Chapter 25: A Date with the Silly Goose
The amusement park had perhaps taken on a special meaning for Chu Jingyi. Her first proper date with Lu Li had been at this very place. If not for Wen Hupo’s meddling at the very end, the Silly Goose would have definitely listed that day as one of the happiest of her life.
Today, she was wearing a little white dress, its hem printed with clusters of crimson, deep green, and pale yellow wildflowers in an elegant style. Her fair arms were bare under the sun, her flawless skin like smooth milk. Her skin was so delicate that standing in the sun for even a little too long would cause it to turn red. The Silly Goose began to regret not bringing a sun umbrella before leaving the house.
She stood before the amusement park entrance, staring blankly at the sparse number of visitors. She was thinking about Lu Li again.
Without a doubt, she loved Lu Li, loved him to her very core. She had fantasized about wearing a wedding dress for him, putting on red lipstick for him, and growing old with him, just like her own father and mother. She only loved Lu Li, and she would only ever love him. But Lu Li didn’t just love her! The Silly Goose could tell. When Lu Li looked at Wen Hupo, his eyes rippled with an indescribable light. Perhaps it was the same way she looked at Lu Li—a gaze that was gentle, soft, and serene as a flute playing after the rain; full of happiness, peace, and longing.
The Silly Goose felt that she was actually a very small-minded person. She felt her heart was small, perhaps with room for only Lu Li, and she hoped that Lu Li would only love her. At the very, very most… she could add Baili. Baili was different. Baili had a pitiful background, and she was her second-best friend, so she was willing to share Lu Li with Baili. But Wen Hupo? She was a girl who lived in a castle, a talented painter, with countless boys at school secretly in love with her. Why did she have to come and snatch her Lu Li away?
Every time Lu Li showed favoritism toward Wen Hupo, the Silly Goose would feel a small sense of resentment in her heart, but being the obedient girl she was, she never said a word. Because those were Lu Li’s words.
She often used An Baili as her mirror, to see if Baili shared the same mentality as her. But the words Baili said to Wen You that day made the Silly Goose suddenly realize something: Baili was Baili, and she was she. It was clearly Baili and Lu Li who had confirmed their relationship first, yet it was also Baili who was magnanimous enough to let her confess to Lu Li. She admitted that she didn’t have Baili’s kind of open-mindedness, nor could she declare in front of so many people that she would belong to no one but Lu Li for the rest of her life. It wasn’t because she didn’t love him enough, but because she cared too much about Lu Li and was too timid to make their relationship public, perhaps due to apprehension about Lu Li’s playboy nature, or perhaps because of her own inner conservatism and tradition.
She carefully maintained her love with Lu Li as if she were cherishing a piece of porcelain. When she viewed something as more important than anything else, any small disturbance would cause a hurricane and an earthquake in her heart. She had heard others say that first loves almost never last… Would she and Lu Li also end up like that?
Suddenly, she felt her cheek being pinched. The Silly Goose raised her hand in alarm to swat it away, only to see Lu Li’s smiling face. “My Yibao, what are you daydreaming about? I’ve been calling you for a while.”
The moment she saw Lu Li’s smile, all the girlish worries that had been tangled up like a rope in her heart instantly vanished into thin air. She didn’t even notice her own brilliant smile. “What took you so long~” It was less a complaint and more a coquettish whine.
Today, Lu Li had asked her to the amusement park alone. Just the two of them.
“I came on a shared bike. I’m not Miss Chu who gets to ride in a private car,” Lu Li deliberately teased her, unable to resist pinching the little cutie’s soft cheek again.
The Silly Goose’s small face was kneaded by Lu Li, and her voice became distorted along with it. “Do you want a private car… I-I’ll get you one… I have money…”
Lu Li was stunned. He had completely forgotten that the Silly Goose was actually a little rich girl, perhaps because she was so approachable and rarely used luxury goods. Still, a little rich girl who could casually gift her boyfriend a car was a rare find, not to mention one who was fair-skinned, beautiful, and easy to fool and coax.
She’s too cute… That was Lu Li’s only thought.
Today’s date was not without purpose. Lu Li had kept what Long Jing said last time firmly in his mind. Anyone can suffer, but not Jingyi, he thought. The reason the Silly Goose was unhappy was likely because his interactions with Hupo were becoming more and more intimate, so Lu Li planned to ask the Silly Goose out to have a heart-to-heart talk.
“Stop kneading, my face will get puffy. It won’t look good if it’s puffy…” the Silly Goose pouted.
“It’ll look good even if it’s puffy. You look good no matter what. I adore you completely,” Lu Li said, smiling as he kneaded her cheek. He loved pinching the Silly Goose’s cheeks the most, perhaps because she was the easiest to bully.
Hearing Lu Li’s words, a shimmering light rippled in the Silly Goose’s eyes. She let out a soft “oh” and leaned closer to Lu Li. The young girl’s natural fragrance wafted around the boy’s nose with the early autumn breeze. “Can we hold hands…?” The Silly Goose shyly buried her head in Lu Li’s chest.
Lu Li took the girl’s delicate hand and said with a smile, “Let’s go, let’s head inside. No Long Jing to cause trouble today. Just the two of us will have a blast all afternoon.”
The Silly Goose nodded obediently. In truth, it didn’t matter what they played; as long as Lu Li could be with her, it was enough. She looked down at their intertwined hands, and her heart overflowed with sweetness.
Chu Jingyi couldn’t really remember what rides they went on. She had been watching Lu Li’s side profile the whole time—watching him laugh, watching him talk, watching him shrink his neck when the cold ice cream touched his tongue. She couldn’t help but smile, reaching out to wipe the ice cream from the corner of Lu Li’s mouth. “Lu Li, how are you just like Long Jing, getting ice cream all over your mouth.”
“Do you want some?” Lu Li remembered it wasn’t the Silly Goose’s time of the month and thought about buying her a strawberry cone.
“…I want to eat the one in your hand,” the little girl said gently.
Lu Li held his ice cream cone in front of Chu Jingyi. The Silly Goose took a bite, then seemed to think of something happy and began to laugh foolishly, not even realizing she had gotten ice cream on her face. Lu Li hesitated for a split second, then lowered his head and leaned toward the Silly Goose. He wanted to taste the ice cream on the girl’s lips, but the Silly Goose thought Lu Li was going to kiss her. Her cheeks turned slightly red, and in the next second, she meekly closed her eyes like a little lamb.
Lu Li was momentarily stunned, but he certainly wasn’t one to be unromantic. After licking away the ice cream by the girl’s mouth, his lips moved to hers. He heard the Silly Goose whisper, “There are a lot of people here, don’t kiss for too long, okay… I’m a little shy…”
After the light kiss ended, the Silly Goose opened her eyes, a watery light floating in them. “Lu Li, I like you so much.”
A girl’s words of love are something one could listen to a thousand times without ever growing tired.
Lu Li felt the time was right. He deliberated, then began, “Yibao, I want to talk to you about Wen Hupo…”
The Silly Goose shook her head. “We’re not allowed to talk about that right now… unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless you’re holding me…”
