It was an innocent, awkward age.

The timeline was roughly ten years earlier, when smartphones were still in their infancy. Mobile phones were already common among working adults, mostly Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola models.

Among students, especially elementary and middle school students, 99% didn’t have a phone.

Even if you asked for someone’s QQ, you could only jot it down in a little notebook and add them on the computer when you went home for the weekend.

The day after Cao Zijin and Ling Ling had unexpectedly spent time together.

It was a little past five in the afternoon, just a few minutes after school let out. All the other students in the music class had left the small auditorium. Only Ling Ling and Zhang Yuming were still there. Ling Ling was practicing, while Zhang Yuming was simply waiting so they could go to the cafeteria together.

Zhang Yuming lay sprawled across the desk, looking utterly put-upon. “Big Sis Ling Ling, stop practicing already! Let’s go eat at the cafeteria… If this keeps up, not only will my tummy waste away from hunger, my boobs will flatten too.”

Ling Ling couldn’t help laughing at her. She covered her mouth and giggled. “Oh, please. You’re busty enough already. Losing a little won’t hurt.”

“Waaah, no way! I’m saving these boobs for you—you can squeeze and fondle them all you want.”

“Get lost, get lost, get lost, you boy-crazy airhead who’s always blathering about your destined prince!”

As she teased Zhang Yuming, Ling Ling’s fingertips danced across the black-and-white keys. She’d recently gotten hooked on Jay Chou’s “Sunny Day” and really wanted to practice the piano arrangement.

Halfway through practice.

Ling Ling couldn’t take Zhang Yuming’s pestering anymore. She let out a soft sigh. “All right, stop acting like a scorned wife. I’ll go wash my face in the restroom, then we can head to the cafeteria together when I get back.”

“Okay! Big Sis Ling Ling really does care about me.” Zhang Yuming got so excited that she threw her arms around Ling Ling.

Ling Ling looked a little put out. She stepped back and neatly dodged Zhang Yuming’s flying tackle, then pulled a face. Ignoring Zhang Yuming’s wounded stare, she strolled out of the small auditorium and headed for the restroom.

About five minutes later.

When Ling Ling returned from the restroom, she found someone else in the small auditorium: Cao Zijin. He was holding a tube of burn ointment and talking with Zhang Yuming.

In the soft glow of the setting sun, his spotless white school uniform seemed edged in gold, and he practically glowed.

Just then.

Cao Zijin glanced to the side and met Ling Ling’s gaze. He smiled warmly. “Ling… classmate, can I call you Ling Ling?”

Ling Ling blinked, then nodded. “Sure, whatever you like… What brings you here?”

“I came across this by accident while looking through the bookcase today, and it reminded me that you burned your hand last night… I thought you might need it, so I brought it over. By the way, when I was nearby just now, I heard someone playing ‘Sunny Day.’ Which one of you was playing?”

Cao Zijin spoke with a smile and raised the burn ointment in his hand.

Before Ling Ling could answer,

Zhang Yuming, sitting behind Cao Zijin, suddenly winked at Ling Ling as if hinting at something. Then she jumped in first. “I was the one playing ‘Sunny Day’ just now.”

Ling Ling thought it over for a moment, but in the end, she said nothing.

The truth was,

Ling Ling was gentle on the outside but firm inside. She wasn’t the sort of person who’d put up with everything, even for her very best friend.

The main reason was… she’d never liked a boy before, from childhood to that point, and she was a little slow to catch on. Before she could figure out how she felt, Zhang Yuming had already snatched him away.

The last day of December.

That was the day of Tenth Middle School’s New Year’s Eve party.

Ling Ling and Zhang Yuming represented their sophomore music class with a four-hands piano performance. The moment their piece ended, thunderous applause filled the hall—and a gentle, jade-like young man walked up with a bouquet of flowers, step by step onto the stage.

Who else could it be but Cao Zijin?

The lighting crew was always right on cue. They immediately caught the movement onstage and fixed three spotlights on Cao Zijin, Ling Ling, and Zhang Yuming.

The whole crowd erupted, with a thousand voices cheering.

And yet.

Ling Ling felt as if she were in another world. She couldn’t hear a thing. All she could see was the young man in his spotless white school uniform.

At that moment,

Ling Ling desperately hoped the flowers in the young man’s hands were for her. But things didn’t go her way—or perhaps there had never been any suspense at all.

As she gazed quietly at him, his eyes never lingered on her for even a moment. He was looking at Zhang Yuming the whole time.

After the New Year’s Eve party,

Cao Zijin and Zhang Yuming officially started dating.

You’re wondering how Ling Ling found out?

That very night, Zhang Yuming made a big announcement in their dorm. Standing proudly on the top bunk, she beamed. “Ladies, I finally landed Cao Zijin! I hereby declare—Cao Zijin is now at my beck and call!”

Cao Zijin was actually pretty famous at Tenth Middle School.

He was handsome and neat-looking, and a top student in the science track.

Her roommates knew him too, of course, and they all congratulated Zhang Yuming. Ling Ling did too. Her heart felt heavy, but all she could do was smile and say, “Congratulations.”

It’s incredibly hard to make someone stubborn finally give up.

Even so, Ling Ling was reserved and knew her own worth. She’d never do something as melodramatic as stealing her best friend’s boyfriend, like in a TV drama or novel.

As the rest of high school went on,

Ling Ling seemed to sink into a bottomless pit. She was always with Zhang Yuming, and she was always seeing Zhang Yuming and Cao Zijin acting lovey-dovey.

It was more than a little painful.

As for waiting until Zhang Yuming and Cao Zijin broke up and then swooping in, Ling Ling had barely even considered it. She was easygoing by nature. She wouldn’t give in on everything, but she didn’t like competing either. Better to keep a level head and live her life.

……

After high school graduation,

Ling Ling got into Y City Conservatory of Music with excellent grades. Cao Zijin got into Y City University, also in the university district (the school that hosted the academic lecture in the college arc). As for Zhang Yuming, she went to a conservatory in the capital.

Once she started college,

Ling Ling stopped paying attention to Zhang Yuming and Cao Zijin. She tried to let go of those youthful feelings and make a fresh start.

Unfortunately,

Cao Zijin just wouldn’t stay gone.

In the second month of her sophomore year, sometime in October, Ling Ling joined a band in the university district as its keyboardist.

Note: it was a band in the university district, not one from the conservatory.

In other words, students from other schools were in the band too.

She ran into Cao Zijin again at the band’s first get-together. It turned out he’d been interested in music since high school. As soon as he started college, he began learning guitar and joined a band.

When Cao Zijin saw Ling Ling, he looked delighted at first, then his expression turned strangely complicated.

He still had that gentle air about him, but it wasn’t the same flawless gentleness he’d had in high school.

Ling Ling greeted Cao Zijin. He nodded with a faint smile, and the two of them started chatting. That was when she learned that Cao Zijin and Zhang Yuming had already broken up because of the long distance… and that Cao Zijin had gotten another girlfriend.