Picked Up the Female Lead When She Was Young (GL) - Chapter 53

A week before Christmas, Zhao Tianhang and Jiang Wan left Tongli City and moved to Haicheng.

On the day they left, Xia Wanshuang and the others went to see them off.

Unfortunately, they encountered a rear-end collision on the way, which caused a traffic jam.

By the time Lin Qiushui urged the driver to rush to the station, the train had already departed.

Lin Qiushui thumped his chest in frustration, greatly upset.

Life, it seemed, was full of regrets, whether it was the unfulfilled love or this missed farewell.

After Zhao Tianhang left, Xia Wanshuang’s and the others’ lives didn’t change much.

However, sometimes when meeting up for dinner after school, Lin Qiushui would blurt out, “Zhao Tianhang isn’t out yet.”

Or, before eating, Xia Wanshuang would automatically grab four pairs of chopsticks.

 

Or, during the weekly tests, Zhou Qinglang would instinctively look for Zhao Tianhang’s name at the top of the class rankings.

 

But, just as winter inevitably arrives, everyone slowly grew accustomed to Zhao Tianhang’s absence.

 

••••

Cold winds swept through, but the specialty shops outside the school were bustling.

Pictures of Santa Claus were plastered on the doors.

Christmas hadn’t even arrived, but the festive atmosphere was already palpable.

Holidays were peak season for greeting cards, and Christmas was the most popular.

 

Besides cards, apples and snake fruit were also highly marketable.

A month before Christmas, Xia Wanshuang noticed girls secretly knitting scarves.

 

The closer it got to Christmas, the more obvious the excitement became.

 

The festive mood made her a little happier, but otherwise, she felt no particular emotion.

 

Zhou Qinglang also wanted to learn to knit a scarf as a Christmas gift for Xia Wanshuang, but the finished product she made on Christmas Eve was too embarrassing to give.

 

Xia Wanshuang was cutting fruit in the kitchen and planned to take it to Zhou Qinglang’s room.

 

However, she heard Zhou Qinglang on the phone outside the door, apparently discussing something being “wrong.”

 

Xia Wanshuang didn’t think much of it, assuming Zhou Qinglang was discussing a problem with Zhao Tianhang.

 

She pushed the door open and walked in, only to see Zhou Qinglang frantically shoving something under the blanket.

 

Unfortunately, she didn’t hide it well, and Xia Wanshuang spotted a knitting needle.

 

“Langlang, are you knitting?”

 

Xia Wanshuang couldn’t help but smile.

 

Even though Zhou Qinglang acted obediently in front of her, it didn’t hide the fact that she was fundamentally a cool kid.

 

The act of secretly knitting was as amusing coming from Zhou Qinglang as it would be from Lin Qiushui.

 

“N-no… no, Sister, you must be mistaken,” Zhou Qinglang stammered, quickly hiding the needle and praying Xia Wanshuang hadn’t seen anything.

 

“Student Zhou, do you understand what I just told you? I circled the part in the photo you sent me where you went wrong. You messed up the stitch.”

A girl’s voice came from the phone, which hadn’t been hung up, instantly exposing Zhou Qinglang’s lie.

“I know how to fix it now, thank you.”

Zhou Qinglang quickly spoke, as if her butt were on fire, and immediately put her phone away, looking embarrassed at Xia Wanshuang.

“Sister, I was going to give this to you as a surprise tomorrow.”

 

The girl pulled out her failed attempt, her face so red it looked like it was bleeding.

 

Xia Wanshuang could practically see steam rising from her head.

 

She couldn’t help but laugh; how cute can she be?

 

Zhou Qinglang’s embarrassment was understandable.

 

Her knitting skills were completely unworthy of her status as an honor student.

 

She had missed several stitches, and the places where she had tried to pull the stitches together were knotted and wrong.

 

Seeing Xia Wanshuang laugh at her, Zhou Qinglang wished she could bury her head underground.

“Sister…” she whined sweetly, a plea for mercy in her voice.

“I’m not laughing at you. For your first attempt, Langlang, it’s very good. I’ll fix it for you.”

Xia Wanshuang sat on Zhou Qinglang’s bed, took the unravelled scarf, and picked up the knitting needle.

Her hair had grown longer, tied back with a black elastic band, and hung obediently down her back.

Bathed in the light, it softened Zhou Qinglang’s heart.

The light in her room was clearly white, but falling on Xia Wanshuang, Zhou Qinglang felt the light inexplicably turn warm, incredibly soft.

The yarn that had been so unmanageable in Zhou Qinglang’s hands was perfectly obedient in Xia Wanshuang’s.

Because she had messed up a section earlier, Xia Wanshuang had to unravel the subsequent stitches, her fingers flying as she slowly fixed the scarf.

“Sister’s hands are just so much more skilled than mine.”

Zhou Qinglang felt Xia Wanshuang was always good at working with these kinds of things.

Even small broken items in the house could be turned into new, beautiful, and cozy decorations by Xia Wanshuang’s clever hands.

In no time, Xia Wanshuang had finished.

 

Xia Wanshuang’s work was clearly much neater than Zhou Qinglang’s, with a noticeable difference between the two sections.

Zhou Qinglang felt both happy and disappointed, because only the first half of the scarf was her work; the second half had been re-knitted by Xia Wanshuang.

How could she give this to Xia Wanshuang as a gift now?

“Hmm… it looks nice. It makes your skin look bright.”

Xia Wanshuang held the scarf up against Zhou Qinglang.

 

Zhou Qinglang had chosen red, a color that brightened the complexion but was also challenging.

 

If one’s skin tone were a bit darker, the scarf wouldn’t look good at all.

“I chose the color for you, Sister.”

When she went to choose the yarn, Zhou Qinglang had immediately fallen in love with the red.

Xia Wanshuang had fair skin, and the red would make it look even fairer.

Zhou Qinglang could already imagine what Xia Wanshuang would look like wearing this color scarf.

 

If she wore the one knit by her hands and smiled at her, she would be absolutely delighted.

“Let me try it on.”

 

Xia Wanshuang put the scarf around her neck.

The length and width were just right.

 

Wrapped twice around her neck, it was tightly knit and didn’t let in any wind.

 

It felt warm and cozy.

“Does it look good?”

 

There was no mirror in the room.

 

Xia Wanshuang stood up, adjusted the scarf in front of Zhou Qinglang, and looked at her with wide eyes.

“It looks good.”

 

Zhou Qinglang nodded.

 

How could it not look good?

 

She loved everything about her, from head to toe.

It was perfect.

 

“Really beautiful?”

 

Xia Wanshuang laughed.

 

It was practically impossible to hear Zhou Qinglang say she didn’t look good.

At Xia Wanshuang’s smile, Zhou Qinglang was truly delighted, her soul lost in Xia Wanshuang’s eyes, drunk in her dimples.

“I really like this Christmas gift. You went to a lot of trouble, Langlang. I’ll give you your gift tomorrow, okay?”

 

“It’s not even Christmas yet, and you discovered it. Plus, you fixed it for me. It doesn’t count as a gift anymore.”

 

Zhou Qinglang regained her composure, feeling a little disappointed.

 

She decided she had to send another gift tomorrow.

 

“That’s my fault. I should have knocked first. I promise I’ll knock next time.”

 

Xia Wanshuang misinterpreted her disappointment, thinking Zhou Qinglang was upset that the surprise had been ruined.

 

She quickly soothed the girl, promising not to make the same mistake again.

 

“It’s okay. You don’t have to knock, Sister.”

 

Zhou Qinglang wanted to explain, but with Xia Wanshuang’s words already spoken, she couldn’t clarify and just settled on that answer.

 

Xia Wanshuang took off the scarf, smiled at Zhou Qinglang’s display of affection, and set the fruit down in front of them.

 

The next morning, Zhou Qinglang made sure to enter the classroom before Xia Wanshuang.

Sure enough, she saw apples, cards, and even chocolates on Xia Wanshuang’s desk.

 

Without a second thought, Zhou Qinglang unzipped her backpack, emptied her books, and swept all the items from Xia Wanshuang’s desk into her bag.

 

After she was done, Zhou Qinglang noticed there were gifts on her own desk as well.

 

Her expression was momentarily confused, but she ruthlessly swept those into her bag too.

 

Zhou Qinglang’s romantic interest was only reserved for Xia Wanshuang.

 

To everyone else, she was as heartless as a cold autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

 

Boys’ attempts at flattery were invisible to Zhou Qinglang.

 

She didn’t pay attention to unimportant people or things and never gave anyone false hope.

 

After rejecting a boy’s advances, she would often sternly tell him to stay away from her sister, too.

 

However, Xia Wanshuang’s popularity didn’t seem to wane despite Zhou Qinglang’s efforts.

 

Many boys at this age seemed to prefer girls with a slightly mature demeanor and had no resistance to beautiful girls.

 

Xia Wanshuang was beautiful, gentle, exuded calmness and elegance, and had a deep-seated kindness that won over many young boys’ hearts.

 

Even the rowdy ones were incredibly well-behaved around Xia Wanshuang.

 

To Zhou Qinglang, all these people were simply eyesores.

 

But Zhou Qinglang couldn’t do anything about it.

 

She could only use her gaze to drive them away, giving them no opportunity to advance.

 

As for why she didn’t issue warnings, it was a lesson Zhou Qinglang had known since childhood: never reveal a secret to a stranger without absolute certainty.

 

Her escape from that horrific orphanage at the age of six was no accident.

 

She had planned it for a long time, charting the route.

 

No one suspected a six-year-old street urchin could have such a thought, so no one was on guard, allowing Zhou Qinglang to escape successfully.

 

And after she ran away, Zhou Qinglang deliberately made herself look dirty, afraid of being spotted by anyone searching for her.

 

Fortunately, she was an insignificant tool to those people.

 

She didn’t know if they had searched, or for how long, but she was safe now.

 

When Xia Wanshuang entered, she saw Zhou Qinglang stuffing her bag.

 

Zhou Qinglang’s books were messily piled on her chair, indicating something was filling her backpack.

 

“What did you put in there?”

 

“Apples. They were on your desk. I tidied them up.”

 

Zhou Qinglang opened her backpack for Xia Wanshuang to see, then placed her books on her own desk.

 

“Keep them in there. It would be a waste not to eat them.”

 

Xia Wanshuang wasn’t entirely clear on her appeal, but she wasn’t blind.

 

She knew some boys had a crush on her, but Xia Wanshuang gently turned them all down.

 

In her eyes, these teenagers were just restless kids going through puberty.

 

She could only view them with the eyes of an elder and felt no attraction whatsoever.

 

If she wasn’t attracted to them during her own actual youth, she wouldn’t be moved now.

 

“Okay.”

 

Zhou Qinglang was pleased to see Xia Wanshuang display no annoyance or even curiosity.

 

During the break, Xia Wanshuang also received cards.

 

They weren’t just declarations of love, but also tokens of friendship.

 

Xia Wanshuang was well-prepared and gave cards to the girls she often interacted with.

 

In contrast, Zhou Qinglang was more reserved.

 

She only received one, from the girl who taught her to knit, and Zhou Qinglang returned the favor.

 

Zhou Qinglang had also prepared one for Xia Wanshuang but didn’t plan to give it to her now.

 

Xia Wanshuang had told her on the way out that morning that she would give her Christmas gift in the evening, so Zhou Qinglang waited for the evening.

 

Since the day was special, Lin Qiushui didn’t eat or leave school with Xia Wanshuang and Zhou Qinglang, opting to go out with Qian Lan.

Zhou Qinglang didn’t criticize Lin Qiushui for ditching his friends; she was happy for Lin Qiushui not to be a third wheel.

Tonight, there was a Christmas event at the City Square.

Lin Qiushui and Qian Lan went there.

Zhou Qinglang initially wanted to take Xia Wanshuang, too, but Xia Wanshuang seemed to have caught a slight chill and kept sneezing.

Zhou Qinglang couldn’t bear for her to get cold and wanted to rush home and give Xia Wanshuang cold medicine.

The streetlights glowed like fire, and the night was frosty.

Zhou Qinglang rode the bike.

 

Xia Wanshuang sat on the back seat, hugging her waist and keeping her head down.

Even with the scarf, the wind still made her shiver.

Her breath escaped like white mist into the night.

 

When they got off the bike, Xia Wanshuang stamped her feet while waiting for Zhou Qinglang to park the bike.

When Zhou Qinglang walked over, she rubbed her hands together until they were warm, then slipped them into Xia Wanshuang’s pocket to warm hers.

How could this winter be cold?

Zhou Qinglang thought.

 

Holding her sister’s hand, she felt incredibly warm.

“Sister, a lot of people confessed today, and it seems Lin Qiushui will get what he wants soon. What about you? What type of person do you like?”

Zhou Qinglang walked home hand-in-hand with Xia Wanshuang, unable to resist asking.

If she could get an answer, she would have a direction to strive for.

“Someone older than me, probably.”

Xia Wanshuang answered casually.

Someone younger than her current body’s age was definitely out of the question.

This unchangeable, rigid condition suddenly made Zhou Qinglang feel that the winter was terribly cold.