Goodbye, Fuyao 02

Chen Qin was completely unprepared. She couldn't spit out a second word after "The ancient tortoise lives a long life" — she hated studying, so when she worked to get into the same key high school that Ye Shuang attended back then, she had put in several times more effort than the average student.

"Hey, that line 'the ancient tortoise lives a long life', tastes... no, hey..."

Seeing Chen Qin floundering like that, Ye Shuang followed what Fu Yao was doing and secretly flipped through his textbook to try to give her a hint, but obviously Chen Qin didn't notice it at all.

In the end, Chen Qin earned the full "twenty times copy" penalty before she got to sit down. This girl didn't forget to grit her teeth and secretly kick Ye Shuang under the desk, which made Ye Shuang feel a little helpless.

It looked like he had been misunderstood, he really didn't do it on purpose.

Meanwhile, Fu Yao watched Chen Qin messing around and bickering playfully with Ye Shuang, a hint of envy glinting in her eyes. She could never be that close and casual with Ye Shuang, sometimes Fu Yao didn't even dare to meet Ye Shuang's gaze, even though she was also Ye Shuang's childhood friend.

That's so nice...

After morning self-study ended, Chen Qin was still hunched over miserably copying the ancient poem, otherwise she wouldn't be allowed to leave school that afternoon. Seeing her poor, pitiful look, Ye Shuang took out his pen and offered to help, "Let me write some for you."

"Hmph." Chen Qin had already decided to ignore Ye Shuang. He clearly knew she hadn't memorized the poem, yet he still dragged her out to publicly quiz her. But when she saw Ye Shuang was offering to help, she thought the guy still had a tiny bit of decency.

"Fine, you're not totally heartless."

"But our handwriting looks different, won't the teacher notice?" Fu Yao asked from the side.

"Right!" Chen Qin suddenly snapped back to her senses. If the teacher found out, wouldn't she get even more penalty copies, multiplied by several times?

"That's true, besides, my handwriting is nicer than yours," Ye Shuang nodded, unable to hold back a joke.

"Is that the part you're focusing on?!"

"Ah Qin, let me help you, our handwriting is pretty similar," Fu Yao said.

"Really, you can?!"

"Mm, sure."

"I love you! I'll treat you to a grilled sausage this afternoon!"

Chen Qin was so happy that she hugged Fu Yao the second she found out Fu Yao was willing to share some of the work.

After the next two classes, right after math class ended, Ye Shuang saw Fu Yao looking distressed, staring at her class notes. Even though she had tried so hard to pay attention during the lecture, there were still a few knowledge points she couldn't quite wrap her head around.

Eventually, she turned her gaze to Ye Shuang.

Ye Shuang felt his sleeve tugged lightly. He turned his head and saw Fu Yao whispering softly, "Ye... there's a concept I don't quite understand..."

She looked like a poor little creature, looking up at him pitifully under a streetlamp.

"Let me teach you," Ye Shuang smiled.

"Okay."

Ye Shuang pulled his chair over to her. Fu Yao jumped a little in surprise when Ye Shuang suddenly leaned in close, but she quickly calmed herself down.

"What's wrong?" Ye Shuang asked when he noticed Fu Yao tremble, "Did I get too close?"

"N-no..."

Ye Shuang glanced at Fu Yao's notes and started explaining. He was way too familiar with tutoring, especially when it came to math — never underestimate the skills of a gold medal tutoring teacher.

Fu Yao listened quietly, but kept stealing glances at Ye Shuang's side profile every now and then, afraid of being caught, then bit her smiling lip and refocused her attention on the notebook.

Chen Qin, watching the two of them from the side, had a hint of envy in her eyes. There was that natural, ambiguous vibe between a boy and a girl when Ye Shuang and Fu Yao got along, but even though she had known Ye Shuang first, he treated her like one of the guys, completely oblivious to any of that romantic tension.

No one knew that Chen Qin and Fu Yao were secretly envying each other.

Soon after Ye Shuang confirmed that Fu Yao had fully understood the knowledge point, he didn't forget what had happened that morning. "By the way, before morning self-study, you were about to tell me something?"

Fu Yao blinked, glanced over at Chen Qin, then waved her hand. "N-nothing at all..."

"Really?"

Fu Yao was terrible at lying, she was so flustered trying to make up an excuse that her face turned adorably red.

Seeing her like that, Ye Shuang roughly guessed that Fu Yao probably wanted to tell him when they had time alone. Noticing that, he decided to let it go for now. "We can talk about it after school this afternoon, okay?"

"Huh? Mm-hmm..."

Chen Qin, who saw Ye Shuang and Fu Yao seemingly whispering to each other, stretched her neck out trying to eavesdrop, but heard nothing, only saw Fu Yao's bright red face.

Chen Qin: O v O no!

This is bad!

Ye is getting snatched away!

After Ye Shuang spent a full day experiencing junior high school life, time flew by and school was over. Ye Shuang intentionally made an excuse to send Chen Qin away, getting the chance to be alone with Fu Yao. After all, this was something important, he needed to create as much private time and space as possible.

"So can you tell me now?" Ye Shuang asked as they walked together toward the teachers' office, both carrying stacks of homework to hand in to the teacher.

Fu Yao heard him, and suddenly smiled.

"What's so funny?" Ye Shuang asked curiously when he saw her start giggling.

"You seem a little impatient today, Ye," Fu Yao said as she set the stack of documents in her hand aside temporarily. She fumbled in her pocket for a second, then pulled out a bookmark.

"This is..."

It looked like a handmade bookmark. A simple piece of cardboard with a five-leaf clover stuck to it, sealed inside a layer of clear tape.

A five-leaf clover...

"Did you pick this yesterday?" Ye Shuang asked.

Fu Yao nodded.

"But why are you giving this to me?"

"Legend says a five-leaf clover brings good luck. You kept saying you've been having bad luck lately, I thought this might help," Fu Yao said softly, poking the bookmark gently with her finger and smiling warmly.

Ye Shuang looked down at the bookmark in his hand. At the same time, he noticed the clock around him starting to spin rapidly.

Huh?

So that's how it is. This is the thing that Fugui broke, isn't it?

Maybe the timeline shifted, and it got to him earlier than it was supposed to, or rather, it was handed to him before Fugui could damage it.

If that's the case, then Fu Yao wouldn't get into that accident, right?

Ye Shuang looked at the bookmark in his hand, then at the clock that was about to finish its full spin. He smiled softly. "Thank you, Fu Yao."

Goodbye, Fu Yao.

Realizing his time was almost up, Ye Shuang reached out — but everything around him was swallowed by white light, followed by a constant, endless buzzing sound.

...

When his consciousness cleared up, the bookmark in Ye Shuang's hand had turned into a cigarette.

He was in a hospital room. Sitting right next to him was Fugui, his face haggard and worn out.

Ye Shuang stared blankly at the cigarette in his hand for a long time, then took a deep drag. "Fugui..."

"Hm?"

"That thing you said you broke... was it a bookmark?"

Fugui froze for a second. "How did you..."

Of course Fugui knew exactly what that item was. Even though he had no idea how Ye Shuang had figured it out, he still reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and took out a half bookmark from inside.

The stem of the five-leaf clover was gone, leaving only half a withered, completely dried flower leaf. After Ye Shuang looked at the half bookmark Fugui handed over, Fugui spoke at that moment. "Back then, I accidentally cut her bookmark to pieces... That was the first time she ever got that mad at me, and I couldn't find her after school that day either."

"This bookmark... it seems she was the one who made it for you. Fu Yao went to the playground every single day after school just to look for the little clover leaf inside it," Ye Shuang said.

"I... I just cut it on a whim, I didn't think it through," Fugui said, looking at Ye Shuang with a guilty, apologetic expression. "I'm really sorry. Because of me, this thing never made it to you like it was supposed to."

But Ye Shuang had noticed that since the bookmark had been snapped in half, the clear tape that had been stuck to its surface had long since lost all its adhesiveness. He prodded it with his finger and realized there was even a hidden compartment between the layers of paper.

Ye Shuang scraped at it gently with his fingernail, and found a tiny, thin slip of paper tucked inside, no bigger than the tip of his pinky finger.

The second he pulled it out and set it on the palm of his hand, Ye Shuang froze completely.

The words written on it were: [I like you. I want to bring you good luck~]

The neat, delicate handwriting had faded just a little over time. A young girl's quiet affection had been hidden away in that tiny bookmark, just like her own introverted, reserved personality, loving someone quietly from the sidelines.

Ye Shuang was speechless for a long moment.

He slipped the tiny note back where it had been, then carefully put the bookmark away.

"Fugui, you got one thing wrong," Ye Shuang said.

"Got something wrong?" Fugui asked, confused.

"She actually already gave this to me, a long time ago," Ye Shuang said, looking at Fugui. He stood up, reached out, and patted Fugui on the shoulder. "Don't let the past keep holding you back, Fugui. You know Fu Yao's personality better than anyone else. If you keep thinking she's still mad at you for this, that would be an insult to who Fu Yao really is."

"Isn't she still mad, though?" Fugui asked.

Ye Shuang fell silent, and did not answer right away.