Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The summer wind was like a heatwave, scalding my skin in wave after wave.

Soon I was covered in sweat, sticky and impossible to wipe away.

“Mengtang, what a coincidence. Where are you headed?”

The voice of my childhood friend, Lu Yunzheng, came from behind me.

Lu Yunzheng and I grew up in the same alleyway. Even though our mothers were always bickering, he and I got along quite well.

He was one of my few good friends.

“I’m taking the bus to the library to read.”

Actually, I was going there to leech off the air conditioning.

Although it would have been more convenient to do that at Shi Jianjin’s house.

But we were just classmates, after all; I felt bad about bothering him all the time.

Lu Yunzheng was a bit speechless. “It’s summer break and you’re still being so studious? I’ll wait with you, then.”

“If you don’t hurry home, all those popsicles are going to melt.”

I saw a bag of popsicles in his hand; he’d probably just come from the wholesaler.

He didn’t seem to care. “It’s fine.”

With that, he pulled a freeze pop out of the bag.

We each took half, just like when we were kids.

Ah, so refreshing.

We ate while we waited.

The bus stop was right across from the park.

For some reason, I kept staring at the path Shi Jianjin usually cycled through.

Maybe the Law of Attraction really does exist.

The next second, Shi Jianjin appeared before me.

When he saw me, his eyes brightened.

He quickly put one foot down to steady himself, stopping his bike right in front of me.

“Mengtang, you left your sun protection jacket at my place last time. Come and get it yourself.”

“Oh, oh, okay.”

I had been so nervous that day that I’d forgotten my jacket.

“Since when did you two get so close?”

Lu Yunzheng, with the freeze pop in his mouth, tilted his head and looked at us.

Shi Jianjin glanced at Lu Yunzheng, then at the other half of the freeze pop in my hand. His tone turned cold. “Who’s he?”

Lu Yunzheng smiled and reached out a hand. “You’re Shi Jianjin, right? You’re quite famous. I’m Lu Yunzheng, Mengtang’s childhood friend.”

Hearing him say that, a classic movie line suddenly popped into my head: “Li Bala, you’re quite famous.”

I silently stifled a laugh.

And that second half: “Mengtang’s childhood friend”?

Such a formal way to introduce himself.

Why couldn’t he just say he was my friend?

“Oh.”

A few sharp, cold glints flashed across Shi Jianjin’s otherwise nonchalant face.

“Let’s go.”

Completely ignoring Lu Yunzheng, Shi Jianjin reached out and took my backpack.

I hurriedly turned back to wave goodbye to Lu Yunzheng.