Picked Up the Female Lead When She Was Young (GL) - Chapter 38

Zhou Qinglang had a strange obsession with that particular part of her sister’s body.

When Xia Wanshuang was in pain initially, Zhou Qinglang had blown on it to soothe her.

That area was also something Zhou Qinglang had watched develop.

Xia Wanshuang’s original intention for drinking milk was to get taller, but things developed in a different direction.

Her physical development that year was an unstoppable force, and milk deserved much of the credit.

Xia Wanshuang’s main grievance was that Zhou Qinglang, who hadn’t drunk milk, had also grown taller.

It must be genetics, she comforted herself.

••••

Xia Wanshuang and Zhou Qinglang were in the same examination hall, sitting not far from each other. Before the test began, while other students were cramming final knowledge points, Zhou Qinglang was peeling an apple for Xia Wanshuang.

She had brought a small lunchbox. The nearby students watched her calmly peel the apple, cut it into chunks, then cut strawberries, and finally, cut bananas. The sight was incredibly peaceful.

The students around her looked puzzled, but Zhou Qinglang’s serene demeanor gradually started to calm their nerves, too.

Her classmates thought making a box full of fruit was the extent of Zhou Qinglang’s preparation. Then they watched Zhou Qinglang pull out coconut milk from her bag.

????

Is this student here on vacation?

Zhou Qinglang finished the fruit salad, neatly packed up the waste, and walked over to Xia Wanshuang, even pulling out a metal spoon.

The nervous students nearby: “…” That’s a bit much, classmate.

Xia Wanshuang was at a loss whether to cry or laugh. She took a spoonful, then fed a spoonful to Zhou Qinglang.

“When did you prepare this?”

“Before we left. I’ve washed and sterilized the little knife.” Zhou Qinglang obviously couldn’t bring a fruit knife, so she brought a small, subtle utility knife, which was adequate for peeling fruit.

Xia Wanshuang fed Zhou Qinglang a few more bites, ate two bites herself, then closed the box and placed it with Zhou Qinglang’s backpack on the desk outside the classroom.

The bell rang, and the exam officially began.

Xia Wanshuang had taken countless exams since childhood, so she wasn’t nervous at all about the high school entrance exam

She wasn’t worried about performing poorly either. She wrote steadily, finished, and left the room.

After the exam, Lin Qiushui wanted to check the answers but was stopped by Zhao Tianhang.

“Once it’s done, it’s done. Preparing for the next subject is what matters.”

This was originally Xia Wanshuang’s line, and she nodded in agreement.

Lin Qiushui nodded, still feeling a bit panicky until he saw Zhou Qinglang pull the lunchbox out of her bag and offer it to Xia Wanshuang again.

Lin Qiushui’s face slowly showed a question mark, with great confusion in his small eyes.

“I don’t remember this stuff being here this morning. Where did you two conjure it from?”

“Langlang freshly peeled it for me before the test started.”

“Awesome.” Lin Qiushui choked up, giving her a thumbs-up.

••••

After the math exam that afternoon, which was Lin Qiushui’s weakest subject, Xia Wanshuang worried he’d be down, only to see Lin Qiushui laughing like an idiot.

“Did you do well?”

“I don’t know if I did well or not, but I wrote answers for everything, whether I knew it or not.”

“Then why are you so happy?”

“Hahahahaha, I’m telling you, before the math test started, Zhao Tianhang ran to my exam room and peeled fruit for me! Hahahahaha! I seriously felt like Zhao Dog wasn’t peeling fruit; he was carving me up! And, hahahahaha, the girl next to me, her expression of horror, hahahahaha, it was legendary!”

The main thing was that Zhao Tianhang’s whole demeanor was both terrifying and hilarious.

He stood there silently, slicing the banana with the small knife, his expression unreadable.

Lin Qiushui forgot all his exam anxiety.

Thinking about Zhao Tianhang’s face just made him want to laugh.

Zhao Tianhang walked calmly outside, backpack on, hands in his pockets, acting as if Lin Qiushui wasn’t talking about him at all.

“And the fruit? Did you finish it?”

“He only peeled one banana, alright? And he was using the tip of the knife to slice off pieces and put them in my mouth! How could I not eat it?”

Lin Qiushui clarified that Xia Wanshuang had it wrong. It wasn’t like Zhou Qinglang with a little box.

Zhao Tianhang just had a banana and a small knife.

He stood next to Lin Qiushui, peeled the banana, and started slicing it with the knife.

That’s why the people nearby looked horrified.

If it had been like Zhou Qinglang, the girls would have been swooning over how handsome he was.

“Why couldn’t he just put it in my mouth normally?”

“If you want to eat an apple like that during the English exam tomorrow, be my guest,”

Zhao Tianhang said with a smile.

Lin Qiushui immediately backed down.

Xia Wanshuang was dying of laughter because of the two of them.

Zhou Qinglang, however, shot Zhao Tianhang a look of utter contempt.

How dare he plagiarize her actions?

Shameful!

Zhao Tianhang met her gaze fearlessly, even raising an eyebrow at Zhou Qinglang.

So what if he copied her?

His performance clearly had more soul injected into it.

••••

After the high school entrance exam, Lin Qiushui gleefully tore up his mountain of test papers, only to be dragged by Zhao Tianhang to sweep the floor, since he tore them up at Zhao Tianhang’s house.

Xia Wanshuang and Zhou Qinglang had no such dramatic expression of relief.

They were preparing to move to the house near No. 1 High School and then clean up and rent out the current house.

Lin Qiushui’s driver came to help move their important belongings.

Zhou Qinglang was actually a little sad. This place held many of her memories with Xia Wanshuang, but letting the house sit empty and collect dust was wasteful.

On the day they moved, Zhou Qinglang stood with her hands in her pockets, looking at the familiar traces of their life, and leaned against Xia Wanshuang.

“What’s wrong? Are you reluctant to leave? If you don’t want to, we won’t rent it out.”

They were just moving.

If Zhou Qinglang was unwilling to have strangers’ traces in their home, Xia Wanshuang would agree.

“I’m not that reluctant. I just feel like this place has so many of our memories.” Zhou Qinglang’s gaze lingered over the house.

In the living room, her sister had taught her, drawn, and put puzzles together with her.

In the study, her sister read and typed, sometimes working late into the night.

In the kitchen, her sister cooked.

The sound of chopping and the aroma of food were Zhou Qinglang’s first clear definitions of the concept of home.

In the bedroom, she had slept while hugging her sister for years.

Her sister slept neatly, often staying in one position.

When she was small, her sister hugged her; once she grew taller than her sister, Zhou Qinglang hugged her while they slept.

Her sister was cool in the summer and winter.

Zhou Qinglang craved Xia Wanshuang’s coolness in the summer and warmed her hands and feet in the winter.

Pressing her feet against Xia Wanshuang’s under the covers was the greatest joy of winter.

This place was full of memories for Zhou Qinglang, and it was no less so for Xia Wanshuang.

In this house, Xia Wanshuang watched Zhou Qinglang grow from a little girl into the tall, beautiful teenager she was now, becoming an inseparable part of her life.

Speaking of which, Xia Wanshuang was already fifteen, and her sixteenth birthday wasn’t far off. She had eight years and one month until she was twenty-four.

According to the original plot, Zhou Qinglang and Zhao Tianhang would have already fallen in love, and Xia Wanshuang’s appearance would be the catalyst for Zhou Qinglang’s misunderstanding, her journey to Haicheng, and the uncovering of her true identity.

At that time node, could she and the System truly get away smoothly?

Xia Wanshuang wasn’t obsessed with leaving; she was happy living here, considering these bonus years.

But if she couldn’t leave, what would happen to the System?

And if she and the System could leave, Zhou Qinglang and the others would be heartbroken.

“Sister, what’s wrong? Why are you spacing out?” Zhou Qinglang shook her hand, bringing Xia Wanshuang back to reality.

“Nothing. I just suddenly felt like this place holds so many memories for us. Let’s not rent it out then. We don’t really need the rent money anyway. Let’s go to the new house.”

The door closed, locking the past inside.

••••

The new house had been redecorated a year ago. It was much more spacious, with four bedrooms and two living rooms—large even for two people.

“We’ll make this one the study. Look at these two rooms; which one do you want?”

“Can’t I sleep with Sister?” Zhou Qinglang’s face was full of disappointment, her eyes looking at Xia Wanshuang piteously.

Zhou Qinglang’s way of acting spoiled wasn’t a drawn-out whine, but an intense, mournful gaze that was exactly like when she was first picked up.

Quiet and still, just looking at her was enough to melt Xia Wanshuang’s heart.

Zhou Qinglang’s face still held a trace of youthful innocence.

Outside, she always maintained a cold demeanor, but only for Xia Wanshuang did her dark eyes fill with utter dependence.

“But you’re a big girl now. You can’t sleep with your sister forever.”

“Sister, I’m still a child! I haven’t even had my thirteenth birthday yet! Sister can’t forget I’m still little just because I’ve gotten taller.”

Zhou Qinglang usually hated Xia Wanshuang treating her like a child, but when it was necessary to use her age, she didn’t hesitate.

Xia Wanshuang chuckled helplessly, stroking Zhou Qinglang’s hair. How could she forget her age? She had just counted it in her head.

“But in a few years you’ll be a big girl. Will you still want to sleep with Sister then?”

“Is Sister tired of me?”

“Of course not. But when you grow up, you have little secrets and want your own private space, so I wanted to prepare a room for you.”

The child needed to learn independence. Clinging to her all the time wasn’t good.

“Does Sister have little secrets from me, too?” Zhou Qinglang’s focus was always slightly different from Xia Wanshuang’s.

“No, I don’t.” She had no little secrets from Zhou Qinglang, only a big one.

“I don’t have little secrets from Sister either, so can we please still sleep together?”

“We live in the same house, though.”

“It’s not the same,” Zhou Qinglang mumbled, shaking her head at Xia Wanshuang. “It’s not the same.” She emphasized the point, her eyes fixed on Xia Wanshuang with serious intent.

It was Zhou Qinglang’s regret that she hadn’t been in the same class as Xia Wanshuang for three years of middle school.

She was confused by the fierce, bonfire-like possessiveness that flared up in her heart.

At this stage, Zhou Qinglang couldn’t fully understand herself, but she knew what she wanted.

She wanted to sit with her sister, she wanted her homework to be right next to her sister’s, and she wanted others to think of her name whenever they mentioned her sister’s.

If they didn’t sleep together…

Zhou Qinglang felt the fire in her heart would consume her.

“You clingy girl.” Xia Wanshuang gave in helplessly, agreeing to Zhou Qinglang’s request.

“Only clingy for Sister.”

Not even for a moment… not even for a single moment can we be separated.