66 Chapter 66
I like you very much.
Shi Ziqian was lost in thought, his brow furrowing unconsciously.
Suddenly, a chubby dolphin gently nudged his forehead with its snout. He snapped out of his daze and saw Zhan Xinyue had somehow circled around to his front, holding a balloon string and staring at him: "The aquarium is recognized by children as the happiest place in the world. No one can be unhappy here."
She pulled a bag of candy from her bag and held it out in front of him: "Here, this is for you." The worry on her face was hidden behind her smile, just like the first time she handed him a bag of popping candy with a beaming smile.
Zhan Xinyue found the packet of popping candy in the drawer where she keeps her diary last night. Before leaving home this morning, she thought about it and decided to take it with her.
Shi Ziqian's gaze shifted from the candy bag to her face, and he reached out to take it. Zhan Xinyue then said, "Today is your first time at the aquarium. You're very lucky; there's a senior aquarium staff member next to you who can be your guide for free."
Shi Ziqian's brows gradually relaxed: "Really? Then I'm very lucky."
The two walked slowly forward along the underwater tunnel. Zhan Xinyue introduced the fish swimming past to him one by one, and suddenly felt it was quite strange: "You used to be the one explaining problems to me. I never thought that I would be your teacher."
Shi Ziqian tilted his head and said, "Should I call you Teacher Zhan?"
Zhan Xinyue smiled, her eyes crinkling, "Okay, Shi Tongxue."
Before her smile could fade, she suddenly met a pair of eyes that had been staring at her. Seeing her look over, the person gave her a sly smile, quickly took the hand of a little girl beside them, and disappeared into the crowd.
Zhan Xinyue paused for two seconds. She didn't know what was going on either. She had only seen Shi Ziqian twice outside of school, so why did she always run into Dai Yun? The little girl she was holding looked a bit like her. It seemed that she had brought her younger sister to play today.
Shi Ziqian asked, "What's wrong?"
Zhan Xinyue: "I just saw Dai Yun."
Shi Ziqian's reaction was indifferent: "Oh, class monitor."
The two strolled around until noon, when Shi Zhanxinyue took Shi Ziqian to the themed restaurant inside the museum for lunch. The restaurant had a huge transparent glass roof, and every now and then they could see one or two sharks swimming leisurely overhead.
The two sat down facing each other and had just opened the menu when someone walked past them and stopped at their table. This time, the person took the initiative to greet them: "We meet again, Zhan Xinyue... um, Shi Ziqian."
Dai Yun's eyes darted back and forth over the balloons behind Zhan Xinyue and Shi Ziqian. Beside her, she held the hand of a little girl who was not even as tall as her waist. The little girl blinked her eyes and greeted the two of them in a muffled voice, "Hello, older brother and sister."
Shi Ziqian nodded: "Hello."
Zhan Xinyue couldn't help but reach out and ruffle her hair, saying, "Is it just the two of you? Why don't you eat together..." Before she could finish speaking, Dai Yun immediately waved her hands, "No need, no need, my parents are here too. You two can eat slowly, I won't bother you."
They said they wouldn't bother you, but—
The two-person meal they ordered hadn't arrived yet. Zhan Xinyue sat quietly, but Dai Yun's burning gaze and doting, aunt-like smile kept coming from a nearby table, making it impossible to ignore her. When Zhan Xinyue finally looked over helplessly, Dai Yun quickly gestured for her to continue and looked away, but the smile on her face remained undisguised.
Zhan Xinyue pursed her lips and buried her head deeply.
She hadn't done anything wrong, so why did she feel so guilty just from Dai Yun's gaze?
"What's wrong?" Just then, the waiter brought a steak to the table. Shi Ziqian took it and asked her while cutting the steak.
"It's nothing." Zhan Xinyue silently moved a chair and sat with her back to Dai Yun. But with this change, she and Shi Ziqian went from facing each other to sitting next to each other.
As expected, she heard Dai Yun, who was sitting a few tables away, burst out laughing.
Shi Ziqian glanced over there in confusion, pushed the cut steak towards her, and handed her a fork as well: "Why is it steak sold in an ocean-themed restaurant? I thought it would be some kind of fish."
Zhan Xinyue said, "Maybe it's because eating marine life in an aquarium is a bit cruel." She took the fork, poked at the steak, and gestured to him, "Look, this fish is the clownfish that just swam past you! — Isn't that scary?"
"That makes sense." Shi Ziqian was convinced and nodded. "Eat up, but be careful it's hot."
Soon, Shi Ziqian's steak was served. While he was cutting his steak, Zhan Xinyue belatedly glanced at the neatly cut steak in front of her and the fork that had appeared in her hand out of nowhere. For a moment, she tilted her head in a daze: Shi Ziqian, sometimes it feels like he's possessed by Zhan Wei...
Shi Ziqian ate quietly as usual, and put down his fork just after she finished her last bite. This time, Zhan Xinyue stood up first and said to him, "We agreed that it's my turn to pay this time."
Shi Ziqian said, "We just agreed that I would pay this time, and you would pay next time we go out."
"What kind of word game is this?"
“I invited you out, there’s no reason for you to pay.” Shi Ziqian walked past her to the cashier first, pointing towards Dai Yun’s table, “And that other table, pay for them together.”
Zhan Xinyue was a step too slow and had to put her wallet back: "Okay, I'll treat you to ice cream later."
After lunch, the two went to see the orca show and didn't leave the aquarium until after 4 p.m. They bought ice cream at Zhanxinyue outside the aquarium, and this time Shi Ziqian finally didn't insist on paying. After eating, the two finally prepared to do their important task for the day: pick up Panpan.
They left the balloon in the car and went to the hospital together.
Zhan Xinyue's only impression of Panpan was that it was dirty and huddled up in a ball. When she saw a majestic short-haired dog dragging a wheelchair and running over on its two front legs in the hospital, she couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of life.
Its shaved fur hadn't fully grown back, and its hind legs still couldn't walk, but it had already transformed back into a vibrant little dog. It pulled the wheelchair wheels like a spinning top, making a rapid, gurgling sound.
Shi Ziqian must have visited it before; it recognized him and kept tugging at his trouser leg.
"So this is what Panpan looks like. She's quite energetic." Zhan Xinyue squatted down and carefully touched Panpan's head. Panpan initially dodged, but after smelling her scent, she suddenly became excited and happily rubbed her head against her.
“It still remembers you.” Shi Ziqian squatted down next to her, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently touched Panpan’s forehead. “The doctor said that if we persist with the treatment and come back regularly for acupuncture and rehabilitation training, there is a high chance that its leg will recover.”
Zhan Xinyue exclaimed, "It's amazing that it could recover like this after surviving a brush with death."
"Yes, it's probably the good luck brought by the name Panpan. You play with it for a while, I'll go take care of the formalities."
She couldn't see its original color when she found it, but now she can finally tell from its short layer of fur that it is black. Its ears are erect, and its two eyes are round and bright, making it look as majestic as a young wolf cub.
She turned her head to look at its hind legs, which were fixed to the soft padding and supported, seemingly still without feeling. Fortunately, however, this did not affect its vitality in the slightest; in fact, the mechanical wheelchair behind it gave it a strange cyberpunk feel, like a semi-mechanical puppy. After playing with Zhan Xinyue for a while, it began to run around her in circles with boundless energy, the wheels rattling incessantly.
When Shi Ziqian returned, Zhan Xinyue suggested, "It seems that Panpan is getting restless during her hospital stay. Let's take her out for a walk."
Shi Ziqian nodded in agreement. The two had bought a dog leash that day, and he went to the car to get it and put it on Panpan. The two then took the dog out for a walk along the sidewalk. The road was empty, and the driver drove slowly behind them in the lane.
"Where do you plan to keep it?" Zhan Xinyue asked.
Shi Ziqian said, "Take it back to the dorm. There's a balcony in my dorm where I can put the dog bed, and I can also take it for a walk after evening classes."
Panpan had clearly been out for a long time, and it was so excited that it jumped and pounced around, more energetic than a healthy dog. Zhan Xinyue was so overwhelmed by its movements that she could barely hold onto the leash, and said with a smile, "If you walked it around the school, you'd definitely get a lot of attention."
Shi Ziqian looked down at her and said, "How about I lead it? It's quite strong."
“It’s okay,” Zhan Xinyue said. “I like how lively it is; it means it’s really getting better.”
The two strolled around for a while, and Zhan Xinyue glanced at her phone and realized it was getting late, so she said, "I should go back now. I promised my mom I would go home for dinner."
Shi Ziqian said, "Okay, I'll take you back."
On the way back, Panpan was placed in a dog cage in the trunk. When they arrived at the entrance of Zhan Xinyue's residential area, Zhan Xinyue said goodbye to him, opened the car door and got out, but Shi Ziqian got out of the car from the other side and followed her: "Let me take you downstairs."
Zhan Xinyue thought for a moment and said, "Okay."
The community where Zhan Xinyue lives has excellent greenery. The two walked along a path, with layers of half-red maple leaves on both sides.
Looking at the red leaves, Shi Ziqian said gently, "You've been walking around for a while today. Go back and get some rest."
"No," Zhan Xinyue said. "I had a very happy day."
Shi Ziqian said, "That's good..."
"Oh, right, there's something I haven't told you yet." Zhan Xinyue stopped and looked at Shi Ziqian. "Happy birthday. We promised to go to the aquarium together on your birthday, but something came up and we couldn't make it. I'm sorry."
Shi Ziqian slowly put one hand into his pocket and gently shook his head: "It's okay. Thank you. I had a very happy day today, more happy than ever before."
Looking at his expression, Zhan Xinyue breathed a sigh of relief as if a matter had been resolved, and continued quickly, "Shi Ziqian, we've been deskmates for two semesters now. You're really nice, so I've come to consider you a friend during this time. I don't know what you think, but if you're willing, I think we can become very good friends."
She thought about it for a long time last night. Even when she was a young girl, she couldn't be sure of his feelings. So what about her now?
She and Xu Shen once seemed so well-matched in every way, often described as a match made in heaven, yet their relationship still didn't end well. As for Shi Ziqian, he was top-notch in looks, family background, and even academic performance, with unlimited potential. Faced with such a huge gap, what could those budding, innocent feelings of first love possibly withstand?
Perhaps the missed opportunities in her past life are regrettable, but she and Shi Ziqian were never meant to be, and Xie Wanzhi's statement is not entirely wrong.
Besides, love is the most elusive and unreliable thing in the world, and she has already learned her lesson.
She felt truly guilty about what had happened after her rebirth, but fulfilling their promise to come to the aquarium together today was the only thing she could do.
She didn't say what she just said very directly, but she knew that someone as smart as Shi Ziqian would understand.
The budding feelings between them couldn't be revealed in their past life, and they won't have the chance to be this time either. Let those tender, innocent emotions, just like in their past life, be extinguished silently, unspoken by each other.
Shi Ziqian stared blankly at her, as if it took him a long time to realize what she meant.
Although she had prepared herself mentally, seeing that look in his eyes still made her feel helplessly sad.
A moment later, Shi Ziqian lowered his eyes, took his hand out of his pocket, and for the second time today, reached out and gently grasped her wrist through her thin knitted sweater. She could almost feel the cool temperature of his fingertips.
“No,” Shi Ziqian said.
"What?" Zhan Xinyue's attention was focused on his movements; she didn't understand.
Shi Ziqian put a string of things on her wrist, without looking at her, and continued, "There's no way we can be friends because I like you a lot."
A gentle breeze blew by, causing the maple branches behind me to sway and rustle.
Zhan Xinyue felt his dark eyes staring intently at her, and suddenly she could hear her own heart pounding uncontrollably in her chest.
For a fleeting moment, she almost felt like a 17-year-old girl standing in front of the boy she had a crush on for so long, finally hearing the confession she had been waiting for.
She almost frantically looked down, only to find a wooden bracelet on her wrist, polished to a full and rounded shape, with a faint sandalwood scent.
She closed her eyes, composed herself, and said with difficulty, "I'm sorry, I have no other feelings for you."
"I know." Shi Ziqian released her wrist, his eyelashes drooping, as if he wasn't surprised at all by her answer. "But liking you is my own business."
What does he know?
He knew absolutely nothing.
Zhan Xinyue was speechless. Shi Ziqian said calmly, "I'll take you this far. Don't think too much. Put the bracelet by your pillow before you go to sleep and have a good dream."
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