Chapter 1885: Chapter 633: Breakup, School Anniversary (Part 4)
She walked up to the camera, bent over slightly, and rested her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.
Sweat, like morning dew, seeped from her smooth forehead and full nose tip.
Sliding down along her well-defined jawline, it disappeared into the soaked sports vest she wore, making her whole appearance glow enticingly.
Tang Song watched in excitement.
He directly said, "Tomorrow’s your birthday, I’ll go to Shen City to be with you. It’s been so long since we’ve met, I really miss you."
Liu Qingning slowly stood up straight and looking at him on the screen, suddenly said, "No need, Tang Song."
"Hmm?" Tang Song was slightly taken aback, surprised, "What do you mean? What’s wrong with you?"
Liu Qingning didn’t speak.
She just looked at him quietly.
Then, without warning, tears began rolling down from her usually bright and stubborn eyes.
She didn’t cry out loud, just silently shed tears, like raindrops on a pear blossom.
Tang Song’s expression froze, his heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly.
He tried to soften his tone, "Qingning, don’t cry, tell me what happened?"
Liu Qingning bit her lip, and said clearly, word for word, "Let’s break up, Tang Song."
Looking into her eyes.
Tang Song realized in an instant, his first love meant it this time.
Taking a deep breath, Tang Song asked, deeply, "What on earth happened? What did happen? Tell me!"
"Pop—"
The video call was directly hung up by Liu Qingning.
Tang Song’s eyebrows twitched furiously, and he immediately called back, but was rejected.
Calling again, was rejected again.
A strong sense of unease gripped his heart, and Tang Song quickly found Liu Qingning’s phone number and dialed it directly.
"Beep beep beep—"
The phone rang for a long, long time, and just when he thought it would be hung up again, it was finally answered.
Tang Song said directly, "I’m setting off for Shen City to find you now."
On the other end, a light laugh, damp with nasal sound, suddenly came through.
Then, Liu Qingning, in a joking tone, said, "Haha, look at how anxious you are. I just... had a dream last night, dreamt you were bullying me, so this morning I wanted to tease you."
Tang Song didn’t laugh, "This joke is not funny at all."
"Okay, okay, I know, Song, it won’t happen again." Liu Qingning’s voice softened again, as if she was acting cute, "There’s a surprise for you, I bought the plane ticket a few days ago, it’s this afternoon’s flight, from Shen City directly to Quan City. I want to spend this birthday with you at home."
"You’re coming back to Quan City?"
"Mm, suddenly missing home, and there’s one more thing..." her voice held a bit of anticipation and nostalgia, "After my birthday, it’s the 50th anniversary of our First Middle School.
Teacher Li even called me a few days ago, asking me to come back and attend, it was hard to refuse.
Let’s go back to our alma mater together and relive some of those past memories, okay? Silly Song!"
Hearing this familiar and uniquely high school nickname, Tang Song’s heart gave a slight throb.
He was silent for a moment, then his voice softened as well, "Okay, we indeed haven’t gone back to our alma mater together for many years."
"Mm-hmm! Then it’s settled, alright, I have to go pack now, bye-bye."
"Bye-bye."
Hanging up the call, Tang Song’s heart, however, never fully settled.
He knew her too well.
His first love was always mature and rational.
Even in the closest times, she’d never use a word like "breakup" to test the waters.
Something must have happened, something he didn’t know.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, he knitted his brows in deep thought for a long while.
Tang Song sighed.
But, this matter can only wait to be asked in person when they meet.
Then suddenly, as if remembering something, he opened QQ and flipped through the screen with his fingers.
His gaze finally landed on a chat group set to "Do Not Disturb".
[Jing County First High School Alumni Group]
This was the group he joined when he last returned home, triggered by "Memory Feather" when he went to the First Middle School. (Chapter 362)
He hardly ever opened it afterwards.
Clicking in, the messages were overwhelming, endless.
He casually scrolled up and soon saw discussions about the school anniversary.
This year marked Jing County First High School’s 50th anniversary, at a much higher scale than in previous years.
The invitation list included not only distinguished alumni of past years, retired teachers, but also leaders from the education bureau and several well-known public figures.
In some of the promotional content, Tang Song saw many familiar names.
All were the "legends" of their high school days.
Among them, of course, was Liu Qingning, the top science student from the class of 2016.
But in the school’s records, Liu Qingning’s note still was ’co-founder of Century Wisdom.’
After all, her time at Qingning Technology wasn’t long yet.
And Tang Song, who wasn’t particularly outstanding during high school, was naturally not on the "specially invited" list.
He stared at the familiar campus photos and the gradually blurred yet revived faces, a complex emotion stirring deep inside.
For First Middle School, he held an equally complex sentiment.
It was the place where he exerted himself the most passionately in his youth, yet also where he experienced the most regret.
Thank goodness, thank goodness he eventually gained the ability to make amends.
He slowly closed his eyes, and the entire world went silent.
Before his eyes, as if again appeared that girl in a blue and white school uniform, with a neat high ponytail and bangs.
She would tilt her head, gently tapping his forehead with her pen, playfully scolding, "Silly Song."
Then, patiently, over and over again, she would explain the complex physics problems to him.
Across the blurred years since, he seemed to still sense the clean scent she carried, a mix of light shampoo fragrance and chalk dust under the sun.
That was the smell of his entire youth.
