Night was falling, and lights flickered to life in every household.
In an apartment building in a small town in the South, a certain vixen lay on her stomach on the bed in her cramped bedroom. Wearing a short skirt and a loose T-shirt, she munched on potato chips while flipping through an adult romance novel she had bought from god knows where.
The ringing of her phone caused Han Wenwen to tense up. Looking at the caller ID, it was just as she had expected: Mrs. He was calling again.
She carefully retrieved an audio recorder from under her pillow and answered the call. "Hello? Mrs. He?"
Mrs. He asked simply, "Wenwen, is Qingqing with you?"
Han Wenwen sat up and leaned against the headboard, lying without batting an eye. "Yeah, she's in the bathroom right now. Do you want me to have her say a few words to you?"
"No need," Mrs. He replied. "As long as I know she's with you, I'm relieved. It's just a bother to have her stay at your place again."
"You don't need to be so polite, Mrs. He. Don't I occasionally stay over at your place too? I'm more than happy to have her over."
Mrs. He nodded with a smile. "Alright, you two have fun. I just wanted to call and check. If you're free tomorrow, come over for a meal."
"Okay, bye, Mrs. He."
Hanging up the phone, Han Wenwen let out a sigh of relief and immediately dialed He Qing's number. She lay back on her pillow with a wicked smirk. Once connected, she spoke meaningfully, her tone full of charm, "Qingqing? What are you up to? You should have met up with your dear 'brother' by now, right?"
On the other end, He Qing was currently eating at a noodle shop with Lin Zhengran. Answering the phone, her small face flushed as she whispered, "We're eating. How are things on your end? Did my mom call you?"
"She did, but she didn't suspect a thing. You can just enjoy your date without worrying."
Xiao Heqing shyly retorted, "What date? We're just meeting up..." Noticing Lin Zhengran looking at her, she felt embarrassed and quickly said to her best friend, "Alright, I'm not talking to you anymore. Thanks for covering for me today. I'll head back tomorrow. I'm hanging up now."
"Yeah, I won't bother you two anymore. Have fun." Han Wenwen hung up and put her phone down, staring at the snow-white ceiling.
She muttered to herself, "Traveling a thousand miles just to meet up in person with a childhood sweetheart you haven't seen in years is truly romantic." For some reason, she recalled the chance encounter at a bus stop when she traveled North half a year ago. Han Wenwen blinked her foxy eyes. She wondered, "Will that boy really be my future boyfriend?"
She picked up the romance novel with an expressionless face and continued reading. She thought, "It feels a bit magical, actually. After all, would I really fall for any guy?" She didn't dwell on the matter too much.
At the noodle shop in Xinchun Bus Station, Lin Zhengran paid for their meal.
He led Xiao Heqing away from the station. The area around the bus station was filled with numerous motels intended for long-distance passengers to rest. Wearing a small backpack, Xiao Heqing followed behind him, passing by one crowded-looking motel after another.
When they finally reached the entrance of a small motel that didn't look busy, He Qing stopped in her tracks and whispered, "This one doesn't seem to have many people... There should be vacant rooms."
Walking ahead, Lin Zhengran didn't understand what she meant at first. But seeing her shy demeanor, it immediately clicked for him. Angrily, he pinched her cheek. "You actually want to stay in a motel? Do you have any common sense!"
Xiao Heqing's cheek hurt from being pinched. She squeezed her eyes shut, completely unaware of what she had said wrong this time. "Aren't we supposed to stay in a motel? I have my ID. I've stayed in one with my mom before."
"What's the use of having an ID! Do you know how old you are this year?! Are you trying to get me locked up?"
This time, Xiao Heqing truly didn't understand. Cupping her aching cheek, she looked at him with an adorable yet blank gaze and mumbled like a mosquito, "Locked up for what? I didn't want you to go anywhere."
"I can't be bothered to explain it to you." Speechless, he turned around and continued walking forward. "Anyway, staying at a motel is definitely out of the question. We'll just find a random place to make do for the night."
"Oh, wait for me! So we can't stay at a motel? I honestly didn't know. Then where are we going?"
Fortunately, it was summer, so they wouldn't freeze to death out on the streets in the dead of night. If it had been winter, Lin Zhengran definitely wouldn't have bothered running all the way out here to meet this silly girl.
He went to a small supermarket to buy two blankets. After looking around, he finally spotted a dilapidated courtyard. Inside, there were several scrapped cars, heaps of scrap metal, and an overgrowth of weeds. Lin Zhengran hopped over the wall. He found a scrapped car with intact windows, opened the door, took a look, and thought it was decent enough. Returning to the top of the wall, he reached out his hand. "Come up."
He Qing grabbed his hand, stepped onto the wall, and climbed over with him. The two walked over to the scrapped car and opened the door.
Because it was sealed from the wind, the interior was still quite clean. There was only a thin layer of dust; laying something down would make it perfectly fine to sit on.
Lin Zhengran laid a blanket down on the backseat. "We'll just make do here for tonight. Tomorrow morning, you'll take the bus back."
Xiao Heqing nodded obediently. She felt that it didn't matter where they were, as long as she could be with him. She even helped Lin Zhengran spread out the blanket. "It's all my fault. I made it so you have to sleep here tonight."
Lin Zhengran shot her a glance. "Glad you know. But this is the only time. If you ever make me do something as boring as traveling all this way just to meet you again, I won't come."
"Yeah, definitely not. Because we'll be seeing each other all the time from now on."
As the night deepened, the massive abandoned courtyard was actually quite terrifying. The surroundings were pitch black, and the sounds of frogs and other insects echoed incessantly within the yard. However, with Lin Zhengran around, Xiao Heqing surprisingly didn't feel afraid at all. She even found this tiny space to be cozy.
Opening her backpack, she took out a carefully crafted dessert—a piece of filled chocolate in the shape of a swan. "Look, the gift I prepared for you. It's not bad, right?"
After looking at it, Lin Zhengran genuinely thought it was impressive. It actually looked almost identical to the one they had eaten the year they parted ways, albeit a bit smaller. Or perhaps it was just because they had grown up. "How long did it take you to learn how to make this?"
"A really long time," she said as she opened the box. "At first, I had no idea how to make it. From molding the shape to adjusting the flavor, it took me several months altogether. This piece only turned out well out of pure luck. I tried making it again later, and it didn't look good." She offered the dessert to him. "Here, taste it and see."
Lin Zhengran broke off a piece and popped it into his mouth. Xiao Heqing stared at him with anticipation.
After chewing for a moment, Lin Zhengran sighed in admiration. "You're much better at this now compared to when we were kids. It's delicious."
Xiao Heqing bit her lower lip and giggled. "Really? Then I'll have a taste too."
Chewing on the chocolate, Xiao Heqing looked at his face. "By the way, won't your parents ask about you spending the night out?"
Lin Zhengran let out an "Oh" and took out his phone. "I called them on my way here, but I might as well call them again now to give them peace of mind." He straightforwardly dialed his parents' number. "Mom, Dad, I've met up with He Qing. Do you want to talk to her? Okay, I'll hand the phone over to her."
"Ah? I have to say hi?" Xiao Heqing hurriedly took the phone in a panic. "Mr. and Mrs. Lin, mm-hmm, I met up with Lin Zhengran this afternoon. We're fine, you don't need to worry..."
After finishing the call, Xiao Heqing was amazed. "You actually dared to tell your parents directly that you came out to find me?"
"I'm a boy, so they're definitely less worried. Of course, I lied about certain details, otherwise would they have let me come out?"
Xiao Heqing stared at him blankly. She felt that Lin Zhengran was still the same old Lin Zhengran. "Thank you for being willing to come out and see me..."
They chatted simply for a little while longer. Since one of the blankets was laid beneath them, they only had one left to use as a cover. The blanket was very large, but Xiao Heqing wanted to sit next to Lin Zhengran and share it. If they stayed apart, it wouldn't... keep them warm.
But she didn't dare to say it out loud.
Just as she sat there at a loss, she suddenly noticed a huge spider clinging to the car window. It was spitting silk, looking incredibly terrifying. Frightened, Xiao Heqing let out a yelp and subconsciously buried herself against Lin Zhengran's shoulder.
Lin Zhengran tapped on the glass to scare the spider away. "There are a lot of bugs at night. If you're scared, stay closer to me."
Seeing that he had closed his eyes to sleep, Xiao Heqing gave a soft sound of agreement and scooted over to sit right next to him. Seeing that he had no reaction, she carefully rested her head against his shoulder inch by inch. Feeling the warmth of Lin Zhengran's shoulder, she closed her eyes, pulled the blanket over them, and prayed in earnest gratitude.
She thought, "Thank you, Mr. Spider."
The giant spider beneath the car glanced back, as if to say that these two humans were truly frightening in the dead of night and that it needed to stay far away. With its eight legs, it scurried away rapidly.