Chapter 82: We Have a Snowball Fight Together

Dong Yanyan nodded indifferently. “First, it’s best not to meet, so that there’s no chance to fall in love. Second, it’s best not to get to know each other, so there’s no chance to miss each other. Third, it’s best not to accompany one another, so there’s no debts between us—if everyone thought like this, we’d all be saints.”

“Repeat it again, will you? I missed two lines!” Liu Qiang said, scribbling furiously with his pen across the letter paper.

“Buddy, you can’t write those lines! Otherwise your love letter will turn into a breakup note!” Lin Feng laughed.

Dong Yanyan laughed as well: Engineering boys really were hopelessly blunt—straightforward as Zhang Baixin. If it weren’t for his tireless pursuit of Xiaohan with no progress, she wouldn’t bother helping him.

“My suggestion is, buy a copy of the Classic of Poetry, and another of Three Hundred Tang Poems. When writing your love letters, copy a couple of lines, and gradually you’ll look like a romantic sage.” She joked.

“Then buy a Buddhist scripture and a book by Xi Murong, memorize a couple of lines, and soon you’ll pass for a poet.” Lin Feng chimed in.

Dong Yanyan hadn’t expected Lin Feng, who prided himself as a scholar, to be self-deprecating as well. She frowned and turned to ask, “Monitor, are you yourself or am I?”

Lin Feng didn’t know how to answer, laughing awkwardly. “Just kidding, just kidding. Yanyan, have you seen Liu Siying? We made plans to go to the city library for a lecture this afternoon, but she disappeared right after lunch.”

“I really don’t know, but I think you could ask Qiu Dong or Li Zhe or any monitor you like about her whereabouts—they’d be very interested.” Dong Yanyan smiled.

Just then, Li Hui, Liu Ying, Jiang Fan, and a group of others entered through the back door with their notebooks. Lin Feng waved at them, then turned to Dong Yanyan, “Yanyan, let’s go together.”

“Lin Feng, there you are! I was looking for you in your dorm. Let’s go!” Liu Siying rushed in from the front door, smiled at Lin Feng, then saw Dong Yanyan and affectionately threw an arm around her shoulders. “Yanyan, come with us.”

“I’m not going. We have PE this afternoon, and I still haven’t passed the long jump.” Dong Yanyan smiled.

Liu Siying waved goodbye and left with Lin Feng and the others.

Looking around, Dong Yanyan realized that nearly ten students had left out of the thirty in the class, and Teacher Liu Qing would surely be displeased again this afternoon.

No sooner had they left than Teacher Liu Qing entered, calling, “Leng Haoyang! Yang Xiaohai! Jiang Fan!” He rattled off several names with no response and grew frustrated.

“Hmm? Where is everyone? Who wants to play ping-pong with me? If you keep me entertained, I’ll take you all out to have a snowball fight for the next two periods!” He raised his paddle and called.

“Fantastic! Teacher, you’re the best!” Several students surged forward, crowding around Teacher Liu as he led them to the ground floor to play.

*

Teacher Liu Qing kept his word. That afternoon, he took everyone to the sports field for their PE class. The field had a large outdoor football pitch, blanketed by thick white snow in winter—perfect for a snowball fight.

After Leng Haoyang led them for two laps around the football field, Teacher Liu Qing had them gather in the center.

“Now! We’ll split into two teams. One with me, one with Leng Haoyang. We’ll play rock-paper-scissors—winner picks first.” Teacher Liu Qing smiled.

Leng Haoyang readily agreed. With each round, they each picked a teammate, and soon over twenty students were divided into two groups. Teacher Liu Qing drew a line in the middle and announced the rules; at the sound of the whistle, students began rolling snowballs and tossing them at the opposite side. It got so exciting that many charged into enemy territory, wildly throwing snowballs like stray bullets. Not a single participant escaped unscathed. Those who were shorter were at a disadvantage—Dong Yanyan didn’t know how many snowballs had been shoved down her collar, cold as ice. She was just about to retaliate when someone pushed her over and dumped more snow down her neck. Her head buzzed from the cold, and she felt she was turning into a snowman.

“You guys, come here! Let’s all rush over and bury Teacher Liu in the snow!” Leng Haoyang shouted. His rallying cry sent everyone charging after him. Sensing danger, Teacher Liu Qing tried to escape, but a group of girls tackled him, pulling and pushing until he fell. Grabbing handfuls of snow, they stuffed it down his collar. Xu Cheng, seeing his leader beset, waved his group forward, bombarding the other side with snowballs. More and more students piled up in the snow, forming a pyramid, with those at the top hurling snow at those below, who shouted as they tried to climb out, only to be pushed down by others.

Leng Haoyang was trapped at the bottom, brushing off snow and pinning Teacher Liu Qing’s head, demanding, “Do you yield? Do you yield?!”

“I yield! I yield! Get up, my bones are getting crushed!” Teacher Liu Qing spat out snow and groaned.

Finally, the students at the top dispersed. Dong Yanyan scrambled up, brushing snow off herself clumsily. After all that commotion, she’d broken out in a sweat, and now her forehead was steaming.

Teacher Liu Qing staggered to his feet and pulled up the person beneath him. Dong Yanyan saw it was Xinran. How had she ended up at the very bottom? She hadn’t expected the teacher to play hero and rescue the damsel!

Xinran sat up, dazed. Teacher Liu Qing helped her up, brushed the snow off her head and clothes, and asked, “Are you alright?”

Xinran’s cheeks flushed, and she murmured softly that she was fine.

Teacher Liu Qing turned, pointed at Leng Haoyang and called, “Everyone, assemble! Frog jumps!”

“Teacher, isn’t that a bit much? Weren’t we just having fun?” Leng Haoyang grinned.

“Who’s the teacher here? All of them do a hundred, you do two hundred! That’s for breaking my rules!” Teacher Liu Qing yelled, then turned, brow furrowed, and gestured to Xinran, “Xu—Xu—”

“Xu Xinran,” Dong Yanyan supplied.

“Oh, Xu Xinran, you don’t need to do them. Dong Yanyan, accompany her inside to rest. Be sure to return on time when class ends!” Teacher Liu Qing instructed.

“Alright!” Dong Yanyan and Xinran agreed. She hated frog jumps the most.

“Teacher, teacher, I’ll go with her too.” Gu Xiaohan hugged Xinran’s other arm.

Teacher Liu Qing nodded, “Go ahead.”

Dong Yanyan glanced smugly at the unfortunate group doing frog jumps, then cheerfully led Xinran to the hall inside the stadium to rest.

The indoor temperature wasn’t much warmer. Xinran sat on the bench, as if just realizing what had happened.

“I was rolling a snowball when the teacher ran over, then all of you rushed at us, and the two of us ended up at the bottom.” She said quietly.

Dong Yanyan grinned mischievously, “How did you end up under the teacher? Did he play hero, shielding you? You two were hugging for ages, weren’t you?”

Gu Xiaohan widened her eyes, staring at Xinran with a smile.

Xinran blushed for the first time ever.

Dong Yanyan was quite astonished; she’d never thought she’d see this airhead blush in her lifetime. This was too unusual—a chance she had to seize! If she waited for Xinran to get married, she’d be waiting until thirty, and then hearing her complaints. Might as well act now! Who cared if he was a teacher—teacher-student romances weren’t rare these days!

“Xiaohan, does Teacher Liu Qing have a girlfriend?” she asked Gu Xiaohan.

“I heard he had one before graduation but broke up. Yanyan, are you planning to match Xinran with him?” Gu Xiaohan replied with a sly smile.

“‘Matchmaking’ sounds old-fashioned; the right word is ‘pairing up’. Xinran, what do you think?” Dong Yanyan teased.

Xinran made a face and muttered, “He’s too old, isn’t he?”

Dong Yanyan sighed. If Xinran weren’t so picky, she wouldn’t still be single at thirty, desperate for marriage. Everyone liked those tall, rich, and handsome types, but not everyone could win them. Besides, Teacher Liu Qing was tall and handsome, with a bright future ahead. Once universities merged in a few years, he’d be thriving, even outshining the older teachers—a clear potential star.

“Only five years older and you call him old? He’s in his prime! Anyway, you won’t find another chance like this. Right now, you’re picking him, but in a couple of years he’ll be picking you. Don’t expect good men to wait for you nearby. Fate comes in a moment; if it doesn’t, you might wait ten years in vain. Don’t come to me complaining later!” she said, exasperated.

“Exactly! If you don’t want him, I’ll make a move!” Xiaohan joked.

Xinran lowered her head, silent.

Dong Yanyan and Gu Xiaohan exchanged a smile. If she wasn’t objecting, did that mean there was hope?

But how to bring them together? Teacher Liu Qing was adventurous and athletic—his mind moved faster than a frisbee. Xinran was just the opposite. Finding something they both liked would be tough. The upside was that complementary personalities made for easier days together, but the downside was having no shared interests—how could they even start a conversation? It would be more practical for Xinran to change. Years later, she’d learned golf just to attract a boyfriend; learning ping-pong couldn’t be that hard! Dong Yanyan racked her brains, then suddenly had a flash: Why not let Teacher Liu Qing pursue her? Such a smart man could easily charm an innocent girl!

But how to spark Teacher Liu Qing’s interest in Xinran? She began to worry.

*

After class, she and her friends ran wildly back to the classroom. The group that had gone to the city library lecture returned, looking especially excited and mysterious.

“Yanyan, what did you do this afternoon that made you so happy?” Liu Siying turned from her seat and asked.

“We had a snowball fight! It was amazing!” Dong Yanyan ran over, put an arm around her shoulder, and smiled. Glancing down, she saw Liu Siying holding a letter, and several beautiful envelopes in her desk. She couldn’t resist flipping through them—there were even rose chocolates, hair clips, brooches.

“Oh my, so many gifts! You’ve struck it rich!” she joked.