If he had just called out to her twice to rest on the spot, there would have been no need to continue straining so much. But Xu Xiangyang, in the end, hadn't done so.
Clenching his teeth, his arms aching and swollen, he forcefully dragged two heavy bags and gasped for air as he jogged to keep up.
"Don't cause trouble for Sister Lian; she already has a hard time dealing with work and taking care of her own issues every day"—that's what Xu Xiangyang silently told himself.
Although Xu Xiangyang found the walk challenging, he hadn't gone many steps before Sister Lian had already left him behind. Sister Lian's rented apartment was at the end of this alley; Xu Xiangyang had just walked from the street to the entrance of the alley when her figure was nearly disappearing at the destination.
Xu Xiangyang, not caring about the dirt, placed the bags on a nearby step and sat down heavily.
It was mid-afternoon, and there weren't many people passing through the alley, just a few elderly men and women dozing off in bamboo chairs. He decided to rest here for a while.
Once Xu Xiangyang's breathing had somewhat recovered, he turned around while sitting to pick up the bags. It was at this moment that he saw in front of him on the steps a pair of old but clean white sneakers, above those were light-colored socks and the pale, smooth skin of lower legs...
He was startled for a moment and lifted his head.
Standing behind him was a girl about Xu Xiangyang's age; she had a lollipop in her mouth, her head cocked as she looked down at him.
The girl wore a baseball cap, and her sleek, shiny black hair cascaded over her shoulders. She donned a casual jacket and T-shirt on the upper body, while her jeans only reached the knees, outlining the slender curves of her calves. She exuded an enchanting youthful vigor.
"Excuse me..."
"This is my home."
"Ah... I'm sorry."
Xu Xiangyang thought that the other person wanted to leave and that he was blocking the way, so he immediately prepared to stand up and make room. But the girl shook her head instead.
"It's okay, I'm not planning on going out. I just wanted to come and see you all."
"See us?"
"Yes. I heard that new tenants were moving in."
She took the lollipop out of her mouth, licked it with her tender little tongue, and then put it back in.
"The one who just passed by, was she your mom? She doesn't look it, too young. She's your sister, isn't she?"
"Yes."
"I thought so."
The girl clapped her hands.
"Your sister is really pretty and has such an elegant demeanor. How should I put it, she appears like a formidable career woman, very decisive. I was ignored when I tried to talk to her."
"Uh... sorry, my sister gets like that when she's thinking about work. It's not on purpose. She's actually a very kind person."
Xu Xiangyang scratched the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed.
"What are you apologizing for, who are you apologizing to?"
She burst into laughter.
"I don't like formalities, so it's fine. By the way, I've been wondering... what's that under your arm?"
Xu Xiangyang looked down and realized he hadn't put down the thick hardcover book yet. It was the book that he brought from his earliest "home"—a birthday gift his parents had bought him as a child.
He had read this book hundreds of times from childhood to adulthood, and even now, he would excitedly take it out to read. The title of the book was "The Great Record of World UFO Incidents!" and inside were all sorts of strange and unusual illustrations.
Just as Xu Xiangyang set the book down, she let out an "Ah!"
"My family has that book too! It even talks about the end of the world, right?"
Xu Xiangyang couldn't help but blush a little. Boys his age still keen on such messy books, clutching them like treasures, was really not something to be praised.
Besides, now that a girl he had just met saw it... Would she think he was a childish guy?
"Could I take a look at it?"
Just as Xu Xiangyang was feeling uncertain, the girl suddenly took the book from his hands and gently traced her fingers over the cover, yet she never opened it.
Her long eyelashes drooped, trembling slightly, hiding the girl's gaze. After a while, she spoke softly.
"...'The Millennium Prophecy'."
"Eh?"
Xu Xiangyang did not immediately grasp what the other party was talking about until she repeated it again.
"Do you believe it? The prophecies mentioned here. In just over half a year, the world will face the end. The legendary 'King of Terror' will descend from the sky, everyone will die, and all of humanity will be extinct."
The girl didn't seem to find the book childish. She gazed at the book cover nostalgically, where an alien with a large head and a dwarf's body was depicted, and she asked him very earnestly.
"I don't know."
Xu Xiangyang answered honestly.
In fact, a long time ago—after he finished reading this book as a child—he had pondered over this question and even fantasized about it until recently. However, feeling too embarrassed, he never discussed such topics with anyone.
"If that day doesn't come, nobody would know the answer, right?"
"That's true... sorry for asking such a strange question."
The girl smiled again and handed the book back to him.
"What's your name?"
"Xu Xiangyang."
"I'm Lin Xingjie."
The girl confidently extended her hand to him.
"Star as in 'star,' and clean as in 'clean.' You and your sister are moving these days, right? If you encounter any difficulties or have any questions, feel free to ask me for help."
Xu Xiangyang nodded and hesitantly reached out his hand. The boy's and girl's hands clasped together in the warm and gentle light casting from outside the door.
*
In retrospect, this brief first encounter actually left a deep impression on Xu Xiangyang at the time.
It is embarrassing to say, but he had little appeal to girls in elementary school, often ending up alone during spring outings, unable to find even a partner to hold hands with. So, at the moment he saw her, he vaguely felt that this might be an opportunity to change himself.
Besides, even setting aside those naive and ambiguous thoughts of adolescence, Xu Xiangyang, as a transfer student from another area and a newcomer to his class, naturally thought of making new friends sooner rather than later in an unfamiliar place.
However, in the end, Xu Xiangyang still couldn't muster the courage to knock on the neighbor's door, although he innately believed that the girl he had only met once would not mind if he really needed to trouble her with something.
Therefore, when Xu Xiangyang went to class for the first time and saw Lin Xingjie, who had appeared in the same class as himself, he indeed felt a surge of surprise and excitement.
Yet, Xu Xiangyang and Lin Xingjie did not become friends; in fact, from initially being able to chat as just classmates, to parting ways, and then to the point of not even wanting to see each other's faces, with even a bit of coldness and hostility as strangers, it took just two months.