As she spoke, her breath went into his ear, warm and ticklish, and turned Xu Ye’s ear slightly red.

If it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t of legal age yet and had no diamond ring in his pocket, Xu Ye would have wanted nothing more than to drop to one knee right there and propose first.

He loved her too much.

Once she had said it, he gathered her into his arms again.

The two of them stayed where they were for a long while. When Qin Zhiwei and the others came over, Xu Ye finally took Chen Qingqing’s hand and set off with them along the edge of the Huangpu River.

On both banks in March the spring was thickening. A light breeze crossed the water and set it glittering, and the willows along the bank swayed and dipped. Out on the river the pleasure boats came and went; on the far side the towers stood packed together, the modern city and the old buildings by the water setting each other off, making up a picture that was both distinctive and beautiful.

The noise around them seemed to Chen Qingqing to sit badly with the view, so she reached into her bag for her earphones, put one in, then poked Xu Ye and handed him the other.

They hadn’t walked far before they came upon someone up ahead busking, with a crowd of young people gathered around him. The moment Zhang Ruowei saw it she pulled Shen Xinyi over to watch.

Street singers like this weren’t a common sight in those days.

But in another couple of years, once the short-video platforms took off, you’d be able to find people singing outdoors on livestream all over any big city.

Seeing the others go and join the crowd, Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing went over too.

Zhang Ruowei listened for a short stretch, then lowered her voice and said to Chen Qingqing beside her, “His singing’s pretty average, isn’t it?”

She wasn’t lying.

The young man busking really was fairly ordinary, and his guitar playing was fairly ordinary too. To anyone who didn’t know music, being able to play at that level would already have seemed pretty good — but Zhang Ruowei and the others were arts students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, after all, and naturally they could hear good from bad.

Xu Ye chimed in as well. “It really is average.”

Hearing that, Zhang Ruowei immediately started fanning the flames. “Xu Ye. When he’s finished, do you dare go up and sing one?”

“What do you think I am, someone with nothing better to do~”

“If you don’t dare, you don’t dare.”

“Goading me doesn’t work. Not unless there’s something concrete in it for me.”

Zhang Ruowei answered without a moment’s thought. “You go and sing one and next time I’ll photograph Qingqing’s legs on the sly and show you.”

“???”

Xu Ye’s eyes went wide. “What sort of man do you take me for? I’ll have you know I am a gentleman of principle — but if you’re good for your word, then… done!”

Chen Qingqing: ???

The two of them had their agreement in short order, and once the young man had finished a song Zhang Ruowei shot Xu Ye a look, unable to wait.

In his previous life, with this many people watching, Xu Ye really would have lost his nerve.

But having died once, he no longer cared in the slightest about face or the lack of it. He walked straight up and asked amiably, “Hey man, can I borrow your spot for a minute?”

“Of course.”

The young man handed over both the guitar and the place readily enough, and Xu Ye tuned the guitar while he thought about which song to sing.

He searched for a while, and an old classic surfaced in his mind — a song that suited this moment very well too.

So he plucked the strings and began to sing, in a voice with an extraordinary richness to it…

It was an old song from 2005 — Fairy Tale.

A pop song so popular it filled every street and alley, on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Even those born in the ’90s who hadn’t listened to it much would certainly be able to hum along to a few lines from the chorus.

Xu Ye sang a short stretch of the chorus, and on the stretch after it everyone around him joined in.

A great many people got their phones out and started filming.

Chen Qingqing saw all the girls beside her holding up phones to film Xu Ye, and it was as though the vinegar jar in her chest had been knocked over. She rather regretted having let him go and sing at all.

When he had finished he put the guitar down and walked over to her, and seeing that everyone was looking at her, Chen Qingqing immediately grabbed his wrist and pulled him quickly away from the spot. The audience saw it and set up a round of whooping, which made her more mortified still.

The five of them wandered around the Bund until half past nine before deciding to head back.

The only problem was that they were now a long way from where the car was parked.

Shen Xinyi walked back for ten minutes or so and then sat down on a stone bollard at the side of the road. She stretched out her legs, squeezed at them, and said plaintively, “I can’t walk any further.”

Qin Zhiwei looked at her, then got out his phone and checked the time, then went over to Xu Ye. “Should we leave them here to rest and go and bring the car over?”

Xu Ye nodded. “I’ll go on my own. You stay here.”

“That works.”

Xu Ye handed the bag to Chen Qingqing, and was about to set off for the parking lot alone when she said, “I’m coming too.”

“Aren’t you tired? Wouldn’t you rather rest here?”

Chen Qingqing shook her head stubbornly. She was thinking that if she walked over with him they could have a while longer together.

She hadn’t even noticed how much clingier she was getting with him.

Seeing her like that, Xu Ye was hardly going to refuse. He took her small hand and they carried on toward the parking lot together.

“Right at the start of term my counselor will probably pile a load of things on me. I’ll try to have it all cleared before Friday. If I can’t come at the weekend I’ll message you in advance.”

“Oh. Be careful driving, there are so many cars on the road.”

“I’ll message you when I get to school, but it’ll probably be very late.”

“I’ll wait up for you.”

Talking as they went, Chen Qingqing lost concentration for a moment and put a foot down wrong. If Xu Ye hadn’t been quick-fingered enough to catch her, she would have gone over.

He laughed despite his annoyance. “Telling me to be careful, and you can’t even walk carefully.”

Chen Qingqing said, looking hard done by, “I think I’ve twisted my ankle.”

Xu Ye quickly got her over to a visitors’ bench at the side and crouched down, asking with concern, “Which foot?”

“The left.”

He cupped her ankle and lifted it a little at a time, and he had barely rotated it gently one way and the other before she gave a small cry of pain.

Xu Ye took the shoe off her foot and eased her little white sock partway down, then rubbed his palms warm and closed both hands around her ankle. The warmth made the pain ease off at once, and Chen Qingqing bit lightly at her lip and made an effort not to make any more sound.

“Does it still hurt?”

“A bit~”

Chen Qingqing’s skin was pale to begin with, and she had gone out very little when she lived at home, so there were few girls anywhere with a paler complexion than hers. On top of that she was in the habit of using foot masks. Her foot was like a piece of warm jade with the sun on it, the skin smooth as set cream, small and pretty.

Xu Ye kneaded the ankle with the lightest possible pressure at first, then added weight to it bit by bit.

Chen Qingqing looked at the people going past in front of her, then looked down at Xu Ye crouched there rubbing her foot, and as her heartbeat quickened a faint flush rose naturally across her face. At last she couldn’t help saying, “That… that’s enough.”

Xu Ye pulled the little white sock back up, put her shoe on, then turned around and half-crouched in front of her.

“Get on. I’ll carry you.”

“I can walk.”

“Don’t argue. Come on!”

“You’re being mean to me again~” Chen Qingqing raised a hand and patted his back lightly, then stood up all the same and slowly leaned onto it, bringing both arms around to hold him by the neck.

Xu Ye straightened up, took hold of her thighs, and set off with a light step.

“Don’t the two of us look like Zhu Bajie carrying his bride in Journey to the West~” [TL: Zhu Bajie is the pig-headed companion in the classical novel; the episode of him carrying a bride on his back is one of the best-known scenes in every screen version. Chen Qingqing’s standing nickname for Xu Ye is “dumb pig.”]

“You’re Zhu Bajie.”

“Then that makes you my bride~”

Something went to Chen Qingqing’s head, and without knowing quite why she bit him at the hollow of his neck, leaving a red strawberry mark behind.

(End of Chapter 206)