Chapter 57: Whispers by the River

Lin Zheng Ran tapped her head lightly, and Heqing let out a soft “ah,” clutching her head with both hands.

Lin Zheng Ran said, “Do you think I’m that naive? For the past two weeks, you’ve been acting like you’re half-asleep, and every time you talk to me, you’re all sneaky about it. It’s obvious you’re hiding something from me.”

“No…” She looked guilty, but then remembered her promise not to lie to Lin Zheng Ran anymore, so she quickly corrected herself: “Well, not exactly—wait, yes, oh no, no! Yes, wahh.”

Lin Zheng Ran watched her flip-flop like that, then scraped off a bit of ointment and gently spread it evenly around her ankle with his hand.

The cool ointment and the touch of Lin Zheng Ran’s palm made Heqing hiss sharply, then she shyly clamped her hand over her mouth.

Her face turned bright red as she fought to stay quiet.

Lin Zheng Ran asked curiously, “Does it hurt?”

She shook her head like a rattle, mumbling, “No pain. It stopped hurting as soon as you put on the ointment.”

Lin Zheng Ran replied, “But I haven’t even spread it out yet.”

Heqing’s heart raced, and she scrambled for an excuse: “Well, maybe it’s just that I don’t feel pain when you touch me. Or when you care about me, it goes away.”

Lin Zheng Ran: “.”

He applied the ointment fully to the injured area, and Heqing bit her lip behind her hand, her face flushed as if it could drip water.

His hands were so big… and they looked so gentle.

After applying it, Lin Zheng Ran wrapped her ankle with a few layers of bandage: “Rest up for the next couple of days. Once it feels completely fine, you can take it off yourself.”

“Okay.”

Heqing slowly pulled her foot back and slipped it into her shoe again.

Just as Lin Zheng Ran was about to ask about what happened earlier, Heqing chose to dodge it, covering her ears with both hands.

She squeezed her eyes shut: “I promised not to lie to you, but I can’t tell you about this yet. Ask me in a few days, okay? I swear I’ll tell you then. Please?”

She waited a long time without a response from Lin Zheng Ran, then peeked at him and whispered, “If you don’t ask, I’ll do anything for you, alright?”

Lin Zheng Ran didn’t really care about it anyway, so he didn’t press further. He just pulled her hands away from her ears: “Time to change and go.”

“Ah? Oh.”

She quickly put on her shoes and headed to the changing room, but at the door, she turned back, peeking her head around the frame, and asked quietly, “Where are we going? You’re not heading home, right? It’s so early.”

Her face was full of disappointment.

Lin Zheng Ran answered casually, “You’ll find out after you change. I’m taking you somewhere.”

Heqing nodded like a pecking chick—as long as he wasn’t going home, she’d go anywhere with him.

In no time, Heqing came out in a sweater and jacket. She usually wore her school uniform, but when meeting Lin Zheng Ran alone, she’d switch to a cute pink coat and those slimming leg-huggers.

The two left the dojo and walked down a path Heqing had never taken before. Lin Zheng Ran asked if her foot still hurt.

Heqing waved her hands back and forth: “No pain at all. It’s really not that bad.”

“There’s a town competition coming up early next year. I just asked the coach, and he said you’re already signed up?”

“Yeah, you said if it’s a town event, I could just register, so I did. I always listen to you, and the coach said I’m doing great, so I went for it. Oh, and I saw the first prize has a bunch of cash—several thousand yuan!”

She said excitedly, “If I win, I’ll give half to Mom, keep a hundred for snacks with Wen Wen, and use the rest to buy you stuff.”

She asked curiously, “Is there anything you want? I think I could afford it by then.”

He glanced at her—Heqing had been stuck at 1.6 meters since last year: “You’re pretty confident, huh? You got hurt in training today, but you’re already dreaming about spending the champion’s prize.”

Heqing clapped her hands against her sides like a little duck: “I’ll definitely win. After we were apart, I slacked off, but after a year with you, I caught right up. With you around, I can do anything.”

“So why did you slack off back then? What were you up to?”

She stared ahead, as if remembering those four years apart, and answered absentmindedly: “I was thinking about you—wondering when I could call you, what you were doing every day.”

As soon as she realized what she’d said, she covered her mouth and shook her head shyly: “Pretend you didn’t hear that?”

Lin Zheng Ran just sighed and looked away.

They reached the base of a high bridge where a small river flowed below. With the New Year approaching, the trees here were bare, their thin branches swaying occasionally in the wind.

Heqing wondered why Lin Zheng Ran had brought her here: “What’s here?”

“I’ve passed by a few times while shopping lately, and around 11 a.m., some creatures show up by the river to drink. They look a lot like you. Since you’re not training today, I thought I’d bring you to see.”

Heqing didn’t get it.

She blinked her wide, confused eyes and scratched her head: “What creatures that look like me?”

Lin Zheng Ran checked the time, thinking they should be coming soon.

Sure enough, after a moment, he heard familiar calls in the sky and looked toward the horizon: “Here they come.”

Heqing faintly heard cooing and the flap of wings, so she turned to look.

Her eyes widened suddenly as dozens of white pigeons flew in from nowhere under the sunlight, gliding neatly overhead.

A few feathers drifted down, pure white like angel wings.

Heqing stared in awe as the pigeons swooped past and landed by the river, flapping their wings and cooing as they drank.

“Pigeons! So many pigeons!”

“There are more today than usual,” Lin Zheng Ran said, surprised.

Heqing crept closer carefully, but the pigeons got scared and scurried away.

She gave up on touching them and instead crouched low, hands on her hips, leaning forward as she hopped along like them.

She even mimicked their cooing.

A few pigeons watched her moves and started mimicking, flapping their wings and hopping too.

Heqing giggled: “So cute.”

Lin Zheng Ran chuckled helplessly—he’d always said this silly girl was just like these pigeons.

Out of nowhere, Heqing straightened up, her face flushing as she looked at Lin Zheng Ran: “Um… how about next Saturday evening, right here? Could you come? I have something I want to give you.”

Lin Zheng Ran wondered what it was.

Heqing clutched her hands to her chest, her eyes sparkling: “A gift. It’s important, and there are some things I want to say to you.”

From today on, Heqing would burn the midnight oil, focusing on her part-time job to make sure everything went smoothly for her confession next week.

Meanwhile, that evening, Lily with her twin ponytails was chatting in her room with a new girl from the Child Star Studio when she heard something shocking: “You’re saying you’re going to confess? Is that for real?”

The girl on the phone sounded shy but loud:

“Yeah! I have to. I’ve told you about my brother, right? He has this adorable childhood friend who calls him every day and even hangs out with him for whole days at a time.

Lately, things between them seem off—especially with this big move the childhood friend is making. If I don’t confess, what else can I do? You know how we are—if we don’t take the initiative, nothing will happen!”

Lily’s new friend was a twin-tailed girl with hair that looked golden in the sunlight, just as tsundere as her.

The data’s been a bit unstable lately—new author, new book, daily pleas for follows and votes, wahh.