Picked Up the Female Lead When She Was Young (GL) - Chapter 60

Zhou Qinglang suppressed the urge to curse, her expression frozen in cold anger.

In the past fourteen years, she had never loathed a person this much; every word the girl spoke made her feel sick.

“Get lost.” For Zhou Qinglang, money could be shared, food could be shared, but Xia Wanshuang absolutely could not.

“I know your past.” The girl standing on the steps continued, her smile harboring malice. “You were picked up by her, weren’t you?”

Zhou Qinglang’s pupils constricted, and her fists audibly cracked.

Seeing that Zhou Qinglang didn’t deny it, the girl’s expression didn’t brighten much.

How hard was it, really, to find this information? Not hard at all. She inquired about the schools they attended, knowing that outstanding students are easily remembered.

She followed that thread back to their middle school, posed as a school newspaper reporter, and found the elementary school.

From the elementary school, she found their old neighborhood and, through the words of the elderly residents, gathered fragmented pieces of their history and family situation.

“Why do people always have to experience so much unfairness in life?” the girl muttered to herself, her eyes a little vacant.

“I’m clearly more unfortunate than you, so why couldn’t I be the one to meet her?”

Why did others get redemption, but she didn’t?

“But fortunately, even though it’s a little late, she still showed up.”

The girl’s face broke into a goofy, ecstatic smile that made her delicate features look slightly twisted.

“She really is a very warm person. I can feel the very thing I crave coming from her bones. She didn’t actually have to help me.”

Those other girls should be grateful Xia Wanshuang stopped them, or else a few days later, something unexpected might have happened to them.

“Sweet cake always attracts ants and other insects, Student Zhou.” The girl’s face took on a cunning look, seemingly unbothered by comparing herself to an insignificant creature.

As she walked past Zhou Qinglang, Zhou Qinglang grabbed her collar, her fist just 0.1 centimeters from the girl’s face. The person being threatened wasn’t scared at all; in fact, her smile widened.

“If you hit me now, I’ll show up in front of her tomorrow and tell her that you really hit me too hard.”

Damn it. Zhou Qinglang dropped her hand and shoved the girl away. This person had found her weakness and seemed like an utterly unreasonable lunatic.

Zhou Qinglang considered herself a normal person; this person in front of her was definitely not. She was too lazy to argue with the girl’s words; the more she refuted, the more it looked like weakness.

“What isn’t yours will never be yours. You’ll never have it. Put away your delusions and crawl back into your corner.”

Zhou Qinglang disgustedly wiped her fingers with a tissue, her expression scornful.

“Even if you crawl onto that cake, the cake will only feel disgusted.”

Zhou Qinglang didn’t bother to look at her again. She walked out of the school, tossed the tissue into a bin, and felt a pervasive gloom.

The girl whose name she didn’t even know was like some creature living in the dark mud—troublesome and repulsive.

How, exactly, could she drive her out of their life?

As a few dark thoughts surfaced, Zhou Qinglang immediately dismissed them. If she truly did something irreversible, her sister would definitely never forgive her.

••••

Zhou Qinglang’s spirits were low, and Xia Wanshuang noticed.

“What’s wrong? You seem a little unhappy today.” Xia Wanshuang rubbed the young girl’s hair, noticing it had grown a bit longer.

“Sister, if a very miserable person came to you, would you help her?” Zhou Qinglang felt she should also investigate that person.

She couldn’t have the other party knowing her secrets while she knew nothing about them.

“That depends on the situation.” Xia Wanshuang mused, wondering if she really came across as a philanthropist.

Xia Wanshuang sighed, as if genuinely confused, and cupped Zhou Qinglang’s face.

“Langlang, do I look like an easily fooled sugar-mama?” She was genuinely perplexed.

“You worried I’d bring other kids home when you were little, and you’re still worried I’ll take people in now that you’re grown? What on earth gives you that impression?”

She had absolutely no intention of taking anyone else in; she wasn’t a child recycling center.

“Me.” Zhou Qinglang looked into Xia Wanshuang’s eyes, seeing her own small reflection.

“Sister bringing me home is my biggest worry.”

She always worried that another “her” would show up. After all, there were truly too many unfortunate people in the world.

Zhou Qinglang placed her hands over Xia Wanshuang’s, pressing her forehead against Xia Wanshuang’s, transferring her own warmth.

Their breaths mingled, and their heartbeats seemed to synchronize.

Zhou Qinglang watched Xia Wanshuang look stunned for a moment, then break into a soft smile, like a flower in March, its warmth flowing from her eyes and brows straight into Zhou Qinglang’s heart.

“Why are you so unsure of yourself, Langlang?” The exhaled air carried a soft, sweet fragrance, soothing Zhou Qinglang’s downcast mood.

“It’s because Sister is too kind and soft-hearted; it’s easy for people with bad intentions to target you.” Zhou Qinglang muttered.

Because of her good nature, Xia Wanshuang had always been popular and everyone liked being her friend. Her worries were perfectly reasonable.

“Langlang, do you know what it meant for me to bring a child home?” Xia Wanshuang felt it was time to have a serious talk with the girl at home, so she’d stop worrying.

“It meant… responsibility.” Xia Wanshuang paused after her first word, not to find the right phrasing, but to hesitate on whether she should continue.

If this made Zhou Qinglang even more dependent on her, what would happen later? What about the inevitable hurt and separation?

But she had already taken the first step long ago. How could she bear to see the girl she watched grow up be unhappy because of a lack of security? She felt it was a little funny, actually.

She had always tried to be a good role model for Zhou Qinglang, never expecting it would make Zhou Qinglang see her as a saint.

Everyone has their own self-interest. Her private reason for coming to this world was Zhou Qinglang, so taking her in and letting her suffer less was her self-interest.

She brought the child home without reservation because she knew this person was a pillar of the world and would definitely grow up to be an exceptional individual.

If this were the real world, would Xia Wanshuang take a beggar on the street home and raise them?

Xia Wanshuang didn’t know herself. Maybe she’d send them to an orphanage or look for an adoptive family; she might not raise them personally.

People have to have a certain connection.

The moment she saw young Zhou Qinglang, Xia Wanshuang knew they had that connection.

“I don’t want to be Sister’s responsibility. That sounds like a burden.” Zhou Qinglang wrinkled her nose.

Although she knew Xia Wanshuang meant to express her seriousness, she didn’t want Xia Wanshuang to feel only familial duty and responsibility toward her.

“How could you be a burden? You are my most special love.”

Xia Wanshuang’s eyelashes fluttered like butterflies, stirring Zhou Qinglang’s heart. Zhou Qinglang watched that butterfly fly, never landing, but leaving ripples in the pool of her heart, disturbing the spring water.

Special love. Zhou Qinglang looked at the softness in Xia Wanshuang’s eyes, feeling as if she were touching her genuine inner self. She smiled only when she saw Xia Wanshuang smile again.

That smile held three parts helplessness and seven parts warmth. Xia Wanshuang used her finger to wipe the moist trail from Zhou Qinglang’s eye corner.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m just so happy. You don’t know how important you are to me.” Zhou Qinglang sniffled, her emotions slightly out of control.

“Sometimes, I really hate myself. I feel like, how could someone like me be liked? But Sister… Sister always told me…”

Zhou Qinglang had intensely hated herself before, not at the age of six when she met Xia Wanshuang, but even earlier.

She thought that unwanted and unloved children were the ones who got abandoned. What was there to like about her?

At the very beginning, she was someone who could die on the street and no one would care.

Yet, in Xia Wanshuang’s eyes, she seemed to be truly special and worthy of love.

“Our Langlang is so outstanding. No matter what, people will always love you.”

“I only became outstanding because of Sister.”

“That’s not true,” Xia Wanshuang wiped the tears from Zhou Qinglang’s eyes, looking at the still-childish girl.

“It’s not because of me. Even without me, you would grow up to be a very excellent, very radiant person.”

It’s just that the path would have been rockier and more challenging, and a lifetime of hardship would have made her unapproachable.

“Why do you always worry that someone will show up to share my love for you? Even without a blood bond, you are irreplaceable in my heart.”

Zhou Qinglang’s tears fell even harder. Her eyes were fixed on Xia Wanshuang as she silently wept.

“Sometimes, I think you’re grown up, but sometimes, I think you’re still a child, afraid that an adult’s love will be shared, stubborn and wronged.”

Xia Wanshuang took a tissue to wipe Zhou Qinglang’s tears and gently flicked her forehead.

“Worrying over nothing.”

“Sister is right about everything. I just don’t want anyone to fight with me for you.”

Zhou Qinglang smiled foolishly, rubbing her forehead and hugging Xia Wanshuang’s waist, burying her face in Xia Wanshuang’s chest.

“Are you a little dog, so possessive of your food?”

“Woof.”

Xia Wanshuang laughed, pinching her cheek. “This is something only our Langlang has. It’s unique. Can you stop worrying about it, okay?”

Xia Wanshuang pulled out the red string around Zhou Qinglang’s neck, touched the jade bead warm from her body, and dangled the small wooden tag in front of Zhou Qinglang.

She couldn’t tell Zhou Qinglang some deeper truths, nor could she guarantee she could stay by Zhou Qinglang’s side forever.

She might not even be able to be there for some of Zhou Qinglang’s most important moments.

But she could guarantee that the love she gave Zhou Qinglang was unique, and no one else would ever have it.

“Yes!” Zhou Qinglang grasped the wooden tag and Xia Wanshuang’s hand together, as if holding onto a sacred promise.

Once Zhou Qinglang’s mood improved, Xia Wanshuang continued.

“I do help people who need it, but it’s not as exaggerated as you think. Even when doing good deeds, you have to be careful. And not everyone is worth helping, alright, Langlang?”

“I know.”

“And, you can give people material things or money, but there is one thing in the world that cannot be bestowed: love. If love is merely bestowed, then it can’t be called love.”

“Langlang, you need to know that I will always love you, even if…”

“Even if what?” Zhou Qinglang blinked, looking up at Xia Wanshuang.

Xia Wanshuang just smiled, saying no more.