Chapter 10 Our First Meeting He was a star, illuminating her desolate universe...

Rewind a few minutes to the dessert stall across the street.

Just as Gu Xufeng turned away regretfully, Zhu Liushuang, who had finished tidying up her stall tools while squatting on the ground, slowly straightened up. She leaned forward, preparing to turn off the decorative string lights and go home as soon as possible.

But unexpectedly, she met a pair of dark, mesmerizing eyes. Her hand, which was about to turn off the light, hung in mid-air, unsure of what to do.

For a moment, the world seemed to stand still, and not a sound could be heard. Her eyes could only see that person's image.

Zhu Liushuang is like a traveler who has been hiking in the desert for a long time and, when she is exhausted, finds her own oasis.

She blinked happily, and the smile on her lips gradually widened.

It's He Ming!

Even after all these years, she can still recognize him at a glance in a crowd.

He Ming's gaze was fixed on her direction. Did he recognize her too?

Zhu Liushuang couldn't help but open her mouth; she wanted to call out to him loudly.

Unfortunately, those beautiful almond-shaped eyes lingered on her face for a brief moment before looking away without any hesitation.

The evening breeze blew, and strands of hair on her shoulders curled up, sliding down her frozen lips. The word "Senior He" stuck in her throat, and she finally swallowed it back down.

Zhu Liushuang lowered her head to find the light switch, frantically pressed the button, and then couldn't help but look up to find Jiang Cai's figure.

Smoke billowed from a barbecue stall in the distance, and warm yellow lights shone down, enveloping everything in an unreal atmosphere.

Zhu Liushuang felt like she was dreaming, so she could only watch helplessly as He Ming's tall figure receded further and further away from her.

The night wind pinned her feet to the spot, and the dark clouds sealed her throat. She stood there dejectedly, unable to do anything.

"Little girl, are you getting ready to pack up your stall?" The voice of the uncle from the next stall reached her ears.

Zhu Liushuang suddenly woke up: This is not a dream!

Ignoring the astonishment of those around her, she quickly stepped out from behind the car and jogged towards the disappearing figure.

It was too late; He Ming had already half-sat in the passenger seat. A loud "bang" followed as the car door slammed shut.

Zhu Liushuang stood about five or six meters away from the car, slightly out of breath. Suddenly, her legs felt heavy, and she couldn't take another step, watching helplessly as the car drove out of her sight.

After the car had disappeared from sight, she bit her lip, turned around, and walked back to her stall.

The person she had been gazing at for so long was sitting in the passenger seat, dozing off against the window.

After driving for a while, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked in the side mirror as the lights of the night market gradually faded away.

His clear, autumn-water-like eyes closed again. Just now, he had vaguely seen the girl's running figure in the mirror.

He didn't know what she was looking for. He wanted to ask Gu Xufeng if she had left something at the stall, but then he noticed the girl didn't run to their car. He thought he was overthinking it.

The discomfort in his stomach became more and more obvious, and He Ming had to press his fist against his stomach. He quickly closed his eyes and forced himself to suppress the pain.

————

Zhu Liushuang walked back to her stall, looking dejected. Compared to the eagerness and excitement she had when she ran out, she now hung her head, appearing lifeless.

"What's wrong with the little girl?" The uncle at the burger stand had a moment to spare and was sitting on a plastic stool scrolling through short videos. "A customer ran off without paying?"

Zhu Liushuang forced a smile and lied, "No, that guest just left something with me, but unfortunately I couldn't catch up."

"When they remember, they'll come to you to get it." The uncle continued scrolling through his short videos. "I see you've sold out. You should go home early; it looks like it's going to rain today."

"Uncle, could I have a beef burger, two patties, please?" Zhu Liu said, taking off his headscarf.

Upon hearing the sound, the stall owner looked up and stopped checking his phone. He immediately got up, spread butter on the beef patties, and started frying them: "This portion is quite generous. You probably can't finish two, right?"

"I have a big appetite, so I'll only have two pieces." As if she were defying herself, Zhu Liushuang insisted.

Having run her stall for so long, she has never bought food from other stalls. Firstly, to save money, and secondly, because she has a small appetite and usually can't eat much after nine o'clock at night.

By the time she had tidied up the stall, the beef burgers were ready. Zhu Liushuang sat in the driver's seat, her entire head encased in a helmet, leaving only her misty eyes visible.

"It's dangerous to eat while driving, so I've packed it in a takeout box for you." The hamburger vendor kindly hung the bag on her car handle.

Zhu Liushuang thanked him and started the car, driving out of the food street into the wind.

Suddenly, a drop of rain fell from the sky and ran into her eye.

Sure enough, it's going to rain again.

At 10 p.m., Gucheng is completely silent. There are few pedestrians on the road, and only a few cars occasionally glide silently through the night.

Zhu Liu drove extremely fast, sprinting home. She finally made it into the residential area before the rain intensified.

The old residential building was pitch black, except for the light in her window. Her mother had left it on especially for her.

Without bothering to move the insulated bucket and the metal box, she ran into the stairwell on the first floor in the rain and stomped her feet a few times.

The motion-sensor lights in the hallway didn't turn on, so she didn't even bother turning on her phone's flashlight and went upstairs in the dark.

Fifteen minutes later, the lamp in the southwest corner of the bedroom came on. Zhu Liushuang, drying her half-dry hair, leaned against the wicker chair outside the desk, lost in thought. On the table sat a beef burger she had bought from the night market.

When she rushed upstairs, the box in her hand jolted so badly that the hamburger fell apart. The beef patty had a slightly fishy smell after it got cold. Zhu Liushuang looked at it quietly for a while, but still couldn't bear to throw it away.

She stuffed the lettuce and beef patty back in, arranging them neatly. Then, holding the thick hamburger in both hands, she opened her mouth wide and took a "fierce" bite. It seemed that doing so could vent her inexplicable frustration.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, one after another.

She wasn't usually a crybaby, but at that moment, tears streamed down her face like a burst dam.

————

Zhu Liushuang clearly remembered that she was also crying when she first met He Ming.

That year, she had just entered Gucheng No. 1 Middle School, and her relationship with her roommates was lukewarm. Half a semester had passed, and she was still alone.

There were six people living in the dormitory. Zhu Liushuang's bunkmate was named Wei Xuan, a somewhat arrogant girl. It was said that her parents were both civil servants in the city, and her family was well-off. Therefore, the other girls in the dormitory all liked to fawn over Wei Xuan.

Zhu Liushuang didn't know when they had started excluding her.

Perhaps it's because others use facial cleansers and skincare products that cost hundreds of dollars, while she only uses lanolin soap that costs a few dollars?

Or perhaps she refused when others invited her to go shopping at a jewelry store outside the school because she was short of money?

Of course, it's also possible that her canvas shoes had worn down to a hole in the sole after wearing them for a long time, without her noticing. It wasn't until her roommate stood behind her, secretly laughing and pointing, that she blushed and walked away...

That day after school, she went to the cafeteria alone for a meal, but when she went to pay, she suddenly realized that her meal card was missing.

Zhu Liu put her fingers into her pocket, clutching the lining of her pants pocket, and explained in a low voice, "Auntie, I lost my meal card... Could I leave my class and name so I can pay you back when I find the card?"

"Young lady, there's no such rule in the cafeteria, I can't make that decision. Why don't you ask a teacher to lend you one, or ask if any of your classmates behind you can lend you one?" The student cafeteria is outsourced, and the cafeteria lady looked embarrassed but still refused her.

Zhu Liushuang turned to look behind her; the cafeteria was bustling with noise. The long queue hadn't moved an inch because of her dawdling, and several older boys behind her had started swearing.

Among so many people, not a single face was familiar.

Zhu Liushuang had no choice but to put down her plate, lower her head, and leave the queue. Her stomach rumbled a few times, and she quickened her pace back to the dormitory, wondering if she had fallen asleep on her bed during her afternoon nap.

If it's really lost, I need to go to the student center to get a replacement as soon as possible, but school's out now, and the earliest I can get one is tomorrow morning.

What she fears most is that someone will pick up her meal card and, instead of turning it in to the lost and found, go directly to the convenience store and use up the entire balance...

Thinking of this, Zhu Liushuang quickened her pace. She ran all the way back to her dormitory, and just as she was about to open the door and rush in, she heard laughter coming from inside.

"Hey, don't you think Zhu Liushuang's bra looks like the kind of style my grandma would wear? It's so old-fashioned!"

"It looks like it was bought from a grocery store near the entrance of the market," someone said disdainfully. "Was it a buy-one-get-one-free deal for twenty yuan?"

"Why was she chosen as the lead singer for the choir? And she's paired with our Xuanxuan... I think she was the one holding us back during rehearsal today..."

Those harsh words struck her eardrums one by one, and Zhu Liushuang wanted to leave immediately. But finding her meal card as soon as possible was the most important thing right now.

So she had no choice but to bite the bullet and push the door open. The moment the dormitory door opened, the teasing crowd fell silent, their smiles freezing on their faces.

"Liu Shuang, you're back?" Liu Linyue from the next bunk awkwardly twitched his lips. "Your underwear was blown to the ground by the wind, and I just happened to pick it up for you."

The balcony windows were tightly closed, so where was the wind coming from? Such a lame excuse was truly ridiculous. Zhu Liushuang suppressed her anger and strode over, snatched the light gray underwear from Liu Linyue's hand, and then glared at her with a stern face.

She wasn't weak-willed; her usual forbearance stemmed from the fact that she might have to live with them for three years. As long as they kept to themselves, she could ignore their intentional or unintentional attempts to exclude her.

This time, however, they crossed the line!

Liu Linyue was silenced by Zhu Liushuang's fierce glare and slunk back to his desk. Seeing this, the others also wisely dispersed.

Ignoring the stares from everyone in the dorm behind her, Zhu Liushuang quickly stuffed her underwear into the closet and then started looking for her meal card.

She deliberately made a huge commotion to show her anger. Her delicate face was expressionless. Her head was lowered, her bangs covering half of her eyes, making her look gloomy and frightening.

The others felt that the scene before them resembled a horror movie, and they couldn't help but shudder, quickly averting their gaze.

Zhu Liushuang searched from the bed to the desk, then from the desk to the wardrobe, turning the room inside out. She still couldn't find the meal card.

A voice inside her reminded her: It must be lost!

She raised her head, glanced around the dormitory, and her sharp eyes swept across each of her roommates' faces, as if to warn them.

Then, with a loud "bang," the door slammed shut.

Did she take the wrong medicine today?

"Can't afford to offend them..."

Her roommate, recovering from her surprise, made a few comments. Zhu Liushuang didn't care about any of that.

All she cared about was a small meal card. There were still over three hundred yuan on it, which was her living expenses for the month.

Just before the evening study bell rang, Zhu Liushuang was still searching in the roadside bushes. As dusk approached, the chilly autumn wind whipped against her face.

She couldn't find it. Resigned, she sat down on a stone bench by the roadside. Her fingers were covered in mud and bits of dry grass, and her stomach was empty.

She felt utterly miserable.

The scene of her roommates disdainfully waving her underwear and gossiping in the dormitory that evening began to replay in her mind. Zhu Liushuang burst into tears, unable to hold back her emotions.

Her lingerie was clearly bought by her mother at a specialty store; it was just a simple and plain style. How did it become the subject of their teasing?

My mother earns a little over three thousand yuan a month, including extra income from odd jobs. How could I have been so careless as to lose my meal card?

Zhu Liushuang became increasingly heartbroken as she thought about it, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

The campus was quiet, except for her suppressed sobs mixed in with the cold wind.

Lost in her own grievances and self-blame, she didn't notice that a few meters away on the tree-lined path, a young man stood alone, silently watching her cry.

She only looked up in surprise when he approached her and handed her a pack of tissues.

Through her teary eyes, Zhu Liushuang saw the young man looking down at her from above. Behind him were vast stretches of goldenrain trees laden with red fruit.

The boy seemed to be bathed in fiery red light, and she heard him say to her, "I think you need this... but crying won't solve anything. After you've finished crying, go back to the classroom for evening self-study, or you'll catch a cold."

The voice was clear and melodious, like the night wind carrying a slight chill. Yet, it became the warmest words in her ears at that moment.

At that moment, Zhu Liushuang silently took the tissue, her tearful eyes gazing at the boy's aloof and cold expression.

For some reason, a sentence popped into her mind: How should I put it, my meeting with you was like a dazzling star illuminating a barren little universe.

A note from the author:

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Why has Shuangshuang remembered He Ming for so many years?

It was probably because he appeared when she was at her most embarrassed and helpless (although this was only what she thought was their first meeting).

Just like the last scene of this chapter, He Ming's kind act illuminated Shuangshuang's barren little universe.

"Our meeting was like a dazzling star illuminating a barren little universe." — From *The Little Prince*