Puppy Only Has One Summer

September, heat and humidity enveloped the people in Lincheng city.

The cool wind from the air-conditioning blew through her body as soon as Nan Xia walked into the railway station. She took a long breath, took out a tissue and carefully wiped the sweat off her forehead.

Her mobile phone sounded with the notification of a new message. Nan Xia quickly found an empty seat in the waiting hall and sat down to check.

Ning Bei: “Five minutes till I get to the station.”

Nan Xia pursed her lips and smiled, “How rude, call me Jiejie.”

After sending the text message, she threw the phone into her bag.

She knows Ning Bei would not reply.

When he was a little kid, he would follow behind her buttocks and call out “Jiejie” every time. But ever since he was around ten years old, he sealed golden mouth as if calling her Jiejie would kill him.

Thinking about it, Nan Xia couldn’t help laughing.

Since she came to Lincheng to study in university and work, she rarely saw Ning Bei even when she went back to her hometown. This time, Ning Bei was admitted to Lincheng University. Nan Xia’s mother told her to take good care of Ning Bei. After all, the two families have been neighbors for more than 20 years.

In the high-speed rail station, the cool air completely blows away the heat on Nan Xia’s body. She looked up at the screen that showed train arrival times, the train Ning Bei is on still had one minute to enter the station.

Nan Xia blinked, then suddenly took out her phone again.

She swiped up with her finger to turn on the selfie mode.

On the screen, her half-length chestnut curly hair is scattered around her ears, the makeup on her face is very light, only her mouth is painted in a matte bean paste color.

The medium-sized round golden earrings swayed slightly as Nan Xia’s fingers move in her hair.

Nan Xia turned off the phone with satisfaction and returned her gaze to the timetable on the big screen.

The corners of her mouth raised silently; she was looking forward to seeing Ning Bei.

When Nan Xia left her hometown to study in Lincheng at the age of eighteen, Ning Bei was only twelve years old. In the next six years, Nan Xia rarely saw Ning Bei.

Occasionally, when she visited Ning Bei’s house during the Chinese New Year, Ning Bei would hastily show his face and then quickly hid in his room.

Boys after the age of twelve are like mushrooms after the rain, and their appearance change at an astonishing speed every year. Whenever she saw him, Nan Xia can only say to him every time: “Ning Bei, you have grown taller again.”

Then Ning Bei would lower his head, mumbled, “Yes”, and walked back to the room with an expressionless face.

Like a little adult.

Nan Xia thought about the past and unconsciously smiled again.

Looking up again, the status for the train that Ning Bei was on has changed to “Arrived” on the screen. Nan Xia picked up her bag and walked towards the gate.

There were quite a few men, women and children leaning on the railing waiting for people. Nan Xia kept some distance from them, but also ensured that she could see Ning Bei when he comes out.

Soon, the gate opened. Arriving passengers streamed out of the narrow exit like a school of fish. Nan Xia held her breath slightly and stood on tiptoes to look for Ning Bei’s figure.

To be honest, she was actually not very confident that she could recognize Ning Bei at a glance.

Leaving aside the fact that they haven’t seen each other for over half a year, Ning Bei was always not very interested in chatting when they meet every year, he usually shows up for a while and returns to his room soon.

But Nan Xia knew that Ning Bei was tall and handsome, and she should be able to recognize him to some extent.

Soon, Nan Xia spotted a boy in the group of passengers wearing white short-sleeved shirt a large print of graffiti on the front. He was wearing a NY baseball bag and had a suitcase in his hand.

The smile on her face overflowed, Nan Xia quickly trotted over.

“Ning Bei!”

The man who was called out looked up in confusion, and Nan Xia strode closer.

The two looked at each other——

Nan Xia’s heart stopped suddenly.

Afterwards, she looked away nonchalantly and continued to shout into the air with an undiminished tone: “Ning Bei, Ning Bei…”

Her footsteps also logically walked in the other direction.

A few seconds later, Nan Xia sneaked a glance to the left; the boy had already gone far away. Her voice gradually lowered.

Nan Xia pursed her lips, and silently lit a cigarette for herself in her heart.

Fortunately, Ning Bei wasn’t here to see that.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to continue looking for Ning Bei as if nothing had happened.

The moment she turned around, she saw a man who was also wearing a black baseball cap standing five meters away from her and staring at her silently.

A shiver suddenly surged from Nan Xia’s back, and Nan Xia took a closer look.

It was Ning Bei.

    ……

Judging from his dark face and the frown that was about to reach the ground, Ning Bei probably saw the whole thing just now.

Nan Xia really wanted lit a second cigarette.

But after all, she is Ning Bei’s elder sister who is six years older, such trivial matters cannot defeat her. Nan Xia quickly adjusted her mentality, put on an intimate smile and walked towards Ning Bei.

“Ning Bei.”

As she got closer to Ning Bei, she realized how tall he was. Nan Xia took a small step back, so that she would not have to look up at him too much.

Ning Bei’s face became colder for some reason, and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn’t say anything.

Nan Xia was accustomed to his silence, she reached out to help him push the luggage.

Ning Bei stepped back and said, “I can do it myself.”

“Oh, of course.” Nan Xia smiled and lightly tapped his shoulder, “Then follow me.”

Ning Bei stared at her back, he clenched the suitcase handle harder, and then followed her steps.

The university that Ning Bei was admitted to was Nan Xia’s alma mater, so it was Nan Xia’s duty to bring him into the dormitory.

On the first day of school, the campus is full of parents who come to send their children to school. After the two reported quickly, they went to the dormitory with the suitcases. When they arrived at Ning Bei dormitory, the five boys who arrived first had already become acquainted.

Nan Xia’s original plan was to help Ning Bei arrange his things and then take him out to dinner.

Who knew that Ning Bei only stayed in the dormitory for a short time and told Nan Xia he didn’t need help putting his things away and wanted to have dinner first.

After he finished speaking, he walked out of the dormitory, looking a little impatient.

Nan Xia then put the things in her hands back on the table.

In the corridor of the dormitory, the male students and their parents came and went. Ning Bei leaned against the cold wall and looked sideways into the dormitory.

Next to his bed near the window, Nan Xia was taking her bag.

The sunlight streamed in from the window, casting a golden furrow on the bridge of her nose.

Making it seem smaller and warped.

She was wearing a stylish off-white dress.

The two collars on the front overlapped at the chest in a V style neckline.

His other roommates were laughing and talking to Nan Xia.

Ning Bei suddenly stood at the door: “Jiejie, I’m hungry. Can you hurry up?”

For the first time, he took the initiative to call her Jiejie.

Nan Xia immediately turned her head and said with a smile, “I’m coming right now, Xiao Bei.”

Ning Bei averted his gaze and leaned back against the wall of the dormitory.

The shadow in the corridor completely covered the slight curl on corners of his mouth.

Nan Xia came out quickly, “I’m sorry, it took a while.”

Ning Bei gave an expressionless “hmm”, turned around and walked downstairs.

The two originally planned to eat in a restaurant outside the school, but before ordering the food, Nan Xia received a series of urgent calls from her boss.

Helpless, Nan Xia could only leave early.

Ning Bei didn’t say anything nor did he stay at the restaurant to eat alone, he returned to the dormitory to continue putting away his things.

There are five other boys in his room, from all over the country.

Among them, the one called Jiang Chen was the most eloquent. He has a fiery personality and is very talkative. Within a few days, the people in the dormitory became familiar with each other.

Although Ning Bei doesn’t talk much, he doesn’t deliberately ignore people.

Occasionally, he will say a few more words on topics that catches his interest.

The other boys in the dormitory quickly gave Ning Bei a nickname: Ice King.

Cold, heartless, lady killer.

Ning Bei glanced at them silently, and said to himself: All wrong.

He looked down at his phone for the millionth time.

His WeChat has been refreshed several times, and the friend application interface is still without any new notification.

After Nan Xia left that day, Ning Bei received a text message.

“What’s your WeChat ID, I’ll add you, it’ll be easier for us to communicate that way.”

Ning Bei immediately texted her his phone number when he go that message.

Today is the third day.

There was still no new friend request on his WeChat.

Ning Bei held back and didn’t send her any message to ask.

But only he himself knows that every night when he goes to sleep, his heart is as uncomfortable as if it was on fire.

In the noisy dormitory, the sound of tapping on game keyboards and human voices intersected, Ning Bei was still refreshing his WeChat app over and over again.

Suddenly, a red dot appeared at the top of the friend request button.

There was a buzz in Ning Bei’s ear, and his cold white cheeks quickly became hot.

He clicked on it and saw Nan Xia’s friend application:

“Puppy, it’s Jiejie.”