"If you put it that way, then yes." Lin Zhengran's expression was placid. "But she's known me since kindergarten."
"You..." Jiang Xueli was at a loss for words, then suddenly grew angry. She clenched her little fists, holding them back as she leaned forward like an airplane about to take off. "Then what does that make me?! I'm the one who's known you the longest!"
"Technically, you count as a childhood friend, too. As for how long we've known each other, you two are about the same. She's known me since kindergarten, all the way through second grade. You've known me from first through sixth grade."
The more Lin Zhengran explained, the angrier Jiang Xueli became. Puffing out her cheeks, she started hammering him with her little fists. "You're so infuriating!"
Her punches were soft and didn't hurt at all.
"What's there to be angry about? There's no rule that says I can only have one childhood friend." Lin Zhengran caught her flurry of light punches without missing a single one. "Besides, I'm just telling the truth. You wouldn't want me to lie to you, would you?"
"That's true... I'd be even angrier later if I found out you lied to me." She stopped punching but squeezed her eyes shut and yelled, "But I still feel like something's wrong!"
She stared at Lin Zhengran, feeling angry but also strangely flustered. In the end, she just huffed, flicked her twin ponytails, and stormed off.
Lin Zhengran stood his ground and called out, "Leaving so fast? You don't need me to walk you home?"
"I don't need you to! My house is just across the street anyway! Go on back and call your *other* childhood friend! She's still waiting for you."
Lin Zhengran replied, "Alright. Be careful on your way then."
Jiang Xueli stopped in her tracks, gritting her teeth in anger. Her little fists were clenched tight, and her whole body tensed up before she abruptly spun around. "Walk me home! I say you don't have to walk me, and you just listen?! Walk me home first, *then* you can make your call."
"Didn't you just say you didn't need me to walk you?"
"I did not!" she fumed. "You're always teasing me, so why are you being so obedient now?! If you wanted to walk me home, you shouldn't have let what I said stop you!"
'Actually, I don't really care if I walk her home or not,' Lin Zhengran thought. 'I mainly came downstairs to talk about the singing lessons.'
Jiang Xueli knew that if she said anything else, he might really refuse to walk her. So, she marched right up to him, looked up, and said, "You big dummy. Walk me."
Lin Zhengran met her gaze, feeling a bead of sweat form. 'These girls are so much trouble.'
After walking the sulking Jiang Xueli home, Lin Zhengran returned to his house to answer the phone.
But the first thing He Qing said was, "Who was that playing at your house just now? Was it... was it a girl?"
Lin Zhengran: "..."
The snow came earlier and heavier this winter than in previous years. Although Jiang Xueli had been huffing and puffing from time to time ever since she learned about his other childhood friend, she was still very serious about her singing lessons.
As the twelfth lunar month approached, Lin Zhengran headed to the mall to buy some music materials for Jiang Xueli's lessons.
Snowflakes danced in the sky. Lin Zhengran walked toward the mall, treading on a layer of snow that wasn't yet too thick. As he passed a certain corner, he found himself on the same path as a girl wearing a down jacket, a scarf, and what looked like sheer stockings. A faint scent of jasmine wafted from her.
At first, Lin Zhengran didn't pay her much mind, only noticing that the girl in front of him was walking at the same brisk pace he was.
The long scarf she wore over her shoulder-length hair reached down to her waist, swaying back and forth with her steps like a fox's tail.
After they had walked some distance, the girl with the scarf seemed to sense someone was behind her and glanced back.
It was only then that Lin Zhengran realized it wasn't just her scarf that was fox-like; she herself looked like one, too.
She had a delicate, oval-shaped face with exquisite features. Her eyes, in particular, held a natural charm, as if she were the reincarnation of a fox spirit. She was utterly distinctive.
The mall was close to the junior high school he would soon be attending, so Lin Zhengran knew this route well. The "fox," however, didn't seem to know the way.
She stopped at a bus sign, blinking her foxy eyes in confusion. "Where is No. 1 Middle School? With all this snow, I can't recognize the roads."
Lin Zhengran casually pointed down the road. "It's at the end of this street."
The fox-like girl looked at him curiously and smiled in thanks. "Thanks, handsome."
The two parted ways. While Lin Zhengran was in the mall picking out materials, he got another call from Jiang Xueli.
"You big dummy, you went shopping? Why didn't you ask me to come with you?"
Lin Zhengran continued browsing as he spoke. "Why would I? I'll just come find you after I'm done with this small errand. Just wait patiently at home."
After buying what he needed, he was about to leave the mall when he ran into the fox-like girl again at the entrance. It seemed she was also there to shop.
Meeting for the second time, the Little Fox gave Lin Zhengran a polite nod since he had helped her earlier.
Lin Zhengran nodded back.
As they passed each other, the Little Fox took out her phone to report on her trip to her best friend.
"Hey, Qingqing? I went to check out No. 1 Middle School. The campus is nice! They wouldn't let me in, but it looks so pretty!" She covered her mouth as she listened to her friend. "I know, I know. I'll take a couple of pictures for you and tell you all about my trip when I get back."
Since he had to take the bus back, Lin Zhengran walked to the bus stop with his things. In their small town, a bus only came once every half hour.
The snow was falling harder now. The whole city was a vast expanse of white, except for the roads, and a thick layer of snow blanketed the bus shelter.
He waited alone at the bus stop for ten minutes.
Finally, someone else arrived to wait for the bus.
But this person looked incredibly familiar.
Han Wenwen, carrying her purchases, saw the boy she was now encountering for the third time at the bus stop. Even she couldn't help but tilt her head in puzzlement.
Lin Zhengran was even more puzzled.
They looked at each other and shared a smile, then stood on opposite sides of the bus stop sign.
Lin Zhengran gazed into the distance as something suddenly occurred to him. 'A fox... isn't that what He Qing called her best friend from the South? Her name was something like Wenwen, right? But she probably doesn't look as much like a fox as the girl I met today.'
On the other side, Han Wenwen was tapping at her phone screen, the cold turning her fingertips pink.
After chatting with her best friend for a while, she was flipping through her photo album when she came across a picture from the Heart Connection Festival six months ago.
Legend had it that if you prayed for love at the Heart Connection Festival, your fated person would appear within a year. Even if you didn't get together right away, you would definitely meet them under some special circumstances first.
Han Wenwen smiled and sent the photos of the school to He Qing. For the past six months, she had been curious about how her fated person would appear.
A cat's meow interrupted Han Wenwen's chat and also broke Lin Zhengran's train of thought.
Both of them looked behind them at the same time.
Behind the bus shelter, they discovered a small cat stuck on a high branch of a large tree. Its cries sounded pitiful, likely due to the cold.
Without exchanging a word, Lin Zhengran and Han Wenwen instinctively walked over to take a look.
The trunk was straight and tall, and with the snow making it slippery, it would be impossible to climb.
"Can we get it down? A kitten that small will freeze to death if it stays up there," Han Wenwen asked.
Lin Zhengran looked up at the shivering kitten. "You find a cardboard box, and I'll find a stool. Let's give it a try."
"Okay."
They split up to find what they needed, and the two decisive individuals soon returned to the base of the tree.
Lin Zhengran placed a broken chair under the tree, while Han Wenwen held it steady for him.
Standing on the chair, he held up the large cardboard box, coaxing the kitten to jump into it.
Perhaps sensing their good intentions, the kitten tried to muster the courage to jump into the box but lost its footing and fell. Fortunately, Lin Zhengran had quick reflexes and caught the kitten in the box.
Han Wenwen jumped in fright.
After the rescue, Han Wenwen crouched on the ground, stroking the kitten's head with a wide, happy smile.
"This probably isn't a stray, right? I see something tied around its neck," she said.
"If we wait here a while, maybe someone will come looking for it."
"Mm-hmm."
The two of them stood together under the bus shelter. While crouching to care for the kitten, Han Wenwen took the initiative to speak. "My name is Han Wenwen."
'Han Wenwen...' Lin Zhengran thought the name sounded exactly like He Qing's best friend's name.
"Lin Zhengran."
"Your last name is Lin?" Han Wenwen looked up in surprise.
"Is something wrong?"
Lin Zhengran's gaze was different from that of other boys his age; it lacked their immaturity. Han Wenwen, who was good at reading people, noticed this immediately as their eyes met. She smiled and shook her head. "It's nothing. It's a nice name."
She lowered her head and stroked the kitten, wondering, 'Could the Heart Connection Festival really be that accurate? I've met so many guys, but this one's gaze is completely different from the others. It's like he's not interested in me at all. And everything is such a coincidence.'
Han Wenwen spoke again.
"If we're fated to, maybe we'll meet again." She tilted her head and smiled at Lin Zhengran, her voice full of foxy charm.
'If you really are He Qing's best friend,' Lin Zhengran thought, 'then we definitely will meet again.'
"Maybe so."