The He Nuo who could go to school again was as light-footed as he could be. Although he had experienced the misfortune of being deemed a thief, he could consider it as a blessing in disguise ba, since he had finally regained Shi Yan as a friend.

But the two only spoke a few words to each other during their morning exercise break. Because their cla.s.ses were on the fourth floor, and their break was only 10 minutes, students who aren’t going to the toilet won’t go downstairs. The guys liked to gather in the corridor, while most girls remained in their seats and didn’t leave the cla.s.sroom. After cla.s.ses ended, if Shi Yan wasn’t with his buddies (most of them were in Cla.s.s 1 and Cla.s.s 2) resting in the corridor, he would be surrounded by a bunch of girls at his seat. And their cla.s.srooms were at opposite ends as well.

But now that he no longer had to endure a cold gaze, how often they met didn’t seem to matter much. In any case, if they did meet they could at least chat happily for a bit. As soon as National Day in October pa.s.sed, the temperature began to drop. One bout of autumn rain and one bout of cold, Shi Yan found out that He Nuo didn’t return home after their afternoon cla.s.ses ended on a rainy day. He thought about how He Nuo’s house was much further from their school than his was, and he didn’t have a bike, so if he went home for dinner before returning to school for their night self-study sessions he would be a bit tight on time. There were quite a few students who lived near He Nuo’s house, and even if they did have their own bicycles, they were too lazy to ride their bikes to and fro in the rain. But they would have brought some snacks or biscuits in advance to fill their stomachs.

When Shi Yan saw He Nuo the next day, he told him to wait for him after his afternoon cla.s.ses ended. Shi Yan first fetched him to the entrance of the residential area his house was in — Shi Yan’s house was on the way to He Nuo’s house from school — then he asked He Nuo to ride his bicycle home and asked him to meet up here after he ate to fetch Shi Yan. He Nuo returned home and parked the bicycle outside without letting his family know about it. Then afterwards, they went home together after school every afternoon, and returned to school together every night for their night self-study sessions.

The backseat of Shi Yan’s bicycle was occupied by He Nuo once again, so everyone’s attention fell upon him. But luckily, because Shi Yan acted as a deterrent, it wasn’t convenient for the others to ask how they reconciled — everyone could see how Shi Yan treated He Nuo after school ended. But He Nuo’s deskmate couldn’t conceal her curiosity. As one of the girlfriends that Shi Yan had eliminated, Yu Hao no longer feels any resentment towards him. She merely wondered how He Nuo had managed to get mixed up with him.

In Yu Yao’s heart, Shi Yan was a typical playboy with a stomach full of tricks; while her deskmate He Nuo was such a simple and pure person, yet these two were friends? Yu Yao couldn’t believe in something so incredulous. There were a few times when Yu Yao asked He Nuo how he could be friends with that kind of person, wasn’t He Nuo the one who taught her to see through Shi Yan’s hypocrisy? So why was He Nuo friends with him now? But He Nuo insisted that Shi Yan was a friend worth making, so Yu Yao pretended to sigh, “I’ve woken up, but now you’re the one who’s deceived by that playboy.”

Not long after November began, the Siberian cold current brought heavy snow upon them. Sprinkles of snow quietly changed the colour of the sky and the earth while people were in a deep slumber. When He Nuo woke up in the morning, he saw the yard outside covered in a blanket of snow. He took a deep breath and savoured the refreshing and extraordinarily clean air — his lungs felt like they had been moisturised. As he stepped on the thick layer of snow, the He Nuo who was on his way to school childishly looked back at his footprints as he walked, and would squat down once in awhile to make s…o…b..a.l.l.s to play around with.

The snow was too heavy, so morning break periods were cancelled. Instead, the students ran to the field to fool around; both guys and girls would make use of this long break to play around in the snow. They chased each other around while s…o…b..a.l.l.s that had no targets were being thrown around everywhere. He Nuo was dragged along by Shi Yan to partake in the battle, but He Nuo had never engaged in a s…o…b..ll fight with other people before. All he usually did was make some s…o…b..a.l.l.s by himself then throw them up into the air, or pile a few snowmen up by himself. After he was dragged into such a big scale and chaotic battle, he held a s…o…b..ll in his hand without knowing who he should throw it at. Shi Yan looked at his dazed look, then said to him, “Let’s fight, I won’t hold back.” And as he spoke, he quickly grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at He Nuo’s face, “Battle start!” then ran away.

He Nuo squatted down to grab a handful of snow and chased Shi Yan. Shi Yan was making a s…o…b..ll too, but he was much more experienced with He Nuo. He had formed two s…o…b..a.l.l.s, one in each of his hands, and when He Nuo was approaching, he threw out the s…o…b..ll in his left hand. While He Nuo dodged the s…o…b..ll, he threw the one in his right hand at him as well — Shi Yan had already guessed how He Nuo would react, so his second bomb was the one that he was truly using to aim at He Nuo. He Nuo was. .h.i.t right smack in the face, yet his own weapon was easily defused by Shi Yan as Shi Yan smiled triumphantly. He was about to create another bomb when Shi Yan was already running towards him, gearing up to attack. He Nuo grabbed his half-formed s…o…b..ll and ran, but Shi Yan chased after him relentlessly without giving him a chance to escape. Luckily, Shi Yan’s friends had also begun to attack him, so He Nuo managed to make use of the extra time he got to form a few more bullets.

The 25-minute break time bustled with activity. He Nuo ran until he was gasping for breath and ended up getting drenched in sweat. His pale face was also tinged with a blood-red colour. When the bell that signalled the start of cla.s.ses rang, he realised that he still had two more cla.s.ses to attend, so he returned to his cla.s.sroom while panting. In the first few minutes of cla.s.s, his thoughts were still on the field. Before their night self-study session, this bunch of students started another war, and because there were no teachers around during self-study sessions, they could go as crazy as they wanted so they entered their cla.s.ses 15 minutes late. He Nuo couldn’t beat Shi Yan and couldn’t outrun him either, so he ended up getting caught by him and they rolled a few rounds in the snow.

After he returned home, He Nuo got a fever in the middle of the night. He had broken out in sweat after the vigorous exercises he did in the afternoon and night, and after he was. .h.i.t by the cold winds, he fell sick. He couldn’t knock on his parents’ doors to get medicine in the middle of the night, so he looked for the medicine that Shi Yan had given him before. He took a small amount of anti-inflammatory medicine first. When it was close to 4am, he urinated blood. As someone who was used to this disease, He Nuo went to the kitchen to pour lots of water for himself, because without urine, urinating blood alone would be so painful that he could faint. He endured it for awhile like this as he lied down one moment and sat up in the next. Once in awhile, he would tiptoe his way to the toilet, and just dressing and undressing himself was torturous enough for him. Even after he had endured the pain until the morning, his situation didn’t get any better.