Volume 1 / Chapter 33: The Blackboard Bulletin

At noon, Yûkōng High was as noisy as ever.

Whether on the sports field or in the hallways, the place teemed with students.

Strangely enough, it was the classrooms that were nearly empty.

Mò Xuěyáo had already finished sketching her draft. Now, she dragged a chair over and stood at the back of the classroom, staring at the blackboard and thinking about where to start drawing.

She had never formally studied art or layout design, so she hesitated a little before putting chalk to board.

“Guess I’ll start with the hardest part first…” she muttered to herself, opening the box of brand-new colored chalk that Yè Wēn had given her. She counted the colors inside.

There were only seven—though not the classic red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet of a rainbow. Instead, the set included dark purple, light orange, pale green, sky blue, bright red, soft yellow, and pink. As for white chalk, she could just grab some from the teacher’s podium; there was plenty of that.

Yè Wēn had also offered her some paint, but Mò Xuěyáo turned it down. She didn’t know how to mix colors properly, and besides, she didn’t want to risk getting herself stained with pigments that might not wash off easily.

Chalk dust, at least, could be brushed away with water. Paint... not so much.

The theme of the blackboard bulletin was “Autumn’s Mood”, so she began by sketching an image titled “Qiū Yì” Autumn’s Sentiment on the right side of the board.

Technically speaking, she was copying from a sketch she’d drawn herself.

But pencil and chalk felt worlds apart. Chalk took more effort and produced less precise results.

She had originally thought she could finish the visual portion of the board except the text for the blackboard newspaper in one lunch period—

Yeah… she had seriously overestimated herself.

“Xuě～yáo～” came Mò Xiǎoxiào’s voice from behind, light and playful. She was twirling the ends of her slightly golden hair as she smiled. “Need a hand?”

“Ah... I-I’m good, I can handle it,” Mò Xuěyáo replied with a sheepish smile. She still wasn’t used to asking other girls for help.

“Don’t be shy. If there’s anything simple, I can probably manage it.”

“Uh… okay. Could you draw a tree? Right in the center—a maple tree, with falling leaves.”

“You got it.” Mo Xiǎoxiào turned around and called out, “Yōuyōu, come here! Help me out!”

“Ugh… Sis, you’re such a hassle…” Mo Zhúyōu shuffled over with drooping eyelids, her whole demeanor screaming “I don’t wanna move.”

“Let’s draw the tree together. Lots of maple leaves—one by one.”

“That sounds like a pain…” Mo Zhúyōu already looked like she was about to back out.

Though the two were twins, their personalities couldn’t have been more different.

“Come on~ drawing can be fun,” Mo Xiǎoxiào said with a cheerful squint.

“…Fine.” Perhaps sensing something intimidating in her sister’s smile, Mo Zhúyōu reluctantly agreed.

Instantly, Mo Xiǎoxiào returned to her sunny self.

Though Mo Zhúyōu had a feeling that smile hid something sharp…

“Thanks a lot,” Mò Xuěyáo said again, sincerely. After all, she was the class publicity rep—it was her job to do the board, not theirs. The twins helping out was pure kindness.

“No worries. If no one had volunteered to be publicity rep, I probably would’ve ended up with the job anyway.”

Mò Xiǎoxiào picked out a yellow and a green chalk stick, rubbing them together on the blackboard in an attempt to blend them into a sort of brown.

It didn’t work too well, but… it kind of looked like tree bark. Close enough.

Once she got into the zone, Mò Xuěyáo tuned everything else out, fully focused on her work.

So for her, the entire lunch break passed in the blink of an eye.

Even during the midday self-study period, she kept working—right up until the bell rang for the first afternoon class. Only then did she finish the sketch of Autumn’s Sentiment.

That was the hardest part. Now that it was done, the rest would be easy.

The repetitive task of drawing the falling maple leaves had been handled by the twin sisters. Next came decorative borders and a few lines to separate the text columns.

As for the actual content of the articles—she could either copy excellent excerpts or write something herself.

Given her decent Chinese grades, writing it herself seemed more efficient.

“Whew—” Mo Xiǎoxiào stretched lazily, admiring the giant maple tree now covering most of the blackboard. “Not bad, not bad! Really feels like autumn~!”

“I’m beat… Sis, I swear my hand’s about to fall off…” Mo Zhúyōu grumbled listlessly.

“Ah, um, thanks again. Want me to treat you to some snacks after school?” Mò Xuěyáo offered, feeling a pang of guilt.

Well—guilt for her wallet, that is.

That 20-yuan bill… was it finally time to spend it?

“No need, no need. Don’t mind her, she’s always like this.” Mo Xiǎoxiào quickly waved her hand. “By the way, I’ve never noticed where you head off after school. I wonder if we go the same way?”

“Me? I head out the left gate, take the small path. My home’s pretty far.”

“The left side? Do you bike too?”

“Yeah.”

“We take the left side too!” Mo Xiǎoxiào said happily. “How about we ride home together after school?”

“Uh… eh?” Riding home with girls?

Definitely one of those daydream-level scenarios.

Though a little shy, she had to admit—it sounded kind of nice.

Walking home alone was boring anyway.

“Do you two live far?” she asked.

“About the same as you… we’re in Chángmù Bridge neighborhood.”

“Oh—do you know the Legou Supermarket near there?” Mò Xuěyáo lit up.

“Of course!”

“My place is really close to that.”

“Oh! Déshèng East Village?”

“Yup. Looks like we’re totally on the same route.”

“Exactly! So we totally should go home together, right, little sis?” Mo Xiǎoxiào pinched her sister’s cheek.

There was actually a good way to tell the twins apart: the elder sister had two dimples, the younger only one.

The elder was always smiling; the younger, not so much.

“I don’t mind…” Mo Zhúyōu brushed chalk dust off her uniform and muttered, “But Sis, you’re doing the laundry today.”

“You little slacker…” Mo Xiǎoxiào chuckled fondly. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Yay! I get to watch TV dramas tonight!”

“You schemer! No shame at all.” Mo Xiǎoxiào tapped her sister’s nose. “Alright, alright, class is starting—back to your seats.”

In that moment, Mò Xuěyáo felt the two didn’t seem like sisters…

More like a couple.

What was that strange déjà vu just now?

---

The first class on Tuesday afternoon was Politics—formally titled “Politics and Society.”

Mò Xuěyáo had thought she’d be rid of the dreaded subject once she got to high school, but no such luck.

To be honest, she wasn’t interested in politics at all. The discussions always felt repetitive, the written answers robotic and formulaic.

In short—dry and boring.

If it were military history, maybe she’d be into it. But politics?

Just the thought of it made her sleepy.

Maybe because politics felt so far removed from people like her—ordinary nobodies.

Their politics teacher was a man with a little mustache and a faint melancholic air.

That impression, however, shattered the moment he opened his mouth.

“Hey everyone~! Been a week since the National Day holiday—did ya miss me?”

“Yesss—!”

“Nooo—!”

Two voices clashed in the classroom at once.

“Tch. Where’s the love? Don’t tell me you prefer Geography class? That’s gotta be way more boring, right?”

“We demand Geography instead!” Gāo Yuán shouted.

“What? You saying Guǎn Péng’s Geography class is fun and my class isn’t? C’mon, I’m Wàn Jiànléi, the cool politics guy!”

“Teacher, politics is too boring,” Liú Xiǎowěi, who sat near the lectern, chimed in. He seemed to get along with all the non-core subject teachers...

“Geography and history are just fluff. If you wanna learn something real, politics is where it’s at! You think politics isn’t part of daily life? Wait till you’re working—every office is a political arena. If you don't understand human relations and don't know political handling things, it'll be very difficult to succeed in the workplace.”

Wàn Jiànléi coughed dramatically and tapped the blackboard. “Hmm, looks like you had Chemistry during fourth period? These scribbles... Yuè Gūgū taught that, right?”

“Yeess—” the class dragged out the word, sounding half-asleep, like paid background actors doing a poor job.

“Lucky you guys, haha… hey, who’s on blackboard duty today? Come wipe this down already.”

“Teacher, I’ll do it!” Liú Xiǎowěi jumped up enthusiastically.

“Good, good. See that? Comrade Liú here’s got political awareness. Leaders love that. Don’t believe me? Just wait and see.” Wàn Jiànléi stroked his scruffy mustache. “Alright folks, eyes up, ears open—what we’re learning today is way more important than any core subject!”

“Now then, flip your textbooks to Lesson Two, Section Two: The Basic Characteristics of a Socialist Market Economy!”

And thus, Wàn Jiànléi’s lecture began.

Not exactly riveting, but at least he made the atmosphere lighthearted.

Many students chose to multitask—doing homework while half-listening.

After all, it didn’t matter much.

The politics exam was open book. Whether you remembered the content or not didn’t matter…

As long as you reviewed the key points before the test.

If past experience in middle school was anything to go by, right before exams the teacher would hand out all the important excerpts.

You just had to copy them down—job done.