Chapter 185: Shakespeare’s Love Letters ②
Because evening self-study sessions ended quite late, after chatting with Nie Aifang for a bit, the group was about to head home. Nie Aifang quickly asked Nie Qiu to see them out to catch a taxi.
It was the end of November, the transition from late autumn to early winter. The temperature had suddenly dropped significantly compared to the previous few days. As the night wind blew, it brought waves of chill. So, as soon as she stepped out of the hospital doorway, Nie Qiu couldn’t help but shiver.
Seeing this, Li Kai quickly took off his school uniform and was about to hand it to Nie Qiu. However, he saw Peng Yu Yang take off his own coat and drape it over Nie Qiu before Li Kai could. Peng Yu Yang said, “It’s getting colder and colder now, you need to wear more clothes. You should go back now! It’s fine to see us off here, we’ll catch a taxi from here.”
Nie Qiu smiled, took off the coat, and handed it back to Peng Yu Yang. “You wear it! I’ll go back to the hospital room after you get a taxi. You wear it, so you don’t catch a cold on the way. Thank you for visiting my mom.”
As soon as Nie Qiu took off the coat, Li Kai quickly draped his own coat over her. He had accompanied Nie Qiu to see their demolished home, so he knew that Nie Qiu didn’t have many clothes besides what she was wearing and a change of clothes. He glanced at Peng Yu Yang, who hadn’t accepted his coat, and said, “Peng Yu Yang, Nie Qiu is returning your coat to you, so you should take it! Look how little you’re wearing. If you catch a cold, Nie Qiu will feel guilty.”
He then looked at Nie Qiu and smiled, saying, “Nie Qiu, wear my school uniform. I brought a coat to school, so I won’t be cold.”
Huang Yan and the other boys exchanged glances for a moment before leaving the hospital doorway and heading to the roadside to hail a taxi. Although Wang Chao Lei and Zhang Hai Yang really wanted to watch the drama unfold and help Li Kai, they also knew that their intervention wouldn’t make much of a difference. It mainly depended on… on who Nie Qiu had feelings for.
Nie Qiu paused for a moment, then took off the coat Li Kai had draped over her and handed it back to him. “Thank you, you all need to take a taxi, and you’ll be exposed to the wind. If you catch a cold, I’ll feel guilty. Put your clothes back on! I’m going inside soon, I won’t get cold.”
Li Kai and Peng Yu Yang exchanged a look and simultaneously reached out, taking their clothes back from Nie Qiu.
“Then… Nie Qiu, call me if you need anything.” Since Peng Yu Yang’s mobile phone was used for dance practice earlier, most people knew Peng Yu Yang’s phone number, including Nie Qiu. Peng Yu Yang saying this was perfectly normal.
However, Li Kai, upon hearing Peng Yu Yang’s words, assumed Nie Qiu and Peng Yu Yang spoke on the phone often. He quickly took out a notebook and a pen from his schoolbag, writing down his QQ number, MSN, Weibo account, phone number, and even his home landline number. He then tore off a page from the notebook and handed it to Nie Qiu, saying in the same tone as Peng Yu Yang, “Nie Qiu, contact me if you need anything. Here are my numbers.”
Nie Qiu smiled and accepted the paper. “Thank you for visiting my mom today. Let’s go! Let’s go catch a taxi first, I’ll see you off.”
The wind was a bit cold, but after adapting, Nie Qiu no longer shivered. Together with Peng Yu Yang and Li Kai, she walked to the roadside and waved for a taxi. It was quite late now, and with such cold weather, the passing taxis were all occupied. Occasionally, one or two occupied taxis would stop, but upon hearing that they weren’t going in the same direction as the original passengers, they would drive away.
Huang Yan pulled Zhang Hai Yang into an electric tricycle parked not far from the hospital entrance. She wrapped her clothes tighter and waved at Nie Qiu and the others. “Hey, you guys, why don’t you ride in a tricycle with us? It’s really hard to get a taxi at this hour.” Several tricycles were parked at the hospital entrance. They were about the size of bicycles, with a canopy in the back that could seat two people. These tricycles wouldn’t leave and stop picking up passengers until after midnight.
“It’s getting colder and colder now, and this tricycle only has a roof. The wind blows from the front, it could freeze someone to death,” Wang Chao Lei said, waving his hand to indicate he wouldn’t ride the tricycle.
“Then we’ll be leaving first!” Huang Yan said to Wang Chao Lei, then looked at Nie Qiu. “Nie Qiu, we’re leaving now, see you tomorrow!”
Nie Qiu, who had been looking at the tricycles, walked over. She glanced at the driver pedaling the tricycle and said softly to Zhang Hai Yang, “I saw the news. There are a lot of unlicensed taxis and bad people around. You have to take Huang Yan home before you go back to your own place. And… you’re not allowed to bully Huang Yan.”
Zhang Hai Yang was a bit surprised. He browsed the internet every day, so he knew what news was out there. What surprised him was Nie Qiu’s instructions and warnings. He always felt that female friendships weren’t that strong. He had seen too many instances of two girls falling out over pursuing the same boy, or best friends badmouthing each other behind their backs because of the unequal value of birthday gifts.
In his second year of junior high school, he had always thought that Bai Ya and Chen Li had a very good relationship, even better than sisters. Chen Li liked Li Kai, and Bai Ya always helped Chen Li with this and that. But he clearly knew that when Chen Li wasn’t around, Bai Ya would badmouth Chen Li to Li Kai, saying Chen Li didn’t wash her hands after going to the toilet, that Chen Li hit someone, and other things. That’s when he realized that many girls’ friendships were superficial.
Therefore, Nie Qiu’s instructions and warnings surprised him because there was no benefit for Nie Qiu in her words towards him, yet she had said them.
Actually, it’s not that girls’ friendships are shallow. When every woman was still a girl, their friendships were thicker than the distance between heaven and earth. They would talk about studies, gossip, boys, and share their exclusive little secrets. They had common hobbies, common idols. When they saw handsome guys, they’d scream; when they saw dinosaurs, they’d complain. This was their special friendship. They might argue fiercely over trivial matters, but when they needed each other, they would be there to comfort each other, never leaving.
This is the friendship of girls, without the entanglement of benefits, just being together purely.
To be honest, besides surprise, Zhang Hai Yang also felt a bit moved. He nodded immediately. “Don’t worry, I will definitely take Huang Yan home before I go home myself.”
Nie Qiu nodded with satisfaction and looked at Huang Yan. “Don’t do your homework when you get back. Get some rest early, you can wake up early tomorrow to do it.”
“I know, early to bed, early to rise! You too, get some rest early.” Huang Yan smiled and nodded.
Nie Qiu nodded and stepped back a bit. Huang Yan told the tricycle driver the address, and the driver stepped on the pedals, driving the vehicle away.
Wang Chao Lei, Ma Xin, and Luo Xu immediately compromised. Unable to hail a taxi, they had no choice but to take a tricycle back. Ma Xin and Wang Chao Lei shared one, said goodbye to Nie Qiu, and signaled the driver to leave.
Luo Xu got into a tricycle and shouted to Li Kai, “A Kai, let’s go!”
Li Kai stared at Peng Yu Yang. Peng Yu Yang wasn’t in a tricycle, and it was so late. Did he still want to catch a taxi? No, he definitely had something to say to Nie Qiu, otherwise he would have left in a tricycle by now. Li Kai couldn’t relax, feeling that Peng Yu Yang must have some ulterior motive.
