Epilogue 1: If Line – Childhood Sweethearts (End)
The temperature plummeted as a cold wave swept through.
Autumn turned to winter, and the students all changed into deep blue winter down school uniforms.
Pei the Red Panda lowered her eyes and, looking at the girl who was bending down to zip up her down school uniform for her, suddenly said with pleasure:
“This is our clothes.”
Ye Qingyu was tidying her collar and, hearing this, couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you say that?”
Pei the Red Panda licked the tip of her teeth and said with an air of composure, “You are ‘Yu,’ and I am ‘Rong.’ This is a ‘Yurong’ uniform.” (T/N: “羽绒服 (yǔróngfú)” means down jacket. “羽 (yǔ)” is from Ye Qingyu’s name, and “绒 (róng)” is from Pei Rong’s name.)
Ye Qingyu paused slightly, and then chuckled lightly. “That’s right.”
The weather had turned cold, and the small animals were all a little dejected. They were yawning all day, as if they were about to fall into hibernation at any moment.
“The final exams are coming up soon. There’s really nothing to look forward to in these days.”
Tu Shan Yue propped up her chin and sullenly poked at the food on her plate with her chopsticks.
Luo Bian said, “Actually, it’s because Doctor Liu is on leave, right?”
Tu Shan Yue was not flustered at being exposed and just looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle with a melancholic air. “Ah, this love of mine that has nowhere to go.”
Pei the Red Panda blinked her peach blossom eyes. “Love?”
Jin Can followed suit and blinked her puppy-dog eyes. “What is love?”
Teacher Tu Shan did not spare her lesson:
“Love is wanting to wrap your tail around her waist.”
For a moment, all the small animals present had a certain realization and were lost in thought.
Shui Zhu’s ears twitched, and her eyes lit up slightly. “Then why are you just being sad by yourself and not chasing after love?”
Hearing this, all the beasts also came back to their senses and looked over with burning gazes.
Tu Shan Yue sighed and spread her hands.
“Because I’m not an adult yet, and Jinjiang won’t let me write about it.”
Everyone said honestly, “Oh.”
…
For high school students, the final exams were often a more real and intense existence than love.
The snow was falling heavily. Today was Pei the Red Panda’s eighteenth birthday.
It was also the last day of the final exams.
The last exam was physics.
Ye Qingyu, with an air of ease, handed in her paper early and came to the entrance of exam room eleven to wait for the red panda.
The girl was tall and slender, and her face was even fairer than the falling snowflakes, and she had an air of composure and nobility, like a pine tree standing in the snow.
People in the classroom would frequently look at her.
But Ye Qingyu’s gaze was only focused on the third row of the second column.
Pei the Red Panda had been spoiled and lazy since she was little, but this semester, she had been diligent and hardworking, and she had a certain proud resilience in her bones.
With Ye Qingyu’s customized tutoring and her own talent and hard work, her progress was nothing short of miraculous.
At this moment, she was not looking out the window, but was seriously working on her draft paper.
The light of the snow reflected on Pei Rong’s features, and her fluffy, reddish-brown hair framed her fair cheeks, and the tips of her thick lashes fluttered lightly.
You didn’t have to think to know what kind of cute and fluffy handwriting her pen was sketching on the paper.
Ye Qingyu was engrossed, and the tip of her heart was as if it had been scratched by a red panda’s soft and glutinous fur, and a dense numbness and itch arose.
Ring, ring, ring—
The bell for handing in the papers rang.
Pei the Red Panda put down her pen and, as if sensing something, looked out the window and met the girl’s focused gaze.
She was slightly stunned, and then she curled her lips, and her smile was shimmering.
After the exam, it was winter vacation.
A group of humans and beasts gathered together and, with gifts in hand, went to celebrate the red panda’s birthday.
On the way, they unintentionally passed by a flowerbed, and Nian Qiu casually pointed to a certain bare plant and shared with everyone with a smile:
“That fruit is particularly sweet! I once ate it all in one go at night without realizing it. Although I later got drunk and fainted, the taste is really memorable for a bird.”
Jin Can’s eyes widened slightly. “Huh, there’s a sign next to it—No Picking, declared by Li Huaijin.”
Nian Qiu was startled. “…It’s over. This can’t be the dean’s fruit, can it!”
“…”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“Achoo—”
The melancholic dean somewhere suddenly sneezed several times in a row.
…
By the side of the road at the school gate, a black commercial vehicle was quiet and low-key in the falling snow.
The woman in the driver’s seat was wearing a casual suit as white as snow, and her aura was noble and otherworldly.
Seeing everyone coming over, talking and laughing, Xiao Yu rolled down the driver’s side window and waved.
Ye Qingyu’s eyes immediately lit up, and she led Pei the Red Panda to Xiao Yu’s window and said with pleasant surprise:
“Auntie Xiao, you’re back.”
This auntie was her mother’s favorite student when she had been a volunteer teacher at Hope School, and she had often come to their house for dinner back then, and they had been very close.
Later, she had gone abroad to study, and Auntie Xiao had often sent her and the red panda cute gifts from abroad, and had also had regular video calls with them.
She hadn’t expected her to finally be back.
“Mhm, just in time for Rong Bao’s eighteenth birthday.”
Xiao Yu chuckled lightly. “Happy birthday, Rong Bao.”
Pei the Red Panda was pleased. “Thank you, Auntie Xiao.”
“Yu Bao has also grown a lot taller.”
Having not seen them for a long time, Xiao Yu looked at the two children carefully and then said, “Don’t get cold, everyone. Get in the car quickly.”
To pick up these ten, Xiao Yu had specially borrowed an extended commercial vehicle, so everyone could just fit comfortably.
The wheels rolled over the fluffy, white snow, and they drove smoothly to the reserved restaurant.
Ye Zhao was arranging the birthday banquet scene with a friend.
Although it seemed a little exaggerated… but what other children had, her little red panda cub had to have too.
After finishing the arrangements, she checked everywhere and nodded with satisfaction.
Creak—
The private room door was opened.
Ye Zhao looked up and smiled gently at Pei the Red Panda. “Our little beast star has arrived.”
Pei the Red Panda walked in and couldn’t help but her peach blossom eyes widen—
Stepping into the private room was like stepping into a spring bamboo forest.
From the balloons and ribbons to the cute decorations, everything was ingeniously integrated with bamboo forest elements, complemented by the reddish-brown of a red panda, and the natural atmosphere was thick.
There was also a large apple-shaped pillow on the sofa.
“Wow, so cute!”
“Sister Rong, your mother loves you so much!”
The little beasts who had followed the red panda in all let out exclamations of amazement.
Pei the Red Panda was rarely a little shy. She bit her lip, and her peach blossom eyes were like a spring bloom.
The dishes were rich, and the aroma was enticing.
Everyone took their seats and ate and talked to their heart’s content.
Xiao Yu reminded, “Let’s raise our drinks and toast to a celebration.”
Pei the Red Panda thought of something. “I can drink alcohol now.”
Ye Zhao said with a smile, “Honey, do you want to try?”
“Mhm,” Pei the Red Panda nodded.
Everyone immediately complained. “Sister Rong, you can drink, but we can’t, ooh-ooh-ooh!”
In the end, the underage girls present were still given a little bit of alcohol.
A thin layer in the glass, just enough for a light taste, but it was also very happy and satisfying.
“Happy birthday, Pei the Red Panda! Cheers!”
In the midst of the high spirits, Pei the Red Panda drank half a glass of wine in one go.
The rich fruit aroma, with its fine bubbles, stimulated her taste buds and stirred up a tingling, electric sensation on her tongue.
She tilted her head back slightly, and soon her head was a little dizzy.
Her peach blossom eyes were filled with a thin mist, and her snow-white cheeks were flushed crimson.
Through the thin mist in her eyes, she vaguely saw beautiful and cute balloons, flowers, and ribbons, and the table was filled with a red panda’s favorite fruits and desserts, and in the center was a tall birthday cake…
She saw Yu Bao, her mother, Auntie Xiao, and every single one of her little animal good friends, all smiling gently at her…
“…Ying.”
For some reason, Pei the Red Panda’s nose felt sore, and her peach blossom eyes were instantly filled with a moist sheen.
It was as if time and space had momentarily intersected, and she had inadvertently and briefly touched upon a certain regret and pain.
In that strange alternate plane, on her eighteenth birthday, she had still been wandering alone, stumbling in the cold wind, at a loss. Without any protection, the timid little red panda could only hug her large tail and cry…
But before her, she was in a warm room, surrounded by a full and overflowing happiness.
She was a red panda who was being peacefully doted on, destined to be carefree and without worries for her entire life.
A faint, shattered sob escaped her throat. Pei the Red Panda hugged the large, fluffy tail that had appeared out of nowhere, the corners of her peach-blossom eyes red, tears brimming hotly in her gaze.
She saw everyone stand up in concern, and her mother said, “Honey, why are you crying? Are you not feeling well?”
She saw her mother and Yu Bao, who clearly knew nothing, unconsciously begin to cry along with her.
She was crying her heart out, and she held her large tail tightly, and her whole body was curled up and trembling, and she whimpered:
“Thank you, ooh… thank you all.”
Thank you for always being by my, a little red panda’s, side this time.
***
Later, how this birthday meal had ended, Pei the Red Panda could no longer remember clearly.
When she woke up, she was lying on a familiar large bed, and in her hand, she was holding the large, fluffy tail that had not yet been retracted.
The snow outside the window had stopped.
The morning sun was just breaking, and the morning glow was brilliant.
Pei Rong pulled back her gaze and saw the girl beside her, her sleeping face serene, even brighter and more eye-catching than the flowing snow.
Ye Qingyu seemed to have grown a little more without her realizing it.
Her inexperience had faded, and she was as gentle as a distant mountain in spring.
Like a tree after a rain, with a translucent freshness, and also an unswerving resilience.
Pei the Red Panda watched seriously for a long while, and her breath unconsciously hitched, and she licked the tip of her itchy canines.
When she came back to her senses, her beautiful, nine-ringed, large tail had already silently wrapped around the girl’s waist.
Pei the Red Panda paused.
“Love is wanting to wrap your tail around her waist.”
Tu Shan Yue’s words suddenly echoed in her mind.
Pei the Red Panda’s heart trembled violently, and she fell into a deep thought.
After a moment.
Ye Qingyu slowly opened her eyes and met a pair of thoughtful peach blossom eyes.
It was rare to see the sleepy red panda wake up even earlier than her.
Ye Qingyu reached out her hand and, gently and slowly, rubbed the red panda’s head, her voice hoarse. “Jiejie, are you well-rested?”
But Pei the Red Panda did not answer, but instead asked, a little seriously:
“Ye Qingyu, will you have a tail?”
This question was a little abrupt.
Ye Qingyu answered a beat later:
“I probably won’t. What’s wrong?”
Pei the Red Panda’s peach blossom eyes drooped slightly, and she immediately became sullen, her snow-white cheeks puffed up.
A human can’t wrap her tail around my waist. Then how can I tell if she loves me, a little red panda, or not?
Seeing her beautiful childhood sweetheart suddenly become puffed up with anger, Ye Qingyu was a little at a loss.
…She really can’t grow a tail.
The next second, seeing the red panda’s tail that was wrapped around her waist suddenly and awkwardly retract, a thought struck Ye Qingyu, and she suddenly and with a sudden inspiration, had an idea.
She quickly and skillfully grabbed the soft tip of her tail.
“Ying.”
Pei the Red Panda’s body trembled slightly, and she couldn’t help but bare the tips of a little beast’s sharp canines, her fur bristling.
“…Don’t touch my tail!”
Ye Qingyu’s eyes held a smile.
She rarely did not obediently listen to her Jiejie’s words, but instead, with a rustle of the covers, she inexperiencedly rolled over and pressed down on Pei the Red Panda.
Looking down from above, she stared at the young woman’s spring-flower-like, beautiful and delicate pink lips without a moment’s pause.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, and a heat was rising, as if she were in a brilliant midsummer night.
The girl’s clear eyes gradually filled with an inexperienced craving.
“Jiejie, on my eighteenth birthday…”
“I’ll kiss you right here, okay?”
Pei Rong lifted her peach blossom eyes and saw that the girl’s gaze was like a little beast’s tail wrapping around a human’s waist, and it had wrapped around her soul.
For a moment, the tip of her trembling heart went numb.
After waiting a full two seconds, Pei the Red Panda finally lifted her head proudly.
She bit her lip and, as if she didn’t care at all, said:
“…Alright.”
The person on top of her’s eyes immediately lit up, and she couldn’t help but curl her lips, and she held her in her arms.
The girl’s warm body was intimately entangled in the bed, and it melted the snow on the branches outside the window.
Stable and certain, year after year.
(End of the Childhood Sweethearts If Line)
