Lost Land (GL)

Chapter 33

After dinner, the three of them lay down in their sleeping bags early, still dressed. They all looked up at the stars in the night sky. In the city, with its bright lights, you couldn't see the stars. The starlight was too faint compared to the city lights, and it was obscured.

"Ran Ye, do you remember when we were in middle school, the three of us, we went to the fields to catch loaches, and we stayed overnight by the river because it was so late?" Huang Shan suddenly spoke, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "There were so many stars in the sky back then."

"I remember. With Haozi and the others. Li Si was there too, wasn't he? It was dark, and he cried and said he wanted to go home to his mom." Mo Ran laughed as she spoke.

In middle school, they were separated into different schools. Li Si, two years younger than them, wasn't very talkative. He just studied all the time and was often mocked for being a bookworm.

Back then, Mo Ran felt like she had to look out for Li Si since they had gone to the same elementary school. So she often dragged him along to play, regardless of whether he wanted to or not.

They often went out to play, dragging Li Si along, and he would end up crying and wanting to go home. Eventually, they stopped taking him with them.

This guy grew increasingly solitary as he got older, gradually developing some kind of dark psychology that turned him into the insufferable jerk he is today.

Listening to the two of them reminisce about the past, Zhang Wan-ying couldn't get a word in edgewise, but she found it interesting and wanted to turn over to listen more closely. As she rolled over, she found herself face-to-face with Mo Ran, and their eyes met in an awkward exchange.

Caught red-handed, Mo Ran buried half her face in her sleeping bag, unsure where to look, so she just darted her eyes around.

Ever since she realized she had some not-so-good thoughts about the other girl, she had tried to keep her distance, but her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own, constantly drawn to the other girl.

Zhang Wan-ying didn't know she was being watched, but the sudden face-to-face encounter felt strange. Sensing the other girl's evasive gaze, she turned back.

Huang Shan didn't notice their interaction and continued talking to himself, a little puzzled when he realized no one was paying attention.

"Are you and Ran Ran the only close friends in this group?" Zhang Wan-ying asked abruptly.

After asking, she felt the question was a bit awkward, like she was subtly probing whether Mo Ran had other female friends in the past. And it was obvious that she must have had some, so the question was stupid.

But what Huang Shan said next surprised her.

"No," Huang Shan replied with a smile. "Because back then, we all thought Ran Ye was a boy who looked a bit feminine, like a sissy. Girls wouldn't even play house with her."

Hearing this, Mo Ran instantly sprang out of her sleeping bag and slapped Huang Shan's sleeping bag: "You're the sissy."

"I'm just telling the truth!" Huang Shan dodged playfully, his body wriggling like a flexible worm, making Mo Ran glare at him in frustration.

"You had a buzz cut and wore the same clothes as your brother back then, you looked like a sissy!" Huang Shan continued to tease.

"That's because I hit my head and shaved my hair to make it easier to apply medicine," Mo Ran retorted, her face flushed with embarrassment. Being exposed in front of others was too humiliating.

Zhang Wan-ying watched them curiously, intrigued by Huang Shan's words. Eventually, the three of them crawled out of their sleeping bags and gathered together to chat.