052

He Yuqing has recently had many flowers bought and planted in the yard.

I take good care of it every day, but it's winter now and there are no flowers blooming. All I can see is lush green grass.

Lan Qing found it very strange. Her son had lived for seventeen years and she had never seen him tend to these flowers and plants. Recently, she didn't know what possessed him, but every day when he came home, he would tinker with his flowers in the yard.

There was also something very unusual—a flower of unknown species was placed on the balcony of his bedroom.

If Lan Qing remembered correctly, that flower seemed to have been brought back from school by He Yuqing.

Lan Qing said to her husband with amusement, "Could he be in love? I've never seen him like this kind of thing before."

He Chunsheng sat on the sofa, flipping through the newspaper. Hearing his wife's words, he moved the newspaper away from his eyes and said, "He's been eating quite a lot lately."

Lan Qing put down her teacup, walked over and sat down beside him, patting him on the shoulder: "I was talking to you about the kids' early romance, what are you talking about with me about appetite?"

He Chunsheng took a sip of the tea that Lan Qing had put down and said, "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

“The housekeeper told me that he has his driver bring two meals to school every day.”

Lan Qing was genuinely unaware of this. After a moment of surprise, she smiled knowingly and said, "You're just like you were back then."

He Chunsheng turned the newspaper over and hummed in agreement.

-

The stage play successfully passed the audition and was performed in the school auditorium on the night before New Year's Day.

Everyone cheered and made the most of their spare time to rehearse.

The costumes are also ready; some were bought, while others and props were rented.

Backstage, the dressing room.

Jiang Huali was wearing a red hooded cloak, and her hair was tied into two braids hanging down in front of her. She looked around and saw He Yuqing wearing a gray wolf mascot costume.

This mascot costume isn't fully covered; the face is visible, and at first glance, it looks like someone wearing a wolf ear headgear.

Jiang Huali smiled secretly.

He Yuqing quickly noticed her and walked over.

He Yuqing: "What are you laughing at?"

He had a smile on his face. Jiang Huali looked at him, made a claw shape with her hands and let out a "woof," indicating, "Could you do this?"

He Yuqing: ...

He hesitated before raising his hand: "Awoo?"

"Hahaha."

Jiang Huali was amused by his slightly stiff movements and expressions.

To be fair, this outfit suits He Yuqing quite well. He's tall and has a cold, wolf-like appearance when he's expressionless.

But when he did that action, that cold feeling completely disappeared.

The front of the stage was bustling with activity, with cheers and applause from the audience that could be heard from time to time. The actors of the stage play were all gathered together, going over their lines one last time.

After the previous performances were finished, it was their turn to go on stage.

The performance proceeded smoothly.

The scene shifts to Little Red Riding Hood walking into the forest. The wolf says to her, "Little Red Riding Hood, look how beautiful the flowers are around you, yet you don't even glance at them; the birds sing so sweetly, yet you can't hear them. You only keep walking forward, why don't you stop and look around?"

The students around me, dressed in the same color scheme and holding flower-shaped display boards, waved.

The students dressed as birds chirped.

A burst of joyful laughter immediately erupted from the audience.

Little Red Riding Hood stopped and thought, "If I bring a bouquet of flowers to my grandmother, she will be very happy."

Little did she know that the wolf had already gone straight to her grandmother's house, eaten her whole, changed into her grandmother's clothes, and lay down on the bed, pretending to be her grandmother who was resting.

He Yuqing was wearing a gray wolf mascot costume, with her grandmother's clothes over it, which made her look somewhat comical.

Jiang Huali, wearing a red hood, came to the bedside, suppressing a laugh, and asked, "Grandma, why are your ears so big?"

He Yuqing deliberately altered his voice: "So that I can hear you better."

Why are your eyes so big?

"So that I can see you more clearly."

Why are your hands so big?

The wolf chuckled, "So that I can catch you more easily."

Little Red Riding Hood: "But why is your mouth so horribly big?"

Wolf: "So that I can eat you more easily."

After saying this, the wolf jumped off the bed, pounced on Little Red Riding Hood, and then ate her in one bite.

Jiang Huali was tackled to the ground, her gaze falling on the wolf tail behind He Yuqing, and she suddenly smiled.

The surrounding lights dimmed; it was time for her to leave.

Jiang Huali sat up from the ground, stroked He Yuqing's wolf tail, and then temporarily returned to the backstage area via the exit passage.

The lights came back on, leaving only a somewhat dazed wolf standing there.

He Yuqing only paused for two seconds before lying back down on the bed, pretending to be asleep and snoring.

Wen Ruolin, dressed as a hunter, swaggered in, holding a toy gun, and said, "Why is Grandma snoring so loud today? I'll go check if she's feeling unwell."

The audience laughed again.

The hunter found a wolf that had eaten its fill in the grandmother's house. Just as he was about to kill it, he wondered if the wolf had eaten the grandmother. So he picked up a pair of scissors and cut open the wolf's belly.

The lights changed, and Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother emerged from behind the wolf.

Little Red Riding Hood found a stone and put it into the wolf's belly.

Those stones—actually stone-shaped dolls—were stuffed into the cloth bag in front of He Yuqing's mascot costume.

Jiang Huali and the class monitor used colorful yarn to sew up the wolf's belly.

...

The performance went very smoothly. They added many clever touches to the performance, and the audience enjoyed it very much.

After the performance, all the actors stood together, held hands, and bowed to take their final bows.

Jiang Huali stood next to He Yuqing, holding his soft wolf paw, and they smiled at each other amidst applause.

Wen Ruolin struck a cool pose with the toy gun in his hand, the class monitor adjusted his wig, and the classmate playing the role of flowers, plants and trees placed the backdrop in front of him and made a heart shape with the person next to him.

Everyone's face was beaming with smiles, and the photographer in charge of taking group photos pressed the shutter, freezing the moment in time.

Perhaps many years later, on an ordinary afternoon, some of them will look out the window at the birds and recall this time from their youth.

Everyone has unforgettable moments in their youth.

However, when it happened, they probably didn't imagine that, years later, those moments would flash by like fleeting shadows in the long river of time—

It is as short as a moment, yet as long as eternity.

-

Jiang Huali recalled when she had just met He Yuqing.

They weren't in the same class at that time, but every day, Jiang Huali would run into He Yuqing in various places.

When she was doing her test in the classroom, He Yuqing would occasionally walk past the window; when she went to the water dispenser to get water, He Yuqing would happen to appear next to her, holding a cup in his hand; after school, she would always meet him at the stairwell.

There is no plot connection between them.

Jiang Huali knew.

One afternoon, just two days after they finished their monthly exams, the results came out.

On the awards wall, her photo and his photo were side by side. The photo was from their student ID cards. She was first place and He Yuqing was second place.

As Jiang Huali walked down the stairs, many students stood by the commendation wall to look at their grades. He Yuqing stood on the outermost edge, holding a book in his hand, and looked up at the commendation wall for a long time.

In fact, Jiang Huali not only excels in mathematics, but also in Chinese.

Her essays were always pasted as model essays on the side of the example column, and every time he passed by, he couldn't help but stop and take a look.

As he stood there, he would always hear people around him praising Jiang Huali, saying that she was so smart that she always got first place in the grade.

As she walked past him, he seemed to sense something and turned around. Upon seeing her, he smiled, his eyes appearing soft in the setting sun.

He said to her, "Wow, you're amazing! You're number one again this time."

Jiang Huali, carrying her schoolbag, looked up at the commendation wall upon hearing this.

"You're not bad either."

She replied with a smile on her lips.

Then the two turned and walked out side by side, but separated at the fork in the road, one heading towards the cafeteria and the other towards the school gate.

As the sun sets, the evening glow records every encounter and parting they have had.

-

On New Year's Day, Jiang Huali stayed at home.

She was originally going to a bubble tea shop to make bubble tea, but the manager gave her a day off so she could experience what it's like to have a paid vacation.

Jiang Huali was reading at home. She was sitting on the sofa, holding her dog in her arms, holding a book of poetry in her hand, and a system was perched on her shoulder.

Grandma sat to one side, wearing reading glasses, holding a needle and thread, sewing up the doll that Xiao Hei had chewed up.

That plush toy is Little White Bear. It's gotten a bit dusty now, but Little Black loves it very much. Every night, he carries it back to his den, puts it under his belly, and sleeps soundly with it as a pillow.

In the afternoon, Jiang Huali completed two more test papers. After dinner, she sat on the balcony and looked at the bougainvillea growing on the balcony of the apartment across the street.

Xiao Hei sat at Jiang Huali's feet, looking up at her.

Jiang Huali tapped its wet nose and asked with a smile, "What are you looking at?"

[Host, I have a feeling that Xiao Hei can see me.]

The system sat on Jiang Huali's shoulders, its two chubby hands supporting her shoulders, and slowly began to speak.

"No way?" Jiang Huali was a little doubtful. She grabbed the system in her hand and moved it to a different position.

Wherever the system is moved, Xiao Hei's head turns to that side.

"Can you really see it?"

Jianghua pears are quite rare.

Don't you humans always say that dogs are very intelligent animals? Hmm... they can see things that humans can't.

The system says.

"Is it possible that my hand is moving, and it sees it and moves along with my hand?" Jiang Huali guessed.

"Fly over there yourself, let me take a look."

The system flew to the other side as instructed.

It landed too low, and Little Black suddenly stood up and pounced on it, but of course, it missed.

[...]

The system glanced at the dog's head that was so close at hand, and silently flew a little higher.

It rarely manifests itself except when it's with Jiang Huali. Jiang Huali only just realized that Xiao Hei seems to be able to see the system.

"It seems Xiao Hei has gained another friend. How about this, from now on I'll go to school, and you can stay home and play with Xiao Hei."

Jiang Huali chuckled at her own words and pinched the system.

The system refused, saying, "I'm afraid it will chase me and bite me."

Puppies going through teething will want to bite everything.

“Anyway, it can’t bite you. I think it’s actually quite eager to play with you,” Jiang Huali said.

She picked up her phone and checked her messages, finding that He Yuqing had sent her several pictures.

She clicked on it and took a look.

It's that pot of Endless Summer.

It's winter now. When I bought it, the leaves were lush and green, but now they've turned yellow and some are even bare.

They look listless.

He Yuqing also sent a message: "The leaves are starting to fall."

Jiang Huali: [It's probably because of the season.]

He Yuqing replied: [Yes, new leaves will grow in the spring.]

[I'll bring it to you to see when it blooms in the summer.]

Since buying this Endless Summer bonsai, He Yuqing often shares its daily growth with her.

It's as if the two of them raised this pot of flowers together.

Jiang Huali slowly typed two words: 【Okay.】