Return the book

It rained last night, and the air this morning is filled with a slight chill.

The window was open, and Lu Er felt the wind brush against the back of her feet, making her feel a little cold. She tucked her feet in, and the cold woke her up.

Lu Er straightened up, and when he saw his surroundings clearly, he was suddenly startled and realized he had switched back.

The sensation of her hand patting her face proved it wasn't a hallucination; Lu Er was half-awake and half-relieved. As her mind raced, memories of the past few days flooded back, along with a particular scene of drizzling, steaming water…

Lu Er quickly stopped her ears from getting too hot. She had switched back, so Ruan Xiyan should have switched back too.

She opened WeChat and promptly sent a message to Ruan Xiyan. Ruan Xiyan was probably still asleep, as it wasn't until half an hour later that he sent a whole page of messages.

Lu Er didn't reply. She thought, it's good to switch back.

She no longer needs to think about anything else.

She filled in the bills she had memorized over the past few days in her notebook, as well as the cost of the two drinks Ruan Xiyan had treated her to.

As for the matter with Ruan Xiyan… let's settle it as soon as possible. To avoid any unforeseen complications. Lu Er thought for a moment, then took out his phone and transferred money to Ruan Xiyan on the spot. He replied quickly.

【Slow Momo】:?

【11】: Coffee money and milk tea money.

This time he didn't say anything. After accepting the money, the two had nothing more to say, and their conversation ended there.

After returning to each other, Lu Er continued with her life as usual. The tutoring fee was far from enough for her. She had to repay not only the bills in her notebook, but also future expenses.

While eating breakfast, Lu Er planned to take a stroll around the streets, hoping to find some other part-time job.

On Ruan Xiyan's side, after playing with Mao Mao for a while, Chen Xiang sent him a WeChat invitation, asking him to go out. Thinking he'd neglected his friend lately, he agreed.

Before leaving, he put on his burgundy baseball cap and noticed a thick book lying on the table out of the corner of his eye. It was the math Olympiad supplementary book that Lu Er used for tutoring.

Ruan Xiyan left a message for Lu Er, saying that she had left a book there and asking when she would pick it up.

When Lu Er received Ruan Xiyan's message, she was at a plaza called Fule. She had good news: she had found a job taking flyers at a nearby shopping mall, paid daily. The pay wasn't high, but it was convenient enough.

Lu Er looked down and saw a WeChat message pop up. Learning that Ruan Xiyan was out, she slowly typed a message.

【11】: Could you bring it over on your way? I'll be waiting for you at Fule Square.

【Slow Momo】: Okay.

—

Fule Square wasn't far away, and Ruan Xiyan and Chen Xiang had arranged to meet at the intersection in this area. He decided to walk there.

"Xi Yan." Chen Xiang waved to him from afar. He was carrying a bag, and two badminton rackets were stuck behind his head like two light bulbs. Chen Xiang had arranged to meet Ruan Xi Yan at the badminton hall.

“Hi.” Ruan Xiyan waved her hand, indicating to him, “Shall we go to the square first? Or do you go first? I need to return a book to someone… I haven’t returned the book I borrowed.”

"Let's go together."

The two walked together. Chen glanced at him a few times and teased, "Aren't you pretending to be aloof today? What new persona are you cultivating? Yesterday you were a cool and aloof god, today... today you're not some energetic puppy, are you?"

Ruan Xiyan didn't tell him about the strange things that had happened these past few days, only chuckled twice expressionlessly: "Get lost. I'm a wild wolfhound, you know."

"Tch, I thought you were up to something new. I couldn't even get you to agree to a date. Oh, by the way, whose book did you borrow?" Chen wanted to peek and see for himself.

They arrived at Fule Plaza. Ruan Xiyan didn't answer; his gaze immediately settled on Lu Er. She was wearing denim overalls today, not particularly noticeable in the crowd, but for some reason, Ruan Xiyan still spotted her.

"Maybe I've gotten used to her perspective," Ruan Xiyan thought to herself.

Lu Er saw him too. She walked towards him, getting closer and closer, and he could see her icy face clearly.

Ruan Xiyan wanted to greet her first, but seeing that she didn't want to say much, she swallowed her "good morning" and handed over the math Olympiad study guide.

Lu Er nodded during the inspection and said a token "thank you" before leaving.

Ruan Xiyan: "You're welcome. Bye-bye."

Chen Xiang witnessed the whole thing, his mouth agape so wide it could fit an egg.

Lu Er walked away. Chen Xiang elbowed him: "Are you that close to the class monitor?"

Ruan Xiyan had thought that after going through something like this, he and Lu Er could at least be considered friends. But now it seemed that the other party didn't think so.

What kind of friendship is one-sided? Ruan Xiyan shook her head. As Chen Xiang walked, he recalled Lu Er's retreating figure and said, "I really didn't expect you to know the class monitor. Although she is our class monitor, I think she is really cold."

“I’ve never seen many people in the class who could talk to her. Once I forgot to pay the class fee, and she came to me and said that I still remember her attitude. I was speechless,” Chen Xiang exclaimed, “I almost caught a cold from the cold.”

Chen Xiang's words were an exaggeration. Ruan Xiyan smiled slightly.

However, in his opinion, it wasn't to the point of indifference. At most, she was a girl with an overly strong defense mechanism who liked to put on a cold face.

The nearest stadium is a few traffic lights from the square. As they walked, Chen Xiang, who was looking at her phone, looked up and asked him, "Have you planned to go to Tokyo for a few days? Sheng Jiao has been urging us in the group chat for a while, but I haven't seen you reply. Go to Akihabara, and then go surfing at the nearby beach. It'll be so cool in the middle of summer, a perfect way to beat the heat."

Sheng Jiao is Ruan Xiyan's childhood friend. She went abroad when she was in junior high school and often traveled around the world during winter and summer vacations.

Ruan Xiyan replied listlessly, "I have tutoring. It starts tomorrow, how can I have time to go?"

"No, are you really going to go to that lousy tutoring? It's not like you're taking it all week. You can take the weekend, and then take Friday off. Three days should be enough for you to have fun."

"Hmm. Too much trouble, I don't want to go."

He didn't want to, and Chen Xiang had no choice: "Fine. It's pointless for me to go alone if you don't go. Sheng Jiao is probably hoping you'll go."

—

Hearing the knock, Aunt Jiang, who was peeling fruit, turned around and called for Jiang Yanyan to open the door. Jiang Yanyan looked through the peephole and saw that it was Lu Er. She immediately opened the door and said, "Sister Lu."

He glanced back instinctively: "Where's Brother Xiyan?"

Before Lu Er could answer, Aunt Jiang came over. Knowing Lu Er would arrive at this time, she had specially peeled her favorite fruit. Aunt Jiang warmly welcomed Lu Er in: "Little Er's here! Welcome, welcome!"

"Didn't your friend come with you today?"

Aunt Jiang had indeed heard about it. Lu Er scratched his earlobe awkwardly and explained, "He had something to do today, so I came by myself. He was interested in tutoring and wanted to observe, so I took the liberty of bringing him here. I'm sorry, Aunt Jiang."

"You silly child, it's nothing, why are you apologizing?" Aunt Jiang waved her hand, her eyes warm and friendly. "I was actually thinking of treating you and your friends to a proper meal today. I didn't have time to entertain you while I was helping to take care of Grandma, and you two were teaching my Yan Yan, I felt so bad."

Jiang Yanyan silently overheard everything they said. He thought, "These two must be a couple. They guessed their mother would be home today, and to avoid suspicion, Brother Xiyan deliberately didn't come." Jiang Yanyan was deeply engrossed in his own speculation.

After finishing her tutoring session, on her way home, Lu Er ran into Teacher Mina. She was holding Mi Tian, ​​who was playing on the exercise equipment downstairs. Lu Er went up to her and said, "Hello, teacher."

"Lu'er?" Teacher Mina laughed. "Where did you go and come back?"

"went to the street."

Mi Tian's head was covered with only a thin layer of hair. Teacher Mina said that Mi Tian didn't like washing her hair and would always throw a tantrum and refuse to have it washed. Later, Teacher Mina suggested shaving her head bald, but Mi Tian thought it would look bad. In the end, the hairdresser still gave her a buzz cut.

Mi Tian looks a lot like Teacher Mina, with a pair of phoenix eyes. Mi Tian is still young, and the curve of her double eyelids is wide and open, making her look innocent and naive.

Lu Er squatted down and greeted Mi Tian. Mi Tian solemnly handed her a small fan in her hand: "Sister Lu Er, this is for you. It's a new gadget I invented."

Mi Tian enjoys making all sorts of novel little inventions by following tutorials. Several times when Lu Er visited Teacher Mina's house, he would see Mi Tian sitting on the floor, intently disassembling and assembling small items from the book.

The neighbors, including her second aunt and second uncle, all said that Mi Tian wasn't like a girl. What kind of girl does all this fancy, useless stuff? Teacher Mina disagreed, saying that Mi Tian is exactly what a girl should be like.

"Thank you. I accept it." Lu Er lowered her eyes, a slight smile appearing on them.

"Oh, right." Before Lu Er left, Teacher Mina reminded her, "You should go to your tutoring class tomorrow. I've sent you the address and time. Be on time tomorrow."

Lu Er nodded: "Okay."

Back in her room that evening, Lu Er sat on the edge of the bed reading. A small, dark shadow slipped in through the crack in the window; its body was completely obscured by black clouds, and its four white socks were neatly pulled up. It meowed once and jumped onto Lu Er's bedside.

Lu Er stroked its head while opening the chat box with Ruan Xiyan.

Just one day after transforming back, Ruan Xiyan updated her WeChat Moments again. The accompanying picture appeared to be taken at a badminton hall. Two badminton rackets were standing in front of the screen, one of them wearing a red baseball cap. At first glance, it looked like the badminton rackets were taking a selfie.

It's very interesting. It's definitely a shooting method that Ruan Xiyan would come up with.

Lu Er exited the chat and remained in the chat interface with Ruan Xiyan. She hesitated, clicking on the profile picture, then the half-ellipsis in the upper right corner, and pausing again at the "delete" button.

She and Ruan Xiyan were like two parallel lines, destined to have no connection. Any connection they had was an accident. Now that the accident is over, shouldn't everything return to normal?

She and Ruan Xiyan were the same.

Lu Er hesitated for a long time, but still didn't press the bright red button.

She stroked the fur on the black and white cat's back and belly, thinking, "I'll wait until this summer is over. We still have to meet tomorrow for tutoring. Otherwise, it'll be so awkward."

Once summer is over, things will go back to normal.