Locking away my heart and love! Going back to 2000 to be a top student again.

Xu Su swallowed a mouthful of rice and shook her head, saying, "I went to Kangxian No. 1 Middle School for junior high school. I only met Huang Feng on the 3rd when I went to the classroom to register."

Huang Feng sat to Xu Su's right, reached out her left hand (which wasn't holding chopsticks) to hook around Xu Su's shoulder, smiled, and leaned her head over, saying, "Although we haven't known each other for long, we hit it off immediately. We'll be best friends for life."

Qiu Dandan swallowed a mouthful of fried rice and said, "We'll be classmates for three years, and good classmates for life."

The five of them laughed together.

As they walked out of the cafeteria after finishing their meal, the second and third-year high school students were just getting out of class and were crowding into the cafeteria. Thinking that they would also be one of them in the future, the students' expressions became somewhat solemn.

Back in the dorm, her three other roommates arrived. Huang Feng took out the snacks she had brought that morning and shared some with each of them.

Xu Su gave Huang Feng two pieces of hand-torn bread. Since she didn't have anything nice to give in return, she locked the bread in the cupboard, thinking that she would treat Huang Feng to something when she had the chance.

Although Huang Feng's family seems to be well-off and she is willing to have a good relationship with Xu Su, it doesn't mean that she should take advantage of her.

After chatting for a while, the dormitory gradually quieted down, and everyone started taking a nap.

Xu Su never had the habit of taking a nap, and with the weather extremely hot and only one ceiling fan in the dormitory, the air blowing to the lower bunk was very little, making it even hotter and harder to fall asleep. In order not to disturb others, she closed her eyes to rest and silently recited the text.

Xu Su didn't know how long she had been reciting when she heard noises from other dormitories in the corridor outside. She got up and immediately saw Huang Feng, who was sitting opposite her, staring intently at the upper bunk. It seemed that she hadn't fallen asleep at all.

"Let's go, didn't we say we were going to get a haircut?" Xu Su said in a low voice.

Huang Feng's eyes lit up, and she also got up quietly. Xu Su went to call Qian Jia, and upon looking at her, she saw that she was also awake.

The three of them tiptoed out of the dormitory and walked around the campus under the blazing sun.

Huang Feng took out a Nokia, her father's old phone that she had replaced. She glanced at the time; it was two o'clock in the afternoon.

Currently, only a very small number of students have cell phones, and they are not as widespread as they would be a decade or two later. Schools do not have any explicit rules against bringing cell phones to school, and as long as students don't secretly play with them during class, the teachers won't interfere.

The shops next to the No. 1 Middle School were all very new. The three of them walked out of the school gate and saw a barbershop that was much nicer decorated than the one Xu Su had gotten her hair cut in the industrial area.

At this time, most students were still taking a nap. There were only two girls who had arrived early at the shop. They were probably freshmen from other classes in the first year of high school. Their haircuts were almost done, and they were sitting in chairs with red eyes, looking at themselves in the mirror.

Qian Jia was flipping through a hairstyle catalog, trying to find a short hairstyle that suited her.

Huang Feng pointed directly at Xu Su and, with a rather shrewd air, told the barber, "Just cut my hair like hers."

Xu Su was looked over by the barber, who confidently said, "This is easy, I'll cut it exactly the same for you."

Qian Jia flipped through two hairstyle catalogs, hesitated for a long time, and after asking Huang Feng and Xu Su for their advice, she finally decided to get a bob haircut.

Xu Su sat listlessly on the sofa in the store, watching Huang Feng's hair gradually shorten until it was cut into a boy's haircut.

The girl, who had always been smiling since they met, had no smile on her face for the first time. She wasn't very accepting of her new hairstyle. Xu Su comforted her for a bit and finally managed to calm her down.

Unexpectedly, Qian Jia's reaction was even stronger after she got her bob haircut. She burst into tears and looked heartbroken, which made Huang Feng, who had calmed down, also tear up.

Xu Su awkwardly comforted her: "Don't cry, your hair will grow back. It's more convenient for us to have short hair. After washing our hair, we can just dry it with a towel. It's so convenient."

"Your hair will grow back. Once you get into university, you can grow it as long as you want, and whatever color you want. You can have it big or small curls, whatever you like."

Huang Feng was coaxed into laughing, but after laughing, she hung her head dejectedly and said, "I'm so sad. I want to eat something sweet. Shall we go get some milk tea? There's a shop in No. 1 Middle School that makes really good milk tea."

Qian Jia stopped crying and asked, "Is it expensive?"

"It's only one yuan a cup, which is a great deal. When I was in junior high school, I would buy a cup every summer after school to take home."

One yuan a cup isn't cheap for a student whose meal budget is only two yuan, but it's still affordable to have a cup occasionally. With the weather so hot, a cold cup of milk tea would be so refreshing. Qian Jia readily agreed to the suggestion.

Milk tea in this era was made with milk tea powder, far less authentic than in later generations. Although Xu Su didn't really want to drink it, she didn't want to spoil the fun, so she went along anyway.

Around 3 p.m., several groups of first-year high school students were sitting in a milk tea shop near the school where they had free time in the afternoon.

After the three ordered their drinks, Xu Su originally wanted to treat Huang Feng to something to eat, but he didn't want to leave Qian Jia out, so he took out three yuan and paid for Qian Jia's share as well.

Sitting on the bench by the window, I saw that the milk tea shop had no air conditioning, only a few wall-mounted fans working loudly.

Xu Su picked up the bubble tea on the table, put the straw in her mouth, and took a big sip. Perhaps because she hadn't eaten sweets for a long time, she suddenly found the bubble tea made from the powder to taste surprisingly good.

After taking a sip of milk tea, Qian Jia happily squinted her eyes, having already recovered from the sadness of cutting her hair short, and asked, "Shall we go to the classroom to study tonight?"

Huang Feng said, "Go ahead, you're just sitting in the dorm anyway."

Xu Su nodded. She was very focused on her studies now, but she had forgotten most of the high school knowledge she had learned after being reborn. Although she was the top student in the county and entered the No. 1 High School, in terms of her foundation, she might not be as good as the other students in her class now.

Only by working harder than others can one secure a place in the top class.

The three of them chatted while drinking milk tea. The students' topics were always the same: teachers, classmates, and grades.

Qian Jia exclaimed, "Teacher Wu is so young! I didn't even recognize her when we registered. She's our homeroom teacher, but she looks so fierce and never smiles."

Mentioning this topic, Huang Feng perked up: "Teacher Wu is the living advertisement of our school. I heard that he even set the questions for this year's college entrance examination math paper. He is known as the Impartial Wu. He is very strict and has taught the top class for three consecutive years. This is our fourth class. Don't think that you can rest easy just because you got into the top class. If your grades drop, you will have to pack up and go to the regular class."

Qian Jia's face paled: "Is that so? Will the class assignments change? What grades are needed to stay in the top class? Wouldn't it be incredibly embarrassing to move out?"

Xu, feeling a little hurt, said to Su: "...It's not that embarrassing, is it?"

Just then, a male voice came from the shop entrance: "Fengfeng?"