Boundless – Chapter 8

“Three, two, one—run!”

At No. 1 High School, the 800-meter race was always run by a large group together. When the whistle blew, the crowd surged forward. Wen Qianshu stood at the edge of the field, watching Jiang Mingyue.

A few girls at the front shot ahead, leaving everyone else in the dust, while Jiang Mingyue trailed in the middle-back of the pack. Her running form was perfect. No, it should be said, everything she did was perfect.

It was a clear, windless day, and the sunlight scattered on the ground like gold foil.

The scent of damp earth, the trampled lawn giving off a slightly raw, damp smell. The rubber track, sweat, long hair flying in the air.

Wen Qianshu sighed, “It’s great to be young.”

2333: “You’re not old yet.”

As expected, the first few finishers were all sports students. The next one, surprisingly, was the short-haired girl with the prominent canines from Class 6. And after her, it was Jiang Mingyue.

Jiang Mingyue was like a dividing line. The runners ahead of her had all sprinted across the finish line; those behind were panting heavily, running two steps and walking three. Only she maintained a steady pace, her gaze level, running toward the finish line step by step.

Just like her homework, just like her.

Orderly, steady, and methodical.

Wen Qianshu suddenly grinned. She tossed her cloak into the crook of her arm, then cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted, “Hey, deskmate, go! Sprint!”

2333: “?”

If 2333 had to describe its host, it would be ‘still as a sloth, wild as a mad dog.’ Shouting wasn’t enough; she even rushed forward and started running alongside her on the grass inside the track.

Jiang Mingyue was slightly taken aback, catching sight of Wen Qianshu from the corner of her eye. Wen Qianshu’s pupils were dark, and she wasn’t nearsighted, so they shone with a startling brightness in the sunlight. For some reason, Jiang Mingyue subconsciously matched her pace.

The speed kicked up a breeze, sweeping away the sweat on her forehead. The finish line wasn’t far, and with a final sprint, the two of them crossed it together. The PE teacher, who was timing the race, called out a number to Jiang Mingyue: “5!”

Jiang Mingyue stepped off the track, leaning on her knees to catch her breath. Her hair was soaked, and beads of sweat dotted the tip of her nose and her cheeks. Wen Qianshu ran to get a bottle of mineral water, twisted it open, and handed it to her. Jiang Mingyue looked up, glanced at her, took the water, and drank.

“Number five!”

Jiang Mingyue lowered the water bottle from her lips and raised her hand. “First year, Class 7, Jiang Mingyue.”

Her arm was very pale, like a sliver of snow. Her raised arm connected to her shoulder, outlining the curve of her slender neck and extending down to her straight back.

The lines were simple and elegant.

The sunlight cast a silhouette, dazzling to the eye.

The PE teacher nodded and recorded her score.

Wen Qianshu watched her for a moment, holding the cloak, then suddenly asked, “Do you have any more events?”

Jiang Mingyue: “No.”

Wen Qianshu glanced at the distant stands. The head teacher had her back to the field, focused on the other side, pointing at a few people who were writing something—apparently rushing them to finish a news report. An announcement came over the broadcast system, asking all students to return to their designated class areas.

Wen Qianshu rubbed her chin, then suddenly shook out the cloak and draped it over Jiang Mingyue. “Teacher, she ran too fast and feels a bit sick. I’ll take her to the restroom!”

One or two people had already pushed themselves too hard and thrown up. The PE teacher, having finished recording the scores, was busy finding someone to clean up and preparing for the next 800-meter race. He didn’t suspect anything upon hearing Wen Qianshu’s words and just waved his hand. “Go on.”

Jiang Mingyue was caught off guard by the cloak, and an arm was quickly slung around her shoulder, leading her away. Wen Qianshu said, “Hey, deskmate, play along, will you?”

The other girl hesitated for a moment, then clutched her stomach, lowered her head, and followed Wen Qianshu. “The nurse’s office?”

“Nope, not the nurse’s office—you already said Shen Ting is fine.” No. 1 High School’s sports field was closer to the second-year building, so Wen Qianshu naturally led Jiang Mingyue in that direction.

She curled her lips into a lazy smile. “Watching the races is so boring. Let’s go do something bad.”

Jiang Mingyue didn’t understand. “Something bad?”

2333, however, suddenly became vigilant. “What are you planning to do?”

A quarter of an hour later, Wen Qianshu was leaning on a counter. “Hello, two pudding milk teas, please. One iced, and one—”

She turned to ask Jiang Mingyue, “What temperature do you want?”

Jiang Mingyue: “Room temperature.”

Wen Qianshu turned back. “One room temperature.”

A middle-aged woman behind the counter quickly brought out two milk teas for her. After saying “thank you,” Wen Qianshu grabbed two straws, sauntered over to Jiang Mingyue, and handed one to her. “My treat!”

“The pudding milk tea from this shop is delicious. The pudding is made fresh by the owner every day, and it’s cheap too.” Wen Qianshu tore open the straw wrapper and poked it into her cup with a pop. “It’s a shame they make all the milk tea before meal times every day, ready to sell. There’s only one fridge, and those hungry wolves from the third year at our school are ruthless; they never leave a single cup for me.”

The three grade levels at No. 1 High School were all separate, each with its own building. The third-year building was in the deepest part of the campus, close to the student dorms but a bit far from the cafeteria. To ensure the third-year students could eat a hot meal and still have time for a nap in their dorms, the school scheduled all their classes ten minutes earlier, staggering them with the first and second years.

But who would have thought that this group would seize those extra ten minutes to run like mad in the opposite direction, often taking over the food street outside the school before the two lower grades were even let out.

Jiang Mingyue: “Thank you.”

Wen Qianshu took a big sip of her iced milk tea, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction. Her mouth was full of pudding, making her too happy to speak, so she just patted Jiang Mingyue to signal they should keep walking.

2333 couldn’t help but ask, “How did you know you could climb out of the school from there?”

Wen Qianshu: “I read it in the book.”

The vegetation around the second-year building was lush. Behind the restroom was a small bamboo grove, a veritable holy ground for dating couples on campus. Just outside the grove were two or three crooked trees that you could climb to get over the wall.

2333: “Where in the book did it say that?”

Wen Qianshu: “The book mentioned that once, when the female protagonist was sick, the male protagonist climbed over the wall during PE class to go find her. The author is amazing; they even described in detail how he did it. I found the spot as soon as I looked.”

2333: “He climbed the wall for his girlfriend. You, on the other hand, you—”

Wen Qianshu: “Oh, there’s no difference between milk tea and a girlfriend. They both bring happiness.”

2333: “So you’ve got your milk tea now. Aren’t you going back to school?”

“Mmm—” Wen Qianshu tilted her head up, reading the names of the shops. “The book also mentioned a malatang place here. It’s supposed to be really clean and super delicious. The male and female protagonists went there many times later on—ah, found it.”

Wen Qianshu swallowed the pudding and asked Jiang Mingyue, “They say this place is delicious and always has a long line. Want to try it?”

2333: “…”

2333 roared, “I gave you the original novel so you could predict the future and repair the world line, not so you could use it as a travel guide!”

Wen Qianshu: “Oh, the effect is more or less the same. Don’t sweat the details.”

If 2333 had teeth, it would have ground them to dust by now.

2333 was so angry it opened its browser and started searching for “resignation letter format.”

Meanwhile, Wen Qianshu entered the shop with Jiang Mingyue, and they sat down to eat malatang across from each other.

It wasn’t lunchtime at No. 1 High School yet, so the school gates were still closed and guarded by security. As a result, the place was nearly empty. The two of them picked their ingredients, had them cooked immediately, and the food was served quickly.

It was still rather hot in J Province, and a fan whirred in the shop. Wen Qianshu added a large spoonful of chili oil, her face flushing red from the spice. She panted from the heat as she drank her milk tea.

Jiang Mingyue: “Can you handle spicy food?”

Wen Qianshu smiled. “Just wanted to try it.”

Jiang Mingyue looked at her, her face flushed and her eyes welling with tears from the spice. She averted her gaze, looking down at her chopsticks. “There really are a lot of things you want to try.”

Hissing and sniffling from the spice, Wen Qianshu reached for a napkin. “In my li—”

She had meant to say “in my previous life,” but thankfully her mind cleared and she stopped herself in time, avoiding turning the conversation into a horror story. “My health wasn’t very good before, so I had to avoid a lot of foods.”

In truth, her health had been poor since she was a child, since—

A figure flashed through her mind, and Wen Qianshu frowned slightly. She was picking up a piece of tofu with her chopsticks when her hand trembled, crushing it completely.

Wen Qianshu nonchalantly hid her trembling hand and laughed carelessly. “Well, now that the dietary restrictions are gone, of course I want to try everything.”

Fortunately, this body had always been thin with a small appetite, getting full after just a few bites. Even so, Wen Qianshu had managed to gain five jin behind 2333’s back. But since she was so thin to begin with, the little bit of weight gain wasn’t noticeable.

The tofu was too soft. No matter how hard Wen Qianshu tried, she just kept crushing it with her chopsticks. Just as she was getting frustrated, a plastic soup spoon appeared before her. In it sat a small, perfectly intact piece of tofu, coated in the original, non-spicy broth, looking pristine and neat.

Wen Qianshu froze and looked up at Jiang Mingyue. The other girl had reached over, offering her the handle of the spoon. Wen Qianshu subconsciously took it. Jiang Mingyue’s hand was steady, but her fingertips were cool to the touch, pulling away instantly. “I just got this spoon; it’s unused.”

“If you find it too spicy, you don’t have to put it all in your bowl. You can just dip it in a little of your broth.”

“There’s still plenty of time,” Jiang Mingyue said. “Even though your dietary restrictions are gone, take it slow. Don’t eat anything too spicy all at once.”

This was indeed Jiang Mingyue’s style—methodical and steady. Wen Qianshu just hadn’t expected her to be the same way even when it came to eating.

Wen Qianshu was a bit dazed. Her mind wandered; on one hand, she thought Jiang Mingyue was being incredibly polite, even making a point to say the spoon was unused. When she ate with Shen Ting and Zhang Zisheng, they always shared food, taking bites from each other’s plates. Then, still in a daze, she followed Jiang Mingyue’s suggestion, dipped the tofu on the spoon into the broth in her own bowl, and ate it. “Ah, delicious.”

It was perfectly, mildly spicy—a little kick, but not overwhelmingly hot like before. Jiang Mingyue asked the shop owner for two small bowls and pushed one toward Wen Qianshu. “If you don’t mind, let’s just take food from both bowls.”

Wen Qianshu smiled and waved her hands, feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed. “No, no, hey deskmate, it’s fine as long as you don’t mind.”

She saw Jiang Mingyue reach her chopsticks into the spicy bowl and couldn’t help but say, “The lettuce is good.”

So Jiang Mingyue picked up a leaf of lettuce. It was already stained reddish-brown by the chili oil, its juices dripping red. Jiang Mingyue took a bite, but after only a few chews, she covered her mouth and reached for her milk tea. Wen Qianshu burst out laughing. “See? I wasn’t lying. It’s really good.”

Jiang Mingyue shot her a glare.

It wasn’t really a glare, more a look of embarrassed anger. She was naturally pale, so the blush on her cheeks beneath her light-colored eyes was easy to see, most likely from the spice. Wen Qianshu felt a tickle in her heart and couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll stop teasing you, I’ll stop. Eat the tofu—the tofu here is really delicious.”

Yes, there was still plenty of time.

No need to rush. They could take it slow.