Right By My Side

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Time slipped by faster as the days went on.

After the second years' last semester finals, there was a short vacation, and then the start of make-up classes before their third year of high school followed.

Chu Yu looked up from the pile of test papers and found that the scorching sun was no longer shining. The air had cooled down because of several autumn rains.

Li Hua also gazed out the window. "I wonder if the leaves of the ginkgo trees beside Phoenix Mountain's Taoist temple have turned yellow."

Fang Ziqi quipped, "Do we still have a chance to go out for an autumn outing? No, it's impossible, don't be delusional."

"Study Com, dark circles under the eyes has become the norm for you. Wouldn't you like to find some time to get a good night's sleep?"

Chu Yu stretched and remembered something. "By the way, I was listening to English earlier. Did Old Ye come in to say something?"

Li Hua replied to his question, "Old Ye said that tomorrow, September 1st, school will officially start. We have to go to the school's auditorium and participate in the opening ceremony."

"It's already September 1st?"

Chu Yu, who bore a sluggish posture, had no awareness of the dates recently and couldn't help but sigh, "Time flies so fast!"

Fang Ziqi added, "By the way, evening self-study was changed to a class meeting, Old Ye will preside over it. I'm guessing Old Ye has a new poem coming out and couldn't help but invite us to appreciate it."

Chu Yu placed a hand under his chin. "To be honest, I think Old Ye's written poetry skills are much higher. Do you still remember when our second year of high school started and Old Ye said, 'Frogs croaking in the open fields, toads leaping out the window'. At that time, I was thinking how wild and uniquely written that poem was!"

Dream-Ge, who'd just finished playing basketball, came over holding a water bottle. He happened to hear the sentence and was reminded, "Ah damn, School Flower, you still remember that?! You all don't know this but there had been this girl sitting in front of me who whispered after Old Ye finished reciting, saying that if there were toads jumping in front of the window all day long, she'd scream for 24 hours! Then, her deskmate expressed that it'd be fine if there were bullfrogs jumping in front of the window because they could be caught and braised!"

"Braised bullfrog? That's a pretty good idea!"

With that said, Chu Yu looked behind Dream-Ge. "Eh, what about Lu Shi, didn't you guys play basketball together? Why didn't you come back together?"

"It was really as Lu-Shen said, he mentioned that you'd definitely ask."

Dream-Ge fanned the wind with his hand. "On the way back, we met the math teacher. The teacher was worried about how many solutions there were to a problem. When he saw Lu-Shen, he dragged the able-bodied man along with him. Lu-Shen is in the office right now, this is probably a busyness exclusive to a study god?"

Chu Yu nodded and immediately couldn't sit still.

"I see." He got up. "I'm going out to get some air!"

Li Hua opened his mouth. "Translation: I'm going out to pick up Lu-Shen."

After being exposed, Chu Yu still appeared calm. "En, and pick him up along the way."

Exiting through the back door of the classroom, Chu Yu walked along the corridor towards the office. Nearby were two sparrows perched on the ground, which alertly flew away as soon as Chu Yu approached.

The office was at the end of the corridor. Chu Yu didn't get too close and simply stood by the railing, waiting.

The sports field and the main road were covered with red banners welcoming new students. It was said that the statue standing in the fountain at the school entrance had also been scrubbed twice in the last two days.

It wasn't known which student was so idle and very enthusiastic that they even made a suit for the statue and put it on overnight.

As soon as the dean entered the school early that morning, he was shocked into thinking that he was hallucinating. Afterwards, he took off the spicy-to-the-eyes clothes himself and put up a sign— IT IS FORBIDDEN TO DRESS THE STATUE!

In a daze, Chu Yu's mind had traveled far into the unknown, when he suddenly heard the door slam. He turned around and saw Lu Shi walking out of the office.

His white shirt was dazzling and bright in the sun, with the sleeves rolled up at the elbows, revealing the black rope bracelet on his wrist.

Lu Shi approached, his stance was relaxed and there was a light smile in his eyes. "Came to pick me up?"

"No, I came out to take a breath of fresh air and accidentally walked a little farther."

Chu Yu's ears were inexplicably hot as he asked Lu Shi, "Is the question done, was it difficult?"

"It's not difficult. Together with the teacher, we found seven solutions." Lu Shi walked on the outer side, blocking the sun for Chu Yu.

When they passed through the corridor outside a classroom, Chu Yu suddenly recalled, "Someone used to hate me and didn't want to sit at the same table as me!"

Lu Shi countered, "That someone likes you now and doesn't want to be separated from you for even a second."

His voice was extremely soft, as if a cup of sake had been mixed with it, carrying an intoxicating effect.

After Chu Yu heard this, he couldn't help but laugh.

Come evening self-study, everyone was discussing in a low voice what Old Ye's purpose was in meeting the class. In the end, they unanimously agreed that Old Ye must have a new poem he couldn't wait to share with them.

Thus, when Old Ye entered the classroom, he found that the whole class was gazing at him expectantly.

He looked down at his clothes, making sure that his buttons were fastened correctly. Old Ye nervously said, "Students, your eyes are making Teacher a little panicked!"

Dream-Ge replied, "Teacher, we are waiting for you to read poems to us!"

Old Ye laughed and explained, "Waiting for poems, huh? I really haven't written anything yet! These past two weeks the teaching and research group has been meeting every day. The tedious meetings have killed my enthusiasm for writing poetry so don't expect anything."

He then shouted, "Class Monitor and Study Committee Member, come here and give one to each student."

After a while, a blank colored paper was placed in front of everyone.

Old Ye stated, "Tomorrow, September 1st, you all need to attend the opening ceremony and student assembly. I've attended this many times, and it's boring, so we'll use this evening self-study for a class meeting. Isn't it said that one has to have a sense of ceremony in everything they do? We'll also engage in ceremonies to make everyone feel like they've truly entered their third year of high school."

Someone in the class was curious. "Teacher, what is this paper for?"

Old Ye himself had one, he pinched it with his hand and shook it. "Write down your target university or grade, or write about your dream; write about the future you want to pursue. Anything's fine, there's no restrictions, you can play with it however you want!"

What Chu Yu received was a piece of light blue paper. He blindly found a pen from his desk compartment and began to write.

[I hope to be admitted to a school with Lu Shi. I hope that every day in my life will be brighter. I hope to become a very powerful person.]

After writing, he turned his head to look at Lu Shi's and found that his paper remained blank. Lu Shi hadn't even moved his pen.

"Ge, you're not writing?"

Lu Shi's expression was dark, a slight coldness pierced through, but there was no more sullenness and hostility.

Under the desk, Lu Shi grasped Chu Yu's fingers, kneading and fiddling with them. He replied, "Because the goals, dreams, and the future I'm chasing is already right by my side."

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