Chapter 13
The cold isolation persisted, like an invisible membrane separating Zhao Jinglu from Su Xiaowen, Li Yuanyuan, and Wang Yufei. They no longer formed a natural group of four. Zhao Jinglu tried to explain once, but Su Xiaowen simply turned her head away, and Li Yuanyuan let out an impatient "tsk." Zhao Jinglu gave up trying, and a weary silence enveloped her.
Su Xiaowen's emotions, initially angry and hurt, gradually shifted to a stubborn, unyielding spirit. The conversation on the social media platform remained stagnant after Ling Peng's comment, "Zhao Jinglu, you taught us how to dance before." No matter what she posted, the dolphin avatar never moved again.
This made her even more certain that the problem lay with Zhao Jinglu. Zhao Jinglu must have said something behind her back, or used some method to make Ling Peng so cold towards her.
"He's ignoring me, it must be because of Zhao Jinglu!" Su Xiaowen complained to Li Yuanyuan and Wang Yufei during lunch break, glancing at Zhao Jinglu, who was sitting alone reading a book. "Otherwise, why would he stop replying when her name was mentioned?"
This unfounded speculation took root in the girls' sensitive minds, deepening their rejection of Zhao Jinglu.
Zhao Jinglu could feel the judgmental gazes coming from that direction. She lowered her head even lower, unable to read a single word on the page. The small ripples in her heart caused by Ling Peng had long since been replaced by a heavy sense of rejection and loss. She just wanted this to pass quickly, so that her life could return to normal.
Wang Yufei was the softest-hearted of the three. Seeing Zhao Jinglu alone and unhappy all day, she felt bad. After school that day, she quietly pulled Zhao Jinglu aside and said, "Jinglu, don't blame Wenwen. She's just so sad... How about... you help her?"
Zhao Jinglu looked at her blankly.
"Look, doesn't Senior Ling Peng... doesn't he know you?" Wang Yufei whispered, "Why don't you go talk to him? Put in a good word for Wenwen? Maybe it will help. If this goes through, Wenwen will definitely not be angry anymore, and you two can reconcile!"
This absurd proposal startled Zhao Jinglu. Go to Ling Peng? Just to talk about this? She felt so embarrassed just thinking about that scenario. What right did she have to say that? This was too strange, too embarrassing.
She subconsciously wanted to refuse. But looking at Wang Yufei's eyes, filled with expectation and the reassurance that "this is all for your reconciliation," she couldn't bring herself to say "no." A deep sense of exhaustion and helplessness washed over her. She desperately wanted to end this cold isolation, even if the method was foolish, even if the hope was slim. Could she just try a little harder and achieve some kind of easing of tension?
An almost desperate attempt to please her made her bite her lower lip, and as if making up her mind, she nodded with great difficulty. "But what am I saying?"
"I heard Wenwen say she wants to recognize him as her brother. Can you ask him?"
“…Let me try.”
So, the next day after school, Zhao Jinglu waited at the school gate, feeling as tragically as if she were about to be executed. Her heart was pounding like a drum, her palms were sweaty. Every time she rehearsed what she was going to say, she felt more ashamed.
Seeing the familiar tall figure walking out with Zhang Hao and the others from afar, she took a deep breath and shouted, "Ling... Ling Peng!"
Ling Peng stopped when he heard the voice, and when he saw her, a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes. He waved to Zhang Hao and the others and walked over alone.
"Looking for me?" he asked in a very natural tone. "Dancing again?" This seemed to be the only connection between them that he could think of.
Zhao Jinglu's face flushed instantly, and she quickly shook her head: "No, no!"
"Then?" Ling Peng watched her face flush, her eyes averted, her fingers nervously twisting her backpack straps. It was a stark contrast to the image of the "little teacher" he remembered in the rehearsal room, clapping her lips to the beat, occasionally frowning helplessly. It was more like a girl confessing her love to him before. Suddenly, he felt a little amused, raised an eyebrow, and asked jokingly, with a rare hint of playfulness in his tone, "Are you going to confess your love?"
This sentence pierced Zhao Jinglu like a needle. She was so frightened that she almost jumped up, shaking her head like a rattle: "No, no! Absolutely not!"
Seeing her reaction, Ling Peng put away his joking expression and nodded: "Okay. So what's the matter?"
"It's...that...Su Xiaowen...she...the girl you added...wants to...recognize you as her brother. Is that okay?" Zhao Jinglu stammered and finally finished the hot words.
Ling Peng's first reaction was to think these little girls were incredibly childish. He was about to flatly refuse when his eyes stumbled upon her hand, nervously fiddling with the cuffs of her school uniform. A few blue cursive letters peeked out from the cuffs: ZJL.
He suddenly remembered the serious little teacher teaching them dance in the rehearsal room. The contrast between her and the blushing, incoherent girl making childish requests was a strange one. A mixture of amusement and a little inquiry made him forget to refuse for the moment.
He pointed at her cuffs and asked in a teasing tone, "Did you write your name on your uniform because you were afraid it would be lost?"
Zhao Jinglu was stunned for a moment, then followed his gaze and saw the words on her sleeve. She subconsciously pulled her hand back and blurted out, "That's not my name... It's 'Jay Chou'."
Now it was Ling Peng's turn to be stunned. He obviously hadn't expected this answer and repeated, "Jay Chou?" He looked at the embarrassed little girl in front of him and asked with a hint of genuine smile, "You're so young, can you understand Jay Chou?"
Zhao Jinglu's slight resentment was instantly aroused by his look and question. She temporarily forgot that she was here to "ask for a favor" and couldn't help but roll her eyes at him: "Let's just treat this as a nursery rhyme, okay?"
Ling Peng looked at her suddenly lively, slightly prickly expression and found it much more pleasing than her earlier pitiful look. The corners of his mouth curved upwards almost imperceptibly, and he nodded docilely, "Very good. Early enlightenment leads to early enlightenment."
A cold breeze blew by, and the atmosphere was silent and... strangely relaxed for a moment.
Ling Peng seemed to have just remembered her question and returned to the point: "What did you just say, recognizing your brother?"
His interruption completely deflated Zhao Jinglu's courage and prepared words. She looked into Ling Peng's calm, all-seeing eyes and suddenly felt that the idea of "recognizing a brother" was childish and ridiculous to him.
She opened her mouth, then gave up and quickly mumbled, "...Nothing. It's just...she really likes watching you play. Goodbye, senior!"
After saying that, she turned and ran as if she was afraid of being caught, and soon disappeared in the crowd of people leaving school.
Ling Peng stood there alone, watching her hastily flee, shaking his head. He felt that these little girls' minds were harder to understand than a physics competition question. He didn't take the "recognizing her brother" thing to heart at all, only thinking that this was probably the core of all the unspoken words she had come to him today.
For Zhao Jinglu, this action, which had put so much psychological struggle into her, ultimately failed completely in such a ridiculous and erroneous way. Not only did she fail to save her friendship, but she also staged an inexplicably embarrassing scene in front of Ling Peng.
But strangely, even after running so far, her heart still pounding, she didn't feel the dejection she'd imagined. On the contrary... on the contrary, because of that brief and strange conversation, because of seeing a different side of him, the heavy stone in her heart seemed to have been lifted a little bit.
At least, she tried. Even though the result was... a disaster.
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