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The monthly holiday coincided with the Ghost Festival, so we had an extra day off. All three days were sunny.

Lu Er washed Ruan Xiyan's school uniform and hung it to dry overnight; it was dry by morning. She got up early Saturday morning and started typing on her phone.

[11]: The school uniform is washed. Please schedule a time to pick it up.

Ruan Xiyan didn't reply to her. Lu Er waited until noon, but he still hadn't replied.

Tired of waiting, she went to the fitness area downstairs in her apartment complex to relax, where she ran into Teacher Mina and Mi Tian. Mi Tian was sitting on one end of the seesaw, which wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that sitting on the other end of her seesaw was a big golden retriever.

Lu Er stared at the large golden retriever. It held its tail high, tongue lolling out, and sat on the equipment with an almost human-like air. Unfortunately, it was too heavy; the seesaw firmly lifted Mi Tian up. No matter how hard she kicked, it was no use.

Lu Er felt the golden retriever looked strangely familiar. She asked Teacher Mina, "Teacher, whose dog is this?"

Teacher Mina said she didn't know either: "No one in our neighborhood keeps a Golden Retriever, it must belong to someone else. It's quite interesting, it played seesaw with Mi Tian as soon as it came over."

Lu Er gently placed her hand on the golden retriever's head, and the golden retriever immediately, as if by conditioned reflex, stuck out its hot, sticky tongue and tried to lick her palm.

"..." Lu Er finally realized whose dog it was.

She withdrew her hand, lowered her head as if to send a message to her master, but her fingers paused for some reason, dangling at her sides. She decided to wait here and wait for her prey to come to her.

After waiting for a while, Ruan Xiyan still hadn't appeared. Lu Er walked home and started typing on WeChat.

[11]: Ruan Xiyan, I saw your dog downstairs.

【11】: Come here, I'll give you my school uniform.

She certainly didn't believe that a golden retriever could sneak out of the house, let alone to her building's entrance. The culprit, true to form, remained silent, refusing to respond.

In the evening, Lu Er, who had gone to buy groceries outside the neighborhood, ran into the big golden retriever again on her way back. The golden retriever circled around her legs, its eyes fixed on her with longing, and she couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard she tried.

Lu Er realized this was one of Ruan Xiyan's tactics. Unable to contain herself any longer, she began typing on the keyboard.

【11】: Ruan Xiyan, if you keep pretending to be dead, you have time to walk the dog but no time to pick up your school uniform?

Now the other side has woken up.

[Slow Momo]: I won't take it!

[Slow Momo]: I accepted it, and now you're going to dump me? I don't want that!!

【Slow Momo】: (Tears of grievance on Little Eight's face)

Lu Er laughed, amused by the shameless Ruan Xiyan.

[11]: I don't want to make a cat bed for my cat anymore.

【11】: Or have your dog take it back.

【Slow Momo】: (Little Ba, feeling wronged and crying) x3

【Slow Momo】: Teacher Xiaolu, you're so cruel TvT

Lu Er gave a thumbs-up, intending to reply with "Then hurry up and come get it," when a line of text quickly popped up below.

【Slow Momo】: But

【Slow Momo】: I know you wouldn't do that ouo

Lu Er's face turned pale. She stood on the stairs, so stunned by what she'd just said that she forgot to take a step. Staring at the utterly unlovable TvT and ouo, she crossed her arms, opened her lips a few times in anger, and then gave a speechless, shocked smile.

How come I never noticed before that Ruan Xiyan is such a scoundrel?

So for the next three days, Ruan Xiyan used the same trick again. Every time she saw the golden retriever casually wandering into Lu Er's sight, and every time Lu Er stretched out her eyes but couldn't find Ruan Xiyan, she felt an indescribable helplessness.

-

On the Ghost Festival, every household burns two sticks of incense in front of their doors. Lu Er hung the clothes from the bucket one by one on the clothes rack, then put the small garbage bags into a large garbage bag, and carried the large garbage bag downstairs.

On her way upstairs, she ran into Mi Tian squatting in the stairwell, deftly spinning a top in her hand. Teacher Mina called Mi Tian in for dinner and also invited Lu Er to join them.

The last time Lu Er visited Teacher Mina's home was during the Dragon Boat Festival. Teacher Mina taught Mi Tian how to wrap triangular rice dumplings, and Lu Er, who was watching from the side, memorized each step and then made more than fifty triangular rice dumplings with Teacher Mina.

I later learned that this was a Dragon Boat Festival gift that Teacher Mina prepared for the students of Class 18.

Ms. Mina's home is simple and tidy. Her house shines like a mirror all year round. Four pots of geraniums sit on the balcony, all in bloom. Even with only one adult and one child, the home remains warm and orderly.

Teacher Mina handed her a pair of household chopsticks. At the dinner table, Teacher Mina casually asked, "Have you gone out with Xiyan these past few days? I ran into him outside the neighborhood, and he said he was coming to see you."

Lu Er was eating ribs when she heard this, and her back teeth crunched and crushed the ribs. The ribs were like her enemy.

This Ruan Xiyan, she says she's coming to see her in front of others, but she doesn't have the guts to show her face in front of her.

"If you have time, invite him to your home. I'd like to entertain him once."

Lu Er's hand froze. She could make up an excuse, or she could vaguely get through it like she had with Jiang Chun before. But for some reason, she stopped talking here.

Teacher Mina had seen more children than Lu Er had ever known salt, and she had known this child for over two years. In just a moment, the teacher saw through him: "You two have a conflict?"

Lu Er lowered her face, her voice forced out as if from her throat: "Mmm."

Mi Tian was good at reading people's expressions, and her stomach was so full she could burp. She wiped her lips and the corners of her mouth with a tissue as she jumped off the stool and said, "I'm full."

Lu Er recounted the whole story. Of course, she kept those vague details in her mind.

Teacher Mina knew perfectly well what she was really thinking. To distance herself from someone who had become a friend without any reason, simply using "not fitting in" as an excuse, was utterly unconvincing.

Teacher Mina didn't spell it out, but judging from her expression, she asked, "Do you hate him?"

"..." Lu Er pressed his lips together, remaining silent.

“I think Xiyan is a very good child, active and a little mischievous. He complements your personality perfectly, one is cool and the other warm, one active and the other quiet.” Teacher Mina chuckled gently, then her tone softened as she asked, “Do you think he's bothering you, affecting your life and studies?”

Lu Er carefully prepared the words that were stirring up unease in her heart: "...I guess so. Teacher, you know, I was always alone before... He's so different from me, I'm not used to this feeling."

Ms. Mina said, "I actually have a lot of faith in you, that you can manage your studies and interpersonal relationships well. Now, I understand what you mean. Don't you want some changes and upheavals in this unchanging life?"

Lu Er nodded.

Teacher Mina didn't continue speaking. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a white medicine bottle. Lu Er's eyes widened as she looked at it and realized it was medication for heart disease.

Teacher Mina recounted her past like a story. She said she had a congenital heart condition and was physically weaker and sickly than others from a young age. She often needed help from others' hands and shoulders to attend physical education classes. One day in college, she fainted due to her heart condition, and it was at that moment that she met Mi Tian's father.

They studied the same major and kept in touch. Because of her heart condition, Mi Tian's father often gave extra care to their teacher, Mina. The two gradually developed feelings for each other, and their marriage was arranged immediately after graduation. He promised her that he would take care of her for the rest of his life.

In the third year of their marriage, he complained that she was causing him trouble and filed for divorce. Teacher Mina neither let him take Mi Tian away nor tried to stop him from staying.

"Do I hate him? Maybe. The reason for the beginning and the end is the same." Teacher Mina smiled casually. "My heart condition led me to meet him, and it also led me to lose him."

Lu Er listened to the adults' stories as if she had helplessly stumbled into a different world: "Teacher, this isn't your problem, it's that..."

Mina's soft laughter stopped Lu Er from speaking. Mina's gaze fell on Lu Er's face as she said, "However, I still really like that relationship. I'm grateful it allowed me to experience all of this."

"So, do you know what the teacher is trying to say? Ups and downs are inevitable in life. Sometimes, you will miss out on a beautiful scene because you try to avoid it. The teacher's advice is that if it is entirely beneficial to you, then you might as well accept it."

She smiled and said, "The teacher is just giving you a choice. It's still up to you how you think and how you decide."

Lu Er's lips parted, and she slowly bowed her head: "Thank you, teacher."

-

The night before school started, Lu Er leaned against the windowsill in her room, fiddling with the keychain. She held it up in the air, and two names pierced through the transparent back, as if engraved on the back of her hand.

The evening breeze fanned her hair, and the rosy clouds resembled ripe hawthorns. Lu Er felt it was about time, so she opened the door and went downstairs.

Ruan Xiyan refused to give up. Ice will always melt in the sun, and he could always warm her heart of stone. Besides, this stone was hard only on the outside.

He enthusiastically led Mao Mao out the door. Mao Mao seemed to know what they were going to do, its tail wagging from side to side the whole way.

"Mao Mao, stay here. We'll go back after she goes up. You'll get a chicken leg as a reward when we get back," Ruan Xiyan said, patting Mao Mao's head.

Suddenly, Mao Mao stared intently at a spot. Ruan Xiyan followed its gaze and saw a black and white cat appear in the flower bushes, its back flared high and its tail tip curved and floating in the air.

Looking deeper into the flowerbed, Ruan Xiyan discovered a tabby cat. The tabby and the black and white cat glared at each other, and a battle ensued amidst the sparks flying.

"Meow!" The two cats rolled together like dirty snowballs.

"Hey, stop fighting!" Ruan Xiyan wanted to break up the fight, but didn't know how. "Meow meow, Mimi, Little Cow? Sang Biao? Oreo? Little Flower? Little Milk? Stop fighting!"

At the crucial moment, Momo stepped forward. It barked, and the two bruised cats glared at each other with bulging eyes. Momo rushed forward, barking twice, and the cow and tabby cats' bristly fur seemed to melt away, gradually softening.

The tabby cat left first. The black and white cat calmly licked its paws, glanced back at Ruan Xiyan twice, then jumped into the flower bushes and disappeared.

Ruan Xiyan breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had protected her cat.

"Ruan Xiyan".

The voice rang out unexpectedly, and Ruan Xiyan shuddered. He wanted to run away, but he wanted to see her face even more, so he slowly turned his back to her and said, "...Ah, what a coincidence, ah."

Lu Er's eyebrows were slender and arched, like two willow leaves. Now, the tips of those willow leaves were drawn closer to his brow, revealing a slightly furrowed expression.

Ruan Xiyan quickly memorized her appearance, then shifted her gaze to her palm and noticed the keychain on her index finger.

Ruan Xiyan's mind immediately went into overdrive.

He wondered anxiously if she had really thrown away everything that was related to them.

It's all my fault for having such a big mouth. Two little figures floated in Ruan Xiyan's mind, one called Angel Xiao Xi, and the other Devil Xiao Yan.

Angel Xiaoxi said that you shouldn't bother her. She noticed your feelings and resisted them from the bottom of her heart, which is why she stayed away from you.

Devil Xiao Yan raised an X and said, "If you like someone, you should bravely take her place. Once she gets used to it, her heart will be moved in no time."

The two little people have been fighting day and night since the first day of school.

Ruan Xiyan's mind would wander between angelic thoughts and demonic possession. After a while, he started to think he was becoming somewhat mentally challenged.

For example, right now, with his nerves on edge, wondering if she was going to distance herself from him, he was sweating profusely, and the words slipped out of his mouth uncontrollably: "I can't help it, I just like you, I like you so much, you can't get rid of me!"

Lu Er, who had been mentally rehearsing her draft from beginning to end, thought: "...?"

She was stunned, Xiao Xi and Xiao Yan were stunned, and Ruan Xiyan was also stunned.

Realizing what she had said belatedly, Ruan Xiyan blinked in disbelief. Then, Lu Er saw large patches of hawthorn-red sunset light spread across Ruan Xiyan's face.

In her brainstorming session, she picked up a single word: "You..."

Ruan Xiyan ran away. He didn't even care about the golden retriever beside him. He ran away in a disheveled state, his back staggering, his face red from being covered in bubbling teapot bubbles.

Tonight was absolutely terrible.