Under the azure sky, a young man with long and narrow eyebrows stood against the light, his white clothes whiter than snow, his black hair fluttering. The sunlight like broken gold cast a faint halo on his young and handsome face.
He faced everyone in the circle of light and smiled calmly: "Speaking of qualifications, she is the most qualified person to stand with me, because I was once an orphan that you all despised."
It was an apparently calm remark, but it seemed to imply some invisible deterrent force, like a strong cold front from Siberia passing through, freezing everyone's expression and breathing.
But in fact, I didn’t know how the onlookers reacted, because after Jian Chen said that, he held my hand and forcibly led me out of the crowd.
If all my previous persistent searching and approaching were due to that childhood promise, then at this moment, with his right hand tightly held by me, I was moved by his steadfast protection.
I don’t know where he is taking me, but I am willing to follow him. Even if it is to hell, I think I will not look back, just because he was once the little stone.
Jian Chen pulled me faster and faster, and finally we started running. We ran hand in hand in the busy campus in the early morning. The wind with the sweet fragrance of flowers blew in our faces, lifting the corners of our clothes. My white dress was like a white tulip blooming in the wind.
I don't know how long it took, but Jian Chen finally let go of my hand and stopped. I bent over and gasped violently, and found myself in front of an unfamiliar pond.
The lake is clear and surrounded by green mountains. I never knew there was such a natural beauty near Baisha.
I was just marveling at the ingenuity of the Creator when Jian Chen, who had been facing the pond in silence, suddenly said, "Don't you know how to run? You are so stupid every time that you let others bully you."
This time, I can be sure that he said this because he cares about me.
Perhaps in order to hear him say more caring words, I deliberately made an aggrieved expression, but I was already very happy in my heart.
This time, because of me, Jian Chen stood up!
Such a cold-hearted person was actually willing to say such words for me in public.
"I'm talking to you." Seeing that I didn't answer, Jian Chen turned his head and glanced at me.
"Oh." I answered sullenly, the ending of the sentence becoming unclear due to nasal congestion.
Jian Chen probably heard it as "tears of tears", and he was fooled. When he spoke again, his tone was no longer as cold as before: "Am I wrong?"
I acted out the whole scene, pretending to have tears in my eyes, biting my lip and nodding without saying anything.
"Hey!" Jian Chen glanced at me, then glanced at me again, then pretended to be impatient and handed a handkerchief to me, "Why are you so useless? Is this the shameless Ai Banxia I know?"
Eh? How am I being cheeky?
"You've always recognized the wrong person." I sniffed hard, "Ai Banxia has always been so vulnerable."
Before Jian Chen could question me, I murmured, "Ai Banxia has always been vulnerable. What you see is just the appearance..."
I only pretend to be strong-willed because of you!
"So the appearance is more likable than the essence!" Jian Chen suddenly laughed, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, "I thought there were no tears in Ai Banxia's world ."
Did he just use the word "like"? I blinked and smiled, and tears fell without warning.
"Hey, don't be so anxious to prove it..." His narrow eyes finally showed a look of worry because of me.
"Well, can I lean on your shoulder? See, it's you who made me cry." I pressed on.
"No." He said with a straight face, "I don't know you well."
"So it'll be fine after we get to know each other? Then I'll pay you once in advance, and when we get to know each other, I'll use your shoulder less often." I didn't give him a chance to speak, I hugged his arm and gently leaned my head on his shoulder, "Anyway, we will definitely become very familiar with each other in the future."
After a long while, I heard Jian Chen's helpless voice, "Ai Banxia, ​​shamelessness is your nature."
"Yes!" I laughed softly, and my tears soon sank into his collar. "The survival rules of orphans."
"I agree," he said. "I can survive on the charity of others, but I cannot tolerate even the slightest slander."
"It's okay!" I hugged his arms tighter to grab the warmth, "Slander won't kill you. Staying alive is the most important thing."
Perhaps my words were too desolate, Jian Chen suddenly turned her head and stared at me with a pair of sparkling eyes: "I always thought you were a pampered young lady, but today I know that you are..."
"Orphan?" I looked up to meet his gaze. "So, what about you? Do you remember your childhood?"
In fact, you have known my name and what kind of person I am a long time ago, but you have forgotten me.
"When I was a child?" Jian Chen's eyes suddenly became empty as he looked at the lake, as if he had fallen into a deep alley of memory and was lost and couldn't find the exit. For a full five seconds, he murmured, "I don't remember anything."
"How could that be?" I was shocked.
"Here!" He pointed to his forehead and smiled faintly as if he was talking about a trivial matter. "When I was eleven, I fought with someone for a bun in the trash can and was hit with a brick. Later, I returned to the Jane family and healed the wound, but I don't remember anything before that."
At that moment, I covered my mouth tightly with my hands to prevent myself from screaming. So that's how it was. It's not that he forgot about me, but that he completely lost the memory of my existence.
All my doubts were cleared up at this moment, and I began to blame myself for my previous distrust of him. How could I doubt Xiao Shitou's promise, and how could I think that he had forgotten me?
He is the little stone, the one who will always hold my hand, the one who can smile contentedly just by watching me eat candy. How can I not believe him?
I still remember the moment we parted, he said, Banxia, ​​ten years. Ten years later, I will find you. Definitely.
Until now, I finally understood that he would definitely come if he said he would come to see me. If he didn't come as promised, it wasn't because he forgot or broke the promise, but because God played a joke on us, asking us to meet in another time and space, to get to know each other as strangers, and then depend on each other, just like when I met him when I was six years old.
How terrible and serious would a wound that could cause someone to lose their memory be? His nonchalant tone made my heart feel as if it were pierced by a long, thin needle, and the pain was so severe that I could hardly breathe.
I couldn't help but reach out to brush his hair away to check. Perhaps he was not used to such intimacy, and after a moment of hesitation, he turned his head away from my hand in the air. Perhaps he didn't want to embarrass me, so he said to me: "It's nothing , it's better if you don't remember."
Yes, it would be better to completely forget those unbearable past events. Anyway, he and I have met again. Just like now, he is Jian Chen and I am Ai Banxia, ​​isn't it better?
Do you remember me, little stone?
For a long time, I have been wanting to ask him this in person, but now there is no need.
"Yes." I smiled through my tears, "There is no need to reminisce about the past, because happiness is always in the future."
He probably misunderstood what I meant and whispered to comfort me: "Don't let other people's words affect your mood. Your parents are your parents and you are you."
"That's right. Should children be responsible for their parents' behavior?" I looked at him and nodded. "Even if my parents were murderers , I wouldn't feel any shame."
"Don't you hate them?" Jian Chen seemed very surprised.
"Do you hate it?"
Jian Chen didn't say anything for a long time. I thought he was probably as conflicted as I was.
"I thought I would hate them, but then I found that I didn't hate them as much as I imagined. Otherwise, I wouldn't be ready to fight for them today." I couldn't help laughing when I thought of how angry I was before.
But I didn't expect that Jian Chen, who was calm and composed just a moment ago, suddenly became awkward, staring at me with a murderous look on his face: "Ai Banxia, ​​so, you weren't sad in front of the bulletin board just now?"
Oops, it’s exposed.
I blinked and pretended to understand something and said, "Huh? So you just couldn't bear to see me being bullied, so you decided to save the girl?"
He remained silent.
"Not saying anything means you agree." I smiled brightly.
"Ai Banxia!" He called my name in an evil voice.
I smiled secretly. At this point, he wouldn't think that his pretended anger could still scare me.
I raised an eyebrow: "To speak is to admit it."
Only when all roads are blocked will the "Iceberg Face" with a twisted personality raise his hands and surrender.
However, it was clear that Jian Chen's brain was not constructed the same way as that of an ordinary person. After a moment, he regained his normal look, and even raised his eyebrows and smiled like me: " Would ? But, in fact, you are being self-indulgent. I helped you only because, um... a sense of justice."
"No." I pointed at his arm that I had been holding, and smiled maliciously, "Then what is this?"
Jian Chen was stunned and wanted to shake off my arm as if his hand was scalded, but the tip of his ear suddenly showed a faint pink color.
I hugged his arms tightly and smiled roguishly: "It's too late. So, have we started dating?"
He stared at me and said nothing.
"That's great!" I shouted happily.
"Hey, when did I agree?" Jian Chen tried his best to keep a straight face, but he didn't know that his red ears had already betrayed him.
"But you didn't disagree, did you?" I played dumb. "If I didn't disagree, then I agreed, right?"
I knew Jian Chen must have been choked by me, because after a long time, he just said something that was very inconsistent with his identity as an iceberg prince, "I don't agree with you at all," and left me alone angrily.
I didn't chase him, but just looked at his back from a distance, and couldn't help but smile, because I understood better that this ice prince with a super twisted personality was so "furious" because I guessed his thoughts.
When I returned to the classroom, the first class had ended.
Long Xuan saw me, ran up to me, held my hand and said, "That Xu Xiye is too much. We should sue her for defamation."
Only then did I know that the girl who posted my privacy on the bulletin board and attacked me was called Xu Xiye.
"I have nothing to do with it." I confessed to Long Xuan, "One thing she said is absolutely true, I am indeed an orphan. As for what kind of people my biological parents are, I don't know."
Long Xuan was startled at first, but soon recovered: "So what if you are an orphan? What does it matter who your parents are? I only know that you are the optimistic and upright Ai Banxia, ​​and that's enough."
Long Xuan always surprises me. She always hates evil and speaks frankly, even to me, her love rival.
"Thank you, Long Xuan." The friendship of this confident and proud girl is another great gain for me after coming to Baisha College.
"Why thank me? I'm just telling the truth." She seemed to suddenly remember something, and she grabbed my arm and said, "Now that I think about it, the person who threw water on you last time was most likely Xu Xiye. She always plays mean tricks on you, which is really despicable. No, we can't just let it go like this, we must give her a warning."
Long Xuan had a look of resentment on his face, even more excited than me, the person involved.
"Forget it, she's just like that because she likes Jian Chen." I blurted out, then thought of Long Xuan's position and asked tentatively, "If, I mean if, I date Jian Chen, will you ignore me from now on?"
"Do you think I'm someone like Xu Xiye? Who Jian Chen likes is always his own business. I'm just his girlfriend in name only, responsible for blocking all the bad peach blossoms in the school for him." Long Xuan was very displeased, but she was very smart and quickly understood what I meant, "You and Jian Chen..."
"Long Xuan..." I interrupted her quickly. I don't know why, but I was suddenly afraid of losing her as a friend.
"So, is it all settled?" Long Xuan murmured absentmindedly, and then laughed, "Hey, don't look at me with such sympathetic eyes. I am willing to accept the defeat. I, Long Xuan, am not someone who cannot afford to lose."
This girl who never wanted to show weakness suddenly made me feel so distressed that I could only repeat those useless words to her: "Thank you. I'm sorry."
"No need, Banxia." Long Xuan waved her hands hurriedly. Her face had lost its usual calmness. I clearly saw a flash of crystal tears in her eyes.
She said: "It was my one-sided love for Jian Chen. Isn't it said that 'if you like someone, you should help him be happy'? He liked you and chose you, so you don't need to apologize. Besides, a good girl like me, Long Xuan, is not afraid of not being liked by good boys."
In the end, she became the proud Long Xuan again.
She was right. A good girl like her would definitely be loved by a good boy. When she turned around, she saw Xie Anbai standing far away, with a pair of shining eyes fixed on Long Xuan.
I winked at him and signaled to him with my eyes: Come on!
He responded to me with his eyes: Let’s make progress together.
Is this what Xie Anbai and I are doing? I suddenly felt guilty, but I really hope Long Xuan can be happy. From what I have observed, Xie Anbai is a good candidate.