In the lobby of the school dormitory, upon hearing the commotion, Gao Pingyang roared:
“Who bought the big refrigerator? Are you trying to blow up the dorm? How did you even drag this fridge in here???”
Li Yan, representing their dorm room, was grabbed by Gao Pingyang by the neck. He explained, “…We just put it in a cardboard box and brought it in.”
Gao Pingyang: “The dorm supervisor didn’t check?”
Li Yan: “I tricked the old man and told him it was a sculpture assignment from the art department. I said I made a Venus de Milo and that the plaster was very fragile, so it wasn’t convenient to open the box and show him.”
“…”
“You’re in the art department?” This didn’t match up with Gao Pingyang’s memory of Li Yan.
Li Yan: “I said I tricked him. I obviously made up my major too.”
“………”
A moment of silence.
Only Liu Zi temporarily abandoned his stance, clapping in admiration, “Impressive, you really pulled this one off.”
Amidst the chaos, Yun Ci realized someone was missing.
Yu Xun wasn’t there.
–
Yu Xun had walked this route from school to home countless times.
Before, the journey started from West High.
The back wall of West High could be climbed over. Students would climb out during lunch to eat or buy things. He didn’t climb the wall during break times; the timing depended on when he got a call from the neighbor auntie or the police station.
Class 7’s other students, and even the teachers, had gotten used to an empty seat suddenly appearing in the classroom.
Yan Yue had also made him a key observation target, watching him daily.
…
Now, it was from Nanyang University—heading back from the other side of the city.
But to him, these two routes were no different.
Yu Xun didn’t know Yu Ying’s condition. He also didn’t realize how tense he was out of habit.
It wasn’t until he was almost off the bus that he remembered he hadn’t said anything to Yun Ci.
He looked down at his phone, preparing to send a message.
He saw two messages from Yun Ci.
YC: [If you can’t make it back]
YC: [I’ll help you ask for leave tomorrow.]
These two sentences didn’t ask anything but said everything.
When he reached his stop, Yu Xun got off the bus, turned into the residential area, and sprinted up the stairs. He did this series of actions without needing to think, like a conditioned reflex, with his mind blank while running.
Standing at the door.
He still held a glimmer of hope that this time wouldn’t be too serious.
The doctor said there was improvement.
Getting better.
…
The last time Yu Ying called him, she said she was recently drawing, painting the flowers on the balcony. She would show him next time he came back.
But when the key turned and the door opened, he accidentally stepped on a piece of paper.
The entire room was dark.
No lights on. A woman curled up in the corner screamed frantically upon hearing the noise, a scream that tore at the eardrums and continued for a long time.
Yu Xun didn’t take another step forward. He carefully crouched down, even lowering his voice: “It’s me.”
The woman seemed not to hear.
Yu Xun reached out: “I’m back. Don’t be afraid.”
The woman screamed even more desperately.
She was in an extremely chaotic state, uncontrollably reaching for a small ornament nearby and hurling it in the direction of Yu Xun’s voice.
In the dim light, Yu Xun couldn’t dodge.
The sharp part of the ornament grazed his forehead, but he seemed unfazed, indifferent.
Yu Ying was oblivious to this, hoarsely repeating one word: “…No.”
“No.”
Don’t come over.
“No.”
Don’t come over.
“…”
For a moment, Yu Xun’s memory flashed back to many years ago.
Back then, Yu Ying was still mentally stable and younger, still looking like a young girl.
When he was little, he lived with his grandmother. The elderly woman was old and found life difficult. Afterward, Yu Ying appeared: “I can take him, take him to another school. The middle school there is better than here. Anyway, I don’t have kids, and he’ll take care of me when I’m old.”
Grandma lay in the wicker chair, worried: “What nonsense are you talking about? You’re not even married yet, taking care of a kid. What about your future?”
Yu Ying smiled and said, “Perfect. If anyone looks down on me because of this, I don’t care.”
She then turned her head, looking at the child who reached her waist: “Will you come with me?”
To him, Yu Ying was his aunt, but she felt more like a mother.
A young girl taking care of a nearly ten-year-old child was not easy.
People often gossiped behind their backs: “A young girl with a child already, who knows how messed up her life is.”
At that time, Yu Xun didn’t understand social norms. He grew up wild without parents.
Yu Ying often taught him: “Don’t act impulsively.”
Yu Xun listened, not because her teachings worked, but because he noticed she had to clean up the messes. People gossiped behind her back, yet she had to speak kindly to them because that person was their landlord, and this was one of the few affordable rentals within Yu Ying’s means.
…
“I’ll take care of you.”
“I’ll look after you.”
Yu Xun often said these two sentences to her.
Yu Ying didn’t take it seriously, laughingly asking, “When is ‘later’?”
Back then, Yu Xun would still act cool in front of her: “When I start making money.”
Yu Ying casually responded, “Alright.”
Then she would stretch out a finger, poking his forehead, teasing, “Already making empty promises at such a young age.”
Later, Yu Ying fell in love.
They quickly got married.
That man initially appeared perfectly normal, saying he was in business, and he did buy a lot of things for Yu Ying.
Although some people did warn: “You should observe him more closely. You have a child; doesn’t he mind at all? Don’t blame me for being blunt, but normal people would care. It’s actually more suspicious if he doesn’t… I always felt something was off about this.”
Their words came true.
…
After an unknown number of hours, Yu Ying was finally exhausted.
Yu Xun seized the opportunity to approach and gave her medicine, finally calming her down.
He took a breath.
During the long hours earlier, he felt as if he had been screaming too, but those sounds were choked in his throat, unable to make a single sound.
Then he got up to turn on the light and clean up the room.
The room was a mess, with things thrown everywhere.
He bent down to pick up a drawing from the floor.
The drawings on the paper were clearly done at different times. Initially, someone had used colored pencils to draw carefully, but later, large swathes of black scribbles covered them.
One stroke, another stroke, and another.
Like wounds.
Following those black marks, other fragments flashed through his mind.
In middle school, after Yu Ying got married, he started boarding at school.
Although Yu Ying had told him he could stay at home, it didn’t matter, he insisted on moving out.
After moving out, his contact with Yu Ying decreased.
By the time he noticed her mental state had deteriorated, it was when he was graduating middle school, about to enter high school.
— “He hit you, why don’t the police do anything?”
— “We clearly called the police, they came, why didn’t they arrest him?”
Her response was Yu Ying’s screams.
He realized that this was probably what that person wanted.
In her state, she couldn’t leave.
In the end, Yu Xun looked at her and said, “I’ll take you away.”
— I will take care of you.
— I will look after you.
The day he had promised came unexpectedly, not when he became an adult, not taking Yu Ying to enjoy life, but at fifteen, when he “escaped” with her.
Looking back now, he thought he had oversimplified everything at the time.
He thought finding a new place to live and taking good care of Yu Ying so that person couldn’t find them would be enough.
…
In the first two years at West High, he did live like that.
After quietly putting away the drawing, Yu Ying’s previously vacant eyes gradually focused, and she finally asked the question that had been pressing in her heart for a long time: “Where… where did he go.”
“Where is he now?”
Yu Xun was stunned: “Why are you suddenly asking this?”
Yu Ying’s fingers clutched his clothes tightly, accidentally pulling the black string necklace around his neck, her fingers gripping tighter and tighter: “…When you were in your third year of high school, you told me he had gotten into trouble himself, was being chased by debt collectors, that he left us and wouldn’t come back. Is that true?”
The black string was pulled tight, and Yu Xun’s neck was gradually being strangled.
He swallowed, his eyes a bit dim: “It’s true.”
There was no falsehood in those words.
But he hadn’t told the whole truth.
The child Yu Ying had raised, she understood his personality well. He seemed indifferent to everything, but once he was serious, he could do anything.
“…”
She shook her head: “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Yu Xun was silent.
Yu Ying pressed on: “Speak, answer me.”
With the earlier chaos and screaming gone, the room was unusually quiet, the ticking of the second hand amplified.
After a full revolution of the second hand, Yu Xun finally said: “The debt collectors, I contacted them.”
“…”
Yu Xun finished his words: “He got into trouble himself. They hadn’t found him; I called them.” He paused and added, “I also told them that Yang Wei had a lot of money.”
He quickly realized that he couldn’t continue hiding with Yu Ying like that. His initial thoughts were too naive, without considering everything.
Unless that person disappeared.
It would be best if that person disappeared from this world.
…
Owing so much money, if found, he most likely wouldn’t return.
He bought a phone card and called from a phone booth near the school.
He was very calm doing all this, even went back to the classroom and played a card game with Liu Zi as if nothing had happened, though his fingers were stiff holding the cards.
He felt himself gradually reconnecting with reality, his fingers regaining feeling, starting from the sudden commotion at Class Seven’s door.
“Class One’s Yun Ci is here with people—”
“Why is he here??? Causing trouble again?”
“It seems to be for the civilized class evaluation; it’s their turn this week.”
“…”
That day, Yun Ci had a red armband, a symbol of the evaluator at West High. He came in with a group, not like for a hygiene inspection, but as if for a fight.
Yun Ci had his hands in his uniform pockets, a bit arrogant, and walked up to Yu Xun.
Then he reached out and snatched the card from Yu Xun’s hand: “Contraband, one point deducted.”
Liu Zi sprang up: “What do you mean contraband—”
Yun Ci: “Cards, entertainment products. Check the school rules.”
Liu Zi was indignant: “Your class doesn’t play???”
Yun Ci, holding the card, looked at him, his voice indifferent: “We do.”
He added, “But our class hides them well.”
“…”
Yu Xun’s hand suddenly empty, his emotions forcibly interrupted, dragged back to reality. He snapped his fingers, finally feeling his state slowly returning.
Seeing his calm reaction.
Yun Ci felt uncomfortable, deliberately targeting Yu Xun: “Do you have any objections?”
Yu Xun leaned back: “No objections. Our class wasn’t civilized to begin with.”
…
The second hand kept ticking.
After getting the answer, it was Yu Ying’s turn to be silent. After a long silence, she suddenly said, “I think I saw him.”
“……”
“He came back.”
“This morning,” she looked towards the windowsill, “outside the window, downstairs.”
A cold shiver started from his fingertips, spreading densely like needle pricks.
“Ding.”
It was the sound of a message received on his phone.
Yu Xun had a strange premonition, his right eye twitched.
He swiped open the phone and clicked in, it was still that unfamiliar number.
Unfamiliar messages.
The other party sent three messages in a row.
[Did you think]
[I was dead?]
[Did you think you could kill me?]
The style of this message was too familiar, very similar to countless messages received years ago.
Where are you?
Did you think I couldn’t find you?
…
The days from two years ago had passed a long time ago.
So long that he almost forgot.
Yu Xun suddenly felt a bit breathless, he raised his hand to loosen his collar a bit, and when his fingers touched the black string necklace around his neck, he paused.
Outside the window, the gloomy weather of many days was suddenly torn open by a thunderclap.
With a loud bang.
Sharp raindrops began to fall straight down.
Meanwhile, at Xicheng High School.
In the teacher’s office.
Liu Jiayu stood in front of Yan Yue, head bowed: “Teacher, my phone.”
Yan Yue: “It’s the midterm exam period, everyone is busy reviewing, and you’re still playing on your phone during class.”
Liu Jiayu was at a loss for words: “If I say it’s for studying, would you believe me?”
Yan Yue glanced at the time: “There are eight minutes left before class.”
Liu Jiayu: “?”
Yan Yue calmly looked at him: “Still enough time to come up with another excuse.”
Liu Jiayu: “…………”
For the first time, this underachiever had begun to study seriously, working so hard that he got up to do exercises at dawn, even earlier than the chickens. He couldn’t stand such a misunderstanding.
Liu Jiayu suddenly reached out, his arm extending far to snatch back the phone from in front of Yan Yue.
As he dodged Yan Yue’s “attacks,” he quickly unlocked his phone and brought up his chat with his tutor: “I am really studying! I get up at three-thirty every day to do exercises! If I lie, I’ll fail the final exams and be last in class!”
Yan Yue shouted Liu Jiayu’s name while reaching for the teaching ruler: “Put the phone…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
Because Liu Jiayu had thrust the phone screen in his face.
“My tutor,” Liu Jiayu urgently forced his proof, “look for yourself.”
Yan Yue focused and saw a familiar white avatar.
And the tutor’s WeChat name: yc.
