Spring Signature
When Xu Jianing returned to school, after putting his canvas bag in the dormitory, he didn't have time to chat with his roommates and went straight towards the old locust tree.
The spring breeze gently caressed my cheeks, carrying the scent of fresh grass and the faint fragrance of newly blooming locust blossoms.
Wen Sheng was already waiting there. She had specifically come to him on Friday to arrange to meet at this time.
At this moment, she changed into the dress she wore during her first tutoring session and stood under the old locust tree, lost in thought. The wind ruffled the stray hairs on her forehead, but she was completely unaware, simply gazing up at the newly opened petals on the branches.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the locust blossoms, bathing her in a gentle glow.
Xu Jianing stood not far away, unable to see the blooming locust flowers, only the people admiring them.
Suddenly, a locust petal was blown down by a gentle breeze and landed right on Wen Sheng's eyelashes. She blinked, and the petal slid into her palm.
Wen Sheng lowered her head, raised her hand and gently fiddled with the petals, picking them up to examine them closely. Noticing someone watching her, she slowly raised her head and saw Xu Jianing standing not far away, watching her.
A spring breeze blew, and petals slipped from her fingertips, falling silently to the ground. The two shared this beautiful moment of spring.
She waved to the boy in front of her, "What are you doing standing there? Come here."
Hearing the urging, Xu Jianing came back to her senses and walked closer step by step. Before she could speak, another locust petal was blown down by the wind and gently landed on the hair of the person in front of her.
He raised his hand, picked up a petal and put it down, then leaned closer to smell the faint fragrance lingering in his hair, mixed with the scent of locust blossoms.
The next second, he lowered his head and placed a very light kiss on the petal that had not yet fallen. His lips touched it lightly, just like a dragonfly skimming the water, brushing against her soft hair, and along with the petal, they were imbued with the fragrance of her hair.
"What are you doing..." Wen Sheng scolded playfully.
Her heartbeat was suddenly thrown off rhythm by that moment of intimacy, like scattered locust petals blown about by the wind.
Xu Jianing was very close to her, and when he lowered his head, the shadow of his eyelashes fell on her hair. He seemed to be startled by his own actions, his lips pursed, his eyes reluctant to leave her.
A flower petal fell on your hair... I removed it for you.
The wind blew again, the branches rustled, and locust petals fell one after another, this time with petals in both of their hair.
“You have one too!” Wen Sheng said with a smile, pointing to the flower petals in his hair.
Xu Jianing raised his hand to brush it away, but she beat him to it, tiptoeing and gently flicking the petal off. She moved so quickly that she didn't even dare look at him, turning to rummage through her bag beside her.
"By the way, I asked you out today because I have something for you. Senior Li Changshui told me it's your birthday tomorrow."
"Clang clang clang clang!" Wen Sheng took a small lunchbox out of her schoolbag, held it with both hands, and handed it to him, indicating that he should take it.
Xu Jianing took it, looked down, opened the lid and saw a square pastry inside. It was slightly yellow and collapsed, but it was obviously not bought, but made by hand.
“This is…?” he asked.
Wen Sheng interrupted him: "Wait a minute, there's another ceremony."
She pulled a lollipop from her pocket and stuck it in the middle of the "cake": "I searched all over Cangshui County but couldn't find any birthday candles, so I'll use this as a substitute!"
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! May we both get into university! May we meet in the capital!
The lollipop was firmly stuck in the center of the "cake," and the sunlight shone down just right, making it look as if a real birthday candle had been lit.
Xu Jianing looked down at the crooked "cake," then looked up at her, and closed her eyes earnestly: "Then I'll make a wish."
"Mmm!" Wen Sheng looked at him expectantly, her eyes unblinking.
After a while, he opened his eyes, bent down, and blew a breath onto the "birthday candles".
"Why didn't you say what you wished for?" she asked.
"It won't work if you say it out loud," he said with a smile.
"Okay..." Wen Sheng pouted, "I'd like to hear what it is, just in case I can help you make it happen?"
She produced a notebook as if by magic and handed it to him.
Xu Jianing held the "cake" in one hand and used the other to take his second gift.
"What is this?" He raised an eyebrow.
Wen Sheng pretended to be mysterious, turning to a page in her notebook. On it was her name and the date written in stroke by stroke, with small locust flowers and stars drawn next to it.
"Didn't I say before that I'd come back here in the spring to sign your autograph? Spring is just around the corner, so I'm keeping my promise early and letting this notebook witness the arrival of spring with you."
"Do you have a pen?" Xu Jianing suddenly asked.
"Yes, luckily I always keep a pen in my schoolbag." She took it out and gave it to him.
After taking the pen, Xu Jianing signed his name next to Wen Sheng's signature.
"In this way, we can witness the arrival of spring together."
Wen Sheng understood what he meant and nodded, "Okay."
Spring has truly arrived early, and it seems she now knows what Xu Jianing's wish is.
————
The next day was a spring outing organized by Cangzhong School. This time, the school did not arrange for the students to go hiking again, but instead chose a "new" place.
The theme of this spring outing was labor education. The school leaders came up with a plan and chose farmland and orchards near the county town as the destination.
Because of a conflict between students from two grades last year, the school leaders concluded that it was difficult to manage a large number of students. Therefore, this year, the three grades of Cangzhong were sent to three different places.
The first-year high school students were taken to a farmland by bus. As soon as they got off the bus and saw the surrounding scenery, one of the students couldn't help but laugh: "Teacher, we are originally from the countryside. We often go to the countryside to work. What kind of spring outing is this!"
"Yeah, I was asked to plant rice seedlings when I went home a few days ago. I finally got back to school, and I still have to plant rice seedlings!"
"Don't complain," someone joked. "At least today the whole class is doing it together, the atmosphere is lively, and we can chat while we work."
"This is to let students from the city experience our life."
"Not only do they not pay for transplanting rice seedlings, but they also want two yuan as a spring outing fee for transplanting rice seedlings..."
"No wonder they told us to bring an extra set of clothes."
The teacher leading the group waved a small flag: "There are no set activities today, consider it free time. Everyone can walk around and look at the fields, just be careful and don't wander too far!"
As soon as the teacher finished speaking, someone cheered, "Great! I almost thought we were really going to plant rice seedlings!"
"Let's go, let's go catch fish!"
"Teacher, can I take the fish I caught back to school?"
"The school has already paid for them. They'll be taken back to the cafeteria for extra meals, but they're not allowed to go into the water. The school has rented a lot of fishing equipment from the owner," the teacher in charge said half-jokingly.
"Oh ho! Time to go fishing!"
Several boys immediately jumped for joy and ran towards the ditch, while a group of people chased after them, shouting, "Wait for me! If you catch him, give me one!"
"I want to emphasize again, this is fishing. I found someone in the water, and it will be dealt with according to school rules," the teacher in charge emphasized loudly.
Some students pretended to take off their shoes and socks to go into the water, but their friends immediately grabbed them, saying, "Aren't you afraid of getting a demerit when you get back?"
Small wooden stools and fishing rods had already been set up on the shore. Wen Sheng chose the rapeseed flower field over fishing.
On both sides of the field ridge were rapeseed flowers in full bloom. When the wind blew, large golden waves of flowers swayed together. Li Qingmiao and Zhang Qin were already squatting in the flowers, carefully breaking off flower stems and weaving flower garlands while laughing. Every now and then, they would look up and call out, "Wen Sheng, come here, let me put one on you!"
Wen Sheng hesitated for a moment, then walked over and squatted down beside her. Li Qingmiao looked up and smiled at her, gently placing the flower wreath she had just made on her head.
"Alright." Li Qingmiao stood up and took a half step back, looking her over and couldn't help but exclaim, "She's like a fairy who walked out of a flower field, a beauty indeed."
"Really?" Wen Sheng blushed at the compliment and reached out to touch the flower wreath on her head, but there was no mirror, so she could only look at them and smile.
She squatted down, picked a few more flowers, carefully braided one, and held it up to Li Qingmiao: "Then you wear one too, let's wear them together."
Not far away, Zhang Qin was lying on the edge of the field watching butterflies when they called her over: "Zhang Qin, don't just look at them, come here!"
When Zhang Qin ran over, Wen Sheng handed her a freshly woven flower wreath, saying, "One wreath for each of the three of us."
Zhang Qin took it and put it on, saying with a smile, "Then we're the Three Fairies!"
Li Qingmiao laughed so hard she almost fell over: "A fairy can squat by the edge of a field catching butterflies?"
“Even fairies have hobbies,” Zhang Qin said matter-of-factly. The three of them exchanged glances and laughed.
Unlike their peaceful demeanor, the second-year students were filled with wailing and lamentation.
"Why! Why do we have to climb mountains again?"
"They climbed it once last year, and they're climbing it again this year? Just how much does the school love this awful mountain path?"
"No, the number of people is wrong." A student noticed the problem. "Is it only our grade going hiking this year?"
"Where did the first-year high school students go? Don't they suffer the same hardships we did last year?"
The teacher leading the group was a young woman. When she heard their groans and questions, she added fuel to the fire: "This year, the grade leader felt that last year's mountain climbing was particularly meaningful. The first-year students went to the farmland, and the third-year students went to the museum."
Someone immediately understood the teacher's implication and whispered to their friend, "The head of student affairs is from our grade, and he was promoted this year. No wonder!"
The news spread like wildfire, and soon the entire second-year high school class knew about it.
When the news reached Li Changshui, he complained, "I have a feeling I'll have to climb again next year."
He looked at Xu Jianing beside him, sighed, and pretended to wipe away tears: "It's a pity, Aning. Next year, I'll be the only one suffering like this."
Xu Jianing chuckled at his words and casually replied, "You'll be able to climb up by yourself next year."
"Today is your birthday, brother. I don't have much to give you, so I'll just give you a piece of advice," Li Changshui said.
"What did you say?" Xu Jianing raised an eyebrow.
"Wen's birthday is on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month."
"I already knew."
This was unexpected for Li Changshui. "I racked my brains to get this information, and I was just waiting for this day to tell you. But you're telling me you already knew?"
He thought for a moment, then spread his arms, closed his eyes, and looked like an honest man going all out, "Well, I don't have anything else to give you, so I'll give you a hug instead!"
Xu Jianing ignored the hug and followed the group forward.
Li Changshui waited for a long time but no one came. When he opened his eyes, he found that the other person had already walked to the front of the climbing group.
He dramatically pounded his chest and stamped his feet on the spot: "Oh no, my hug has been abandoned!"
Xu Jianing smiled when he heard the noise. He was even more surprised by the information Li Changshui revealed in the car.
Xie Liming has been arrested.
This birthday is truly special, with many good news.
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