Chapter 47 Part 2

That behavior of brazenly crossing boundaries under the guise of being her cousin… it was quite uncomfortable.

While discussing with Jiang Ke whether to make a bowl or a cup, Xu Yinian’s gaze would secretly drift toward Shen Ruoshuang from time to time, checking on her progress.

Unlike the clumsiness others displayed during their first attempt, the lump of clay was remarkably obedient beneath Shen Ruoshuang’s slender fingers. As it spun and whirled, it took on a beautiful form.

They had only attended two classes together, and both were merely electives, yet her talent was already fully on display.

It couldn’t help but remind Xu Yinian of the brief time they spent as classmates back in high school.

Xu Yinian had just started high school. Her mother was a mathematics teacher at Yuanwu No. 1 High School. Xu Yinian had always been a diligent student who kept her head down and studied hard, yet she still couldn’t satisfy her mother—she lacked both the talent and the results for academic competitions. At her mother’s insistence, Xu Yinian was eventually pulled into that competition class through personal connections, even though she felt completely out of place there.

The consequences of forcing growth were obvious. Her life in the class was far from easy, a fate that seemed predestined from the moment she entered as a “connected student.”

It reached a peak when her mother, acting as her teacher, repeatedly called her to the board to solve problems she couldn’t do—a process akin to a series of public executions.

Her stutter was maliciously mocked, she was always the one left out during group discussions, and those thick math competition workbooks once became the nightmare that jolted Xu Yinian awake in the middle of the night.

Two months after the start of the semester, a transfer student unexpectedly joined the class.

Like a torpedo dropped into calm waters, the arrival sent up a massive spray.

Students, teachers, and the school alike were sent into a stir.

After all, in a small town like Yuanwu where educational resources were scarce, a genius was incredibly important for the school’s guaranteed admission rates and competition accolades. Unlike the “connected student” Xu Yinian, anyone who had been involved in national-level competitions since junior high had more or less heard of Shen Ruoshuang’s name. She was a gold medalist who had dominated the rankings in both Mathematics and Chemistry.

It was said that both her parents were academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It was said that even in the best high school in the country, she was the top student.

…

No one knew why she had suddenly come to Yuanwu.

Xu Yinian had seen Shen Ruoshuang earlier than anyone else.

In the competition class, the rules dictated that everyone had to finish a quiz before they could leave for the weekly break, and the last person to leave was responsible for cleaning the classroom and securing the doors, windows, desks, and chairs.

It was essentially an unspoken system of rewards and punishments. After all, in the honors class, grades were synonymous with social status, and the hierarchy was strictly stratified. Ironically, the architect of this system was none other than Xu Yinian’s mother. It was a blatant punishment for her dead-last performance.

The quizzes that others could breeze through with ease were an exhausting struggle for Xu Yinian. And so, she was the one stuck with cleaning duty every time. Xu Yinian had just returned with a fresh bucket of water, ready to wipe away the blackboard full of numbers and symbols.

Upon her return, she saw through the window a figure she had never seen before standing quietly at the podium of the empty classroom, looking up at the blackboard filled with her own error-riddled calculations.

At that moment, a breeze swept through the room, and the curtains silently broke free from their restraints, finally fluttering wildly.

The setting sun poured into the room, shimmering and swaying as it fell across the girl’s cool hair and the hem of her clothes, both lifted by the wind.

Against the light, she looked back.

That line from Kora:

“You do not know her name, for it was scattered by the evening wind.”

Before winter arrived, it had always been a stunning fixture in Xu Yinian’s memory.

Unfortunately, what she didn’t know then was that the wind had carried away the very last traces of autumn at the end of October.

…

Snapping out of her brief daze, she realized that the other girl was already nearly finished. The piece was a somewhat rounded cup, its cute shape already visible even in its raw form. It was quite different from the style Xu Yinian usually associated with Shen Ruoshuang, prompting her to take a few more looks.

Jiang Ke couldn’t wait, pulling Xu Yinian along to sit face-to-face in front of the machine.

Xu Yinian could feel her irrepressible excitement, and a hint of tenderness couldn’t help but flicker in her eyes.

She really was still a child, after all, to be so interested in things like this.

The two had just reached a decision: Xu Yinian would personally craft a ceramic bowl as a gift for Jiang Ke.

Shen Ruoshuang’s movements had looked simple enough, but it wasn’t until Xu Yinian actually started that she realized the spinning clay was completely beyond her control.

She wondered if it was because her hands were too small, as she couldn’t even seem to cup the lump of clay with both of them.

Just as Xu Yinian was at a loss, Jiang Ke’s hand covered hers, easily taking control of the situation. Xu Yinian couldn’t help but look up, only to find that her younger cousin had drawn incredibly close at some point. Her eyes were veiled beneath her lashes, her emotions unreadable. Her current silence caused her usual lively aura to vanish almost entirely, making her feel inexplicably like a stranger.

Xu Yinian’s throat tightened and she swallowed hard, instinctively calling out, “Ke… Ke-ke?”

Almost the very instant she uttered the name, the sense of familiarity returned.

Jiang Ke finally looked up and burst into a chuckle, as if nothing had happened:

“Sis, you don’t even know how to do this. Let me lead you.”

But beneath the smile she had deliberately put on for her, Jiang Ke’s breathing had quietly grown erratic.

Performing the same movements as the couples around them, this contact seemed to be imbued with a special meaning. It was different from all their previous hand-holding and playful antics; she never expected this sensation to be a heart-fluttering throb that almost exposed her.

Once the taste of sweetness begins to swell, it becomes insatiable.

Jiang Ke understood this truth better than anyone, yet she refused to let go, willfully turning a blind eye as she continued to indulge in this blasphemous, transgressive, and forbidden satisfaction. She chatted and laughed with her usual air of dependence, but the clinging friction of her trembling fingertips against the back of the other’s hand never once ceased.

Shen Ruoshuang’s carving knife suddenly came to a halt. Her brows furrowed, and her gaze turned chillingly cold.