In the second grade of high school, Shu Wanqiao, a top student in science, met Hang Yuchen, a "stupid student" who only wanted to improve his English.
He borrowed notes and questions to fight back from the 38th grade; she handed him water and helped him with the questions to help him get from 110 to 132 in English.
No one said they liked it, but the evening self-study in the senior year and the corridor under the ginkgo leaves were all their tacit preferences.
On the day she filled out her application form, she wrote Tsinghua University and he wrote Beijing Institute of Technology.
"They're all in Beijing."
On the night before the college entrance examination, she was at 692 and he was at 657. "See you in Beijing" on the phone is the most solemn promise of a young person.
In September, on Ginkgo Avenue in Tsinghua University, he was waiting for her with a pushcart: "I originally applied for Beijing Institute of Technology because you were in Beijing."
She smiled and said nothing, but her steps slowed down.
Their story has just begun.
