Crossroads

Han Wenwen lay on the bed with only a blanket over her, the slats of the upper bunk above her one by one, her legs curled as she tried to reach the wooden boards overhead with one long, snow-white leg.

But even when she stretched her pink foot straight, she still could not reach.

"Even thinking back on it now, it still feels unbelievable. The boyfriend heaven gave me would actually be Little Qing Qing's Childhood Sweetheart, the one she thinks about day and night. Honestly, when I saw the photo, I was stunned."

Her face was expressionless, or perhaps it could be called blank. "Good thing Little Qing Qing didn't notice that day, or it really would've been troublesome."

Han Wenwen held the Little Notebook before her eyes and flipped through it briefly. If she compared the details carefully, Han Wenwen could indeed feel that many of Lin Zhengran's habits matched hers very well, and there were also many places where they complemented each other.

"Looking at it this way, he and I are actually pretty compatible. The Lianxin Festival really is magical. But for someone like me, having a boyfriend or not doesn't matter..."

She rolled over and lay on her stomach on the bed, picked up her phone, and called her Bestie. After a few rings, the call connected.

Han Wenwen asked with a smile, "What are you doing, Little Qing Qing? Did your enrollment procedures go smoothly?"

Han Wenwen's two calves rose and fell one after the other in a steady rhythm. "Oh? You're coming over next week? Great. Then I'll pick you up at the station when the time comes. Oh right, I've already taken care of what I promised you before. That good gege of yours is very outstanding, you know~ He's also very handsome."

A week later, Little He Qing successfully arrived at the town middle school. Han Wenwen had specially gone to the station to pick her and Aunt He up.

The moment the two best friends met, they excitedly covered their hands over each other's and hugged, calling each other's names.

Aunt He explained some things to Little He Qing and gave her some money.

Originally, she had been a little worried about her daughter, but after learning that Han Wenwen would also be studying together with her daughter, Aunt He felt much more at ease.

While they were making the bed in the dormitory, Aunt He looked at her daughter, who was incomparably happy, and reminded her, "Qing Qing, you're a big girl now too. Although you and your Zhengran Gege have a very good relationship, you absolutely can't casually go to his house to play like when you were little. If you go, you have to buy some gifts for Aunt Lin. You have to know your manners now."

Little He Qing obediently made the bed with her mother, and Han Wenwen helped from the side too.

Little He Qing nodded. "I know. If I go to find him again, I'll buy things for Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin."

After they finished tidying up, Aunt He stood up. "Then everything here is settled. I'll take the bus back this afternoon. You and Wenwen can stay in the dormitory on Saturdays and Sundays. If anything happens, you can call Mom anytime, and when there's a break, come home together."

After saying that, she looked at Han Wenwen again. "Wenwen, I'll have to trouble you to look after Qing Qing. If anything happens here, help each other out."

Han Wenwen tilted her head, also very happy. "Aunt He, you're too polite. Don't worry, Qing Qing and I will take care of each other."

He Qing was also very serious, proving to her mother that she had already grown up. "Don't worry, Mom."

Aunt He did not give too many more instructions. At the school gate, she said goodbye to the two of them and left the small town.

After waving goodbye to the elder, Little He Qing and Han Wenwen looked at each other, and the two sisters suddenly smiled at the same time.

They giggled and teased each other.

Han Wenwen leaned beside Little He Qing's ear and said something, making Little He Qing so embarrassed that she pretended to be angry and looked at her. "Wenwen, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you've got good taste in picking gege. Come on, I left the Little Notebook in the dormitory. It's written in great detail. I guarantee everything you want to know is in there."

Little He Qing was also very concerned about this, and she held Han Wenwen's hand as they returned to the dormitory to read the Little Notebook.

On the way, Han Wenwen asked, "Oh right, tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, are you going to come to the school gate to pick up that good gege of yours?"

Little He Qing blushed. "Of course I have to pick him up. Otherwise, how would he know I'm here? Besides, didn't you say I'd only have a chance if I took the initiative?"

That weekend, the two sisters were happy and cheerful, but Jiang Xueli kept sneezing at home, exactly the same as Little He Qing's symptoms from a few years ago.

"What's going on? In weather this hot, I can't have caught a cold, right?" She could not figure it out.

On Sunday evening, the middle school students returned to school one after another, welcoming a brand-new week of lockdown.

Ever since he started middle school, Lin Yingjun and Lin Xiaoli rarely sent Lin Zhengran to school anymore.

They simply gave him money and let him take a taxi or the bus by himself.

Of course, Lin Zhengran had been the one to bring this up himself. He felt that he was not some little kid to begin with, and there was absolutely no need to be sent back and forth every day.

On the way to school, Lin Zhengran rarely checked his panel.

Your current Spiritual Energy Level is level thirty-six. Having walked out of the newbie village, you have taken your first step into the vast jianghu. Although you have yet to make much of a name for yourself in this jianghu, with your current strength, that is surely only a matter of time.

Strength: 27. When the value reaches 50, you can obtain the special ability to have muscles even without exercising.

Energy: 23. When the value reaches 60, you can obtain the special ability to go seven times in one night without knowing fatigue.

Physical Strength: 30. When the value reaches 70, you can obtain the special ability of doubled physical strength and tripled endurance when doing things.

Charm: 33. When the value reaches 40, you can obtain the special ability to gain double the other party's favor when speaking and doing things.

Every time he looked at the breakthrough rewards behind the panel, Lin Zhengran almost could not hold it together.

Not a single one was a proper ability. But if you said they were useless, every last one of them really was useful... With a ding-dong, the bus arrived at the stop, and a pleasant female announcement sounded.

"New City First High School has arrived. Passengers heading to New City First High School, please exit from the rear. Repeat, New City First High School has arrived. To—"

Lin Zhengran and the group of students lined up to get off the bus.

The bus stop was only two intersections away from the school, so it was fairly close.

His phone rang at that moment. It was Jiang Xueli calling.

When he answered, that girl's grumbling voice followed. "Big Dummy, have you reached school yet? I didn't ride with you today. You didn't get lost, did you?"

Lin Zhengran was used to it. "You really have the nerve to say that. Who was it who couldn't even find the registration place on the first day of school?"

Jiang Xueli snorted. From her voice alone, he could imagine that girl's tsundere expression. "That was because I was testing you! How could I not know where it was? Forget that. I'm waiting for you at the school gate. Mom came here to buy things this morning and happened to drop me off. Otherwise, I would've ridden with you."

"So why are you waiting for me at the gate?"

Jiang Xueli said one thing but meant another. "I'm just afraid you'll get lost. Otherwise, you think I'd be willing to wait for you?" She spotted the person coming. "Oh, I see you. Hanging up!"

At the school gate, Jiang Xueli, wearing her school uniform and with her hair in double ponytails, gazed from afar at the figure walking over.

Showing her little tiger teeth, she waved happily. "Big Dummy! I'm over here!" Then she ran forward.

"Lin Zhengran, you're here?"

Jiang Xueli had only just said it when a pure-looking girl with a ponytail, who had long been waiting there, saw Lin Zhengran arrive and hurriedly ran forward too.

The two girls spoke almost at the same time and stepped out together.

They looked at each other, their pupils almost simultaneously widening, and stopped in place with perfect tacit understanding.

In truth, this counted as Little He Qing and Jiang Xueli's first formal meeting. They might have seen each other before, but they had long since forgotten what the other looked like.

But the moment they looked into each other's eyes, both of them immediately realized that the girl before them was the one who had been by Lin Zhengran's side for the past few years.

From a distance, Lin Zhengran naturally saw Little He Qing and Jiang Xueli at the same time, and even Han Wenwen, who had gone to buy drinks and was belatedly arriving.

"Little Qing Qing, has Student Lin Zhengran come?" Han Wenwen stopped in her tracks when she saw the scene.

The four of them stood in the four directions of the crossroads, frozen.

Vehicles and pedestrians came and went through the intersection.

The old security guard sat in the security booth, admiring the calligraphy copybook in the newspaper as he sighed. "Truly as beautiful as a painting. This is what art is."

Thanks to the big shots Mu Ren Shan, That Is My Love, Pi Pi Xia Kuai Jun A, Old Pig Isn't Greedy, Who Gave You a Bag of Rice Oil, Chi Mei Ya Xian, Gyakusatsu No Kageki, Free-Range Kitten, and Turning Into a Demon for Love for their monthly tickets.

New author, new book—daily asking for votes and follow-up reads.