stuffing the envelope into his trouser pocket.

Now the girl was relieved, suddenly remembering something, she asked, “Hey, don’t you have cigarettes?”

“No.”

“You should’ve said so.”

The girl fished out a pack of cigarettes from the small bag she carried with her, skillfully taking one out and lighting it. She took a few puffs herself before passing the cigarette over, “Do you mind?”

Perhaps it was an illusion, but Li Tang sensed a hint of condescending… charity in the girl’s attitude?

The guy glanced at the burning cigarette and reached out to take it.

The girl laughed, it was a smile akin to victory.

“In the future, you don’t have to buy cigarettes anymore, I’ll bring them for you. I know your situation… My dad has put quite a lot of money on my meal card this semester, how about going to the cafeteria together tonight?”

The thumb and index finger pressed together, slowly burning the cigarette between his fingertips, wisps of blue smoke drifting in the breeze.

Without staring for too long, the guy responded, “Sure.”

However, during dinner time, Li Tang didn’t see the two at the school cafeteria.

Li Tang ate slowly and was picky about food. After class, he would come to claim a seat, picking at his braised pork rice for over forty minutes, but still didn’t finish it.

Entering the classroom through the back door after returning, as a transfer student, the only seats he could choose from were in the back row.

Sitting down, Li Tang glanced at the fourth group to his left, where the last row was empty.

One minute before the bell rang for evening self-study, someone sat in the window-side seat.

As soon as the person sat down, he propped his chin up and yawned, his brows furrowed slightly as he flipped through the textbook, revealing a slightly annoyed expression as if disturbed.

It seemed that he hadn’t been able to get a good sleep on the rooftop this time either.

Evening Self-Study

In the second class, Mr. Liu, the homeroom teacher who rushed to the class to assign math homework, only then remembered that a new student had arrived today.

Li Tang was called upon to stand up and introduce himself, and a guy shouted, “He’s been here for a day, we’re almost getting familiar with each other.”

It caused a burst of laughter.

Mr. Liu slapped the podium, “Quiet!”

Then he turned to Li Tang, “I’ve seen your grades, your English is pretty good, but your math is a bit lacking.”

Li Tang had a bad feeling, thinking that he wouldn’t be assigned a study partner, would he?

Sure enough, Mr. Liu immediately called out another name, “Jiang Lou.”

Waiting for a few seconds without any response, he raised his voice and called again, “Jiang Lou.”

Only the sound of a chair scraping against the floor could be heard, followed by the person on the left standing up.

Li Tang looked in the direction of the sound, the guy had a smile on his face, “Teacher, I can hear you.”

A phrase that would seem challenging when spoken by other guys, but when Jiang Lou said it in his lazy voice, it added a touch of helplessness.

Amidst the renewed laughter in the classroom, Li Tang couldn’t help but think of something else, like his conversation with Cao Yang at noon. When asked if there were any beauties at the new school, his reply was “didn’t pay attention,” and when asked if there were any handsome guys, he paused.

Jiang Lou.

What a common name.

But when attached to this body, it became uncommon.

Mr. Liu told Li Tang to move to the empty seat next to Jiang Lou.

“He’s my math class representative, usually very willing to help others. When I’m not in the classroom, you can ask him for help with any problems.”

Li Tang was pondering the phrase “willing to help others” when an arm stretched out from the left, followed by the empty desk being kicked over to this side. His own desk, piled high with books, was suddenly lifted up and then landed with a bang one meter to the left, settling stably.

Li Tang was in a daze when Jiang Lou had already sat back down. As he rummaged through the pile of books to find the workbook, he shot a puzzled glance at the person still standing.

Li Tang understood the question – aren’t you going to sit down?

Slowly moving over, his butt touching the chair, Li Tang fiddled with the books on the table that had been messed up. Without making a scene, he sized up his new deskmate on the left.

Being closer, Li Tang discovered that Jiang Lou was taller than he had assumed. The low desk forced him to hunch his back and lower his head, causing the bones on the back of his neck to protrude. Looking down, his palms were as slender as he was, pale skin with clear and distinct knuckles.

Just as he was looking, his new deskmate spoke up, “Jiang Lou, grass-head Jiang, staircase Lou.”

His tone was deep, and his speech was unhurried, so he didn’t scare Li Tang, who was secretly observing him.

But Li Tang was still taken aback, taking a while to reply, “Li Tang, dawn Li, autumn begonia Tang.”

The hand holding the pen of his new deskmate paused for a moment.

Li Tang thought he was like the others who found his name strange.

Indeed, Jiang Lou stopped writing and turned his head to look at him.

An awkward sense of shame made Li Tang subconsciously cover the textbook with his name on it.

“What are you hiding?” Jiang Lou chuckled softly, “Isn’t it nice?”

Actually, Li Tang didn’t dislike his name. After all, his mother had given it to him. It was said that when he was born, the autumn begonias were in full bloom. However, the character “Tang” paired with his surname seemed overly sweet and girlish. Li Tang had been mistaken for a girl countless times because of his name, so he always felt a bit repulsed when doing self-introductions.

But someone said it was “pretty good.”

The new deskmate shifted his gaze back, and Li Tang secretly exhaled.

His hand blocking his name moved away from the textbook, and Li Tang picked up his pen but didn’t know what to write. Daydreaming for a while, the tip of the pen fell onto the cover of the textbook, tracing over the faint name again.

Before the end of evening self-study, each student in Class 1, Grade 2 received a cup of milk tea.

Li Tang ordered the delivery as a gift, the first cup of milk tea in autumn – how ceremonious the name sounded. He was accustomed to using this method to bridge the gap with the people around him, showing his sociability. Even though the number of classmates in this class was three times or more than at his previous international school, the cost of treating everyone to milk tea was not to be underestimated.

The classmates were all happy. Several guys immediately called Li Tang their brother and exchanged WeChat contacts, saying they would add him later.

Sociability made Li Tang feel relaxed and grounded. He planned to treat everyone to something every week to further consolidate their relationships.

However, it seemed that some people didn’t play by these rules.

As soon as the bell rang after class, Li Tang took advantage of the commotion in the classroom to push the specially ordered tiramisu to the neighboring table, speaking in a volume audible only to the two of them, “Please continue to guide me in the future.”

Jiang Lou was packing up his schoolbag when he heard this. He looked at the small cake on the table and then at his new deskmate.

That somewhat wooden gaze reminded one of the look on the rooftop at noon, when he looked at the smoked cigarette in the same manner.

What Li Tang didn’t know was that the beautifully designed envelope containing the poem had already been thrown into the trash bin, along with the cigarette that had just burned down a little.

The “To Jiang Lou” on the envelope had a scorch mark right in the middle of the name.

Jiang Lou was taller than Li Tang, so he had to lower his gaze to look at him.

Li Tang tilted his head slightly, seeing that Jiang Lou had thick eyelashes, but the smile on his face was very faint.

“Okay,” Jiang Lou replied.