Hedgehog's Belly - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

“I originally wanted to go back this week, but I was suddenly notified at the last minute to participate in a practical exercise—” On the phone, Yan Qingzhu would always nag about the trivialities of daily life, while Luo Mu always wore headphones, listening to her voice while reviewing her lessons.

“Over a hundred kilometers, it really is quite exhausting.” The tip of Luo Mu’s capacitive pen lightly touched the tablet screen. Thinking of this round-trip distance, her eyelashes trembled slightly; she didn’t know how that fool managed to keep running back and forth.

“Is Muzi-jie feeling sorry for me?” Then, from the other end of the line, she heard Yan Qingzhu suppressing a smile, answering pretentiously: “It’s not that hard, the bullet train gets there in thirty minutes.”

“As long as it’s not an emergency, coming back for a trip is actually quite easy.” Yan Qingzhu’s tone was cozy, as if as long as she was willing, she could appear in front of Luo Mu right now.

Luo Mu was dazed for a few seconds.

An emergency…

Was she referring to the time Yan Yu got sick?

Luo Mu then let out a sigh. She understood very well that Yan Yu was Yan Qingzhu’s bottom line. Whenever the topic of her younger sister was brought up, a trace of tenderness would always appear in Yan Qingzhu’s eyes, like new ripples appearing on the surface of a calm pond.

It was because of blood.

It was a bond that could not be broken.

There are truly too many things in this world that are difficult to explain.

“Muzi-jie?” Yan Qingzhu noticed there was no movement from the other side. It wasn’t until Luo Mu gave a soft “Mm” that she smiled faintly and asked: “Are you going back to Chujiang during the summer break?”

“I’m not going back,” Luo Mu answered simply. And just as she expected, Yan Qingzhu didn’t ask why she wasn’t going back.

“It’s fine not to go back. When the time comes, we’ll just stay in Lingyang, or take Yan Yu to Huahai to find Ye Nanqiao and the others…” Yan Qingzhu calmly narrated the schedule and plans. As for whether they were true or false, Luo Mu didn’t care; as long as she was with Yan Qingzhu, anywhere was the same.

However, once summer break passed, the arrangements for the exchange student program would have to be taken seriously. Luo Mu’s eyelashes rose and fell with her breathing. Regarding that matter with Lin Qiyun, if it wasn’t settled yet, the road ahead would be difficult to walk.

If it was delayed by one day, it would be a day’s worth of trouble. Even if she went back to Chujiang, it would certainly make that old man uneasy, and in the end, he would still need his precious adopted son to coax him.

In a daze, Luo Mu’s pen tip paused. She heard that in Yan Qingzhu’s plans, besides the two of them, Yan Yu would also be included.

“You and Yan Yu, you sisters have such a good relationship,” Luo Mu said with a faint smile.

Sometimes it was indeed a contradiction. Luo Mu could never figure out why—even though it was the same blood—Luo Zhicheng loathed her so much. To the point that he abandoned her alone in the countryside when she was young, left unremembered and unvisited.

“Hmm?” Yan Qingzhu gradually sensed her low spirits and said: “If you don’t want Yan Yu to go, then let her stay in Lingyang by herself.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Luo Mu let out a “puchi” laugh, her eyes as gentle as a shallow pool, her tone leisurely as she said: “I was just simply reflecting; you’ve raised Yan Yu very well.”

In the few seconds after the words fell, Yan Qingzhu did not react. Then, she softly called her name.

“Luo Mu.”

“My kindness to Yan Yu is something I owe her.”

The air suddenly froze at that moment. Luo Mu felt a slight tremor in Yan Qingzhu’s tone. Looking at Yan Qingzhu, who regarded her sister as her bottom line, Luo Mu caught a glimpse of the endless shackles upon her.

“Sorry, there are some things I want to tell you in person,” Yan Qingzhu spoke with difficulty, her tone becoming heavy and serious.

Luo Mu replied: “Mm, we’ll talk when we meet.”

Luo Mu actually understood that the so-called “talk when we meet” was nothing more than a tactic to change the subject. Naturally, she couldn’t bear to let Yan Qingzhu tear open old wounds again in front of her. When they met again, Luo Mu hoped Yan Qingzhu would share interesting stories that would bring tears of joy to her eyes.

Life is short and fickle. As for those crude scars of the past, Luo Mu hoped she would never mention them again.

“Then, see you then.” Luo Mu swiped the screen to look at her schedule, her nose feeling sour as she lamented: “There will be many more days to meet in the future.”

It took all their luck for life to allow them to reunite.

The summer wind made the leaves rustle. A coffee shop was playing slow, indie light music. Luo Mu was suddenly stunned for a few seconds, lowering her eyes in hesitation.

From now on, she would no longer be alone.

Luo Mu smiled faintly: “Where do you want to go to play in the future?”

Yan Qingzhu pondered for a while, then said: “There are quite a few places I want to go. To the beach with you… I also really want to see the fireworks display in Japan…”

“I also want to raise a little hedgehog,” Yan Qingzhu added.

Listening to her narration, Luo Mu hadn’t expected this silly girl to have so many thoughts.

“Why do you want to raise a hedgehog?” Luo Mu’s eyes curved into smiles as she couldn’t help but tease: “When the time comes and it sneaks away, you won’t even be able to catch it.”

“Then I won’t catch it,” Yan Qingzhu answered very decisively, smiling nonchalantly: “When it wants to come back, it will come back.”

“Are you that confident it will come back on its own?”

“You bet.”

“Then what if it were me?”

“Hmm?”

Luo Mu didn’t elaborate on the question, but Yan Qingzhu understood her meaning in an instant.

If Luo Mu chose to leave, would Yan Qingzhu try to make her stay?

Yan Qingzhu hadn’t expected Luo Mu to ask that, but her expression remained calm and she wasn’t very surprised.

Mixed with the ambiguous atmosphere of the light music, her voice was soft, like a whisper in the ear:

“Wherever you want to go, go there.”

“If you want to come back, no matter where you are, I will bring you back.” Yan Qingzhu’s tone originally carried an indescribable solemnity, but then it became like the autumn moon reflected in a pool, rippling.

“As long as you say you are willing.”

The sudden words made Luo Mu’s ears turn uncontrollably crimson. Suddenly someone passed by, accidentally knocking the collection of poems Luo Mu often read off the table. The book hit the ground and fell open. Luo Mu waved her hand to indicate to the person that it was okay, then bent down to pick it up.

But in that moment, her eyes fell upon a passage of text.

“Perhaps the beginning of a story is destined to be a storm.”

And after the call with Yan Qingzhu ended, Qin Jiahui finally hurried upstairs to meet with Luo Mu.

“Still being all lovey-dovey with your dear baby?” Qin Jiahui set her bag aside, her eyes full of banter. It was a pity she couldn’t “eat the dog food” (witness the public displays of affection) of her best friend.

The corners of Luo Mu’s lips lifted as she shook her head.

“The sentimentalist disguises themselves more gently than the prey, so that the prey mistakenly thinks they are just as passionate as them.” Qin Jiahui suddenly remembered this quote. She flipped through the menu and sighed again.

Luo Mu picked up a hint of something in her tone: “What do you mean?”

“I’m telling you not to have ‘love brain’ (be blinded by love),” Qin Jiahui rolled her eyes, thinking that such a simple truth should be understood by the person in front of her better than anyone.

Luo Mu then remembered that she hadn’t told Qin Jiahui immediately when she first got together with Yan Qingzhu; Qin Jiahui only found out from other alumni. That day, Luo Mu stayed with her while she drank all night. Unfortunately, Luo Mu never got drunk, while Qin Jiahui, who collapsed after one cup, felt even more annoyed.

She felt like the whole world was being happy behind her back.

On the day Qin Jiahui broke up after being cheated on, she had just learned that Luo Mu and Yan Qingzhu were together.

“You all kept it from me… You too, you didn’t tell me either.” The drunk Qin Jiahui swayed with a wine bottle, her mind a bit incoherent. She hammered at Luo Mu like an unreasonable child, but the force wasn’t great, and Luo Mu let her act spoiled.

Or perhaps, she was actually very sober.

In this moment, she could finally complain and throw a tantrum without restraint, like a child.

“Why are my parents always nagging me to find a partner, always nagging me to get married… I, I’m only twenty.”

“Why can some people be loved for so many years? Why is it that among all the men I meet, not a single one is sincere?!”

Qin Jiahui wanted to drink straight from the bottle, but was eventually stopped by Luo Mu. Finally, Luo Mu poured the wine into a cup, and Qin Jiahui snatched it and gulped it down.

Luo Mu couldn’t experience the haziness of being drunk, nor did she understand why people always chose alcohol to escape the bitterness of life.

Luo Mu was indeed curious—did Yan Qingzhu choose alcohol because she also wanted to escape the sorrows of life?

“It was my fault for not telling you in advance. What do you want to drink? My treat.” Luo Mu smiled apologetically and spread the menu on the table: “Didn’t you want to eat chocolate mousse?”

“Two girls dating… I might not be able to accept it normally, but if it’s you, I actually… it’s okay.” Qin Jiahui pursed her lips, thinking twice before speaking with difficulty.

“I know, little mother-in-law.” Luo Mu imitated her tone and smiled faintly. She directly ordered the chocolate mousse and cookies online, and finally, the fruit tea that Qin Jiahui always ordered.

Qin Jiahui’s expression froze slightly. She leaned close to Luo Mu’s ear and asked in a low voice: “You haven’t told her yet, have you?”

“Hmm?” Luo Mu felt confused.

Qin Jiahui’s tone was heavy, like a reminder to Luo Mu of an unavoidable problem: “The matter of the exchange student program.”

Luo Mu was suddenly stunned, her heart feeling as if it had skipped a beat.

“In a year’s time, the perspectives and viewpoints of two people can change significantly. This isn’t something that can be supported by love alone.” Qin Jiahui reminded her, her gaze full of worry. She was afraid the choice the person in front of her made would lead to endless regret and self-blame at some point in the future.

As expected, a Qin Jiahui who wasn’t in love had a clearer head than at any other time.

“I… I haven’t decided yet.”

Facing this question, it wasn’t that Luo Mu hadn’t thought about it; it was just that whenever she faced Yan Qingzhu, she wanted to cherish every second of their time together. As for what came after, Luo Mu was indeed a coward, finding it difficult to say words of finality to Yan Qingzhu.

But Qin Jiahui knew Luo Mu’s future plans very well. Ever since high school, she had been waiting for the opportunity to study abroad for advanced training, wanting to prove to her father that she was not inferior to his adopted son. Back then, the seventeen-year-old Luo Mu had not included love in her future plans.

“In high school, you always told me you wanted to go abroad to delve deep and specialize. You said that wouldn’t just be for one year; it might be three years, five years, or even longer. But now, the people you and Yan Qingzhu will encounter later will be different, the events will be different, and even your time might be different.”

Qin Jiahui’s voice gradually became softer, yet she bluntly laid bare the facts to Luo Mu.

The seventeen-year-old Luo Mu would fantasize with Qin Jiahui about what they would be like when they grew up. She would surely be infinitely successful, firmly believing she would become someone unfettered by any rules or restrictions.

But the twenty-year-old Luo Mu had to pick up the fragments of daily life and balance the relationship between fantasy and reality.

Perhaps love cannot just be love.

“Do you want to tell her, or do you not want to tell her?” Qin Jiahui held Luo Mu’s hand and asked once more.

Luo Mu’s pale fingertips trembled, her breathing didn’t dare to fluctuate, and her voice was as thin as silk. Her nose felt sour, and the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. She looked up and gazed at Qin Jiahui’s face, her shimmering eyes telling the person in front of her all the answers.

Qin Jiahui saw it. She was quiet for a few seconds, then let out a deep sigh.

“In truth, you are very afraid that Yan Qingzhu will stand in your way, aren’t you?”