Chapter 168: Whispers (First Update)

As Jiang Muwen finished her question, a faint flush unconsciously crept up into Wen Yichen’s cheeks. He deliberately let out a couple of dry coughs and then turned around. The boy’s tall, slender figure stood with his back to the girl, and then he softly murmured, "It's nothing."

Wen Yichen had no idea where he had suddenly found the courage to utter such words on a whim. Yet, after turning around, an irrepressible smile bloomed across his face. Beneath the warm, golden glow of the streetlamp, the boy’s smile looked remarkably captivating. This was something he had always wanted to say, but had never quite managed to voice.

Before long, Jiang Muwen caught up with Wen Yichen in quick steps. She walked quietly by his side all the way to her front doorstep.

Finally, just as Jiang Muwen fished out her keys and prepared to unlock the door, Wen Yichen spoke up. His low, deep voice broke the quietness of the air, resembling a leaf falling onto the surface of a calm lake and sending gentle ripples spreading outward.

"Jiang Muwen."

At the sound of his voice, Jiang Muwen’s movements paused abruptly. Her hand holding the keys froze mid-air. She instinctively turned her head, looking at Wen Yichen with a docile gaze. "Hmm?"

Under the dim lighting, a brilliant, colorful interplay of light seemed to dance within Wen Yichen’s eyes.

Shortly after Jiang Muwen’s response, Wen Yichen leaned slightly closer toward her. In the next second, the boy bent down, bringing his head a bit nearer to hers. Immediately following that, a wave of warm breath gently brushed against her skin, causing her to shiver involuntarily.

The boy leaned close to her ear, murmuring softly against her earlobe for a brief moment. Then, he leisurely straightened up, wearing a completely innocent and harmless smile, as if nothing had happened at all.

The air was quiet. Wen Yichen had spoken very softly, too softly for a third person to hear clearly. When Jiang Muwen raised her eyes to look at him once again, a delicate blush had unexpectedly spread across her cheeks.

Their eyes met. A moment later, Jiang Muwen hurriedly averted her gaze, hastily shoving the key into the keyhole. Turning the key and opening the door—all her actions flowed in one smooth, unbroken motion, bringing a faint, amused smile to Wen Yichen’s lips.

"Goodnight."

Just as Jiang Muwen was about to step inside her home, Wen Yichen’s voice drifted leisurely from behind her. His voice was gentle, seemingly laced with a hidden fondness that made Jiang Muwen’s heart skip a beat.

For as long as she could remember, this seemed to be the first time anyone had ever said "goodnight" to her upon parting. This peculiar feeling left Jiang Muwen feeling somewhat flattered and overwhelmed. She instinctively looked back over her shoulder. The boy’s smile still lingered, and the moment he saw her turn around, the expression on his face seemed to grow even gentler.

Wen Yichen truly possessed some kind of magic; whenever he smiled, she found herself growing happy as well. A moment later, a soft flush crept up her cheeks once more. Jiang Muwen offered a self-conscious, bashful smile. "Goodnight."

***

Watching Jiang Muwen finish speaking and close her door behind her, Wen Yichen finally turned around toward his own entrance, unlocked the door, and stepped inside his room.

After finishing his nighttime routine, Wen Yichen made himself comfortable, settling deep into his bed. He leaned lazily against the headboard, instinctively reaching for his phone to check Weibo before going to sleep.

His fingertips habitually tapped on his frequently visited pages column, and in the next second, the screen jumped to the homepage of a blogger who had recently gained a modest following within the Weibo community:

*A Green Plum.*

He hadn't known about this Weibo account originally, but as fate would have it, following the concert that day, Wen Yichen had curiously clicked into Sean’s trending topic hashtag, only to find a photograph of the two of them circulating in the discussion feed. True to his usual habits, he would normally just glance at posts within hashtag feeds and scroll right past them. But this time, driven by some inexplicable impulse, he had actually clicked on that specific post.

Driven by a sense of novelty, the boy began patiently scrolling through the comments. Just as he was about to exit the page, a string of text suddenly struck his eyes like a doorway: *A Green Plum*.

His heart gave an involuntary flutter, and his fingertip lightly tapped on the username.

In a way, he really had to thank the blogger who had shared that doorway; otherwise, he never would have discovered that Jiang Muwen actually had such a secret alternative account.

That very night, he had patiently scrolled through every single post and comment on *A Green Plum* all the way to the very beginning. Ever since then, he had developed the habitual routine of checking every day to see if the blogger had posted any updates.

People probably wouldn't believe it if they were told—a grown young man curled up with his phone every night, reading sweet little anecdotes posted by an emotional blogger, complete with a fond, knowing smile blooming on his face that he himself wasn't even fully aware of. Yet, that was precisely the case. The boy who usually appeared aloof and somewhat unapproachable could actually hide under the covers and smile while reading a girl's shared fragments of everyday life.

*At today's masquerade ball, I kissed Jiang Muwen. Will she post about this?*

With that thought in mind, the boy’s fingertip navigated from his homepage to the main feed. In the next instant, a fresh update caught his eye:

*A Green Plum: A kiss without using the tongue doesn't even count as a kiss.*

The moment he saw this post from *A Green Plum*, Wen Yichen’s heart skipped a beat. His bright eyes narrowed slightly, and the corners of his mouth curved upward into an ambiguous, half-amused smile.

***

These exact words were what he had murmured right next to her ear just before Jiang Muwen opened her door: *A kiss without using the tongue doesn't count as a kiss.* The boy’s tone had been casual, yet it was thoroughly saturated with an intimate, ambiguous undertone that had inevitably flushed the girl's ears red.

At the time, he hadn't been able to think of anything else to comfort the girl who had been dwelling so intensely on that kiss, so he had simply whispered those words against her ear. He hadn't expected that she would remember them for this long.

The next second, the boy instinctively tapped into the comment section. Since *A Green Plum* already enjoyed a modest following, the moment this post went live, the comment section erupted:

*A Green Plum:* This is what the childhood friend whispered to me today.

*Bao A Jiang:* The lights and the hosts are all ready. May I please shove the microphone down your throat right now?

*Difficult Nannan:* So what kind of sticky, tangled things happened between you and your childhood friend?

*Helping an Old Lady Across the Street:* It just doesn't count as a deep french kiss, cough cough.

*Camels Looking for Grass:* Why haven't you guys made any progress yet?

*I Am Just a Filler Name:* Please hurry up and start dating already.

*I Am Also Just a Filler Name:* May I ask if you're planning to tie your childhood friend to your bed, or tie yourself to your childhood friend's bed?