The Restless Dreams of Adolescence (2)

Before long, evening self-study ended and school was out.

The night had finally cooled down a bit, putting Xia Yanchun in a great mood. On the way home, the kind-hearted Xia Yanchun spared no expense and treated Shen Nian to a two-yuan Peanut Master ice cream.

"Xia Yanchun, you're a good person."

"Don't give me the 'good person' card."

"You're not a good person? Then you're a bad woman."

"Get lost."

She couldn't be bothered with Shen Nian, slurping and licking her own ice cream cone.

The authority of the Peanut Master needed no elaboration; everyone who ate it said it was good. They grew up eating it—Xia Yanchun did, and so did Shen Nian.

Xia Yanchun really liked eating this.

Shen Nian being able to eat it growing up was all thanks to her. Without her allowance, relying solely on his own meager pocket money, there was no way he could have it so often.

Shen Nian was the type to enjoy first and suffer later. If you gave him fifty bucks, he'd spend it all in the first two days, and then mooch off others for the rest of the time. Xia Yanchun didn't even dare to imagine how Shen Nian would survive in class without her; he would definitely be going around calling everyone brother and sister just for a bite to eat.

"I'm treating you to ice cream, aren't you going to say something nice?"

"Thank you, Xia Yanchun," Shen Nian grinned.

"I don't want to hear that," Xia Yanchun grumbled.

"..." Shen Nian fell silent, just focusing on eating his ice cream. He took such big bites that he got a brain freeze and had to recover for a while.

"Hurry up," Xia Yanchun urged him.

"I'm so old now, do I really have to call you that?"

"Hurry up, hurry up."

"...I won't."

Shen Nian immediately laughed. If Xia Yanchun had made him call her that before every time she bought him one, he would have done it. But right now, he had already finished the ice cream, so why the heck would he?

"Oh come on, call me that, I haven't heard it in so long."

"No way in hell."

"Hmph, so annoying. You're not even willing to call me 'sister'." Xia Yanchun puffed her cheeks, a little angry.

She kept slurping, the tips of her lips and the corners of her mouth stained with sweet cream, but she quickly wiped it clean. All the way until she finished and casually tossed the wrapper in the trash, she didn't hear Shen Nian say another word.

The small town wasn't very lively at night.

Fortunately, Shen Nian's grades were pretty good, otherwise Xia Yanchun would have to supervise his studies as well. Right now, she just needed to make sure Shen Nian didn't hang out too much with those sketchy people in class. If she had to supervise both his studies and his friendships, it would give her a massive headache.

Even among the girls, there were quite a few delinquents in class. This was a downside to small-town middle schools. She wasn't too familiar with the boys' side, but on the girls' side, the things some of them chatted about were truly appalling.

Stealing money from home, wanting to get tattoos at shady parlors, riding modified scooters to race in the streets...

These people's values were completely at odds with hers. She was only willing to be superficial classmates with them, the kind who would never speak again after graduation.

She was more concerned about Shen Nian. Shen Nian was now completely mixed up with this type of crowd...

"Hey," Xia Yanchun suddenly spoke up.

"What's up?"

"Stop hanging out with those boys," Xia Yanchun started nagging, spilling some things she had heard from other girls. "The guy at the desk behind you, he actually hit a teacher in elementary school. If it weren't for compulsory education, he would have been expelled long ago. You should stay away from them."

"Zhang Xiaotao and his crew?"

"Yeah, two girls in our class were in his class in elementary school, and they told me. He used to be involved in school bull—"

"Hit a teacher? That badass?"

"Badass what? You've really gone bad." Xia Yanchun immediately huffed in anger. How could such a thing be described as badass!

"I don't even know if what you're saying is true. What if you girls are just making things up?" Shen Nian curled his lip.

"Even ignoring their past, you still shouldn't be friends with them."

Xia Yanchun never had a good impression of those people. They were loud and disruptive in class, and not listening to the teacher was just the start. They often wandered into other classrooms, acting chummy with another gang, and sometimes you could even smell smoke on them.

Regardless of whether they were good people or not, she didn't want Shen Nian hanging out with them. If Shen Nian picked up a bad habit like smoking at such a young age, she would have to tell Shen Yue and his parents.

"Okay, okay, okay, I won't."

"You have to say it seriously. This half-assed attitude doesn't count."

Shen Nian said in exasperation, "Xia Yanchun, can you stop always bossing me around? Don't think that just because you bought me ice cream, I'm going to humor you. Careful, or I'll beat you up."

"See? You really have gone bad!"

"I won't go bad anyway, none of your business."

"You'd better not, or I'll tell your parents."

"Seriously, why do you stick your nose into all my business? You want to control everything. Was I born owing you?"

Probably resenting being disciplined and feeling like he lost face, Shen Nian suddenly got angry. Xia Yanchun shrank back a little. After recovering from her shock, she frowned and said indignantly, "I'm your older sister!"

"You're full of crap. If you try to control me again, I'll just..."

"..."

"..."

Xia Yanchun froze instantly, the words deafening.

Realizing what Shen Nian had said, a layer of mist slowly gathered in her eyes as she stared straight at him.

"I..."

Shen Nian's Adam's apple bobbed. Looking a bit helpless and panicked, he walked quickly ahead, leaving Xia Yanchun a few meters behind.

Xia Yanchun went home alone and curled up under her blanket early.

She was scared. Shen Nian had gone bad.

For the next few days, she spoke no more than ten sentences a day to Shen Nian, and they avoided each other on their way to and from school.

When they made up a few days later, and then argued again over something else, Shen Nian would use that phrase to scare her.

After being scared a few times, she became somewhat immune to it.

Until one day, she mustered the courage to say, "Then bring it on..."

Shen Nian muttered things like "I'm not interested in you," "I don't even like you," and "You're nothing special," before turning and running away with his tail between his legs.

Shen Nian, the king of all talk and no action.

Perhaps Shen Nian really took her words to heart. His frequency of talking to those people noticeably decreased, and he poured more of his mind into his studies. His grades, which had just started showing a downward trend, were pulled right back up.

"Hey..." Xia Yanchun poked him with her elbow.

"What now..."

"I'll treat you to ice cream."

"I'm not calling you sister, thanks."

"Then I won't."

"Sister."

"I'll treat you to a more expensive one, want a Chocliz?" Xia Yanchun raised an eyebrow.

"If I say it twice, can I have two?"

"Aren't you the smart one, but still no. I'm running out of living expenses too."

"Alright, whatever Sister Chun says goes."

"...So annoying, I said call me sister, not Sister Chun!"

Xia Yanchun opened her sleepy eyes, her mind still groggy. The moment she opened them, she saw Shen Nian, who had woken up at some unknown time.

It was already daylight, looking bright and glaring even through the curtains.

"Mmm..." She used the motion of stretching to give Shen Nian a punch.

"Awake?"

"Are you blind? I'm stretching, how could I not be awake?"

"Maybe you could be. You were calling my name in your sleep. Who knows, maybe one day you'll want to hit me in a dream and actually punch me in real life."

"How could that be possible..."

Xia Yanchun was still sleepy and couldn't think straight. Even though she was awake, it didn't stop her from continuing to nestle in Shen Nian's arms.

Without her having to say a word, Shen Nian followed her wishes and gently wrapped his arms around her.

Xia Yanchun's body relaxed, her small mouth slightly parted. I really want to be held by you like this all day...

Can't bear to leave me, you little Chunbao...

Did I really call your name in my sleep?

Really.

Ugh, you must be lying to me. Xia Yanchun didn't believe him at all.

She affectionately nuzzled against Shen Nian's neck. Thinking of the dream she just had, she asked curiously, In junior high, you said you wanted to push me down... what were you thinking back then?

Did that happen? Shen Nian rubbed his chin and said seriously, How come I don't remember? Don't just make things up.

Are you refusing to admit your own dark past?

Uh, ahem... What could I have been thinking? I was just trying to scare you.

To be honest, Shen Nian didn't know how he had the nerve to say such things back then either.

He could only blame it on being fourteen. At that age, you know a little bit about everything, but you also think you know it all. It's the easiest time to cause trouble; once you get mad, you'll blurt out anything.

Shen Nian quickly hugged the girl in his arms tighter. He would rather talk about a plane crash than bring up this unbearable cringeworthy past from middle school.

Chunbao, let's go back to sleep. Let's sleep until noon.

Call me sister and I won't bring up your dark past.

Go to sleep, Sister Chun, I'll wake you up when it's time.

Xia Yanchun hummed softly, turning around in his arms so her back was to Shen Nian. She pressed close against him, letting this childhood rival who used to always be at odds with her rub her stomach.

Did her past self ever fantasize about a life together with Shen Nian?

Xia Yanchun couldn't remember.

Even if she did remember, she wouldn't admit it.

She only knew that she had never thought of parting ways with Shen Nian. Even in their senior year of high school, she was working hard to help him improve his grades.

She liked Shen Nian the most.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the clouds rolled in and out. The gentle breeze didn't bring any seeds, yet a sea of flowers still bloomed.