Chapter 21: The Secret Base

Chapter 21: The Secret Base

Lin Jinrui's lips curled upward, her dark eyes dancing with delight. "On the way back, I'll show you my secret base."

Cheng Miao looked surprised. "Secret base?"

Lin Jinrui nodded, lowering her voice. "Mm-hmm, no one else knows about it. I hide all my good stuff there."

Cheng Miao squinted with interest, playing along eagerly. "Sounds great! Let's go check it out."

The sun slowly set, its afterglow softening the smooth stone path. As dusk fell, the sky deepened into a deep, inky blue, with the distant mountains still faintly silhouetted.

The three of them walked with unusually light steps. Maybe because they'd gotten more familiar with each other, Lin Jinrui gradually became more talkative. "Mom doesn't like me bringing junk home, so I found a place where nobody lives, and I hide all my good stuff there."

Cheng Miao looked at her beaming face and teased, "So, can I have some of your good stuff?"

Lin Jinrui nodded without hesitation. "Sure, you can take whatever you want." But then her face fell. "You probably won't like them though—they're all stuff I picked up."

Cheng Miao felt a pang of sadness hearing that and quickly reassured her, "Who says found things can't be treasures?"

A smile came back to Lin Jinrui's face, and she nodded firmly. "As long as you like them, you can take anything."

Having finally found classmates willing to hang out with her, she was almost desperate to please them. She'd been lonely for way too long.

After walking a little further, Lin Jinrui slowed down and pointed at a building on the side of the road. "Look, it's this courtyard right here."

Cheng Miao followed her finger, and as his gaze swept over the courtyard, his body trembled involuntarily. A chill ran up his spine, and he instinctively wanted to back away. But just then, Lu Yu pressed his hand against his back, while his other hand gripped Cheng Miao's hand. Feeling the warmth in his palm, Cheng Miao snapped out of it.

"It's okay, let's go in and take a look." Lu Yu murmured softly in his ear, holding his hand firmly as he followed Lin Jinrui inside.

Lin Jinrui didn't notice them hesitating. She kept chattering, "The courtyard is pretty run-down, but one of the rooms is still in decent shape. Nobody comes here usually. When I want to be by myself, I come here."

As they slowly approached the small room he remembered, Cheng Miao could clearly hear his own heart pounding—faster and faster, more and more forcefully, as if his heart was being squeezed. He barely dared to breathe.

The door slowly creaked open, and Lin Jinrui stepped inside. Cheng Miao and Lu Yu followed her. As he crossed the threshold, Cheng Miao nearly tripped. "Slow down, no need to be afraid." Lu Yu steadied him, never letting go of his hand.

Cheng Miao took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped in cautiously.

The room before his eyes was much smaller than in his memory. Aside from a bed and a cabinet in the corner, it was completely empty. Using the moonlight that seemed even brighter against the snow, Cheng Miao carefully focused his gaze on the bed. The faded peony pattern showed no trace of blood. His heart finally settled—none of it had happened yet. There was still time.

He turned to look at Lin Jinrui, who was cheerfully rummaging through her pocket. Before long, she pulled out a beautiful glass marble.

Cheng Miao froze. He had seen this marble before. Unlike ordinary ones with colorful swirls inside, its core held a brilliantly blooming flower—a soft pink with sparkling golden flecks. It was stunning.

The transparent glass marble rested in a small, rough palm. "Cheng Miao, hold this for me first."

Cheng Miao stood there, dazed, not reacting. Lu Yu glanced at him, then took the marble from Lin Jinrui's hand.

"Hold onto it tight, don't lose it. My dad gave it to me." Lin Jinrui said with a worried tone.

After watching Lu Yu nod, Lin Jinrui slowly got down on her hands and knees, feeling around as she crawled under the bed, her figure gradually disappearing beneath it.

Cheng Miao grabbed Lu Yu's hand and took the marble from him, examining it closely. He murmured, "I've seen this marble before, right here in this place."

He slowly crouched down, placing the marble by the bedside, his body level with the bed. The hanging bedspread blocked his view. Cheng Miao slowly extended his trembling hand. Time seemed to overlap in that moment. He wondered if he was dreaming—when he lifted this corner, would he see that pale, ashen face again?

"Thud!" A startled cry interrupted Cheng Miao's thoughts. "Ouch, that hurt!" A complaint came from under the bed. Cheng Miao yanked the bedspread up, and a fuzzy head popped out.

Cheng Miao let out a slow, relieved breath, as if a weight had been lifted. He watched Lin Jinrui casually rub her head while excitedly opening the box in her hands—a rusty biscuit tin. When she lifted the lid, it gleamed surprisingly bright.

Cheng Miao couldn't help but lean in for a closer look. Though the light was dim, the glass trinkets still managed to refract a dazzling array of colors.

Cheng Miao was curious. "Where did these come from?" The box was filled with pairs of ornaments—pale orange flower-shaped rhinestones, rings set with large diamonds, tassels strung with rice-sized beads, and many other tiny trinkets.

Lin Jinrui smiled sheepishly. "I picked them up. Sometimes people throw away clothes and shoes in the trash, and the decorations on them are really pretty. So I cut them off and washed them. Pretty, right?"

Cheng Miao nodded. "Very pretty." The items in the box were neatly arranged, with the ornaments stacked together. In the corner lay a rough, old-fashioned pair of scissors. He could imagine how much effort Lin Jinrui had put into cutting all these decorations off.

Cinderella had no diamonds, so she could only collect cheap glass trinkets and treasure them carefully.

Cheng Miao shook the glass marble in his hand. "What about this one?"

Lin Jinrui's face flushed with excitement. She had never shared her collection with anyone before. Whenever the girls in class discussed theirs, she could never join in.

She said happily, "This one's from my dad. I want to keep it with these."

Cheng Miao looked at her earnest eyes, then fiddled with the marble in his hand. "Could you give me this one?"

Lin Jinrui was taken aback, then said awkwardly, "This... this one's from my dad." She pushed the box toward him. "You can pick anything from this box." Then she picked up the biggest, shiniest one. "You can have this one too."

Cheng Miao seemed thoughtful. He placed the glass marble back into the box, his voice carrying a hint of a smile. "Just kidding. I have plenty of these."

Lin Jinrui's expression was conflicted. She clutched the marble, hesitating for a long time, her face turning red. Finally, she said apologetically, "I'm sorry. When I get something prettier in the future, I'll give it to you."