Chapter 108 : Come Over to Our Side
A day later, Class 9 rearranged their seating positions. Mei Fang and Lin Youxi remained in the same group, so they were still seated close to each other. However, they swapped positions, with Mei Fang moving from the front row to the back row and Lin Youxi doing the opposite.
Mei Fang had gone through several changes of deskmates, mostly with boys who were good at studies but also loved to play. This time, he was paired with a much quieter boy named Tang Yu, who came from the countryside to study in the county. He didn’t have any friends from elementary school in the class. He was always focused on studying and wasn’t interested in the boys’ games.
As the number of desks increased, the new transfer students could only be inserted into the middle groups. Li Shibing adjusted the seating layout, changing the sequence of desks from 4 to 5 in the middle. Since the transfer students were not familiar with the environment, Li Shibing made them sit in the middle seats to help them integrate quickly.
Coincidentally, Guo Yun was seated in the same row as Mei Fang, with Mei Fang’s new desk partner, Tang Yu, in between them. However, she was considered part of the neighboring group led by Zhang Ming. On her left were two girls, also members of Zhang Ming’s group, Yu Lin and Li Danning.
Guo Yun was Mei Fang’s deskmate in his previous life during middle school. Due to being overweight and having many pimples on her face, she was often teased by some classmates and had few people willing to play with her.
Mei Fang’s relationship with Guo Yun was not particularly close in his previous life. Although they didn’t talk much, Mei Fang didn’t dislike her. At least, Mei Fang didn’t comment on her body and appearance. He just interacted with her as a normal classmate. He even lent her money to buy lunch once, and Guo Yun later gave him an extra bottle of milk as a thank-you gift.
Guo Yun didn’t stay in the class for long and transferred out in the third year of middle school. Before leaving, she wrote a letter to Mei Fang, saying that he was the best friend she had in the class.
At that time, Mei Fang was still a teenager with no feelings or concepts about relationships between boys and girls. He was solely focused on studying and playing games. However, receiving that letter had a significant impact on him. After all, he didn’t think he had shown Guo Yun any special care, yet she considered him her best friend.
In this life, when Mei Fang met Guo Yun again, besides marveling at the wonder of fate, he also wondered if the reason Guo Yun left after just one semester was due to the psychological pressure of being ostracized in the class.
After all, their homeroom teacher at that time was Huang Lian, who was overly critical and always found faults in people. Although Guo Yun didn’t have any particular shortcomings that Huang Lian could criticize, Mei Fang still remembered that Huang Lian didn’t seem to like Guo Yun.
The difficulty of the physics subject in the second semester had started to increase rapidly. Xia Yuan felt dizzy from solving physics problems every day. Riding bicycles home together and accompanying Mei Fang to push their bicycles back to the neighborhood were rare moments of relaxation for Xia Yuan. Now, Mei Fang, instead of going to Xia Yuan’s house to do homework, Xia Yuan would take him to the small pavilion in the community park to chat, and then naturally ask for an Ah Fang’s Super Energy.
Mei Fang was quite surprised by Xia Yuan’s rapid growth, considering she was still a 13 or 14-year-old child with seemingly limitless potential.
Although it was hinted to Xia Yuan that they were no longer children and should be a bit cautious about being too intimate, Xia Yuan seemed completely oblivious or indifferent. Of course, Mei Fang couldn’t directly reject Xia Yuan’s friendly gestures either, as it was difficult for him to find the right balance.
“Physics is really difficult, Ah Fang…” Xia Yuan said with a pitiful look, “When I become the Minister of Education in the future, I will definitely not let middle school students study physics.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. When you reach high school, it will be better. High school has separate classes for liberal arts and science subjects. You can go to the liberal arts class, as you are strong in politics, history, and geography. Then you can completely avoid this subject you dislike,” Mei Fang reassured her.
“Separate classes for liberal arts and science mean we might not be in the same class.” Xia Yuan raised her head and asked Mei Fang, “But Ah Fang, won’t you be studying science? I don’t want to be separated from you.”
Now, Xia Yuan had started to intentionally or unintentionally throw some hints, but many of them were ambiguous. As long as Mei Fang made sure not to delve too much into these topics and let Xia Yuan sense his feelings, there wouldn’t be any trouble.
“Don’t be so sure. There are 25 classes in Baimei No.1 High School. We might not even be in the same class.”
“My mom said that the Advanced Class in our school was established for future admission to the Science Experimental Class at Baimei No.1 High School,” Xia Yuan grumbled. “If we both get into that class, then we can ensure being in the same class.”
After saying this, Xia Yuan suddenly deflated. “I know Ah Fang, you and Youxi will definitely get in. I’m probably at the bottom of the Advanced Class now, relying solely on my Chinese and English grades…”
“I don’t think it matters whether we’re in the same class or not. How could I ignore you or not keep in touch just because we’re not in the same class?”
Mei Fang patted Xia Yuan’s head. “I’d prefer you to choose your future learning path for yourself. After all, if physics is causing you so much pain and torment, and you neither like nor excel at it, I think it’s better not to do it. Maybe liberal arts would be more suitable for our Yuan Yuan.”
After listening, Xia Yuan hurriedly changed her words, “I just… I just feel that physics is difficult, not that… I completely hate it. There’s still chemistry and biology as main subjects in the future. I don’t know about chemistry, but I quite like biology.”
After releasing herself from Mei Fang’s embrace, Xia Yuan paced around a few times, then looked up at Mei Fang and said, “I still want to work hard in the Advanced Class… Do I necessarily have to go to the liberal arts classes?”
“As long as this is truly what you want, I’ll support you.”
Mei Fang continued to advise, “But I don’t want you to force yourself just to be in the same class as us. I would feel sorry for you if that’s the case.”
“I’m not forcing, really! Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I will take care of myself.”
Xia Yuan giggled and then bid farewell to Mei Fang with her bicycle.
Although she said that she was not forcing it, Mei Fang didn’t believe it at all.
But he hoped that Xia Yuan would make her own choice. It was about her future plans, and he wouldn’t forcefully interfere or make decisions for her. That would be disrespectful of her parents’ way of raising her and would certainly provoke Xia Yuan’s resentment and dislike.
After a month of ordinary days in the class, Guo Yun and Mei Fang still had little interaction. After all, she was a member of Zhang Ming’s group and would leave her seat after class. However, Mei Fang still saw her often alone, sometimes eating with Zhang Ming in the cafeteria, and sometimes seeing Guo Yun eating alone in a corner.
During middle school, meal buddies could tell a lot about a person’s personality and social circle. Not to say that they had to gather with a large group every time they ate, but at least they would have one or two companions. It was clear that Guo Yun’s attempt to integrate into the class circle was not an easy task.
However, at this point, if a person could live well on their own, there was no need to endure socializing forcefully. Many people nowadays feel that enduring loneliness is preferable to tolerating foolish freedom.
However, life for everyone is never that simple, and conflicts are always present.
And on this day, during the break after class, Mei Fang noticed the conflict that Guo Yun was facing.
Guo Yun gently nudged her left deskmate, Yu Lin, and told her that she wanted to go to the restroom. Yu Lin, awakened, was very annoyed, and complained to Guo Yun: “Why do you have to go to the restroom every class? Aren’t you annoying?”
“Today… is the first time, right?”
After Yu Lin finished speaking, she turned her head and continued to sleep, leaving Guo Yun feeling both embarrassed and helpless.
At that moment, Mei Fang’s voice came from beside her.
“Guo Yun, come over to our side, we’ll make a way for you.”
This was the first time Guo Yun had been spoken to by Mei Fang.
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