Green plums cannot become lovers.

A gentle breeze wafted by, carrying the sweet aroma of popcorn and the smoky scent of a distant barbecue stall. The sky above gradually changed color; the first star had appeared, hanging brightly on the western horizon, like a diamond that had been left behind.

"Asuka." Himegami Karen suddenly spoke.

"Ok?"

Are you happy today?

"happy."

"That's good." She smiled, a gentle smile under the light.

The two walked out of the amusement park and headed towards the station. The streetlights cast long shadows of them on the sidewalk, one on each side, very close together, like two parallel lines that would never separate.

An and the bird looked up at the sky. A few more stars had appeared, but the moon hadn't risen yet, and only a faint purple hue remained on the horizon.

Volume 1: Chapter 274 Will You Be My Boyfriend?

After taking the girl home, An and Asuka set off alone on their way home as the sun set.

The clouds on the horizon were dyed in layers of color by the setting sun. The part closest to the sun was a fiery orange-red, which turned into a light orange around the edge, and then a pale pink. At the edge of the sky, the color faded so much that it almost blended into the deep blue night sky.

His shadow stretched long and thin, falling on the sidewalk like a slender river flowing forward with his steps. The shops along the street gradually lit up, warm yellow light filtering through their windows, mingling with the last rays of light on the horizon, creating a gentle glow that made one want to stop and linger.

He arrived at the platform and waited for the bus to arrive. The platform was small, with only a lone sign displaying the bus numbers and timetables.

An elderly woman sat on a bench under the sign, carrying a convenience store bag containing a few simple groceries. She sat quietly, her gaze fixed on the distance, lost in thought. An and Asuka didn't sit down; they stood at the edge of the platform, watching the occasional cars passing by on the opposite street and the hurried pedestrians.

The setting sun cast a soft orange glow on him, tinging his white T-shirt with a pale orange hue. He squinted slightly, savoring the last warmth of the day. The bus hadn't arrived yet when two more people boarded the platform: a middle-aged man carrying a briefcase and a primary school student with a backpack.

The man glanced at his watch, frowned, and then put it down. A primary school student squatted on the ground, drawing something on the cement with his finger, drawing intently as if completing a remarkable work of art.

As An and Asuka were watching the elementary school student draw, they suddenly caught a familiar figure out of the corner of their eye.

Across the street, a young girl was walking slowly with her head down. She walked very slowly, her steps dragging, as if each step required great effort, or as if she didn't know where to place her feet.

Her skin was a bit darker than most girls', a healthy tan from spending a lot of time outdoors, now bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun. Her short brown hair, with slightly upturned ends, was adorned with a lemon-shaped hair accessory that shimmered with a faint golden sheen in the sunset.

Salted lemon.

An and Asuka looked at her, thought for a moment, and decided not to greet her first.

After all, they weren't that close yet. Although they spent a lot of time together during the training camp, they were mostly together and only spoke to each other a handful of times.

Besides, the other person seemed to be thinking about something, with their head down, heavy steps, completely immersed in their own world, so it wouldn't be good to disturb them rashly.

He decided to pretend he didn't see it.

However, when they noticed that the other person was about to bump into a nearby telephone pole with their head down and had no intention of stopping, An and Asuka decided to give them a warning.

An and Asuka glanced left and right to make sure there were no cars, then crossed the road and jogged across. Just a second before the girl's forehead was about to make intimate contact with the telephone pole, he reached out and gently patted her shoulder.

"Shao Shio, what are you thinking about?"

The blow wasn't heavy, but it was enough to jol her awake from her daze. Salted Lemon jerked her head up, her eyes glazed over for a moment, as if she had just been pulled from a very deep dream, not yet having had a chance to see the world clearly.

Her gaze lingered on An and Asuka's faces for a few seconds before slowly focusing. Then she recognized him and forced a smile.

"Oh, it's Anhe..." Her voice was much lower and slower than usual, as if something was weighing it down, unable to rise. "Hello..."

"......Hello."

An and Asuka keenly sensed that something was wrong with the girl.

Although they hadn't spent much time together, he understood the girl's personality fairly well. During the few days they stayed together, he could hear her sunny and cheerful laughter most of the time.

She seemed to have inexhaustible energy; she spoke loudly, walked with a brisk pace, and her whole face glowed when she laughed. The name "Salted Lemon," like her, was vibrant, bright, and refreshingly sweet and sour.

The person standing in front of him now was like a flower wilted by the sun, its petals drooping and its color faded.

"Shao Shio-kun, is there something you need?"

An and Asuka asked curiously. If the other party encountered any trouble, he might be able to help within his capabilities.

He wasn't the type to meddle in other people's private affairs, but since he'd run into someone he knew, he couldn't pretend he hadn't seen anything.

"No, it's nothing."

The roasted salt lemon paused for a moment, then bit its lip and gently shook its head.

Her lips were a little dry, and when she bit them, a shallow mark was left that quickly disappeared. Her fingers gripped the strap of her handbag tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white.

This didn't look like anything was wrong at all. But An and Asuka didn't ask any further. Everyone has their own secrets, things they don't want to tell others. He wasn't anyone to her, he had no right to ask, and no right to demand that she open her heart.

"I see. Okay then." He nodded and said, "Goodbye then, Shao Shio. Take care on your journey."

The sound of a bus approaching came from behind, the roar of its engine growing louder as it drew nearer, and the crunching sound of tires rolling over the asphalt road becoming clearer and clearer.

An and Asuka glanced back; the rural bus was slowly pulling into the station, its route number lit up in red on the electronic display screen at the front. He waved to Salted Lemon, turned, crossed the road, and boarded the bus.

"Hmm..." Salted Lemon forced a smile and nodded. She watched the boy's back as he crossed the road, boarded the bus, and watched the doors close behind him.

The bus started, its exhaust pipe spewing out a small plume of gray smoke, its taillights flashing briefly, before slowly pulling away from the station and merging into the evening traffic.

She stood by the roadside, watching the car's taillights grow smaller and smaller until they became a tiny red dot and disappeared at the end of the street.

Then she turned around, ready to continue walking home.

However, she stopped in her tracks as soon as she turned around.

A utility pole stood less than half a meter in front of him, its gray concrete pillar plastered with small advertisements; the words on the signs were barely visible in the twilight. If the boy hadn't warned him, he would have bumped into it in a couple more steps.

She glanced back at the street; the bus was gone, its taillights no longer visible. Only the empty road and the long shadows of the trees cast by the setting sun remained.

I realized I had spoken to Anhe in such a terrible tone.

Salted Lemon patted her cheeks in annoyance. She shouldn't have acted like this. This negative attitude was so unlike her.

She is Salted Lemon, the one who is always energetic, always smiling, and always at the forefront. She shouldn't let others see her like this, she shouldn't make those who worry about her worry even more, she shouldn't—

She rubbed her cheeks vigorously, trying to shake off the negative emotions and dispel the tightness in her chest. She rubbed hard, her cheeks turning red, and her skin aching from the friction of her fingers.

But soon she felt her palms were wet.

She stopped what she was doing and looked down at her palm.

Warm tears were on her face; she didn't know when they had fallen, but they had been wiped everywhere as she rubbed her cheeks—on her palms and the backs of her hands. The clear liquid shimmered faintly in the setting sun, like shattered glass.

She looked up at the sky. The last rays of light on the horizon were fading, the orange-red turning to grayish-purple, and then to deep blue. The stars hadn't appeared yet, nor had the moon; the entire sky was empty, like a faded old cloth.

She lowered her head again, looking at her hands. The tears on her palms had been dried by the wind, leaving a faint trace, like a dried-up stream.

She clenched her fists and held them at her sides.

Then she continued walking forward, her steps still slow, her silhouette still so lonely. One by one, the streetlights lit up; as she passed one, her shadow was pulled behind her; as she passed another, her shadow was dragged forward.

She walked on, past the flower shop, past the stationery store, past the convenience store she frequented.

She didn't stop.

An and Asuka didn't pay much attention to the matter of burning salted lemons.

Everyone has low moments; it's nothing serious. Maybe you had a fight with a friend, maybe your parents scolded you, or maybe you didn't do well on a test.

These things will be fine in a few days. Thinking this, he found a window seat on the bus and sat down, watching the scenery outside the window gradually recede into the distance.

However, he was stunned when he saw the message on his phone the next morning.

The phone screen was lit up, and a new message appeared in the notification bar. The sender's name was "Boiled Salt Lemon".

He clicked on it and, upon seeing the line of text, thought he had misread it. He looked at it again, but the text remained unchanged.

Salted Lemon: Anhe, can you be my boyfriend?

An and Asuka stared at the screen, their brows slowly furrowing.

This wasn't a normal request, not because he felt unworthy of being liked, but because he could sense that behind this message wasn't attraction or affection, but something else entirely.

Something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but was certain of, like the last piece of driftwood a drowning person grabs in their panic—not necessarily because the piece of driftwood was particularly good, but simply because she needed to hold onto something.

He keenly sensed that this wasn't the girl's true feeling. Something must have gone wrong for her to say that.

He thought for a moment and then sent a message to the girl.

Anhe Asuka: Where are you?

The reply came shortly after the message was sent, as if I had been waiting for it.

Salted lemon: A coffee shop on Fengqiao Road.

An and Asuka put away their phones and went out.

The late summer morning was already a bit cool, unlike the sweltering heat of the past few days. The sky was high and blue, with few clouds, and a breeze blew from afar, carrying the fresh scent of rice paddies. He walked quickly, his strides longer than usual.

He arrived at the location quickly, only to find the girl waiting for him at the door.

She was wearing a white crop top, and her hair was combed neater than usual, but there were faint dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept well the night before. When she saw him, she smiled, but the smile was forced, as if she were trying too hard to force it.

“Anhe.” Her voice was very soft.

"What happened?"

An and Asuka asked directly. He wasn't good at beating around the bush, nor did he want to. Since she had sent that message, it meant she needed help, and since he had come, he wanted to help her.

The roasted lemon opened its mouth, then closed it again. Her gaze shifted to the side, landing on the nearly withered green plant at the entrance of the coffee shop, on the sun-bleached white tiles on the ground, and on the toes of her shoes.

She didn't know where to begin, or how to say it.

"How can I help you if you don't tell me?"

"I feel helpless," An and Asuka said. "They said such bold things just now, but now they don't dare to say anything."

He looked at her lowered eyelashes, her tightly pursed lips, and her clenched, white-knuckled fingers, and suddenly felt a pang of heartache. It wasn't the kind of heartache that comes from being moved, but the kind of heartache that comes from seeing someone who should be laughing loudly suddenly stop laughing.

The salted lemon remained silent for a long time. The wind passed between them, carrying the smells of cooking oil from breakfast shops on the street and the sweet aroma of freshly baked bread from bakeries. In the distance, a bicycle passed by, its bell jingling a few times before quickly fading into the distance.

She finally spoke, but instead of saying it directly, she forced a smile and asked, "Anhe, if you had a childhood sweetheart who fell in love with someone else one day, what would you do?"

Her tone was very soft, as soft as a falling leaf, but An and Fei Niao could hear the weight beneath that leaf.

He got it.

"So, your childhood sweetheart has fallen for someone else, is that right?"

He asked very directly, not because he didn't understand tact, but because tact was useless in this situation.

She's already gone through a lot of roundabout ways, using "if" and "hypothetical" statements to protect herself. If she goes any further, she might not be able to say anything at all.

The person who ordered the salted lemon didn't expect the other person to be so direct and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Her lips moved, as if she wanted to deny it, to say "if" again, to push the topic further away. But looking into An and Asuka's eyes, those deep brown, calm eyes, devoid of mockery or pity, she suddenly realized that denial was pointless.

She lowered her head sadly.

"......Um."

That "hmm" was so soft, it was almost blown away by the wind.

But An and Feibiao heard it clearly. He heard a lot from that one syllable: her sadness, her resentment, and her helplessness.

"Tell me exactly what happened." He spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing something.

The salted lemon paused for a moment, then began to speak in detail.

Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was spoken clearly, as if she were bringing out something that had been buried deep in her heart for a long time, little by little, and placing it in the sunlight.

"Yesterday, we went out together." She looked down at her fingers. "Me, Mitsuki, Asahi, and Wenshui..."

And the matter of warm water

"I was originally very happy."

Her lips curved slightly, but the smile didn't last long.

"I didn't want to say it in the first place."

She looked up at the sun-drenched streets in the distance. "Because I knew he was with me, I knew they were deeply in love. I thought I could be friends, that I could keep those words hidden forever. But seeing them so intimate, I blurted them out without thinking."

"In front of his girlfriend."

Her voice was trembling.

Am I stupid?

She turned to look at An and Asuka, her eyes red-rimmed but not crying. "It was supposed to be such a happy gathering, but I ruined it. And in the end, Mitsuki worried about me, kept apologizing, saying he didn't know... He said if he had known sooner, he wouldn't have..."

She didn't continue.

“I know he will feel guilty.”