A God-Given Bond

"If you put it that way, then yes." Lin Zhengran's expression was calm. "But she's known me since kindergarten."

"You—" Jiang Xueli was struck speechless. She suddenly got angry, clenching her little fists with both hands held back, her body leaning forward like a plane with its nose tilted up. "Then what am I supposed to be?! I've obviously known you the longest!"

"Technically, you count as a Childhood Sweetheart too. As for how long you've known me, it's about the same. She was kindergarten—junior, middle, senior—and first and second grade. You were first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth."

The more Lin Zhengran talked, the angrier Jiang Xueli got. Puffing out her cheeks, she raised her little fists to pound him. "You're seriously infuriating!"

The hits were just completely painless.

"What's there to be angry about? It's not like there's a rule saying I can only have one childhood sweetheart." Lin Zhengran caught every one of her phantom little punches. "Besides, I'm telling the truth. You don't want me lying to you, right?"

"That's true... If you lied to me and I found out later, I'd be even angrier." She stopped punching, but then shut her eyes and shouted, "But I still feel like something's wrong!"

She stared at Lin Zhengran, angry while also feeling strangely curious inside. In the end, she could only huff, whip her Double Ponytail around, and stride off.

Lin Zhengran stood there and asked, "Leaving that fast? You don't need me to walk you home?"

"No! My house is right across the street anyway! You go back and call your Childhood Sweetheart! She's still waiting for you."

Lin Zhengran gave a sound of acknowledgment. "Then be careful on the way."

Jiang Xueli stopped in her tracks, so angry she gritted her teeth. Her little fists clenched tight, her whole body bracing itself before she suddenly turned back around. "Come walk me home! Just because I said you didn't have to, you really won't?! Walk me home first, then go make your call."

"Didn't you say you didn't need me to?"

"I didn't!" she said in frustration. "You're always bullying me, so why are you being so obedient now?! If you wanted to walk me home, then don't change your mind just because of what I said!"

Lin Zhengran wanted to say that, actually, he really thought either was fine. The main reason he had come downstairs was to talk about singing.

Jiang Xueli knew that if she said anything else, he might really stop walking her home, so she went straight up to him and looked up at him. "Big Dummy, walk me home."

Lin Zhengran looked at her with embarrassment. These little girls were such trouble.

After walking the vinegar-scented Jiang Xueli home, Lin Zhengran went back home to answer the phone.

As a result, the first thing He Qing said was, "Who was playing at your house just now? Was it a girl?"

Lin Zhengran: "."

That winter, the snow came heavier and earlier than in previous years. Although after learning that he had another Childhood Sweetheart, Jiang Xueli had started huffing from time to time, she was still very serious when it came to learning how to sing.

With the Twelfth Lunar Month approaching, Lin Zhengran was going to the mall today to buy some music materials for teaching Jiang Xueli.

Heavy snow filled the sky. Lin Zhengran stepped through the not-yet-thick snow as he walked toward the mall, and when he passed a certain corner...

A girl wearing a Down Jacket, a Bare Leg Artifact, and a scarf walked onto the same road as him. There was an indescribable scent of jasmine on her.

At first, Lin Zhengran paid no attention. He only noticed that the girl was walking at the same speed as him, ahead of him.

Beneath her shoulder-length hair, that scarf reached her waist, swaying back and forth with her steps like a fox tail.

After walking for a while, the scarf-wearing girl seemed to feel that someone had been behind her the whole time, so she glanced back.

Only then did Lin Zhengran realize that it wasn't just her scarf that looked like a fox. She did too.

She had an oval face and very delicate features, especially those eyes, which carried a trace of natural allure. She looked exactly like the reincarnation of a Fox Spirit, very distinctive.

Because the mall was very close to the Middle School they would soon enroll in, Lin Zhengran was very familiar with this road. But that fox seemed not to know the way very well.

When she reached a bus stop sign, she stopped and blinked her Fox Eyes in distress. "Where is No. 1 Middle School? With the snow falling, I can't recognize the road at all."

Lin Zhengran casually pointed toward the road in the distance. "Go to the end and that's No. 1 Middle School."

That fox looked at him curiously and smiled in thanks. "Thanks, handsome."

The two parted ways. Lin Zhengran picked out the materials at the mall and received a call from Jiang Xueli midway.

"Big Dummy, you went shopping? Why didn't you call me to come with you?"

Lin Zhengran browsed through the options. "Why would I call you? I'll just buy these things and go find you afterward. Wait obediently at home."

After buying everything, he was just about to leave the mall when he ran into that fox again at the entrance. It seemed she had also come to buy things.

Meeting for the second time, Little Fox politely nodded at Lin Zhengran because he had helped her earlier.

Lin Zhengran nodded too.

As they brushed past each other, Little Fox picked up her phone and reported her travel situation to her Bestie:

"Hello, Qingqing? I went to see No. 1 Middle School. The environment's pretty nice. They wouldn't let me in, but it looked so beautiful!" She covered her mouth as she listened to her Bestie's description. "I know, I know. I'll take a couple photos for you when the time comes, and I'll tell you about this trip when I get back."

Because he had to take the bus back, Lin Zhengran carried his things to the bus stop sign. In the small town, there was only one bus every half hour.

The snow fell harder and harder. Aside from the road, the whole city was a vast white expanse, and the bus shelter was also covered in a thick layer of snow.

He waited alone by the stop sign for ten minutes.

Finally, another person waiting for the bus arrived.

Only, the other party looked strangely familiar.

Han Wenwen, carrying the things she had bought, saw the boy she had now run into for the third time at the bus stop. Even she couldn't help tilting her head in puzzlement.

Lin Zhengran was even more puzzled.

The two looked at each other and smiled, each standing on one side of the bus stop sign.

Lin Zhengran looked into the distance and suddenly remembered something. Wasn't that little girl He Qing's best friend from the south a fox? He seemed to recall her name was something like Wenwen. But she probably didn't look as much like one as the fox he had run into today.

Han Wenwen held her phone on the other end, tapping at the screen, the cold freezing her fingertips pink.

After chatting with her Bestie for a while, she flipped through her photo album and suddenly saw the photos from the Lianxin Festival half a year ago.

It was said that after praying for Marriage Fate at the Lianxin Festival, one's True Son of Heaven would descend within a year. Even if the person who prayed for fate did not temporarily get together with their True Son of Heaven, they would definitely meet them first in some kind of situation.

Han Wenwen smiled and sent the school photos she had taken to He Qing. For the past half year, she had always wondered in what form her True Son of Heaven would appear.

A cat's meow interrupted Han Wenwen's WeChat chat, and also interrupted Lin Zhengran's thoughts.

The two of them looked back together.

They found that on a large tree behind the bus shelter, a kitten was stuck near the treetop and could not get down, its cries seeming pitiful because of the cold.

Lin Zhengran and Han Wenwen said nothing, simply walking over in tacit understanding to take a look.

The trunk was very straight and very tall, and with the snow making it impossible to get a grip, there was no way to climb up.

"Can we save it? Such a small cat will freeze to death if it doesn't come down," Han Wenwen asked.

Lin Zhengran looked up at the shivering kitten. "Go find a cardboard box. I'll go find a stool. We'll give it a try."

"Okay."

The two of them each went to look for tools, and before long, both of them, fully efficient, returned under the tree.

Lin Zhengran placed a broken chair under the tree, and Han Wenwen held it steady for him.

Lin Zhengran held up the huge cardboard box, calling for the kitten to jump into it.

Perhaps the kitten sensed their kindness. It tried to muster the courage to jump into the cardboard box, but its paw slipped and it fell instead. Fortunately, Lin Zhengran was quick-eyed and quick-handed, catching the kitten in the box.

It gave Han Wenwen a fright.

After the rescue, Han Wenwen crouched on the ground, stroking the kitten's head, smiling brightly and looking very happy.

"This probably isn't a stray cat, right? I see something tied around its neck," she said.

"If we wait here for a while, someone might come looking for it."

"Mm."

Under the bus shelter, the two stood together. Han Wenwen crouched on the ground taking care of the kitten and spoke first. "My name is Han Wenwen."

Han Wenwen... Lin Zhengran felt like this name was exactly the same as He Qing's best friend's name... "Lin Zhengran."

"Your surname is Lin?" Han Wenwen looked up in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Zhengran's gaze was different from that of ordinary boys, because it did not have the childishness of people his age. The moment their eyes met, Han Wenwen, who was good at observing men's thoughts, immediately noticed it. She smiled and shook her head. "Nothing. It's a nice name."

She lowered her head and stroked the kitten's head, wondering curiously if the Lianxin Festival really was that accurate. She had met so many boys, yet only this boy's eyes were completely different from other boys', as if he was not interested in her at all. And everything was also so coincidental.

Han Wenwen spoke again.

"If we're fated, maybe we'll meet again in the future." She tilted her head and smiled at Lin Zhengran, carrying a distinctly seductive, fox-like charm.

Lin Zhengran thought, If you really are He Qing's bestie, then we really will meet again.

"Maybe."