Chapter 2: The Start of School

Dongzhou in September, the summer heat lingered, yet the campus, silent for two months, suddenly awakened.

The bulletin board was crowded with people; freshmen and their parents’ eyes stuck to the posted notices as they wandered around, while groups of upperclassmen strode past with laughter trailing behind them.

On the shaded path, a blue-and-white flash dragged a suitcase beneath the dappled golden sunlight and abruptly stopped in the middle of a slope.

“Jiang Chuhuai!”

The clear call startled the birds beside the path, drawing curious glances from passersby.

Jiang Chuhuai also turned around, squinting against the sudden flash of blue.

The girl had striking blue hair, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and white sneakers—her vivid colors standing out sharply even in the soft light.

His lips pressed into a straight line. Without hesitation, he turned and walked away.

“Who’s that?” The new roommate beside him kept glancing back, curious about this high-saturation spectacle at No.1 High School of Dongzhou.

Jiang Chuhuai said, “Don’t know her.”

When Qiu Xuan returned to the dormitory, the parents had already left. A few roommates were tidying up, occasionally testing the waters of small talk, laughing quietly—the atmosphere was good.

But the moment she stepped in, everyone fell silent.

Qiu Xuan noticed the subtle glances they exchanged but didn’t pay much attention. She quietly unpacked her toiletries from the suitcase and brushed her beautiful blue hair in front of the mirror.

The dorm rooms were assigned according to student numbers, as were the classroom seats.

Qiu Xuan’s deskmate was her roommate Lin Xiqiao, of average height and build, with medium-short black hair and a few stray bangs. At first glance, she wasn’t very memorable, but face to face, Qiu Xuan noticed her extremely beautiful almond-shaped eyes.

“Did you drink a lot of almond milk when you were little?” Qiu Xuan suddenly asked while distributing textbooks.

That was their first sentence exchanged. Lin Xiqiao didn’t catch the meaning: “Huh?”

Qiu Xuan pointed at her eyes. “Your eyes could be in an almond milk commercial.”

Lin Xiqiao: “…”

It made little sense, but she dared not contradict the Blue-Haired Sister.

After the textbooks were handed out, the homeroom teacher distributed the book list for everyone to verify and sign.

Qiu Xuan glanced at the list; there wasn’t a single familiar face in the whole class.

This was normal—she had studied at South Li Nian from elementary school through the second year of middle school and only transferred in her third year to Dongzhou Foreign Language Middle School Junior Department.

Most of her peers with similar scores had chosen to directly advance to the Foreign High School, which was also a top school with a comparable university admission rate and a better campus environment.

So only a handful like her came to No.1 High School.

Looking around, many classmates seemed to come from the same middle school, and suddenly she felt a bit lonely.

She wondered which class Jiang Chuhuai was in.

She signed her name casually and passed the list to her deskmate.

Lin Xiqiao glanced at Qiu Xuan’s signature with hesitation but ultimately said nothing.

“My handwriting isn’t bad, right?” Qiu Xuan said proudly.

Lin Xiqiao: “It’s very good, but…”

“What?”

“You didn’t write your full name.”

“I did.”

Lin Xiqiao stared at the list, where “Wu Qiu Xuan” was printed, but Qiu Xuan had signed just “Qiu Xuan.”

It felt incomplete, but she didn’t dare question the Blue-Haired Sister.

Qiu Xuan seemed to understand and answered herself, “Why must people have surnames?”

Lin Xiqiao: …

She nodded silently and signed her own name.

The homeroom teacher wasted no time starting the class meeting, leaning on the podium with both hands, looking in Qiu Xuan’s direction with pursed lips, a crooked mouth, and furrowed brows forming a “川” character—an expression of utter confusion about how to begin.

Following his gaze, the class smiled knowingly.

No.1 High School was famously relaxed: no mandatory uniforms, hairstyles were flexible, phones could be used freely—truly a godsend in high school life.

But the academic aura among the students was uniformly strong, and even in this regular class, no one had such striking hair color before.

“This student—yes, the girl with the blue hair—please come up and introduce yourself,” the homeroom teacher called.

Qiu Xuan was signing her name in a flourish across all her textbooks, absorbed in the graceful strokes, not hearing clearly.

Lin Xiqiao gently nudged her elbow. “The teacher is calling you.”

Qiu Xuan looked up and stood, following the teacher’s forced smile: “Hello, everyone, my name is Qiu Xuan.”

That was it.

The homeroom teacher prompted, “And… where are you from? Any hobbies?”

“Foreign Language Middle School Junior Department. I like reading novels and comics.”

The teacher stumbled: “Ah, okay, Qiu Xuan, nice name.”

“Thank you, teacher. Long Zhuofei is also a nice name.”

The teacher’s name was Long Zhuofei.

The class chuckled quietly.

The opening meeting was typical. Everyone introduced themselves, but hardly anyone remembered any names—except for Qiu Xuan.

First impressions and prejudices always ran deep.

That night in the dorms, except for room 302 where Qiu Xuan lived, every other room talked about three words: Blue-Haired Sister.

With the star present, 302 lost its topic and resorted to gossip.

As newcomers, no one was close yet, but the six degrees of separation always applied.

Everyone in Dongzhou was connected: your elementary school classmates were my middle school friends, my kindergarten deskmate was her middle school monitor; these tangled relationships made for prime gossip.

When someone was mentioned, everyone gasped.

After a while, sensing Qiu Xuan’s silence and to ease the atmosphere, the dorm leader Su Liujun asked, “Hey Qiu Xuan, do you know Jiang Chuhuai from Class One? He’s also from Foreign Language Middle School.”

Before Qiu Xuan could answer, Chen Zhi asked, “Who’s Jiang Chuhuai?”

“Top of the entrance exam, and very handsome!”

“Ah, with such good grades, Foreign High School didn’t insist on keeping him? How did he end up at No.1 High School?”

“He wanted to come himself, and even rejected the tuition waiver and scholarship.”

“Whoa, Foreign High School’s tuition is expensive! And the scholarships are generous.”

“Yeah, Foreign Language Middle School too. It’s all rich kids or nobles, so Jiang Chuhuai is rich, handsome, and smart. Soon the campus walls will be plastered with his pictures.”

“Isn’t Qiu Xuan the same? With her grades, she could’ve gone to Foreign High School easily. Why come to No.1 High School? It’s so shabby!”

Qiu Xuan quickly picked up the key info:

1. Jiang Chuhuai was in Class One.
2. The campus walls were a place to find people.

She had long known Jiang Chuhuai had also applied to No.1 High School, but didn’t expect to meet him on the very first day.

She had left him a message on the □□ platform but received no reply; he seemed to have changed accounts after leaving South Li Nian.

He had grown taller, but she still recognized him by his silhouette.

Clearly, he hadn’t recognized her.

It was a complete reversal of fate.

Qiu Xuan didn’t respond immediately. Her roommates, disappointed, fell silent for a moment before shifting topics.

After some time, Qiu Xuan’s voice finally broke the quiet: “Because he chose No.1 High School, I came here too. I don’t know why he came, but I want to post on the campus walls to ask. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

Lin Xiqiao, Chen Zhi, Su Liujun: …