Memories and Photos Overlap

Middle school began.

But during the month before He Qing arrived, Lin Zhengran's middle school life was a little strange, because there was a fox constantly observing him.

The first time was on the day school started. After the deskmates were assigned, he was bored and reading a book when he noticed that his deskmate, Han Wenwen, would prop her cheek up gracefully with one hand.

She stared at him openly, and once she started, she kept staring the whole morning.

Lin Zhengran asked her if something was wrong.

Han Wenwen shook her head faintly and smiled. "Nothing." But the moment she finished speaking, she wrote a line in her Little Notebook: Though it's not very obvious, Lin Zhengran is not completely indifferent to other girls' gazes.

She did not hide it when she wrote, either, and a Certain Person saw it all clearly.

Lin Zhengran: "."

Another example was one day a week later, when the class was choosing a class monitor. Because Lin Zhengran had excellent grades and outstanding looks, quite a few girls started discussing him with flushed faces.

After Han Wenwen saw it, she wrote it down in her notebook.

Lin Zhengran's grades are excellent, and at the same time, he is very popular with girls.

The Class Teacher asked Lin Zhengran, "Lin Zhengran, why don't you serve as our class monitor?"

Lin Zhengran decisively refused. Right after that, Han Wenwen wrote in the Little Notebook again: But he does not like showing off. Good personality. If he were in a novel, he could survive for a long time.

Lin Zhengran: "."

There were many similar situations. Even when they ate every day, although she would not sit together with Lin Zhengran, she would sit one or two cafeteria tables away from him every time, eating her food in tiny bites by herself while her Fox Eyes glanced toward Lin Zhengran.

When she saw him eating with Jiang Xueli, she took up her pen and recorded it again.

No signs of picky eating at meals for now, but it is the same with food girls like. Omnivore. (This point remains open to discussion. It is also possible he simply likes ponytails.)

Once, Jiang Xueli was eating her food when she asked curiously, "Big Dummy, what's wrong? These past few days, it feels like the speed you eat at is kind of different from before."

Lin Zhengran let out a long breath, looking somewhat mentally exhausted.

"Why are you suddenly sighing?! Did something happen?" Jiang Xueli thought she had annoyed him somehow.

However, after more than half a month of observation, this strange life finally ended one time when Lin Zhengran was staring blankly out the window.

That day happened to be the last class on Friday.

Han Wenwen was writing away when she realized that the dozens of pages in her Little Notebook were full.

Only then did she finally stop writing, somewhat dazed. "I didn't expect to finish it this quickly."

Lin Zhengran also perked up and asked, "You finished? Does that mean you don't have to keep staring at me anymore from now on?"

When Han Wenwen heard that, she tilted her head and smiled sweetly. "Mm, I don't have to anymore. Thank you, Lin Zhengran, for being willing to let me observe you like this every day during this time. Otherwise, if you deliberately avoided me, it might have been very troublesome for me to record things."

Willing. Lin Zhengran did not remember ever saying he was willing.

Lin Zhengran said helplessly, "I think even if I didn't let you record it, you wouldn't listen, right?"

Han Wenwen slowly nodded. "Mm-hm. But if you'd said that, I wouldn't have recorded it openly." She placed her finger against her cheek and pretended to be cute. "I would have secretly recorded it in private, and I wouldn't have let Lin Zhengran see."

Lin Zhengran: "."

Han Wenwen folded her little hands on the desk, her upper body lying softly across it, looking exactly like a lazy Fox Spirit. "Speaking of which, Lin Zhengran, aren't you curious at all why I've been observing you every day? Aren't you curious why I stare at you every day like some pervert?"

"Not curious at all. I only hope that after you're done observing me, the two of us can each go about our own business. Do you have any idea how many boys have been glaring at me like tigers watching their prey every day for the past twenty days because of your every move? It's like I stole their White Moonlight or something."

Han Wenwen looked around at the boys in the class and indeed discovered that her behavior had already turned Lin Zhengran into Public Enemy Number One for All Men.

She smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

The dismissal bell rang. Han Wenwen put the Little Notebook into her pocket and stood up. "But after observing you, I found that Lin Zhengran really is fundamentally different from other boys. You're mature and handsome. In my heart, you're close to a perfect score." After praising him, she left the classroom.

Because school was over, the students in class were all hurriedly waiting to go home.

Lin Zhengran looked at Han Wenwen, who had already left, and listened to the girls in the classroom discussing her. He sighed inwardly that although this fox had a strange personality, she was still very loyal to He Qing.

That silly girl really had made a good Bestie.

On Friday night, apart from the Dorm Manager, there were only one or two out-of-town students still staying in the dormitory for the weekend.

A certain fox was one of them. She ate dinner alone in the cafeteria, fetched a basin of hot water, drew the curtains, and comfortably took a hot bath in the dormitory.

After drying her hair and body, with only a Bath Towel draped over her shoulders, she sat on the bed and flipped through the Little Notebook.

"Judging from his personality, if Little Qing Qing wants to get together with him in middle school, it really might be a little difficult. He looks like he isn't picky, but in reality he's very principled, huh?"

Han Wenwen lay flat on the lower bunk. "Makes sense when I think about it. If he didn't have principles, then the last time Little He Qing saw him, when the two of them stayed alone together for a whole night, wouldn't they have..."

She looked at the ceiling and recalled one month ago, the day Little He Qing and Lin Zhengran had taken their respective rides to meet each other.

After Little He Qing tearfully complained that there were other girls by Lin Zhengran's side, the two Besties discussed it for quite a while that night. In the end, under Little He Qing's firm conviction, the two of them planned to strike first! Of course, this was definitely Han Wenwen's idea. No matter how bold Little He Qing was, she would not have suggested taking the initiative to strike first. At that time, Han Wenwen sat on the bed and looked at He Qing.

"Qing Qing, although other girls have appeared beside him, the two of you have your Childhood Sweetheart status. Besides, he traveled all this way to see you this time, which proves that you're still more important than that girl! We have to strike first! We absolutely can't sit around and wait for defeat."

He Qing's eyes were red. "We can't sit around and wait for defeat... But I still have another month before I can go to school in The North. It'll be a long time before I can see him."

Han Wenwen hugged a pillow, her tone meaningful. "You still have a long time, but don't forget, there's still me. I can start school normally. Tell me his name and give me a photo of him. When I get to school, I'll observe him for you. I'll record all of his habits and let you quickly learn what changes he's had over these four years, so it'll be convenient for you to conquer him!"

He Qing had gained a little confidence from what her bestie said and asked about the details. "But... how are you going to observe him? That'll be really hard, right?"

Han Wenwen blinked her fox eyes and tapped her cheek with a finger as she thought. "It is a little troublesome, but as your bestie, a little thing like this won't stump me. I'll think of something. You just need to give me his name and a photo."

Little He Qing nodded. She also felt this couldn't be dragged out any longer, so the next day, Little He Qing found a photo of Lin Zhengran from when he was young and handed it to Han Wenwen. "Wenwen, I only have a photo of him as a kid, but after seeing him yesterday, I feel like he still looks a lot like he did back then. You should be able to recognize him when you see him."

Han Wenwen took it eagerly. After all, even as her bestie, she had never known what He Qing's childhood sweetheart looked like or what his name was. He Qing had never told her, and she had never asked, but the truth was that Han Wenwen was very curious.

But when she took it and looked at the figure in the photo, those fox eyes suddenly went a little blank once she saw him clearly.

Little He Qing said, "His name is Lin Zhengran."

The boy in the photo overlapped with the boy from under the bus stop that day.

Han Wenwen lifted her head and answered with a beaming smile, "Got it. Leave it to me. I definitely won't let Qingqing down!"