Take My Brother Away · Chat

The school gate welcomed today's first wave of the crowd at exactly 7:20. Shi Fen emerged from around the corner with a yawn, his uniform zipper only pulled up to his chest, one backpack strap slipped down to his elbow. His other hand clutched half a piece of uneaten bread, which he kept stuffing into his mouth as he walked, crumbs scattering all the way. Two meters behind him, Shi Miao followed expressionlessly, walking with a breeze, her ponytail swaying in a steady rhythm, her right hand carrying Shi Fen's other backpack—the one with the textbooks, which Shi Fen had "forgotten" on the shoe cabinet when he left in the morning. "Once you're done eating, can you throw the wrapper into the trash can?" Shi Miao's voice drifted over from behind. "You throw it for me." "Don't you have hands of your own?" "I do, but my hands are busy holding the bread." Shi Miao took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the backpack strap, but since this was the school gate, she held herself back. As they passed through the iron gate, they ran straight into Wan Sui. Wan Sui was wearing a white T-shirt that looked perfectly ordinary today, but the small embroidered logo on the collar was enough for those in the know to list it for four figures on a second-hand website. Beside him was a boy a head shorter, in suit shorts and leather shoes, his hair combed to perfection, like he'd walked off the cover of some elite magazine—Wan Xing. Wan Sui was arguing with his younger brother that he could go to school by himself, and Wan Xing just adjusted his glasses and said, "You got lost three times last week." Zhen Kaixin was already at the basketball court. Through the chain-link fence, you could see his figure leaping up in the morning light, the thud of the basketball smashing against the backboard echoing across the entire playground. Three lower-grade girls were gathered by the fence, holding water bottles and standing on tiptoes to watch, occasionally letting out short squeals. Kaixin sank a three-pointer, turned around, and gave a thumbs-up toward the teaching building—no telling who he was showing off for, but those three girls were about to faint. Shi Miao's eyes followed that thumbs-up for a second before quickly dropping, pretending to check her shoelaces. Then someone suddenly appeared beside her—Miao Miaomiao had practically flanked her at a sprint from diagonally behind, the idol photo cards hanging off her backpack clattering all the way. "Shi Miao! Did you hear? Wang Keke yesterday—she said—whew, let me catch my breath—she said she's inviting the whole class to her birthday party next week!" Wang Keke was walking ten meters ahead, her long hair loose, Bluetooth earbuds in her ears, completely oblivious to all the noise behind her. Two girls flanked her, one of them holding her water bottle. Today was the duty roster handover day. Teacher Lu stood by the bulletin board putting up the new duty roster—failed to align it three times, and finally taped a crooked border all around it with clear tape. Teacher Tian walked out of the office building, whistle hanging around his neck, spotted the three girls by the basketball court at a glance, blew one short whistle, and the girls scattered like sparrows. Sunlight slanted over from the east side of the teaching building, stretching everyone's shadows long. What rang through the morning, besides the sound of the basketball pounding the ground, was Shi Fen's shriek when he was caught on his third attempt to shake breadcrumbs into Shi Miao's pocket, and Wang Keke finally taking out one earbud to glance back at the commotion behind her, then putting it back in. This was just an ordinary day. The clock tower hand had just passed 7:30, with fifteen minutes left before the first-period pre-class bell.