Chapter 30: Memories and Photos Overlap

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Memories and Photos Overlap

Middle school life had begun. But during this first month before He Qing arrived, Lin Zhengran’s daily life felt a bit strange because a certain fox was constantly observing him.

The first time he noticed it was on the first day of school. After desk mates were assigned, he was bored and reading a book when he realized his seatmate, Han Wenwen, was gracefully propping her cheek on one hand. She was staring at him openly, keeping her gaze fixed on him for the entire morning.

Lin Zhengran asked if she needed something.

Han Wenwen gave a faint shake of her head and smiled. "Nothing." But right after speaking, she jotted a sentence down in a small notebook:

[Although it isn’t very obvious, Lin Zhengran is not entirely indifferent to the gazes of other girls.]

She didn’t bother hiding it while writing, allowing a certain someone to see it clearly.

Lin Zhengran didn’t know what to say.

Another instance occurred a week later. The class was electing a monitor. Due to Lin Zhengran’s outstanding grades and striking looks, quite a few girls were blushing as they whispered about him. Seeing this, Han Wenwen pulled out her notebook and wrote:

[Lin Zhengran has excellent grades and is simultaneously very popular with girls.]

The homeroom teacher asked, "Lin Zhengran, how about you take on the role of our class monitor?"

Lin Zhengran decisively refused. Immediately after, Han Wenwen wrote in her little notebook again:

[But he doesn’t like Zhang Yang. His personality is quite good; he would survive for a long time in a novel.]

Lin Zhengran remained silent.

There were many similar situations. Even during daily meals, although she wouldn’t sit with Lin Zhengran, she would always take a seat one or two tables away. She would sit alone, taking tiny bites of her food while her fox-like eyes kept darting over in his direction. Watching him eat with Jiang Xueli, she would once again take out her pen to record:

[No signs of being a picky eater so far. The same goes for his taste in girls—he’s an omnivore. (This point is open for debate; he might just simply have a thing for girls with ponytails.)]

Once, while eating, Jiang Xueli curiously asked, "Big dummy, what’s wrong? I feel like your eating pace has been different these past few days."

Lin Zhengran let out a long breath, looking slightly exhausted.

"Why the sudden sigh?! Did something happen?" Jiang Xueli thought she had somehow annoyed him.

However, after more than half a month of observation, this strange daily routine finally came to an end one day while Lin Zhengran was staring blankly out the window. It happened to be the last class on a Friday. Han Wenwen was writing away when she realized she had completely filled the dozens of pages in her little notebook.

She finally stopped her pen, looking a bit stunned. "I didn’t expect to fill it up this quickly."

Lin Zhengran snapped out of his daze and asked, "You’re done writing? Does that mean you won’t have to stare at me anymore?"

Hearing this, Han Wenwen tilted her head and smiled sweetly. "Mhm, I’m done. Thank you, Lin Zhengran, for being so willing to let me observe you every day recently. If you had intentionally avoided me, it would have been quite troublesome to keep my records."

Willing? Lin Zhengran couldn’t recall ever saying he was willing. He said helplessly, "I figure that even if I told you not to record it, you wouldn’t listen anyway, right?"

Han Wenwen slowly nodded. "Yep! But if you had said that, I just wouldn’t have recorded you so openly." She placed a finger against her cheek, feigning innocence. "I would have secretly kept my notes in private, making sure you wouldn’t catch me."

Once again, Lin Zhengran was rendered speechless.

Stacking her small hands on the desk, Han Wenwen rested her soft upper body against the table, looking exactly like a lazy vixen. "By the way, aren’t you the slightest bit curious about why I’ve been observing you every day? Aren’t you wondering why I’ve been staring at you like a crazed fangirl?"

"Not curious at all. Now that your observation is over, I just hope we can both go back to minding our own business. Do you have any idea how many boys have been glaring at me like a piece of meat every day for the past twenty days because of your every move? It’s as if I stole their dream girl."

Han Wenwen glanced around at the boys in the classroom and realized her behavior truly had turned Lin Zhengran into public enemy number one among the male student body. She offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that."

RINGGG. The dismissal bell sounded. Han Wenwen slipped the little notebook into her pocket and stood up. "However, after observing you, I found that you are fundamentally different from other boys. You’re mature and handsome. In my heart, you’re pretty close to a perfect score." Leaving him with that compliment, she walked out of the classroom.

With school over, the rest of the students in the class were also rushing to head home. Lin Zhengran watched Han Wenwen’s departing figure and listened to the girls in the classroom gossiping about her. He mused that although this fox had a quirky personality, she was truly a loyal friend to He Qing. That silly girl really had made a great best friend.

On Friday night, the dormitories were practically empty. Aside from the dorm manager, only one or two out-of-town students stayed behind for the weekend.

A certain fox was one of them. After eating dinner alone in the cafeteria, she fetched a basin of hot water, drew the curtains, and took a comfortable, warm sponge bath in her dorm room. After drying her hair and body, she draped a bath towel over her shoulders and sat on her bed, flipping through the little notebook.

"Judging by his personality, it’s actually going to be quite difficult for Qingqing to get together with him during middle school. He seems laid-back about his choices, but he actually has strong principles, huh?"

Han Wenwen lay flat on her bottom bunk. "Come to think of it, if he didn’t have principles, when Xiao Heqing saw him last time and the two of them spent the entire night alone together, wouldn’t they have..."

Staring up at the ceiling, she recalled the events of a month ago—the day Xiao Heqing and Lin Zhengran each took a ride to meet up, and Xiao Heqing had tearfully complained about other girls appearing around Lin Zhengran. That night, the two best friends had a long discussion. Ultimately, driven by Xiao Heqing’s firm resolve, they decided to strike first to gain the upper hand!

Of course, this was definitely Han Wenwen’s idea. No matter how brave Xiao Heqing was, she would never suggest making the first move. At the time, Han Wenwen had been sitting on the bed, looking at He Qing. "Qingqing, even though there are other girls around him now, you two have the ultimate advantage of being childhood sweethearts. Besides, the fact that he traveled all this way to see you proves that you’re far more important than those other girls! We have to strike first! We absolutely cannot just sit around and wait for something to happen."

He Qing’s eyes had been red. "We can’t just sit around and wait... but... I still have a whole month before I transfer to school in the north. It’s going to be a long time before I can see him again."

Hugging a pillow, Han Wenwen had given her a meaningful look. "It might be a long time for you, but don’t forget you have me! I’ll be starting school right on schedule. Just tell me his name and give me a photo of him. Once I get to school, I’ll observe him for you. I’ll jot down all his habits so you can quickly figure out how he’s changed over the past four years. It’ll make it much easier for you to plan your romantic conquest!"

Swayed by her best friend’s words, He Qing had regained some confidence and asked for details. "But... how are you going to observe him? Won’t that be really difficult?"

Han Wenwen blinked her fox-like eyes and poked her cheek thoughtfully. "It’s a little tricky, but as your best friend, a small matter like this won’t stump me. I’ll figure something out. You just need to provide his name and a picture."

Xiao Heqing had nodded. She also felt that this matter couldn’t be delayed. So, the very next day, Xiao Heqing found a childhood photo of Lin Zhengran and handed it over to Han Wenwen. "Wenwen, I only have a photo of him from when he was little. But after seeing him yesterday, I think he still looks very much like he did back then. You should be able to recognize him when you see him."

Han Wenwen had taken it enthusiastically. It was worth noting that even as her best friend, she had never known what He Qing’s childhood sweetheart looked like or what his name was. He Qing had never brought it up, and she had never asked, but in truth, Han Wenwen was incredibly curious.

However, the moment she took the photo and clearly saw the figure in the picture, those fox-like eyes of hers suddenly froze in a daze.

Xiao Heqing had told her, "His name is Lin Zhengran."

The little boy in the photo perfectly overlapped with the boy she had seen at the bus stop that day.

Han Wenwen had looked up, her eyes curving into a bright smile as she accepted the mission. "Got it! Leave it to me. I definitely won’t let my Qingqing down!"