The sky was clear and vast, with white clouds drifting zily. Zhuang Zi'ang and his new friend, Su Yudiel, had filled their stomachs with snacks, which served as their lunch. They sat on a ben the shopping mall, basking iernoon sun.

  The gentle breeze pyed with Su Yudiel's navy blue pleated skirt, revealing her slender, pale calves. Her feet dangled bad forth, a sign of her restless energy.

  "Zhuang Zi'ang, are you going back to school this afternoon?" Su Yudiel asked, gazing up at the sky.

  "No," Zhuang Zi'ang replied decisively. The rebellious spirit within him had been stirred, and he po skip the rest of the afternoon csses. After being a good kid for over a decade, he could finally let loose a little.

  Being with a good friend was much more fun than being in school. For the first time in his life, he experiehis kind of joy, and it felt incredibly exhirating.

  "Then where shall we go this afternoon?" Su Yudiel leaned closer to Zhuang Zi'ang, her faint, sweet fragrance wafting towards him. Without realizing it, the two had gone from strao using "we."

  Zhuang Zi'ang thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you like fishing?"

  Su Yudiel wrinkled her brow and shook her head repeatedly. "No, I've never caught a single fish."

  "Then I'll take you to the river to fish. I'm an expert," Zhuang Zi'ang boasted. Every summer vacation, he would stay in the tryside for a while and go fishing with his grandfather. It was a leisurely and enjoyable pastime.

  In truth, he was anything but an expert. The number of fish he had caught in his entire life could be ted on one hand.

  "Alright then, you have to catch a big, fat fish for me," Su Yudiel said, a charming smile curving her lips.

  Without hesitation, Zhuang Zi'ao a fishing tackle shop and spent over a hundred yuan on a cheap fishing rod. In the past, he might have balked at the price, but now, if he didn't spend it, he wouldn't have another ce.

  Passing by a venieore, Su Yudiel pulled on Zhuang Zi'ang's sleeve. "Let's buy some more snacks. We eat them by the river."

  "Are you the reination of a hungry ghost from hell?" Zhuang Zi'ang asked, exasperated.

  Su Yudiel looked at the venieore's gss window with a pitiful expression. "Just a few snacks, please? Pretty please?"

  Zhuang Zi'aed. "Fine, fine, whatever you want."

  "Yay, go buy them quickly!" Su Yudiel excimed, as happy as a child.

  Zhuang Zi'aered the store and grabbed a few things at random: some nuts, beef jerky, cookies, and other snacks from the shelves. Sihey had just met, he had no idea what this girl liked to eat.

  There was a small bookstore o the venieore. When Zhuang Zi'ang came out, he found Su Yudiel scrolling through her phone, reading silly jokes, and ughing untrolbly to herself.

  "Wow, you're into some deep stuff," Zhuang Zi'ang teased.

  Su Yudiel could tell he was being sarcastic but brushed it off. "Life is about being happy. Why does it have to be so deep?"

  "You're right. The more knowledge you have doesn't necessarily make you happier," Zhuang Zi'ang agreed.

  "Exactly. Stists, thinkers, philosophers – they all die in the end," Su Yudiel said casually. As a young person, she seemed to have no taboo about the word "death."

  Zhuang Zi'ang was taken aback at first, then said to himself, "Yeah, I'm going to die too."

  The school was built on a hill, at the foot of which flowed a river that meahrough the city. The green water flowed gently, its surface rippling. The afternoon sun shone down, refleg off the river in shimmering golden sparkles.

  Zhuang Zi'ang baited his hook, cast the lih a flourish, and then sat cross-legged on the cobblestones by the river, like Jiang Taigong (a legendary ese figure known for his patiend wisdom) fishing by the Wei River, calm and posed.

  Suddenly, a burst of silvery ughter broke his tration.

  "Keep your voice down. You'll scare away my fish," he pined.

  "Sorry, this joke is too funny. e look," Su Yudiel said, holding her pho to Zhuang Zi'ang.

  "Me, a person of such depth, reading these childish jokes with you?" Zhuang Zi'ang said with feigned disdain.

  "Just take a look!" Su Yudiel pleaded with a pout.

  Zhuang Zi'ang g the phone perfunctorily. But those two gnces led him doath of urn.

  "Hahahahaha..."

  Before they k, their heads were close together, reading silly jokes and ughing like fools.

  Su Yudiel had a very low threshold for humor. Even the most ordinary jokes could make her ugh until her stomach hurt. Zhuang Zi'ang usually sidered himself to have a high threshold for humor, but he couldn't help but be ied by the girl's ughter. Afraid that ughing too loudly would disturb the fish ier, he tried to stifle his ughter, which was quite a struggle.

  "Zhuang Zi'ang, take out your snacks. I want to eat," Su Yudiel requested.

  Zhuang Zi'ang took out the pstic bag. "There are nuts, cookies, and beef jerky. What do you want?"

  "You choose for me. I like them all."

  Foodies are not picky eaters.

  Zhuang Zi'ang randomly grabbed a pack of cookies and ha to her.

  Su Yudiel tore open the package and eagerly took a bite. "So crispy! You should have ooo."

  "I'm so full, I 't eat anymore," Zhuang Zi'ang drawled.

  Su Yudiel directly shoved a cookie into his mouth and said, "You're such a fussbudget."

  The cookie was crispy and sweet, but it wasn't as sweet as the girl's smile.

  Zhuang Zi'ang had pletely fotten about his self-procimed identity as a fishing expert and ended up reading jokes with Su Yudiel the whole time. They eve bad read them a sed time after finishing, reveling in the simplest form of joy. Only when their necks became too sore to tinue did he finally stop and stretch.

  Suddenly remembering his inal purpose, he lifted the fishing rod, only to find that the bait had long since beeen . Time flowed like petals falling from a flower, and the shadows on the ground grew longer and longer.

  In the past, Zhuang Zi'ang found the afternoon hours in css to be particurly grueling. But today, from noon until su, it felt like the blink of an eye.

  The setting sun bathed the faces of the young man and woman in a golden hue.

  "I o catch the 6:10 bus home," Su Yudiel said, stretg.

  "I haven't even caught a single fish," Zhuang Zi'ang muttered, slightly dejected.

  "You look like a big, fat fish yourself, all silly," Su Yudiel teased.

  They left the riverbank and walked up the long stoeps back to the snack street.

  Passing by a dessert shop, Su Yudiel stopped again, staring at the beautiful cakes in the window.

  "Don't tell me you're hungry again?" Zhuang Zi'ang asked, surprised.

  "No, no. You said your retionship with your family isn't good. Why not buy them a cake? Eating sweets brings happiness," Su Yudiel said, her eyes filled with siy.

  If someone else had made this suggestion, Zhuang Zi'ang would have rejected it ht. Over a decade of emotiora couldn't be mended with a small cake. But whe Su Yudiel's gaze, he couldn't bring himself to say no. This girl genuinely wao help him repair his retionship with his family. She believed that the warmth of human nature could overe the ess of the world.

  In the end, at Su Yudiel's suggestion, Zhuang Zi'ang bought a strawberry cake. It was a bit pricey, and he felt a pang ret as he paid for it.

  They walked to the bus stop at the school gate, and the No. 19 bus arrived just in time.

  "Goodbye, Zhuang Zi'ang," Su Yudiel said, waving. Then she hopped onto the bus.

  "Goodbye, my friend," Zhuang Zi'ang said, waving back. But his voice was so quiet that only he could hear it.

  What an iing girl.

  Shoot, I fot to get her number.

  The bus gradually moved away, eventually disappearing into the flow of traffic.