Chapter 2: The New Transfer Student

The next morning, Zhou Zhuang went downstairs to get his bicycle and found She Yujun waiting by the neighborhood gate.

She usually rode to school by herself, and when they were at school she did her best not to face him directly, all to avoid suspicion.

Zhou Zhuang always thought that was a little self-deluding. Anyone with eyes could tell from the way they looked at each other and moved around one another that they were a couple. It only fooled fools and the blind.

"You riding with me today?" Zhou Zhuang studied She Yujun for a moment. Today she was wearing another white dress. She liked white, just like she herself was pure and spotless, which made him feel a fierce urge to protect her.

"Yep, Driver Zhou. Destination: County No. 1 School. Let’s go." She sat sideways on the rear seat without any courtesy, wrapped her arms around his waist, and ordered him to set off.

"Did your dad say anything to you last night?" Seeing that she was in a good mood, he figured nothing major had happened, but he still wanted to make sure.

"He did. He dragged my mom into it too. The two of them were so evasive I almost couldn’t figure out what they were saying." Thinking back to some of last night’s shy, embarrassing topics, she paused. "They told us to keep it in check and focus on school. Get into college first, then do whatever we want later. And they also said... if we really can’t hold back, we should be careful..." She couldn’t bring herself to say the last three words, "don’t get pregnant." The shock her parents gave her last night was no less than what he had done in the daytime.

"Your parents are pretty conservative, aren’t they? Why would they talk to you about that?" Hearing her hesitant tone, Zhou Zhuang immediately guessed what the subject was and grew curious.

"They said we’re adults now, so we should know these things. If they didn’t say anything and something really... happened, it would be bad. And they also said that watching us grow up, their mission is almost complete." She Yujun’s embarrassment slowly gave way to sadness, and he fell quiet with her.

"How about we go camping by the river this weekend? The forecast says it’s getting colder this week, and the riverside should feel pretty nice." Thinking of a new topic, Zhou Zhuang quickly threw it out there. He didn’t like seeing the woman he loved upset. Making her happy for the rest of her life was his goal and responsibility.

"Mm, okay. Just the two of us?" She was clearly interested. She had gone out with classmates a few times before, and she loved the free feeling of being outdoors. Even her voice became airy and ethereal.

"Yeah, just the two of us." He answered gently, and there was nothing but tenderness in his eyes, hidden from her view.

Seated behind him, She Yujun leaned her body against his back, crossed her arms around his waist, and pressed her chest into him. The softness of it sent a warm feeling through him, but not a trace of desire rose in his heart. She didn’t seem to notice either, and softly hummed the lyrics to Ningxia: "The cicadas are asleep, sleeping quietly, in my heart there is a quiet summer..."

She Yujun’s singing was soothing. More than once, Zhou Zhuang had joked that she should stop studying and just debut as a singer instead.

In the morning breeze of summer, her voice seemed to drift up into the sky, carrying Zhou Zhuang’s heart with it, flying toward the clouds.

The road to school was too short. He wanted to accompany her through countless mountains and rivers, for as long as the world lasted.

When they reached school, She Yujun told him to wait by the bike shed while she went to class, sticking to that same self-deluding excuse. He smiled to himself, but it wasn’t some big deal. He had no reason to refuse something like this; making his girlfriend happy mattered more.

Zhou Zhuang was fairly tall, so he sat in the last row of the class, with seven or eight desks between him and She Yujun. He had shamelessly tried to sit next to her before, but she had turned him down on the grounds that it would interfere with her studies.

Still, it was true. Sitting with her all the time made it hard to keep his mind from wandering, and whether he would even have the heart to study was another matter.

"That clip from yesterday was solid, right?" Wang Liyang asked with a wicked grin as soon as he saw Zhou Zhuang sit down.

"Cough. It was okay." Zhou Zhuang put on the swagger of a man who had already pulled his pants back up.

Inside, though, he was a little grateful for the source Wang Liyang had given him. It hadn’t just opened the door to a whole new world; it had also led to a breakthrough with his girlfriend. He couldn’t help wondering if he had been too timid before.

"Come on, just tell me how many rounds you jacked off. No, wait, did you go and get yourself sorted out by your girl, Yujun?" When it came to stuff like this, Wang Liyang always had the wildest imagination.

"Bro, I’m all about pure love. I’m not as filthy as you." The process hadn’t gone the way he imagined, but the result seemed to be right, so Zhou Zhuang’s confidence wasn’t exactly solid.

"Fine, fine. Zhou the Great Lover, I believe you." Wang Liyang was about to say more when their homeroom teacher, Xie Kai, walked in, and he quickly shut up.

That guy was a real sermon machine. Once he started lecturing, he never stopped, and listening to his mental assault gave you a splitting headache. Nobody wanted to mess with him.

But today, behind Xie Kai, there was also a tall girl in a black dress.

Although County No. 1 School didn’t have many rules and didn’t force the girls into uniforms that hid their youthful beauty, this girl was clearly a little more individual than the rest.

Her cherry-red lips were glossy with lipstick. She had pretty nail polish on both big toes, and paired with those flawless feet, it was downright enticing. Unlike ordinary girls who tied their hair into ponytails, she wore a head of wavy curls, and her delicate oval face made her look charming and seductive. Standing among the bashful, budding seniors, she was like a crane among hens. Even Zhou Zhuang, whose sense of beauty had already been sharpened by She Yujun, couldn’t help stealing a couple more looks. There was a faint sense of familiarity in his chest, but he couldn’t place where it came from.

If She Yujun was water, long and steady, soaking things through in silence, then the newcomer was fire, igniting the boys’ overflowing adolescent hormones in an instant.

"Quiet, quiet! If you keep talking, I’ll double your homework today!" After Xie Kai brought out his big gun, the whistles, gasps, and chatter in the classroom finally died down.

"Let me introduce everyone. This is our new classmate, Su Shiyi. I hope everyone will be friendly and helpful, work hard together, study well, get into a top university, and win honor for your families, the school, and yourselves..." Realizing this wasn’t the right moment for a motivational speech, he coughed and cut himself off, then added, "Everyone, please welcome her!"

"Hello everyone, my name is Su Shiyi. I transferred from City No. 1 School. I’m very happy to meet all of you, and I hope you’ll take good care of me from now on." After a round of applause, Su Shiyi waved to everyone. Her deep, dark eyes swept around the classroom.

Zhou Zhuang had the illusion that her gaze lingered on his side for a little longer, though he wasn’t sure whether that was just his own narcissism.

One smile was enough to topple a city. Her incredibly infectious smile sent the classroom out of control once again.

Xie Kai had a headache. He had already told Su Shiyi not to dress so maturely, but she had ignored him completely and instead lectured this teacher of hers not to be so backward and rigid. She called it personal liberation and said girls’ love of beauty should be respected. As for herself, she was proper and self-respecting, and absolutely never got close to male classmates. She could talk circles around him.

Xie Kai finished restoring order and left with a helpless look on his face.

There had originally been an odd number of students in the class, and there happened to be an empty seat beside a girl. Su Shiyi naturally sat there, which left the boys disappointed.

She Yujun, the class beauty, was already taken, and this girl, whose looks and figure were no worse at all, was really making their hearts itch.

As soon as class ended, Su Shiyi was surrounded. The girls asked about her lipstick shade, where she got her nails done, and so on. Everyone loved beauty, and Su Shiyi was very generous, answering every question and winning over a lot of goodwill.

Some of the bolder boys went up and asked whether they could add her on QQ or get her phone number or something, but she blocked them with a simple, "Let me ask you a question first. If I’m satisfied, I’ll tell you." In the end they got nothing, and instead almost ended up confessing embarrassing things like how old they were the last time they wet the bed. They slunk away defeated.

"Zhou the Great Lover, do you have any way to get Su Shiyi to add me?" Wang Liyang had noticed that this new classmate was warm on the surface but actually pretty hard to move when it came to boys. He wanted to flirt, but he was afraid of being humiliated, and he was getting annoyed.

Zhou Zhuang glanced at him. This pig had been staring at her for a whole period already.

Still, it was understandable. A girl who was open and confident and dressed beautifully was very easy to notice. If he hadn’t already had She Yujun, he probably wouldn’t have been able to resist wanting to get close either.

"I don’t know how to chat girls up. If you want to, go do it yourself," Zhou Zhuang said helplessly as he looked at his textbook.

"No way. You’re so smart, you have to think of something for me. I’ll pay the deposit first."

"What deposit?"

"Heh, go back and look for yourself." There was something filthy in Wang Liyang’s tone. It definitely wasn’t anything wholesome.

The first day of senior year slowly passed beneath the bright full moon. After evening self-study, Zhou Zhuang followed She Yujun’s instructions and found an empty corner to wait for her so they could go home together.

"Zhou Zhuang, why do you think Su Shiyi gave up City No. 1 School, such a good school, and transferred to ours?" On the way home, She Yujun asked the question that Zhou Zhuang had also been wondering about all day.

"How would I know? Why don’t you ask her directly? She seems pretty easy to talk to."

"How do you know she’s easy to talk to? Did you secretly look at her?" With a rival of equal caliber suddenly appearing in the class, She Yujun felt an odd pressure, and the thought just blurted out.

So this little girl was hung up on that. Zhou Zhuang struggled not to laugh.

But the deadly question his girlfriend had thrown at him still had to be answered properly. "She dresses so boldly, and yet her self-introduction and the way she handles people are all so poised. But... I don’t like girls like her. I only like you, my Yujun." He deliberately dragged out the last word, and the flesh at his waist felt his girlfriend’s angry pinch turn into a soft, affectionate stroke, so he knew he had cleared this hurdle.

"You’d better be sensible. I asked her today why she transferred, and she only said she’d tell me when the time was right." She Yujun pouted, thinking of the mysterious, unreadable expression Su Shiyi had worn when she said it that afternoon, half-smiling and half-not. She felt a little aggrieved. She didn’t like riddles very much, but she also couldn’t resist digging out this secret. Not many women disliked gossip.

Zhou Zhuang didn’t really want to keep talking about it. It was easy to get dragged into a trap again, so he listened silently as she rambled on, and before long they were back at the neighborhood.

After seeing her home, he opened his computer. On QQ, Wang Liyang had sent another string of cryptic code. Zhou Zhuang cursed him under his breath for corrupting the next generation, while quickly opening Xunlei.

Written descriptions in novels had never been as stimulating as the direct image, and Zhou Zhuang was beginning to understand why drug users kept increasing their dose. After tasting delicacies, going back to plain tea and rice really did feel like chewing wax.

The file wasn’t very big, and before long he heard a ding.

The video file was called Classroom Door. It had probably been shot on a phone, so the quality wasn’t very clear, but it was even more stimulating than yesterday’s scene, where they had gone straight into the action without a word. It carried the forbidden thrill of breaking through society’s basic rules and common sense.

A man and a woman were secretly fucking in an empty classroom, with the intermittent voices from the hallway hanging over them, standing on the edge of ruin at every moment. The psychological stimulation made his cock hard as a rock.

At this hour, there was no way he could ask She Yujun for help.

Thinking of her, he couldn’t help fantasizing about himself violating her in a classroom.

No, no. She was so pure she definitely wouldn’t accept that. Jacking off probably wouldn’t work either. She would most likely turn righteous and turn him in to the homeroom teacher, just to teach him not to stray onto the wrong path.

What about that boldly dressed girl from today?

If she were his girlfriend, would she accept it?

Holy shit!

Zhou Zhuang, what the hell are you thinking?!

The instant he started using Su Shiyi as a wank fantasy, he suddenly woke up. This was the first time he had ever imagined any woman other than his girlfriend while getting off. The heavy regret and self-reproach in his heart crushed his surging lust, and his second head retreated again.

After deleting the video he had just downloaded and dealing with the culprit, Zhou Zhuang thought of She Yujun from yesterday and, with a touch of sadness, wondered if he was also a bad guy. Did cheating in his head count as cheating?

A fantasy at the moment lust takes over doesn’t mean love. It’s just a man’s instinctive desire for a beautiful woman. That doesn’t count as cheating. Lying in bed and turning over again and again, he comforted himself and gradually calmed down.

Don’t go provoking that new classmate. That was his last thought before falling asleep.

The next day, the morning air had turned a little cooler. Zhou Zhuang shivered and put on a thin jacket before heading out. When he rode to the neighborhood gate, he saw She Yujun waiting there again.

"Why didn’t you put on another layer?" Seeing that she was still dressed so lightly, he asked with concern.

"It’s not that cold. Besides, don’t you like me in dresses?" She got on the bike, but her icy hands betrayed her.

His girlfriend always found little details that made his heart ache and warm at the same time. Zhou Zhuang took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She didn’t refuse. The jacket still held his body heat and his scent, and she liked that very much.

On the way, Zhou Zhuang could clearly feel that She Yujun had something she wanted to tell him. Her pretty face brushed against his back several times, but because he felt guilty about what had happened last night, he didn’t take the initiative to bring it up either. They rode all the way to school without saying a word.

When he entered the classroom, most of the students were already there. As he passed Su Shiyi’s seat, Zhou Zhuang turned his head away and didn’t dare look at her. He hurried to his own desk and didn’t notice that she had narrowed her eyes slightly, watching his back with a smile, an unmistakably conspiratorial air about her.

"Pretty good deposit, right? Give your bro a tip," Wang Liyang said with confidence. He knew Zhou Zhuang well. He looked proper on the outside but was secretly pretty dirty inside; all it took was a little strong bait and he would bite. He wasn’t worried that Zhou Zhuang wouldn’t help him.

To his surprise, Zhou Zhuang didn’t mouth off or even give him a contemptuous look, as if Wang Liyang were air.

Had he jerked off before coming to school and was still not out of post-nut clarity yet?

Wang Liyang had never seen him react like this. He looked at Zhou Zhuang, raised an eyebrow, and let his imagination run wild.

It wasn’t that Zhou Zhuang didn’t want to fire back a few words. He had just seen the source of last night’s wandering thoughts: Su Shiyi was walking toward them! Ignoring Wang Liyang, he casually grabbed a book and flipped it open, lowering his head as if he were reviewing.

"Classmate Liyang, can I discuss something with you?" Su Shiyi’s bright, pleasant voice rang out. Wang Liyang’s bones went weak. He looked up and saw the face of the goddess of his dreams, nodding like a pile driver.

Zhou Zhuang let out a breath. She wasn’t here for him. But Su Shiyi’s next sentence made the hair on his body stand on end.

"I’d like to switch seats with you."