Thank You, Mr. Spider

Night was about to fall, and the lights in every household had come on.

In a building in Southern Town, a certain little fox lay sprawled on the bed in her cramped bedroom. Wearing a short skirt and a loose short-sleeved shirt, she munched on potato chips while flipping through an adult romance novel she had bought from who knew where.

The ringing of her phone made Han Wenwen's expression tense. She looked at the caller ID.

Just as she had expected, Aunt He had still called.

She carefully found the recorder under her pillow, then answered the phone. "Hello? Auntie?"

Aunt He asked simply, "Wenwen, is Qing Qing with you?"

Han Wenwen sat up and leaned against the headboard, lying without so much as a blush. "Mm, she's in the restroom. Do you want me to have her say a couple words to you?"

Aunt He replied, "No need. As long as I know she's at your place, I can relax. It's just that she's troubling you by staying at your house again."

"Auntie, you don't have to be so polite. Don't I occasionally stay overnight at your place too? I'm happy to have her here."

Aunt He nodded and smiled. "All right, then you two have fun. I was just calling to ask. If you're free tomorrow, come over to Auntie's for a meal."

"Okay. Goodbye, Auntie. Bye-bye."

After hanging up, Han Wenwen let out a breath of relief, then immediately called He Qing.

She lay back on her pillow with a wicked grin. After the call connected, her tone was meaningful, even full of soft charm. "Little Qing Qing? What are you doing? You should've already met up with that good big brother of yours, right?"

On the other end, He Qing was eating with Lin Zhengran at a noodle shop. Holding the phone, her little face flushed red as she said quietly, "We're eating. How are things on your end? Did my mom call you?"

"She did, but Auntie didn't suspect anything. Just enjoy your date."

Little He Qing shyly retorted, "What date? We're just meeting." She noticed Lin Zhengran looking at her, and said to her bestie in embarrassment, "All right, I'm not talking to you anymore. Thank you for covering for me today. I'll be back tomorrow. Hanging up now."

"Mm, then I won't disturb you two. Have fun." Han Wenwen hung up, put down her phone, and stared at the snow-white ceiling.

She muttered to herself, "Meeting your childhood sweetheart after traveling a thousand miles when you haven't seen each other for years is so romantic." For some reason, she thought of the chance encounter at the bus stop when she had traveled to The North half a year ago. Han Wenwen's fox eyes blinked twice. "That boy... could he really be my future boyfriend?"

Expressionless, she picked up the romance novel and continued flipping through it. "It still feels a little magical. After all, would I really like some boy?" She did not take the matter too much to heart.

At the noodle shop inside New Spring Grand Bus Station, Lin Zhengran finished paying for the meal.

He took Little He Qing and walked away along the bus station. There were many inns around the station for long-distance bus passengers to rest in.

Carrying her little schoolbag, Little He Qing followed behind him, passing one cramped-looking inn after another.

It was not until they reached the entrance of a small inn that did not look busy that He Qing stopped and whispered, "This one doesn't look like it has many people. There should be rooms available."

Lin Zhengran, walking in front, did not understand what she meant at first, but when he saw her shy appearance, he instantly realized.

So angry that he grabbed her cheeks, he said, "You still want to stay at an inn, huh? Do you have any common sense?"

Little He Qing's cheeks hurt a little from being pulled. With her eyes squeezed shut, she had no idea what she had said wrong this time either. "Aren't we supposed to stay at an inn? I have an ID card. I stayed in one with Mom before."

"What use is an ID card! Do you know how old you are this year?! Are you trying to get me locked up?"

Little He Qing truly did not understand this time. Covering her aching face, her eyes looked blank and adorable as she hummed like a mosquito, "What locked up? I didn't want you to go anywhere."

"I can't be bothered to explain it to you." Speechless, he turned and continued walking forward. "In any case, we definitely can't stay at an inn. Tonight we'll just find some random place to make do."

"Awo. Wait for me. So we can't stay at an inn? I really didn't know. Then where are we going?"

Fortunately, it was summer, so they would not freeze to death on the road in the middle of the night. If it had been winter, Lin Zhengran definitely would not have run over to meet this silly girl.

He went to a small supermarket and bought two blankets. After searching and observing, he finally found a run-down, shabby courtyard. Several scrapped vehicles and piles of iron junk sat inside, and there were plenty of weeds too.

Lin Zhengran climbed over the wall and jumped in. He found a scrapped car with intact windows, opened the door, and took a look, feeling that it was not bad.

Then he went back to the top of the wall and stretched out his hand. "Come up."

He Qing held his hand and stepped onto the wall, climbing over with him. The two walked to the side of the scrapped car.

They opened the door.

Because no wind got inside, the car was still very clean. There was only a thin layer of dust, and they could sit after putting something down.

Lin Zhengran laid the blanket over the back seat. "We'll make do here tonight. Tomorrow morning, you'll take the bus back."

Little He Qing nodded obediently. She felt it made no difference where they were. As long as she could be with him, it was fine.

She even helped Lin Zhengran spread out the blanket. "It's all my fault. Because of me, you can only sleep here tonight."

Lin Zhengran glanced at her. "Good that you know. But just this once. If you ever make me run all this way again just for something as boring as meeting you, I'm not coming."

"Mm, definitely not. Because from now on, we'll be seeing each other all the time."

The night deepened. This huge abandoned courtyard was actually rather frightening. Everything around them was pitch-black, and the sounds of frogs and other insects kept coming from the yard.

But with Lin Zhengran there, Little He Qing did not even realize she should be scared. She even felt that this small space was warm and cozy.

She opened her schoolbag and took out the carefully made little dessert. It was a piece of filled chocolate shaped like a swan.

"Look, the gift I prepared for you. It's not bad, right?"

After looking at it, Lin Zhengran genuinely thought it was pretty good. It was actually about the same shape as the one he had eaten the year they parted, only a little smaller. Or maybe it was just that they had grown up. "How long did it take you to learn this?"

"A long time." As she opened the box, she said, "At first, I didn't know how to make it at all. From making the shape to adjusting the flavor, it took several months altogether. This piece only turned out because I got lucky. I made another one after this, but it didn't look good again." She held the dessert out in front of him. "Here, try the taste."

Lin Zhengran broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. Little He Qing stared at him expectantly.

A moment later, Lin Zhengran chewed and said with feeling, "Compared to when you were little, you're much more amazing now. It's good."

Little He Qing bit her lower lip and giggled.

"Really? Then I'll have some too."

Little He Qing chewed the chocolate and looked at his face. "Right, if you spend the night outside, won't Uncle and Aunt ask you about it?"

Lin Zhengran made a sound of acknowledgment and took out his phone. "I called them on the way here. I'll call again now, just to put their minds at ease."

He called Dad and Mom, keeping it simple and direct. "Dad, Mom, I've seen He Qing. Do you want to talk to her? Okay, I'll give her the phone."

"Huh? I have to say hello too?" Little He Qing took the phone in a fluster. "Aunt, Uncle, mm-hm, I met up with Lin Zhengran this afternoon. It's fine, you don't need to worry..."

After the call ended, Little He Qing said in surprise, "You actually dared to tell Uncle and Aunt straight out that you came to see me?"

"I'm a boy, so of course they feel a bit more at ease. Though I did lie about certain details. Otherwise, would they have let me come out?"

Little He Qing stared blankly at him. She felt that Lin Zhengran really was still Lin Zhengran after all. "Thank you for being willing to come see me."

They chatted simply for a while longer. Because one blanket had been laid under them as a cushion, there was only one left to cover themselves with.

The blanket was very big, but Little He Qing wanted to sit together with Lin Zhengran under it. If they were apart, it would be... not warm.

But she didn't dare say so.

Then, just as she sat there at a loss, she suddenly saw a huge spider clinging to the car window, spinning silk in an utterly frightening way.

Little He Qing cried out in fright and instinctively burrowed toward Lin Zhengran's shoulder.

Lin Zhengran tapped the glass and scared the spider away. "There are lots of bugs at night. If you're scared, sit closer to me."

Seeing that he had closed his eyes as if to sleep, Little He Qing gave a soft response and shifted over until she was sitting very close to him. When he showed no reaction, she carefully leaned her head little by little against his shoulder. Feeling the warmth of Lin Zhengran's shoulder, she closed her eyes under the blanket, her heart piously grateful.

"Thank you, Mr. Spider."

The big spider under the car looked back, as if saying that these two humans were truly frightening out here in the middle of the night, and that it needed to get farther away.

Its eight legs scurried off at high speed.