Surprise

After everyone’s seats were finally arranged, Cheng Mengfei first had everyone move their books and belongings over. She stood on the podium, watching the classroom, and singled out a few students for readjustment.

Some of these adjustments were indeed due to height mismatches, while others had no significant impact, but that was beside the point. The crucial thing was that after the students had chosen their own seats and seatmates, she, as the head teacher, had to make some changes; otherwise, how could the authority of a head teacher be demonstrated?

Fortunately, Cheng Mengfei was not one to make a big fuss and only adjusted four or five students. After everyone had settled their things, she stood at the front, looked around, and smiled. "Did everyone have a fun summer vacation?"

Having spent a year together, most of the students in the class were quite fond of this young, pretty, and easygoing head teacher. Hearing her question, many of them chimed in all at once. Most answered "Yes, fun!", while someone shouted "Not fun!" and quite loudly at that.

Cheng Mengfei smiled and asked, "How come it wasn't fun?"

The one standing out from the crowd was Yang逍. Probably not expecting Teacher Cheng to call him out, and with all his classmates turning to look at him, he shrank down a bit and said somewhat sheepishly, "I didn't see Teacher Cheng and my classmates for two months. I missed you all too much, so it wasn't fun."

A burst of laughter instantly erupted across the classroom, and Cheng Mengfei smiled as well. "Well, you've got your wish now. Happy?"

Yang逍 had never spoken to Teacher Cheng quite like this before. Accustomed to being thick-skinned, he actually looked a bit flushed and babbled repeatedly, "Happy, happy."

Cheng Mengfei smiled again and continued, "In our final exams, our average score was just a tiny bit higher than Class One's, ranking us first among the four key classes, and of course, first in the entire school. However, the margin was very small. Now that Shen Mo has transferred away, our class has lost a top student. I hope everyone will study even harder to make up for the points lost from Shen Mo's transfer. Do you all have confidence?"

"Yes!"

Regardless of whether they actually had confidence or not, shouting it out first was the standard procedure.

"Good!"

Cheng Mengfei nodded with satisfaction. "Since everyone hasn't seen each other for a whole vacation, you must have a lot to say. Today I'm going to break the rules and allow you to openly pass notes to catch up and reconnect... What are you looking at? Do you think that just because you're quiet, I don't know what you're up to?"

"Especially you, Fang Changan. As the monitor, you're taking the lead in breaking the rules. I'll deal with you slowly later."

The students let out a wave of laughter that started low and hesitant before turning into open, unrestrained mirth. Wang Ke covered her mouth, giggling along, and turned to look at Fang Changan. Fang Changan shot her a fierce look back, but the young girl had already recovered her composure and was no longer afraid of him.

"Remember, just for the first class! Starting from the second class, you will all preview your lessons properly. Also, no talking, and don't disturb the students in other classes who are studying. Fang Changan, keep an eye on things, especially control yourself and lead by example."

Fang Changan gave a military salute. "Understood, Teacher Cheng. I guarantee it!"

Cheng Mengfei nodded. "Liu Bei will take over as the study committee member. You need to cooperate with Fang Changan and Zhang Lu to serve our classmates and lead everyone forward together."

Liu Bei was a bit surprised, but still nodded and said, "Alright, Teacher Cheng!"

Zhang Lu was even more surprised. She never expected that Teacher Cheng would mention her, given her poor grades. Although she knew she wouldn't be much help, Teacher Cheng calling her name out at this moment was undoubtedly meant to protect her dignity as the deputy monitor. It warmed her heart, yet also left her feeling a bit ashamed, believing that her dismal grades truly let Teacher Cheng down.

"Then I won't disturb your socializing any longer. Study on your own."

With that, Cheng Mengfei left the classroom. Instantly, a rustling sound of turning pages filled the room, and some students even made scratching sounds as their pens flew across the paper.

Fang Changan didn't care who it was, and grumbled impatiently, "Why are you making so much noise just writing a few words? Do you think you're Zhang Xu?"

"Huh?"

Zhang Xu, who sat in the corner and was always honest and a bit slow, raised his head in a daze. "Mo, monitor, what's wrong with me?"

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Zhang Xu, the Tang Dynasty calligrapher, the Saint of Cursive Script."

"Oh."

Zhang Xu lowered his head in embarrassment, and another round of laughter burst out in the classroom. Fang Changan also smiled and said, "Alright, alright, stop laughing. Keep it down and don't make it hard for Teacher Cheng."

It was indeed rare for a teacher to openly permit students to pass notes during class, and everyone was willing to be considerate of Cheng Mengfei, quickly quieting down.

Only then did Fang Changan have the time to properly look at Wang Ke. Her jet-black hair was still tied into a ponytail, casually gathered behind her head. On her upper body, she wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt printed with English letters. With her willow-leaf eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, pure and radiant complexion, slender neck, and milky-white skin, her profile still retained a hint of childishness, yet it increasingly outlined the contours of the bright and beautiful young woman she would become.

Sensing his gaze, Wang Ke turned her head to look at him, her delicate willow-leaf brows knitted slightly as she sent him a questioning look.

Fang Changan smiled at her, pulled out the iPod that Shen Mo had given him from his desk compartment, and handed one earbud to her. Recognizing that this one was different from Shen Mo's, Wang Ke opened her eyes wide in surprise and sent another questioning look.

Speechless, Fang Changan first handed her the earbud, then pulled out the notebook he hadn't finished writing in last year and wrote to her: "Are you planning to rely entirely on eye contact to communicate with me?"

Wang Ke rolled her eyes in annoyance and wrote back: "Did you buy this?"

Fang Changan replied quite frankly: "Shen Mo gave it to me. This thing costs a fortune, how could I afford it?"

Wang Ke glanced at him and wrote in the notebook: "Oh."

Fang Changan smiled as he wrote back: "Feeling guilty because you didn't buy me a gift? Don't worry, I didn't buy you one either, we're even."

Wang Ke glanced at him, crinkled her nose, and didn't reply.

Fang Changan continued writing: "Shen Mo didn't give you a gift, did she?"

Wang Ke: "No."

Fang Changan: "This thing was clearly meant for the two of us, otherwise why are there exactly two earbuds?"

Wang Ke: "Because humans have two ears."

Fang Changan: "That shows a lack of deep interpretation on your part. One of these costs two or three thousand. No matter how much pocket money Shen Mo has, how many can she afford to buy? It was meant for the two of us. If you want, you can take it back tonight."

Wang Ke glanced at him again, crinkling her nose: "Shen Mo came to find me on my birthday and gave me a gift."

Fang Changan: "?????????"

Fang Changan: "You two actually met behind my back?"

Wang Ke gave him a disdainful look: "What do you mean by meeting behind your back? We don't need your permission to meet."

Fang Changan: "Where did you guys meet?"

Wang Ke: "In town. The two of us went shopping together and grabbed some food."

Fang Changan: "Then why didn't you call me?"

Wang Ke looked at him innocently: "We didn't know your family had moved to town yet."

Fang Changan: "You could have called me!"

Wang Ke: "I did. Nobody answered."

Fang Changan understood now. At that time, they had already moved to town, and there was simply nobody at home.

Wang Ke continued to explain: "When we were eating, we thought of you, so we called you. But nobody answered, so there was nothing we could do."

Fang Changan: "Well, at least you two still have a conscience."

The young girl smiled, biting her lip: "We couldn't finish the food."

Fang Changan: "You were actually that nice to me?"

Wang Ke looked at him somewhat bewildered, suspecting his brain had short-circuited, and ignored him. Fang Changan pressed on: "What gift did she give you?"

Wang Ke: "Not telling you."

Fang Changan: "I told you everything."

Wang Ke: "I didn't ask you to tell me, you could have kept it to yourself."

Fang Changan sighed. He couldn't win at playing rogue, so he decided to bypass his weaknesses and play to his strengths: "Don't you want to ask what surprise I prepared for you?"

The young girl hesitated for a moment, but ultimately couldn't defeat her curiosity, and wrote to ask him: "What surprise?"

Carefully, Fang Changan fished a fingernail-sized pebble out of his schoolbag. It was round and smooth, featuring the natural patterns of a river stone—just a very ordinary one—and solemnly pushed it in front of her.

The young girl reached out, picked it up, turned it over to examine it thoroughly, looked up at him, and wrote: "What is this?"

Fang Changan: "A pebble. I picked it up at the beach."

Wang Ke puffed out her cheeks in a pout, glared at him, and lowered her head to write. The corners of her mouth twitched into a sweet smile before she quickly reined it back in.

"The surprise you were talking about is just this?"

"No, this is your birthday gift."

"Then where's the surprise?"

"You knew I was going to give you a surprise, so you must have been looking forward to it all summer vacation, right? Having something to look forward to, wondering what kind of surprise I'd give you, trying to guess what it could be, and living happily because of it—that is the surprise."

The young girl read the passage once, then read it again. She looked up at his earnest expression, blinked her bright eyes, and lowered her head to read it carefully two more times to confirm she hadn't misread or misunderstood. Then she looked back up, glaring at him with her sparkling eyes.

There seemed to be two little flames dancing in her eyes.

Fang Changan also opened his eyes wide, leaning back slightly in a physical motion that, combined with his expression, clearly conveyed his question: "Isn't this a huge, romantic, and innovative surprise?"

The young girl locked eyes with him for a few seconds, pouted her lips angrily, lowered her head to read her book, and completely ignored him.

Fang Changan wrote to ask her: "What's wrong?"

The young girl continued reading her book.

Fang Changan wrote again: "Do you not like my surprise and gift?"

She continued reading her book.

Fang Changan had no choice but to write another paragraph: "Let's look at it from a different angle. This stone is still your birthday gift, but you definitely didn't expect me to give you a birthday gift in the first place, right? So doesn't the fact that I'm giving you a birthday gift count as a surprise?"

Wang Ke took the notebook, read it twice, thought about it for a moment, tilted her head to look at him for two seconds, and finally nodded. Then she wrote two words to him: "Fine."

Fang Changan took it back, read it, and kept writing: "Still not satisfied, huh? Let me ask you, do you know where words can be written in this world so they last for tens of millions of years?"

The question was a bit profound. The young girl thought very carefully and solemnly for quite a while before writing back with great confidence: "In the heart?"

Fang Changan almost coughed up blood. "Why didn't you say 'in the sky'? Watch less garbage books and TV shows from now on, and use your brain a little, will you?"

Seeing him acting all fierce again, Wang Ke pouted and wrote angrily: "Then where?"

Seeing that she was still cooperating, Fang Changan continued writing to enlighten her: "On a stone."

The young girl took the notebook, glanced at it, and immediately opened her eyes wide, wearing a look of surprise and delight. She then pulled out the small pebble and carefully examined it over and over for a long time.

"There are words on this?"

She handed the notebook back, her sparkling eyes full of question marks, as if saying: "Why can't I see anything?"

Amused, Fang Changan replied: "Only the smartest and prettiest people can see them."

The young girl pouted again, wanting to ignore him, but in order to figure out where the words were, she wrote to him: "Where are the words?"

Speechless, Fang Changan desperately wanted to crack open her small head to see what was inside: "If I had the ability to carve words on this thing, why would I still be going to school?"

Wang Ke opened her eyes wide again: "Then you were lying to me!"

"Even without carved words, the meaning the stone represents can still last for tens of millions of years."

"What meaning?"

"A gift."

Wang Ke read it and replied with a single word: "Oh."

After Fang Changan finished reading, she seemed to have thought of something, took the notebook back, and asked, "Did you only pick up one?"

Fang Changan replied: "Two. One for you, one for Shen Mo."

After reading what he wrote, Wang Ke looked up at him, thought for a moment, seemed to find it acceptable, nodded, and carefully put the stone away.

Seeing this, Fang Changan wrote to ask her: "Like it?"

The young girl turned to look at him, picked up her fountain pen, and wrote in the notebook: "Mhm."

Fang Changan smiled at her, pointed at the earbud, and stopped talking to quietly listen to music. Jay Chou's voice sang from the earphones: "The cold air and glazed glass feel very transparent in the early morning, like my affection being seen right through you. A ray of blinding sunlight on the market stall, and I quietly appear by your side..."

While Fang Changan was listening to music, Wang Ke passed the notebook over again, her small lips puckered into an expression as if she had just eaten a bitter gourd: "Can we not listen to Jay Chou? I can't even hear clearly what he's singing."

Sighing, Fang Changan handed the iPod over to her. A moment later, he heard the music switch to: "A trace of parting sorrow, a lonely lamp stands tall by the window. I pretend behind the door that you haven't left yet..."

Fang Changan wrote to ask: "Isn't this still Jay Chou?"

She replied: "I like listening to this song."

"I like it too."

The two of them stopped "talking" and focused on listening to music and reading. After a while, Fang Changan suddenly felt something touch his clothes—a very familiar sensation. He looked down and saw a fair, delicate little hand rapidly retracting.

Resting quietly inside the desk compartment was a dark brown wallet.

Fang Changan turned to look at Wang Ke, a smile blooming on the corners of his lips. The young girl bit her lower lip, glared at him sideways, turned her head away as if she didn't want to bother with him, and then secretly broke into a sweet smile, continuing to read her book.