Mu Xinrong was walking past the corner of the second floor with her homework book in her arms when she suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind her, accompanied by the sound of her schoolbag's zipper shaking.
"Student Mu Xinrong!"
The sweet female voice trembled noticeably. When Mu Xinrong turned around, she saw a girl with a high ponytail standing three steps away, clutching a letter tightly in her hand, her knuckles white from the strain.
She was wearing a blue and white school uniform with a small panda brooch pinned to her collar. Mu Xinrong vaguely remembered that she was a student from the next class, but he couldn't remember her name.
"My name is Zhang Xiaoli." The girl took a deep breath, her ponytail swaying slightly as she spoke. "I have something I want to tell you."
The surroundings suddenly became quiet. The pre-school bell rang in the distance, and the students in the corridor slowed down their pace, their eyes turning towards us.
Mu Xinrong noticed that Zhang Xiaoli's eyelashes cast trembling shadows under her eyes, like the wings of a frightened butterfly, so she moved the exercise book to her left hand, letting her right hand hang naturally, trying to make herself look gentler.
"I like you, can you date me?"
This sentence was spoken quickly and urgently, with a barely perceptible sob at the end.
The sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves onto Zhang Xiaoli's face, clearly revealing her nervousness.
"Thank you for your affection." Mu Xinrong bowed slightly, her voice soft and clear. "But I'm sorry, I really don't have any plans to fall in love right now."
Tiny gasps echoed around them. Zhang Xiaoli's face turned pale instantly, and the hand holding the letter trembled slightly. The cherry blossom brooch gleamed faintly in the sunlight.
Mu Xinrong recalled the panic he felt when he first received a love letter in junior high school. Chao Youye was standing beside him at the time, and in a voice only the two of them could hear, she said, "Mu Xinrong, be decisive in rejecting me. Don't give me the wrong impression."
"Yes... I understand." Zhang Xiaoli lowered her head and stuffed the letter back into her schoolbag. Her ponytail obscured her expression. "Sorry to bother you."
As she turned and ran away, the bell on her schoolbag rang crisply. Mu Xinrong watched her disappear at the stairs and suddenly remembered the tears that had flashed across her eyes just now, like the fleeting rain in spring.
During recess, the campus seemed to be in slow motion. Mu Xinrong walked along the cobblestone path toward the small pond, his soles making a soft, crunching sound as the stones collided with his shoes.
The forsythia on both sides of the path are in full bloom, and the tender yellow flowers hang on the stone walls like a string of wind chimes.
In the distance, he saw the white figure. Chao Youye stood beneath the old willow tree by the pond, her back to the way she had come, her right hand casually hooked on the drooping willow branches.
A corner of the boy's white shirt was lifted by the breeze, revealing the faintly visible butterfly bones on his lower back. His school uniform tie hung loosely around his neck, with the end hanging in the middle of his back, swaying gently with his breathing.
"Chao Youye..." Mu Xinrong's voice was shattered by the wind and scattered among the flying willow catkins.
As he turned toward Youye, a willow leaf brushed against his brow. Sunlight filtered through the verdant new leaves, weaving flowing specks of light across his sharply defined face. His purple pupils shone with a shimmering golden light.
The corners of his mouth raised in a gentle arc, not the distant smile he wore when facing his classmates in the classroom, but a kind of almost soft expression that only appeared in front of Mu Xinrong.
Mu Xinrong's breathing suddenly stopped. He remembered the winter of last year when Chao Youye picked strawberries for him in the greenhouse of the Chao family villa, smiling at him with her fingertips stained with red juice.
The smile at this moment overlapped with his memory, and he suddenly felt his throat tighten, as if an invisible hand was gripping his heart, causing even his fingertips to tremble slightly.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Chao Youye's voice fell with the fragrance of willow leaves. He raised his hand to tuck the fallen willow branches behind his ear. The silver watch on his wrist flashed a cold light in the sunlight. "Come here."
Mu Xinrong was startled to realize he'd been standing there for quite some time. He approached, stepping on the golden sunlight that scattered across the ground. He saw that the second button of Chao Youye's white shirt was undone, revealing her delicate collarbone. A tender green willow leaf clung to her collar.
For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off the willow leaf until he reached out and brushed it away, then he hurriedly turned his gaze to the pond.
"What's going on?" Chao Youye suddenly reached out, her slightly cool palm resting on Mu Xinrong's forehead. The boy's fingertips carried the cool scent of cedar perfume, mingling with the warmth of sun-warmed skin.
"No...it's okay." Mu Xinrong took a half step back, and the strap of his schoolbag hit the forsythia branch behind him. The tender yellow flowers fell down, and a few of them stuck to the cuffs of his school uniform.
Chao Youye's eyes followed the petals, and suddenly she reached out to pick them for him. Her fingertips brushed against his wrist, like butterfly wings lightly touching the water.
The goldfish in the pond suddenly jumped out of the water, and with a "splash" sound, it shattered the light and shadows in the pond.
Mu Xinrong took the opportunity to turn his head and saw their reflections overlapping in the water. The collar of his school uniform was only an inch away from the collar of Chao Youye's white shirt. They were sometimes far away and sometimes near in the waves, like two stars that were attracted to each other but dared not get close.
"What did you see?" Chao Youye's voice came from above his head, with a sly smile.
"I saw our reflections." Mu Xinrong answered subconsciously, his eyes falling on the corners of Chao Youye's mouth that was slightly raised in the reflection. The arc overlapped with reality, making his heartbeat even more disordered.
"Wrong." Chao Youye bent down and picked up a handful of willow leaves from the ground. His fingertips twisted them in the sunlight, and the tender green leaves rustled in his palm. "Take another look."
Mu Xinrong moved closer to the pond, and suddenly, tiny willow leaves fell on his head like spring rain.
Chao Youye's laughter mixed with the sound of the wind came. The young man took two steps back, and his white shirt swelled into a beautiful arc in the wind, like a white crane flapping its wings and ready to fly.
"Chao Youye!" Mu Xinrong grabbed the willow leaf on his head and fought back, but the other party dodged it nimbly. He slipped and almost fell into the pond.
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