Chapter 23
Within 0.01 seconds, Zhang Jusong felt his cheeks were so hot that they seemed to be burning.
"I...I'm going to the bathroom."
After saying this, she ran away in a hurry.
The small mirror in the bathroom reflects the girl's curved eyebrows.
Her eyes were actually smiling.
This incredible discovery made Zhang Jusong open his eyes slightly. His heart couldn't help but beat up, and he also felt a sense of panic.
She had never felt anything like this before, so happy and panicky that it made her a little confused.
I was thinking in a trance when I suddenly heard a restaurant staff member walking past the restroom door with a smile, then opening the back door of the restaurant and going out to smoke.
There is a back door here!
Zhang Jusong's eyes lit up, and without caring about his wet hands, he quickly took out his cell phone and sent a message to Xia Zhiheng.
"I'm sorry, one of my classmates is sick, and since there's no one else around, I have to go see her, so I'm leaving first."
A lame lie, but an excuse nonetheless.
Not daring to wait for his reply, Zhang Jusong immediately opened the back door and slipped away.
Annie felt that her roommate Zhang Jusong was a little strange tonight.
Since returning to the dormitory, the girl has been curled up in a chair with her knees hugged, with a serious face.
The strange reason is certainly not her quietness - she is also very quiet at ordinary times, she wears headphones when listening to music, and will be very careful to move gently when getting up to get something, and will immediately apologize if she accidentally makes a loud noise. Although we live together in a dormitory of only ten square meters, she feels like a transparent person.
The strange reason was her mood. Annie and Zhang Jusong had been roommates for such a long time, but she rarely had such a complicated expression on her face. Normally, even if she was sulking, she would be gone after a while and do whatever she had to do.
But today, an hour and a half passed, and she was still curled up in the chair, motionless.
Annie thought about it, boiled a pot of hot water, and when the power button jumped, she naturally talked to Zhang Jusong: "Do you want hot water? I just boiled it."
"Ah? Oh... okay, thank you." Zhang Jusong woke up as if from a dream.
Anne walked to her desk with the kettle and poured hot water into her green mug. Zhang Jusong thanked her again, took a white porcelain jar from the bookshelf, picked up a round object and put it into the mug.
"What is this? Tea?" Annie asked curiously.
"Yes, it's a small green tangerine." Zhang Jusong poured one out to show him, "It's actually tangerine peel Pu'er tea."
Anne leaned closer and smelled the citrus and tea aromas. She smiled and said, "Wow, there is also this tea. I have learned something new. It's a good thing you found it."
Not knowing what he was thinking about, Zhang Jusong was stunned.
It was Manman who broke the silence: "What kind of tea? Can I have some?"
She rolled over on her chair and moved closer, saying, "It smells so good."
"Of course." Zhang Jusong poured some small green tangerines for them respectively.
Manman said excitedly: "Hey, wait! I have some tea cakes here, which can be eaten together."
There is both tea and tea cakes, which makes it feel like a small tea party.
Anne took a sip of the orange and casually said, "Orange, you seem a little unhappy today? Are you in any trouble?"
Manman, who was eating tea cakes, opened her eyes wide: "What's the trouble? Tell me, the three of us are better than one Zhuge Liang."
"Actually... actually I'm not unhappy." Zhang Jusong said weakly. She hesitated for a moment and said, "But I have a friend who is in a bit of trouble. It's not really a problem, but she's a little confused..."
Anne nodded with some understanding. It turned out to be the "I Have a Friend" series.
Manman was always carefree and didn't notice anything was wrong. She asked with interest, just like listening to gossip: "What's wrong?"
"I--uh, my friend," Zhang Jusong said hesitantly, "recently, she was having dinner with a boy. I don't know why, but she felt a little happy, but also a little scared."
"Is it that boy who is very burly and looks like he can slap someone to death?" Manman's imagination ran wild.
Annie glared at her in amusement: "How is that possible?"
"Hehe, I'll just stop by for a moment, Orange, you continue." Manman smiled and tore open the packaging bag of another tea cake.
Zhang Jusong continued, "It's a very complicated feeling. She's a little... afraid of meeting that boy, but she also kind of wants to meet him. Oh, it's really inexplicable."
Anne stroked her chin and said, "Your friend, did she have a boyfriend before?"
"No." Zhang Jusong immediately shook his head.
"Has she ever liked anyone?"
"Mom, grandma and uncle."
"No," Annie didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Relatives don't count, it's just the kind of love that a young girl has for love."
Zhang Jusong still shook her head. When she heard the words "girl in love", her ears felt slightly hot.
Annie made the final decision: "Your friend must have fallen in love with that boy!"
Zhang Jusong was struck by such a thunderbolt. He tightly grasped the mug and took a big sip of Xiaoqinggan tea.
Wow! It's so hot!
She spat it out immediately, and the tea stained her collar, looking very embarrassed.
"Are you burned?" Manman quickly took out several pieces of paper and handed them to her.
"Ahem...it's okay..." Zhang Jusong raised his head and said anxiously, "Annie, I don't think she likes that boy, otherwise why would she be scared?"
Annie spread her hands and said helplessly: "Ju Song, everyone has different personalities. Although most people will feel happy when they find that they like someone, there are definitely people who will panic when they find that they have such signs of liking someone. It is possible, I mean it is possible that your friend is the latter type."
Manman interrupted: "Are there still people like this? Why are you afraid? No, what is there to be afraid of?"
"I don't know about that." Annie said, "Maybe she's afraid of losing control of her emotions, or maybe she feels that this kind of love shouldn't happen. Oh, there are many reasons anyway, I can't explain it clearly."
She glanced at Zhang Jusong and said, "Now that you've noticed it, the most important thing to do next is to figure out what you want."
"Should we let it go? Or should we curb it?"
The dormitory was exceptionally quiet in the middle of the night, and occasionally one could hear the croaking of frogs in the pond not far away.
With the night as his pillow, Zhang Jusong tossed and turned, but he couldn't fall asleep at all.
She simply opened her eyes and sat up. She gently moved to a position close to the wall, leaned her back against the wall, and wrapped her arms around her knees. It is said that this posture is the posture of a baby in the mother's womb, which can make people feel safe. Zhang Jusong likes this sense of security very much.
There was only one person who lingered in her mind, Xia Zhiheng. Her memory went through boxes and cabinets, revealing many past events to her.
The first time we met was in early summer, not long after we moved to Xiangzhangyuan. After several consecutive rains, green plums were scattered on the floor tiles, and were trampled by passers-by and turned into mud.
At that time, the second phase of Xiangzhangyuan was still under construction, and the excavated mud was piled up very high, which was like an adventurous hill in the eyes of the children. Zhang Jusong liked to climb the mud hill very much, but he would not go on rainy days because the mud would make his shoes very heavy.
At dusk, it was drizzling. She was holding a small red umbrella and walking past a mud hill when she suddenly heard a cry.
Turning around, I saw a lonely little boy with his legs stuck deep in the mud and even his face covered in mud.
"Little brother, why are you crying?"
The little boy raised his wet eyes and sniffled: "I...I can't get out."
Looking at the muddy mountain and then at the red dress her mother had just bought for her, Zhang Jusong hesitated for a few seconds, but still stepped into the mud.
The mud after the rain is sticky and greasy, and it is very difficult to walk in it.
She stumbled towards the little boy, holding an umbrella in one hand and extending the other to him: "Hold my hand and I will take you out."
The two little hands clasped tightly together, supporting each other, and walked out of the mud mountain with one step deep and one step shallow.
"It's okay." Zhang Jusong comforted him, "Look, we've made it out."
The little boy still held her hand and refused to let go, like a puppy who was afraid of being abandoned by his owner.
Zhang Jusong said: "My name is Zhang Jusong, Ju as in orange, Song as in praise, what about you?"
"...Xia Zhiheng." His voice trembled, "Zhiheng as in 'Ru Yue Zhiheng'."
"What do you mean?" The elementary school student didn't understand.
Xia Zhiheng pressed his face tightly against her arm.
"It means to be as constant as the moon."
Zhang Jusong finally understood: "Then, Xia Zhiheng, why are you walking on the muddy hill alone in the rain? It's very dangerous!"
"I just moved here." The furry little head rubbed her arm gently, "Two older kids said that unless I climbed over the mud hill, no one would play with me here."
When she heard this, she became furious and did not care that both of them were covered in mud. She simply grabbed a handful of mud from the spot and rushed to the house of the older child who was leading the group.
Rushing all the way up, she knocked on the door loudly: "Come out now."
The door opened a crack, and the little fat man looked alert: "Zhang Jusong, what are you going to do?"
"What are you doing?" Zhang Jusong pulled Xia Zhiheng in front of him with his right hand, "Did you trick him into climbing the mud mountain on a rainy day?"
"So what?" The fat boy was as brave as a dead pig.
Zhang Jusong said righteously: "So? If you did something wrong, of course you have to apologize!"
"Hey, I won't apologize, what can you do to me?"
She smiled slightly, stretched out her left hand unexpectedly, and smeared the mud on his face.
The fat boy screamed like a pig being slaughtered, and neighbors came out to check on him. Zhang Jusong was not at all shy, and pulled Xia Zhiheng, crying and showing him his miserable condition in all directions.
Finally, under pressure from their parents, the fat boy and the other children involved apologized to Xia Zhiheng.
Thinking about it now, Zhang Jusong still feels a little dazed.
The poor little boy who was soaked all over seemed to have grown into a tall and reliable boy in the blink of an eye.
She sighed silently.
What should we do?
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