Chapter 30 Weiwei: Hard to Find a Pattern.

Chapter 30: Weiwei – Hard to Find Any Pattern.

Just before the Mid-Autumn Festival, He Yingzhen and Ji Yitao finally made it back to Hong Kong.

It was clear that Ji Yitao was very satisfied with this exhibition. Before his luggage was even brought into the house, he was already chatting away with Elle in the garden.

He was saying two of his paintings might win awards, and that the next exhibition invitation came from a big name in the industry, a Mr. Bai, a legend in China's oil painting scene. He'd even given Miss He a small portrait.

He stood under a large sun umbrella, one hand propped on the edge of the table, the other holding his just-removed sunglasses, chatting as animatedly as if he were back more than a decade ago.

He Yingzhen hadn't entered the house either. She arranged the gifts and mooncake boxes on the table one by one. After a moment, she walked a few steps away, raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, and called up to the open window on the fourth floor, "Ji Yuewei." She wore a long-sleeved white dress, its silhouette elegantly outlined her arms and waist like a goddess from ancient Greek sculpture.

Back under the umbrella, she linked arms with Ji Yitao, she laughed lightly as she spoke. Ji Yitao looked down at her, kept gently stroking the back of her hand.

Ji Yuewei noticed that they were getting along even better.

She didn't quite understand the secret to it. After all, this wasn't like her consistently straight grades.

It was full of ups and downs, fluctuations—hard to find any pattern.

Maybe Ji Yitao was just naturally good at love.

His artistic flair was one thing, but most importantly, of course, he had that handsome, refined appearance.

Or maybe in love, a woman's rose-tinted glasses are always a little thicker, and her imagination a little more boundless.

One big sign of a good relationship was doing everything together.

At the dinner table, Ji Yitao said he wanted to teach Miss He how to paint. He aimed to get one of her paintings into an exhibition within five years.

Ji Yuewei quickly turned to look at He Yingzhen. Although her father did have some skill, she was still worried he might lead her down the wrong path. Besides, her dad never thought before shooting his mouth off. However, He Yingzhen was clearly delighted; she couldn't take her eyes off Ji Yitao. So she didn't notice Ji Yuewei's cautious look.

With Elle's prompting, Ji Yuewei figured it out—painting was just another way to flirt.

Alright, Ji Yuewei thought. This was something her dad was indeed good at. He had more than a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

School was out for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

After the afternoon classes ended, Ms. Sula made two announcements.

First, at the end of November, the school would organize a seven-member team from the three grades to participate in the joint academic competition of fourteen southern schools.

Second, the first intra-school competition since the start of the term would be held the week after the Mid-Autumn holiday—

"Currently, I've received registrations from three teams. The captains are Tong Chaochao, Xie Xifan, and Fu Zheng. If any other students want to form a team, come to my office before school lets out."

As soon as Ms. Sula left the classroom, Tong Chaochao pulled Ji Yuewei, Tang Jiayan, and Zhong Hui into a quick "meeting"—

The two students sitting in front of them swapped seats with Tang Jiayan and Zhong Hui. The two turned around, and the four of them put their heads together.

"Let's meet during the holiday to discuss tactics?" Tong Chaochao said.

"Okay." Zhong Hui took out a small notebook, ready to jot down key points.

"No problem." Tang Jiayan made an OK sign.

Ji Yuewei nodded.

Her classmates spoke Cantonese in daily life, and they were all quite good at English, especially in classes with foreign teachers.

"Weiwei is our trump card now. Which round would be best to place her..." Tong Chaochao rubbed her chin.

Zhong Hui whispered, "How about waiting until Xie Xifan and Fu Zheng's lineup comes out?"

The two exchanged glances. Tong Chaochao nodded without saying anything.

"Who's gonna find out?" Tang Jiayan asked.

Tong Chaochao wrote the character "Lu" on a piece of paper, then lightly circled it. She shot a sly glance and grinned, "We've got someone. Leave it to me."

Ji Yuewei turned to look at Lu Xuanyang, who was sitting in the back, leaning his chair back, already on his phone—

Before she could turn a third of the way, Tong Chaochao pushed her head back: "Don't make a move. Fu Zheng is watching us."

Sure enough, out of the corner of her eye, Fu Zheng was looking thoughtfully at the four of them, as if also pondering possible competition order.

Ji Yuewei stopped moving. The big picture was more important.

"Where to meet?"

"Usual place—the Ferris wheel at Central Pier. Noon."

Ji Yuewei wondered if she had heard correctly.

But seeing her teammates' experienced demeanor, she wondered if she was missing something.

She asked, "Ferris wheel?"

Tong Chaochao was like a secret agent: "Oh, Weiwei doesn't know—it's our team's tradition. We discuss important stuff on the Ferris wheel. Completely closed off, completely safe."

"It was an idea from a former team member from last year—" She still gave a thumbs-up and then pointed backward.

Sensing something unusual, Lu Xuanyang suddenly looked up from his phone, glanced around, and tucked his phone further under the desk.

Ji Yuewei: "..."

School let out over an hour earlier than usual during the holiday. Senior year students didn't have classes that day, so their dismissal time was even more unpredictable.

Ji Yuewei didn't have the driver pick her up. She planned to go to the squash court. From school to the squash court was just three stops on the subway.

But unexpectedly, she ran into Lu Xuanyang.

Flanking him were Fu Zheng and Xie Xifan.

Lu Xuanyang carried his schoolbag, his tie still bunched up around his neck. Xie Xifan and Fu Zheng both had their schoolbags on their backs, their ties neatly tied. Ji Yuewei noticed them first. The three were clearly discussing something. Lu Xuanyang didn't seem to be there for squash; more like he had walked this way, seen the squash court, stopped, and while looking up at it, casually talked with the other two.

Because when he spotted Ji Yuewei, his first words were: "So this is where you play!"

As the four of them came face to face, Ji Yuewei had no doubt that Xie Xifan and Fu Zheng were thinking about the competition order after the break.

When Lu Xuanyang realized, he looked a bit shifty.

It was easy to see why he looked guilty—not only was Tong Chaochao coming to him for intel, but the captains of the other two teams were clearly thinking the same thing.

"What a coincidence, Weiwei..." Lu Xuanyang rubbed his head.

Hearing him call her that, Xie Xifan gave him a puzzled look: "What did you call her?"

"Zhaozhao calls her that every day," Lu Xuanyang said, confused.

Xie Xifan was dumbfounded: "Are you Tong Chaochao?"

Lu Xuanyang didn't get it: "No."

Xie Xifan: "..."

Fu Zheng smiled, ignored them, and then said to Ji Yuewei: "What a coincidence, study god."

Not sure if it was the last two words that hit a nerve, Xie Xifan didn't dare look at Ji Yuewei, and said out of the corner of his eye toward her: "What a coincidence."

Ji Yuewei nodded at them and then turned and went inside.

The three of them: "..."

Lu Xuanyang came up behind her calling "Weiwei, Weiwei," and asked Ji Yuewei if she wanted to play together.

Ji Yuewei was about to say she had an appointment with her coach when she saw Xu Jiawen walking over, looking surprised and happy.

She looked around at the three of them, her eyes lit up with surprise and delight, and said to Ji Yuewei: "Xiao Yue, you brought friends along?"

Ji Yuewei opened her mouth and forced out the words one by one: "Classmates I happened to run into..."

"Are you playing together?" Xu Jiawen nodded, catching on, and asked.

Lu Xuanyang was itching to play: "Yes!"

Ji Yuewei: "..."

Xie Xifan: "..."

Fu Zheng grinned: "Thank you."

The plan was: Ji Yuewei and Lu Xuanyang in one group, Xie Xifan and Fu Zheng in another.

The losers from each group would face each other, and the winners would do the same, finally ranking first to fourth.

The referee was of course Xu Jiawen.

It was clear that Lu Xuanyang hadn't lied that first day of school. His squash skills were really good. And it seemed he had been playing for years.

When Xu Jiawen asked, he said his father was a squash player. Immediately, Xu Jiawen knew who his father was. After all, in all of Hong Kong, there were only a few squash players with the last name Lu.

Also, Xie Xifan's athletic ability was pretty mediocre.

Here, Ji Yuewei could still be slightly outmatched, but over there, he and Fu Zheng were total pushovers – equally hopeless.

In the final match, Ji Yuewei and Xie Xifan competed for third and fourth place.

Lu Xuanyang and Fu Zheng competed for first and second—

It was no contest.

Towards the end, Lu Xuanyang just started correcting Fu Zheng's serving posture. Ji Yuewei did the same.

She even copied Liang Yusheng's style, tossing him two or three balls aiming at where his serves landed, just hoping he wouldn't turn red with every lost point.