Chapter 28: Goodwill

A Christmas party, slightly dispersed from the final exams of the semester to bring the pressure of tension, until 10 o'clock at night the party ended, everyone moved chairs back to the classroom, the mouth is talking about the students who performed a great show tonight.

Qiao Lan felt uneasily in his shirt pocket, carefully avoiding the crowd.

She gave Tan Mo an apple, and Tan Mo gave her an apple, an apple that Qiao Lan felt hot in her hand.

Qiao Lan walked back with her chair, thinking without a clue that she owed Tan Mo more and more.

When Qiao Lan returned home in the evening, she saw that the door to her room was wide open, and Mrs. Qiao cursed, "Locking the door all day long, as if she had hidden something unseemly."

Qiao Lan had wanted to hide the jade pendant in her room, but now that she looked at the messed up room, she put that idea away for a second.

Carefully placing the small box in the lowest, most private part of the book bag, he zipped up the bag with and placed it on the nightstand.

The next day at school, today is the official Christmas Day, the students seem to have not come out of the joy of the holiday, the atmosphere will probably be New Year's Day after the end of the day off, will be somewhat restrained.

Especially senior year.

Morning study is the class teacher's language study, the class teacher stood on the lectern to educate the students to concentrate, the final exam of the semester is only about ten days away, the students answered that they knew, and when the teacher left the talkers are still talking, and some of them are secretly playing with their cell phones.

The middle school does not allow students to use cell phones during school hours, but there are rules on the top and countermeasures on the bottom, and more than half of the students in a class still carry cell phones and hide from their homeroom teachers and grade level directors every day.

It snowed all night yesterday after Christmas Eve, and in the morning it was white as a sheet as I walked around campus.

After the morning study hall, the students who have long been unable to hold their breath rushed to the outside of the classroom to have a snowball fight, especially the thirteenth class on the first floor, but also unique.

The students in the classroom ran out, leaving a few sitting in their seats, reading books and secretly playing with their cell phones. Qiao Lan took out her exercise book as usual and started her studies for the day, only lifting up her eyelids to greet Tan Mo when he came.

It's already winter in the north, it's very cold outside the classroom, Qiao Lan herself is wearing thick clothes, but Tan Mo, still looks very thin, he just came in from outside the classroom, when he sits over, Qiao Lan can feel the cool chill on his body.

Qiao Lan looks down at his hands on the wheelchair, ungloved, excessively pale hands that seem to be even more excessively white than usual, even vaguely green.

Tan Mo looked up and saw Qiao Lan staring at his hand, and subconsciously tried to take it back, when he heard Qiao Lan ask him, "Isn't it cold to be wearing just this much?"

Tan Mo shook his head honestly, "It's not cold."

He was really not cold, he was sensitive to sun, wind perception but insensitive to heat and cold, Uncle Chen kept trying to get him to wear thicker clothes but the feeling of thick clothes wrapped around his body with the fabric densely pressing against his skin was even more difficult for him to accept.

But the fingers did freeze stiff.

He always stares at the other person when he is talking, many people think he is very strange, but Qiao Lan never think it is anything, Tan Mo just looks at her while talking to Qiao Lan, his eyes can not help but fall on Qiao Lan's neck.

It's empty and there's nothing on it.

Tan Mo suddenly stopped talking.

Qiao Lan was stunned by his direct gaze, following Tan Mo's line of sight, she realized that Tan Mo was looking at her own neck, and reacted for two seconds before hastily explaining, "I was afraid of breaking it, so I didn't wear it."

After saying that, he opened his book bag and carefully took the small box out from the bottom.

The box opened and the moist and delicate jade pendant was nestled nicely in the small velvet box.

Tan Mo watched as Qiao Lan pulled the box out of her book bag and stared at the jade pendant for a long time before reaching over and taking the box.

He took the jade pendant out of the box and took out the red string for stringing the pendant from the bottom of the box, strung the pendant together and handed it to Qiao Lan.

Qiao Lan froze and hastily explained, "I have to work part-time every day, so I'll really touch it if I'm not careful."

"It's okay," Tan Mo said, still keeping his hand moving and handing it forward slightly more, "put it on."

After staring at the jade pendant in the teenager's hand for a long time, and then staring at the face of the teenager in front of him for a long time, Qiao Lan reaches out and takes the pendant, tying the red cord around his neck.

The teenager's mood, which had been tense and insistent, finally slowly regained its calmness, roughly wanting to laugh, but not knowing how to do so, the corners of his lips curved up into a slightly odd arc.

Qiao Lan never wore it, and Tan Mo couldn't help but worry that Qiao Lan didn't like it.

Qiao Lan was tying the red string behind her back, but her hands were a bit weak and she was worried that it might fall off if she didn't tie it properly. Looking up and around, there were only five or six people in the classroom, and the closest one was Pei Ning, who was an introvert and didn't go out to play. After hesitating for a moment, "Why don't you wait until I get home to put it on again?"

Tan Mo still looks at her and doesn't say anything.

Qiao Lan had no choice but to turn to Tan Mo and say, "Help me then, I can't tie it myself."

Tan Mo just calm heart, suddenly raised again, a moment of frozen did not react.

Help... Help what... Help Qiao Lan tie the red rope...

Fingers didn't hold back the shaking for a moment, and they darted forward and retracted hesitantly.

He was a little afraid to.

Everyone was playing outside, and the five or six people in the classroom were doing their own things. Only Pei Ning, who was sitting very close to her, as if she sensed something, subconsciously glanced over to Qiao Lan and Tan Mo, and after a long time of foolishness, tentatively asked, "Do you want me to help?"

Tan Mo Suddenly stretched out his hand, and his fingers clenched the red rope.

"No need."

Qiao Lan hastily pressed down on her body so that Tan Mo could exert herself well.

Pei Ning, who was on the side, turned back again with a confused look on her face, but couldn't hold back to take another look.

However, Tan Mo's solemn expression when he helped to fasten a pendant made people nervous, fearing that he might accidentally drop the pendant without holding it firmly.

Tan Mo is really nervous.

During the time she sat at the same table with Qiao Lan, they were close to each other, and Qiao Lan let Tan Mo wake her up when she was sleepy. Tan Mo always felt that this was close enough, but now they could be even closer.

Tan Mo's cold fingers were a little unsteady in holding the red rope, and after her fingertips accidentally touched Qiao Lan's warm skin, she subconsciously shuddered.

Every now and then, Qiao Lan could feel the teenager's cold fingers touching her neck, and she wanted to ask Tan Mo, "Are you really not cold?", but she seemed to sense the teenager's nervousness, so she quietly lay down and didn't say a word to disturb Tan Mo.

After a long moment, Tan Mo only spoke with a sigh of relief, "There."

He quickly re-sit upright, but after a while and can not help Qiao Lan over there to look, see her smiling, and look at her neck gently shaking jade pendant, cold ice eyes this shallow more layer of warmth.

It was a subtle feeling, like when I saw my name listed with Qiao Lan's, and I couldn't tell you how satisfied and happy I was.

After the second class, the sun finally came out of the overcast sky, the snow finally slowly began to melt little by little, the students played with the snow all morning, but also slowly lost interest, and after re-entering the classroom, the seven words, and then re-introduced the topic to yesterday's party.

The evening party had nearly twenty programs, and there was no lack of handsome girls, such as Song Yao from Class 13, Chu Jing from Class 1, beautiful girls of all colors, and Hao Ying, the star student of Class 5, who was caught by the homeroom teacher to act in a skit.

Hao Ying, playing the role of a rich kid with a lot of class, impressed the students with his classic line "My father is Li Gang", taking advantage of the current events of the time.

Fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys and girls, on the beautiful girls and handsome boys are always full of interest, the party is over, but still happy to discuss yesterday's most who looks good, and finally gradually led to the inventory of the school what handsome girls and boys.

Song Yao topped this roundup because of her dreamy outfit yesterday that poked a lot of teenage boys.

Qiao Lan wasn't interested in that, but everyone commented that Song Yao was pretty, and Qiao Lan agreed that she was pretty and good, and she looked cute when she heard the theories from her classmates and blushed.

Tan Mo heard it too.

He's not interested in that either, but he'll always be interested in Qiao Lan.

Hearing the other students' comments, he glanced toward Qiao Lan's face, and suddenly remembered the way Qiao Lan looked on Christmas Eve when she walked out of the auditorium wearing her shiny antlers.

The purple-blue light shone on her face, and for the first time, Tan Mo, who had never had any opinion about beauty, thought Qiao Lan was very pretty.

Doesn't it look good.

He looked steadily at the side of Qiao Lan's face, which was nicely contoured, with a high and nice nose and eyes that curved upwards at the end.

Qiao Lan was stared at by Tan Mo and turned her head a bit uncomfortably, Tan Mo met Qiao Lan's dark and bright eyes and looked away again, thinking that these eyes were the best.

He really thought Qiao Lan was pretty, but why didn't any of his classmates around him mention Qiao Lan's name.

The girl they mentioned the most was a girl named Song Yao.

It took Tan Mo two recesses to find out who Song Yao was.

He looked toward Song Yao for a while, and then returned his gaze to Qiao Lan's face.

A girl sitting behind Song Yao gently nudged Song Yao and whispered to her, "Song Yao, I've noticed that Tan Mo has been looking your way for the past two days."

Song Yao froze and hastily glanced at Chen Yaoyang, "You must have misread it."

"There's definitely no mistaking it, he really has been looking at you."

Tan Mo, who has always been "looking at Song Yao", doesn't know anything, but the more he compares Qiao Lan and Song Yao, the more he realizes Qiao Lan's superiority.

Song Yao's nose is not as straight as Qiao Lan's, and her eye contour is not as distinctive as Qiao Lan's. Song Yao's face is too rounded, and her standing height is far from Qiao Lan's ...

He really thought that Qiao Lan had more to offer than Song Yao, but when everyone talked about those good-looking girls, Qiao Lan's name never came up.

Tan Mo was sitting in the car after school in the afternoon, and Uncle Chen in the front was listening to the news on the radio again. Tan Mo was silent for a long time, and suddenly spoke.

"How's Qiao Lan?"

Uncle Chen, who was listening to the broadcast, froze for a long time, "What?"

Tan Mo, still expressionless, said something that made Uncle Chen jump, and repeated, "Do you think Qiao Lan looks good."

Uncle Chen was so shocked that he didn't even notice what was just said on the radio.

Why do you ask such questions out of the blue without having a clue? Why suddenly ask Qiao Lan how he looks? What would he say that would make Tan Mo happier?

Uncle Chen had a lot of thoughts running through his head, but finally decided to answer Tan Mo's question from an objective point of view.

"In fact, just by looking at her features, Miss Qiao's features are very outstanding", as an aesthetically normal old man, he could still accurately make a reply, "However, Miss Qiao looks like she's been malnourished for a long period of time... You can see that she's working every day, and her family's conditions definitely aren't good enough, so her nutrition hasn't been able to keep up with it, so she doesn't have much color... She doesn't have much color, if she had good color, she would be different..."

Uncle Chen is still talking, Tan Mo eyes looking at the streetlights outside the car window, do not know what to think.

Christmas, coupled with New Year's Day, allowed students to relax for many days, and finally, when the three-day New Year's Day break was over, they began to slowly wind down and focus on this last final exam.

However, as the New Year approaches, Qiao Lan's part-time work has become busier than before, and sometimes she comes home at night even after 1:00 am.

Tan Mo looks grimly at Qiao Lan, who looks even worse than before.

Qiao Lan had been sitting at the same table with Tan Mo for a long time, and gradually she could notice different emotions on Tan Mo's expressionless face, not to mention that Tan Mo seemed to be more silent than usual today.

Qiao Lan turned around and looked at him and whispered to him what was wrong, and after a long time Tan Mo asked her without thinking, "How long are you going to work?"

Not knowing why she was suddenly asked about working part-time, Qiao Lan couldn't figure it out and answered honestly, "I think I'll stick around until the end of my senior year."

Tan Mo's eyes grew darker and darker.

What the hell is going on here?

When Qiao Lan asked again, Tan Mo kept his mouth shut and said nothing.

Tan Mo doesn't lie, and when it comes to questions he doesn't want to answer, no one wants to pry a word out of him.

The next day, Qiao Lan came to study under the morning study hall, looked at Tan Mo who had just come in and asked good morning, Tan Mo took out a palm-sized box from his school bag.

Qiao Lan took one look at it and asked in passing, "What's this."

Tan Mo pushed the box in front of Qiao Lan, "Here you go."

For me?

Qiao Lan's heart trembled again.

She was really afraid of Tan Mo giving her something, she owed Tan Mo too much now, every time she heard Tan Mo say "here you go", she felt that her conscience was being blamed, and after accepting the apple pendant last time, Qiao Lan swore that she could never accept anything from Tan Mo again.

Tan Mo saw that Qiao Lan didn't move or open the box, and added, "Auntie Chen made it, for you."

Tan Mo reached out and opened the box, a well-packed and still warm nutritious porridge, the shrimp inside could be seen through the transparent glass.

After a long time, Qiao Lan took a deep breath, "I've had breakfast."

Tan Mo looked at Qiao Lan with fixed eyes, thought for a moment and said, "It's okay, you're thin", took the box out and put it in front of Qiao Lan, "It's not much."

The portion is small enough that you can have a little more even after breakfast.

Qiao Lan: .......

"I really had breakfast, I'm not hungry", Qiao Lan repeated.

Even though she knew that it was Tan Mo's good intention to give away money at night, but now she was giving away breakfast in the morning, Qiao Lan really couldn't accept it any more.

Tan Mo stiffened, and the good mood he'd come up with early in the morning vanished clean again in a flash.

Uncle Chen said Qiao Lan was malnourished, so Tan Mo had the nutritionist specially match the recipes, and since it's not good to carry large portions of nutritious food to school, he ended up having Aunt Chen make nutritious congee.

He had seen before that many students in his class would drink porridge in the classroom.

No one knows the hidden joy and anticipation he felt when he brought this nutritious porridge out in the morning, but now Qiao Lan doesn't want it.

Tan Mo can't describe what he's feeling at the moment, doesn't understand the complexity of being cranky and angry, interspersed with loss, aggravation, and sadness.

He looked at the nutritious porridge with an expressionless face, and after a long time coldly turned his head and

"If you don't like it, then throw it away."