Chapter 62: Xiao Heqing Holding a Scarf

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Xiao Heqing Holding a Scarf

During the lunch break in the middle school girls’ dormitory, Xiao Heqing had already neatly folded the scarf and placed it inside an exquisite gift box. Throughout the entire morning, she had hugged the box to her chest, refusing to let go, terrified that it might get bumped, bruised, or mysteriously vanish. She kept taking deep breaths, a nervous wreck.

Han Wenwen walked in carrying the lunch she had bought off-campus. "I’m back with food! I even went out of my way to buy Qingqing’s favorite meat skewers."

Sitting on her bed, Xiao Heqing looked a bit sheepish. "Thanks for the hard work, Wenwen. Tomorrow at noon, it’s my turn to get the food."

Han Wenwen shot her an amused glance with a smile and set the food down on the folding table. "What hard work? Today is the day Qingqing does something big! As your best friend, I’m cheering you on. Let’s have a victory meal in advance!"

Xiao Heqing lowered her head shyly. Only when Han Wenwen handed her a pair of chopsticks did she carefully set the gift box down. However, a moment later, her small face went pale.

Han Wenwen blinked. "Are you okay?"

Xiao Heqing shivered in panic. "Wenwen, how do you think he’ll answer me? Actually... I’m a little scared."

Han Wenwen pulled her chopsticks apart and bit the tips. "Well, that’s hard to answer. After all, Lin Zhengran isn’t quite like other boys, but I’m absolutely certain about one thing." She beamed. "After today, Qingqing’s relationship with Lin Zhengran will definitely level up."

Xiao Heqing slowly nodded. The two best friends drank their beverages and enjoyed their lunch.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xueli and her mother had just brought her grandma home. Sitting on the sofa, Grandma asked about her joining Child Star Studio.

Holding her granddaughter’s hands, she said, "Lili has really grown up. You’ve become so amazing! Maybe Grandma will even get to see you on TV in the future!"

Standing in front of her grandma, Jiang Xueli felt a bit bashful at the praise.

"But won’t you have to travel far away from time to time for your singing?" Grandma asked. "Can you handle that by yourself? Aren’t you scared?"

In front of her grandma, Jiang Xueli could always tell the truth. "Grandma, I actually haven’t traveled far yet, but next year I’m going to participate in a competition right here in our town. Fortunately, I have a really, really good male classmate. He keeps me company every day and helps me practice. Whenever he’s around, I’m not scared at all."

Grandma observed her granddaughter’s expression as she mentioned this boy and immediately understood. She nodded with a smile. "I see. It seems that boy treats you very well."

Jiang Xueli nodded. "Yeah, he treats me very well, and he’s super amazing! He knows how to do everything! Remember when I told you I had a really amazing classmate? I was talking about him."

Grandma’s eyes filled with doting affection. "Our Lili is the best. Grandma believes that you can do absolutely anything! I believe in you unconditionally."

Jiang Xueli smiled and nodded again. "Thanks, Grandma."

She threw herself into her grandma’s arms for a hug.

At three in the afternoon, the two teenage girls set out simultaneously from their respective locations. Jiang Xueli carried a zoo flyer, while Xiao Heqing hugged the gift box containing the scarf. Bidding farewell to her grandma and best friend respectively, they headed toward the area under the bridge where the white doves gathered.

At the same time, Lin Zhengran also left home, holding a handful of mixed grains, planning to feed the pigeons a bit early. He was the first to arrive, as his home was the closest.

The sky full of white doves seemed to sense that food was coming, flapping their wings as they flew over with a loud FLUTTER. Lin Zhengran scattered the grains on the ground, which were immediately snatched up by the birds.

On one side of the road, Xiao Heqing stepped out of a taxi, hugging her box. Looking toward the bridge from afar, she discovered that Lin Zhengran had surprisingly already arrived.

"Lin Zhengran?"

She felt a surge of panic. After all, she had shown up over an hour early. She quickly ran over with her gift.

On the other side, Jiang Xueli had strolled straight over from her house, her twin tails bouncing along with her nervous, hurried footsteps. Upon spotting the figure feeding the doves under the bridge, her face lit up with surprise and joy. She thought, "Big dummy? Why is he here so early?"

Quickening her pace, she also ran toward the bridge.

Both girls wanted to call out to him. Yet, it was this very impulse that caused them to speak in perfect unison with the girl on the opposite side.

"Lin Zhengran! Why are you here so early?"

"Big dummy! What time did you get here?"

A split second before their voices rang out, neither Xiao Heqing nor Jiang Xueli had anticipated the other’s presence. As their eyes locked, their pupils dilated in shock, staring at each other in utter astonishment. Their footsteps slowed before halting altogether.

Jiang Xueli noticed the box in Xiao Heqing’s hands, while Xiao Heqing saw the flyer in Jiang Xueli’s grasp. Instinctively, both girls tightened their grips on their items.

Hearing their voices, Lin Zhengran turned his head to look at them. The three of them stood by the bridge, gazing at one another as a thick, awkward silence instantly blanketed the entire area.

Jiang Xueli’s eyes trembled as she stared at the box in Xiao Heqing’s hands. She didn’t know what it was, but it was undoubtedly a very important gift! She thought, "He Qing... is she really here to confess her feelings?"

Xiao Heqing also fixed her gaze on the flyer in Jiang Xueli’s hand, nervously swallowing hard. She thought, "Why is Jiang Xueli here... Could she also be... also be here to confess?"

Suddenly, both blushing girls silently shifted their gazes to Lin Zhengran. One was as timid as a mouse, too afraid to speak up in front of others. The other hemmed and hawed, her pride rendering her completely tongue-tied.

Ultimately, it was Lin Zhengran who broke the silence. "What are you two spacing out for?"

Their brains short-circuited and practically exploded from sheer embarrassment.

Oblivious to the delicate atmosphere, the white doves COOED, as some flapped their wings and took flight, their pristine white feathers drifting down from the sky right before the trio’s eyes.

Meanwhile, back in the girls’ dormitory, Han Wenwen sat on the edge of her bed. Her slender fingers traced her own red lips—the same lips that had recently kissed a certain someone’s forehead. Her face bore a mix of shyness and jealousy.

Later that afternoon, a heavy downpour forced the three of them into the same taxi. Soaked to the bone, Xiao Heqing and Jiang Xueli sat inside with flushed faces, refusing to say a word. No matter what Lin Zhengran asked, they just kept their heads down, completely mute.

The following day, the rain had stopped, but the roads remained damp.

The morning sunlight was quite pleasant. Xiao Heqing hugged the box containing the scarf as she strolled leisurely along the side of the road. Her gift had not been delivered the previous afternoon; both Jiang Xueli’s sudden appearance and the unexpected rainstorm had thoroughly ruined her plans.

By chance, she noticed a little golden retriever whose paw was stuck in a broken manhole cover on the side of the road. She hurried over and first tried to comfort the puppy. "Don’t bite me, okay? I’ll help you get your paw out."

The little golden retriever gave a few soft WHIMPERS, seemingly understanding her words. It lay perfectly still on the ground, its tail wagging slowly.

Only then did Xiao Heqing carefully step closer and crouch down. She kept one arm wrapped tightly around her gift box while using her other hand to help extract the puppy’s trapped paw. Perhaps because using only one hand threw her off balance—and because she couldn’t bear to set the box down on the dirty ground—she pulled a bit too hard. The puppy’s paw slipped free, but the momentum sent Xiao Heqing falling straight back onto her rear, landing squarely in a patch of wet mud.

The splashing mud splattered all over the little dog as well, covering it in dirty water and grime.

"Ouch!" she cried out, scrambling to her feet to inspect the wet, muddy stains on her backside. Embarrassed, she tried brushing it off a few times, but it was utterly useless. If anything, it only made the mess worse.

Meanwhile, reacting to the splattered water, the puppy instinctively shook its body vigorously. Like a washing machine on spin cycle, it flung mud in all directions—straight onto Xiao Heqing.

Xiao Heqing let out a panicked yelp, squeezing her eyes shut and hugging the box tightly against her chest. She ended up speckled with mud spots from head to toe, and naturally, quite a bit of it got onto the box as well.

Once it realized what had happened, the little golden retriever seemed to know it had done something wrong. It WHIMPERED apologetically. Knowing it was filthy, the puppy didn’t dare touch her, as if trying to say it hadn’t done it on purpose.

Xiao Heqing didn’t say anything at first. Instead, she immediately checked the mud-splattered box, quickly opening it to inspect the scarf inside. Fortunately, the scarf was unharmed, still as clean as new.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief and put the lid back on. Smiling down at the puppy, she said, "It’s okay, it’s okay. My pants were already dirty anyway, so I’ll definitely have to wash them. Hurry up and head home now. Don’t step into any more cracks, and stay safe."

The puppy WHIMPERED a few more times. As Xiao Heqing walked away, it watched her from a distance.

The dirty, mud-stained Xiao Heqing walked over to the entrance of a kindergarten. This was where she and Lin Zhengran had gone to school together. Familiar memories came flooding back to her mind, filling her with immense nostalgia.

After gazing at it for a while, she continued walking until she reached the bank of a small river. Finding a bench nearby, she carefully laid down a few layers of tissues before taking a seat, afraid her muddy backside would ruin the bench. Looking down at the countless mud splatters covering her clothes, her mood took a slight nosedive.

"I figured you’d be here. When I dropped you two off last night, did you not hear what I told you?"

Xiao Heqing’s aggrieved expression instantly shifted. That voice was incredibly familiar. She turned her head toward the newcomer. "Lin... Lin Zhengran?"

Lin Zhengran was standing right beside her. Seeing the mud caked on her hair, her clothes, and especially her backside, he looked thoroughly confused. "How exactly did this happen? Did you go roll around in the mud?"

Xiao Heqing frantically scrambled to her feet, her eyes trembling as she bashfully clutched her box. "I... I was just rescuing a puppy and accidentally slipped. Why..." She spoke carefully. "Why are you here? And what were you saying about last night? I didn’t hear anything."

Lin Zhengran sighed in exasperation. He recalled how, after the heavy rain yesterday, he had hailed a taxi and ushered Jiang Xueli and He Qing inside. Yet for the entire ride, both girls just sat there blushing. No matter how many times he called their names, neither of them said a word. They were like a couple of stone statues, lost in their own worlds. Their souls seemed to have completely left their bodies.

Lin Zhengran reached out his hand. Xiao Heqing assumed he was going to flick her forehead and quickly squeezed her eyes shut. However, Lin Zhengran simply paused, his hand hovering in midair. It was only when she cautiously cracked an eye open that he finally delivered a sharp SMACK.

Xiao Heqing let out a small yelp.

"I’ll take you back to my place to wash up," Lin Zhengran said. "Besides, didn’t you have something you wanted to tell me?"