Jiang Fengning first met Pei Yiheng in the early summer of the year she turned seventeen.
She was working part-time at a convenience store that year. One rainy night, a boy pushed open the store door.
He wore an utterly ordinary black T-shirt. His features were striking, his brows and eyes lifted with effortless confidence as he said to her, "A pack of Liqun, please."
A little dazed, she asked, "The 22-yuan, 60-yuan, or 100-yuan kind?"
The boy casually handed over a hundred yuan and said, "Naturally, the top of the line."
Jiang Fengning watched him take the cigarettes to the doorway and light one. But the wind was too strong, and he couldn't get it lit.
She went over to him and looked up. "Want me to block the wind for you?"
With an amused smile in his eyes, he nodded at her. "What, does buying cigarettes come with complimentary service?"
She held out her hand to shield him from the wind. The boy picked up his lighter again, and with a click, lit his cigarette.
He gave her a fleeting smile. "Thanks."
-
Later, she ran into him at school and learned he was Pei Yiheng, the school's notorious troublemaker and the top student in their grade.
Rumor had it he often got into fights, throwing a punch whenever someone rubbed him the wrong way. No one could make this hothead bow his head.
But Jiang Fengning remembered that rainy night. When she'd shielded him from the wind, the boy had not only lowered his head, but bent down, too.
Pei Yiheng was bold and unruly, known to everyone as a troublemaker who was best avoided. Jiang Fengning was sweet and pretty, known to everyone as a model student.
No one could connect the two of them. They all thought they belonged to different worlds.
Then one winter, the two of them had a disagreement. Everyone wondered if Pei Yiheng would "cruelly crush the flower."
But the supposedly "dangerous" boy carefully approached the girl, pulled a bag of piping-hot chestnuts from who knew where, and apologized gently. "Miss, do me the honor of having one? Don't be mad anymore."
Later, at their senior year graduation party, Pei Yiheng sang a love song. Everyone started cheering and turned to look at him.
But the boy's gaze fell only on the one he cherished most.
*In this vast sea of people, you are the only one I hold dear.*
Theme: Study hard and keep improving.
