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墨書 Inktalez
Until Qinglan's figure disappeared at the entrance, Jian Ming stood there in a daze, unsure if he was pondering or recalling Qinglan's words.
When Qinglan boarded the bus with her bag, An Shaojie was sitting in his seat with his eyes closed, resting. It seemed he sensed Qinglan getting on; as soon as her figure appeared at the door, he opened his eyes and sat up straight.
His gaze was fixed intensely on Qinglan.
In early July, the blazing sun made the ground feel like a furnace, yet Qinglan seemed to feel a chill creeping over her back.
This was because An Shaojie's stare was not just cold; it also carried anger, indifference, disdain, contempt, and various other complex emotions that seemed ready to erupt at any moment.
Qinglan couldn't help but take a step back. However, when she checked her ticket, she realized her seat was not in the front rows, so she had to move forward again, holding her ticket to find her seat.
The phrase "fate brings enemies together" perfectly described Qinglan's awkward situation at that moment. She sadly discovered that her seat number was right next to An Shaojie's.
She stood beside him, hesitant to enter. He remained motionless in his seat.
The driver saw that Qinglan had not taken her seat from the rearview mirror and called out to her, "You there, hurry up and sit down; we are about to leave."
All the passengers' eyes turned toward her, curiously watching the two of them.
What was going on? The two strangers who had just boarded the bus hadn't even exchanged a word yet were acting like enemies. Especially the boy; his gaze and expression toward the girl suggested a fierce hostility.
Feeling embarrassed under their scrutiny, Qinglan could only muster the courage to softly say to An Shaojie, "Brother Shaojie, could you please let me through? I... I need to get in."
Upon hearing Qinglan address An Shaojie this way, the passengers immediately sighed in realization: "Oh, so they are a couple! Just having a little quarrel."
"Who is her little lover?" An Shaojie suddenly erupted in anger, jumping up from his seat, his face flushed and veins bulging as he shouted loudly at the people in the car.
The car fell silent immediately. This boy seemed so gentle, like a studious child; how could he be so violent? His expression was fierce!
Suddenly, he quickly grabbed his bag from his seat and walked to the back row of the car, bowing to a middle-aged man and saying, "Hello, sir, could you do me a favor?"
The man looked up at him in confusion, not understanding what this kid was up to! His polite demeanor was completely different from the fierce attitude he had just shown.
"What’s wrong? Young man, what do you need help with?" the man asked.
"I would like to switch seats with you. You sit in my seat, and I will sit here with you. Is that okay?" He seemed worried that the man would refuse and added, "You see, your seat in the back is the bumpiest."
"Oh, about that... Hey, young man, you just don’t want to sit next to that girl, right? That works out well because I was hoping to sit next to her! Look at that girl; she seems quiet and studious, and her grades must be good."
The man still thought of Qinglan and An Shaojie as two friends who had quarreled, so he joked with An Shaojie.
An Shaojie pulled at the corners of his mouth, managing a grateful smile.
The man got up and went over to Qinglan, kindly saying, "Come on, young lady, you go ahead and sit down quickly; the driver is about to start driving."
After An Shaojie sat down, he instantly returned to his previous cold demeanor with tightly closed lips.
"Did you two have a fight?" The man asked curiously with a smile on his face after sitting down.
Suddenly, a tear unknowingly slid down Qinglan's face. She sniffed quietly and shook her head silently.
If only they could argue. She and he had never fought, yet they were destined to be enemies.
What was even more lamentable was that she could never let go of him.
The journey home was even more exasperating for Qinglan, who found herself both amused and helpless. After getting off the bus in town, the two of them walked home, one in front and the other behind, without saying a word.
As they approached the village entrance, Qinglan couldn't help but call out, "Brother Shaojie."
He didn't even glance at her. It would have been one thing if he had simply ignored her; instead, he snorted disdainfully, a mocking smile on his face.
"An Shaojie! Although I know you carried me back, whether out of sympathy or guilt, it doesn't matter. Even if I owe you something, you have no reason to look down on me."
Qinglan couldn't take it anymore and suddenly shouted at his back, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She stood by the roadside, crying silently, her whole body trembling with sorrow as her bag slipped from her hands and fell to the ground.
"I really don't owe you anything, even if you carried me back." Until An Shaojie walked far out of her sight, Qinglan remained standing in place, her voice weak and sorrowful as she muttered to herself.
In mid-July, the college entrance exam scores were released. Qinglan had passed the first-tier score line. On the day she returned to school to fill out her application forms, she unexpectedly ran into An Shaojie again. Of course, it was somewhat expected; Shaw Min was by his side.
"Sister Shaomin," Qinglan said shyly with a smile as she greeted Shaw Min.
"Qinglan!" Shaw Min exclaimed. "You've grown so tall and beautiful!"
Indeed, it had been a long time since Shaw Min had seen Qinglan. They had both been studying before; later on, when Shaw Min had an accident, she hadn't gone out for a long time. Qinglan had been too afraid of An Shaojie to visit their home, and then Shaw Min had gone to Shenzhen.
In a light-colored dress, Qinglan had already shed her Tujia ethnic attire and was dressed like a Han person, wearing Han clothing. Her black hair was tied up high in a ponytail, revealing her full and bright forehead. Her cheeks were rosy, much fuller than in her childhood, and her figure had also become more voluptuous.
"Sister, don't pay attention to her!" An Shaojie suddenly interrupted Shaw Min's words rudely.
Shaw Min glared at An Shaojie. "An Shaojie, what are you doing?"
"Sis, you have such a good temper that you always get bullied," An Shaojie said angrily, speaking without thinking about the implications of his words.
Instantly, Shaw Min's expression darkened, and her gaze dimmed.
Qinglan hurriedly bid farewell to Shaw Min and turned to go back to the classroom where they used to have lessons. Students who had passed the cutoff score were gathered in the classroom, eagerly filling out their applications.
An Shaojie's score was much higher than the first-tier cutoff line, so he didn't spend much time negotiating with Shaw Min and decisively chose a prestigious university in Beijing that he had admired for a long time.
Qinglan hesitated. It wasn't because her score was low; she also exceeded the first-tier cutoff line by a significant margin. She wanted to go to Shanghai because she loved the bustling and fashionable life there.
However, she still dared not put pen to paper, as if the pen weighed a thousand pounds. Once she wrote down her choice, it would determine the course of her life.
She was conflicted and hesitant but still didn't know why she felt this way, becoming somewhat irritated.
Life has many choices that seem light but are actually very heavy! A few lines of text could mean Qinglan's lifelong decision. Whether the road ahead would be bumpy or filled with happiness was something Qinglan, at her age, couldn't afford to contemplate or weigh. For someone so young, love was the only important and great thing in her heart.
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