The two of them walked slowly, each holding a cup of milk tea.
The milk tea was hot, warming their hands in the winter cold.
Chen Shu looked around, occasionally exchanging a few quiet words with Qingqing. He pointed out what still looked the same, what had changed, and where he had often played at a certain age. Qingqing listened quietly, yet she could sense the calm and complicated feelings in his heart.
He felt calm because it had been so long, because he had made peace with it, and because he had a detached nature.
The complicated part came from returning to familiar ground.
"Slurp, slurp, slurp~"
Chen Shu lifted his milk tea and glanced at it. The cup was nearly empty. He swirled the dregs, then bit down on the straw and sucked. The remaining toppings at the bottom mysteriously gathered before the straw and went into his mouth.
Clatter...
The milk tea cup spun into a trash can.
"Burp..."
Chen Shu belched. "I'm practically full. They keep putting more and more stuff in milk tea these days. Drinking one cup is basically like eating a bowl of porridge."
Ning Qing lowered her head and kept drinking, refusing to answer his nonsense.
"When I was in high school—that's a level of schooling you attend from fifteen to eighteen, somewhere between Qing Academy and talent school..." Chen Shu pointed to the river ahead and the bridge crossing it. "When we had time off, my classmates and I often came down to the river to wander and take walks, either in the morning or at night. Sometimes we'd play games all night, then head home from here in the morning, or go to school."
"Mm..."
Ning Qing raised her eyes to look.
There was a square beside the river with