Chapter 56

It was pitch black in the room at midday on Sunday. The sunlight outside was intense, but it couldn't penetrate the layers of heavy curtains.

Last night, Xu Feifei specifically told Lin Yuan not to wake her up. She slept soundly until she naturally woke up, and when she looked at the time, it was already 11:30.

Xu Feifei lay on the bed and couldn't help but exclaim, "That felt so good!"

I found a comfortable lying position and started scrolling through my phone when a message from Lin Yuan popped up on my screen: "Are you up yet? I brought back lunch. Want to come over and eat?"

*Gurgle* Before my brain could even process it, my stomach was already rumbling. I immediately replied: Yes, yes, yes, I'll be right there after I brush my teeth!

After getting up, he went straight to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and after getting ready, he headed to Lin Yuan's room.

The moment the door opened, Lin Yuan also opened her door. Xu Feifei looked at her in surprise, "How come it's always such a coincidence? It's always like this, you open your door just as I do."

Lin Yuan turned to the side, smiled, and said, "Are you hungry? Come in and eat!"

"Yay!"

Xu Feifei didn't hesitate for long and went inside. As soon as she entered, her eyes were drawn to the flowers on the table—a bunch of lotus flowers.

Seeing that she was looking at the bouquet of flowers, Lin Yuan went up to her and handed her the flowers.

"Here you are, to celebrate your good health. I hope you will be safe and healthy in the days to come."

Xu Feifei accepted the bouquet of flowers with a mixture of shock and delight. "Wow! Thank you, thank you! These flowers are so beautiful! Why did you give me lotus flowers?"

"I'm glad you like it. Last time at East Lake, I noticed you seemed to really like lotus flowers."

Xu Feifei looked down at the bouquet, which consisted of half-open lotus flowers, lotus buds, and lotus pods. There was a poem written in calligraphy inside the wrapping paper.

“Clouds remind me of her clothes, flowers of her face; the spring breeze caresses the balustrade, the dew is heavy; if not for the Jade Mountains…, she would be facing the moon on the Jade Terrace…” (1)

The second half of the poem was covered up and couldn't be seen. Xu Feifei recited the first two lines from memory, but she didn't remember the rest.

“If we don’t meet on the summit of Mount Qunyu, we will meet under the moon on the Jade Terrace,” Lin Yuan added. (2)

"Huh? Why is this poem written? Isn't this the poem Li Bai wrote for Yang Guifei?" Xu Feifei asked in confusion.

Lin Yuan's lips curled slightly, and she said gently, "Mm."

“Every time I read this line of poetry, I think of hibiscus, but the analysis says it refers to peony,” Xu Feifei said with a smile.

"The lotus is also known as the water hibiscus." Lin Yuan did not directly answer her question.

Xu Feifei nodded thoughtfully and said, "It seems so. I haven't seen Furong yet."

"Hibiscus blooms from August to October. I'll send you a bouquet when the hibiscus blooms."

"Okay! I'm starting to look forward to it." Xu Feifei smiled and lowered her head, fiddling with the bouquet in her hands. She glanced at something black next to her, smelled it, and realized it was ink.

"The ink doesn't seem to be dry; it's stuck on."

Lin Yuan looked at Xu Feifei's hand; a small part of it had turned black. Frowning, she took out a wet wipe and cleaned it for her, saying, "I remember I let it air dry."

Xu Feifei watched as she lowered her head and carefully wiped her hands, her long eyelashes partially obscuring her eyes. Although the wet wipe was cool, the area being wiped felt hot, and she hurriedly withdrew her hand before it was even clean.

He stammered, "Yes, yes, that's fine."

"Not yet, there's still a little bit here." Lin Yuan took her hand and wiped the remaining area clean.

Xu Feifei couldn't wait to pull her hand away, feeling a little strange.

Lin Yuan stared at her empty hand, a flicker of surprise crossing her eyes. She forced a smile. "Be careful, don't touch those words again. Wait until they're dry."

After saying that, he threw the tissue in his hand into the trash can.

Xu Feifei nodded, staring at the words on the packaging, which looked more and more familiar.

"Lin Yuan, did you write these words?"

"Yes, I wrapped these flowers."

"Wow, that's amazing! Your skills are comparable to those of a florist. Did you buy these lotus flowers or pick them yourself?"

"I bought it at the flower shop."

"If I had known, I would have picked some lotus flowers when I went boating on the lake yesterday. I would have saved a lot of money, haha. You can pick lotus flowers in East Lake, right?" Xu Feifei joked.

She remembered Lin Yuan telling her that you could catch fish in East Lake, but she hadn't heard whether you could pick lotus flowers.

"Yes, the school isn't strict about this. As long as you don't harvest on a large scale, it's fine. When the lotus pods are ripe, students can sign up for lotus pod picking activities."

Xu Feifei asked curiously, "Wow, that sounds awesome! What about lotus root? Will they also organize activities?"

Lin Yuan shook her head and said, "Lotus root won't work; the water in East Lake is too deep. But the school will call in professionals to pick it, and the cafeteria will provide everyone with the first bowl of lotus root of autumn for free."

Xu Feifei murmured, "The first bowl of lotus root in autumn..."

I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to eat it again.

Her voice was soft, but Lin Yuan could hear it clearly. "Feifei, do you want to eat?"

“A little…” Xu Feifei smiled.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan suggested, "How about we go eat together tonight? Although it's not lotus root season, the school cafeteria still has some."

Xu Feifei wasn't particularly interested in lotus roots, but she was curious about the lotus roots from East Lake. So she waved her hand and said, "No, no. Lin Yuan, I'm hungry, I want to eat."

Lin Yuan opened the lunchboxes on the table one by one, unwrapped the chopsticks, and handed them to her, saying, "Eat quickly, don't go hungry."

After Xu Feifei finished eating, Lin Yuan saw her stop eating and asked, "Are you full?"

I'm full.

"Would you like some peach gum and bird's nest sweet soup?"

Xu Feifei looked around but couldn't find any trace of bird's nest. "Bird's nest? Where is it?"

"I put it in the refrigerator."

Lin Yuan tidied up the tableware and placed it next to the trash can. She went to the refrigerator, took out a box of sugar water, opened the lid, and placed it in front of her, saying, "Drink this quickly."

Xu Feifei looked at the bird's nest in front of her and her heart skipped a beat. She asked, "Why would you buy bird's nest sweet soup?"

"Didn't you want to eat this yesterday? I bought it while I was buying food today."

Sure enough, she thought she had hidden it well, but she still couldn't escape Lin Yuan's eyes. A warm feeling welled up in her heart.

Xu Feifei took a small sip; it was very sweet, with a rich milk flavor. Looking up at Lin Yuan, she smiled and said, "It's very sweet, and delicious!"

Lin Yuan smiled gently, without saying a word, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

Xu Feifei lowered her head, took another sip, but didn't see Lin Yuan.

"Lin Yuan, what about yours? Didn't you buy it?"

"I didn't buy it."

"Can you get me a bowl? We can share it."

"No need, you drink it," Lin Yuan said, shaking her head.

"No way!" Xu Feifei firmly refused, looking around. There were no more bowls or chopsticks. The bowls and chopsticks had already been put away and piled up, no longer usable.

"Let's split it in half, wait for me a moment."

After saying that, Xu Feifei started eating quickly. Soon, there was still half a bowl of sweet soup left. She placed the bowl in front of Lin Yuan and said, "I'm done. Drink it quickly."

Lin Yuan refused again, saying, "No need."

"But I'm full, I can't drink anymore." Xu Feifei patted her round little belly, indicating that she really couldn't drink anymore.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan finished the rest of the peach gum and bird's nest soup in her bowl. It was still in the same spot, and it was indeed very sweet; a slight smile appeared on her lips.

Xu Feifei felt a little guilty watching her drink the sweet soup. She remembered that Lin Yuan didn't have much money, but she still bought her all sorts of things every day and never asked her for money.

He secretly resolved to treat Lin Yuan even better from now on.

After tidying up the things on the table, Lin Yuan urged her to start doing her homework, as she hadn't touched it all weekend.

"Ugh, the weekend went by so fast. I don't want to go to school—" Xu Feifei wailed sadly, dragging out her words.

Lin Yuan smiled helplessly and said softly, "Hurry up and bring your homework, get ready to study."

"Alright."

"Let's take the flowers back with us."

"Okay!" Xu Feifei hugged the bouquet of flowers to her chest, then added, "I'll be right there!"

"Um."

After returning to her room, Xu Feifei found a vase, poured some water, and placed the plants inside. She carefully smoothed out the calligraphy on the wrapping paper, pressing the edges with a book to help the ink dry more thoroughly.

After tidying everything up, Xu Feifei was quite satisfied, except for soaking the bouquet of sunflowers from yesterday. She suddenly remembered that she had returned too late yesterday and forgotten to bring back the flowers and fruit from the school clinic! She also forgot to ask Zhang Jiayi about her condition.

So she quickly sent Zhang Jiayi a WeChat message asking: How are you doing now? Have you sorted out yesterday's matter?

He then sent a message to Lin Yuan: "Lin Yuan, I forgot to bring back the flowers and fruit from yesterday. I have to go over there now, and I'll be studying at your place later."

After sending the message, I prepared to go to the school clinic. When I opened the door, I found Lin Yuan already waiting for me there.

"Lin Yuan, will you come with me?"

"Um."

"Let's go together then!"

Upon arriving at the school clinic, Xu Feifei found the fruit and flowers still in their original places. She went over to examine them; the fruit was fine, but the flowers were slightly wilted. Because they hadn't been soaked in water, the flowers were somewhat droopy, and a few petals were scattered on the table.

Upon seeing this, Lin Yuan said, "This flower is a bit..."

"I forgot to take them back when I came back yesterday," Xu Feifei sighed.

"Then let's leave the flowers behind and take the fruit back?"

Xu Feifei looked at the somewhat wilted flowers, feeling a little troubled. It didn't seem right to throw away flowers she'd given yesterday today.

She frowned, somewhat at a loss, and said, "I don't know. Is it really a bad idea to take it yesterday and throw it away today? Lin Yuan, how did you handle the flowers that other people gave you before?"

"No one has ever sent me flowers," Lin Yuan said, shaking her head.

Xu Feifei exclaimed in shock, "How is that possible!"

"No, really."

When Nangong Ye was pursuing you, didn't he give you flowers?

"I forgot, I know nothing about him."

Xu Feifei raised an eyebrow. It seemed Lin Yuan really didn't care much about the male lead. She had previously thought Lin Yuan simply didn't want to talk about him, but it turned out she genuinely didn't pay attention to him and never remembered such things.

"Then let's take them back first? Let's think about what to do on the way." Xu Feifei cleaned up the flower petals on the table, picked up the flowers and fruit, and left.

Suddenly, Xu Feifei's arms felt empty; Lin Yuan had taken the bouquet of flowers.

"Let me hold the flowers, I'll take care of them for you."

Xu Feifei thought about it and then agreed.

Before leaving, Lin Yuan told her to go ahead, saying the teacher needed to call her over. Xu Feifei, carrying fruit, walked along the road and checked her WeChat; Zhang Jiayi hadn't replied yet.