The Bright Moon CH4
Just after seven o'clock, the sky was dark like grey ash. Guo Xiaoya climbed down from her bed quietly, still half-asleep, she rubbed her eyes and turned around, suddenly discovering Xu Can was sitting at the desk reading a book.
"Whoa," she was startled, "what are you doing? Did you not go to bed last night?"
Xu Can turned a page of the textbook, stuffed her pen in her notebook and closed the textbook over it. Leaning back against the chair, she stretched and took a short break: "en, I was reviewing a bit."
"Oh, reviewing."
Guo Xiaoya nodded, reaching for her cup and toothpaste, but then she paused and turned her head in disbelief, "Reviewing? Do we still have an exam today?"
"No, just reviewing previous material."
"What?"
Xu Can ignored her.
Guo Xiaoya was silent for a while but couldn't help herself, asking from deep within her soul, "The exams are over, why are you still studying?"
Xu Can glanced at her, "We're different."
"Fine," Guo Xiaoya came back from brushing her teeth, opened her wardrobe and changed her clothes in front of the mirror, "when are you going home? I'll stay for a couple more days and have fun with Liu Yiting before I go back so I don’t get nagged by my parents."
"I don't know, I probably won't be going back." Xu Can pulled out a bag of sliced bread from the drawer, munching while continuing to read, "I still have things to do at the lab for a few more days.."
"So hardworking—"
The dormitory door suddenly opened.
Their conversation couldn’t help but be halted.
Chen Aiyuan walked in, glanced at them, and then walked straight to her bed without looking at them again. She pulled out a suitcase from the corner and started packing.
Xu Can, chewing on her bread, lifted it and shook it, asking Guo Xiaoya, "Are you hungry?"
"Nah," Guo Xiaoya slung her bag over her shoulder and checked herself left and right in the mirror, "Liu Yiting brought me breakfast. I'll eat it in his car."
“Oh,” Xu Can said, "I might be in the lab till late. Remember to bring your key."
"En."
As the two talked, Chen Aiyuan suddenly knocked on the table, the bottom of the plastic bottle knocked on the wooden surface heavily..
The sound was dull and loud.
Guo Xiaoya was startled and turned her head, "What are you doing!"
"I feel like my face cream is a bit less than before," Chen Aiyuan held a small bottle, squinting at Xu Can, and said accusingly, "Just seeing if it’s just me. After all, its been almost two months since I’ve stayed here."
Guo Xiaoya rolled her eyes and mimicked her sarcastically, "Maybe the cream smelled too good, and some rats climbed up the drain and licked it away"
"Wo," Chen Aiyuan wasn't angry and even smiled a bit, "if some rats from the drain licked it..."
"Then it shouldn't be used anymore."
She looked at Xu Can, stretched out her arm, and threw the freshly opened face cream straight into the empty trash can. With a clatter, the trash can wobbled along with it.
It made a really big noise again.
Guo Xiaoya couldn't stand it anymore, "Are you too bored or what?"
Chen Aiyuan ignored her and continued packing her things into her suitcase.
Xu Can finished the last bite of bread, stood up, and opened the balcony window to let some air in.
Next to the school dorms was a lesser-known tourist attraction, looking over a beautiful landscape. A gentle breeze blew in, and the air was especially fresh.
"It's freezing, can't you close the window?"
Xu Can had just sat back down when Chen Aiyuan came over and slammed the window shut.
"Aren't you done packing?" Guo Xiaoya was furious, hanging up her boyfriend's call, crossing her arms, she glared at Chen Aiyuan who was next to Xu Can, "why haven't you left yet?"
Chen Aiyuan pulled up the suitcase by the handle, lightly glancing at her and didn't reply.
She was still looking at Xu Can:
"I heard someone in our major got a zero in one of their exams. Oh my, could it be they got caught with cheat sheets and got kicked out of the exam room? Hehe, anyway, they won't be getting the scholarship, I'm really worried."
Dragging her suitcase to the door, she turned and added, "If it were me, I wouldn’t care about this amount of money, but some people rely on it to get by."
"Chen Aiyuan."
Xu Can suddenly called her with a mild tone.
Although Chen Aiyuan didn't turn around, her feet stopped, clearly waiting for her next words.
"Aiyuan ah,"
Xu Can had a smile on her face, calling her name as if their relationship hadn’t turned hostile in their first year , with a hint of reminiscence .
"To tell you the truth, I don't understand why you hate me so much. My grades are better than yours, but apart from me, it's not like there are no others. I'm prettier than you, but who doesn’t look prettier than you?"
Her tone was particularly serious, as if she was genuinely puzzled.
Guo Xiaoya burst out laughing, almost bending over from laughing too hard.
Xu Can finished speaking, and ignored Chen Aiyuan's complexion. She continued reading her textbook, her expression upstanding and harmless.
The response was the sound of the door slamming
“Peng!”, the entire dormitory might have been awakened from that noise.
"Oh my gosh, I'm dying of laughter," Guo Xiaoya laughed for a long time, unintentionally ignoring several calls from her boyfriend. When she got tired from laughing, she asked seriously, "are you really not getting the scholarship?"
"En, I'll have to take a makeup exam."
"Oh..."
Guo Xiaoya pondered, then cautiously asked, "will you be short of money?"
Xu Can was absorbed in her book and didn't look up, "of course I'll be short."
"Well, in any case I can’t finish using my allowance, want me to lend you some? You know, if I don't spend it, my mom will nag me. How about I lend you eight thousand?"
Her guilty tone made it sound like she was asking to borrow money from Xu Can.
Xu Can smiled and turned toward her, "As expected from the young lady whose pair of shoes costs more than my half-semester's living expenses."
If Guo Xiaoya didn’t finish spending her allowance she would get scolded.
"Aye yo, it's almost the end of the month, so I don't have that much right now. But in a few days, I can lend you twenty thousand, it’s fine if you don’t…"
Pay it back at all.
Knowing Xu Can didn't like it, she swallowed the latter half of her sentence.
Xu Can knew this young lady received twenty thousand yuan in allowance every month.
She would get scolded by her mother if she didn’t spend it all, feeling that her quality of life was too low, but if she overspent, her father would scold her for being extravagant.
So she calculated her expenses to spend it all in a month. Before, she had bought a big brand handbag and ended up eating cafeteria instant noodles for half a month. If she lent her twenty thousand at the beginning of the month, did she plan on not leaving the house for the rest of the month?
"No need," Xu Can smiled and shook her head, "I get money for tutoring Professor Ren's child, remember? One hundred and twenty yuan per hour, it's a very high salary."
"But it’s only once a week so it isn't much money, right?"
"Professor Ren's child is preparing for middle school exams soon, so she needs more tutoring during the winter vacation," Xu Can made a money-counting gesture, winked and said, "and I have another part time job too."
"Hei," Guo Xiaoya laughed, her phone started ringing again.
Only then did she realise she was very late for her date and had ignored several calls from her boyfriend.
"Can't believe I got up so early. It's all Chen Aiyuan's fault for coming to pack so early, she must be crazy." She frowned, waved her hand, and said, "I'm going on a date."
"En, byebye."
Guo Xiaoya walked quickly to the door, then stopped and turned around:
"Are you... really okay?"
Missing an exam meant she wouldn't get the usual awards Xu Can had always earned. Guo Xiaoya worried that Xu Can might feel disappointed for all her hard work not paying off this semester.
Xu Can saw right through what she was thinking. She smiled softly and said, "Why would I be upset? I'll stay at school during the winter break. I can flirt with Professor Tong while tutoring and earning some money. I’ll be happy as can be."
"Haha, that's true."
Guo Xiaoya waved goodbye and left.
Her footsteps in high heels could still be heard through the wooden door for a short while.
Xu Can smiled for a while after that.
Missing out on the scholarship and awards was no big deal.
She recalled her high school days.
In her first year, she was a prodigy who skipped a grade to join the top class with all the top students, praised by teachers and admired by others. (TN: the raws say “experimental class” here but it's a term used specifically in China for the class where all the top students are placed.)
In her first year, the school's policy of class placement based on grades dropped her to the bottom class as she had flunked all her final exams.
And so, she was the subject of gossip in their year group, saying it was normal for someone who skipped a grade to struggle.
They even made up stories about her cutting her wrists due to pressure.
The top class had its own building. At the start of the second year, her former teachers and classmates were in another building. Students passing by would intentionally look into her classroom to see how far the once top student had fallen.
In the classroom, unfamiliar classmates were lively and bustling.
In the corridor, unfamiliar students laughed and chatted.
This was the so-called falling from great heights.
Xu Can continued studying diligently.
She turned a deaf ear to everything else.
In her second year's first exams, she scored almost full marks in every subject, regaining her position as the top student and moving back to the top class.
—
The top class's chemistry teacher got pregnant, and Tong Mingyue had substituted for most of the semester. During that time, Xu Can never scored in the top ten in chemistry. After she left, Xu Can never dared to lose even a single point in chemistry.
After she left, she chased after her with tears in her eyes.
Always chasing.
Chasing until she died.
The phone on the desk lit up, the ringtone interrupting her memories.
Xu Can looked at the number on the caller ID and didn't want to answer.
After a few seconds, she still picked up.
"Hello."
"Baby girl, how's it going? Can you send Dad a few hundred yuan quickly? Dad's really short on money right now..."
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