Chapter 52
From the mont Shen Liang finished his speech until all the students of Class Six had gradually left the sports field, Qin Qing, sitting in the front row, hadn’t uttered a single word.
Wen Yufeng, sitting next to her, didn’t rush her. He just quietly leaned back in his chair, waiting for her to finish her thoughts.
When Qin Qing finally snapped out of her reverie, the vast sports field was almost completely empty, with only a few scattered people remaining in the distance.
“Oh, sorry…” Qin Qing quickly turned to him. “I was lost in thought. Did I waste your ti?”
“I’m not in a hurry to leave, it’s fine.”
Wen Yufeng responded, then looked up. “What were you thinking about?”
Qin Qing hesitated for a mont. “I was thinking about whether I should choose the arts or the sciences…”
After a brief pause, Qin Qing looked at Wen Yufeng. “Do you think I should choose science?”
Wen Yufeng didn’t answer imdiately. He pondered for a couple of seconds before looking off into the distance.
Across the large sports field, the empty spectator stands on the other side seed to block all possible paths, leaving no way out.
Wen Yufeng retracted his gaze.
“I rember you telling
that you enjoy the challenge of solving difficult math problems and finding the most efficient or innovative thods, but you also like the satisfaction that cos after morizing long passages in Chinese or political studies.”
Qin Qing thought back to the ti when they first walked to school together in the morning; it was sothing she had said to encourage Wen Yufeng to study harder.
Qin Qing nodded. “I’ve never had a clear preference or aversion. All subjects seem to
like barriers of different heights—once I get over them, I feel a sense of accomplishnt. But as for which subject I’m most drawn to… I’ve never really distinguished.”
“Then you should think about it, consider it carefully.”
Wen Yufeng suggested, “You still have a few days before you have to choose a stream. That should be enough ti for you to think this through.”
“…”
Qin Qing hesitated for a few seconds.
Wen Yufeng frowned. “If you have sothing to say, just say it. You don’t need to hold back with .”
Qin Qing asked, “Don’t you think… that since I have a clear advantage in science, I should choose the science stream?”
Wen Yufeng chuckled softly.
“Is it hard for you to excel in any subject?”
“…” Although Qin Qing knew he wasn’t intentionally complinting her, she couldn’t help but blush.
She firmly shook her head.
“Exactly. Since you have the ability to choose, why limit your options to just one path and force yourself to go all in?”
Wen Yufeng smiled as he brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “Besides, making sothing you’re not good at into sothing you excel at isn’t as difficult as people think; it just takes effort. But turning sothing you don’t like into sothing you love…”
He sighed, looking at her with a soft smile. “That’s much harder.”
“Love and dislike are things that can’t be forced.”
After Wen Yufeng finished speaking, Qin Qing was silent for a long ti.
Then she looked up, her eyes slightly bright, and said to Wen Yufeng, “You’re right. It might be a bit difficult to turn sothing you’re not good at into sothing you’re good at, but it’s impossible to turn sothing you don’t like into sothing you love.”
“Then there’s only one question left,” Wen Yufeng said. “What is it that you truly love?”
“…”
Qin Qing furrowed her brows, unable to answer.
Wen Yufeng said, “Or let
put it another way. If you were to enter the workforce right now, what kind of job or lifestyle would you most aspire to?”
This ti, Qin Qing didn’t hesitate. She blinked and said, “Writing.”
“…”
Wen Yufeng was taken aback for a mont. Then, after a pause, a slight smile appeared on his lips. “I didn’t know you liked writing.”
Qin Qing nodded, her eyes shining. “I really love reading, especially mystery novels. I started writing in middle school, and I have a lot of notebooks disguised as regular ones at ho that are actually filled with handwritten stories…”
But as she continued, her voice grew softer. “But my mom doesn’t like
writing stories. She says it’s a waste of ti… I used to write during class in middle school, but since I started rushing to catch up with you guys in high school, I haven’t written in a long ti…”
Seeing her spirits dampen, Wen Yufeng asked, “And now? Even after all this ti, do you still want to write?”
“Of course I do—I’ve wanted to for a long ti!”
Her voice unconsciously rose, and when she realized she had overreacted, she blushed and lowered her voice again.
“The last ti I wrote anything was in my third year of middle school. I was writing a story during math class, and my math teacher at the ti caught … he tore out several pages, and it broke my heart. And before that, I…”
Qin Qing began to recount her countless experiences of hiding her stories and outsmarting her mother, Li Jinghe, until the sports committee representative ca to urge them to leave. Only then did she suddenly realize—
She had been talking nonstop to Wen Yufeng for several minutes…
“It’s fine,” Wen Yufeng noticed her embarrassnt but couldn’t help but chuckle softly. “I like hearing you talk about the things you love.”
Qin Qing was startled and looked up at him.
“Because when I see you smile, I can’t help but feel happy.”
After Wen Yufeng said this, he stood up, not noticing her stunned expression. His gaze wandered into the distance, and when he looked back, he spoke again.
“All right, it’s almost ti for lunch, and most people have already left.”
Qin Qing snapped back to reality, puzzled. “Do you have sothing to do?”
—It sounded as if it was sothing not ant to be seen.
“Yes, I do.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Yufeng crouched down and patted his shoulder, then turned to her with a smile. “Earlier, you didn’t want
to carry you back because you didn’t want others to see, right?”
He turned his gaze back. “Now that no one’s around, hop on.”
“…”
Qin Qing was silent for two seconds, blinked, and then leaned forward to climb onto his back.
Wen Yufeng carried her and headed toward the exit of the sports field.
“—If you really aspire to write, then choose the arts stream.”
“When I saw you talk about writing just now, it was the first ti I saw you show your emotions so openly. Compared to when you talked about math… I think the sense of accomplishnt from solving problems doesn’t quite qualify as true passion.”
Wen Yufeng’s voice was low, carrying a rare seriousness.
“Passion should be… knowing that you might stumble on this path, but believing that you can get back up and wanting to keep going.”
Qin Qing paused on his back.
After a mont, she wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her cheek on his shoulder.
She looked off to the side, at the spectator stands that blocked all of her view.
“But can I really choose what I love without considering anything else?”
“…” Wen Yufeng paused, standing still for a few seconds.
A few seconds later, he started walking again. “When I was twelve, my mother passed away.”
Qin Qing was stunned, a wave of panic flashing through her eyes. She quickly tried to straighten up, but before she could move, he pressed her back down.
His deep voice continued,”Before I was twelve, I had many dreams… I wanted to take her to climb mountains and see the sea, to travel the world with her, to do all the things that man couldn’t do with her.”
Wen Yufeng’s dark eyes grew distant as he took a silent breath, slowly and repressively exhaling from his chest.
His thin lips curled slightly, but there was no trace of a smile in his eyes.
“But it wasn’t until she was gone that I understood—the most unpredictable thing in this world is fate, because you never know what will happen in the next second. If you don’t do certain things now, you might never get the chance. And the way to find those things is simple—imagine death coming in the next mont. What would you regret not having done the most?”
“…Because in the face of death, all the pretense and glamorous facades are stripped away, leaving only the bare essence. Whether it’s genuine or fake, true to your heart or just vanity—you can’t escape it.”
Wen Yufeng paused again. After a long while, he turned his face slightly to look at the girl resting her head on his shoulder.
He chuckled softly. “So, Sweetie, don’t worry about the things people tell you to care about. Don’t think about whether the ‘you’ in other people’s eyes lives a glamorous or diocre life—just ask your own heart.”
“Ask it what it wants to do, how it wants to live… It will give you the answer.”
Wen Yufeng gazed at the blocked spectator stands ahead as if there was nowhere else to look.
But actually, just a slight upward glance would reveal the vast blue sky and white clouds stretching endlessly.
He lowered his eyes with a soft laugh, turning to walk down the steps leading out.
“Follow the answer your heart gives you, Sweetie. Only then, when the ti cos, you won’t regret that after all these years, you never truly lived as yourself.”
…
Qin Hao always thought that over ti, he had ntally prepared himself well enough, that he had accepted the inevitable day when soone would start eyeing his pretty little sister.
But it wasn’t until today at noon when he saw his little sister being carried out of school by a guy he recognized—soone who made his teeth itch—that Qin Hao realized—
ntal preparation is a sham, fake, unreliable.
—He still really wanted to grab a knife from the car and skin the guy who dared to covet his little sister.
So when Wen Yufeng carried Qin Qing to Qin Hao’s car, the first thing he saw was Qin Hao’s face, which had absolutely nothing to do with the word “friendly.”
Before the two could start glaring daggers at each other, Qin Qing spoke first from Wen Yufeng’s back.
“Second Brother, I sprained my left foot during the sports et today, and he helped
out.”
Understanding the underlying ssage from his little cousin, Qin Hao redirected his gaze to her foot, frowning. “Should we go to the hospital for an X-ray?”
Qin Qing frowned. “No need, it’s not that—”
“Just to be safe,” Wen Yufeng cut her off as he gently set her down. “It’s necessary.”
Qin Hao opened the car door, just about to turn back to help Qin Qing in, when he saw the guy hadn’t let go, directly lifting her into the car himself.
Qin Hao: “…”
Forcing himself to look away, he got into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Second Brother, no.” Qin Qing refused without hesitation. “I’m really fine, I don’t want to go.”
After putting her in the car, Wen Yufeng had stepped back.
Hearing their conversation, he leaned against the door and bent down, his dark eyes fixed on the girl.
“Go to the hospital for a check-up.”
“But—”
Qin Qing opened her mouth to say sothing.
A disapproving look shot from those pitch-black eyes.
“…Listen.”
Qin Qing pursed her lips, taking two seconds before slowly nodding.
Qin Hao: “…”
The steering wheel in the driver’s seat was nearly crushed by soone who was clearly overstimulated by this exchange.
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