Chapter 56: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, as the name suggests, is a day for praying for peace and safety.

In many foreign countries, it may be a very important day, but for people in China, it was just another ordinary Wednesday.

Although most people did not traditionally celebrate Christmas Eve, giving an apple to close family members or friends as a symbol of peace and safety had become a popular trend.

By giving an apple, people expressed their wish for the other person to stay safe and healthy.

Because of this, many business owners took ordinary apples, put them in beautiful gift boxes, and sold them for more than double the normal price.

Even so, most people did not mind spending the extra money. They would buy a few apples and give them to their best friends or someone they liked.

In Class 3 of the first-year high school students, Li Nuo stared at the pile of peace apples and greeting cards stacked on An Ran'er's desk.

The pile was almost like a small mountain.

Besides the apples given by boys from their class, many had also come from boys in other classes.

There were even some from girls.

It could be said that An Ran'er attracted not only boys but also a number of girls who liked her.

"Classmate An really is popular," Li Nuo thought.

However, An Ran'er herself did not seem to care at all.

After moving all the apples from her desk onto the floor, she calmly returned to studying.

When class ended, she even asked Li Nuo to help her carry everything to Xu Yuyi's office.

She said that the gifts were distracting her from studying, but throwing the apples away would be wasteful.

So she decided to share them with all the teachers in the office.

As for the paper greeting cards, she threw every single one of them into the recycling bin.

After finishing all that and returning to the classroom, she looked at Li Nuo and suddenly asked,

"You didn't give me one of those apples, did you?"

"Huh? N-No, I didn't."

Li Nuo immediately waved his hands and denied it.

"I see..."

An Ran'er first seemed relieved.

Then, strangely, a hint of disappointment appeared on her face.

However, Li Nuo did not notice any of that.

At that moment, he was only glad that he had forgotten to bring the apple he bought this morning.

Otherwise, it would have ended up being given away along with all the others.

While secretly celebrating his good luck, he suddenly noticed that there was also a beautifully wrapped apple sitting on his own desk.

The gift box was pink and looked quite delicate.

He picked it up and checked it.

There was no card inside and no name written anywhere.

"Could someone secretly have a crush on me?" he wondered.

Then he quickly shook his head. Other than An Ran'er, he barely knew any girls in class.

If he had to name another one, Chen Zhizhi would count.

But they only knew each other on the surface and had hardly spoken.

Besides, Li Nuo did not think he was the kind of person everyone would fall in love with.

If that was the case...

Could it have been from An Ran'er?

He turned and looked at her. She was currently reading seriously with her head lowered.

If she had given it to him, she probably would not have left it anonymous.

She did not seem like the type of girl who would be shy about confessing her feelings.

After thinking about it for a long time, Li Nuo still could not figure out who had sent the apple.

At that moment, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

Turning around, he looked at Zhou Qikuan, who sat behind him.

"What is it?"

"You saw the peace apple I gave you, right? Pretty touching, isn't it?"

Zhou Qikuan grinned.

"You gave this to me?"

"Of course. Surprised?"

"Heh... a little."

Li Nuo forced an awkward smile.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy to get a gift?"

"I saw the packaging and thought it might be from some cute girl."

He sighed dramatically.

"Who knew it was actually from you? Turns out you have such a girly heart."

By "girly heart," he was obviously referring to the pink gift box.

Zhou Qikuan naturally understood the teasing. He raised his fist as if he was about to hit him.

"You little brat. So in your mind, your bro isn't as important as girls, huh?"

"Tell me, are you asking for a beating?"

"No, no, no!"

Li Nuo quickly surrendered.

"I was wrong, big brother. I understand that brothers are like your arms and legs, while women are just clothes."

"Good."

Zhou Qikuan nodded proudly.

"At least you're teachable."

The entire conversation was overheard by An Ran'er. She only frowned slightly and continued reading without saying anything.

………………………

That night, the moon was bright and the stars were few.

Lying on his bed, Li Nuo looked at the peace apple in his hand.

He was struggling with whether he should give it to An Ran'er.

What if she refused it? Wouldn't that be extremely embarrassing?

Even though they had been living together for quite some time, he still often found it impossible to understand what she was really thinking.

When he remembered how she had dealt with all those apples at school today, he became even more hesitant.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Just as he was caught between different choices, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

He got up and opened it.

Standing outside was An Ran'er, wearing pajamas with both hands hidden behind her back.

"You're not asleep yet, right?"

She looked a little nervous.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Well... I wanted to talk about..."

She hesitated and could not seem to finish her sentence. Seeing her acting so awkwardly, Li Nuo's heart immediately started racing.

Could it be? Is Classmate An about to confess to me?

No way. No way!

Although he was incredibly excited inside, he tried to stay calm on the surface.

"Whatever it is, just tell me." He swallowed nervously. "I-I can handle it."

After hearing that, An Ran'er finally stopped hesitating.

"It's about the band."

"The band?"

Li Nuo instantly felt disappointed, but he forced himself to remain calm.

"Yeah..."

She then told him everything.

She explained how she and Yu Haoshen had signed a contract transferring the copyright of Carousel.

Originally, she had expected him to get angry or scold her for making the decision without asking him first.

Instead, his reaction surprised her.

After listening to the whole story, Li Nuo simply said,

"Copyright isn't that important, is it? As long as the band still exists."

Seeing him so calm only made An Ran'er more agitated.

"This is a song you wrote!" she exclaimed. "We sold the copyright without even asking you first. Aren't you angry?"

"I am a little angry..."

Li Nuo scratched his cheek.

"But you did it for the sake of the band, right? I understand."

"......"

Hearing that, An Ran'er lowered her head and stood silently.

"Classmate An?"

"I don't understand."

Her voice was cold and slightly shaky.

"Why are you always so nice?"

"Huh?"

Li Nuo blinked in surprise.

"Isn't being nice a good thing?"

"No!"

She bit her lower lip. Her body trembled slightly.

"The nicer you are, the more guilty I feel. The nicer you are, the more it feels like I've wronged you."

After hearing her words, Li Nuo also fell silent. The two stood facing each other without speaking. After a while, Li Nuo finally broke the silence.

"Joining the band and writing songs..."

"Those were all choices I made willingly."

He smiled gently.

"And honestly, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to stand in front of other people and sing the way I do now. So, Classmate An, you don't need to feel guilty."

He looked directly at her.

"Because for me, nothing has been luckier than meeting you."

When he finished speaking, he showed a somewhat awkward but incredibly bright smile.

For a moment, An Ran'er was completely stunned.

She stared at him blankly.

Only after a long while did she finally come back to her senses.

"Y-You..."

Her face turned red.

"W-What are you even saying? What do you mean meeting me was lucky? I don't understand any of that."

She spoke in a flustered and confused voice.

Li Nuo laughed.

"Whether you understand or not doesn't really matter. Anyway, after saying all that, I feel much better now."