Chapter 61: Faint Memories

  Winter vacation. A holiday that is neither long nor short. Ji Ningning always feels that every holiday is very fleeting. Every day, as soon as she opens her eyes, it's already high noon. After eating her fill, closing her eyes again, and it's already the next day.

  Ji Ningning is a legendary figure in school, with excellent grades, strong athletic abilities, beautiful looks and a bold personality, high efficiency in handling things... Such a girl, of course, is a goddess-like existence. Of course, except for Cen Yanqiu, who doesn't think so.

  However, Ji Ningning was different at home. At home, she was a complete otaku girl. Ji Ningning's family was not wealthy, and at best, it could only be said that they were barely getting by. They were still a distance away from being considered a middle-class family. Her house was located in the suburbs of D City, a two-story building with a courtyard. In the courtyard, there was an evergreen tree with green leaves all year round. The courtyard also had various flowers, all planted by Ji Ningning. Once, Ji Ningning heard a girl in her class say that girls all liked flowers, and if any girl said she didn't like flowers, then she must be lying. Actually, Ji Ningning thought the girl was absolutely right. Ji Ningning was indeed a girl who loved to lie. In the eyes of her classmates, she should have been strong-willed. But flowers were something that girls liked, so she wouldn't dare say she liked them in front of her classmates.

  There is a long clothes drying rod hanging horizontally on the east wall of the courtyard. Jingning usually likes to sit under the banyan tree in the courtyard at home, watching the clothes fluttering on the drying rod. However, it's only beautiful in summer.

  Ji Ningning's father is an employee in a printing factory, with a low income that can only cover the daily expenses of the family. Her mother works in a textile mill and saves her income for Ji Ningning's education. The whole family has always been frugal and Ji Ningning rarely goes out to play with her classmates.

  Ji Ningning's home is in the suburbs, of course it's far from school. So after junior high school, she didn't live at home anymore and stayed at her aunt's house all the time. She only came back during holidays. Sometimes when there was no homework on weekends, she would also go back home. Her aunt's family had a cousin who was already in college. The cousin went to study in another province, so it was just her aunt and uncle at home. Ji Ningning's aunt especially liked girls, but she gave birth to a boy instead. She always complained about how naughty her son was and said that he didn't listen to her. She loved Ningning like her own daughter. In fact, Ji Ningning's cousin was also very obedient and had good grades. He also cared for Ningning deeply. When he was studying outside, he would occasionally send some school supplies to her.

  At this time, Ji Ningning was sitting under the banyan tree in the courtyard, swinging on a swing, thinking about what had happened at school over and over again.

  Ji Ningning still remembers that time when she had just entered junior high school and it was her first time leaving home to study in the city. At that time, she had just moved into her aunt's house and felt very uncomfortable. She also felt inferior to her classmates at school.

  So on the first day of school, Ji Ningning didn't listen to the lesson properly. She spent the whole morning thinking about whether her classmates would dislike her or hate her.

  But just as school was letting out, it suddenly started raining. The rain came down in sheets, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. Ji Ningning's adorable school uniform made her look lovely, but she herself didn't seem to notice. As she gazed out at the pouring rain, she furrowed her brow. If she were still living at home and studying there, her mom would definitely come to pick her up with an umbrella at a time like this. And yet, it was only now that she thought of her mom... no, actually, she had been thinking about her all morning, missing home.

  Ji Ningning took out an umbrella from her backpack. A lovely pink umbrella. This was what her aunt had stuffed into her bag when she left the house. Her aunt was especially gentle with her, seemingly fond of her and buying her many things, all in a pink series for little girls. She couldn't deny it, she liked pink, cute and warm. Ji Ningning held up the umbrella and walked slowly on the road. Her footsteps were very slow because she didn't want to get her new shoes wet. These were the shoes she had worn on her first day at school, still brand new.

  Ji Ning was walking along, not knowing what she was thinking in her mind. Suddenly, a strong force came from behind and knocked into her. She was stunned and didn't know what happened. Her small body flew far away. Fortunately, she fell on her stomach and didn't hit her head.

  Ji Ningning hadn't yet come to her senses. She turned around and saw a small boy, about the size of a little donkey. The boy wasn't carrying an umbrella and was completely soaked from head to toe, looking like a lost soul. This was Ji Ningning's first impression of Cen Yanqiu. What made her even more annoyed was that the little boy kept staring at her butt. She instantly turned red with embarrassment because she remembered that today she wore small pants with crayon Shin-chan patterns on them, and now they had been seen by the boy. It was really too embarrassing. So Ji Ningning became angry and shouted loudly: "Hey, you little pervert! What are you looking at? Can't you help me up?"

  Ji Ningning finished speaking and quickly stood up. At this time, she surprisingly saw tears in the little boy's eyes. She felt strange, as she was the one who had been knocked down, but it was he who was crying. So Ji Ningning said another sentence very rudely: "Little rascal, don't let me see you again. From now on, every time I see you, I'll hit you once. And you bumped into me, I didn't even cry. What are you crying for? Coward." The voice was sharp and hurt the little boy's heart. Ji Ningning didn't realize it at all.

  Ji Ningning finished speaking, so tense that she even forgot to take her umbrella, flung up her ponytail and rushed away.

  When she returned to her aunt's house, her aunt pitied her and changed her clothes, comforting her in various ways. She could only tell a lie, saying that a classmate lived far away and she had lent the umbrella to the classmate. When she ran back, she accidentally fell down. At that time, her aunt even praised her as a sensible good child. Her heart was filled with shame and kept pounding.

  But in this world, some things are really quite coincidental. It just so happens that when she went back to school again, she saw that boy once more. Ji Ningning inexplicably kept noticing him. Of course, it also fulfilled her words: "Don't let me see you again, every time I see you in the future, I'll hit you once..." So, in front of Cen Yanqiu, Ji Ningning naturally became a "violent girl". In fact, she really wasn't one.

  After that, she and Cen Yanqiu were like arch-enemies. Not arguing or fighting every day was really not satisfying. But Cen Yanqiu didn't know that girls are emotional creatures who can easily fall in love at first sight or develop feelings over time. Anyway, Ji Ningning inexplicably liked Cen Yanqiu and had a crush on him throughout middle school and then high school.