Chapter 63: He Qing’s Feelings

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: He Qing’s Feelings

"Ah?..." she murmured shyly.

"I have a dryer at home. You can wash your clothes while you’re at it, and they’ll dry in no time."

Xiao Heqing nodded slowly. Her attention was entirely focused on the latter half of his sentence...

Lin Zhengran turned to leave. She tried to follow, but before she could even take a single step, she suddenly let out a painful cry and nearly tripped. Fortunately, she managed to catch herself on a nearby bench.

Lin Zhengran looked back. "What’s wrong?"

"It suddenly hurts so much," Xiao Heqing said, looking down at her ankle. "I don’t know what happened..."

Lin Zhengran told her to sit down so he could take a look. Crouching, he rolled down her sock a little while Xiao Heqing watched him shyly.

As it turned out, the spot where she had previously injured herself was red and swollen again. Lin Zhengran looked up and asked what was going on. "How did you sprain your ankle again today? And in the exact same spot."

Xiao Heqing didn’t know what was going on either; it definitely hadn’t hurt earlier.

She stammered, "I-I don’t know! Did I twist it when I fell while rescuing the puppy earlier? But it really didn’t hurt just now..."

Seeing Lin Zhengran’s displeased expression, she hurriedly apologized. "S-sorry... Please don’t be mad. I’ve always been a little clumsy. You can scold me if you want."

He was reminded of how, when she was little, she would scold herself for having no brains.

He turned his back to Xiao Heqing and crouched down. "I’ll carry you. Let’s go to my place and apply some medicine."

Xiao Heqing was overwhelmed by the gesture. Seeing his clean clothes, she quickly waved her small hands. "No, no, I’m really dirty. I’m covered in mud, so you shouldn’t carry me. I can walk... I just have to go slowly."

Lin Zhengran threw a glance over his shoulder at her.

The look drained the color from Xiao Heqing’s face, and her voice dropped to a pitch lower than a mosquito’s buzz. "I-I can..."

"Get on."

"But I’m really dirty..." She truly didn’t dare to disobey Lin Zhengran.

Fortunately, he deliberately offered a solution. "You can just help me wash this jacket later, right?"

Hearing him put it that way, Xiao Heqing slowly climbed onto his back, apologizing profusely. "I’m sorry, Lin Zhengran. I’m getting your clothes all dirty..."

Lin Zhengran told her to wrap her arms around his neck, and the flustered Xiao Heqing freed up one hand to hold on to him.

Only then did Lin Zhengran stand up, supporting Xiao Heqing’s thighs with both hands, and head home. The little girl weighed less than a hundred pounds, and given his exceptional physique, she felt as light as a feather.

Only Xiao Heqing worried about her weight, asking softly, "Am I heavy? Are you tired from carrying me?"

"Why are you chattering so much?"

"Waah..."

The two of them walked past the kindergarten that Xiao Heqing had just run by earlier. Lin Zhengran and He Qing both looked over at it.

"So?" Lin Zhengran asked.

She nodded in shame, knowing exactly what he was going to ask.

Lin Zhengran carried her across the street. Curious pedestrians cast glances their way, while young boys and girls chased each other around the kindergarten entrance. Xiao Heqing could feel her heart racing.

In truth, Lin Zhengran had a pretty good idea of what these kids were up to. "I really don’t understand how you little girls have so much inner drama all day long. Regardless, I have no interest in middle school girls."

Xiao Heqing froze. An instant later, her eyes grew red as she looked like she was about to cry.

She thought, "No interest... What does he mean by ’no interest’? Did my confession just fail? But I haven’t even confessed yet. I didn’t say anything, so how could it have failed?"

Before Lin Zhengran could say anything else, he suddenly heard her sniffling and crying. "Are you crying?"

"N-no, I’m not crying... Waah..." She bit her lip aggrievedly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I’m not crying, waah."

"Crying is useless," Lin Zhengran said. "Bring your head closer."

"Ah? Hmm..." She stretched her head forward as much as she could. "And then what?"

"Take the hand that’s wrapping around my neck, put it on your head, and flick your forehead as hard as you can."

"Oh, okay." Sniffling, Xiao Heqing brought her hand to her forehead and gave it a harsh flick. She immediately cried out in pain, nearly bursting into fresh tears because she had hit herself too hard. "It hurts! I hit my head so hard!"

Lin Zhengran found it absurd that she had actually been so ruthless with herself. "It’s supposed to hurt. You never learn your lesson. Do you still remember what you said when you were a kid? What was your reason for learning Taekwondo back then?"

Feeling wronged and teary-eyed from the pain, she mumbled, "I remember. I wanted to become strong. I wanted to protect you when you got bullied... I wanted to become a powerful adult."

"So, have you achieved that yet?" Lin Zhengran asked. "Do you think you’ve grown up?"

"N-no." She had nothing but sincerity whenever she faced him. "Recently, I haven’t even been practicing Taekwondo very well, and I keep making you mad..."

Xiao Heqing hugged the box in her arms tightly.

"You know you haven’t grown up, yet you still let your imagination run wild?"

Lin Zhengran continued walking forward while supporting her thighs. After a brief silence, he finally spoke. "If you win first place in the town’s Taekwondo tournament next year, I can grant you one small wish as a reward."

Xiao Heqing blinked. A small wish?

Lin Zhengran suddenly added, "Besides, we’ll be sixteen once we start high school, won’t we?"

She answered his question first. "Yeah, we’ll be sixteen in high school, and eighteen when we graduate... Mom said I’ll be a true young woman by the time I’m in high school."

At first, she hadn’t thought much of it and merely gave a normal reply. But in a daze, Xiao Heqing suddenly realized something. Her eyes widened, and a sudden wave of joy washed over her. Blushing shyly, she muttered to herself, "Wait... a young woman?! Once I’m in high school, I won’t be a little girl anymore. I’ll be a young woman!"

Recalling what he had just said, she gathered her courage and asked, "Y-you... Lin Zhengran, it’s not like you dislike girls, right?"

Baffled, Lin Zhengran retorted, "Huh? What do you think?! I don’t plan on becoming a monk. What are you thinking about?"

Overjoyed, a bright smile bloomed on Xiao Heqing’s face. "R-really? Then... since you don’t like children, if I win the town tournament next year, become really strong, and am no longer a little girl in high school, will you..." Her clever brain subconsciously changed the phrasing as she asked cautiously, "You won’t abandon me, will you? When we were kids, you said you’d let me follow you for the rest of my life."

"Yeah. I did say that back in kindergarten, and my words still stand."

Xiao Heqing wept tears of joy, letting out a goofy giggle. "Really!"

Her expression suddenly went blank as she blinked foolishly.

She thought, "Wait... So if that’s the case... did my confession succeed or fail? Hmm, and it seems I didn’t even confess... How strange."