I See The Galaxy Chapter 2

“Let go of me, what the hell… Let go!”

Fan Xiangxiang harshly flung Lu Xing off of her, breaking free from her grip.

Seeing that the car had already entered the gates, Yu Xing released her.

When the two of them were alone in the duty room, Fan Xiangxiang’s anger spiked. "What the hell were you dragging me for? Who told you to cover my mouth!?”

Yu Xing replied, "The security guard said that it was a school car, our seniors were inside."

“So what if they’re our seniors?”

“We can let it pass since they’re our schoolmates.”

"According to school rules, the classes with those who arrive late and leave early will be..."

"You know," Yu Xing interrupted her calmly, "that's all just for show. The true rules here, everyone knows by heart."

Fan Xiangxiang was unwilling to give in. "What ‘true rules’, what ‘know by heart’, just because you’re willing to bow down to those underhanded rules doesn’t mean I want to be like you!"

Yu Xing moved to speak, but one look at her obvious contempt and she suddenly remembered Fan Xiangxiang’s odd expression as she stared at the car before rushing outside. Yu Xing did not want to talk again after that.

The only students who drove to school were seniors.

They were also the most wanton, arrogant, and untouchable people in the school.

How did Fan Xiangxiang not know that?

To be fair, she wasn’t ugly and her family wasn’t bad; outside of Lintian, she would probably be considered well-off. She was likely pampered by her parents at home, but still, she could never be that ignorant of the ways of the world.

Her earlier actions were truly puzzling.

The security guard let the car pass, but she wasn’t willing to let it go, and just a while ago, Yu Xing was almost glared to death for trying to help her.

Yu Xing was silent for a few seconds, then, "Fan Xiangxiang, we are here at Lintian to learn."

Fan Xiangxiang frowned. "...Do I need you to tell me that?" She was still in a bad mood. "I’ll trouble you to mind your own business next time. I don’t need your meddling, okay? I don’t care if you’re cowardly and weak, don’t make me nod alongside you!”

"Bowing properly can’t be considered nodding along." Yu Xing's voice was soft and her tone was not rude, but her words were clear and insistent.

"Why do I have to bow down to the rules here?"

Yu Xing glanced at her from under her black-rimmed glasses. "Because we are here."

“...” Fan Xiangxiang choked on her own words.

After a few seconds, Fan Xiangxiang came back to her senses and glared at Yu Xing. “What do summer insects know of ice, mind your own business next time!”

> idiom from Zhuangzi, meaning that people cannot speak on things they do not know about

She got her things and walked away, not looking back even once.

Summer insects didn’t know of ice…

Well, that was true.

Yu Xing adjusted her glasses, her bangs drooping as she lowered her head. She picked up her pen and notebook, then left calmly.

Summer insects could not speak of ice, and swallows could not understand the ambitions of swans.
 

> idiom from the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, meaning that ordinary people can't understand the ambitions of the great

But who knows?

Before seeing the swan, the bird may think that it is the one with high ambitions, but it if it can only offer one or two clumsy ideas, then it is the one with empty hopes.

—

Yu Xing was in class 3 and Fan Xiangxiang was in another class, so they didn’t have many opportunities to meet. While it could be said that friendship between gentlemen was as insipid as water, the relationship between them wasn’t even a puddle.

Their altercation in the duty room was quickly forgotten by the next day.

It was a peaceful, ordinary, and completely normal day, and afternoon came in the blink of an eye.

At the the ringing of the bell, the teacher stepped down from the podium and the atmosphere in the class immediately relaxed.

Yu Xing moved to organize her desk, relaxedly sitting back in her chair.

Qiu Huini looked at the mistakes on her homework. Dissatisfied, she asked Yu Xing, "Why are there mistakes here?"

Yu Xing turned around when she finished neatly stacking her books. "Hm?"

Qiu Huini took a pen and pointed at her paper, eyebrows furrowed. "You were specially admitted, but you aren’t even good at studying– you made mistakes here, can you really be trusted?”

"Oh, that. When I transcribed the answers, I purposely made some of them wrong." Yu Xing said softly. "If you get them all right, the teacher might be suspicious."

Qiu Huini huffed. "You mean I’m not smart enough to get them all correct?”

Yu Xing pursed her lips, still speaking pleasantly. "No, it’s just to be thorough. Better safe than sorry.”

With that, she nodded at Qiu Huini, got up, and left.

It was late afternoon, and most people had already left for dinner.

"You–" She walked so fast that Qiu Huini didn't have time to stop her.

Xia Yuanqing, who was sitting behind her, tsked. “Stupid, rustic, and a coward at that! I really don’t know why she was assigned to our class…”

Qiu Huini was silent.

Xia Yuan Qing suddenly remembered something, tapping Qiu Huini on the back, "Huini!"

"What?"

"Jiang Zhiyan and the others came to school today!"

Qiu Huini's eyes immediately lit up. She remembered the time she went to the senior’s building not long ago; she waited for a long time at the entrance of Class 7 and watched through the window as their group stood around or sat on tables, talking and laughing, but she did not dare to go over. Qiu Huini’s face fell.

"I didn't go talk to them yesterday." Her tone was upset, she was angry with herself.

That day, Sheng Yi was also there, smiling with curved eyes and twirling a pen in his hand. Even with the late October chill, he took off his jacket and wore only a short-sleeved plain white t-shirt with a simple pattern on the upper left.

He sat amongst Jiang Zhiyan's gang and listened quietly with his free hand in his pocket. His posture was loose and idle, and he looked very amiable... but somehow, he was still difficult to approach.

"Hey, do you remember?" Xia Yuanqing didn't think about it as much as she did. "Wasn't there someone who once wrote a love letter to Jiang Zhiyan?"

Qiu Huini: "Why, you want to write a love letter?"

"I did write one, and I wrote one to ‘him’!"

Qiu Huini realized the true meaning of her words. “To ‘him’… Do you mean Sheng Yi?”

"That’s right." Xia Yuanqing hurriedly added, "But it isn’t me who ‘wrote’ it, it was--" she looked to the seat diagonal to her own, where Yu Xing sat, and extended a hand to point in that direction.

Qiu Huini was still processing it when Xia Yuanqing snickered. "Let’s see if she can still live a good life after that!"

—

As Yu Xing finished her dinner and walked back from the cafeteria to the sophomore building, things weren’t looking so good for her.

On the floor where Class 3’s classroom was, a group of people were gathered around the corner and whispering around a certain spot on the wall.

"Oh my God, who did this..."

“Daring to write love letters to Sheng Yi, what nerve!"

“Yu Xing? The name sounds familiar, where do I remember it from… Isn’t that the special admissions student?”

“...”

As they all turned to look at her, Yu Xing stopped herself from taking a step back.

“Pfft–”

When they caught sight of her badge, a boy in the crowd laughed out loud. “That’s her? She looks pretty ugly, but she must think she’s just pretty!”

Some people didn’t have to follow school rules, but Yu Xing knew that she was not one of them. From her first day at school, she followed the school dress code to the letter, and from head to toe, no one could pick out a single thing that was out of line.

As Yu Xing walked towards the wall, the others ‘thoughtfully’ made way for her.

After taking a closer look, she could make out the contents of the love letter:

“Hello, Senior Cheng Yi.

I’m Yu Xing from Year 2 Class 3, I like you a lot!

….”

Yu Xing inhaled sharply.

Who could be this vicious!?

Sheng Yi was very well-known.

In Year 3 Class 7, Senior Sheng…

Of all the surnames in Sijiu City, Sheng was one of the most important ones. It was the “Sheng” of the Sheng Group and the “Sheng” of Sheng Yi.

As the next successor of the Sheng family, there was no one in Lintian who didn't know Sheng Yi’s name.

The reason why the senior class was intimidating was because of his presence and the people around him– the origins of those who hung around him also could not be underestimated. Sometimes onlookers joked about them, calling them "the princes of the Sheng Group".

Yu Xing had also heard other students talking about them before, but she did not live in the same world as most of her classmates. They were at the very top of the pyramid; even if she reached with all her might, the distance between them was still beyond light years.

Hiding behind her bangs, her eyes behind the dark-framed glasses stared intently at the piece of paper, hoping that she had seen wrong.

Maybe wearing glasses for so long had given her 800 degree myopia?

In fact, it probably wasn’t Sheng Yi, maybe it was another senior named Sheng Bian. And maybe it wasn’t even Yu Xing, maybe it was someone else named Yu Mu…

Well, the paper was still there. Regardless of whether or not she was the one who wrote it, she was definitely going to get into trouble.

Yu Xing stood stiffly in front of the wall.

Her head was still spinning, but before she could calm down, the loud voice of Director Zhou rang out throughout the hallway. “What are you all crowded around here for?”

At that moment, Yu Xing's heart skipped a beat.

Director Zhou was the most strict of all of Lintian’s teachers, and it was definitely no coincidence that he was the one who came to scold them.

She stiffly turned her head, just in time to meet Director Zhou’s gaze, sharp as a tiger hunting for prey.

—

During the first evening class, every class speaker in the school blared an alarm at the same time, and Year 3 Class 7 was no exception.

"Now broadcasting a disciplinary notice--"

Shen Shiyu raised his head slightly as he played a game on his phone. The very next second, Jiang Zhiyan wrinkled his eyebrows and distractedly stretched out his leg from under the table to kick him. Once he heard what the disciplinary action was, Shen Shiyu lost interest and concentrated on the game.

And Sheng Yi just continued turning the pages of his book, as if the disciplinary notice was simply white noise.

"...Director Zhou found a love letter written by Yu Xing of Year 2 Class 3 to Sheng Yi of Year 3 Class 7 at the corner of the second floor of the Year 2 building before the evening self-study period, and then it was openly posted on the wall..."

“Huh?”

Shen Shiyu suddenly raised his head, "To whom? Sheng Yi?"

Jiang Zhiyan also heard it and looked at Sheng Yi.

Other people in the classroom also glanced over. Though they didn't dare to look for long and quickly retracted their gazes, this proved that they did in fact hear correctly.

"Even now, there are still people who dare to write love letters?" Jiang Zhiyan was quite surprised.

Sheng Yi's pleasant appearance, coupled with a pair of peach blossom eyes and a permanent smile, was a deadly combination. In their first year of high school, both their juniors and seniors went after him one after another without bothering to think about his actual personality. They fought as if it was a life-or-death situation, causing massive chaos.

Now, no one dared to do such things openly.

"What kind of reckless youth is that girl? I'm so moved!" Shen Shixian reached out and put his hand on Sheng Yi's shoulder. "Our junior sure has guts."

Sheng Yi slowly pushed Shen Shiyu's hand away, the corners of his mouth still smiling: "Are you envious?"

"No, no, how can you covet your brother's peach blossoms!" Shen Shiyu smiled, perking up. "Did you hear the punishment on the broadcast just now? Shall we go and read the love letter written to you later?"

Of course Sheng Yi had heard it.

The name Yu Xing vaguely rang a bell, but all that came to mind were the thick, black-framed glasses on the girl's face.

As punishment for her misdemeanor, she was to write a thousand word reflection, and that love letter would also be posted on the notice board outside the teacher’s office building for a week to serve as a warning to others.

Shen Shiyu was interested. "We’re about to leave anyways, why don’t we pass by..."

Sheng Yi looked at him for two seconds, smiled, then spat out: "Fuck off."

—

After staying in the classroom for a while, Jiang Zhiyan and his group, who were not going to attend the evening classes, exited their classroom and went down to the Year 3 building.

Jiang Zhiyan and Sheng Yi were chatting about modifying sports cars with Shen Shiyu occasionally jumping in, and the rest of the people did not intervene much in the conversation.

Walking past the pavilion, Shen Shiyu listened to their chat while glancing at a shadowy figure who was standing in front of the wall.

"Huh?" Shen Shiyu was surprised. "Is that a person over there?"

Jiang Zhiyan turned to look, frowning. "It seems to be a girl." After a pause, "Is that the teacher’s office?"

Sheng Yi walked between them, his gaze was indifferent and he didn’t say a word.

Outside of the teacher’s office, under the high-hanging yellow streetlight, a girl in front of the notice board was looking to her left and right, as if sneaking around.

He couldn't see her face clearly, but he vaguely recognized the pair of black-rimmed glasses on her face.

Translator's Note:

director zhou was so dramatic about catching yu xing, he really set the entire thing up just to get a dramatic entrance, poor girl didn't even write it and she had to deal with this

also, i think i'll keep the explanatory text for idioms that have no direct translation/sound super awkward otherwise. i'm really not sure how else to translate those parts haha