Chapter 56: Weibo

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Weibo

[As a reward for choosing a weapon, the Demon Sect Witch has used a unique secret technique on you. You have gained Strength +1, Energy +1, and Physical Strength +1.]

[However, the Demon Sect Witch seems to be paying more and more attention to you. Whether this is an opportunity or something else remains to be seen.]

In the late afternoon, near dusk, Lin Zhengran woke up comfortably from his bed.

Han Wenwen had finished her massage long ago. Reclining beside Lin Zhengran, she stared at his sleeping face with the unique, deep affection of a teenage girl.

When Lin Zhengran opened his eyes and turned his head, she immediately reverted to her usual demeanor, greeting him with a smile. "Are you awake, Lin Zhengran?"

He asked curiously, "What time is it? Did you not sleep?"

"I just woke up too." Han Wenwen took out her phone. "It’s past three in the afternoon. How did you sleep, Lin Zhengran?"

"Not going to lie, it was actually pretty good."

Marveling at how long he had slept, he realized that Han really did have some skills.

After tidying up a bit, Lin Zhengran and Han Wenwen left the rental apartment and headed downstairs.

Lin Zhengran recalled what the system had mentioned earlier. Over the past few days, he had indeed noticed that Han Wenwen was acting slightly different from usual.

"You and He Qing aren’t brewing up some bad ideas again lately, are you?"

Han Wenwen was amused by his sudden remark. Covering her mouth, she walked beside him. "You really know everything, Lin Zhengran. Recently, Qingqing is indeed planning a big move."

"A big move?" He really didn’t know what that silly girl was brainstorming every day. "What kind of big move?"

Han Wenwen tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and looked at him meaningfully. "I can’t tell you the specifics, Lin Zhengran. However... it’s a very courageous action."

Lin Zhengran thought about the previous incidents and felt they were ridiculous.

The Little Fox waved goodbye to Lin Zhengran at the neighborhood gate. "Then I’ll head back to school to keep Qingqing company. Be careful on your way home, Lin Zhengran."

Lin Zhengran acknowledged her, told her to do the same, and turned to leave.

Han Wenwen kept her hand raised in a wave for a long time. With a slight blush on her cheeks, she watched Lin Zhengran’s fading back, her curved fingers gently touching her red lips. Then, she too turned and headed toward the school.

Over the past few days, Xiao Heqing had been browsing online for scarf yarn. Just picking out the color and style with Han Wenwen took a long time. Ultimately, the two best friends agreed that gray was the best choice, as it suited a certain someone’s clothing style quite well.

A few days later, the scarf yarn Xiao Heqing bought online finally arrived. She hugged the delivery box as if she were about to embark on an epic battle. Her dorm bed was soon cluttered with balls of yarn and knitting needles.

Han Wenwen sat on her bed, stunned. "That’s a lot of stuff, isn’t it?"

Xiao Heqing frantically looked through the tutorial, counting the various items. Flustered, she said, "I don’t know either! I thought there would only be yarn and needles. I didn’t expect so many accessories."

As she spoke, a ball of yarn fell to the floor and rolled far away. Xiao Heqing hurriedly got out of bed to chase it, getting more disorganized the busier she got.

"How did it fall on the ground!" She quickly patted the dust off the yarn.

Han Wenwen was amused by her adorable antics. She picked up the instruction manual and read it, murmuring when she reached the final sentence: "Dedicate an hour a day, and it will take about a month and a half to finish knitting."

Surprised, Han Wenwen said, "That’s a bit long. In a month and a half, won’t we be on winter break?"

Xiao Heqing returned to her bed clutching a large pile of unraveling yarn. Just unpacking everything had her swamped. "It’s fine, I calculated it earlier. As long as I can set aside two hours a day, plus the weekends, I can knit it in less than half a month. Otherwise, if it drags on until after winter break, the scarf will be useless."

Han Wenwen hugged her knees. "Qingqing really is working hard for her confession."

Xiao Heqing shyly lowered her head.

So, starting from that day, Xiao Heqing really began setting aside as much time as possible to diligently learn how to knit. The evenings and the weekends when Lin Zhengran wasn’t with her were the best times for her to speed up her progress. She would secretly hide under the covers, carefully knitting her confession gift stitch by stitch.

In truth, Xiao Heqing wasn’t very good at needlework. At the very beginning, even Han Wenwen had gotten the hang of it, but Xiao Heqing’s brain occasionally turned to mush. Looking at the manual, she would lament in frustration, "Ah? How did I knit this yarn backwards again?! Now I have to unravel it and redo it."

However, practice makes perfect, and she gradually got better at it.

But as the price of this familiarity, time seemed to be running short. Several times when Han Wenwen went to the bathroom after lights out, or when she woke up in the morning, she found He Qing still hiding under the covers, knitting endlessly.

She asked softly, "Qingqing, why are you still knitting?"

Startled when her blanket was lifted, Xiao Heqing sighed in relief upon seeing it was Han Wenwen and smiled. "I just want to finish it earlier." After speaking, she returned to staring intently at the yarn and needles.

Occasionally, she would knit until she felt sleepy, but then she would quickly pat her own face to cheer herself on. "I can’t fall asleep, or I won’t have enough time."

The Little Fox marveled at her earnestness. She had to like Lin Zhengran a lot to go to such lengths.

This Saturday was the day Lin Zhengran accompanied Xiao Heqing to practice Taekwondo, a routine they kept once every three weeks.

Inside the youth Taekwondo hall, Lin Zhengran watched as Xiao Heqing trained with a girl a few years older than her. They exchanged punches and kicks. But after fighting for a while, Xiao Heqing, who had always been invincible in the past, was repeatedly pushed back today. After just a few rounds, she was sweating profusely.

Toward the end, Lin Zhengran even noticed something off about her movements. Sure enough, the next moment, she suddenly twisted her ankle during a high kick.

With a cry of pain, Xiao Heqing fell to the floor.

Seeing this, Lin Zhengran and the nearby coach immediately got up and rushed over. The older girl who was her opponent was also surprised, wondering what had been going on with the normally formidable Xiao Heqing lately.

"He Qing, are you okay?!"

Lying on the mat in pain, Xiao Heqing smiled awkwardly. Her main issue was that she had slept too little recently, and she was indeed feeling physically drained. "I’m fine, I’m fine. It was just a little mistake. Don’t worry, I can keep going."

She tried to stand up, but Lin Zhengran, who had run over, crouched down and warned, "Don’t move, let me take a look!" Xiao Heqing didn’t dare to look at him.

The coach also stepped onto the ring to check the injury. Fortunately, both of them found that Xiao Heqing had only suffered a minor sprain.

Relieved, the coach still advised against continuing. "You scared me. But you’ve been looking to be in pretty bad shape lately. You’d better rest for the next couple of days. When you get off the mat, go to the back and apply some ointment for bruises and sprains."

Xiao Heqing thought to herself that Lin Zhengran was finally accompanying her this week; she couldn’t afford to rest. Otherwise, the next time he kept her company would be three weeks later during winter break.

Waving her small hands, she protested, "No, no, Coach, I’m fine. I just misstepped for a second."

But the coach was concise and firm. "Your form started slipping last week. This week, not only has your form not recovered, but you’re also starting to get injured. You need to take a break. Alright, let your friend here take you to get changed and rest."

Speechless, Xiao Heqing timidly peeked at Lin Zhengran, who was staring at her, and was too ashamed to raise her head.

Lin Zhengran accompanied Xiao Heqing to the backstage area and took out the ointment. Dressed in her snow-white Taekwondo uniform, Xiao Heqing sat on a chair with her injured foot bare. She didn’t dare to speak because she knew she was definitely going to get scolded.

In fact, Lin Zhengran’s tone wasn’t strict; he simply unscrewed the ointment and asked normally. But to Xiao Heqing’s ears, it was deafening.

"What’s going on with you?!"

Hearing him speak, Xiao Heqing shrank her neck and replied pitifully, "Nothing... I just accidentally kicked too high."

Lin Zhengran looked at her quizzically. "Kicked too high? From the moment I saw you step onto the mat this morning, I noticed you were completely off. Not only did all your movements lack power, but your reaction time had also dropped significantly. Especially that last kick, you actually..."

Resting her small hands on the chair, Xiao Heqing looked down at her bare little foot and pursed her lips, looking perfectly willing to take the scolding.

Lin Zhengran didn’t finish his sentence. Remembering what Han Wenwen had said a few days ago, he let out a long breath, wondering where on earth this girl had been spending all her Energy lately.

"Put your foot on my leg."

Xiao Heqing froze for a moment and turned her head. "Huh?"

Lin Zhengran enunciated every word, "I said, put your foot on my leg so I can apply the ointment."

Overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, she reached out her hand. "I can do it myself. I’ve got it."

But when her small hand touched the ointment box, she found that Lin Zhengran hadn’t let go. She glanced up at him, not daring to meet his eyes, and slowly withdrew her hand, clasping her fingers tightly together. She looked like a terrified sparrow.

Lin Zhengran ordered, "Hurry up."

Xiao Heqing flinched, then turned her body and obediently placed her foot on his leg. Tears seemed to well up in her eyes. "Don’t be mad..."

"Who said I was mad?"

Xiao Heqing felt that he definitely was mad, so she could only comfort him in a whisper: "I know I was wrong... You can scold me all you want, just don’t make yourself angry. Just now..." She peeked up at him. "I just spaced out a bit. I’ll be fine after a rest..."

She actually had one more sentence to add—"Please don’t go back so early, can you stay with me a little longer?"—but she didn’t dare say those words out loud.

Lin Zhengran gave her a speechless look and cut straight to the chase. "What exactly have you been doing lately?"

"Huh?" With a flushed face, she was shocked, wondering if he had found out. "What do you mean, what have I been doing..."