Green Hair, White Hair, Pink Hair

At the military training mobilization meeting at the sports center, Xie Qizhi had clearly seen a flash of blue hair in the crowd. But when they dismissed to gather on the field, in the blink of an eye, that person had disappeared.

He walked up to the stands, placing his hands on the railing to look into the distance, only seeing squares of green starting their training.

There was no place for him to participate, and he didn't know the green-haired person's name, otherwise he could have asked in the class group.

The counselor called, asking if he was free to hand out water with the upperclassmen. After being busy for another half hour, making friends with a bunch of people, Xie Qizhi barely managed to remember their faces and names in his notes, but not long after returning to the stands, he forgot them completely.

Under the stands, the sound of two people arguing noisily suddenly rang out.

"Hop carefully, don't break your other leg."

"Alright, I know. You Ran, stop nagging."

The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Xie Qizhi sat on the row of seats, looking in the direction of the sound. Through the gaps in the railing, he saw two heads, one green and one pink, walking side by side up the stairs.

The pink-haired one was a girl with long hair. With each of her hops up the stairs, the slight curls at the ends of her hair also bobbed up and down.

Was her leg injured?

"You're here." Green Hair saw Xie Qizhi and waved, walking over while supporting the pink-haired girl's arm.

Like them, Xie Qizhi was also wearing the green military training uniform, but because he felt stuffy, he had taken off his cap and set it aside.

The girl saw his face clearly, showing surprise: "Hey, Xie Qizhi?"

Did she know him? Xie Qizhi looked at her for a moment but didn't recognize who she was.

The harsh sun hung high. One standing, one sitting, they stared at each other in the shade of the stands, the atmosphere a bit awkward.

"Forget it." The girl hopped over, sitting on the seat next to Xie Qizhi. "I knew you wouldn't recognize me. This sister of yours has a very average beauty face, so it's not your fault for not recognizing me."

Xie Qizhi blinked a few times, looking at her once more. He was a bit embarrassed, curling his fingers, and was about to say something when he suddenly remembered his brother seemed to have mentioned something when picking up his admission notice for him.

"There's also someone in your class who got into Ximing University. You'll have a companion on the way to school in the future."

Of course, Xie Qizhi hadn't paid attention. Now he racked his brain to think of her name...

"Zhan Xinjia?"

The green-haired boy crossed his arms and said, "Not easy. You probably had to scratch your head for five minutes, didn't you?"

Xie Qizhi: "..."

He glared at Green Hair. Wanting to salvage some of his impression, he said to Zhan Xinjia, "I remember you used to wear a ponytail and glasses."

Now, not only had she ditched the glasses and changed her hair color, but she had also cut bangs, so not recognizing her wasn't entirely his fault.

But Zhan Xinjia didn't think so. She let out an "oh" and said, "You recognize people by their hairstyle and glasses, right? Changing hairstyles is as good as changing the person."

Xie Qizhi: "..."

Green Hair had been laughing at their conversation the whole time. Now he bent down, pointing at himself to ask, "Then what is my characteristic? Green hair?"

Xie Qizhi: "... Yeah." That indeed couldn't be denied.

He saw Green Hair laugh again, and asked back somewhat defensively, "Wasn't your impression of me like that too?"

"No," Green Hair said. "Xie Qizhi, the first time I saw you, I remembered your face."

Xie Qizhi froze. The other curved his eyes, looking at Xie Qizhi to say, "I am You Ran. 'You' as in 'special', 'Ran' as in 'afterward'."

That morning, the three patients—Xie Qizhi, You Ran, and Zhan Xinjia—had nothing to do, spending most of their time sitting in the stands dazing and chatting.

Zhan Xinjia seemed to have also been stuffed into the military training choir. She asked about the practice schedule. Xie Qizhi had just asked the counselor and before he could reply, You Ran chimed in, "Still early. With just a few of us, how could it be enough? In a few days, when some fragile people faint, get UV allergies, or sprain their ankles, they'll all be grouped together, and after filtering them, there will be enough people. These temporary teams work very sloppily."

He had indeed guessed right.

Zhan Xinjia gave an "oh," stretching her leg as she looked down to play on her phone.

Xie Qizhi noticed an elastic bandage wrapped tightly around her ankle, peeking out from under her military pants, and asked, "What happened to your leg?"

"This?" she said without looking up. "Dyeing my hair against my ancestors' wishes, my dad broke it."

Xie Qizhi: "... Huh?"

"Why do you believe everything people say?" You Ran exposed her. "She just fell."

"I'm nearsighted. This summer I had laser surgery. During the recovery period, I couldn't see the road clearly at night. I fell while riding my bike and sprained my ankle," she said gloomily. "It still hurts now. I won't end up a cripple, will I?"

"If you don't climb around like a monkey all day, you won't be crippled," You Ran said.

Zhan Xinjia retorted, "You're the monkey, green-haired monkey."

"Pink-haired baby monkey." You Ran noticed Xie Qizhi's gaze, asking teasingly, "What are you looking at us for? Do you want to be a white-haired baby monkey?"

Xie Qizhi shook his head, asking them, "Are you two a couple?"

You Ran froze, glancing at Zhan Xinjia, both of them frowning.

Zhan Xinjia said bluntly, "I have no interest in people who like to act as central air conditioners and social butterflies."

"I don't like—" You Ran was halfway through speaking when he heard her words, turning his head in shock. "Biting the hand that feeds you, aren't you ashamed?"

"Actually, I haven't known him much longer than I've known you," Zhan Xinjia said to Xie Qizhi. "We met on the plane to Songcheng. We sat in the same row, and since we were both Ximing University students, we chatted a bit. After all, we were heading the same way. He helped me push my luggage to the dormitory, and that was it."

Xie Qizhi said sincerely, "You two look very close, like you've known each other for a long time."

"Close? Isn't everyone like that? Same environment, similar status, we're all of the same kind. Once we meet, we become friends."

Xie Qizhi didn't think so. He also lived in the same environment and had a similar student status, but he had never had good friends with whom he could play around so lightheartedly like the two of them.

"Why wouldn't you have?" You Ran chimed in to ask. "Aren't you very popular?"

Xie Qizhi was trying to deny it when Zhan Xinjia replied, "He really was very popular. In high school, many people liked him, trying to get close to him, inviting him to eat, or hang out on weekends, but he rejected them all. Such a cold person."

Xie Qizhi was stunned, suspecting there was a slight discrepancy between his perception and hers.

You Ran also looked at Xie Qizhi, asking in confusion, "Cold where? I don't think so?"

"He doesn't realize it himself. But we can't entirely blame Xie Qizhi; his health wasn't good, and he took a lot of leaves. Sometimes before he could even remember anyone's face, he had already changed classes when he returned, having to get familiar all over again. It's normal that he couldn't get close."

Xie Qizhi tilted his head. Hearing her say, "We really liked you, it's just that you didn't pay attention to the people around you," his eyes blinked slightly.

Zhan Xinjia looked at his expression, raised her hand to point higher, and said, "Xie Qizhi, back then, your eyes were always looking somewhere else."

She spoke so seriously that Xie Qizhi couldn't help but start thinking about this issue.

His gaze, where had it been looking?

You Ran also looked in the direction of her finger, asking deliberately, "Where? The building next door? Did a secret crush walk past?"

Zhan Xinjia punched him.

A breeze blew past, dispersing the white clouds in the sky, scattering them group by group in all directions.

Xie Qizhi stared blankly at the clouds for a moment, then suddenly gave an "mhm" and said, "Almost like that."