Reverse Approach

The senior year of the No.3 High School started early, three days earlier than other schools.

Su Beimo asked Su Jing to borrow a car and loaded all the things for Liao Nanqing’s stay. On the way, Liao Nanqing was particularly worried, he sorted out his school uniform several times and didn’t give up until he got it right. Su Beimo, who was sitting on the driver’s seat, found it funny and deliberately stayed on the side of the road for a few more minutes to let him look in the mirror and only entered the campus when he felt he was presentable enough.

“You don’t laugh, I’m a little nervous.” Liao Nanqing took a deep breath.

“How do you make it look like you’re going on a blind date?” He messed up a handful of Liao Nanqing’s cleaned hair, “Your school won’t let you drive in, get off and move things with me.”

“Okay!” Liao Nanqing answered, secretly smoothed his hair again neatly, opened the door and nimbly followed to the trunk.

Summer mat, thin quilt, small blanket, pillow. These alone were enough for Liao Nanqing. He turned to look at Su Beimo and saw that he was holding a basin in his left hand with toothbrushes in it, holding a kettle with his right hand, two towels on his shoulders, and a big bag slung over his shoulder, it was full of Liao Nanqing’s clothes and socks.

He was tall and it looked funny.

Like the homeless people under the flyover.

Liao Nanqing only hated that he didn’t have a mobile phone in his hand now, otherwise he really wanted to secretly take a photo to keep as a souvenir.

Su Beimo first took him to the teacher’s office to report. After registering the information, the two rushed to the dormitory of Building 1 under the scorching sun. Liao Nanqing was assigned to bed 306 on the third floor and had to walk all the way to the end of the corridor.

The door of the dormitory was scarlet and a bit old. Su Beimo kicked it open and it was empty. Realizing that his rogue behavior was not very elegant, he calmly said, “Sorry.”

Liao Nanqing touched the door, “It says it’s okay.”

Su Beimo: “…”

There were six beds in the bedroom, and Liao Nanqing was assigned to the lower bunk. The two quickly made the bed and picked a clean cabinet. Liao Nanqing did not have many things, almost all of them were daily necessities that Su Beimo accompanied him to buy a few days ago. The dorm was considered neat and tidy, and should have been roughly cleaned by someone a few days ago.

Three students came one after another, all accompanied by their parents.

The dormitory was already small, and when there were many people, it was crowded. Su Beimo was embarrassed to take up the space, and left after packing.

In the past, Liao Nanqing was accustomed to being alone. Now, there was Su Beimo to send him to the school, and he was like a little quail leaving the nest, anxiously following Su Beimo to the school gate. The eyes were filled with reluctance.

“If there are still people bullying you, come to me to complain.” Su Beimo said to him in passing, “You too, don’t be sullen all day long. Talk to classmates more and participate in extracurricular activities, always make friends.”

Liao Nanqing pursed his lips and lowered his head.

“Put your head up, it’s a new environment now.” Su Beimo actually couldn’t let go, “Don’t turn in your phone, hide it better. If something happens, call me, got it?”

“…”

“Liao Nanqing, I don’t even worry so much about my grandmother. Can you look forward?”

Liao Nanqing’s eyelashes twitched slightly and said especially sadly: “I know, I just can’t let you go.”

Su Beimo was amused by his pitiful appearance and rubbing his head, always rubbing his hair in a mess before letting go: “I’ll see you again on the weekend.”

But Su Beimo didn’t know, even if it was only five days apart, Liao Nanqing felt difficult. Before, he always thought about transferring to another school, thinking about leaving that small town. Now that he finally left for a completely new environment, he began to be timid again, but also began to regret. He was afraid that he would not be able to integrate into the new circle, would repeat the same mistakes, and let down Su Beimo’s expectations. He regretted that he left the small town so he couldn’t see Su Beimo every day these days.

Even though in two weeks, Su Beimo would start school and would leave the town.

But Liao Nanqing still felt that these two weeks were precious.

He stretched out his hand and took Su Beimo’s hand, and rubbed Su Beimo’s palm with his little finger without knowing. The slightly itchy touch and the teenager’s warm body heat made Su Beimo’s mind a little chaotic.

Su Beimo withdrew his hand and put it in his trouser pocket. The breeze brushed his forehead. He smiled: “Go in quickly, it’s time for class later.”

“Then I will watch you go.” Liao Naqing dressed very relaxed today, waving away the gloom.

Su Beimo nodded, said okay, and then ran away in a flash. From afar, he waved his hand like a big boy: “See you this weekend!”

As September approached, the summer about to come to an end.

The cicadas disappeared into the night, and heavy rain fell in bursts, dispersing the scorching temperature of the earth.

On the first day of school, there was a short rainy season. After the first class, Liao Nanqing sat in a daze at the window. The newly-changed tablemate handed him a piece of chewing gum: “Hey, we are in the same dormitory. Do you still have an impression?”

Liao Nanqing nodded, obviously remembering this tall and slender roommate, his parents had put a lot of snacks in the cabinet for him just now. He was dark, with bright eyes and looked smart.

The chewing gum was in green packaging, mint flavored.

“My name is Xu Yanyan, I sleep on your top bunk.” He picked up Liao Nanqing’s book to see his name, “You have an interesting last name, the first time I’ve seen it. The name is also interesting, like a poet.” After he finished, he smiled at him.

In front of him sat a girl with a ponytail and glasses, called Ge Yun. With a grim face, she turned around and passed down a stack of test papers, warning Xu Yanyan: “It’s senior year, don’t talk too much, affecting other people’s studies.”

Xu Yanyan seemed to know Ge Yun’s temper, and patted Liao Nanqing on the shoulder: “Don’t pay attention to her, she is our class monitor, very rigid.”

Ge Yun pushed her glasses, then glared at him, and without answering, she turned around to take care of her own test papers.

The classmate talked to him for the first time and Liao Nanqing didn’t know what to reply. Holding the ballpoint pen in a daze, he looked a little silly and cute. He didn’t expect to meet a familiar face on the first day of school, and he was also a crazy person.

“You are in the third year of high school, why are you still transferring schools, ah? You are not afraid of affecting your grades?” Xu Yanyan opened his mouth and couldn’t close it, crackling a lot of questions.

For example, where are you from? Where does your family live? Is that your brother in the morning, he’s quite tall!

Liao Nanqing did not answer all the questions, carefully picking and saying, “He is not my brother, he is my friend.”

“True, you two don’t look alike at all.” Xu Yanyan took out a lot of snacks from the drawer and distributed them to Liao Nanqing and also to Ge Yun, who was sulking in front of him. He and Ge Yun looked like they had a bad relationship, but in fact, they were childhood friends and had lived in the same neighborhood since they were young. Both Xu Yanyan and Ge Yun’s parents worked in the hospital, and they had been compared since they were young.

Ge Yun did want to see Xu Yanyan. After being given the snacks, she still didn’t show her face but gave them two packets of biscuits in return.

Liao Nanqing was moved by the cookies and snacks, and secretly hid them in the drawer, unable to eat them.

“What are you hiding? Are you a hamster and hiding food?”

Liao Nanqing was dumb.

Xu Yanyan laughed: “You’re funny, you look more like a hamster when you’re scared! I love hamsters, but my mom won’t let me keep one.”

Ge Yun in front suddenly turned around: “Shut up, don’t disturb me doing test paper!”

“Be calm and quiet, don’t bother me talking!”

The class was the noisiest in their corner, but Liao Nanqing’s mind was soon not on snacks and class, he was full of when the weekend would come.

For this reason, this week’s class, he listened in a muddle.

There was a quiz on Friday morning, and the results came out before school in the afternoon. Liao Nanqing was the last in the exam.

Xu Yanyan was simply surprised by him. He had guessed that Liao Nanqing’s grades were poor, but he didn’t think it could be this bad. Xu Yanyan saw the class teacher’s face was dark, she must be thinking: Why this unlucky child was assigned to my class?

As usual, Liao Nanqing was kept in class, and the class teacher, knowing his special situation, did not mention the request for a parent. Instead, he circled some key knowledge on the test paper and explained it generally. Liao Nanqing has a poor foundation, so he couldn’t understand it properly, holding a pen and biting his head to write the question.

“Hey, this is more troublesome for you, you haven’t learned the basics well.” The class teacher found the basic exercise book from the drawer and gave it to him, “Review it well over the weekend, you can’t even get into jinor college if you go on like this.”

The class teacher’s words knocked back and forth in his head, and he remembered what Su Beimo said, at least get into a junior college.

In fact, Liao Nanqing’s performance in the previous few years was fine; not good, but not at the bottom, barely sandwiched in the middle. Later, the pressure from his stepfather gradually made him unable to focus on learning. After returning to the small town, he became the target of school bullying and spent his days trying to hide, so naturally he couldn’t care about his studies.

If it wasn’t for Su Beimo tutoring him during the summer vacation, the score for this quiz might be even uglier.

After leaving school, the frustrated Liao Nanqing didn’t go directly to Su Beimo’s house, and instead he returned to his home. He was so hungry that he didn’t even notice that his phone was out of battery.

As soon as he arrived home, he rummaged through the cupboard to find instant noodles to eat.

He thought, it was too late today, and he would go to Su Beimo early tomorrow morning.

There were cups of noodles bought during summer vacation under the bed, and there were only a few of noodles cups left in a box. Liao Nanqing skillfully boiled water, put it in the instant noodles, and took a book to cover it. The three minutes of waiting was the longest, until Su Beimo knocked on the door of his house, and only then did he react.

Liao Nanqing was surprised: “You, how do you know where I live?”

After saying it, he regretted it. Come to think of it, he was a celebrity in this town, just ask around and you would know.

“Calling your phone and didn’t answer, sending you messages and didn’t reply. Called and asked your class teacher, he said you’ve been gone for a while. I guess you should come straight home.” Su Beimo leaned on the side of the door, and when he saw the noodles on the coffee table, he frowned, “You are eating that to grow taller.”

“No no, none of our family genes are tall.” Then he thought, with a bitter face, “You are too tall.”

Liao Nanqing went to look for his phone in his school bag, only to find that it was out of battery.

Su Beimo knocked on the door frame: “Let’s go, take you out to the restaurant.”

“Then what about my instant noodles?”

“Later for supper.”

“Then can’t eat it anymore…”

Su Beimo stood straight, and said unhappily: “Then are you going or not?”

Instant noodles were eaten as a last resort, so of course, Liao Nanqing left. He followed Su Beimo like a little tail, wondering what message he had sent himself. It was a pity that the phone was out of battery and couldn’t be turned on. Su Beimo dragged the flip-flops like an uncle, strutting in front, not saying a word.

“Su Beimo, you look good in this flip-flop.” Liao Nanqing said kindly without thinking, but the flattery rubbed the person in the wrong way1, Su Beimo held back a smile and ignored him. Liao Nanqing’s eyebrows were drooping down, following closely, struggling to make conversation.

“There are activities in the school. We need to prepare for the major. I will be back to school tomorrow.”

Suddenly, Su Beimo said.

Liao Nanqing paused for a moment, and choked on his own saliva as soon as he opened his mouth: “So urgent?”

“En.” Su Beimo let out a breath, turned sideways and asked him, “What do you want to eat, I’ll treat you.”

Liao Nanqing understood that this was a summer ‘break-up meal’.

___________________

The author has something to say:
Su ge is back to school and is going for internship
miss him.
I started to miss him today

马屁拍在了马腿上 (Flattering on the horse’s leg) ; to flatter someone in a way that offends that person and embarrasses oneself