Chapter Thirty-One: A Failed Attempt at Flirtation

“I was just thinking the same! We really are on the same wavelength!” Yang Lili sat down beside him, brimming with excitement. “Here’s my initial idea: we’ll hold this event every Friday, so it doesn’t clash with Saturday’s dance party. Ideally, each dormitory will present two acts. Our class is split among five dorms, so that’s ten performances. For the remaining time, we can use our class funds to rent a DVD player and watch a movie. ...What should we call it?”

“Let’s call it Happy Friday! It’s meaningful and suits your style perfectly,” Dong Yanyan replied, resting her chin on her hand, sounding nonchalant.

“That’s a great name! It’s settled then! Yanyan, what song will you sing? You have to perform!” Lin Feng said with a delighted laugh.

“I don’t sing. I do magic tricks.” Dong Yanyan looked at him with a deliberately mysterious smile. She swept her right hand swiftly before his eyes. “Watch my hand, watch closely!” Then she clenched her fist and, with a flourish beside his face, produced a red, hand-woven love knot in her palm.

“Well? Isn’t it pretty?” She waved the knot triumphantly before his eyes. Lin Feng reached out to take it, but Yang Lili snatched it away first. “This is gorgeous! Can I have it?” she asked, blinking her lovely big eyes and smiling at Dong Yanyan.

“If you like it, it’s yours,” Dong Yanyan replied. Though she felt a pang of displeasure, she shrugged indifferently.

Yang Lili, ever brash, slipped the trinket into her pocket. Dong Yanyan pulled out several more of the same love knots from her own pocket and tossed them to a few classmates up front who were caught up in their own happy chatter. Truth be told, she had bought these love knots wholesale at the market, intending to sell them at the night market. On a whim, she’d taken one out, hoping to earn a smile from someone special—only for Yang Lili to intervene and spoil the moment. Now her mood soured, but she couldn’t let Yang Lili have the satisfaction. She fumed inwardly.

“Thank you, Yanyan!” Yang Ruining turned around and smiled at her warmly.

“No need to thank me. I’ll show you another magic trick—right now—everyone, count down with me from five!” Dong Yanyan hopped onto the desk, drawing out her words with a mysterious air.

Having just seen a glimpse of her skills, everyone was eager for more and counted down in unison. “Five! Four! Three! Two! One!” As soon as they finished, the classroom lights snapped off with a swoosh! A chorus of startled cries followed.

“Lights out! Time to head back if you’re leaving!” Dong Yanyan scooped up the diary Lin Feng had given her from the desk and made her way out, unhurried and composed.

Her heart was indeed uneasy. In her memory, Yang Lili was the first girl to share ambiguous feelings with Lin Feng. Whether the two ever truly got together had always been unclear. Lin Feng had had flirtations with many girls since, but there was almost no evidence of any real relationships—including her own foolish self, caught somewhere between flirtation and love. The more she thought, the more tangled her feelings became.

She returned to the dormitory door and, by the corridor’s light, examined the diary from cover to cover several times. There were no inserts, and she scrutinized every note and mark inside, finding not a single hint of anything suggestive.

She felt a bit lost and melancholy.

*

I am a lotus in full summer bloom,

How I wish you could see me now.

The frost has yet to touch me,

The autumn rain has not begun to fall.

The season of innocence has slipped away,

Now I stand tall, serene and fearless...

*

At four o’clock the next morning, the alarm rang on time. Dong Yanyan silenced it and hurried out of bed. Li Hui, on the bunk across from her, turned over with a groan, and Liu Ying, sleeping head to head with her, mumbled crossly and pulled the covers over her head.

“So annoying! Even on a Sunday, we can’t get a good sleep!” Gu Xiaohan, who slept below Liu Ying, sat up and grumbled sleepily before collapsing back onto her bed.

Ten years east of the river, ten years west—now it was her turn to annoy others! Dong Yanyan stuck out her tongue in resignation. She knew that if it had been her in the past, being woken up every morning, she would have made a scene.

So, long live understanding! She left a pound of sunflower seeds from last night’s shopping on the windowside desk and taped a note on the dorm door, then slipped out quietly.

At seven o’clock, Yu Xia, always the earliest riser, stretched and got up. On her way out with her washbasin, she noticed the conspicuous note on the door, handwritten by Dong Yanyan:

“Dear sisters, good morning!

First, I want to sincerely thank everyone for your support in my work; second, I solemnly apologize for disturbing your dreams! There are sunflower seeds on the desk under my bunk—please help yourselves! Wishing you all a wonderful morning!

Love, No. 5!”

“Number Four, Number Six, Number Seven! Get up! Number Five has treated us!” Yu Xia put down her basin and shouted happily at the top of her lungs. Her instinctive call immediately marked out the closest friends.

Li Hui was the first to be woken. As she dressed, she protested, “Number Two, why do you call them and not me?”

“Why should I call you?” Yu Xia grabbed some sunflower seeds and cracked them, unconcerned.

Leng Yue was also awakened, stretching her arm from under the covers and lazily calling out, “Second Sister, grab me a handful!”

Then, three or four arms simultaneously snaked out from the quilts, all reaching for seeds.

“Lazy bunch! Here, one handful each—the rest is mine!” Yu Xia teased as she distributed the seeds.

Xinran, who slept under Dong Yanyan, was the last to wake. Seeing Yu Xia waving the seeds in front of her, she exclaimed with delight and snatched some.

“Number Seven, you’re quick today!” Gu Xiaohan poked her head over from across the room, startling her.

“Why is there a head over here?” she murmured, holding her chest in confusion, making everyone burst out laughing.

“Number Seven, you’re eating No. 5’s sunflower seeds, not No. 2’s!” Li Hui said, cracking seeds rapidly and laughing.

“I never said they were mine! You’re so fussy!” Yu Xia replied, unfazed.

“Actually, No. 5 is really thoughtful. She gets up so early every day, goes out so far, all to earn a little money and help her family. I heard her little sister just started elementary school,” said Leng Yue, touched.

Liu Ying nodded in agreement. “Hey, aren’t we just drifting along a bit too much? She’s been out half the day already, and we’re still lying around! Feels like such a waste!”

“I agree! So I propose that from today on, we all go out for morning exercise! Now, hurry up and get dressed—let’s go running!” Li Hui exclaimed with enthusiasm, and the dorm instantly erupted into chaos.

*

(Excerpt from “The Lotus’s Secret,” by Xi Murong)