It was just a love letter; I'm really no great writer!

The sky was dark, and the streetlights cast a white halo around the road. This place was rather remote, and there weren't many people around late at night.

After studying the smooth lamppost for a while...

"Why is it stuck?" Xia Liang asked suspiciously, pinching the tip of her chin.

She had seen short videos like this before, where people would automatically lock themselves in place if they sat cross-legged while hugging a pillar.

"Tsk. It doesn't look too difficult. Just use your hands to support yourself and get up."

"If you don't have strength in your hands, you'll get stuck." Lu Ran hugged the lamppost and demonstrated how to sit cross-legged. "Look, if your feet get hooked in the back of your legs, you can't exert any strength. You can only use the strength of your hands gripping the lamppost to... get free."

When he said "untie," he used his hands to gently untie his legs and stood up smoothly.

Phew... Lu Ran and Zheng Yue were so bored before that they tried using the osmanthus tree in the school.

Once locked, it's truly impossible to unlock!

Because sitting cross-legged causes the knee joint to rotate inward, and the pillar provides no leverage, creating a mechanical lock, so never try it!

When Lu Ran just demonstrated, he didn't completely release the force; he could immediately untie it by exerting force.

Seeing Lu Ran easily untie it, Xia Liang gave a soft snort: "What's so difficult about that?"

"Alright, alright, let's see your performance." Lu Ran took a step back and crossed his arms.

Xia Liang hugged the lamppost with her arms, her long legs crossed and clamped around the pillar, like a giant panda hugging bamboo.

"so?"

"Yes, yes, you need to hook your foot in the crook of your knee and slowly slide down."

"Hmph, it's nothing..."

Pang! Xia Liang's round and perky little bottom sat on her right ankle, her left leg pressing down on her right leg, and her right leg pressing down on her left foot, her two slender and well-proportioned legs intertwined like a braid... She was stunned.

"Huh?"

She discovered that she couldn't pull her left foot out...

"Huh?"

Even with my hands on the ground, I couldn't exert any strength. Instead, my feet were numb from being pressed down. After struggling a couple of times, the grip tightened even more.

"Huh? Huh?"

Xia Liang looked up, on the verge of tears.

"Let me help you up." Lu Ran suppressed a laugh.

"Wait, wait, don't help me, I can get up by myself!" Xia Liang clung to the pole, gritting her teeth and persevering. "Ahhh!"

Lu Ran covered her mouth with her hand, afraid that she would laugh out loud.

Xia Liang amazed everyone when she made her debut at the start of the school year.

With a face like an angel, a smile like a sweet girl, and a slender figure, she is excellent and versatile in every aspect, captivating countless naive young men.

But who would have thought that beneath her lively and capable exterior lay such a... silly persona.

……

A few moments later

……

"Don't help me up... there must be a way..."

Xia Liang murmured to herself.

She felt her legs were completely numb, but she stubbornly insisted, "It must be because I ate too much just now."

"Yes, yes, you're the best. Let me help you up. Let's go home soon," Lu Ran said earnestly from the side.

"Don't help me!" Xia Liang had a sudden idea. "Help me take off my shoes, because they're too big and that's why they're stuck."

"Your shoes aren't very big either."

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and take them off!"

Helpless, Lu Ran had no choice but to squat down and remove the white shoe from the girl's right foot, revealing her slender foot covered in white socks, with the outline of her toes faintly visible.

Such tiny, delicate feet... Could she really...?

"That solves everything..."

Summer coolness rallied, and she tried her best to rotate her flexible ankles, each toe baring its teeth and claws in defiance.

"No, the friction is too great! Socks, help me take off my socks!" Her fighting spirit was rekindled.

"...How about I help you up?"

"Don't help me, I can get out by myself. I can slide out barefoot."

"Will it smell?" Lu Ran hesitated.

"Absolutely not!" Xia Liang said confidently. "I washed my feet after school."

"Okay." Lu Ran held his breath, lifted the cuff of her flared pants with one hand, and grabbed Xia Liang's slender ankle with the other, slowly pulling down her socks.

The streetlights cast a soft glow, illuminating a delicate, fragrant foot that appeared flawless, like the finest mutton-fat jade, warm and lustrous.

Lu Ran casually tossed the wad of cotton socks into his shoe.

It still has a smell, but it's a faint fragrance of glutinous rice; I don't know how I smelled it.

"Great! This time we'll definitely succeed!"

"Goose, goose, goose, goose..."

"..."

Xia Liang strained in her throat, but her feet remained unchanged.

It looks like a live fish jumping on the shore.

"...I'm exhausted." Her eyes dimmed.

Lu Ran, seeing that he was exhausted, said, "You've already done a great job, you're in the top 1% out of 99%. Let me help you up."

Xia Liang stubbornly refused to believe in superstitions.

"No, no, how did you get up? I grabbed the bar too. Is there some trick to it?"

Lu Ran didn't dare to say that he hadn't locked it properly, and vaguely said, "There's no trick to it. You don't have much strength in your arms, so you should practice on a horizontal bar more often."

"oh."

"Would you like to try again?"

Lu Ran looked around. "Maybe I should go back first and take the grilled gluten to them; it's all cold." He turned to leave.

"Don't……"

Xia Liang's eyelashes trembled, and her delicate throat moved slightly. "Hold me."

"what?"

"Quickly, carry me down! It's all your fault for suddenly saying you wanted to hug the pillar! This is no human being able to untie it! And you were just making sarcastic remarks!"

"Looks like you still have the strength."

"Don't go... Lu Ran! If you dare leave, I'll..."

Xia Liang watched Lu Ran walk a few meters away and became extremely anxious, but she couldn't move at all.

"What are you?" Lu Ran circled back and chuckled.

"I'm still angry with you," Xia Liang said softly, suppressing her resentment and smiling sweetly. "I know you're the best person, you would never abandon your little sister, right, Brother Ran~"

"Haha, you should have done this earlier." Lu Ran thought of his proud and aloof Zhuozhuo, who was quite adorable.

He supported Xia Liang's cold arm from behind and lifted it up.

With him as a support, Xia Liang was finally out of trouble.

She planted her left foot on the ground, her leg muscles felt numb and throbbing like springs, and she cried out in pain.

She let out a soft moan and fell into Lu Ran's arms, placing her hands on his broad shoulders.

The girl breathed softly, her warm breath sending shivers down Lu Ran's spine. For a moment, he didn't know what to do with his hands...

He swayed as if drunk, and Xia Liang followed him, bouncing along with him, her right foot hooked around his.

"Would it kill me to lean on you for a bit!" Xia Liang complained, shaking her numb thigh to get the blood flowing faster.

"Hey, how long are you planning to draw, Light Death Summer?" Lu Ran turned his head away.

"Well, it's just my first practice piece, it should be finished in about ten chapters." Xia Liang looked into Lu Ran's dark pupils. "And you, how much of it do you have left to finish?"

"There are still four more installments." Lu Ran estimated that there would be a total of 12 words in the end, which he split into six chapters.

"So fast..." Xia Liang muttered, "I wish our magazine could publish four more issues."

"Were sales bad this time?"

"Sales at our outlets are booming. We won't have the detailed statistics until next week. I hope this isn't just my imagination."

Xia Liang smiled brightly, "I really admire Yi Shuang. I only realized how difficult it is after I started managing finances."

"You've done a great job, really," Lu Ran said sincerely.

From introducing comics to promoting performances.

It may seem simple, but it actually puts a great strain on a person's organizational and execution abilities.

"Hehe, I think so too." Xia Liang gave him a light punch. "Much better, let's go back!"

She squatted down, slipped her shoes and socks on her delicate feet, turned to Lu Ran fiercely, and said, "Don't tell anyone I'm locked up!"

"OK."

Lu Ran thought to himself that it was a pity Hasselblad wasn't there, otherwise it would have been so interesting to film that scene.

……

Tonight, the moonlight is faint, and the shadows of trees and grass are dark.

The neighborhood is lively in the evenings. Aunties are walking their kids, uncles are jogging, and kids are playing soccer... It's noisy and vibrant, a fun place to be around.

I walked down to the apartment building.

Upon noticing Zheng Yue pushing her mountain bike, seemingly having waited quite a while, he quickly approached her, "Brother Ran... uh, Sister Liang."

"Why are you back?" Lu Ran asked.

Zheng Yue looked troubled.

"This is the mountain bike you bought? You're such a nouveau riche." Xia Liang clicked her tongue and shook her head. "You're not going off-roading in the mountains, so buying such an expensive bike is completely unnecessary..."

"Want to ride?"

"Yay!"

Summer coolness has passed, so I went for a bike ride.

Zheng Yue and Lu Ran sat down on the bench in front of the building, and Zheng Yue sighed, "Brother Ran, what should I do?"

"Can you finish in one go?"

Lu Ran was speechless after hearing what Zheng Yue said.

It turns out that Zheng Yue and Zhu Yishu went for a bike ride along the river.

After going on a trip and parting ways, I realized I had fallen for her, and then I was torn between all sorts of things.

"Brother Ran, I accidentally touched her hand today. Does she... have feelings for me? Or does she just see me as a childhood friend?" Zheng Yue asked with a worried look on her face.

Lu Ran puffed out his chest and said confidently, "Believe me, she's 99% attracted to you. You even touched her hand..."

Suddenly, he lost confidence. "Well, we also need to analyze each specific problem..."

This thing can't be generalized; for example, Xia Liang is even more childish than an elementary school student.

"A casual touch of hands is nothing; it just means she's 50% not averse to you," Lu Ran said confidently.

"I think so too. After all, we were childhood friends, and we haven't seen each other for so many years... I didn't expect her to be so pretty," Zheng Yue scratched her head. "Did I fall for her too quickly?"

...You're asking me? Lu Ran was speechless.

He could only rely on his meager experience: "Don't worry about whether it's fast or not."

"If you like someone, don't leave it blank. Just write a love letter. I won't write it for you this time, and don't confess your feelings right away."

"Just tell me about your past experiences, your current feelings, and your future goals. Let's be pen pals for now."

"Brother Ran, you are my god!" Zheng Yue's eyes lit up, and she burst forth with boundless energy.

While accompanying Zheng Yue to the stationery store, Lu Ran also bought a box of colorful letter paper, which the shopkeeper said could increase the chances of a successful confession.

As he came out, he looked up and saw the bright moon with its hazy light.

I need to write a love letter to Zhao Yishuang...

Is this considered a make-up exam? To make up for that missed heartbeat when we first met in our youth.