Chapter 1 Part 1

Friday evening on the subway.

It was even more crowded than usual.

Just two stops past the origin station, the carriage—which had still held a few empty seats—was packed solid with passengers streaming in.

A woman whose pregnancy was just beginning to show clutched her slightly rounded belly with one hand, while reaching up with the other for the overhead hanging strap.

She hadn’t quite gotten a firm grip when someone jostling in from beside her bumped her hard. She teetered, on the verge of toppling to the left, only for a fair-skinned, slender hand to tug her gently back to safety, averting what could have been a nasty accident.

The hand lingered for a moment, and a soft voice called out, “Sister.”

Still shaken, the woman turned and met the eyes of a gentle-looking girl.

“Here, take my seat.”

Kong Jian had just started her first year of high school. At 168 centimeters, she stood out tall among girls her age.

She looked slender, but she wasn’t fragile by any means.

After yielding her seat, she copied the woman’s earlier pose—one hand gripping the strap, the other tucked casually into the pocket of her school uniform jacket. Her clean, fresh aura, like the scent of orchids, felt utterly out of place amid the crush and clamor of the carriage.

The doors slid open and shut. The air, thick with the mingled smells of food and unwashed bodies, was suddenly infused with a faint, delicate fragrance.

The scent drew nearer, soon asserting itself unmistakably in Kong Jian’s nostrils.

Curious, she tilted her head toward the source.

The newcomer had sidled right up beside her.

It was a middle school girl, barely reaching Kong Jian’s chest, her head bowed. From Kong Jian’s vantage, all she could make out was the crown of the girl’s thick black hair and the pert, pretty tip of her nose.

The girl was pressed close against her, but not because she was her target; instead, she tilted her chin up, stretching to grasp the strap that dangled well above her head.

She managed to snag it, but where Kong Jian stood calmly, the girl strained with obvious effort.

Bumped yet again by the girl’s small frame lurching uncontrollably, Kong Jian shifted half a step to the left and finally spoke up in helpless exasperation. “Hey, classmate—why don’t you just hold on to me?”

She kept her gaze fixed straight ahead. In her peripheral vision, she saw the girl snap her head up for a quick glance.

Kong Jian waited two seconds. No response. She was just wondering whether to repeat herself louder when a cool little hand settled on her waist. In the next instant, the girl’s soft, fragrant body wrapped around her like a koala clinging to a tree trunk—tightly, without a single gap—her arm sliding up along Kong Jian’s in a seamless hug.

The girl’s voice was heavenly, sweet and soft as could be.

“Thanks, senior. I’ve got to ride all the way to the end of the line. Where are you getting off?”

Kong Jian had only meant for the girl to grab her hand and steady herself. She hadn’t anticipated quite this level of intimacy.

It was the first time anyone outside her circle of friends had clung to her so closely. Stunned for a long moment, she finally regained her composure and, with unthinking kindness, didn’t insist that the overly familiar underclassman let go. “Hundred Exhibition Road.”

—Hundred Exhibition Road was the third-to-last stop.

“Then I’ll be in your hands until your stop, senior.”

Hundred Exhibition Road came up quickly.

Sensing the moment, the girl released her as soon as the doors opened.

“Senior, want to add me on WeChat? I’ll buy you bubble tea as a thank-you.”

The carriage buzzed with noise as Kong Jian fought her way toward the doors. She missed the girl’s words entirely.

Swept along with the exiting crowd, she headed for the stairs and glanced back on impulse.

Life wasn’t some idol drama. Through the thick glass panels, Kong Jian couldn’t make out the girl’s face.

She put the trivial encounter out of her mind soon enough.

One more stop along, the doors opened again. The exquisite, ethereal girl casually sent a voice message to one of her WeChat contacts.

“Dad, I overshot by three stops. Hang tight a little longer—I’ll catch the next one back.”

…

Kong Jian’s grades were as exceptional as her height.

Throughout her entire first year of high school, she’d never slipped outside the top three in her grade.

At the start of the new semester in her second year, the school leadership held its first assembly to honor top students schoolwide.

The awards went first to the third-years, then the first-years, with the second-years last.

While waiting her turn in the audience, Xi Yunyun thumped Kong Jian excitedly on the arm beside her and pointed toward the stage. “That underclassman’s a total fairy! How does she make our drab school uniforms look like high fashion? What a beauty. Come on, quit grinding those practice problems—you can do those anytime. A girl like this doesn’t come around every day!”

Interrupted beyond endurance, Kong Jian humored her with a glance upward. She’d forgotten her glasses that morning and couldn’t make out the features of the underclassman currently speaking as the new student representative. “Yeah, she’s gorgeous. You’ve got a good eye.”

What did girls never tire of hearing?

Praise.

Xi Yunyun clearly hadn’t expected Kong Jian to turn the compliment on her at a moment like this. Her excited voice caught for an instant, and she twisted her head to see the other girl already bent over her workbook, scribbling away at the problems. Amused and exasperated, she let out a sigh. “Bookworm!”

Kong Jian wasn’t a bookworm.

She had only brought her workbook to the auditorium because there was one problem she still hadn’t cracked.

Once she finished it, she naturally set the notebook aside.

“Which underclassman girl were you talking about earlier?”

Her friend sounded utterly helpless as she pinched Kong Jian’s soft cheek. “Jian, you should just keep hitting the books.”

“Hm?”

“The teachers already called the seniors up to collect their awards by now. That fairy-like freshman went back to her seat with the other first-years ages ago.”

~~~

A few days later, Kong Jian came down with gastroenteritis and took several days off sick.

The doctor had specifically warned her to eat breakfast no matter what—even just one steamed bun was better than skipping it entirely.

Kong Jian obeyed the doctor’s orders for exactly one week before slipping right back into her old ways.

Xi Yunyun couldn’t bear to watch her friend commit slow suicide any longer. She dragged her out twenty minutes early to keep her company, but the moment they reached the cafeteria doors, Kong Jian slipped her hand free.

Her slender brows arched sharply. “You’re eating breakfast with me!”

Kong Jian looked utterly helpless. “I really don’t want to.”

“If you keep skipping breakfast, what if it turns into stomach cancer? Starting today, I’m done indulging you, Kong Jian. You’re eating breakfast, and that’s final!”

“What if, during morning self-study, Teacher Han calls you to the office specifically to make you do two extra math worksheets?”

Her friend’s face fell. “Then next year on this day, you’d have to swing by my grave and leave a white chrysanthemum.”

Kong Jian nodded. “So now you get how I feel when you force breakfast on me, right?”

“…”

“Why don’t you just get yourself a boyfriend? I won’t object, I promise.”

Xi Yunyun nodded, deciding it was a brilliant idea. “If your boyfriend can cure you of this awful habit, I won’t mind having a third wheel tagging along with us.”

Kong Jian let out a surprised laugh but didn’t take the suggestion seriously.

The next day, a bag of breakfast appeared on her desk.

Xi Yunyun hurried over to catch up on her homework and spotted the fancy packaging. The soy milk in her mouth lost all its appeal. “Jian, skip class with me today and let’s go buy a lottery ticket. If we hit the jackpot, half’s yours!”

Kong Jian had never lacked admirers. From childhood on, she’d collected at least a hundred love letters.

Some had even cornered her midway to confess on the spot—without exception, she’d turned them all down flat.

Sure, people had bought her snacks before, but this was the first time a suitor had gotten her breakfast.

Xi Yunyun’s keen eyes caught sight of a card peeking from the paper bag. She fished it out to reveal a line of elegant black calligraphy: “To Kong Jian.”

“This guy’s handwriting is pretty refined. Wouldn’t happen to be Zhao Qian, would it?”

Zhao Qian was Class Six’s resident heartthrob, handsome with his clear brows and bright eyes. He and Kong Jian had served together in the same student council department once.

“He’s going out with Wang Qing.”

“No way??? The sweet, clueless slacker paired up with the cool, arrogant top student? How’d you find out!”

Kong Jian rummaged through the bag but found nothing else to identify the sender besides the note.

From the corner of her eye, she caught her friend’s wide, pleading puppy-dog stare, begging for every juicy detail. With a sigh, she gave a simple explanation. “I saw them kissing in the hallway at the department’s summer gathering.”

“Kong Jian! That’s huge gossip—you didn’t tell me?”

“It’s their private business. Not my place to spread it.”

Xi Yunyun huffed in mock anger. “What do you mean, not your place? With our friendship? I’m no gossip. Whisper it to me in secret, and it’ll stay buried in my gut! Next time you hear something like that, you tell me right away, got it?”

Kong Jian didn’t reply. Instead, she hefted the bag. “You want it? If not, I’ll give it to Tongtong.”

“You’re seriously not eating breakfast someone bought just for you?!”

“I’m really not into breakfast. Besides, how can I give it back if I don’t even know who sent it?”

Clearly, this was a secret admirer not ready to show their face.

Xi Yunyun spared a half-second of pity for the unnamed classmate before gleefully claiming the bag. “Come on, eat a little with me. Ancient Yan’s breakfast lineup is all limited edition. My ex once dragged himself out at six a.m. to queue up for it—the taste is killer! You can’t stomach the cafeteria slop, but this premium stuff? Do me a solid and try a bite.”

Kong Jian had already settled in and cracked open her English textbook. “You eat it.”

“What about the card, then? It’s a token of their feelings. You keeping it?”

Her previous suitors had always handed snacks over in person, giving Kong Jian the perfect opening to refuse on the spot.

Today felt a little different, and Kong Jian had no idea how to deal with it.

Xi Yunyun, savoring the delicious breakfast beside her, jumped in to speak up for the anonymous suitor just like any corrupt official who’d taken a bribe. “I think this guy’s not like your usual pursuers at all. Doesn’t his approach feel really tactful? He doesn’t bug you or anything. And his handwriting is gorgeous—you could frame this card as artwork. You don’t even have a bookmark, so why not use it as one?”

Before Kong Jian could respond, she casually slipped the square card, still carrying a faint whiff of fresh ink, into one of Kong Jian’s books.

“There. No more agonizing over it. Just trust me on this—you won’t regret it!”

Kong Jian couldn’t come up with a good reason to say no, so she went along with it.

The next day, another bag of the same exquisite breakfast appeared on the table.

Xi Yunyun was at a bit of a loss herself. “Jian, remember that idiot senior from our first year who chased you longer than anyone else? The one who kept slapping his hot face against your cold butt? How long did he send you snacks?”

Kong Jian’s memory wasn’t the sharpest on matters like this. The girl thought for a few seconds before answering. “About a month, I think. You shot him down stone-faced every time, and when he finally gave up, he got spiteful and chewed you out right at the door. That mangy mutt, right?”