Chapter 7 I need to drink some traditional Chinese medicine to regulate my body.
The nearly fifty-year-old Mediterranean-looking principal delivered a passionate speech on the podium, while the students on the playground stood in neat rows, dressed in uniform. Some were adjusting their collars, some were staring intently ahead, and some were whispering to their classmates.
The boy's voice kept echoing in Su Cheng's mind; she didn't hear a single word of the principal's speech.
Can someone as insignificant as her illuminate a corner of the world?
My arm suddenly felt a little itchy.
She scratched with the tip of her fingernail, but touched something unusually soft on her sleeve.
I gently pinched that tuft of blue-gray downy fur between my index finger and thumb. It must have been a tender mark left by Little Fold when he snuggled up to me and acted cute this morning.
She suddenly came to her senses.
Unbeknownst to her, she had already illuminated a small corner of the world.
Could she then provide more furry friends with a warm and bright space?
After all, this land does not belong to humans alone.
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People who are kindred spirits will eventually meet at some turning point in their lives.
Just as radio stations on the same frequency can receive each other's signals, souls with similar frequencies can always recognize each other in a vast sea of people.
Su Cheng stared blankly at Jiang Muzhou's eyes, which were filled with starlight.
"If we're filming, can we keep a distance of three meters?" Her fingertips dug into the cotton of the cushion, making several deep indentations.
"Of course." The man raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
Indeed, it's much more pleasing to the eye than a toothy smile.
Surprisingly, even though Jiang Muzhou had been gone for nearly half an hour, there was no sound of Yuanbao trying to pry open the door next door.
Su Cheng felt extremely gratified, as if she could already see the dawn of Yuanbao's recovery.
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"A cup of affogato."
Su Cheng leaned against the booth by the window and gestured towards the bar.
Her bun was loose and disheveled, with strands of her bangs, damp with sweat, sticking to her forehead.
Three espresso machines stood side by side, their steam pipes occasionally emitting white steam. The sweet aroma of cinnamon rolls wafted through the air, mingling with the rich bitterness of freshly ground coffee to create a unique fragrance.
Xu Zhisui was wiping a coffee cup with her head down when she saw that the person who came in was Su Cheng, and her eyes lit up instantly.
She scooped out two large spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream, then turned to operate the coffee machine. Dark brown espresso flowed slowly from the stainless steel spout, meandering across the milky white sphere, and was finally sprinkled with golden brown cinnamon powder as a garnish.
A coffee cup was pushed in front of Su Cheng, and Xu Zhisui sat down opposite her with practiced ease.
Su Cheng scooped up a spoonful of ice cream soaked in coffee liquid. The sweetness of vanilla mixed with the slight bitterness of coffee collided on her tongue, the soft and mellow flavors intertwining, washing away the summer heat.
Two years ago, Xu Zhisui rented a street-front shop near Linhai University and carefully transformed it into a cozy "Moment Cafe". With a stable student customer base and takeout orders, it is always bustling with activity on weekdays.
It wasn't until the summer holidays, when fewer student customers came to the store, that I was able to see her enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
"What's the matter that you called me here in such a hurry?" Su Cheng stirred the silver spoon in her hand and put another bite of ice cream into her mouth.
She had just gone to the residential area with volunteers from the rescue station to "kidnap" kittens. She spent the whole afternoon outsmarting the cats under the scorching sun, and finally managed to "apprehend" the calico mother and her four newborn kittens.
Xu Zhisui cautiously looked around, then lowered her body to approach Su Cheng and said in a soft voice, "It seems like Siqi is going to propose to me."
The silver spoon struck the clear glass, producing a crisp sound.
Su Cheng opened her eyes wide and looked up, her face filled with shock.
“Yesterday I accidentally saw a text message on his phone ordering a diamond ring, from that brand that you can only order one in your lifetime.” Xu Zhisui leaned closer, her hands clasped together on the table, her fingers tightly intertwined.
"Oh my god!" Su Cheng gasped.
Although Xu Zhisui and Shen Siqi grew up together and had been in a serious relationship for four years, it is indeed a bit early for them to get married right after graduation.
"So what do you think? Are you ready to spend your life with him?"
"To be honest, I didn't sleep much last night. I kept tossing and turning thinking about this." Xu Zhisui pointed to her dark circles and blinked her eyelashes a few times. "We always bicker over trivial things. We have a small fight every three days and a big fight every five days. But every time I see him hanging his head and trying to coax me and make me happy, I feel that living with him like this seems pretty good."
Su Cheng had never been in a relationship before, so she couldn't truly understand the kind of mutual affection that Xu Zhisui described. But seeing the happy expression on her best friend's face, she was genuinely happy for her.
"Looks like someone really wants to get married." She joked with a smile, "As the security guard who witnessed your love from school uniforms to wedding dresses, isn't the bridesmaid position a sure thing for me?"
"Of course!" Xu Zhisui rested her chin on her hand, turning her gaze from the sparrows resting in the shade outside the window to Su Cheng. "But when will you finally make us worry about your marriage?"
Su Cheng's hand, which had just picked up her coffee cup, hovered in mid-air, and she almost choked on this "soul-searching question".
"Miss Xu, you've jumped to a whole new topic so quickly." She put down her cup, both amused and exasperated. "This whole thing is still far from over for me."
Xu Zhisui blinked, gazing at the delicate, small face opposite her.
Su Cheng has the typical features of a beauty from Jiangnan: her skin is like solidified cream, her lips are cherry-red and her nose is delicate. Her round almond-shaped eyes are like obsidian soaked in a clear spring, with the corners of her eyes slightly upturned, making her look both lively and charming.
Her hair was casually tied up in a bun with a few strands falling loosely. The pale yellow spaghetti strap top revealed her delicate collarbone, and the slim-fit jeans she wore hugged her straight legs perfectly.
Even without makeup, her naturally fresh and natural charm is captivating.
Yet, this very person has a completely clean romantic history, like a blank sheet of paper.
"Why don't you stop drinking coffee?" Xu Zhisui suddenly put on a stern face, snatched the coffee cup from Su Cheng's hand, and shook it dramatically. "In my opinion, you need to drink some traditional Chinese medicine to regulate your symptoms."
She wasn't lying, but the only handsome guy she ever liked was that one person.
After entering university, she met many people who were fond of her, such as the senior student who deliberately sat next to her in the library to explain problems to her, the classmate who insisted on bringing her an umbrella on a rainy day, and perhaps Lin Yang who joined the shelter for her sake.
Having seen such a stunning young man in my youth, even knowing that we have no chance, it's hard for me to be attracted to anyone else.
"Hey, speaking of handsome guys, remember Jiang Muzhou from the Innovation Class? Siqi said he went back to Linhai." Xu Zhisui pushed the coffee cup back to Su Cheng, her tone suddenly rising, "I never thought that a top student would become a documentary blogger!"
After the division into arts and sciences, all four of them chose science, but their original classes were reorganized. Su Cheng and Xu Zhisui remained in the same class, while Shen Siqi was assigned to the same class as Jiang Muzhou.
Thanks to Xu Zhisui, Su Cheng always followed closely whenever Xu Zhisui went to see Shen Siqi, ostensibly as her protector, but actually as a womanizer.
"Yes, I know." She lowered her eyes and responded softly, "He lives next door to me."
Over the next ten minutes, she recounted in detail to Xu Zhisui the events of her reunion with Jiang Muzhou over the past few days.
Xu Zhisui's eyes widened, and she darted from the opposite booth to Su Cheng's side, grabbing her arm and exclaiming excitedly, her voice trembling, "Oh my god! Isn't this a golden opportunity? Being in such a convenient position, we can get the moon first!"
Su Cheng lowered her head; she had never told anyone about that crush she had had in her youth.
She carefully hid it in her heart, which eventually transformed into a grand yet secret one-woman show.
Even if they were to meet again by chance, he would still be the radiant young man in my memory.
She was only able to establish a slight connection with him through the chance encounter with the kitten Yuanbao.
Even though the brightest star in the sky was so close, she still didn't have the courage to reach out and touch it.
"As someone who's been there, let me give you some advice," Xu Zhisui said mysteriously, her eyes sparkling. "Have you ever heard the saying? To win a man's heart, first catch his cat!"
Su Cheng pursed her lips, "I only catch stray cats."
"Don't change the subject!" Xu Zhisui slapped Su Cheng's leg, looking at him with exasperation. "The top student in the grade, the ace player on the basketball team, and most importantly, he has a face that's so handsome it's unfair! He's practically a male protagonist from a school manga!"
"Then what have I done to deserve being noticed by the male protagonist of a campus manga?" Su Cheng slumped her head on Xu Zhisui's shoulder, her voice listless.
"Magic mirror, magic mirror, tell me who is the fairest of them all?" Xu Zhisui took out her phone from her pocket and pointed the front-facing camera at Su Cheng.
"Hey! A sneak attack?" Su Cheng was caught off guard when she saw herself on the screen. Her bangs were sticky with sweat and stuck to her forehead, looking like two wilted dried vegetables. "Are you trying to take an unflattering picture of me again to make memes?"
"Sister, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about your own looks?" Xu Zhisui deftly grabbed Su Cheng's wrist, which she was trying to cover, and steadily held the phone screen in front of her. "In terms of looks, you and Jiang Muzhou are practically fighting gods, neck and neck. In terms of academics, although he used to be the top student in his grade, our Lin University is also a prestigious 985 university. Besides, 'saving a cat's life is better than building a seven-story pagoda,' and the kittens you've rescued over the years could almost build a Tower of Babel."
"If you ask me, the fact that you've taken a liking to the male lead of a school manga is a blessing he earned in his past life."
As the saying goes, sisters are more important than anything. This string of compliments really pleased Su Cheng, and she burst out laughing.
He was laughing, but then he froze.
Yes, she seemed to have long been accustomed to placing herself in a humble position, standing on tiptoe and struggling to look up at that shining boy.
But I never imagined that I could be a star that illuminates others.
A note from the author:
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