Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 134 Childhood Sweetheart Falls From the Sky

"have not seen you for a long time."

At the end of the road, the familiar girl stood there.

Luo Jinnian was both surprised and happy.

He rushed forward, and the two children embraced.

"Where have you been all this time?" I asked Uncle Qin, but he just smiled and didn't answer.

After the initial excitement of seeing each other again, Luo Jinnian couldn't hide the questions lurking in his heart.

"Sorry for leaving without saying goodbye—just consider it a secret operation on my part. I'll tell you when the time is right."

The past few years have been difficult to describe, but now she has finally entered middle school, and with her uncle's persuasion, her mother has finally let her out.

However, it's not appropriate to talk about these things with the boy in front of me.

Fei Yuxi, with her hands behind her back, playfully hopped in front of the boy, bent down and picked a flower to put in his head.

You look so beautiful like this.

Fei Yuxi continued to admire the boy's appearance.

"Tsk, you have no idea how many girls have fallen in love with my face at first sight over the years."

After he spoke, Fei Yuxi gave a sour sneer.

Is this a sign of unhappiness?

"Ahem, of course, that's assuming there are other girls. I'm a company owner now, you have no idea how busy I am, how could I have time to see other girls?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Yanxi's head popped out.

"Yuxi, you didn't even look for me when you came here. You have no idea how much we've missed you these past few years."

Luo Jinnian smiled, her eyes bright and without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

Gu Yanxi felt a heavy weight in her heart.

Gu Yanxi knew all too well how much Fei Yuxi had helped him when he was deeply mired in the problems caused by his family of origin.

What's even more terrifying is that, just like the anime she usually watches, if Fei Yuxi is Lao Luo's childhood sweetheart, then wouldn't her return now be like "a childhood sweetheart falling from the sky"?

Unlike the silly Chu Qingning, Fei Yuxi is an absolute formidable rival!

Gu Yanxi, feeling a great sense of crisis, took Luo Jinnian's arm, as if to assert her dominance.

She didn't know what the point of this was, but she hadn't been idle during her two years of disappearance, and Luo Jinnian had become accustomed to simple physical contact.

Fei Yuxi forced a smile and said gently, "I missed you all too. I thought I would feel very uncomfortable coming back after being away for so long, but thankfully this town hasn't changed much."

"That's not true at all. When Yu Xi wasn't around, the old snack street was demolished and relocated to a new address—right, Lao Luo?"

4

Luo Jinnian nodded: "The new food street has just been built, and we've been too busy to go yet. I heard it's built quite well, so we can go check it out together tomorrow afternoon."

Fei Yuxi's furrowed brows relaxed, and she calmed down temporarily: "So you've been spending all your time lately on that new TV series? That low-IQ one—"

"Low IQ Crimes"

99

Gu Yanxi struck up a conversation, and she stepped forward to straighten her best friend's clothes.

The sweet scent of a young girl mixed with shower gel wafted towards her, and only then did Fei Yuxi notice: "Why has your hair suddenly grown so long, sister? Is it for a role you're playing?"

"No, and it's not sudden at all."

Gu Yanxi's eyes and brows were fixed on Luo Jinnian.

Fei Yuxi understood. She clenched her delicate fists; the situation was worse than she had anticipated.

Although she regrets missing out on two years, she has her own reasons for being confident.

"You're all here!" A gentle-looking girl wearing a hat stood in front of them, her delicate hand brushing back the hair that was blowing across her forehead.

With delicate features, she's a pretty young lady.

Chu Qingning blushed as she was stared at by several people with adoring gazes, her cheeks as red as the first rays of sunset.

"I'm here to bring you food. Dad said you told him on the phone that you really missed his cooking, so I brought the food."

Luo Jinnian was indeed hungry, so he pulled the girls to sit in a circle and prepared to enjoy a hot meal.

"Next time, you don't need to bring the food over. Wouldn't it be better if I just came to your house to eat? What if you get burned if it's brought over like this!"

Luo Jinnian took the lunchbox from Chu Qingning's hand. It was heavy, and he could feel the heat coming from the kitchen even through the cloth bag.

He placed the lunchbox on the stone table and opened it. The moment the lid was lifted, the aroma of braised pork ribs and garlic-flavored vegetables wafted out, spreading like a warm, comforting wisp of smoke in the twilight. Fei Yuxi sniffed and genuinely exclaimed, "It smells so good!"

Chu Qingning sat down next to him, took off her hat and tidied her messy hair, her ears still red.

She glanced at the group of people sitting around, then looked at Fei Yuxi for a couple more seconds, recognizing her. Her eyes widened slightly, and she asked in a daze, "Yuxi, you're back?"

The two were once best friends who could talk about anything, although Fei Yuxi did most of the talking while Chu Qingning listened.

Fei Yuxi smiled and nodded, "I just got back a short while ago." Chu Qingning said "Oh," as if she had a lot to ask, but after glancing at the steaming lunchbox on the table, she swallowed her words and said instead, "Let's eat first, the food won't taste good if it gets cold."

Several people sat around the stone table, and Luo Jinnian gave each person a pair of chopsticks.

The lunchbox contained a large amount of food, clearly extra prepared by Chu Qingning's father—braised pork ribs, stir-fried asparagus, tomato and egg soup, and a small dish of pickled radish. Gu Yanxi picked up a piece of pork rib, put it in his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and politely said, "Delicious." The redness at the base of Chu Qingning's ears subsided slightly: "My dad said the ribs were stewed for two hours, so the bones must be tender."

Fei Yuxi ate very slowly. She kept her head down and used her chopsticks to stir the rice in her bowl, as if she was thinking about something. Occasionally, she would look up at Luo Jinnian across from her and Gu Yanxi next to her.

Luo Jinnian noticed that she glanced at him with her chopsticks once while picking up food.

Following her gaze, Luo Jinnian realized that she was looking at Gu Yanxi's hand resting on his arm.

"I'm eating, can you please leave me alone?"

"Putting it on you is giving you face. You have no idea how many little brats outside want to be with me but don't get a chance."

C

"We're young, we shouldn't say things like that."

"A hopeless child," Luo Jinnian sighed.

Gu Yanxi reluctantly withdrew her hand.

Fei Yuxi shifted her gaze, looking at the gradually darkening sky in the distance, and softly hummed in agreement, as if confirming something with herself, or perhaps simply to fill that blank gap.

Chu Qingning broke the silence first: "Sister Yuxi, are you leaving again now that you're back?" Fei Yuxi thought for a moment: "I probably won't leave. I'm going to middle school now, and my mom said I can decide where I want to study."

When Gu Yanxi heard the words "going to middle school", she paused slightly. She hadn't told Fei Yuxi about skipping a grade yet.

One of them jumped and the other didn't. Although they would eventually meet in the same middle school classroom, the sense of separation between them remained subtle.

Gu Yanxi didn't rush to explain. She finished her rice, put down her chopsticks, and looked at Fei Yuxi: "So, which school do you plan to attend?" Fei Yuxi named a school, the one that Luo Jinnian and Gu Yanxi were currently attending.

Chu Qingning glanced silently at Fei Yuxi's expression, then at Gu Yanxi's hand resting on Luo Jinnian's arm, and finally at Luo Jinnian's face.

Luo Jinnian showed no unusual behavior from beginning to end. He was drinking the tomato and egg soup, focused on it, and didn't look up.

As dusk deepened, the streetlights came on, casting a warm yellow glow around the stone table.

Fei Yuxi stood up and patted the grass blades off her skirt: "I should go back now. My mom told me to be home before dark."

After saying "contact me again," she turned and took a few steps, then looked back at Luo Jinnian, opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end just waved.

Luo Jinnian also raised his hand in response, the movement was small, but Fei Yuxi saw it, so she waved her hand more vigorously.

Chu Qingning packed up her lunchbox and stood up: "I should go back too, the dishes haven't been washed yet."

Gu Yanxi released the hand that had been resting on Luo Jinnian's arm, stood up and stretched: "Then I'm leaving too, I have class tomorrow."

The three of them parted ways under the streetlights, each heading in a different direction. Luo Jinnian stood there for a while longer; the autumn evening breeze blew across the river, carrying a hint of coolness and the scent of water.

"The two lines mostly remain in their own positions, unaware that the other line is approaching them."37

.

He stood under the streetlight for a while, then turned and walked towards the rented room.