The Little Duck 43

Chapter 43

Time seemed to stand still for a brief moment.

The little duck lowered its head and quietly looked at the yellowed paper at its feet—so many long-forgotten past events came rushing back like a tide at this moment, almost drowning her.

“Awoo—”

Xin Xin’s soft whimper broke the stillness of the moment.

It came closer and carefully stretched its head towards the paper on the floor.

Before its nose could even touch the paper, Yan Lu had already picked it up and tucked it back into the light green small notebook.

How much damage can a duck do? It was just a bit of noise, and Yan Lu quickly tidied it up.

Jian Xin shrank in the corner, not daring to speak, her head almost touching the ground. She let Xin Xin repeatedly paw at her little head on the side, as if she were being taught a lesson.

When all the books were put back on the bookshelf, Yan Lu walked to the little duck’s side, crouched down, and rubbed its lowered head.

“Why did you do that?” she asked with some confusion.

There was no blame, just incomprehension.

The little duck let out a “quack,” and it was unclear whether it was an apology or an explanation.

Yan Lu didn’t understand, just had red-rimmed eyes, wishing she could see another person’s figure through the little duck in front of her.

“You’re usually so well-behaved. Why did you go to such a high place today?”

“There are so many books up there. Why did you have to knock these down…”

“Was it a coincidence, or were you trying to tell me something…”

Yan Lu asked softly. She knew she couldn’t get an answer from a little duck, but she still couldn’t help but ask—what was all this for?

She thought she was probably crazy to take such a coincidence seriously.

What does a little duck know? It was just bored, jumped up high, and did some bad things.

The shoe cabinet in the living room, the coffee table, the kitchen cabinets, the dining table, and even the things on her computer desk, hadn’t they all been messed up by this little duck flapping its wings?

Why did they have to meet again?

And why did they have to, at a clearly wrong distance, uncontrollably walk into this situation step by step.

What did Jian Xin want to make clear to her?

Of the things that were not clear between them, how many could be said out loud without hurting each other?

Yan Lu closed her eyes and sighed softly, no longer questioning the duck, just getting up and walking to the desk, opening the computer lock screen—staring at the message Jian Xin had sent for a few seconds, frowning and closing it, and sitting back down, her thoughts scattered as she continued writing her outline.

She’s not even willing to reply to the message?

Jian Xin looked up at Yan Lu’s back as she sat at the computer, dazed for a long time. When she came back to her senses, she had wilted into a limp pile.

—Alright, alright, she was just crying in bed, and now she can get into work mode so quickly.

This mindset is very good, it makes one feel ashamed.

Jian Xin lay listlessly in the duck nest, occasionally looking up at the balcony, watching the sunset go down bit by bit.

Xin Xin, on the other hand, was full of energy. It rolled around on the balcony for a while, then ran to the living room to do who knows what.

Jian Xin listened to the light music from Yan Lu’s computer, dazedly closed her eyes, but just as she was about to fall asleep, she saw Xin Xin run over to her with a fluffy slipper in its mouth, its butt facing her.

This little dog, it was chewing on a slipper and wagging its tail, its tail like a feather duster, constantly sweeping back and forth on the duck’s body.

Jian Xin was a little annoyed by it. In a fit of anger, she jumped up, turned on her side, and slapped the dog’s butt with her wing.

The result was naturally being pinned to the ground by Xin Xin’s claws—she immediately became well-behaved.

It wasn’t a hallucination. For Xin Xin, the duck was far more fun than a slipper.

If the duck ignored it, it would play with the slipper. If the duck paid attention to it, it would play with the duck.

Today’s Jian Xin didn’t have the energy to compete with a dog. At this moment, being pinned to the ground and bullied by the dog, she didn’t even try to resist, just became the dog’s fluffy toy with a look of hopelessness.

Actually, she wasn’t really hopeless.

She was just thinking about a problem, how to get Yan Lu to agree to see her.

Not just to see her, they might really need to sit down and have a good talk.

Talk about some things that Yan Lu might not even want to hear, and would turn and leave as soon as she started.

If some things could never be said, then they could really only go this far in this lifetime.

With this thought, Jian Xin couldn’t help but look up at Yan Lu at the computer desk again.

Xin Xin was always messing around on the side, so her view was not clear and complete.

Despite this, she still watched quietly.

It was as if she wanted to see clearly how many unsolvable knots there were between them.

—She had to untie them.

*

Time always passes quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was the start of the third year of high school.

Jian Xin had gotten a new phone, the latest smartphone on the market—all touchscreen, thin and large, and not cheap!

The new phone was her birthday gift, and she was so happy on the first day she got it.

But this happiness did not last long, because in less than a week, while she was looking for a workbook, it accidentally slipped out of her desk and hit the corner of her stool, leaving a strangely shaped crack.

Jian Xin was devastated at first and wanted to pay to have the screen repaired, but she couldn’t help but think it was too expensive—later, she found that the crack didn’t seem to affect the phone’s use, so she became nonchalant about it and even jokingly called it a “bang.”

Her roommates saw it and teased her, “You’re definitely not a Virgo! A Virgo would never be able to stand this!”

It was strange, Jian Xin could stand it, and she didn’t think it was a big deal.

She didn’t know much about horoscopes, just that she often heard her friends teasing about this and that, and she had roughly remembered some of the pros and cons of being a Virgo.

But she didn’t seem to have ever been a very qualified Virgo. The pursuit of perfection, attention to detail, and even being picky and holding grudges, none of it seemed to have much to do with her.

But it didn’t matter. After all, a person doesn’t live by labels. It’s fine to just know a little about these things. It’s good if they match, and it’s not a big deal if they don’t!

But speaking of horoscopes, Jian Xin did remember a saying—Taurus is the most compatible sign with Virgo.

She had searched online for the specific reason, but there were too many words, which triggered her “too long, didn’t read” passive skill.

She only knew that it was a great coincidence that Yan Lu was a Taurus, and her birthday was very easy to remember—May 20th!

This Yan Lu, she was such a quiet person. She usually spoke so little. Jian Xin had known her for three years, and it was only recently that she had found out her birthday and horoscope.

It was a shame to say, Yan Lu would celebrate her birthday with her every year, but it was only on her birthday this year that she belatedly realized that they had known each other for so long, and everyone in the dorm had already had two rounds of birthdays, but Yan Lu seemed to have never mentioned her birthday.

Out of curiosity, on the night of her birthday, Jian Xin lay in bed, poked Yan Lu’s arm, and asked her softly, “You don’t seem to have ever celebrated your birthday. When is your birthday?”

Yan Lu was silent for a long while, and when she spoke, her voice was low and small. “I don’t celebrate my birthday, I don’t have that habit.”

“No habit, is it because no one has ever celebrated it with you before?” Jian Xin thought for a moment and said seriously, “You tell me, I’ll remember it in the future, and I’ll celebrate it with you!”

After a brief silence, Jian Xin’s fingers repeatedly poked Yan Lu’s arm.

“Say something, say something, say something!”

“May, my birthday is in May,” Yan Lu said softly. “May 20th…”

“520! That’s very easy to remember!” Jian Xin said with a grin, lying on her back. “When it’s your birthday next year, I’ll definitely help you celebrate it well!”

Yan Lu blinked and muttered, “You might have forgotten by then…”

“Impossible!” Jian Xin said, taking out the new phone she had just gotten and, without a second thought, setting a new lock screen password.

Finally, she locked the screen, sat up, and, from top to bottom, placed the phone in front of Yan Lu. “Do you want to guess what I changed the password to?”

Yan Lu pursed her lips and asked with some uncertainty, “It can’t be my birthday, can it?”

“Smart!” Jian Xin said with a smile, her eyebrows arching. “This way, I’ll never forget it!”

“Isn’t the lock screen password six digits?”

“I added two sixes in front, for good luck!” Jian Xin said, leaning forward and resting her chin on Yan Lu’s arm, shaking the phone in front of Yan Lu coquettishly. “Try it, try it!”

Yan Lu hesitated for a moment, then stretched out a finger and entered the password—660520.

The phone successfully unlocked, and the first thing she saw was a selfie of the two of them that they had just taken on the balcony this afternoon.

Their heads were touching, as if they were more than just friends.

Yan Lu was in a daze for a few seconds. When she came back to her senses, she silently closed her eyes. “Don’t press on me, go to sleep. We have to go back to school tomorrow.”

“You’re right!” Jian Xin said, quickly lying back in her own spot and trying hard to get sleepy.

After that, every time she opened her phone, she would be reminded of Yan Lu’s birthday.

Jian Xin thought that she would never forget Yan Lu’s birthday in this lifetime.

No one had ever celebrated Yan Lu’s birthday before, but it would be different in the future.

A birthday is a day worth celebrating. From now on, she would celebrate every birthday with Yan Lu!

But she was a little reluctant.

It was her third year of high school. In a few more days, she would have to go to Jincheng for the intensive training for the art exam at the beginning of the year, and she would only be able to come back in a few months.

Before she left, Jian Xin acted as if she were entrusting her child, saying to her parents and all her roommates at home and in the dorm, “You have to help me take good care of Yan Xiaolu!”

Yan Lu’s ears were about to fall off from hearing it. She was both embarrassed and touched, and she grabbed her hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Alright! Do I not have any self-care ability?”

Jian Xin pouted, her eyes curving as she giggled.

Actually, Yan Lu really didn’t need her to worry.

The Yan Lu of now was no longer the little introvert who only looked at the ground when she walked and didn’t dare to look up and reply when she was greeted.

She now had a good relationship with everyone in the dorm, and no one in the class dared to bully her anymore. At home, her status was even higher.

Not only had she learned a few signature dishes from Huang He and often helped her family with housework, but on every short holiday, she would also go out to work part-time, earn a little money, and reduce the family’s expenses on her as much as possible.

Yan Lu was sensible and capable, and her academic performance was also very good. She was simply the most standard and excellent “other people’s child” in the eyes of every adult.

Perhaps because of this, many times Jian Xin felt that the way Huang He looked at Yan Lu was even more loving than the way she looked at her.

But Jian Xin was just worried that Yan Lu would be wronged when she was not around, so she was very reluctant to leave.

Yan Lu didn’t have a phone. At first, she could only chat with Jian Xin on QQ on the computer on weekends.

Later, to be able to communicate with Jian Xin at any time, Yan Lu used the money she had saved to buy a very cheap phone.

Actually, the family had always been willing to buy her a phone, but she always said she didn’t want one, that it wasn’t necessary, and she didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t get over the hurdle in her heart.

When she really needed a phone, she just quietly bought one herself.

This phone didn’t have any other functions. It could just make calls, send texts, and go on Weibo and QQ with the very slow and laggy 2G network.

The memory was very small, and a dozen songs could fill it up. There were two small games in it—Snake, and a plane-shooting game.

Yan Lu didn’t like to play either of them. She only used it to stay on QQ and would chat with Jian Xin for a few sentences every day when she was free.

At first, Yan Lu typed very slowly, and Jian Xin was always very anxious waiting for her messages.

Later, Yan Lu’s typing speed gradually increased, and their remote communication finally became smooth.

Time passed quickly, and Jian Xin didn’t come back for a whole semester.

At the end of December, Huang He took a long leave of absence, picked up Jian Xin from Jincheng, and after staying at home for a few days, she took Jian Xin to the provincial capital for the unified music exam.

This trip took another few days.

By the time Jian Xin came back, it was already the beginning of January, and in a few more days, the school would be on winter break.

Jian Xin was very confident about her performance in this exam.

She had been learning vocal and piano since elementary school, and she had started learning music theory and sight-singing as soon as she started high school.

As for her stage presence, she had participated in every arts festival at school since middle school, and she would have two or three solo performances at every festival party organized by the class.

She felt that she had performed particularly well in the exam, and the teachers’ eyes were all smiling when they looked at her.

“My skill level, I’m not bragging, but as long as my academic scores are not too bad, I can definitely get into the Capital—do you believe me?”

“I believe you!” Yan Lu said with a faint smile, her eyebrows arching. “Then do you need to catch up on your academic subjects?”

Hearing this, Jian Xin opened her mouth, a little resistant, but she couldn’t say it.

Huang He: “She needs to. Yan Lu, you’ll have to work a little harder and supervise her more.”

Jian Xin: “…Mom, I just finished my art exam!”

Jian Changjiang: “You haven’t been in school for half a year. It’s time to get back to it.”

Huang He: “That’s right. After half a year of intensive training, you’ve become too wild.”

Jian Xin: “…”

At this point, all she could do was try to study hard!

The days after that returned to the way they were before.

Studying hard was a lie for Jian Xin.

She was still the same as before, either slacking off or sleeping in class.

She would read novels, write lyrics and music, listen to songs, and chat. She was willing to do anything but study.

But despite this, her academic scores were still enough to pass the art exam line.

So as long as she didn’t cause trouble and handed in all her homework, the teachers of all subjects didn’t bother her much.

If there was anything different from before, it was probably that there was one more evening self-study session in her third year of high school, the morning self-study was twenty minutes earlier, and the time for sleeping at night was compressed…

Oh, right, Yan Lu had written a new novel. This time, she was probably more familiar with everyone, and she started to be willing to lend it to people other than Jian Xin.

Yang Tian and Liang Shuangyi loved to read novels, and every day, like Jian Xin, they would line up and wait for updates.

Li Zhu and Zhao Yiran, seeing that everyone was so enthusiastic, became curious and also started to read along.

Later, the saying “the novel Yan Lu wrote is very good” gradually spread in the class.

Many of the bored classmates came to Yan Lu to borrow her novel.

Jian Xin was on the side, giving her ideas. “You can’t just read it for free. Writing is not easy. You have to leave a review!”

The so-called “leaving a review” was to write a little bit of your thoughts after reading it each time and leave your name, to increase the interaction of following the updates.

Jian Xin also gave Yan Lu a suggestion to set up a message board for the main characters and a popularity poll for each character in the last few pages of the small notebook.

Under Jian Xin’s careful management, the novel in Yan Lu’s hand became richer.

Almost every few pages, you could see a few messages in different handwriting, just like playing on a forum. There were not many participants, but they were all discussing the plot with their pens, expressing their passion and love for the story.

Time flew by, and the countdown to the college entrance exam on the blackboard was less than twenty days.

Jian Xin, taking advantage of the dorm supervisor’s inattention, brought in a strawberry-flavored birthday cake from outside the school and secretly hid it in Yang Tian’s cabinet.

That night, she didn’t go back to the dorm right away. Instead, she pretended not to remember anything and pulled Yan Lu to walk around near the boys’ dormitory, asking Yan Lu to wait with her to see if they could run into a male classmate she had seen during the day who looked a lot like a certain celebrity.

“Which male celebrity…”

“You wouldn’t know him even if I told you. Just wait with me!” Jian Xin said with a grin.

Actually, there was no such person. She just wanted to delay Yan Lu outside for a while longer.

Her phone suddenly buzzed. Jian Xin looked down and saw that it was Yang Tian who had sent an [OK].

She took Yan Lu’s hand and, as if in regret, but with a hidden smile in her eyes, she said, “Let’s not wait anymore. Maybe we got out of evening self-study late, and he’s already gone back to his dorm!”

Yan Lu pursed her lips and asked softly, “That boy… is he very handsome?”

“Uh-huh!” Jian Xin took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the smile in her heart.

Soon, they returned to the dorm entrance.

At this time, the lights in the dormitory building were about to be turned off, but their dorm door was still locked.

Yan Lu was taken aback for a moment, and with a bewildered expression, she unlocked the door.

The moment she opened the door and entered the room, the bathroom door was suddenly pushed open with force, and four girls came out in a swarm, clapping their hands and singing “Happy Birthday” in unison.

They surrounded a pink birthday cake, on which were two number candles—[1][8].

Jian Xin took a few steps forward to take the cake and also started to sing along.

Yan Lu stood by the door in a daze, watching her bring a glimmer of candlelight from the darkness, and tilted her head with a smile.

“Yan Xiaolu, you’re eighteen today—Happy Birthday!!!”

“Happy Birthday!” her roommates’ voices surrounded her.

Yan Lu opened her mouth but couldn’t say a word for a long time, her eyes just turning red.

After her mom left, no one had ever remembered her birthday.

Jian Xin had said she would remember, so she had been looking forward to it all day with caution, but even at night, Jian Xin hadn’t mentioned it at all.

She thought… Jian Xin had forgotten after all.

But at this moment, she saw her own birthday cake, and the eighteen-year-old birthday candles that represented adulthood.

“What is our birthday girl standing there for? Make a wish!”

“Yeah, make a wish!”

“Make a wish,” Jian Xin said to her with a smile. “Think about it with your eyes closed, you don’t have to say it out loud. You can blow out the candles after you’ve made your wish!”

Yan Lu nodded, clasped her hands in front of her, and silently made a wish.

The candles were blown out, and Liang Shuangyi turned on the dorm lights with an “ohhhh.” “What did you wish for?”

Yang Tian: “To get into a good university, or to become a rich woman in the future?!”

Li Zhu: “Yang Tian, you’re so shallow!”

Zhao Yiran laughed on the side. “The shallow ones are the most practical!”

Jian Xin held up a finger and made a shushing gesture. “Don’t ask, and Yan Xiaolu, don’t say it. A wish has to be kept in your heart. It won’t come true if you say it out loud!”

After that, they gathered around the table and happily cut the cake.

It is said that the first cut of a birthday cake must be made by the birthday person herself. Yan Lu looked at the beautiful cake and couldn’t bring herself to cut it for a long time. In the end, it was Jian Xin who held her hand from behind and successfully made the first cut.

In the middle of it, the dorm supervisor came to check the room.

They hurriedly hid the cake, but they still left some clues.

The dorm supervisor didn’t say much, just took a bite of the cake, patted Yan Lu’s head, and said “Happy Birthday” with a smile, then turned to go to the other dorms.

The cake was a little too big, and they couldn’t finish it. So they cut the rest into small pieces and sent them to the other dorms in the class, hawking them like they were selling goods, asking if anyone wanted to eat.

Finally, at the moment the lights went out, they had finished the cake, brushed their teeth, washed their faces, and lay back in their own beds.

Just as Jian Xin lay down, she saw a message from Yan Lu pop up on her phone’s QQ.

Lu: Are you still going to wait for that boy tomorrow?

It’s Xin Xin: Guess!

Lu: You lied to me again.

It’s Xin Xin: That’s a harsh thing to say!

Lu: There’s no boy who looks like a male celebrity.

It’s Xin Xin: If there really was, would you be willing to wait with me for a few more days?

Lu: No.

Lu: I’d rather go back and memorize vocabulary.

It’s Xin Xin: Don’t worry, there isn’t!

It’s Xin Xin: By the way, was your wish big?

Yan Lu seemed to be silent for a while, then her fingers continued to move.

Lu: I don’t know if it counts as big.

It’s Xin Xin: If you don’t know, then it’s probably not small.

Lu: Mmm.

It’s Xin Xin: I wish you get what you wish for!

Jian Xin thought for a moment and added another sentence.

—If your wish is really big and it hasn’t come true after a few years, why don’t you tell me?

She said that by then, she would definitely be very successful, and no matter what Yan Lu’s wish was, she would help her achieve it!

Yan Lu reached out and patted Jian Xin’s head, and gently said “mmm.”

Actually, her wish was not big.

She wanted to earn a lot of money, to become a very good person, and to tell Jian Xin that she didn’t have to take care of her in everything.

She hoped that one day, she could also help Jian Xin achieve her wish.

The college entrance exam was coming soon. She had to grow up quickly to catch up to Jian Xin’s footsteps.

To say to her the words that were hidden deep in her heart and that she had never dared to say.

—On the night of my eighteenth birthday.

My wish is to become your girlfriend.

From now on, let me take care of you.