Chapter 68

Chapter 68 I Will Cheer Up

“Let me… hug you?” Mei Fang hesitated for a moment and confirmed Xia Yuan’s request.

“Is that not allowed?”

“Not exactly… um… I don’t know how to say it.”

He felt something was off.

Before, he and Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi had hugged and cuddled, but back then they were just kids, mostly before fourth grade.

As they grew up, physical contact became much less frequent, whether in public or private. They barely held hands anymore, and when they did, Xia Yuan was usually the one initiating.

Thinking about this, Mei Fang suddenly understood Xia Yuan’s feelings.

Because she had always been the one leading their friendship, she emphasized this point now—

I can be the one to initiate a hug.

Because unreciprocated feelings are painful.

Especially when realizing the distance between them was growing, possibly leading to them becoming strangers.

This is the moment when one feels the least secure.

Whether it’s friendship or love, the principle remains the same.

So Mei Fang looked up at Xia Yuan and slowly moved closer.

“Then… let’s hug? But this is just a childhood friend hug.”

“Mm!”

Xia Yuan was happy that Mei Fang agreed to her wish. She sat obediently on the chair, quietly waiting for Mei Fang to approach her.

He leaned down, and after touching Xia Yuan, he awkwardly opened his arms and loosely embraced her back through her clothes.

Xia Yuan didn’t lean in herself; instead, she whispered with a smile in his ear,

“Afang, this is the first time you’ve ever hugged someone voluntarily, right?”

“Um… wasn’t it common when we were kids?”

“Nonsense. We only held hands more often back then.”

Xia Yuan pouted, “And I’m talking about initiative. You never took the lead in holding my hand, and even now, I can hardly feel your touch. Hold me tighter.”

“…”

Mei Fang crossed his arms and gently hugged Xia Yuan, allowing her to rest on his shoulder.

Xia Yuan closed her eyes with a satisfied smile.

She also opened her arms and hugged him back tightly.

“Does this feel better?”

“Mm… much better.”

…

After some time, Mei Fang asked softly, “How long should we keep hugging?”

“Hmm… until my dad comes knocking!” Xia Yuan said as if in a dream.

“Ah?”

“Ha ha, I’m just teasing you.”

Xia Yuan opened her eyes, released Mei Fang, and smiled at him, “Did you get scared? Your heart was beating so fast!”

“Yuan Yuan, you’ve really changed.”

Mei Fang looked displeased, “You used to be such an angel, why do you have so many tricks now, scaring people like that.”

“Do you not like who I am now?”

Xia Yuan tilted her head.

“How could I not? Of course—”

Just as Mei Fang was about to answer, he paused, and Xia Yuan, realizing her mistake, looked embarrassed and muttered,

“Today… let’s leave it at that. Thank you for giving me super Afang energy, I feel much better now.”

Xia Yuan rubbed her eyes and smiled at Mei Fang, “I will cheer up and work hard to catch up with you guys!”

“Mm… good.”

Mei Fang wouldn’t tell Xia Yuan not to try so hard.

Because he knew Xia Yuan was a determined and ambitious girl, and he wanted to support her in achieving her goals.

…

After thinking about many things from past lives and present, Mei Fang couldn’t sleep all night, lying still in bed staring at the ceiling.

He twisted around like a worm.

He looked at the ceiling again.

Twisted around like a worm again.

Many years ago, he had experienced something similar.

That time was when You Xi hugged him.

Speaking of which, Yuan Yuan has really—

Grown up differently from a child.

Mei Fang twisted around in the blanket again like a worm.

The next morning, Xia Yuan came to find Mei Fang as usual to go to school together. She seemed no different from usual.

“Afang, you didn’t sleep well last night! You look so tired. Is it because you studied too late?”

“It’s okay, I drank too much water last night, so I couldn’t sleep…”

Since they started acting like childhood friends, except for when their parents drove them, they always went to school together.

But since the Experimental Middle School was far from home, they took the bus in the morning. If they were lucky, they might run into Lin You Xi.

This time, they indeed ran into Lin You Xi. It was getting cooler, and she kept rubbing her hands and breathing out to warm up. Seeing Mei Fang and Xia Yuan approach, she greeted them proactively. They noticed that Lin You Xi was wearing a mask today.

“You Xi!”

Xia Yuan warmly hugged Lin You Xi as soon as she saw her.

Hugs were a common occurrence between Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi, but this time, Lin You Xi only briefly hugged Xia Yuan and then pulled away.

“Yuan Yuan… don’t stand so close.”

Lin You Xi coughed, “Cough… I have a slight cold.”

“Oh, did you catch a chill last night? Do you want to take a day off? You don’t seem very well.”

Xia Yuan patted Lin You Xi’s shoulder.

Lin You Xi waved her hand and then found a notebook in her bag, handing it to Xia Yuan.

“This is a summary of the key points and classic problems for the first four units of math. If you understand these, the exam should be easier…”

Xia Yuan took the notebook from Lin You Xi, and seeing the dozens of pages of notes, she couldn’t help but sob.

“You Xi… Did you stay up really late last night, so you caught a cold?”

“It’s all my fault, making you worry so much for me…”

Xia Yuan grabbed Lin You Xi’s clothes, tears streaming down her face, sobbing loudly.

“I made notes too, it wasn’t just last night. Last night, I just added some content, cough… oh, you really…”

Xia Yuan ignored Lin You Xi’s explanation and continued crying.

“Don’t do this, Yuan Yuan. I really have a cold, it might be contagious…”

Lin You Xi couldn’t pull Xia Yuan away, so she gently stroked Xia Yuan’s head to comfort her.

She was now taller than Xia Yuan by half a head, truly feeling like a sister comforting her younger sister.

“If you don’t understand anything in the notes, come to our classroom anytime after class. I’ll explain everything to you. Or… I can study with you like Afang does at night.”

“You Xi… You and Afang have been so kind to me. If I don’t do well in the exams, it would be really unacceptable…”

Xia Yuan rubbed her red eyes, “I need to win back what I lost in the mid-term exams! Cough, cough…”

“Didn’t I say you’d catch my cold?”

To catch up with Lin You Xi and Mei Fang, Xia Yuan made a big resolution.

She studied hard every day, while the other two supported her, answering her questions and finding better learning methods and problem-solving strategies.

The time came for the first major mid-term exam in junior high, covering Chinese, Math, English, Politics, History, and Geography.

Although these subjects were tested in the first year of junior high, they weren’t included in the overall ranking. This was somewhat disadvantageous for Xia Yuan, who excelled in these subjects. However, her main subjects ultimately didn’t disappoint her efforts—

Chinese 114, English 117. The hardest subject for her, Math, scored 109. Xia Yuan ranked 7th in Class 8 and 23rd in the grade. In fact, Class 8’s overall performance was exceptionally high.

For comparison, Lin You Xi ranked 1st in the grade, and Mei Fang tied for 4th.

Although there was still a gap between her and Lin You Xi and Mei Fang, Xia Yuan was content with her current state.

Now, whether Xia Yuan was with Mei Fang and Lin You Xi or in her own class, she wore her usual sweet smile.

In this way, Yuan Yuan’s academic pressure crisis seemed to have passed temporarily.

However, it was clear that Yuan Yuan wasn’t good at subjects related to science. It was unknown whether she could keep up with physics and chemistry in the future…

Mei Fang worried about Yuan Yuan’s future.

Actually, besides academics, differences in growth paths are often the reason why childhood friends gradually drift apart. Such things are usually unavoidable.

Starting tomorrow, it’s You Xi’s big chapter. I need to wrap up many plot threads and can’t write too far ahead.

Today, there will be an illustration of Yuan Yuan’s hug. I’ll add it later.

11/25 23:17 The illustrations for this chapter are now available. There are two chapters, and I have marked them in the text.

(End of Chapter)