Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 51
by Little PandaXu Jia’er
When high school started, Anzhi was placed in the Experimental Class. There were only fifty people in the class, a collection of all the top students among the new freshmen. The Parallel Classes and Key Classes called it the “Study God Class.” The maximum score on the High School Entrance Exam was 540, and this class’s average score was around 530. Anzhi had scored 538, losing two points in Chinese, but she wasn’t number one. First place, with a score of 539, was a girl named Xu Jia’er.
However, the number-one student didn’t show up to register on the first day. No one knew what kind of big shot she was.
Most of the students in the Study God Class were very quiet. Perhaps it was because they weren’t familiar with each other yet, or perhaps it was due to the attitude one has toward their “own kind”—a mix of wanting to get close while also sizing each other up first.
This was the first time Anzhi had felt comfortable in a school’s learning environment.
Most high schools had a boarding system, but the Affiliated High School of the University of Science and Technology didn’t require it. Yan Xi didn’t agree with her boarding either, so she had Uncle Wang drive her to and from school every day. The school was enormous and had a beautiful campus. The old academic building was already thirty years old, while the new one had just been completed. The co-existence of old and new architectural styles was quite interesting.
The next day was the first class meeting, which was still very important.
The homeroom teacher, Teacher Pang, was a woman in her early thirties with a kind face and a ready smile. She was already standing at the door waiting for them before the class bell even rang. When most of the students were seated, the first preparatory bell rang. Just as Teacher Pang was about to close the classroom door, one more person walked in.
The entire classroom of nerdy, well-behaved top students was instantly stunned into a daze by the newcomer. Teacher Pang even suspected there was something wrong with her own eyes.
The hairstyle was exceptionally cool. One side was completely shaved, revealing the bluish skin of the scalp, while the hair on the other side cascaded down in distinct layers, dyed grandma gray. It shimmered with a silvery-black luster under the natural light. Everyone was first shocked by the hairstyle and color, but when they took a closer look, they were hit by a critical blow from her appearance.
She was so, so good-looking!
Very dark, long, and slender brows; a pair of deep, narrow eyes; a straight nose; and thin, rosy lips. Clear brows and elegant eyes, brimming with a youthful spirit.
Wait? Youthful spirit of a boy?
But her skin was delicate and smooth, the contour of her side profile was as smooth as jade, her lips were a soft pink, and she had two rows of long, dense eyelashes?
A girl???
And then she walked in!
So tall! A rough guess put her at 1.75 meters? A girl this tall?
“Teacher,” she called out. Her voice was clear, yet it possessed a delicate softness unique to a girl.
A buzzing wave of discussion swept through the classroom.
“Who is this person? How did she get into the school looking like that?”
“Does the school allow her to dye her hair like that?”
“Which dimension did she just cross over from?”
Teacher Pang told her to find a seat first, as the seating chart hadn’t been arranged yet. Everyone was sitting wherever they wanted. She scanned the classroom, and her gaze landed on Anzhi.
She suddenly curled her lip into a smirk and, under everyone’s watchful eyes, walked in Anzhi’s direction.
With her long arms and legs, she passed by Anzhi, stirring up a small breeze, and sat down in the empty seat behind her.
“So handsome,” a girl whispered.
Teacher Pang began to speak. This was her first time leading an Experimental Class, a class that all the teachers scrambled for every year. The teachers at the affiliated high school were assigned to a class for all three years, from the first year to the third. Once they took over this Experimental Class, they were guaranteed to meet their targets by the third year, and the bonus was very substantial.
Originally, this benefit wouldn’t have fallen to Teacher Pang, but two other teachers had been fighting fiercely over it. When the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits.1
At this moment, Teacher Pang stood at the podium, her passion for teaching nearly bursting forth, transforming into a kind, amiable, and beaming opening: “I am your homeroom teacher, Teacher Pang. I’m the homeroom teacher for our Experimental Class and also your math teacher.”
“Alright, next, I’d like each student to come to the podium and introduce themselves so we can all get to know one another. Let’s start with the student over here.”
The well-behaved students of the Experimental Class went up one by one, eight out of ten of them wearing glasses.
Aside from the very repetitive interest of “I like to read,” some liked to play Honor of Kings,2 some liked TFboys, some liked Marvel, and some liked DC. After the latter two finished speaking, they exchanged a look full of deep meaning.
When it was Anzhi’s turn, she gave a very brief introduction: “My name is Tao Anzhi. The ‘Tao’ from Tao Yuanming. I like to read…”
A ripple of soft laughter went through the classroom.
Anzhi pursed her lips and smiled too. When she smiled, the deep dimple on her right cheek appeared like a small lake encircled by mountains, incredibly sweet and lovely.
There were quite a few girls in the class, all with soft, gentle voices, but hers had an extra touch of a milky, childlike quality. She wore a knee-length, white sailor-collar dress and a pair of red ballet flats. Her ankles were slender and pale.
“I love chemistry and baking desserts.”
After she finished, a loud round of applause filled the room.
Teacher Pang smiled. “Is there anyone who hasn’t introduced themselves yet?”
The entire class’s gaze swept in unison toward the grandma-gray-haired girl from another dimension.
She sauntered lazily to the podium.
“My name is Xu Jia’er.” Standing on the stage, she was handsome from every conceivable angle, so dazzlingly radiant she could blind everyone’s eyes.
Her voice was clear and clean, with a slight deepness. Paired with that face, it created a strange sensation. Most boys her age were in the middle of their voices changing, but she wasn’t. She was like a handsome, pretty youth who had walked straight out of a manga, so beautiful he almost looked like a girl—and she really was a girl.
What a peculiar feeling.
“I love reading manga.”
Everyone nodded to themselves. Not surprising.
???
What did that mean? The literal meaning or the underlying meaning?
Teacher Pang strained her ears.
Perhaps everyone’s expressions were just too shocked.
She smiled. “That’s right, it’s exactly what you’re thinking!”
What? What?! What!!!!!
Everyone’s expression was a uniform, “Oh my god, school just started and someone’s already kicked down the closet door in public.”
But she wasn’t done. This student, who wouldn’t stop until her words shocked people to death,4 continued, “I also love getting first place!”
!!!!
The gazes of the students in the Study God Class shot toward the person on the stage like arrows loosed from a bow!
Now that was intolerable!!!!
A moment later, Teacher Pang returned to the podium with a complicated expression. She cleared her throat, deciding to turn a blind eye to what had just happened. She put on her kindest smile. “Okay, then let’s move on to electing the class committee. Are there any volunteers?”
The room was deathly silent.
It was unclear if they were unwilling.
Or if they were still immersed in shock.
Teacher Pang had her own methods. “Then let’s go by student number. If no one has any objections, we’ll decide it this way. Number one in our class… Xu Jia’er… uh…” Teacher Pang looked up at the head of grandma-gray hair.
“Does anyone object?”
A forest of arms shot up abruptly.
“Uh… then number two… Tao Anzhi?”
The arms went down.
“Alright, then our Class Monitor will be student Tao Anzhi, and the Vice Monitor will be student Xu Jia’er…”
“Everyone agrees this time, right? Good… no problem. Next, the Study Committee Member?”
Anzhi, to be honest, was still in shock and hadn’t had time to process that she was now the Class Monitor. Although she didn’t think being straight or gay was a big deal, she understood that many people in society still cared about it and treated it as a taboo topic. At the very least, she herself hadn’t told anyone besides Yang Mengmeng. But this girl sitting behind her had just said it so naturally and boldly.
Bold, frank, and proud. This was Anzhi’s first impression of Xu Jia’er.
It seemed that high school without Yang Mengmeng might be interesting after all.
Anzhi sighed internally. She missed Yang Mengmeng terribly.
She had also started school today, and her phone was still confiscated. They could probably only chat at night.
When school let out, Anzhi walked out of the campus. She sent a voice message to Yan Xi: “Can I come find you?”
Yan Xi replied: “School’s out? Sure, come over and we can have dinner together.”
Anzhi’s spirits lifted. “Okay.”
Yan Xi: “Be careful of the traffic. Let me know when you arrive, and I’ll come out to get you.”
The Affiliated High School of the University of Science and Technology wasn’t far from Beishi TV, but the intersection near the school gate was always congested. It was filled with parents in private cars coming to pick up their children. Anzhi, carrying her backpack, weaved through the traffic, hopping along like a little rabbit.
Suddenly, a piercing “Beep!” from a car horn made her jump. Just as the car was about to touch her, an arm grabbed her backpack and yanked her to the side of the road.
Anzhi was terrified. She whipped her head around and saw the familiar grandma-gray hair. She had only ever seen one person with it.
“Be careful, Little Class Monitor,” that person said with a smile.
Anzhi stood there, her heart still pounding. She was half-scared by the horn and half-scared by being grabbed, thinking she had been snatched up by some giant monster.
She still had to thank her. “Thank you.”
She looked up at her. She was so tall, seemingly even taller than Yan Xi.
“Where are you going? Let’s walk together.”
This person was really a natural at getting familiar with people.5
“No, thank you. We’re not going the same way.” Anzhi watched the traffic. When the light turned green, she jogged across the road.
Xu Jia’er watched her with a smile. Her soft hair had just been trimmed and cared for, barely passing her shoulders. She had snow-white skin and peach-like cheeks, and a faint scent of gardenia wafted from her. She walked as lightly as a little rabbit. Watching her take out her phone to scan a QR code and ride away on a shared bicycle, Xu Jia’er looked on from a distance, thinking that maybe this high school life wouldn’t be as boring as she had imagined.
Footnotes
- An idiom (鹬蚌相争, 渔翁得利; yù bàng xiāng zhēng, yúwēng dé lì) meaning when two parties are locked in conflict, a third party can easily reap the benefits.
- ”Honor of Kings” (王者荣耀; Wángzhě Róngyào) is an extremely popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mobile game in China.
- Meizhi (妹纸) is a cutesy internet slang term for ‘girl’ (妹子, mèizi).
- A phrase (语不惊人死不休; yǔ bù jīngrén sǐ bù xiū) from a poem by Du Fu, now used as an idiom to describe someone who insists on making shocking or sensational statements.
- The original term is ‘zìláishú’ (自来熟), a colloquial term for someone who warms up to strangers very quickly and acts as if they’ve known them for a long time.
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