Walking the path to the Lake is also a part of the spring outing.
The flat wilderness and the mountains have different scenery—the biggest difference is the open view; your sight won’t be blocked so easily by dense leaves.
Walking along the gravel path, pale pink flowers bloom all the way. By the Lake, there are a few small folding stools set up, with some people fishing. Although they sit quite close to each other, none of them talk, or even move much—each one’s eyes are fixed on the water.
Occasionally, if they do move, it’s just to scratch an itch or light a cigarette.
There are seven or eight people in total, scattered about. Probably because it’s the Weekend, it feels lively for this usually deserted little Lake.
An Jing, who was walking in front, suddenly felt her head grow heavy. She turned around in confusion, only to see Zhu Ying smirking at her.
“What are you doing?”
“I pinned a little red flower on you~”
“Are you a kid or something? Ah!” An Jing turned around to continue walking, only to be startled by a Caterpillar dangling from a leaf.
These bugs are most common in Chun Tian and Qiu Tian. They hang from branches or leaves by a single fine thread, as if they’re floating in the air. If you’re not careful, you might bump right into one. Some unlucky people even have one “crash” into their mouths…
“What’s wrong?”
“Caterpillar… let’s walk farther out.” An Jing brushed the air lightly and noticed someone not far away fishing, grabbing these bugs to use as bait—without gloves, just pinching them as if it wasn’t gross at all.
Honestly, even though An Jing grew up in the countryside, she still didn’t like these prickly Caterpillars. By comparison, Beetles are much cuter…
“Isn’t he afraid his hands will itch later? These things can make you itch for a long time.”
“Maybe he’s immune already?” Zhu Ying mumbled, tilting her head.
That man must have heard their whispers. He looked up and gave them a friendly smile, making the two girls feel embarrassed. They had to return a shy smile in response.
Ripples shimmered across the Lake, then the wind swept up the entire surface. And then—the patter of Rain started to sound on the leaves.
“Eh?! It’s raining?”
“It was just sunny a moment ago…” An Jing looked up, equally bewildered.
“Don’t just stand there, Jing!” Zhu Ying grabbed An Jing’s wrist and pulled her into the woods by the Lake. Though there were more bugs here, the leaves were thick enough that unless it really poured, they wouldn’t get too wet.
The Rain brought out the damp scent by the Lake, with the wind carrying the moisture, mixing in the earthy aroma and the fragrance of grass.
“An An… and Ying Ying?”
“Huh?” An Jing turned her head in surprise and a bit of panic, only to see Wang Xinru, much taller than herself, standing under a Guai Hua Tree not far away, holding an old Tiantang Umbrella. She looked more relaxed than usual.
Zhu Ying puffed her cheeks and glanced at An Jing before turning back to say, “Xinru… what a coincidence.”
“Uh… I’m just out for a walk. I’ll leave once the Rain stops…”
“Ah… n-no,” An Jing stammered for a long time but couldn’t finish her sentence.
“It’s fine!” Zhu Ying put her hands on her hips, glared at An Jing, and teased, “What’s with that scaredy look? Am I going to eat you?”
“Cough…”
“Xinru, are you out for a spring outing today too?”
“Spring outing? Not really, just an ordinary walk. I haven’t come out for a long time, and I’ve been working part-time on Weekends recently.”
“Working part-time? What about your parents?”
“They give me money, but… I guess it’s better to be prepared, just in case?” Wang Xinru glanced up at her Tiantang Umbrella. “Um… do you two want to share the umbrella?” “No need! Your umbrella can’t fit three people anyway!”
“Ah, the weather forecast didn’t say it would rain today. If I’d known, I would’ve brought my big umbrella—it could cover three people just fine.”
“…Huh?” Zhu Ying suddenly pinched the soft flesh at An Jing’s waist.
“Ah?”
“Hmph!”
“Eh?”
“Forget it, forget it!” Zhu Ying instantly deflated and ruffled An Jing’s hair. “How long is this Rain going to last?”
“Even if you vent at me, I can’t make the Rain stop…” “Um, I’ll head back first…”
“Stop, no need!” Zhu Ying grabbed An Jing’s hand and blocked Wang Xinru from leaving. “I’m not upset! It’s just… I rarely get time alone with Jing these days!”
“Yeah, I—I know…”
“Ah, I get it now!” An Jing suddenly realized why Zhu Ying was upset.
That’s right—she was jealous.
It’s perfectly normal…
Even though she always acted easygoing, sometimes she wanted to have An Jing all to herself…
“What do you know?”
“Cough… I don’t know.” An Jing denied flatly.
“Ying Ying, it’s a rare day—let’s have fun!”
“Wait, Xinru.” Zhu Ying finally grabbed Wang Xinru’s hand. “It’s really nothing, no need to go out of your way. You doing that just makes me feel worse!”
“Y-yeah…” An Jing scratched her head and grinned awkwardly. “We’re usually fine, but suddenly trying to avoid each other is kind of weird…”
The Rain fell harder, seeping through the gaps in the leaves and dripping onto An Jing’s head.
It was cool, but not cold—rather, it made her feel especially awake.
The atmosphere among the three seemed to become a little awkward.
“An An, your dress is so cute today.”
“Cough cough!!!” An Jing suddenly realized she was wearing a dress and had been seen by Wang Xinru. She almost wanted to run away, her mouth twitching. But she managed to restrain her legs from moving.
“It was my choice! Look, it matches mine.”
“They’re both cute.” Wang Xinru pursed her lips. “An An’s legs look even cuter…”
“Hey, why are you two suddenly so close together!”
“Hehe, let me touch~” Zhu Ying, like staking her claim, reached out and squeezed An Jing’s thigh wrapped in black tights. “Ooh, feels nice.”
“You’re acting like a real scoundrel, you know.” An Jing drooped her eyelids.
“I’m touching my own tights, what’s wrong with that?”
“…”
“See, I’m touching my own clothes—any problem?” “But those things are on me right now!”
“Pfft.” Wang Xinru covered her mouth and laughed. She was wearing a loose dress today, but when her body shook with laughter, it still revealed graceful curves. “Ying Ying, you’re doing everything I want to do to An An.”
“No way! What you want to do is way more outrageous than me!” Zhu Ying blurted out. The next second, both their faces flushed bright red.
An Jing glanced at them, puzzled, and carefully stepped forward a couple steps—so her clothes wouldn’t get dirtied by a tree trunk.
“This Rain won’t stop…”
“Yeah, seems like we won’t get back anytime soon.”
“I really like Rain like this.” Wang Xinru gently stretched out her hand, letting the cool Rain fall into her palm. “Even though it’s heavy, it feels warm.”
“Xinru…” Zhu Ying hesitated a little. She stuck her hands in her pockets, peeled a grape-flavored hard candy, and stuffed it into An Jing’s mouth, then handed a mint one to Wang Xinru.
“Thank you.”
“It feels a bit lonely.”
“What…?”
“You, Xinru, it feels like you’re a little lonely lately… really lonely? You seem to be keeping to yourself a lot. Is life really busy?”
“It’s a little busy… but it’s fine, not especially… lonely, I guess.”
“What keeps you so busy?”
“I have to hurry home every day to do laundry, cook, clean, then study and do homework. On Weekends I go to my part-time job. There’s no one else at home, so everything falls to me.” “Sounds tough. At my house, I don’t even do my own laundry, and after dinner I just eat, don’t even have to wash dishes.” Zhu Ying seemed to spot some exhaustion on Wang Xinru’s tired face. “Do you make your own breakfast too?”
“To save money… I make everything myself.”
“I see… then, did I waste a lot of your time when I dragged you to stay over the other day?” “It’s fine, those days were really fun.”
“…So what did you two do?”
“Oh right… why don’t we eat something now! Jing, are you hungry?” “I’m fine.”
“Ta-da—” Zhu Ying pulled out a small plastic bag from her pocket. After unwrapping the outer layer, there was another bag inside, filled with dark-colored cookies—though they didn’t smell burnt, but rather had a rich chocolate aroma.
“Wow… did you two make these?”
“I made them myself! Well… Xinru helped a little too… they’re Chocolate Cookies!”
“Ah… Chocolate Cookies. Th-thank you.” An Jing fumbled with her hands, nearly dropping her rabbit plush.
Even though it was just a small bag of cookies, handmade ones meant something special.
She didn’t know what to say for a moment, just felt a bit excited and happy.
Maybe that’s what being loved feels like—a wonderful and sweet happiness.
“Oh right! I recorded a cassette too! The past few days I’ve been recording myself singing just for you, so, so every night I…”
“What, so that’s what you were doing? Jing, if you’d told me sooner!”
“I wanted to surprise you…”
“Is it the cassette in your pocket today?”
“Yes…”
“All sung by you?”
“Yeah… Zhou Chao and A Qiang did the accompaniment. I recorded eight Songs in total—maybe not perfect, but…” An Jing, head down, suddenly thought of something and jerked her head up. “Eh?! Cookies?! You promised to make some for me in my dream… right?”
“Huh—? Jing, you remembered?”
“I remembered that ages ago, but… you, you still remembered?”
“Hmph, of course! I promised you, after all! It was to cheer you up back then.”
“Huh?”
“You forgot? You were so down for days, it was my first time seeing you so… defeated.”
“Ah… what did I say?”
“Do you really want me to say it?”
“Say it…”
“You said—”
“Ahhh! I-I think I remember now!”
“You said, if no one in this world cared about you…”
“Don’t, stop!” An Jing cut Zhu Ying off in a panic. “Cough, cough, I remember! How could I have said something like that…”
“Well, you’d stayed in that dream world for a long time. It’s normal. We comforted each other a lot in those days—though usually it was you comforting me.”
“Cough…”
“Here, eat these Chocolate Cookies! Even if no one in this world cares about you, I definitely, absolutely care about you!”
Zhu Ying, who spoke these words so seriously, suddenly froze. She tilted her head to glance at Wang Xinru beside her, and Xinru, flustered, looked down at her shoes, just like a child who’d done something wrong…