Chapter Thirteen: The Pink Secret

  Jiang Fengchen returned to the dormitory in silence, and his roommates rushed over as soon as they saw him, looking at him nervously, wanting to ask but unable to speak, as if Jiang Fengchen had gone to confess his love and was now waiting for a response.

  Seeing Jiang Fengchen's expression was somewhat abnormal, Mo Zilin also guessed a few points in her heart and asked softly: "Was he rejected?"

  Jiang Feng Chen dejectedly lowered his head and walked down, pushing through the crowd to sit at the head of his bed, still not saying a word. The crowd looked at Chen Chen An in confusion, Chen Chen An spread his hands and pouted: "Don't ask me, I'm only responsible for scouting ahead, everything else I don't know."

  "She said, just as she was innocent..." Just when everyone thought Jiang Fengchen would remain silent forever, Jiang Fengchen suddenly spoke up.

  "What?!" Li Ze exclaimed exaggeratedly, "What kind of reason is this?"

  Everyone fell silent again.

  "That... Old Three," after a moment, Mo Zilin felt the need to say something, and hesitated before opening his mouth, but before he could speak, Jiang Fengchen interrupted him. Jiang Fengchen nodded heavily, as if speaking to everyone, yet also seeming to be muttering to himself, "Hm! I won't give up!"

  "...The crowd fell silent and quietly dispersed, as if it had nothing to do with them."

  November's river city has a hint of coolness, people have gradually put on long-sleeved shirts, and some have even worn thin jackets. The slightly cold wind blows through the streets and alleys, playfully climbing to the treetops, swaying non-stop. The pedestrians' hair is also starting to flutter restlessly, chasing left and right with the wind direction.

  Behind Jiangcheng Middle School is a small hill that has been carefully transformed, with lush green grass and yellow flowers blooming everywhere, interspersed with one or two red blossoms swaying gently in the breeze. A winding path surrounded by wooden railings divides the lawn in half, leading to a small pavilion at the end that exudes an ancient charm. The view is expansive, the scenery serene, and during free time, students from Jiangcheng Middle School love to come here for a stroll and to enjoy the breeze.

  It was a fine day, and the head teacher of Class 1, Grade 10 Fine Arts organized an outdoor sketching trip for the students.

  Shen Beiqiu and his classmates were taking a scene on this lawn, the scattered flowers were undoubtedly captivating. After finding a place to set up his easel, he discovered that Lin Xue Xiao was arranging her easel next to him, and he couldn't help but pause for a moment. Lin Xue Xiao seemed to sense something and looked up at him with a faint smile: "You don't mind me being here too, do you? This angle is too good, I couldn't resist coming over to grab this spot..."

  Shen Beiqiu put aside his doubts and smiled slightly, saying: "It's okay, I just didn't expect you to like this direction for the scenery too."

  "It's great here," Lin Xue said with a slight tilt of her head, "the pavilion, the railing, and the lush flowers are all picturesque. Painting flowers is about pursuing visual beauty, but if you paint the pavilion and the small path as well, the atmosphere becomes even deeper..."

  Shen Beiqiu couldn't help but laugh when he heard Lin Xue Xiao's idea, and stopped what he was doing to reply: "Paint a landscape of mountains and rivers, dream of a lifetime of love... Unfortunately, there is only mountain here, no water."

  "Not a single romantic cell."

  Shen Beiqiu just smiled and didn't answer.

  The two stopped talking and concentrated on their own layouts, carefully making their moves. Shen Beiqiu was just coloring the pavilion when he suddenly heard Lin Xue Xiao let out a cry of surprise, hastily turning his head to look over, only to discover that Lin Xue Xiao's brush had already fallen to the ground, the mark left by the brush as it fell still visible on the paper. A painting that was almost half finished was thus ruined.

  Shen Beiqiu bent down to pick up the paintbrush, saw that the pigment on the tip of the brush had begun to dry out slightly, and couldn't help but furrow his brow, saying: "What are you thinking about?"

  "Uh... " Lin Xue Xiao's expression was somewhat unnatural, and she stuttered: "I... I'm thinking which part to highlight would be better..."

  Shen Beiqiu obviously knew that this was just a lie she had made up, but didn't expose her, and instead gently handed the brush to her, saying: "Next time be more careful, or else another good painting will be ruined."

  Lin Xue Xiao's face turned red as she took the brush, only nodding her head without saying a word. She turned around and pulled out a new sheet of drawing paper, gazing at the ruined painting on the board, in her mind involuntarily recalling the scene she had just imagined: to paint a landscape with a thatched cottage, wisps of smoke curling upwards, with you and me...

  Lin Xue Xiao stole a glance at Shen Bei Chui, then quickly lowered her head, her cheeks flushing red, as if dyed by the sunset glow.

  Shen Beiqiu didn't notice Lin Xue Xiao's thoughts at this time, he was concentrating on continuing to paint the pavilion, his eyes shining with dazzling light. After a pause, he gently put down his brush and squatted down to take out a box of paint from the painting box. Just as he was about to stand up, his wrist accidentally touched another box of paint, causing it to lose its balance and fall out of the painting box onto the grass.

  Shen Beiqiu hastily reached out to pick it up, and at this time a small grass on the lawn caught his eye. Shen Beiqiu curiously put down the two boxes of paint, carefully examining the little grass. It was nestled among other grasses, with long petioles and four heart-shaped leaflets that were palmately arranged, very beautiful! What's more interesting is that only this one has four leaves, while all the others have only three.

  Shen Beiqiu couldn't help but pull it up and stood up to admire it from left to right, secretly wondering what kind of plant this was.

  Lin Xue Xiao saw him crouching on the ground and couldn't help but be curious about what he was doing, so she also leaned over to take a closer look. When she saw the plant in Shen Beiqiu's hand, she suddenly couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

  "Four-leaf clover!" Lin Xue Xiao's voice sounded in his ear, Shen Bei Qiu looked towards the astonished Lin Xue Xiao and asked doubtfully: "Four-leaf clover?"

  "Hmm!" Lin Xue Xiao nodded heavily, "I've heard that only one in a hundred thousand three-leaf clovers will have four leaves."

  Shen Beiqiu couldn't help but laugh and said: "I didn't know I was so lucky..."

  "Four-leaf clover, symbolizing happiness..."

  "Is that so?" Shen Beiqiu seemed to be thinking, and then smiled again. "It's just a four-leaf clover, don't believe it." He casually put the four-leaf clover into the top layer of the painting box, closed the lid, pretended not to see Lin Xue Xiao's expression wanting to speak but stopping herself, and continued with her previous coloring progress.

  After returning, Shen Beiqiu specially looked up information about three-leaf and four-leaf clovers, only to find out that this small leaf had such deep cultural connotations. He couldn't help but look at the accidentally discovered four-leaf clover with new eyes, and became even more careful in treating it, even specially taking it to ask someone to make a beautiful specimen.

  "Hey, Shen Beiqiu."

  After class, Shen Beiqiu hurriedly rushed out of the school, and his friend had just told him that the four-leaf clover specimen was ready, asking him to come and get it. Shen Beiqiu couldn't wait to get it as soon as possible, his mind preoccupied with the four-leaf clover specimen, not even noticing someone calling him from behind.

  "Shen Beiqiu!" Lin Xue Xiao chased after him and ran up, blocking his way.

  Suddenly seeing someone appear in front of him, Shen Beichu was startled and raised his head to find it was Lin Xue Xiao, only then did he let out a breath of relief and asked: "It's you, do you have something to look for me about?"

  "What's the hurry? I called you from behind but you didn't hear me."

  "Oh, wasn't it just the other day that I found a four-leaf clover? I took it to my friend's store and asked him to help me make it into a specimen, and now I'm on my way to pick it up."

  Lin Xue Xiao looked puzzled, "Is there a specimen preparation nearby? I didn't know."

  "Oh, friend is a biology student by profession, this is just his hobby."

  "Where is it? I also want to take a look!" Upon hearing this, Lin Xue Xiao's eyes lit up, "I've never seen how others make specimens before."

  "This...," Shen Beiqiu hesitated a little.

  "Can't it be?" Lin Xue Xiao's face fell, and she made no attempt to conceal her disappointment.

  "Not at all," Shen Beiqiu hastily explained, "I'm just afraid of delaying you."

  Upon hearing this, Lin Xue Xiao revealed a genuine smile and said "In that case, let's hurry along then." As she spoke, she began to walk quickly.

  Shen Beiqiu had no choice but to follow along.

  As soon as Lin Xue Xiao came out of her friend's store, she was completely excited. "My goodness, your friend has collected so many specimens, and they're all so rare! It really broadened my horizons."

  Shen Beiqiu was still staring at the four-leaf clover specimen in his hand, but when he heard Lin Xue's words, he also smiled slightly and said: "You like it so much, just now he said to give you a specimen, why don't you want it?"

  Lin Xue said with a pout, "Meaningful things should be placed in meaningful places."

  "So profound."

  Lin Xue Xiao seemed to realize that she had been a bit out of place earlier, and this time she just smiled lightly, hiding her lively appearance without a trace, switching back to her usual calm demeanor. Seeing the specimen in Shen Bei Qiu's hand, she couldn't help but ask: "Are you going to give this specimen to someone?"

  "Yes, I have a friend who likes flowers and grass, I plan to give it to her."

  "So you're just going to let your happiness slip away like that?" Although she had expected the answer, Lin Xue Xiao still felt a little down and could only cover it up with a joke.

  Shen Beiqiu disagreed and said: "If a small blade of grass can bring happiness, then there wouldn't be so much sorrow in this world."

  "Alright, great writer."

  Shen Beiqiu smiled and nodded, indicating for Lin Xue Xiao to leave.

  Shen Beiqiu deliberately fell half a step behind Lin Xue Xiao, who was walking in front of him. It wasn't convenient for her to turn around and talk to him, so they walked the whole way in silence. What Lin Xue Xiao didn't notice was that Shen Beiqiu's hands holding the specimen box were even more cautious than before.