Chapter 25 The Dream of Eighteen-Year-Old Qiao Bolin Turns Golden.

Ning Jiu took out his key from his bag and opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol wafting out.

Yuan Liangjing and Ning Xuan, each holding onto the edge of the table with one hand and their cups with the other, had faces flushed from the alcohol and their eyes were somewhat unfocused.

Upon seeing her, Yuan Liangjing seemed to suddenly sober up, grinning and his eyes lighting up.

"Sweet wine, you're back."

Ning Jiu glanced lightly at the colorful cocktails on the glass table, raised her eyebrows slightly, and fixed her gaze on Ning Xuan.

"Dad, you're starting to mix the drinks again."

Ning Xuan was also quite drunk, but still retained some sobriety. Hearing Ning Jiu's words, he smiled at her.

“I’ve adjusted some new recipes,” he said, patting Yuan Liangjing’s arm. “I’ll have Liangjing help me try out the taste these next few days.”

He paused for a moment, then said, "If there's still a chance in Jiangcheng... maybe I can start over."

As Ning Xuan said this, Yuan Liangjing suddenly chuckled softly, exclaiming, "Well done, Brother Xuan!" and challenged Ning Xuan to a toast.

Ning Jiu watched as the two finished their cocktails and then drank a bottle of baijiu, shrugged, but a smile crept onto her lips.

The true framework of life is supported by hope.

I'm really exhausted after a long day, and my body still feels weak.

Back in her room, Ning Jiu took a shower early and lay on the bed, wanting to sleep, but she couldn't fall asleep no matter what she did.

The once cool and soft blanket had somehow become warmed by the boy's scent. She was momentarily dazed, as if she could smell that familiar sandalwood fragrance again, which seeped into her body like water, making her limbs feel light and weak.

One second, two seconds.

Ning Jiu suddenly opened her eyes, and her gaze met that of the silent light bulb on the ceiling, which seemed to know everything.

...That's insane.

-

Five o'clock in the morning.

Qiao Bolin woke up from his sleep, but unusually did not turn on the light immediately.

The room was completely silent, and it was precisely because of this that the images from the dream did not fade away upon waking; instead, they became even clearer.

In the dream, the girl's snow-white body was enveloped in a lingering mist, and her soft, undulating contours could be vaguely felt.

She straddled his lap, leaning forward, pressing against him as if trying to merge them into one another.

Her cherry-pink lips traveled down from his forehead, kissing his Adam's apple with such clarity that he tried to stop her by grasping her slender wrist, but she grabbed it back and pinned it above his head.

The moist sensation continued to meander downwards, and another uncontrollable heat was felt by both of them. He felt her glance down, then smile playfully.

Strands of hair fell gently over her hollow collarbone. She buried her head in the crook of his neck, her crimson tongue beginning to lick and suck his earlobe, occasionally giving it a light bite. Qiao Bolin opened his mouth, as if to say something, and then—

Then he woke up.

A faint light shone through the window, and the scene remained peaceful and serene.

Qiao Bolin closed his eyes, then opened them again, got up expressionlessly, drew the curtains, took a tissue from the table, and before returning to bed, grabbed something from the bedside.

That was the day before, when Ning Jiu personally put the hair tie on his wrist.

His surging emotions, pushed to their peak, dissipated with a suppressed gasp. His mind flashed back to her ambiguous smile as she slipped the hair tie onto his wrist last night, ultimately merging with her image in his dream. A heavy, murky scent mingled with a faint fragrance of sandalwood lingered in the air. Qiao Bolin opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the disheveled bed before settling on the soiled hair tie in his hand, his face devoid of any remorse.

The hair tie was already light in color, so the stain became even more noticeable.

After a moment of silence, Qiao Bolin's palms suddenly clenched, and the color on the hair tie seemed to seep into his fingertips.

He bent down and slipped it back onto his wrist, then got up and went to the bathroom.

After taking a shower, I came out of the bathroom, dried my hair, and went downstairs. I ran into Wen Xi and Qiao Jialing at the dining table. Xiao Bai was wagging its tail at the corner of the table.

Qiao Bolin paused in drying his hair, his gaze sweeping over the brand-new limited-edition blue diamond pendant on Wen Xi's collarbone, before finally settling on Qiao Jialing, who was handling official business while drinking tea.

"Dad, Mom, weren't you on vacation in Paris? Why did you come back early?"

Wen Xi looked up at the words, smiling, and patted Qiao Jialing on the back: "Your son is asking you."

Qiao Jialing grasped Wen Xi's hand tightly in return: "Your birthday is coming up soon, so we were thinking of taking you back to Beijing tomorrow to celebrate your 18th birthday with your grandfather before coming back."

Since Qiao Jialing applied to be transferred from Beijing to Jiangcheng because Wen Xi missed her hometown, Qiao Bolin has always spent his birthday in Jiangcheng. But his eighteenth birthday should indeed be different from his previous birthdays.

When Qiao Jialing brought it up, Qiao Bolin wasn't too surprised.

"Okay, then please remember to ask for a day off for me and Teacher Qin."

Qiao Bolin readily agreed and turned to go back to his room, but then the overly grand scene of his birthday celebration in Beijing a few years ago flashed through his mind, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Also, tell Grandpa to keep things simple; it's just a birthday celebration."

Knowing her son's personality, Qiao Jialing gave a soft "hmm" and then suddenly asked.

How have your studies and competitions been lately?

Qiao Jialing is usually busy with official duties, either in the city or attending meetings in other places. When she has free time, she chooses to spend it alone with Wen Xi. She has always trusted Qiao Bolin and rarely asks about his studies. It is even more unusual for him to suddenly bring it up like this.

Qiao Bolin pondered Qiao Jialing's tone for a moment, and quickly recalled the exam results and competition awards of the semester. He didn't feel that anything was different from before.

"Studying is still the same as usual," he replied briefly. "I'm also participating in the provincial team as usual, and I'll be participating in the national finals next month."

"Good."

Qiao Jialing made a very apt evaluation.

Qiao Bailin, assuming he had no further questions, nodded and turned to leave. But he had only taken one step when the sound of documents being flipped through behind him abruptly stopped—

A thud, neither too loud nor too soft.

Qiao Jialing put the teacup back on the table and asked him in a casual voice.

"Have you made any new friends?"

-

During the last few days of the National Day holiday, Ning stayed at home doing practice questions. Occasionally, if she couldn't figure something out, she would take a picture and search for it online. If she still couldn't figure it out after searching, she would take another picture and send it to her classmate Xiao Qiao on WeChat.

10.6 21:34

【Ningjiu】dd

[Ningjiu] [Image]

[Ningjiu] Why is the answer to this question C? Isn't it the past perfect progressive tense? I've seen different explanations in many places.

10.7 9:08

[Ningjiu] Urgent! Urgent!

[Ningjiu] [Image]

[Ningjiu] I don't know how to solve this physics problem that Hezi sent me. Could you take a look? Just give me a general idea.

10.7 22:43

Ningjiu Hallo

[Ningjiu] [Image]

[Ningjiu] I promise this is the last time, haha. This thing has all the variables and parameters mixed together, and I've calculated it several times with no extreme values. I strongly suspect it's printed incorrectly.

The cool autumn night air seeped in through the window. After sending the last message, Ning Jiu paused for a moment on the emoji screen with her fingertip.

When I last visited Xiaobai, she took a lot of photos and made them into puppy emojis; some were cute, and some were just plain funny.

She was hesitating whether to send the message or not when the other end sent a voice message.

It seemed quite noisy over there with Qiao Bolin. Even though he had specifically found a quiet corner, Ning Jiu could still hear that there were probably quite a few people in the background.

She squinted, carefully discerning the tone of voice; it sounded more like a northern accent than Jiangcheng's.

Even though that place was hardly a place for learning, his thinking was very clear. He explained the problem in just a few words. Ning Jiu quickly wrote down the principles and formulas on the draft paper. After making sure there were no other problems, she typed "thank you" in the box, but then deleted it and sent a voice message instead.

[Ningjiu] Are you not in Jiangcheng?

She initially sent the message as just casual conversation, but after sending it, she realized that their relationship was not something she should be asking.

Just as I was about to back down, my phone suddenly vibrated.

Qiao Bolin made a voice call to her.

The commotion over there was fleeting, quickly left behind by him. Ning Jiu realized that he must have gone to a place like a terrace.

Once the background noise subsided, a boy's clear voice came from the other end of the phone.

“I’m in Beijing now, and I probably won’t be back until the day after tomorrow,” he paused, “Do you still have any questions you don’t understand?”

Ning Jiu said, "That's all."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then he softly hummed in agreement.

“Okay,” Jobel softened his voice, “Goodnight—”

"etc."

The two spoke almost simultaneously, their voices overlapping.

Actually, Ning Jiu wasn't sure what she wanted to say when she opened her mouth; she just didn't want the phone call to end like this.

She wanted to hear his voice again, and she wanted to talk to him again—

Such blatant desires were illuminated by tonight's moonlight.

In the instant the two remained still, their breaths mingled through the phone. Ning Jiu wondered if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Qiao Bolin's breathing was heavier than before.

Suddenly remembering something, her eyes lit up, she gripped her phone slightly, and walked toward a cardboard box in the corner.

How's the weather where you are?

For the past few days, Ning Jiu has felt regretful because the days in Jiangcheng during the National Day holiday were overcast, with no sunshine during the day and the stars being completely obscured by dark clouds at night.

Qiao Bolin looked up at the night sky above: "It's cloudy, there are very few stars."

Ning Jiu found what she wanted in the cardboard box, then walked to the desk and opened a drawer: "Qiao Bolin, can you promise me something?"

"Um?"

“Give me your five minutes before midnight today,” she said. “Just those five minutes, just for you and me.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone for a few seconds, and Ning Jiu stopped what she was doing, quietly waiting for his reply.

One second, two seconds.

She sensed the boy talking to someone outside the door from a distance. As the footsteps faded away, Qiao Bolin's smiling voice returned to her ears.

He said.

"Can."

The moment she hung up the phone, Ning Jiu quickly found the candy that had been distributed at the last cultural festival in her drawer.

There were all sorts of candies, in many colors. She unwrapped a candy in gold foil, flattened it, cut out a small circle with scissors, and stuck it on the outside of the flashlight head she had just found. She tested the effect and was unexpectedly satisfied.

I lightly traced the outline of a curved shooting star on the scrap paper on the table with a pencil, and then cut it out along the line.

The tail was long and not very neat. She stood up and turned off the desk lamp, leaving only the golden light from the flashlight, which was diffused by the foil.

When I finished all of this, there were exactly ten minutes left until midnight.

She tried it and found it wasn't much different from what she had imagined, so she finally felt a little relieved.

The idea to do this came to me in an instant. Ningjiu is not actually good at handcraftsmanship, and even he was surprised when the thought popped into his head.

With five minutes left, before she could even open WeChat, Qiao Bolin's video call came through.

Ning Jiu was still doing the final experiment when he was caught off guard by the call request. He could only press the green button while covering the camera with his thumb.

Her voice was deliberately low and mysterious: "Are you sure you're all alone around here?"

A boy's good-natured chuckle came from the phone: "Yes, I'm sure."

“Okay,” Ning Jiu nodded in satisfaction. “Then close your eyes now. You can only open them when I say open them.”

After she finished speaking, she glanced at the screen. The boy in the video had obediently closed his eyes. His thick eyelashes cast a light shadow on his eyelids, and his fair skin shone faintly in the cold white light. Judging from the background, it seemed to be in his own bedroom.

After confirming that everything was ready, Ning Jiu lowered his thumb from in front of the camera and coughed lightly.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Qiao Bolin opened his eyes.

What comes into view is a golden shooting star streaking across the wall.

The twinkling meteor traced a clear arc, its tail trailing a golden light as it swept across a corner of the room. The orange-yellow light, filtered through the shimmering gold foil covering the lampshade, was diffused into a dazzling brilliance.

The light shone through the screen onto his face, turning his pupils gold.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, ding.

The clock struck midnight.

Qiao Bolin thought.

He will probably never forget this scene for the rest of his life.

A shimmering halo of light spilled down from the wall, gently dancing on the girl's fair cheeks, like a quietly surging tide.

As light and shadow intertwined, her voice seemed to be refracted into that dazzling light, passing through his heart with crystal clarity.

She said to him.

"At eighteen, George Belinda turned golden."

-----------------------

The author says: "I myself have no color; she gave me gold."

Love arrives in an instant.

Xiao Qiao fell completely in love with