Chapter 125: Spring Rain Soft as Cream

The spring rain drizzled steadily, tapping on the roof of the bus, sometimes crisp and clear, other times heavy and dull.

The bus window wasn’t completely sealed; when the vehicle stopped, it would shake along with the engine.

An Qingjing leaned back relaxedly in her seat, listening to Fang Qiang and the others’ loud chatter—never before had the world felt so beautiful.

Being able to hear sounds was truly a blessing.

A pale green mist drifted through the rain.

Zhu Ying, sitting beside her, suddenly poked her gently on the cheek.

“Xiao Jing~”

“Ah?”

“How does it feel to be able to hear again?”

“All the sounds in the world have never been so beautiful.”

“Really!”

Zhu Ying blinked playfully.

“I just finished it yesterday. Want to try?”

“Try what?”

“Guess.”

“How could I possibly guess?”

“Hehe~”

Zhu Ying smiled mysteriously, pulled out her phone, then rummaged through her pocket and found a tangled pair of wired earphones, with a few stray hairs caught in the wires.

She placed both earbuds gently into An Qingjing’s ears.

Qingjing tilted her head, watching the smile on Zhu Ying’s face, then saw her press a button firmly.

Suddenly, a familiar melody flowed out from the earphones like orange soda fizzing in her ears.

When the first lyrics appeared, An Qingjing’s eyes brightened with surprise.

It was the song she had loved most during winter break.

Judging by the Chinese characters, it was called Song of Many Colors, but this wasn’t the original—Zhu Ying’s cover.

Though the recording carried a faint static noise and Zhu Ying’s youthful breathlessness, to An Qingjing at that moment, it sounded even more touching than the original.

Instinctively, An Qingjing reached out and gently grasped Zhu Ying’s small hand, swaying slightly with the rhythm of the song.

Though she didn’t understand the lyrics, she still felt the vibrant youthful energy behind them.

Whenever Zhu Ying’s pronunciation faltered or she hesitated, a smile involuntarily spread across An Qingjing’s face—like biting into a watermelon that was both sweet and grainy on a summer day.

The song was set on repeat; after one cycle, it started again, and An Qingjing softly hummed along:

Stopping footsteps, the spring I quietly gaze upon~

Thank you~ for your unassuming arrival…

Listen~ un deux trois, the rhythm of love

I want to reach your heart…

Zhu Ying’s face flushed redder by the second, her ears warming noticeably.

She seemed to have never been this shy before—perhaps because An Qingjing was singing the lyrics aloud…

Obviously, when she learned the song, she must have read the Chinese translation too.

And coincidentally, An Qingjing was singing exactly those lines.

Nervously, Zhu Ying grabbed Yi’s hand tightly and bit her lip.

An Qingjing continued softly singing. Her deep ocean-like eyes calmly fixed on Zhu Ying, a faint and almost imperceptible smile tugging at her lips.

Trying to hide her embarrassment, Zhu Ying stumbled through the next lines in a soft voice:

I want to answer your wish.

Together with you, closing my eyes.

I will feel gentle courage…

The bumpy bus finally slowed and came to a stop.

The door clanged open, and the sound of rain outside became crisp and clear, penetrating through the earphones and into An Qingjing’s mind.

“Ah… we’re at school.”

An Qingjing snapped out of her trance, eyeing Zhu Ying’s flushed face oddly.

“What’s wrong with you? Do you have a fever?”

“You’re the one with a fever!”

Zhu Ying scowled, brushing away An Qingjing’s hand as it moved toward her forehead.

She then snatched back her earphones and shut her phone with a soft click.

“Ah… why did you get mad all of a sudden? It’s really good.”

“Hmph, do I need you to tell me that?”

Turning her back to An Qingjing, Zhu Ying stood up along with the other students.

“Send it to me later, I want to save it!”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Huh…? What do you want?”

“Um—I’ll tell you after we get off the bus!”

Zhu Ying grabbed An Qingjing’s wrist and dashed off the bus quickly.

It was still early afternoon.

But the ninth graders were already dismissed for the day, so the school gates were unusually lively—some were talking about going home to get their bags, others planning where to hang out.

Of course, there were some who intended to return home to study and do homework, but they mostly walked alone, not in groups.

Zhu Ying had a small umbrella with her, and now she was sheltering both herself and An Qingjing closely beneath it.

“Qingjing! To celebrate your hearing coming back, how about some gaming?”

“Ah? Sure!”

An Qingjing’s eyes lit up.

“It’s a rare chance to relax!”

“You relax way too much already.”

Zhu Ying shot her a sidelong glance.

“Haha, guys need to relax or else they can’t handle life’s pressure!”

“Hmph, as if girls don’t have pressure!”

“Girls? Haha—they’re nowhere near the same.”

Zhou Chao waved his hand dismissively.

Although smiling warmly, he clearly had no intention of continuing the debate.

An Qingjing knew his views on gender were different from most and quickly cut in, “Everyone has pressure, everyone needs to relax, everyone—”

“Relax when you need to. The high school entrance exam’s still a while away; no point being too stressed.”

Zhou Chao said, suddenly wrapping an arm around Yang Lingfei, who was stepping off another bus.

“A Fei! Got an umbrella?”

“Ah? Yeah, got one. Why?”

“Great, let’s all go play games today!”

“Damn, games today?”

Yang Lingfei looked tempted but conflicted.

“I was planning to review some topics…”

“Ah, that can wait till tonight.”

“Exactly! A Fei, if you’re a brother, come play with us!”

Sun Wei shouted.

“There’s plenty of time for studying!”

“No way…”

Yang Lingfei shook his head helplessly, “Alright, just a little while then, it’s still early anyway.”

“Whoa, your umbrella’s pretty big, A Fei. Mind if I squeeze under too?”

Fang Qiang squeezed closer under the umbrella.

Yang Lingfei laughed dryly, “No matter how big it is, four people is still a tight fit.”

“No problem, we’ll make it work. Let’s go!”

“We’re gonna get squished!”

An Qingjing tilted her head toward Zhu Ying, scratching her nose shyly.

“Uh… Xiao Ying, wanna come play too?”

“Sure~”

“Ah, why are you so easy today?”

“I’ll make it up to you later.”

“Make it up how? Bubble tea?”

“Not decided yet~”

Zhu Ying linked her arm with An Qingjing’s, shooting her a playful sideways glance as they walked forward.

The four boys sharing one umbrella bumped into each other as they walked, looking just like the Pokémon Magneton or Dugtrio—but since there were four of them, maybe they should be called Four-in-one Magnet Monster or Four Moles instead…

“How’d you guys do on the test?”

Yang Lingfei shouted.

A crack of thunder in the sky drowned out his voice, so Fang Qiang had to shout back and make him repeat the question louder.

“Perfect score on pull-ups.”

“Same here.”

“I totally failed, damn it.”

Sun Wei cursed.

“Good thing Qingjing’s as miserable as me, hehe!”

An Qingjing rolled her eyes and gave him a middle finger.

“How about the thousand meters?”

Yang Lingfei pressed.

Zhou Chao stepped into a puddle, shaking them aside a little.

“A Qiang, could your big butt scoot over a bit?”

“Damn, if I move any more, I’ll be out on the street.”

“Long-distance running, huh? We four all just barely made the excellence cutoff!”

Sun Wei bragged, acting as if it was all his doing.

“Not bad, I just barely beat it by two seconds.”

“Haha, we finished together.”

Fang Qiang was especially proud.

“I didn’t leave a single brother behind!”

“If we were any slower, we wouldn’t have made the excellent score line.”

Zhou Chao said, winking at An Qingjing.

“Right!”

An Qingjing excitedly leaned forward, ignoring the misty rain blowing against her face.

“I thought I was hopeless when I fell!”

“A man should never give up, you know? That’s why ‘man’ and ‘difficult’ sound the same in Chinese. The tougher the challenge, the more a man should face it!”

Fang Qiang laughed heartily.

Zhou Chao shook his head, clearly not agreeing, but he didn’t argue.

Instead, he smoothly changed the subject: “So, game room or internet cafe later?”

“We’ll see. If there’s room at the game room, we’ll go there. Otherwise, we can just play on the computer at home.”

“Come to think of it, none of us are really poor—everyone’s got a computer, right?”

Zhou Chao snatched Sun Wei’s hand, who was about to smack his butt.

“Hey, A Wei, hands off!”

“Not me, it was A Qiang!”

“Then whose hand was that?”

“Pulled over by A Qiang!”

“Stop lying, you kid.”

Fang Qiang’s eyelids drooped lazily.

“Yeah, not that poor. Lots of people don’t even have a computer.”

“My computer was custom-built by a relative, but it ended up costing more than buying one off the shelf!”

Sun Wei pouted.

“My computer’s secondhand. The scrap yard boss fixes computers, so I ordered one in advance and got it after two weeks.”

Fang Qiang scratched his head.

“It’s getting slower and can’t run new games smoothly anymore.”

“Garbage computer, damn well time to upgrade!”

“Hey, you gonna pay for it?”

“Once we graduate middle school, I’ll hook you up with some cheap parts.”

“By then I probably won’t even have time to play—gotta work.”

Fang Qiang sighed.

“Jobs are busy.”

“There’s always time to play.”

“We’ll see.”

“If you can play, you should—otherwise, you’ll lose something precious.”

“Come on, what does playing computer games have to do with anything precious?”

“You don’t get it.”

Zhou Chao raised a finger and gently shook it.

“The heart that seeks out happiness on its own—that’s something very precious.”