(1)
The faces of An Jing and Zhu Ying were reflected in the glass of the claw machine.
A few boys were watching them play from a distance.
Zhou Chao, who had run out of tokens, leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, gazing towards them.
But he didn’t go over to say hello; instead, he leisurely admired the scene.
“They look completely like two girls…”
He rubbed his chin.
“Good thing I knew An Jing was a boy, otherwise there would have been an awkward scene of a boy confessing to a boy…”
“Zhou Chao, what are you doing?”
“Yo, Yang Lingfei, did you run out too?”
“Yeah, now only Sun Wei can go toe-to-toe with him.”
“Ah, it’s been a while since I played, I’m a bit rusty.”
“Me too.”
Yang Lingfei, with red lips and white teeth, bumped Zhou Chao’s arm with his own.
“Where are An Jing and them?”
“Over there.”
“Oh~ They seem to get along well.”
“Yeah, so we won’t disturb them.”
“It’s a shame they’re graduating soon.”
“Even if they’re graduating, it doesn’t matter, just enjoy it first.”
Yang Lingfei’s face showed an extremely disgusted expression.
He moved two steps to the side, “You’re getting more and more scummy!”
“Haha!”
Zhou Chao burst into laughter, not feeling embarrassed at all.
“Strange, Fang Qiang and An Jing are both honest boys, how do they have a scumbag friend like you?”
“Damn it, every single one of mine was true love, alright? How am I a scumbag?”
“You’re not just insulting my character, you’re insulting my intelligence…”
***
(2)
“Quick, quick, it’s caught! Just a little more… Oh! What a pity.”
“Didn’t catch it.”
Zhu Ying pouted, looking a bit disappointed.
“Every time, it lets go of the claw just when it’s almost there.”
“Yeah, it might be swaying too much. If it were more stable, maybe you would have caught it.”
“Only one left.”
Zhu Ying opened her palm and handed the game token, warmed by her body temperature, to An Jing.
“Here, the last one, you try?”
“I’ll probably be the same… This one just depends on luck.”
“What if you’re luckier?”
“Then… I’ll try. Don’t blame me if I don’t catch it.”
Although An Jing said this, she became extremely focused, constantly praying that the claw would grip more firmly next time.
“Ah…”
The game token then rolled into the coin slot, making a crisp sound.
A countdown also began on the claw machine.
Although there was still plenty of time, it immediately created a sense of urgency.
An Jing moved the joystick, stopping it above a plush dog with squinting eyes.
After fine-tuning the angle left and right, she slapped the red button with a “bang,” as if she had decided to launch a nuclear bomb.
The claw slowly moved downwards, grabbing the plush dog.
She couldn’t help but hold her breath, watching the thing move little by little towards the exit.
Just as it was about to reach the end, the claw loosened.
“Ah!”
Zhu Ying exclaimed regretfully.
“Just a little bit more!”
“It’s not over yet!”
An Jing’s eyes widened.
“Its tag is stuck on the claw!”
“It really is.”
The mechanism for moving the claw hit the very edge, causing the claw below to shake forcefully.
The plush dog, which was only barely hooked, immediately slipped from the claw.
A soft thud followed, meaning the plush dog had actually been caught.
“We caught it!”
Zhu Ying excitedly spread her arms and hugged An Jing before she even realized what Zhu Ying was going to do.
Everything in the world seemed to freeze at that moment.
The girl who actively hugged her had an incredibly soft body…
And… and she was surprisingly well-endowed?!
An Jing stiffened.
A certain non-existent “little thing” seemed to have risen high.
“Oh dear, sorry, sorry, I forgot you’re a boy!”
Zhu Ying blushed slightly, shrinking her neck, took two steps back, then quickly squatted down and picked up the fallen plush dog.
Her rosy little face made An Jing’s heartstrings itch, as if something had plucked them.
To be honest, everyone naturally liked pretty girls, but that kind of liking before was merely a teenage boy’s desire for a girl’s body.
The object of affection could be her, or any other pretty girl.
The person themselves wasn’t important; what mattered was merely the skin.
Even someone with a terrible personality like Zhang Qiqi would have many boys fantasizing about pinning her down on the “prairie” of a bed and riding her hard.
An Jing, of course, would also think that way.
For teenage boys, this was simply normal.
But in that instant, she felt as if she had fallen for something else about Zhu Ying.
Perhaps it was her pure beauty, or perhaps her straightforward cuteness…
But she was a girl now!
Even… even if, by some miracle, Zhu Ying liked her, they couldn’t be together.
At least not now.
As for when she could turn back into a boy, she herself didn’t know.
This feeling was truly too painful. It was like a long-desired thing was finally within reach, but she no longer had the container to hold it.
An Jing stared blankly at Zhu Ying, many thoughts flashing through her mind.
Finally, she couldn’t help but get teary-eyed.
“What’s wrong…?”
“Nothing!”
She quickly looked up at the ceiling, pushing the tears back into her eyes.
“We finally caught it, it was too, too difficult!”
“Mm, this is the happiest birthday present I’ve ever gotten! I’ve played claw machines a few times before, but I’ve never caught anything.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Ah… then your luck is really good this time.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, right, today’s your birthday, so happy birthday to you too…”
“Let’s talk about it tonight when we celebrate your birthday together?”
“Tonight, with me, together?”
An Jing asked foolishly, pointing at her own face.
“Can we celebrate together? It’ll save us the money for a birthday cake~”
“Ah… y-yes, we can, but, wouldn’t that be… not… not enough of that… that thing?”
“Which thing?”
“It-it’s that! Isn’t it a bit too informal?”
“For a birthday, as long as you’re happy, how you celebrate doesn’t matter, right?”
“Ah… is that so…? I just thought you girls would especially value such things.”
“It’s nice to have a change once in a while!”
Zhu Ying hugged the yellow plush dog tightly.
“So cute.”
“Yes, so cute.”
“Mm, all very cute!”
“Ah… An Jing?”
***
(3)
Staying in the arcade for too long made it somewhat stuffy, and since they had already spent quite a bit of money, everyone withdrew from it.
Then, in the covered shopping street, each of them bought a cheap one-yuan milk tea—while the milk flavor was a bit milder than Mixue Bingcheng’s, the tea flavor was richer.
They were all sitting on a long bench outside now.
Although the sun was still fierce, the refreshing breeze blowing towards them could still dispel a lot of the heat.
However, the restlessness in their hearts wasn’t so easy to cool down.
“Ah—refreshing!”
Fang Qiang took a big gulp of iced milk tea.
“Now you know who’s the top K player in this small city!”
“Damn it, your K-playing is absolute garbage.”
Sun Wei spat into a nearby flower bed.
“Pah! Disgusting!”
“This is skill, do you understand!”
“Zhu Ying, how was your game over there?”
Zhou Chao put his hand on An Jing’s shoulder, reaching over her to ask Zhu Ying.
“It was fun.”
Zhu Ying held the plush dog in one hand.
“Look, I even caught this today.”
“It’s almost noon, how about we grab some food before continuing to play?”
“Sounds good. I brought a hundred yuan today, that should be enough for playing.”
“Holy crap, you brought that much money?”
Fang Qiang was a bit shocked.
“How much?”
Sun Wei hadn’t heard clearly.
“A hundred.”
Yang Lingfei answered for her.
“My pocket money is only twenty a week.”
“I only get five bucks!”
Fang Qiang slapped Sun Wei’s forehead.
“Because I eat breakfast at home every day, I only get five yuan.”
“How much money did you all bring today?”
An Jing had one hand on the back of the bench, the other holding her milk tea, and she was sitting with one leg crossed over the other, striking a pose she thought was very cool.
“I brought twenty.”
“Me too, twenty.”
“I brought fifty.”
“Me too, fifty.”
“You two brought quite a bit…”
“After all, it’s for a birthday outing, so you definitely have to bring more.”
Zhou Chao shook his head.
“But still not as much as Zhu Ying.”
An Jing redirected the conversation back.
“Can you usually bring this much money when you go out?”
“I usually bring about a hundred yuan, right? But I don’t necessarily spend it all.”
“Rich.”
“Damn, I’m jealous.”
“I heard daughters are raised lavishly…”
Yang Lingfei’s words were cut off by Sun Wei.
“Holy crap, if that’s true, I want to be a woman too!”
“Give it a rest. If you turned into a woman looking like that, your parents probably wouldn’t give you a good look either.”
Fang Qiang didn’t hold back his jab.
“Sun Wei turning into a woman… No, can’t think about it, I’m afraid I’ll throw up.”
Zhou Chao exaggeratedly covered his mouth.
An Jing twitched her lips, her face a bit awkward.
“Bullshit! As a man, I’m as handsome as Daniel Wu; as a woman, I’d be as beautiful as Liu Yifei!”
Yang Lingfei covered his face, “How can a person be so shameless…?”
“That’s quite…”
“Cough, by the way, where are we planning to eat? And where are we going after dinner?”
“Still here? Seems like there’s nothing else to do besides shopping, right? How about we watch a movie?”
“There aren’t any good movies recently, are there?”
Zhou Chao shook his head.
“What’s the point of watching movies?”
The sharp-faced, monkey-mouthed Sun Wei suddenly had a flash of inspiration and slapped his palm.
“I’ve got it! Let’s just go explore over there! Didn’t we not go in last time because it was too late at night?!”
“Where?”
“The Abandoned Street!”
“Ah… there.”
“It’s daytime now, let’s go together!”
An Jing was quite keen on exploring, but she still subtly turned her head to look at Zhu Ying, wanting to consult the ‘only’ girl there for her opinion.
“Explore?”
She took a big sip of milk tea, puffing out her cheeks, and nodded vigorously.
“Mm!”
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