Heartwarming friendship narratives
An Qiqi started boarding school when she entered Yinrui High School. Now, she’s a senior.
Recently, a woman who collects recyclables started coming to the girls’ dormitory. She often sat on the steps. Whenever An Qiqi and Han Xiaoduo passed by, the woman would ask in a trembling, weak voice, “Girls, do you have any bottles?”
An Qiqi’s family was from a rural area, and getting into the top provincial high school was a huge achievement for her. But at that time, her parents had to humble themselves to ask for help with her tuition fees. She understood their struggles deeply and cherished this educational opportunity even more. For three years, she kept a plain appearance, her long black hair flowing down her back, and wore a simple white dress that swayed gently, embodying the beauty of youth.
She couldn’t compare to city kids. Han Xiaoduo would casually mention KFC and Aiyilian, leaving Qiqi in awe. She had only seen the mouth-watering food on the coupons Xiaoduo brought back, never having tasted it even in her dreams. She had heard that a burger meal cost dozens of yuan, which was her food budget for an entire week.
In two weeks, Han Xiaoduo would turn 19. She was busy preparing for her birthday party, falling asleep as soon as she returned to the dormitory each day.
Watching Xiaoduo’s sweet sleeping face, Qiqi couldn’t help but smile. She liked having a friend like Xiaoduo. Despite being from a wealthy family, Xiaoduo wasn’t arrogant and never looked down on Qiqi.
Qiqi thought about giving Xiaoduo a small gift for her birthday, something not expensive but heartfelt. But where would the money come from?
Suddenly, the image of the bottle-collecting woman popped into her mind. Collecting bottles, selling them, and buying a gift. Qiqi’s thoughts cleared, and she drifted into a sweet dream.
From then on, Qiqi would quietly go downstairs before dawn, searching for bottles in the faint morning light. At night, she wore gloves to rummage through garbage bins, putting the collected bottles into a sack.
When she encountered acquaintances or classmates, she instinctively turned away, not out of shame but not wanting them to see her in such a state.
From her classmates’ surprised expressions, she sensed their confusion. But Qiqi didn’t mind, nor did she harbor any resentment. Her only thought was to save enough money by Xiaoduo’s birthday to buy her the hairpin she had admired so many times.
She took the sack full of bottles to the woman. The woman counted them: exactly 350. What puzzled her was that the bottles were very clean, as if carefully washed.
“Girl, where did you get such clean bottles?”
“I collected them, but I worried about your age, so I cleaned them before bringing them to you.”
The woman smiled, “You’re a good girl. This is what you deserve.” She handed 35 yuan to Qiqi and chatted warmly with her. Qiqi shared her little plan.
Han Xiaoduo’s birthday party was held at Purple Night KTV outside the school. She wore light makeup and a violet dress, smiling radiantly.
Qiqi arrived while they were cutting the cake. “Xiaoduo, I’m late. Here’s a hairpin for you.”
Out of breath from running, Qiqi placed the hairpin on Xiaoduo’s head. Under the light, it looked even more dazzling.
Later, when Xiaoduo accompanied Qiqi to sell bottles, the woman mumbled, “Did your friend wear the hairpin you saved up for? That girl is so lucky to have a friend like you.”
Xiaoduo then learned that the hairpin was bought with money Qiqi had saved from collecting bottles for three weeks. She held Qiqi’s hand tightly and said, “Our sisterhood will last forever.”
Years later, they still remembered those bottles full of love, a testament to their pure friendship.
Short stories are shared for free on our ” Sitestorys “. Thank you for reading!
