Chapter 60: Seeing each other

Qiao Lan's sophomore year of high school had just ended the day she was finally able to walk without her crutches.

Qiao Lan tells Tan Mo that she got a first class scholarship for her sophomore year, that she found a dessert store with delicious strawberry mousse cups, and that she's confident that even if Tan Mo came back, she wouldn't be able to take away her first place.

Tan Mo's right hand was gripping the mounting bracket of the leg rehab machine, and his left hand was holding the cell phone close to his ear, panting a little more sharply than usual after the intense rehab exercise, and his voice was tinged with a smile he didn't even realize, but he was still in the middle of the exercise, and he was still in the middle of the exercise, but he was still in the middle of the exercise.

"Yes?"

"Of course", Qiao Lan said, "I'm doing great in Biology, close to perfect every time, you haven't been studying lately, you can't beat me."

Tan Mo laughed silently, "That's awesome."

Qiao Lan almost heard a little bit of favor from these words, in a trance, she even felt that it was an illusion, "Tan Mo", Qiao Lan called out to Tan Mo, "Did you have something happy today, such a good mood."

"Uh-huh," Tan Mo lets go of the mounting bracket, doesn't hold anything up, stands steady, walks forward, walks back to the hospital room from here, a light smile in her eyes, Qiao Lan's pie-in-the-sky words in her ears.

She asks what happened to him today that made him so happy, Tan Mo says secret, won't tell you.

For six months and years, Tan Mo wasn't sure if the trip was a surprise or a disappointment, until now, when the doctor finally told him for sure that it must be a surprise.

He was already able to stand and walk without relying on any assistance, and now that he didn't have to continue his previous rehab, his daily rehab tasks became mainly exercise, and he began to take a large amount of supplements, and then began to work out to strengthen his body.

Slowly he could not only walk normally, go up and down the stairs, but also run and jump.

After more than a year of piled-up sickness and weakness, and three months of rehab that was like a walk through the territory, the body, which had been tossed around for a long time, was now at its weakest.

Uncle Chen hired the most professional rehabber for Tan Mo, and used the most professional data to calculate the maximum amount of exercise that Tan Mo's body can withstand now.

For a patient who has just recovered to start such a high intensity exercise training right now is not something that an average person can do. Just like people who have never worked out before, from the very beginning of the highest intensity training, not many people can stick to it, let alone a patient who has just recovered from a serious illness.

The rehabber looked at the tall, thin but instantly recognizable sickly teenager and didn't think he'd last more than a few days, but he didn't want him to last day after day.

He will not overdo it, it must be within acceptable limits, but whenever a plan is made, it must be completed that day.

In this way, Tan Mo's progress has been rapid.

The rehab technician marveled and helped Tan Mo to recover more actively, and sometimes even chatted with Tan Mo, recommending that he could keep exercising every day after his recovery was complete, and it would be best to learn some specialized exercises to strengthen his physique better.

Tan Mo Dao Sheng knew, did not say that he had already had this idea.

He always remembered the pain he felt when Luo Nian came to harass Qiao Lan in front of the school and he had to sit in the wheelchair and couldn't do anything. If he could, he would have been the first to rush up and remove the dirty hand that had touched Qiao Lan.

The cell phone placed next to him rang, Tan Mo took the phone and picked it up to listen to the call, the rehabber looked at the teenager who had just been expressionless and cold, when he picked up the phone, his icy features instantly melted, even his voice unconsciously softened.

Tan Mo spoke in Chinese, which the rehabber did not understand, but from Tan Mo's short answers, it was clear that it was just a lot of home truths with little nutrition.

There really isn't much in the way of nutrition, such as what the weather is like today, what you ate today, etc.

It was eleven o'clock in the morning in New York, eleven o'clock at night in China, and Qiao Lan dialed Tan Mo before going to bed.

Waiting to dial up and realizing that she actually didn't seem to have much to say, that she'd been on vacation recently, that she'd been reading and not hanging out, and that she didn't have anything fun and interesting to share with Tan Mo.

But it still hit.

Tan Mo left for the U.S. during winter vacation, and now that the summer is half over, Qiao Lan hasn't seen Tan Mo for half a year.

The longer they are apart, the more clearly Qiao Lan realizes that Tan Mo means more to her than she ever imagined.

It's been two years since she first came to this strange world with no friends or family, and Tan Mo is the only person who has ever really come close to her heart. When Tan Mo is here, Qiao Lan just likes to live with Tan Mo, but when Tan Mo leaves, Qiao Lan realizes that she has lost a family.

Qiao Lan realized clearly and unequivocally that she wanted Tan Mo.

She missed the teenager who always had an expressionless face but did his best to smile.

Qiao Lan did not know what he said, anyway, are some nutrient-less nonsense, but Tan Mo did not get impatient, still listening very seriously, until the last Qiao Lan suddenly fell silent, Tan Mo for a time a little confused, is not too boring so that she did not know what to say...

"When are you coming back."

Qiao Lan spoke softly.

When are you coming back.

Will you ever come back.

I miss you a little.

No, it's actually missing you.

The girl's slightly hesitant yet soft voice, accompanied by the moonlight, was so hazy that Tan Mo thought he had heard something.

"Soon", the heart hidden like and miss, can not wait to get stuck in the place of the throat, Tan Mo voice raspy and contains a slight tremor.

Soon, really soon.

When he finally hung up, the rehabber next to him joked ambiguously on one side, "Girlfriend?"

Tan Mo squeezed the cell phone in his hand, no, Tan Mo subconsciously wanted to say so, but the words suddenly had some uncontrollable greed.

When the rehab is completely over, he will never see this rehabber again, and even if he has lied, he won't break it down he won't tell anyone else, much less Qiao Lan.

He just, just wanted to try, not to refute the sentence, to put into words what it felt like to say that Qiao Lan was really his girlfriend.

He was quiet for a long time, as if he had been struggling in his mind for a long time before he spoke, "Yes."

The moment he opened his mouth to say "yes", Tan Mo felt himself drowned in a flood of shame and reproach, only to be covered by a joy and intimacy that made his heart palpitate and tremble even more.

The rehabber couldn't see what waves of emotional turmoil lurked beneath the expressionless face, and gossiped with Tan Mo about whether his girlfriend was very good or not, whether she was pretty or not.

"Excellent," Tan Mo heard the word "girlfriend" from the rehabber's mouth, and her heart felt like it was suddenly clutched in an indescribably sweet, indescribably sour grip.

"Beautiful, exceptionally beautiful."

"Really?"

The rehabber was quite excited and asked Tan Mo if he had any photos, then looked down at Tan Mo's cell phone.

Tan Mo snapped his cell phone screen to the floor, his tone suddenly turning cold.

"No."

Rehabber: ......

Keep training.

Summer vacation in sophomore year is far shorter than freshman year, and because you're moving right into your junior year, you have to start catching up early.

The school is empty with only prospective seniors, and Qiao Lan returns to the dormitory, happy to see Bai Yu again after not seeing him for half the summer.

Bai Yu's hometown is far away in the Northwest, a trip to the Northwest, brought the dormitory a large pile of special products, raisins lavender and so on, after spreading the whole dormitory is spread with the fragrance of lavender.

After distributing them to the dormitories, Bai Yu made several more copies to bring to some of the boys in the class who were good friends during the formal tuition session the next day.

Bai Yu is a boyish character, and his best friends, except for Qiao Lan, are almost exclusively boys.

Although Hao Ying started out to chase Qiao Lan and intentionally approached the girls who were close to Qiao Lan, we did play together over time, leaving aside the likes and dislikes, we are just friends with good personalities.

When the phone rang after the split, I picked it up and saw that it was Hao Ying's WeChat, asking her to sneak down to the dormitory building.

Bai Yu glanced toward Qiao Lan, shook his head helplessly and went downstairs, where he saw the tanned Hao Ying at the bottom of the building.

Hao Ying said that he went to Hawaii during the summer vacation, so he got a lot of tanning, and handed the bag to Bai Yu, saying that it was a souvenir he bought when he went to Hawaii, and asked Bai Yu to give a piece to each of the girls who were close to him, and finally took out the best-packed one with a little bit of embarrassment and asked her to pass it on to Qiao Lan.

Bai Yu looked down at a string of pearls strung with small shells, a beautiful bracelet, not the cheap kind at first glance.

"I don't think she's going to take it," Bai Yu said, not wanting to discourage Hao Ying, but still giving her a heads up.

Hao Ying scratched his head, revealing a mouthful of large white teeth that were whiter because of his tanned skin, "Let's talk about it if we don't take it."

Okay, Bai Yu collected his things and went upstairs, delivering the gifts one by one before finally giving the bracelet to Qiao Lan.

As expected, Qiao Lan didn't take it.

If it was the same shell string as everyone else, it would be fine, but looking at the pearls on it, Qiao Lan absolutely couldn't take it in, and reassembled the bracelet, ready to give it back to Hao Ying in class tomorrow.

The two of them were now the only ones left in the dormitory, Bai Yu sighed, "I know that Hao Ying made a big deal out of it and made the whole school know about it, but he also regretted it later, and it's been half a year, so you really haven't given it any thought?"

Qiao Lan shook his head honestly, "No."

"Why!"

Qiao Lan laughed, "What's the why of it, just don't like it."

Qiao Lan took the small apple jade pendant off her neck and took out a new intact red cord, replacing the original one that was a bit frayed.

Bai Yu watched the careful and conscientious wearing of the jade pendant, lying on the bed and casually asked her, "I remember you've been wearing this pendant for a long time, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"You bought it yourself?"

Having seen Qiao Lan's disgusting family, Bai Yu didn't think Qiao's family could buy such a thing for Qiao Lan. She had seen Qiao Lan's jade pendant, which was of exceptionally good quality and definitely not cheap.

"No," Qiao Lan put on the jade pendant and put it back on, the cold pendant pressed against her collarbone, Qiao Lan's eyes curved up, "Tan Mo gave it to me."

Bai Yu froze.

She looked down at Qiao Lan, remembered Hao Ying's bracelet that was rejected by Qiao Lan, and then thought about the jade pendant that was so precious to Qiao Lan, and suddenly shouted at Qiao Lan.

"Lanlan."

"Hmm?"

"You wouldn't..."

Qiao Lan waited for half a day for the next part of Bai Yu's sentence, so she looked up and asked her what she wanted to say.

"You didn't leave your summer homework undone, did you."

Qiao Lan: ......

Only after Qiao Lan had left the dormitory did Bai Yu lie down on his bed and breathe a sigh of relief.

Tan Mo has been gone for more than half a year, both Bai Yu and the others in the class, nearly two hundred days, has gradually forgotten the name of that unfamiliar teenager in the back of his mind, until just Qiao Lan said, Bai Yu suddenly realized that Qiao Lan when talking about Tan Mo, the tone of voice is still familiar with the naturalness and intimacy.

Are you still waiting for him to come back.

Are you... Actually like Tan Mo...

Thinking of the wheelchair-bound young man who had faded from memory, Bai Yu felt it was too unbelievable to ask.

There doesn't seem to be much point in asking, after all, Tan Mo is gone.

On the second day of school, the seating was once again chaotic, and as everyone always tries to adjust their seats on their own, Bai Yu was the first one to take the seat next to Qiao Lan.

Not to mention her relationship, Qiao Lan's grades are the best in her age, who wouldn't want to sit at the same table with a bully in her senior year of high school.

"Lanlan, why don't you and I sit together..."

Before the words left his mouth, the student outside suddenly ran in with a look of shock and excitement, and made several consecutive "crouching" sounds.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, guess who I just saw!"

There was a clamor outside the building, and many students leaned over the windows to look out, exclamations and screams coming in through the thin classroom doors.

"What's wrong?"

Qiao Lan turned back toward the outside of the classroom in surprise.

The lime green classroom door was pushed open, the cacophony was amplified many times in an instant, and in the midst of exclamations and huffs of surprise, the teenager who hadn't been seen for up to two hundred days walked into the classroom with his long, slender legs stepping into the early morning sunlight.

Qiao Lan stared blankly at Tan Mo, who was standing like everyone else, and suddenly, tears blurred her eyes.