Chapter 57: Maple in Summer【First Update】

“What does a nickname… look like?” Bai Qingxia sat with her legs together, her small hands resting side by side on her knees, asking Lu Yuanqiu in a barely audible voice, as if a sudden pressure had settled upon her.

Lu Yuanqiu waved his hand reassuringly, “Nicknames are just something you make up. There are no requirements, and you can change them anytime. Don’t worry about it too much.”

“What about yours? What’s your nickname like?” Bai Qingxia asked, glancing tentatively at him.

“My nickname?” Lu Yuanqiu was momentarily taken aback. He pulled his phone from his backpack and opened QQ.

Although his QQ number hadn’t changed in over ten years, he truly couldn’t recall what his nickname was at this stage.

‘Fatal Indulgence’… The old nickname made Lu Yuanqiu feel instantly faint.

Seeing Bai Qingxia lean over to take a look, he quickly withdrew his phone, craned his neck back, and hurried to the settings to change his nickname.

“Wait… just a moment, there’s a little problem, I’ll fix it.”

He deleted the original name, thought for a moment, and settled on ‘A Leaf Knows Autumn,’ drawing from the ‘Autumn’ in his own name.

Only then did he feel comfortable handing the phone to the girl, indicating, “See, I’m ‘A Leaf Knows Autumn,’ just took the ‘Autumn’ character from my name. It’s random. If I want to change it, I will.”

“Have you decided?” he asked her.

Bai Qingxia’s fingers clenched tightly atop her knees. “Then I’ll be… ‘Maple of Summer.’”

Lu Yuanqiu frowned, rolling his eyes in thought. “‘Wind of Summer…’”

Bai Qingxia hurried to clarify, “Maple as in the leaf, not wind as in blowing.”

After speaking, she seemed nervous, as if afraid Lu Yuanqiu would realize something.

He repeated the name slowly, then couldn’t help but ask, “Is there a deeper meaning? You’re summer, shouldn’t you pick something like cicada? Maple leaves are more suited to autumn, aren’t they?”

Her small white hands tightened further on her knees, her gaze evasive. “…Because I like the song ‘Maple,’ so… If it doesn’t work, I’ll pick something else.”

“No need, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a nickname,” Lu Yuanqiu replied as he helped her change it.

“All right, I’ll head home. You eat quickly,” he said, standing up. He couldn’t help but glance at the bowl of white rice on the table, but said nothing this time.

Because it was useless to say anything; the stubborn girl wouldn’t listen.

If he ‘threatened’ her to eat better, it might work once or twice, but any more and she’d resist, and eventually she’d start avoiding him at every meal.

Perhaps only when she could earn enough on her own would she think to eat better.

Lu Yuanqiu left the cafeteria.

Bai Qingxia sat at her seat with her phone, gently touching the unfamiliar nine-key keyboard with her finger. Suddenly, a ‘ding’ startled her.

She saw that ‘A Leaf Knows Autumn’ had accepted her friend request.

‘A Leaf Knows Autumn’: After you finish eating, hurry home and try to take a nap. [Grinning]

Seeing the message, Bai Qingxia’s fingers scrambled across the keys, searching for the letters so she could reply immediately. It took her a full minute to send out just one word.

‘Maple of Summer’: Okay

When her reply appeared on the screen, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She hurried to pick up her chopsticks and shovel rice into her mouth, but her eyes remained glued to the message interface.

Just then, her phone chimed again. She put down her chopsticks to take a look.

‘A Leaf Knows Autumn’: Is your nose plug still with you? Don’t throw it away. There’s a math test this afternoon, and the ‘gas’ will be even stronger.

Bai Qingxia raised her right index finger, pecking at the keys like a chick hunting for grain, anxious that if she replied too slowly, Lu Yuanqiu would be upset.

Just as she was searching for the letters, another message arrived.

‘A Leaf Knows Autumn’: Never mind, whether you have it or not, I’ll bring you new ones (no need to reply to this).

Bai Qingxia’s finger paused, stopping her typing.

She’d have to practice typing at home… The girl thought, disheartened.

She wrapped her phone in tissue paper, then carefully slipped it into the inner pocket of her backpack.

After a few bites of rice, Bai Qingxia began packing it into her lunchbox, wrapping it in a plastic bag, and putting it into her backpack. She left Seventh High and headed for the gates of Sixty-fifth High.

Afternoon.

Lu Yuanqiu, backpack slung over his shoulder, walked up to the second floor, just as Zhong Jincheng rushed down in a hurry. Upon seeing Lu Yuanqiu, he grabbed his arm like he’d found a savior.

“Lu Yuanqiu!”

“Why are you calling your dad?”

“Do you have any paper?!”

After the chaos with Tan Le in the morning, Lu Yuanqiu had specifically brought paper that afternoon.

He reached into his pocket and asked, “Is it for a big job?”

Zhong Jincheng replied urgently, “No, it’s a math problem I can’t solve. I need to fire a shot to save the day—quick! I’ve held out so long, I’m afraid I’ll run out of time!”

Lu Yuanqiu handed him the paper impassively. Zhong Jincheng snatched it and dashed toward the first-floor restroom, shouting, “Wonderful! You’re a lifesaver!”

…Lu Yuanqiu was tired of hearing the word ‘defiant.’

He entered the last exam room and sat down, then turned and handed two new nose plugs to Bai Qingxia.

“Do you have any?” the girl asked anxiously.

“I do.”

Only then did she relax and nod, accepting them.

Lu Yuanqiu began reviewing math.

It was mostly going over mistakes; unlike humanities subjects, you couldn’t cram by rote memorization and strengthen your memory.

Tan Le had somehow already taken his seat. Seeing Lu Yuanqiu reviewing mistakes, he reminded him, “At this point, why are you still looking at mistakes? Look at something else.”

“Formulas? Odd changes, even stays, signs depend on the quadrant—I know them.” Lu Yuanqiu replied offhandedly.

Bai Qingxia lifted her head. Although the topics Lu Yuanqiu and Tan Le discussed weren’t anything a top student like her needed to worry about, every time Lu Yuanqiu spoke, she instinctively perked up her ears, as if it had become second nature.

Tan Le scoffed, “Formulas are outdated.”

Lu Yuanqiu felt he was wasting his time, since he was talking to someone who ranked second-to-last in the grade.

So he ignored Tan Le and continued to read, but suddenly Tan Le grabbed his hand with an ambiguous expression.

Startled, Lu Yuanqiu shrank back.

Bai Qingxia stared blankly ahead.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yuanqiu nervously tensed his muscles.

Tan Le spoke with heartfelt affection, “There’s a beautiful word in mathematics: summation.”

“There’s a regretful word: no solution.”

“There’s a powerful word: there exists one and only one.”

“And a sorrowful word: infinitely close, yet never intersecting.”

At the last phrase, Bai Qingxia blinked thoughtfully.

Suddenly, Tan Le shouted, startling Lu Yuanqiu so much that he nearly collapsed onto Bai Qingxia’s desk.

Tan Le: “Hey! Lu Yuanqiu! You’re the unknown variable, I’m the function, my heart changes with yours!”

Lu Yuanqiu’s mouth twitched. “Can you act normal, please…”

Bai Qingxia covered her mouth, laughing softly.

Tan Le continued to gaze with deep affection, “Your smile is the sufficient and necessary condition for my existence in this world.”

“I still like you very much, Lu Yuanqiu. Just like sine squared plus cosine squared—always constant.”