Chapter 8.3|How did you make it?

The next day, Zhiyi discussed with Yin about her study methods. There are generally three reasons for not doing well in a subject. Firstly, lacking interest in the subject itself. Secondly, having weak foundational knowledge of the subject leads to a lack of systematic understanding and mastery of the subject. Thirdly, encountering content that goes beyond one's learning capacity. Many people's lack of proficiency in a single subject is not due to a singular reason, but rather a combination of two or even three factors. Meng Yin is no exception, with her main issue focusing on the second point - weak foundations and a lack of systematic understanding of the subjects she struggles with. More specifically, Yin has her own systematic way of organizing the two science subjects she struggles with - based on a lengthy and cumbersome categorization of practice questions. Zhiyi brought out his notes from his first and second year of high school science, guiding her in integrating resources and conducting a systematic review of each subject using mind maps and Excel to fill in the gaps. With the guidance and teachings of Xu, when encountering challenging problems, Yin chooses to either give up or directly seek help from him.

On the fifth evening of the holiday, Xing Xiuze caught up with Xu Zhiyi in his own room. Zhiyi sat impartially in the centre of the double sofa, holding a game controller in his hand, lost in thought or simply daydreaming. 

"Xu Zhiyi, you finally decided to stay home?" Xiuze kicked Zhiyi's leg, signalling him to move aside.

Zhiyi raised his eyelids, shifted to make room for Xiuze, and asked, "When did you come back?" 

Xiuze had flown to the island with his family for the vacation on the first night of the holiday. "I came back the day before yesterday." The projection screen on the wall still displayed the results of the last game. Xiuze casually sat on the sofa, leaning back, "The beach was full of bikini-clad people, not interesting at all, better off at home." 

"You want to go to the island to be in a gay relationship?" 

"I'm just a tag-along." Xiuze, in his beach floral shorts, complemented his European features. He was a child of a same-sex family who was conceived through surrogacy in the UK. 

"So, you came back on your own again?" 

Xiuze's two fathers had a strong bond, leading to he travelling with them since he was eight, often returning home on his own. He found himself too high-maintenance. 

"Yeah," Xiuze answered indignantly, "I came straight to your place when I got back, but you were a no-show for two days." 

Zhiyi didn't even raise an eyebrow, "Your phone is a brick?" 

"I was afraid you missed me too much, wanted to surprise you," Xiuze said, throwing a black paper bag he was holding at Zhiyi, "Here, I brought you a gift." 

Xu Zhiyi took out the contents of the bag and threw it at Xing Xiuze's face. 

He removed the Bohemian-style beach shorts he carefully picked for Zhiyi, comparing them to Zhiyi's waist, "Isn't this perfect for you?" 

"If it suits you, that's enough. I don't need it," Zhiyi said, tossing the beach shorts aside with the game controller and then throwing another game controller into Xiuze's lap, challenging him to play. 

Xiuze lost three rounds in a row. 

"Xu Zhiyi, what's been bothering you these days? You don't even leave me a chance to win." "Being bad at gaming is the original sin," Xu Zhiyi took a sip of water and continued, "One must be willing to admit defeat." 

"This is esports, not a PC single-player game," Xiuze retorted. 

"But you still lost." 

Xiuze fell silent, looking dejected, then perked up and leaned back with an air of nonchalance. 

"So, what's the setback in your love life? Need the top humanities student to guide you through?" 

Since childhood, the two had a rule while playing games - three rounds, two wins, and the loser had to do something for the winner. This seemingly childish behaviour was followed by both. 

Zhiyi looked at Xiuze as if he were a fool. 

"You're the one stuck in a love quagmire." he picked up his phone from the side and handed it to Xiuze, "Take a look." 

The passcode for Zhiyi's phone was no secret to Xiuze. 

Upon unlocking, the screen displayed a sparse conversation with Ge Wentao.

In the ninth grade, Ge Wentao and Xu Zhiyi were classmates. After failing the high school entrance exam, Wentao went to The Third High School.

In a chat history, Zhiyi asked Wentao if he knew some things about Yin at The Third High School.

Wentao was not in the same class as Yin at school, so he was a bit puzzled when Xu Zhiyi suddenly came to find him. However, recalling how Xu Zhiyi and Meng Yin had a good relationship in middle school to the extent of being called in for a talk by the homeroom teacher, along with the rumours circulating in the grade level about Meng Yin whose authenticity was unknown, and remembering how he had caught some gossip about Meng Yin from others at The Third High School.

Wentao decided to share what he knew with Xu Zhiyi.

The gist of the message he sent to Xu Zhiyi was that he had encountered Meng Yin several times at school and she was always alone. He saw her eating alone in the cafeteria twice. It seemed that in the second half of the first semester of their freshman year, for some unknown reason, a few seniors from the second year kept bothering her, and he heard that she even got into a fight with one of them. Meng Yin's grades had improved a lot compared to middle school; she always ranked at the top, but she seemed to be less talkative.

Xing Xiuze was puzzled and astonished, turning to Zhiyi he asked, "Is this about Meng Yin?"

Always alone, getting into fights with others, not very talkative.

This doesn't seem to match the Meng Yin he knew and interacted with now.

"It's her," Zhiyi said after pointing out some observations about Yin's behaviour that seemed off, "I've been in the same class as her for a month, and besides our few friends, she always interacts politely with others."

"You're not like that either."

Treatment towards others varies depending on the depth of understanding of the person, as it is a common human trait.

"Not the same," Zhiyi didn't explain the reason, but continued, "We haven't talked much about our school lives in these two years. I initially thought she hadn't gotten over the hurdle of the high school entrance exam in her mind, but now I think it's probably not that simple. Some time ago, I tried to ask her about her time at The Third High School, and she was resistant to talking about it."

When someone is unwilling to discuss a certain past event, the most likely reason is that there wasn't anything joyful about that past worth remembering or discussing.

"If you don't talk about school, are you talking about romance?" Xiuze almost blurted out.

He suddenly remembered the day in the cafeteria when he asked Yin why she suddenly transferred to FHS, the look of unwillingness and evasiveness in her eyes and tone, which he didn't notice at that time but now realized.

Then, he understood what Xu Zhiyi meant.

"So, you want me to run errands for you and find out about Yin's time at The Third High School in the past two years?"

Zhiyi nodded.

They agreed on three wins out of two rounds to get things done, yet he hadn't won a single round, and now Zhiyi had taken such a roundabout way.!

"Wouldn't it be more sincere for you to inquire about this yourself?"

Zhiyi gave Xiuze a meaningful look, "Not convenient."

Xiuze: "..." This is really inconvenient.

Xiuze felt that making him, the top liberal arts student, run errands was very inhumane. However, when he realized that his own brother, who had always walked on the straight and broad path, was now using a keychain to miss the girl he liked, especially since that girl was Meng Yin, Xiuze was delighted to witness Xu Zhiyi's love story unfold, reluctantly agreeing to this request.

Yes, he agreed reluctantly, definitely not because he lost a game.

As the top liberal arts student, efficiency was guaranteed.

Xing Xiuze had thoroughly investigated everything before the end of the break and understood the causes and consequences of the matter, shocking himself first. Then suddenly, he understood the meaning behind Zhiyi's "inconvenience."

Xu Zhiyi had always been calm and collected and had already guessed what had happened before he explained it, feeling regret, heartache, and fear. He had considered many things, but overlooked the probability of the girl he liked being dragged into the mud.

As his brows furrowed deeper, he realized that the life he had never delved into constituted her past two years. Unnoticed, his fingertips trembled slightly, the tremor actually starting last night.

The room was pitch black, with only light at Zhiyi's desk, where his gaze fell on the tablet in front of him.

The screen displayed the Three High School's forum search results.

Xu Zhiyi searched for posts about Meng Yin.

There were indeed some.

In total, there were over a dozen posts.

The first relevant post was published in early November 201X.

- Does anyone know a girl named Meng Yin from Class 4 in the first year, who smiles a lot, especially at boys, with a mischievous smile?

Below was a secretly taken photo. In the picture, Yin was smiling as she took something from a boy's hand.

Zhiyi zoomed in on the image, and the object she took was the school badge.

The most recent post related to Yin was published in April this year.

There were no excessive words, only three pictures. One of a girl pulling another girl's ponytail, one of pushing the girl's hand away, and one of two people staring angrily at each other.