Shengliver’s Note: A Year 11 high school student, Mengqing shares a lot in her English journal. Behind each narration lies a heart of gold.

Mengqing was not in a fit state after the recent exam, but she managed to stay on top. Outgoing and bubbly, the teen believed that she would have better luck next time. She was concerned, however, about some mates around her. A lot of them seemed to be in hell, their facial expressions a tell-tale.

During the 30-minute recess between the second and the third periods one morning, she headed for a comfort break in the lavatory. No sooner had she stepped into the Ladies than she heard someone humming a mournful tune in a stifled voice in a booth. So doleful was the voice that it instantly infected Mengqing. She felt she was on the very verge of tears at the moment.

The tune went sadder and sadder, as if the singer were being weighed down by an intolerable burden on her mind. Mengqing thought she knew why the loo user was chanting that way. “It must be the exam,” she murmured. “What should I do?”

Her first impulse was to sing a joyous tune to offset the doom and gloom. “I might cheer her up,” she reckoned. On second thoughts, however, she realised a merry song might plunge the girl into an abyss. Therefore, she decided to hum after the singer, at a lower pitch. She followed the schoolmate, going just as gently and miserably. As Mengqing was starting, the tune from that booth paused for a second and then resumed. Both girls were doing the sorrowful melody in the toilet when suddenly the originator broke down into an outpouring of grief.

The girl wept as if a riverbank had been burst. Hearing the free loud sobs, Mengqing smiled to herself. She exited the public convenience, fully convinced that the weeper would feel all right after the vent.