It was just a love letter; I'm really no great writer!

Di Qingling is a very traditional and conservative girl.

When she was in high school, smartphones were not yet widespread.

It's surprising how little more than seven years have passed since mobile phones became commonplace in every household... Back then, it was popular to have pen pals through letters, but now even casual sex seems to be a rarity.

However, East Asian X education remains a taboo subject that is kept secret and cannot be openly discussed, inevitably making it a laughing stock.

Di Qingling is a girl who grew up during the transition between two eras.

It would be extremely difficult for her to accept a man in her heart.

But once they've made up their minds, they won't hold back anything with their partner.

"Hmm." Di Qingling turned her face to the side, her long eyelashes appearing even thicker, her jade-like jawline exquisite, and her chest suddenly tensing.

Lu Ran gently put his arm around her waist, marveling at how slender and delicate it seemed, saying that even the ancients could not describe it as small as a handful.

Then, he nervously glanced down the corridor. It was during class time; surely no one would be so bored as to come to Boya Building…

Outside the glass window, cicadas chirped incessantly, and the landscape was lush and green.

The music room was filled with the ancient and serene scent of sandalwood. The girl closed her eyes slightly, a hint of expectation rising on her cool face, filling the moment with piety and sanctity.

Lu Ran gently kissed her cheek, as if kissing the most precious celadon porcelain.

After a long while, Di Qingling opened her eyes, buried her face in Lu Ran's shoulder, and wrapped her arms tightly around his strong waist, as if she wanted to release all her strength and merge into his body.

Suddenly she smiled. "Am I a bad woman? You're still so young..."

"Where is it too small?" Lu Ran couldn't hold back any longer.

Those words were like a catalyst, turning all his tenderness into a raging fire. He wrapped his arms around the girl's waist, lifted her gently, and held her diagonally across his lap.

"Hmm? Little one? Speak!"

Di Qingling sensed the boy's competitive spirit, curiosity, and strangeness. Being held and embraced felt comfortable, but a strange unease arose in her heart, like a snow-covered mountain stream in spring.

"Where did you put your phone?" she asked gently.

Lu Ran felt surrounded by a rich fragrance, spending nine-tenths of his time resisting his willpower and only one-tenth of his time taking out the phone he had recently bought.

"Look, this is an Apple 16 Pro Max... 6.9-inch body, about my age."

"You're lying, scientific research shows... Don't move," Di Qingling pressed him down, a hint of authority in her eyes, "What's your birthday?"

"July 12th...just in time for summer vacation," Lu Ran said. "So I've never celebrated my birthday at school, I've always been at home. Next month I'll be 7 years old (by Chinese reckoning), I wasn't lying to you, was I?"

Di Qingling chuckled. It seemed like the young boy had some obsession with being eighteen. Oh right, he could use his own ID card to go online now.

Suddenly she realized something was wrong.

"You have two cell phones?"

"There's also Xiaomi. As soon as my royalties arrived, I immediately switched to Apple," Lu Ran answered honestly.

Di Qingling finally softened, "Go to class, go to class."

Lu Ran couldn't bear to part with her and whispered in her ear:

I like you when you are silent, as if you have already gone far away.

You hear me from afar, but my voice cannot reach you.

Your eyes have already wandered away

"Like a kiss, sealing your lips." (Note 16)

Like a kiss, it landed on her lips.

……

Ding-ling-ling!

When the bell rang, Lu Ran still slipped back to the teaching building. He didn't hear anyone calling him along the way, and hurriedly made his way back.

A simple touch of lips, a first kiss is like signing a contract of love, stamping it with the seal of happiness.

If you're curious about what it feels like, you can buy a jelly and suck on it. It's soft, cool, and has a fresh, juicy sweetness.

But Lu Ran felt that Di Qingling's lips were different—softer? More fragrant? In short, it was an indescribable feeling…

"Lu Ran!"

"arrive!"

Lu Ran stopped in his tracks instinctively and came to his senses. Why am I panicking?

Indeed, the two agreed not to go public.

But Lu Ran didn't understand why they had to hide...

I envy college students so much; they can post on social media openly and without worry.

But it will be soon.

I am 18 years old (by Chinese reckoning), and I can leave here in another year and a half.

Goodbye, cage!

"Where have you been?" Xia Liang asked, puzzled. "I've been looking for you for ages."

"What do you want?" Lu Ran composed himself and rested his elbow on the curved brick railing of the corridor.

"I'm a little worried about the third issue of the magazine. How about we go to the online store after school to check it out?" Xia Liang said.

"What can we do now that it's already been printed?"

"It's only been three days, there are still remedial measures!"

"I don't want to do live streaming anymore."

Lu Ran still felt awkward seeing himself online after his last performance video went viral.

I admire those internet broadcasters.

Making a living this way is truly not easy.

"You think I still want to perform?"

Xia Liang tiptoed close to Lu Ran's ear and whispered, "There's something you shouldn't tell Xing Ping. After our performance video went viral, we received a lot of abusive private messages. It's disgusting..."

"Insults?" Lu Ran racked his brains but couldn't figure out the reason. "Why would they insult me?"

"There are some internet moralists who think that we're in high school and shouldn't be singing and dancing online, saying it will interfere with our studies..."

"what?"

"Also, our costumes are rented ancient costumes, but because Xingping is a solo dancer, she showed her waist and legs, and some people thought it was indecent, making all sorts of outrageous comments... They were so disgusting that I didn't dare to look at them."

"The moment they see short sleeves, they immediately think of bare arms, then of complete nudity... Their imaginations can only leap so far in this area. (Note 17)" Lu Ran shook his head. "Let's just cancel that account. It's the right thing to keep Xing Ping from knowing."

Although they didn't interact much, Lu Ran knew that Li Xingping was the girl with the most worries in the literary society.

"The video's data usage..." Xia Liang hesitated.

"What kind of time is this to be worrying about data usage?" Lu Ran waved his hand casually and walked towards the back door of the classroom. "Cancel the account."

"Okay." Xia Liang followed him step by step. "Don't forget, come with me to the internet cafe after school."

"Okay, okay."

……

In the music room.

Di Qingling put away her zither and stood there for a long time.

She lifted her skirt, her slender fingers brushing against the wooden stool, amidst the dark mist.

The phrase "I like you when you're silent" kept echoing in my mind, and I couldn't help but smile.

The thought of giving her first kiss to the boy she liked made her dizzy with happiness.

"July, July."

Di Qingling's cloudless heart skipped a beat. She stretched out her fingertips and counted: thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger, thumb, index finger...

……

Newspaper stand outside the No. 1 High School in the provincial capital.

A woman wearing a top-brimmed hat approached the stall, seemingly struggling to choose a drink, before finally asking, "Boss, do you have the *Huaizhong Pictorial*?"

"That's all." The shopkeeper shook his head. "This is the first time we've imported this magazine, and we don't have many."

"Thank you." The woman nodded and turned to walk towards the east gate of the school.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man darted out from behind the bus stop sign, carrying a military green satchel and acting suspiciously like a scalper. "Beautiful lady, beautiful lady."

The woman frowned.

Then they saw the man open his satchel, revealing a stack of brand-new, shiny magazines, and he grinned slyly.

"Huaizhong Pictorial, want it?"

-

Note 16: From Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair".

Note 17: From Lu Xun's "Random Thoughts" in "That's All".