Chapter 54: Song Jiaru Meets Xu Yunzhou for the First Time

Xu Yunzhou watched Song Jiaru safely return to the hotel.

Only after waiting until he heard her muttering, "Big Brother, goodnight..." through the screen, her voice thick with sleepiness and incredibly attached, did he finally move the mouse and click the [Fast Forward] button.

The footage flipped rapidly like book pages blown by a gale. When the image stabilized again, the scene unfolding before his eyes made him freeze slightly.

Familiar red brick walls, that row of old parasol trees rustling beside the sports field... Holy shit! Isn't this his own middle school, Binzhou No. 5 Middle School?

In the footage, a woman wearing a black mask and a baseball cap was strolling alone on the tree-lined path.

Although she deliberately kept a low profile, those long, beautiful legs wrapped in jeans, and the perfect proportions that couldn't be concealed even wearing a loose jacket, were simply as conspicuous as a firefly in the dark night.

Passing boys frequently looked back, and some even secretly took out their phones to take pictures.

"Tsk, this girl is the center of attention wherever she goes now."

Xu Yunzhou couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

She seemed to sense something intuitively, suddenly stopping in her tracks.

Tilting her head slightly, the pair of clear almond eyes exposed above her mask curved into crescents, and she spoke softly to the empty space right beside her:

"Big Brother, you finally finished charging and came back?"

Xu Yunzhou subconsciously rubbed his nose, his voice carrying a gentleness even he hadn't noticed:

"Mhm, just came back. Why did you stroll over here?"

Song Jiaru held her hands behind her back, her body unconsciously leaning slightly toward the direction where "he" was:

"I'm flying back to Chengzhou tonight, and suddenly my heart felt a bit... empty, so I wanted to come out for a random walk. I happened to pass by this middle school and felt it had a nice vibe, so... I snuck in."

She paused, her voice lowering, carrying a bit of self-mockery:

"Looking at these kids who are so genuinely full of life and carefree, feeling that vibrant energy rushing right at me... it makes me want to secretly reminisce about my own school days back then.

"Back when I would only shrink away into a corner, dull and dusty like an ugly duckling that was terrified of the light. Big Brother, tell me... how wonderful would it have been if I had met you back then?"

Listening to the faint sentimentality and reliance revealed in her words, Xu Yunzhou was just about to use his usual teasing to dissolve this slightly emotional atmosphere, when his brain was as if struck by a bright lightning bolt!

Wait!

This scene... this time point... Binzhou No. 5 Middle School...

A blurry image almost forgotten, sealed in the corner of his teenage memories, abruptly became clear!

He abruptly widened his eyes, his heart accelerating uncontrollably:

"No way... could it be that next..."

As if to confirm his premonition, in the next second—

A teenager wearing a blue and white school uniform, steaming all over, his bangs soaked with sweat, rushed out from the direction of the playground like a whirlwind!

His eyes were locked onto a scuffed, dirty soccer ball that was rolling out of bounds, but his foot suddenly caught on something!

"Bang!"

A heavy, dull thud echoed!

Without anything to break his fall, the teenager hit the deck face-first in an incredibly clumsy crash.

His head bumped rather hard against Song Jiaru's sneaker, and one of his hands even subconsciously clamped down tightly around the ankle of her other foot!

His knees slammed hard against the rough asphalt, shredding right through his thin uniform pants as bright red blood began to seep out.

"Hiss—fuck! Ah, sorry, sorry!"

The kid gritted his teeth in agony. Looking up and seeing clearly that it was an older sister possessing an exceptionally elegant aura, he panicked instantly.

He scrambled to let go of her, but the sheer throbbing pain left him unable to muster any strength for a moment.

"Classmate, are you all right?"

Almost instinctively, Song Jiaru stepped forward quickly, squatted down, her voice carrying concern.

She extended her slender and fair hands, gently supporting the teenager's dirty arm, wanting to help him steady his body.

Right at the instant the teenager borrowed the force to raise his head and their eyes met—

Song Jiaru's eyes exposed outside the mask abruptly widened!

These brows and eyes! The curve of this nose bridge! This expression carrying a bit of ignorance and panic amidst stubbornness!

Although the face still carried baby fat that hadn't completely faded, and the eyes were clear and immature, but...

The outline of this face was clearly eighty or ninety percent similar to that face she faced day and night and had already carved into her soul!

As if hit by an immobilization spell, she froze in place, stunned for a full three seconds.

Then, she abruptly turned her head, looking at the illusory figure of "Big Brother" beside her that only she could perceive, and then quickly twisted her head back to look at the teenager baring his teeth in pain before her eyes.

She screamed wordlessly in her heart:

"Big Brother! He... he looks so much like you! These brows and eyes... this is simply what you looked like as a child, right?"

Outside the screen, Xu Yunzhou supported his forehead with his hand, simply unable to look, complaining crazily internally:

No shit! That is literally me when I was fourteen years old!

Staring at his incredibly clumsy younger self on the screen, who had completely humiliated himself in front of the future Queen of Pop over a stupid trip, a wave of agonizing social-death embarrassment crashed over him right across the barriers of spacetime.

Looking at the teenager's face that looked exactly like "Big Brother," Song Jiaru's eyes became extremely complex.

Shock, disbelief, the pity of loving the house and its crow, and an indescribable gentleness.

(TL: "Loving the house and its crow" loving someone so much you also love everything associated with them.)

She took out a wet tissue and with exceptionally gentle movements, wiped away the dust and blood stains around the teenager's arm and knees.

Her fingertips occasionally inadvertently brushed across intact skin, bringing a wave of slightly numb ticklishness.

"Does it hurt?"

She asked softly, her voice sounding exceptionally gentle through the mask,

"There's small gravel in the wound, if it's not cleaned out it will get infected. Do you want... me to take you to the infirmary to have a look?"

That gaze, so gentle it could almost drip water, and the complex emotions contained within it, made the fourteen-year-old Xu Yunzhou, who was just on the verge of his first awakening of love, completely unable to understand, much less parry.

He only felt that being cared for at such close distance by such a fragrant, pretty older sister whose voice sounded as nice as those on the radio, and smelling the scent on her body that was so good it made him dizzy.

His cheeks went "swish" and turned explosively red. His heartbeat was so fast it seemed it would jump out of his throat in the next second.

"T-thank you sister... I... I'm fine, no need to go to the infirmary!"

He stuttered, his voice as small as a mosquito humming, wishing he could dig a hole in the ground and crawl in immediately.

Song Jiaru was amused by his embarrassed appearance, but seeing the wound on his knee, the smile turned into worry again.

Her gaze landed again on the teenager's face that looked exactly like "Big Brother," as if making some sort of determination.

Raising her hand, she unclasped a necklace from her neck—a minimalist-designed silver ornament, the pendant a delicate feather shape.

This was what Xu Yunzhou specially picked out for her back in Chunxi Road, saying feathers symbolize flying freely.

"This, is a gift for you."

Song Jiaru pulled over the teenager's still dirt-stained hand, and without any explanation, placed the necklace, which still carried her body temperature and faint fragrance, into his palm.

Her tone carried an unquestionable gentleness:

"You must take good care of it, understand? It... might bring you good luck."

"Ah? This... this is too valuable! I can't take it!"

Looking at the necklace in his hand, the teenage Xu Yunzhou hurriedly wanted to push it away and refuse.

"Take it."

Song Jiaru's tone was gentle yet carried firmness.

She leaned forward slightly, getting even closer, so close that the teenager could clearly see her long and curled eyelashes, and his own panicked shadow reflected in those beautiful eyes.

"But, you have to promise me two things."