Chapter 208

Hearing the sound of high heels fading away, He Lele pushed Qin Zhixiu away. "Go, Miss Du is still waiting for you."

Whether it was worth it or not, it was his own choice; she had no right to interfere.

Gazing at the slender girl before him, Qin Zhixiu suddenly asked in a low voice, "Can you accompany me to a place?"

Three minutes later, Du Wei, in the orange Lamborghini outside the hospital, was angrily preparing to start the car when she saw Qin Zhixiu run out. The triumphant look on her face lasted only a second before it petrified the moment she saw him still holding He Lele's hand.

"Sorry, Weiwei, let me borrow the car."

"What? You! Hey! Hey! Qin Zhixiu! Qin! Zhi! Xiu!"

Happy Winter Solstice! Typed on my phone... I'll go back after lunch, and I'll try to get home early to type more!

J, Happy Birthday!!

☆, (11 Fresh Coins) Chapter 224: One of the Badges

The night was cool. Wrapped in Qin Zhixiu's jacket, looking at his side profile, which was even more exquisite and soft than a girl's, He Lele's heart was surprisingly calm.

He seemed to have this magical power; as long as she was alone with him, she could stop thinking about everything. Those past events, those shameful days, the current mess of a situation—everything was temporarily blocked off ten meters outside her body, far away, with no need for her to worry.

Where was he taking her?

It didn't matter.

She just wanted to cherish this rare peace.

Qin Zhixiu looked at her serene sleeping state, a smile appearing on his full lips. Violating traffic rules, he took one hand off the wheel and gently rested it on her leg, feeling her presence, her body temperature.

He liked her.

Not limited to the liking of a family member.

"Where... is this?" Waking up from a childhood dream, He Lele looked at the pitch-black surroundings and asked without any unease.

"Did you just have a good dream?" Qin Zhixiu asked instead of answering.

"...Mm." She dreamed of her childhood, the childhood before the nightmares began. Loving and gentle parents, lively and cute friends, kind and friendly neighbors and relatives, strict but fair teachers. However, after the nightmares began, everything changed except for her parents. She had long since learned the deepest lesson of how different faces one person could have.

After receiving that call from Xiaoya, for two whole months, every time she was alone, she had the illusion of being watched. At first, she only felt it was one person, but later there were more and more, as if the entire room was filled with eyes except for her! Countless times, she suppressed her wailing and crying, and even thought about whether opening the window and jumping out would make things easier...

But, she couldn't. Because her parents would still smile when they saw her, and no matter what rumors they heard outside, they had never once come home to question her.

With parents who loved her like that, she couldn't bear to die.

Weak as she was, timid as she was, she could only live secretly like this.

Was it possible that encountering such parents had used up all her luck for this lifetime? If that was really the case, then she truly had no right to complain about anything she encountered.

Smiling somewhat recklessly, the resentment and grievances that had been pent up in her chest seemed to fade a little. Thinking about her previous plans... she didn't know if she could hurt the enemy by a thousand, but she would definitely lose eight hundred. Should she...

Watching the girl who was immersed in her own thoughts and changing expressions from time to time, Qin Zhixiu rested his head on one hand on the steering wheel, watching with a smile, not disturbing her.

After a while, He Lele woke up from her deep thoughts. "Uh, did you, did you just speak?"

Qin Zhixiu shook his head with a smile.

"Sorry, I, I zoned out. Where is this?"

Qin Zhixiu didn't answer, opened the door, and got out of the car. He Lele looked at his somewhat lonely back and followed him out.

In the hazy night, the deep blue sky, the black jungle, the winding streetlights, the twinkling neon lights... She had studied in this city for four years, and although she had never been here once, He Lele still knew that this was the mountain with the best scenery in the city. Their current location should be the end of the driveway, the viewing platform on the hillside.

"Are you cold?"

He Lele shook her head.

"I'm cold." Qin Zhixiu smiled, put his arm around her shoulder, and walked to the railing of the viewing platform.

The night at two or three in the morning had already passed its most beautiful time. The most brilliant scenery below the mountain was the thousands of equally bright and orderly streetlights. And these countless lights seemed to have merged the most sparkling essence into his eyes, making her almost forget to breathe.

These were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen in the world.

"When I was a child, I often came here to wait for my parents."

"Mm?" Here? Weren't his parents researchers? Was the research institute on the mountain?

Qin Zhixiu pointed to the sky.

"They usually stayed in the laboratory all the time, and only rested at home for a few days every time they returned from a business trip. So every time they went on a business trip, I would wait for the plane here every day after school. Whenever I saw a plane flying overhead, I would imagine they were on it." A faint smile always hung on Qin Zhixiu's pure and beautiful face, as if he were recalling something sweet, but seeing such a smile, He Lele only felt her chest tighten, her throat dry, and her nose sore.

"Until one day..."

— Author's Notes —

Author's Note: