“Are you talking about that new Transfer Student in your class?”
After school, students walked in groups of three or five along the way home.
A hundred meters outside the school gate, there were street vendors selling various snacks—some grilled skewers, some spicy hotpot or oden, others selling grilled sausages.
Even the snacks that once made Shen Yao drool couldn’t distract him now.
His mind was occupied by other matters.
Faced with Cheng Cheng’s exaggerated question, Shen Yao nodded helplessly.
Cheng Cheng had a look like she was about to burst out laughing.
She covered her mouth and exchanged glances with her close friends, all of them wearing expressions as if they’d seen a ghost.
“Shen Yao… that Transfer Student, everyone knows she’s not ordinary. She’s from a completely different world than us… You couldn’t be… love at first sight, right?”
Cheng Cheng couldn’t help but want to laugh.
It felt like watching a toad frowning and wondering how to eat swan meat—a bit offensive, though Shen Yao wasn’t exactly a toad, but the gap between them was even greater than that between a toad and a swan.
Love at first sight?
Shen Yao chewed on the words.
If.
Seems like.
Maybe.
Possible.
It really was love at first sight.
Although it was just a few brief encounters, the red-haired girl had left an indelible impression on his heart.
Every time that red hair fluttered, his heart would inexplicably skip a beat, as if his soul was being pulled away by her.
If this was love at first sight, then he probably was.
He had never thought the term would apply to him.
He hadn’t even considered anything related to “Early Romance”—he treated the internet like a plague, let alone Early Romance.
But… but what was this feeling?
After school, it had only been half an hour since he hadn’t seen Qiao Yunxue, yet a persistent longing lingered in his mind.
Why…
Although the school forbade Early Romance, among teenagers, love always held a mysterious attraction.
They regarded romance as the quest for an eternal ally, resisting worldly prejudice and constraints together.
They didn’t understand love or responsibility; most of the time, they just got together due to hormonal stirrings or the coaxing of those around them, but they saw it as something pure and eternal.
How ironic… the person least likely to have Early Romance fell in love at first sight with a Transfer Student.
That was what everyone thought, including Cheng Cheng.
In her memory, Shen Yao was always the most outstanding student of their year—excellent in both character and academics, honest and upright, dull but not stupid, reserved but not shy.
Her parents always urged her to learn from Shen Yao, which sparked a bit of rebelliousness in her.
She wanted to prove Shen Yao wasn’t always right.
Seeing Shen Yao not deny it, but seriously consider the possibility of love at first sight, Cheng Cheng found it even more absurd.
She felt it was funny, unbelievable, and exaggerated.
Shen Yao’s world was rigid, dull, and unchanging.
After what he’d been through, he already knew how his life should go, seeing it all at a glance.
Precisely because of this, he was attracted to the red figure who burst into his world and broke the routine.
The more rule-abiding a person is, the more they’re drawn to unrestrained souls.
It’s both a gift of mutual attraction and a curse that can’t be reconciled.
He nodded seriously, ignoring the shocked faces of his classmates.
“It does seem a little… like love at first sight.”
A commotion broke out among them.
“Shen Yao, stop kidding, I heard Qiao Yunxue came to enroll in a Maybach.”
“And the Principal personally received her.”
“My uncle said her dad donated a million to the school, so she could transfer in directly. Her registration is with Sixth High School, but she goes to school here with us.”
“What kind of business does her dad do…”
“Who knows.”
They all spoke at once, trying to dissuade Shen Yao.
Although they usually enjoyed stirring up trouble, everyone knew the gap between the two was too great.
As Shen Yao’s classmates, they didn’t want to see him get hurt, let alone…
The others’ eyes fell on Cheng Cheng.
Cheng Cheng felt uncomfortable under their gazes.
Of course, she understood what they were thinking.
Whether it was her close friends or other classmates, they all thought she and Shen Yao were a pair.
The idea made Cheng Cheng uneasy.
She really wanted to shout that she and Shen Yao were just good buddies, absolutely not some messy relationship.
So, she spoke a little more seriously.
“Shen Yao, do you really like Qiao Yunxue?”
Shen Yao shook his head, then nodded.
“Like? I can’t say. But she does seem a bit unique, different from anyone I’ve met so far.”
“Then go confess.”
Cheng Cheng casually said something that made everyone drop their jaws.
She shrugged indifferently.
“If you have the thought, go try it. Didn’t you always say you didn’t want to have regrets in life? Then go for it. It’s no big deal if it doesn’t work out.”
She felt her close friend pinching her hand hard, glaring at her as if to say, “Are you crazy? Don’t you like Shen Yao? How can you let him confess to Qiao Yunxue?”
Cheng Cheng rolled her eyes and slung an arm around Shen Yao’s shoulder.
“Shen Yao is my only good buddy. Of course I support him.”
Saying this, she felt a huge weight lifted, as if a long-standing misunderstanding had finally been cleared up.
The social circles of high school students were like this, always tacitly matching people into couples, creating “occasions and atmospheres” for them without their consent.
This invisible pressure had always made Cheng Cheng uncomfortable—she wasn’t someone who liked unspoken rules.
She wanted to use this opportunity to tell everyone that she didn’t like Shen Yao and that their relationship had always been that of close brothers, from childhood to now.
If Shen Yao was in trouble, she would help him without hesitation, but when it came to feelings, she would never get confused.
Shen Yao tilted his head in confusion.
“Confess? I only met her for the first time today. Wouldn’t that be too… abrupt?”
Cheng Cheng snorted with laughter.
She punched Shen Yao lightly in the chest.
“You’ve already got love at first sight, and you’re still thinking about taking it slow? Just give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, then forget it. It’s not a big deal.”
Shen Yao nodded.
“I’ll think it over later. With you guys making such a fuss, I’m all confused now.”
Cheng Cheng grinned.
“Hesitation leads to chaos. Strike when it’s time.”
Her tone sounded just like a little punk with dyed yellow hair.
Before going home, Shen Yao had to buy beer for his aunt, so he parted ways with them at the intersection.
After Shen Yao left, the close friends surrounded Cheng Cheng.
“Cheng Cheng, what are you doing?”
Cheng Cheng looked exasperated.
“I’ve always said I don’t like Shen Yao. You guys are the ones making things up. I don’t like anyone right now. I only like myself!”
The girls looked at each other, as if they really believed her.
Cheng Cheng looked away awkwardly.
Maybe telling Shen Yao to confess to the Transfer Student was a way to clear up her own relationship with him, but she knew better than anyone that sending the dull Shen Yao to confess to a lofty rich girl was like sending him to charge at a windmill—destined for a ridiculous outcome.
But maybe, only this kind of absurdity could give her some peace of mind.
Cheng Cheng thought.