Chapter 20: The Seed of a Memory

By the time everything was settled, the setting sun had dyed the tree-lined road outside the teaching building a warm orange-red.

Wen Shuyao and I walked side by side along the empty playground. A breeze lifted her floral skirt. She moved a little ahead, long hair drifting, books in her arms, her steps slow and light.

Looking at her unusually quiet back, I took a small breath.

She’d worked with all her might for that reward, only to give it away because she couldn’t bear seeing someone else cry. As a child, someone who habitually yielded even things she loved might be praised for being considerate.

But when she grew older, when she reached high school and faced more important choices, wouldn’t that tendency leave her with regrets?

The path through school was rather long. To pass the time, and because the thought kept circling in my head, I spoke to her.

“Wen Shuyao.”

She stopped and turned in confusion. “Mm?”

“Do you regret it a little?”

She blinked.

It had been four or five minutes since we’d left Teacher Lin. The call had already been made to Zhou Wei; even through the receiver, we could hear her delight and her mother’s repeated, happy responses.

For now, the matter was settled. Wen Shuyao wouldn’t come to school for English competition training tomorrow. Zhou Wei, the subject representative, would take her place.

At my question, Wen Shuyao instinctively shook her head. After a two-second pause, her eyes dimmed, and she gave a small, conflicted nod.

So she did regret it a little.

“That’s normal,” I said. “You studied hard for a week to earn the place, but you chose to give it up for Zhou Wei. Of course you’d feel disappointed.

“But you can’t take it back now.

“So… next time, before giving someone something that belongs to you, you’d better weigh it in your heart first, Wen Shuyao.”

She blinked her clear eyes. “Weigh what?”

“How important it is to you… and whether you’re willing to bear the cost of losing it for friendship or something else.”

I spoke gently as we walked. The breeze stirred fallen leaves.

“Life is long, and you’ll face countless choices like this. If you give up your place every time someone cries or shows weakness, in the end you’ll be the one who gets hurt.

“Do you understand?”

Wen Shuyao stood in the halo of the setting sun. After a long moment, she murmured as though waking from a dream, “Fang Luo… you sound like the philosophy books on my dad’s shelves.”

“…”

So she hadn’t really understood?

I wasn’t too surprised. She was only in third grade. I just hoped she’d think more about herself in the future. People who were too kind needed protection too.

Before we knew it, we’d reached the school gate. Two familiar beeps sounded, and I looked up to see Dad’s black scooter parked by the road. It was time to part.

“See you Monday,” I said.

“Mm. Fang Luo… see you Monday!” Her soft, clear farewell came from behind me.

We could have seen each other Sunday too.

…

With Wen Shuyao’s withdrawal, the artistic little deskmate I’d expected at Saturday’s special training was replaced by Zhou Wei, the English representative with the mushroom haircut.

Zhou Wei really was shy and introverted. During the full day of one-on-one training, she barely dared look me in the eye. She said fewer than five sentences to me altogether, her voice as tiny as a mosquito’s hum.

After Saturday’s training, time passed quickly, and Sunday morning arrived.

The autumn air was crisp and the breeze refreshing.

The yellow Xia Minghan Primary School minibus carried Zhou Wei and me to the city testing site, arriving punctually at eight thirty.

The Citywide Primary School English Skills Competition was a grand affair. Top students from more than twenty key and experimental primary schools across the city gathered there. Many well-off city children wore specially tailored little suits or pleated dresses with bow ties, shining school badges pinned to their chests.

By comparison, Zhou Wei and I wore the loose blue-and-white uniforms of a county school. Zhou Wei was so nervous she’d gone pale. Before entering, she could barely hold her water cup, and her legs trembled beneath the bench.

I wondered whether Wen Shuyao would have been like this…

Never mind. I should look after the person who was here.

“Don’t be too nervous,” I told her before we entered the waiting area. “Do the written test as you usually do. During the oral section, if the examiner asks a long, difficult question you don’t understand, don’t rush to speak. Watch for my signal, and I’ll take over.”

The test was done in pairs.

Zhou Wei blinked, looked up at me timidly, then nodded. The shy girl still used gestures instead of words.

The first comprehensive written round that morning was noticeably harder than the school training. It included identifying relative clauses at middle-school level and a popular-science reading passage packed with unfamiliar vocabulary.

But it wasn’t hard for me.

The main event was the second round in the afternoon: the examiner’s questions and the presentation.

Judges from the provincial foreign languages college sat at the front, with a dense crowd of advising teachers and parents below.

When the Xia Minghan Primary School team took the stage, an examiner posed an impromptu extended question about environmental protection and future cities.

Zhou Wei panicked at the microphone. Her hand visibly shook. She managed two words before getting stuck, her face turning red as tears threatened to spill.

Teacher Lin looked anxious for her from the audience.

Since we were a pair, I could take over this part, though Zhou Wei would have to handle her own questions afterward.

At the critical moment, I stepped forward without hesitation.

“As my partner mentioned earlier, protecting our environment starts from the smallest daily habits…”

From sorting waste to green transportation, I spoke fluently, organizing what I knew about environmental protection with coherent grammar and smoothing over Zhou Wei’s earlier stumble.

With me covering for her, she gradually recovered her composure. Under my guidance, she successfully completed her own question-and-answer portion.

At four that afternoon, the final third-grade results appeared on the main screen, and applause thundered through the hall.

【Special Gold Award: Xia Minghan Primary School team (Fang Luo, Zhou Wei)】

Teacher Lin covered her mouth in excitement, tears in her eyes.

A red carpet, spotlights, and waves of applause. Zhou Wei and I stood side by side at the center of the auditorium stage, each holding a weighty certificate, gold-plated brass medals around our necks.

This seemed to be the first competition prize of my life… and it had been so easy. No, wait.

I shook my head with a rueful smile.

Below the stage, an education bureau official and Teacher Lin held up cameras and gestured repeatedly. “Good! Congratulations, Xia Minghan Primary School! Our two little achievers, move closer! Look at the camera. Three, two, one—”

Half a second before the flash, Zhou Wei, who’d been stiff as a post all day, quietly moved half a step closer to me. Holding her certificate in both hands, face red, she spoke so softly I could barely hear, but with complete sincerity.

“F-Fang Luo… thank you so much for today.”

It seemed to be the first thing she’d said to me since we met.

I turned slightly and glanced at the short-haired class representative beside me. By rights, the person standing here in the applause and spotlight should have been my thoughtful, quiet deskmate Wen Shuyao.

But why was I thinking that again?

It wasn’t really important. I treated everyone equally. I only thought that if that little girl learned what had happened today, she’d regret it even more. But a gold medal was a gold medal regardless of whom I won it with, and the mission was complete.

As long as my conscience was clear.

“You’re welcome,” I said.

I looked back at the camera and had to smile for the photograph as Teacher Lin called out, “Is watermelon sweet?”

“Sweet!”

Click.

The white flash lit up, fixing the moment forever on film from the early years of the millennium.

In the refreshing autumn breeze, a full week of training and turmoil drew to a brilliant close.

What I didn’t know was that, in years to come, this would become an important turning point affecting someone else’s life.

It would sprout in the heart and remain a memory in life.

…

…

【Ding! Making a Name mission successfully completed!】

【Perfect completion: city-level Special Gold Award】

【Base reward issued: +10 Corner Shop Coins!】

【Base reward issued: +1,000 unallocated experience points!】