A Touching Youthful Campus Love Story : The Hairpin Full of Happiness and Love
When An Qiqi stepped into Yinrui High School, she began boarding there. Now, she is in her third year.
Recently, a lady who collects recyclables has been frequenting the girls’ dormitory. She often sits on the steps.
Whenever An Qiqi and Han Xiaoduo pass by her, the lady always asks in her local dialect, “Girls, do you have any bottles?”
Her voice trembles, weak and frail.
An Qiqi comes from a rural area. Getting into the top provincial high school was a huge event for her, but her parents had to humble themselves to get the tuition money. She deeply understands the hardships her parents faced and treasures the opportunity to study. For three years, she has kept a plain appearance, her long, black hair flowing behind her, her pale dress gently swaying, embodying the beauty of youth.
She couldn’t compare to the city kids. Han Xiaoduo often mentioned KFC and Aiyilian, which left Qiqi in awe. She had only seen the mouth-watering food on the coupons Xiaoduo brought back and had never tasted it, not even in her dreams. Besides, she heard that a hamburger meal costs dozens of yuan, which is her food budget for a week.
In two weeks, it would be Han Xiaoduo’s 19th birthday. Xiaoduo had been busy preparing for her birthday party, falling asleep as soon as she returned to the dormitory.
An Qiqi smiled at Xiaoduo’s sweet sleeping face. She liked having Xiaoduo as a friend. Although Xiaoduo was a rich girl, she wasn’t arrogant and didn’t look down on Qiqi.
Qiqi planned to give Xiaoduo a small gift for her birthday. Though it wouldn’t be expensive, it would be heartfelt. But where would she get the money?
Suddenly, the image of the bottle-collecting lady popped into her mind. Collect bottles, sell them, buy a gift. Qiqi had a clear plan and finally drifted into a sweet dream.
From then on, she would quietly go downstairs before dawn, searching for bottles in the faint morning light. After dark, she would put on gloves and rummage through trash cans, then pack the collected bottles into a burlap sack.
When she encountered acquaintances or classmates, she would instinctively turn away. She wasn’t ashamed, but she didn’t want them to see her in such a state. From their surprised expressions, she read their confusion. But Qiqi didn’t mind and felt no resentment. All she thought about was saving enough money to buy that hairpin she had seen so many times for Xiaoduo’s birthday.
She took the large sack of bottles she had painstakingly collected to the lady. The lady counted them—exactly 350. She noticed the bottles were very clean, as if someone had carefully cleaned them.
“Girl, where did you get such clean bottles?”
“I collected them, but I was worried about your age, so I cleaned them before bringing them to you.”
The lady smiled and said, “You’re a good girl. This is what you deserve.” She handed Qiqi thirty-five yuan and chatted warmly with her. Qiqi shared her little plan with the lady.
Han Xiaoduo’s birthday party was held at Ziye KTV outside the school. She wore light makeup and a violet dress, looking charming.
Qiqi entered when they were cutting the cake. “Xiaoduo, I’m late. Here’s a hairpin for you.”
Qiqi was panting slightly from running and placed the tightly held hairpin on Xiaoduo’s head. The hairpin gleamed even more under the lights.
Later, when Xiaoduo accompanied Qiqi to sell bottles, the lady kept muttering, “Did your friend wear the hairpin you saved up to buy? That girl is really lucky to have a friend like you.”
Only then did Xiaoduo realize that the hairpin was bought with money Qiqi earned from collecting bottles for three weeks. She held Qiqi’s hand tightly and said, “Our sisterhood will last forever.”
Years later, they still remember the bottles full of love, a testament to their pure friendship.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
