Chapter 21: Bright Friendship

Under the night sky.

Lin You and his little friend Yuting were collecting bottles as a team.

The headlights of a car unintentionally shone on the boy.

Taking this opportunity, Yuting finally got a clear look at Lin You’s face.

So it was him.

Yuting had actually seen Lin You long before. After all, the two were practically neighbors, living in the same area.

It was just that the two had never had any interaction.

Until recently. Whether it was the children’s park at night or the school during the day, the boy and girl, as if drawn together by fate, gradually came into contact.

At this moment, Lin You kept his eyes lowered, as if he had committed some terrible crime.

Yuting didn’t scold him. For the most part, she was just a little upset about being deceived, but she clearly felt no disgust because of the flaw on Lin You’s face.

“Yuting, I’m sorry.”

The boy’s heart was filled with guilt. He didn’t even dare to look up to observe the color above Yuting’s head.

The green of friendship must have turned into the gray of dislike.

He had seen plenty of gray-colored peers before, like Zhang Chunli at school…

But those grays were based on preconceived notions, looking at Lin You with prejudice and making fun of his physical defect.

It was the purest form of bullying, unrelated to whether Lin You had done anything to offend them.

But now it was different. Lin You believed that it was his own deception and concealment that had caused Yuting to dislike him.

This situation was far more heart-wrenching for Lin You than being disliked for no reason.

“Stop saying sorry. Don’t cry, I haven’t said anything to you…”

Hearing Lin You’s fragile voice and the faint hint of a sob, Yuting’s mood soured. It wasn’t that she was annoyed with Lin You; the seven-year-old couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Her mind was just filled with the thought of comforting the boy.

Years later, when Yuting recalled this day, she would understand that what she felt back then was heartache for Lin You.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

The girl’s comfort had the opposite effect. Lin You continued to apologize over and over, as if this was the only way to vent the guilt in his heart.

“Oh, for goodness sake, Ah You, stop talking and let me talk, okay?”

Making her only boy-friend on the verge of tears, Yuting felt like her head was about to explode.

The most urgent task was to make the boy stop his one-sided, mistaken line of thinking.

Yuting had to speak with a heavier tone, showing a domineering side at a young age.

“Mhm.”

Lin You lowered his head, his small chin touching his chest. Believing he had made a grave mistake, he had no resistance to Yuting’s words.

If Yuting had asked the boy to slap himself, he would have done it without hesitation.

“First of all, I don’t dislike the way you look, Ah You.”

Yuting set aside her usual innocence and liveliness, speaking with the seriousness of a little adult.

“Ah…”

Lin You listened to the girl’s sincere words, feeling as if he were dreaming.

Besides his grandmother, he had never heard such words before.

Even Zhong Yuxiu, who had shown him kindness today, had never said she didn’t mind his appearance.

Yuxiu’s thought process: “Saying such things could easily hurt your sensitive and fragile heart, so I deliberately avoided the topic of appearance.”

The two girls chose different ways to get close to Lin You.

Yuting approached the boy with a “straight-ball” method. Yuxiu, being a bit more sensible, instead adopted a gentler, more subtle approach.

“I’m not lying to you, Ah You. If I’m lying, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!”

To prove the truth of her words, Yuting went all out. She raised her small hand and, mimicking a line from a TV drama, made a solemn oath.

“Yuting, stop. I believe you.”

Hearing these terrible oaths, the boy began to worry for the girl.

His head, which had been hanging low, finally lifted. He dared to look the girl in the eye again.

The girl wasn’t deceiving him.

The even deeper green than before was the best proof.

It was the light of friendship, the most direct representation of Yuting’s feelings for Lin You.

“Hehe, that’s great!”

After successfully gaining the boy’s trust, the girl was also very happy, cheering excitedly.

“Yuting, you can turn on your flashlight now.”

At this moment, the bud of friendship broke through the dark soil. Lin You no longer deliberately hid his appearance.

Just as Yuting had said, since she didn’t mind, why shouldn’t he show himself openly and honestly?

Lin You didn’t want to betray this friend’s trust, so he had to be his true self.

So far, besides his grandmother, Yuting was the only peer who could make him think this way.

“Is that okay? I don’t want to force you, Ah You. If you’re uncomfortable, then we can forget it.”

After understanding the boy’s situation, Yuting had suddenly become much more sensible.

“It’s okay. I don’t want to hide anymore!”

Lin You stated his position again.

“Okay!”

A beam of light shot towards the sky, illuminating a pretty little face with delicate skin.

It turned out Yuting was shining the flashlight up at her own chin.

“I’m the ghost of Yuting!”

The girl childishly pretended to be a ghost.

“Hehe, Yuting isn’t scary at all!”

Lin You was no longer nervous and was successfully amused by Yuting.

“Awooo, Yuting is going to eat Ah You!”

Yuting was in a playful mood and, baring her teeth, pounced on the boy.

“Aah, no!”

The sound of the boy and girl’s cheerful laughter and playful roughhousing echoed through the alley.

You run, I’ll chase. The boy had nowhere to go and was cornered by Yuting.

“Ah You, I’ll protect you from now on. I’m a second-grader, I’m very strong.”

Yuting had had enough fun. She mimicked the boy’s posture, leaning her back against the wall beside his left shoulder, her tone like that of an older sister.

“Yuting, I’m so ugly, so many people don’t like me. Why are you different?”

Lin You changed the subject. He really wanted to know why the girl was so different.

“Because you helped me, Ah You. And besides, it’s not like you want to look like this. I’m not the kind of bad girl who repays kindness with ingratitude.”

Yuting had always remembered the helplessness she felt that first night, crying in the children’s park. It was the kind boy who had extended a helping hand.

That was the catalyst for their friendship.

It was the boy’s own kindness that had earned him Yuting’s unwavering friendship.

Otherwise, even if Yuting didn’t dislike Lin You’s appearance, it would have been difficult for them to play together.

“So that’s why…”

The girl’s reason wasn’t as perfect as the boy had imagined, but it was enough.

“Ah You, we’re friends. That will never change.”

Thinking she hadn’t been sincere enough, Yuting took the initiative to hold Lin You’s soft little hand.

“It’s so great to be friends with you, Yuting.”

Lin You felt the warmth from the girl’s hand and was infected by her positive, sunny mood.

“Speaking of which, I think I saw you from my classroom window today, Ah You, holding hands with a girl on the second-floor hallway?”

Their friendship had deepened. Yuting spoke more openly, proactively asking about something that had been on her mind.