Chapter 3: The Wonderful First Kiss

  Unfortunately, Xia Meng got sick from taking a cold shower in the middle of the night. Xia Meng developed a high fever in the middle of the night and kept talking nonsense. Wang Jia Yi and Deng Ying were frightened and quickly found some antipyretics to give her.

  The next morning, waking up at more than six o'clock, Wang Jia and Deng Ying had finished washing up and were standing in front of Xia Meng's bed looking at her.

  "Xia Meng, are you feeling any better? You had a fever last night and scared both of us to death." Wang Jia said hastily as soon as she saw Xia Meng wake up.

  "Hey Xia Meng, is there anything you'd like to eat? We can buy it for you?"

  Xia Meng lay in bed, she wanted to sit up, but found her head aching unbearably. "I'm fine, I've left some snacks in the dormitory, don't go buy food for me anymore. You guys hurry up and go to class, and also ask for leave on my behalf from the teacher."

  After Wang Jia and Deng Ying left, Xia Meng fell asleep again in a daze.

  During class break, Zhang Li went to the head teacher's office to hand in his homework after class and happened to meet Wang Jia who was asking for a sick leave on behalf of Xia Meng.

  "Has Xia Meng come down with a fever?" Class teacher Liu asked anxiously, "How could she suddenly fall ill like that?"

  "She came back to the dorm too late yesterday, there was no hot water left, she took a cold shower and then caught a fever with a high temperature. She's already taken some medicine to bring down her fever, by the time we went out, her fever had gone."

  Zhang Li heard that Xia Meng had a fever, and he was anxious to go see her. But the girls' dormitory, boys couldn't go up, what to do? Zhang Li suddenly thought of a good way.

  Zhang Li returned to the classroom and stuffed his Walkman and two cassette tapes into his backpack.

  Zhang Li came to the girls' dormitory. The aunt who was on duty recognized Zhang Li at a glance. "Zhang Li, you don't go to class, what are you doing here?"

  "Ah, Aunt Yuan, during the school sports meet, a few girls from the student union's propaganda department carried the blackboard newspaper back to their dormitory corridor. Now the student union is in urgent need of it, and I'm not weak, let me go get it."

  The dormitory manager looked at Zhang Li's polite and sincere words, and let him in, "Come down after you've finished!"

  Zhang Li remembered that Xia Meng and the others lived in 305. He walked towards the door of Xia Meng's dormitory, if someone saw Zhang Li at this moment, they would definitely be curious or habitually think - a boy running to a girl's dormitory, there must be a "special" reason.

  Zhang Li found that the dormitory door was not locked, and after knocking several times without a response, he insisted on pushing it open. Under the curtain, a pair of familiar cloth shoes were placed at the foot of the bed, and he intuitively felt that Xia Meng was still asleep.

  Zhang Li walked into the house, which was separated from the outside by a half-closed blue curtain. He saw that Xia Meng was still fast asleep. Apparently, Xia Meng didn't know someone was coming in, so she hadn't locked the door or pulled the curtains like she usually did when sleeping. Maybe because of her cold and fever, Xia Meng couldn't get up to close the door.

  Xia Meng opened her eyes to find Zhang Li, and was particularly surprised. However, she immediately closed them again. With Zhang Li by her side, she suddenly felt at ease and no longer anxious, thinking of continuing to sleep for a while.

  Zhang Li opened his backpack, took out a Walkman and cassette tape. "I saw you didn't come to class, I sent you a text message, didn't you receive it?"

  Xia Meng closed her eyes and shook her head. At this moment, Xia Meng's phone rang, she picked it up and saw that it was a text message from Zhang Li during the first class. "The signal is too bad!" Xia Meng said with a smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine now, just a bit dizzy, want to rest for a while, I can go to class this afternoon."

  Xia Meng sat up from bed, "Zhang Li, get me a glass of water, I'm thirsty!"

  Zhang Li hastily got up to fetch a cup of hot water, this was the first time Zhang Li did something like this for his deeply loved girl. He watched as Xia Meng slowly drank it down. Outside on the playground, the sounds of classmates taking physical education class continued to be heard, Zhang Li and Xia Meng softly started talking simple words.

  Zhang Li casually turned on the portable music player, and a light background melody suddenly sounded from it. Xia Meng's and Zhang Li's conversation floated in the air, if someone outside heard it, they would not be able to tell whether it was a movie or real conversation. After finishing drinking water, Xia Meng lay down again, Zhang Li noticed that when Xia Meng drank water, her face showed a happy and blissful expression. Although the high fever had receded, Xia Meng still felt her body was dull and heavy.

  Zhang Li didn't know how long he had been in the dorm, whether he should let Xia Meng continue sleeping or keep accompanying her. Looking at Xia Meng closing her eyes and not speaking, she probably fell asleep already. Zhang Li then sincerely looked at her with a relaxed heart. For several seconds, several minutes, Xia Meng kept her eyes closed and didn't speak. Like this, so close, Zhang Li happily looked at Xia Meng, the sunlight shining in from the window illuminated the entire room.

  Xia Menglu saw Zhang Li's slender hand outside the quilt, and he stretched out his hand to hold Xia Meng's hand. Xia Meng's fingers were icy cold, while Zhang Li's hands were extremely hot. When he held Xia Meng's hand, she felt an unparalleled warmth.

  Zhang Li felt that Xia Meng hadn't fallen asleep yet, and his grip on her hand subtly tightened, feeling the chill wrap tighter around his palm. Zhang Li turned his head towards the door, holding his emotions in his entire hand. His fiery fingertips trembled as they touched her smooth skin, like a butterfly dancing in the autumn sun, kissing the sweet blooming flower bud.

  Xia Meng and Zhang Li had no words, but the gentle touch between their fingers and the warmth in their hearts made them feel like two little birds on a branch in the afternoon, preening each other's beautiful feathers. The music was like a clear spring flowing water, disturbing the quiet that wanted to sleep peacefully.

  Xia Li saw Xia Meng, as usual when she was nervous, closing her eyes and biting her lower lip tightly. In the palm of Zhang Li's hand holding Xia Meng's hand, there was sweat seeping out from Xia Meng, and she was also very nervous like Zhang Li. Zhang Li knew that at this moment, Xia Meng was also indulging in love, loving this moment, this hand, and the heart not far away, in such a youthful and innocent way of loving.

  Zhang Li stretched out his other hand, trembling as he brushed away the scattered hair covering her face, and saw Xia Meng's slightly flushed cheeks, like an autumn pomegranate that had just been peeled open, with a faint red glow seeping through the translucent skin; in the reflected sunlight shining into the room, her beautiful cheekbones seemed to be a lotus flower in a pool of water, vaguely visible before his eyes.

  Zhang Li was enchanted, Zhang Li's slightly trembling lips touched Xia Meng's equally trembling lips. Zhang Li gently kissed Xia Meng's lips, scorching hot as if touched by a fierce fire. Xia Meng blushed and quickly hid under the quilt, Zhang Li said to Xia Meng's exposed ear: "I'm leaving!"

  Zhang Li ran out of Xia Meng's dormitory, his heart still racing with excitement, slowly returning to normal. His mind was filled with gratitude: grateful to the god of fate for giving him a beautiful and warm encounter, grateful to the god of love for giving him a deeply loved girl, even though they had only promised to arrange each other's happiness in the future.