Qiao Songyue wrote in the message verification column: [Are you free tomorrow afternoon?] Lin Jinran hesitated for a moment and then chose to approve.
The two successfully added each other as friends.
According to the display on WeChat, Qiao Songyue found Lin Jinran through someone's recommendation.
Who could this person be?
"I'm free. May I ask what's the matter?" she asked.
Qiao Songyue seemed to have been waiting for the approval. As soon as Lin Jinran finished asking, a long message from her came through.
[The side of my dress tore a slit last night. Thank you for not holding a grudge and choosing to help me immediately. I'm very grateful.]
[If possible, could we meet at a certain place tomorrow afternoon, that is, the afternoon of January 1st? I'd like to express my gratitude in person. That's all.]
[It doesn't matter if you're not willing.]
These three paragraphs of text were written by Qiao Songyue.
Through the phone screen, Lin Jinran seemed to be able to see the person on the other end typing out her sincere feelings word by word.
She was no longer the overbearing and willful person she used to be.
In just one day, Qiao Songyue seemed to have changed into a different person.
She was like an aged wine that had finally given off its mellow aroma.
She became more reserved and began to learn to cultivate herself.
Lin Jinran was straightforward. Since the other person had sincerely invited her, why not go?
She directly replied: [Okay. Just tell me the time and place then.]
Actually, Lin Jinran was also quite curious. Could it be that just because of last night's party, Qiao Songyue had really changed her nature?
It was said that it was easy to change the mountains and rivers but hard to change one's nature.
Was it really true?
Suddenly, she thought of something. She slapped her head hard, logged out of WeChat, and logged into her QQ secondary account. She found Qi and sent a message.
[Happy New Year, Qi. May you be happy every day and everything go smoothly in the new year.]
She had sent New Year greetings to Aunt Ying and her two childhood friends by the river, but she had forgotten about her online friend Qi.
Looking at the current chat box between the two of them, it was empty, with only this New Year greeting message.
Qi hadn't sent her a message either.
Inevitably, Lin Jinran felt a bit disappointed. They had been friends for almost a year. Didn't he even have a greeting for her?
Maybe he had gone to bed early.
She gave herself an assumption and immediately cheered up.
Right. Every time she chatted with Qi, it was basically before twelve o'clock. It was already past two o'clock now.
He must have gone to bed early.
A message popped up on WeChat. It was from Su Qinian. He said he had arrived home. Immediately afterwards, a message also came from her QQ secondary account.
Qi: [Happy New Year. Go to bed early.]
The two messages appeared almost simultaneously.
Lin Jinran first replied to Su Qinian on WeChat without telling him about Qiao Songyue's invitation. Then she slowly replied to Qi on her QQ secondary account.
Wanshan Hongbian: [Happy New Year to you too. Do you remember the thing I told you last time, that I seemed to have fallen in love with that boy? Well, that boy's childhood sweetheart has invited me to meet tomorrow afternoon.]
Qi: [What's going on???]
Wanshan Hongbian: [That girl has liked him since childhood. Maybe because her family dotes on her, she's quite unscrupulous. She's also been pursuing the boy she likes boldly.]
Wanshan Hongbian: [At the New Year's Eve party last night, there was a hole in her dress. I sewed it up for her in time. She said she wanted to invite me out this afternoon to thank me.]
After a long time, Qi sent a message: [So you've already made up your mind?]
Wanshan Hongbian: [Yes. I feel a bit sympathetic to her and also a bit envious of her. She's brave enough to do what she wants without worrying about the consequences.]
Qi: [You can be brave too.]
Can I really?
Lin Jinran stared at this line of text and pulled at the corners of her mouth that were drooping.
Actually, she couldn't.
Her mother was still lying in the hospital. There was also a nominal father in the imperial capital and a stepmother who tried to flatter and then ruin her.
She didn't dare. She was timid and hesitant.
She pinned her hopes on her final college entrance examination results, hoping that it would stimulate her mother to wake up. Then the two of them could break away from Lin Cheng and his family and live a happy life.
However, the attending physician, Duan Dongwei, said that the treatment situation was not very optimistic. They could only take it slowly.
Maybe because there had been no new messages from Lin Jinran for a long time, Qi sent a message.
Qi: [Are you asleep?]
Looking at the red message reminder, Lin Jinran gently blinked her eyes and replied to him: [No. I was just thinking about something else.]
Qi: [It's almost three o'clock. Go to bed early.]
Lin Jinran sent a good-night emoji and then logged out of her secondary account.
She remembered that Aunt Ying had sent all the photos of her mother to her email.
Lin Jinran opened it. The first thing that came into view was a solo photo of her mother. The sun was shining brightly, and her mother was smiling brightly, wearing a popular halter dress at that time.
It was a look she had never seen before.
No, maybe she had seen it when she was three or four years old, but she had forgotten.
As time went by, the arguments between her mother and father gradually increased. Her father came home later and later, and her mother smiled less and less.
In places where Lin Jinran couldn't see, her mother shed tears.
Her mother had a gentle personality and didn't have many firm ideas.
This might be because she had been doted on by her family since childhood.
Back then, her mother had resolutely cut off all contact with her family.
It was only now that Lin Jinran had caught a glimpse of a corner of her grandparents' family. Aunt Ying was her mother's good friend.
When introducing herself, Aunt Ying only said that she was Aunt Ying, not Aunt Xiang, as if deliberately avoiding suspicion.
If it weren't for Song Langqing's straightforwardness and his mention that Aunt Ying's surname was Xiang, Lin Jinran would still have regarded Aunt Ying as just a good friend of her mother.
Lin Jinran drove away the chaotic thoughts in her head and continued to scroll down.
There weren't many photos. There were group photos with Aunt Ying and also with other people.
One by one, they appeared in front of her, as if her mother had come to life and was jumping out of the phone to say hello to her.
At four o'clock in the morning, Lin Jinran finally fell asleep with many speculations in her mind.
That afternoon, Lin Jinran arrived at the appointed place ten minutes early.
Qiao Songyue had already been there. She was sitting by the French window, gently stirring the coffee on the table.
Seeing Lin Jinran come in, she smiled at her and said, "What would you like to drink? An iced Americano?"
Iced Americano?
Lin Jinran was afraid that drinking it would keep her awake at night, so she quickly stopped Qiao Songyue's enthusiasm: "No coffee. Just an ordinary lemonade, please."
The waiter looked at Qiao Songyue and left only after seeing her nod.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep at night if I drink coffee," Lin Jinran explained and looked up at her.
Qiao Songyue didn't dress up much today. She was extremely plain, but her eyebrows and eyes were still delicate, and she was incredibly beautiful.
Qiao Songyue glanced through Lin Jinran at a place not far away. A flash of surprise crossed her eyes, and then she quickly returned to normal.
She tilted her head slightly and looked at Lin Jinran: "Lin Jinran, thank you for not holding a grudge that day."