Chapter 6 Clues Her guess was confirmed. ...

She knew who the kind person was.

The moment he walked past her, she recognized him immediately.

Zhu Liushuang picked up the suitcase that was placed on the ground, her mind uncontrollably replaying what had just happened.

For a moment, I even forgot which direction to go.

Indeed, as others have said, He Ming appears cold and aloof, and doesn't like to talk to people.

But he repeatedly reached out to help her, a complete stranger, which shows that he is not a cold-hearted person.

Zhu Liushuang regretted her cowardice; she hadn't even thanked him in person. Each time, she would wait until He Ming was far away before whispering "thank you."

But they can no longer hear me.

Composing herself, Zhu Liushuang walked back towards the school gate.

A voice inside her kept questioning her: Was He Ming's help to her a coincidence of kindness or intentional? Did he recognize her?

The sun hid behind thick clouds, and the sky suddenly darkened.

Just as she had already come to the conclusion in her heart.

How could he know her? Otherwise, why didn't he leave a single word about her?

Her gaze fell upon the school's electric roller shutter gate, behind which a figure on an electric scooter was waving at her.

Zhu Liushuang raised her head, which had been hanging low, and strode towards her mother with her suitcase on her back.

————

After playing the same song dozens of times, Zhu Liushuang finally stopped reminiscing.

It was hard to tell whether her serene face showed more regret or excitement.

After all, she hadn't thought about this person for many years.

More precisely, she had kept him hidden in her heart ever since graduating from high school. Even her best friend, Tian Xingyu, had never discovered her secret.

To her, He Ming was like the moon in the sky and the snow in the forest, a secret and special presence in her girlhood.

But then, unexpectedly, it barged into her life again.

He didn't even show up; just his voice was enough to stir up a storm in her heart.

Zhu Liushuang couldn't help but smile wryly. How could she be so sure that He Ming had created this radio station when she wasn't even completely certain yet?

Who should she ask for confirmation?

Is it He Ming himself?

She didn't have his contact information. She had carefully written down his phone number in her diary a long time ago, and had sent him a text message once, but it never came to fruition.

Now, the only person connected to them is Ye Xingzhi.

So, Zhu Liushuang found Ye Xingzhi's profile picture in her WeChat contacts. She clicked on it without hesitation; the chat history was too simple, and she could see it all at a glance.

It's nothing more than mass-sent greetings during holidays and unoriginal thank-you messages.

After deleting and rewriting in the input field, Zhu Liushuang ultimately sent nothing. She decided to try a different method to verify.

It all started with the radio, and there might have been some clues in the radio program.

Zhu Liushuang turned on the bedside lamp and, using the warm yellow light, began to carefully browse through the "Human World and Plants" radio station.

The homepage information panel displays the radio station's ID and IP address, but other than that, no other useful information can be found.

However, the IP address shows "Gucheng", which means that the radio station owner is still in Gucheng.

The thought that they were under the same sky and had perhaps brushed past each other on some street corner made me even more excited.

A quick glance at the audio section reveals that the radio station was initially established five years ago, and produced programs almost every month until it completely stopped updating two years ago.

Zhu Liushuang carefully browsed the playlist. Each episode clearly displayed the number of plays, comments, and upload time.

Perhaps because it's a personal radio station, the show's viewership isn't high. The first few episodes had dozens of comments, but the number of comments decreased as the show progressed.

Some comments are better than none, so she decided to start by checking the comments.

Before I knew it, it started raining outside the window. The sound of the rain went from a light drizzle to a loud swishing sound, and then to a downpour.

But the noisy rain did not disturb her at all.

Zhu Liushuang stared intently at her phone screen, searching for useful information. She read every comment carefully; most were from unsuspecting listeners praising the broadcaster's pleasant voice, while others requested background music.

However, the radio station owner did not reply.

After flipping through the entire program, Zhu Liushuang felt somewhat discouraged. It seemed that relying solely on listener comments wouldn't yield any results. Just as she was about to change her approach, the final episode of the radio program surprised her.

That comment was hidden among several strangers' praises and self-indulgent expressions.

[Look what I've discovered! Senior, I heard you went back home to work. Want to play ball together this weekend?]

This tone of voice is very similar to Ye Xingzhi's. Zhu Liushuang clicked on the commenter's ID to enter their homepage, which was blank except for the IP address, which showed Gu Cheng.

It's obvious that this is a small scuba diving device.

The trail went cold.

Zhu Liushuang, of course, wouldn't give up so easily. She vaguely felt that she had seen this alternate account's profile picture somewhere before.

The sound of a door opening came from outside, and a moment later, there was movement in the bathroom.

Zhu Liushuang quickly turned off the bedside lamp, grabbed her phone, and crawled under the covers.

Even she herself was stunned by her subconscious action. Despite already being at work, she subconsciously expected her mother to push open the door and urge her to go to bed early, just like she did when she was in school.

It was this interruption that made her suddenly remember that she had indeed seen this alternate account's profile picture before.

If I remember correctly, Ye Xingzhi used this image as the cover for his WeChat Sports campaign.

She was pleased with her good memory, her face beaming with excitement. Her slender fingers swiped through WeChat Sports in the background, found Ye Xingzhi's profile picture, and clicked on it.

Sure enough, she saw an identical picture.

In the picture, a cartoon character is wearing a blue jersey and holding a basketball.

"Senior Ye, next time I send you New Year's greetings, I promise I won't forward anyone else's. I'll edit one just for you..." Zhu Liushuang tapped her phone screen with her index finger and murmured.

Her face showed a rare hint of playfulness.

All her guesses were confirmed, and she locked her phone screen with satisfaction.

Summer night rain comes and goes quickly. The gauze curtain by the window is rolled up, and you can vaguely see the swaying shadows of camphor trees outside.

Zhu Liushuang lay on the bed, quietly listening to her own joyful heartbeat.

All those likes and expectations from my youth came rushing back.

————

People are prone to making impulsive and bold decisions in the dead of night. Zhu Liushuang has come to realize this deeply.

She worked for a long time last night, making numerous revisions in her notebook and listing out a whole set of plans. Her dedication was comparable to burning the midnight oil before preparing for the college entrance exam.

Early in the morning, the alarm clock rang three times, but she still hadn't woken up. Then, there was a knock on the door, and with a creak, someone pushed the door open and entered.

"Xiaoshuang, get up... I noticed your light was on very late last night. Have you been very busy with work lately?"

Hearing her mother's concerned words, Zhu Liushuang groggily opened her eyes. Then she jumped out of bed.

"Mom, why did you come in..." She wasn't quite awake yet, her shoulder-length hair looked messy and cute. "What time is it?"

Gu Chunling bent down with difficulty to pick up the air conditioner blanket that had been kicked to the floor, and glanced around the room: "It's 7:30. If you don't get up now, you'll be late for work."

Zhu Liushuang hurriedly said "Oh," grabbed a dress from the closet, and ran into the bathroom.

I changed clothes and washed up in one go, and then spent another five minutes putting on light makeup.

Through the bathroom door, she could hear rustling sounds coming from the bedroom. Zhu Liushuang pursed her lips in front of the mirror, tidied her slightly outward-curling hair, and quickly walked out of the bathroom.

Her mother was tidying up the house, her movements slow but extremely methodical. The clothes she had torn apart in the closet were now neatly folded and rearranged. Several new household items bought a few days ago were also arranged in order in a corner. Receipts, documents, and a few books were on the desk…

Zhu Liushuang stared at her mother, who was tidying up her desk, and her lips suddenly froze. Without thinking, she rushed over.

"Mom, I can clean up myself. You should go back to your room and rest..."

She abruptly snatched the notebook from Gu Chunling's hand, hid it behind her back, and then casually stuffed it into the desk drawer.

After finishing all this, Zhu Liushuang turned to look at her mother, who was still in a daze, and put on a smile: "I'll tidy up the desk myself; there are some important company documents on it..."

His words sounded very dignified and respectable.

There were no important documents there; it was just some "ambitious thoughts" she impulsively wrote down last night.

Of course, Gu Chunling had no suspicions. She had spent many years threading silk in the workshop when she was young, and now her eyesight was failing. Without her reading glasses, she couldn't see even a single word of the densely packed writing on the paper.

"You're such a grown woman, why are you still so loud? Get ready and come eat breakfast. Mom made you wontons today..." She glanced at her daughter, whose expression seemed a little strange, and rubbed her back as she left the room.

"Hey," Zhu Liushuang responded, staring at the wooden door, not forgetting to ask her mother, "Is your morning stiffness any better today? How long does it take for you to regain sensation after moving around?"

Seeing that her mother ignored her, Liu Shuang puffed out her cheeks in frustration and finally took her hands off the drawer handle from behind her back.

Before leaving the bedroom, as if still worried, she went to the desk again and opened the drawer. Her gaze fell on the notebook she had just hidden. The notebook was open, and the words on it were particularly eye-catching in bright, large characters—"The Flower-Picking Plan."

This is the result of her hard work until the early hours of the morning last night!

Just a few hours later, the plan became a hot potato.

After staring at the laptop for a few seconds, she suddenly felt her cheeks burning. It must be because the room was too stuffy. Zhu Liushuang locked the drawer and hurriedly left the room.

————

Mother Gu Chunling was sitting at the dining table, sipping wonton soup. The television in the living room was on, broadcasting the morning news.

The scene shifts, and the host begins to report on the recent internal restructuring of the Gucheng Bus Group, which includes strengthening psychological counseling for drivers.

Zhu Liushuang, who had just come out of the bedroom, happened to hear this. She glanced at the TV screen with a complicated expression, picked up the remote control on the table, and turned off the TV.

"It was working perfectly fine, how could it be turned off so suddenly..." Gu Chunling stopped drinking her soup and pressed the power button again.

Zhu Liushuang sat down in silence on the dining chair and began eating her wontons in quiet contemplation.

All she could hear was her mother talking to her in a rambling voice: "Your father has been gone for so many years, it's time to move on from this. I know you turned off the TV just now because you were afraid I'd be reminded of something painful... Xiaoshuang, Mom has let it go. You should let it go too..."

Zhu Liushuang gave a soft "hmm," got up, took the bowl to the kitchen, and then quietly went to the entryway to change her shoes.

"The weather forecast says it will rain again this afternoon. Why don't you take the bus to work?" Gu Chunling suggested.

Zhu Liushuang quickly changed her shoes and took the electric scooter key: "An electric scooter is convenient."

“If you stay up late at night, you won’t be able to get up in the morning. You’re out in the wind and rain every day, what if you catch a cold? Let’s take the bus or a taxi,” Gu Chunling insisted.

"Taxi rides are so expensive! Mom, I'm leaving now. Remember to stay home and don't move around too much. Call me if you need anything." Zhu Liushuang left without looking back.

The news continued to play in the living room, leaving only Gu Chunling's sigh: "This child... is so stubborn."

Just as the Zhu family closed their security door, the security door opposite them opened.

As soon as Zhu Liushuang turned around, she was met with Lü Feng's roguish face.

"Good morning, Xiaoshuang." He greeted her with a smile, a flash of surprise in his eyes.

A note from the author:

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My darling daughter, these little thoughts of yours... you really have a secret crush on someone! (Mom feels sorry for you, but we'll get back to the sweet side later.)