The news of Jiang Ren’s injury had reached He Junming and the others. In the past few days, they had stopped their usual antics at school. Everyone silently smoked, unusually quiet, maturing considerably in an instant. Their sudden transformation even unsettled their homeroom teacher, who was unaccustomed to seeing these normally rambunctious youths so subdued.
He Junming irritably tossed away an empty cigarette pack. “Is it that serious?”
Fang Tan shook his head. “It’s unclear. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“You know how hospitals are. They can conjure up a bunch of problems even when there’s nothing wrong. I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with Ren-ge’s leg.”
The young men remained silent. After all, it was a collapsed beam—cement and steel rebar. How could flesh and blood withstand that? It was a miracle that Jiang Ren hadn’t lost consciousness on the spot when such a heavy object fell on him.
“Ren-ge is leaving tomorrow, right? Should we go see him off?”
“Better not. He said not to come.”
Even someone with He Junming’s personality felt a pang in his heart. No one spoke. Last year, they had jokingly asked Ren-ge if he was serious, and Jiang Ren had remained silent then. But later, everyone knew just how serious he had been.
“It’s all right, it’s all right,” He Han tried to lighten the mood. “Everything will get better.”
Yes, everything would get better.
H City had only one airport, yet Meng Ting waited there for a long time without finding him. Planes landed and took off, one after another.
Meng Ting had cried so hard that day that Shu Zhitong had guessed something was wrong. Apart from sighing, he had no solution.
Later, Shu Zhitong accompanied Meng Ting to the fire station to present honorary banners to the firefighters who had saved her.
A young soldier smiled bashfully. “It wasn’t me. It was a young man who saved you. His leg was crushed, and he couldn’t even stand, but you were in his arms when you fainted.”
Shu Zhitong looked at Meng Ting. Her long lashes were lowered, and both he and Shu Yang thought she would cry, but she didn’t. She merely thanked the firefighters and then followed Shu Papa to their new rented apartment.
They were in dire financial straits and still had to deal with the police. After all, it wasn’t an ordinary fire—it was arson. The landlord’s house had been burned down, facing compensation and a series of troublesome issues. They had to find a good place to settle and then cooperate with the police investigation.
Meng Ting’s voice hadn’t fully recovered. When Shu Papa was busy outside, she would wash clothes and then cook.
She didn’t go looking for Jiang Ren; she didn’t have the means to find him.
Shu Zhitong’s bank card only had the 30,000 yuan prize money from the dance competition a few days ago, along with donations from teachers and classmates at school.
The circumstances didn’t allow Meng Ting to be willful.
The fire had happened, but what about Shu Papa’s death?
She had a good talk with Shu Papa once: “Papa, I once had a dream.”
She said, “I dreamed of a big fire. After the fire, we lost everything, and I was injured. Later, to cure me and for the sake of our family, you went to do very dangerous experiments. In the laboratory, high-intensity radiation killed the cells, and many researchers didn’t survive three days.”
Shu Zhitong looked at her, shocked.
Meng Ting clenched her fists. “I dreamed that after you had an accident, they all said I was a jinx, that I had caused my mother’s death, and then yours. I was driven out. Shu Lan told me to go back to the countryside to lie low, but halfway there, I didn’t go. I went to another city and lived alone. I was very sad, and Shu Yang wasn’t doing well either. So, please, for our sake, take care of yourself.”
Shu Zhitong listened, his mood heavy.
Indeed, he had been thinking that while there might be oversights in worldly affairs, the probability of danger in experiments wasn’t high. To solve the family’s difficulties and find the missing Shu Lan, he wanted to participate in that project.
However, Meng Ting’s “nightmare” had awakened him. He couldn’t have an accident; two children needed his care.
He patted Meng Ting’s head, his tone more serious: “Papa promises you, I won’t go.”
Meng Ting looked at him. “Don’t lie to me. I don’t want to experience that kind of life. I feel… I wouldn’t be able to carry on.” This statement frightened Shu Zhitong, and he took it even more seriously in his heart. This time, he truly wouldn’t entertain even a hint of such thoughts.
At the beginning of July, school let out for the holidays.
Shu Lan was also found by the police.
Shu Lan had been hiding in a small rented room, having lost nearly ten kilograms. She hadn’t expected the matter to be so serious. Arson—she could have had a good life, but in a moment of folly, she had become a criminal. The 500,000 yuan in her bag shocked the police.
She cried miserably, saying she didn’t want to go to jail.
That day, Shu Papa went to the police station to see her, and Shu Yang went too.
Meng Ting didn’t go. She stood on her tiptoes, collecting clothes from the balcony. If you do something wrong, you should face the consequences of your actions.
She rested her chin on her hand, looking at the cactus on the balcony. It had bloomed a particularly beautiful flower.
The stem was slender, and the flower beautiful.
She wasn’t sad, just missing Jiang Ren a bit.
When the plaintiff filed charges against Shu Lan, Meng Ting also studied the law. For minors committing arson, those over 16 years old could still be charged with the crime of arson, legally punishable by three to ten years in prison, but the sentence should be lighter or reduced.
She closed the book and took the bus home from the library.
While they were in a frenzy over renting a house, the seaside villa area in H City had been completed. Meng Ting saw its advertisement on a large electronic screen. The villas were exquisite, with sea views and floor-to-ceiling windows, eliciting exclamations of admiration from people in the square.
That was Junyang’s real estate.
She watched for a while. If she grew up well, he couldn’t kill anyone either.
If she finished the college entrance exam and saved enough money, she would go find him. Even if he didn’t want her.
In mid-July, Shu Papa got a raise.
The gloom finally passed. In that year, very few people had annual salaries over 10,000 yuan, but his salary increased to 12,000. Shu Zhitong’s eyes finally showed a hint of lightheartedness.
The rent issue was also resolved. The new landlord, hearing about their family’s plight, introduced them to a new apartment.
“That place is good, quiet, and spacious. It’s just that they say it’s haunted, so no one dares to live there. That’s why the rent is cheap. It’s up to you whether you want to live there or not.”
As for haunting, if you believe it, it exists; if you don’t, it doesn’t.
Shu Zhitong took the two children to move in that very day.
The house was unexpectedly good, on the 8th floor, clean and tidy, with all the furniture. There was even a beautifully decorated girl’s room.
Even Shu Yang couldn’t help but show a satisfied expression, sighing in relief.
With such good lighting, why were there rumors of haunting?
Meng Ting looked at the television set worth several thousand yuan and walked into her room. The walls had been painted a light pink and covered with pretty wallpaper. The wardrobe was carved with flowers and had a faint wooden fragrance.
There was a desk, and on it, a little princess snow globe.
When you pressed the button at the bottom, the little princess would spin, and it would start snowing inside the crystal ball.
She rubbed her eyes, holding back tears. How annoying Jiang Ren was.
When school reopened in September, autumn had already arrived in H City.
The city cooled with each autumn rain.
Meng Ting officially entered her senior year of high school.
The senior year is a magical time. When banners were hung at the front and back of the classroom, and class monitor Guan Xiaoye wrote “278 days” on the top right corner of the blackboard to countdown to the college entrance exam, the entire Class 1 seemed to be on adrenaline. Students who used to arrive just in time at 7:40 were now reciting books at 7:00.
They were reciting “The Mulberry Tree” from the Book of Songs:
“The leaves of the mulberry tree,
They have not yet fallen.
Ah, you turtle doves!
Do not eat the mulberries.
Ah, you young lady!
Do not dally with a gentleman.
When a gentleman dallies,
Something may still be said.
When a young lady dallies,
Nothing can be said.”
She closed her textbook and started memorizing English. Everyone in Class 1, no matter how gifted they were in their studies, only needed to be attentive; it wasn’t that strenuous for them.
The most mischievous student in the class, Li Yilong, lamented, “So Jiang Ren dropped out, huh? When he asked about our class average score that time, I thought he was serious. Tsk tsk. The vocational high school has lost a legend.”
“Come on, he’s rich. You’re the one who’s in trouble if you can’t reach the average score.”
The playful banter added some color to the otherwise rigid senior-year routine.
Zhao Nuancheng knew a bit about Meng Ting and Jiang Ren’s situation by now. She was extremely dissatisfied. In her view, Jiang Ren said they would be together and then said they would break up—who did he think he was? Even the emperor wasn’t as overbearing as him.
Their little fairy Ting Ting didn’t need him anyway.
In their senior year, with everyone’s recommendation, Meng Ting became the class’s study representative. She still ranked first, with her brother Shu Yang closely following.
A heavy rain fell in October, and it was still drizzling in the evening.
That night was He Junming’s birthday.
Last year on his birthday, a group of people celebrated at An Haiting, and Meng Ting went to get her dress back.
This year on his birthday, he shyly came to invite Meng Ting and Zhao Nuancheng, hoping they would honor him by going to Xiaogangcheng to play.
Everyone thought the little study queen wouldn’t agree, but to their surprise, Meng Ting did.
Zhao Nuancheng, afraid that Ting Ting might be bullied, agreed too.
Nuancheng said gleefully, “If He Junming dares to bully us, I’ll tell everyone about how he lost that bet and was supposed to eat shit.”
He Junming, who hadn’t left yet, heard this and was speechless.
Meng Ting carefully prepared a gift, making He Junming feel honored and a bit overwhelmed.
Even though not much time had passed, Meng Ting had become increasingly refined. He secretly held Meng Ting’s gift, grinning like an idiot.
He Han said, “You idiot, not thinking about Lu Yue anymore?”
He Junming had a lovesick expression: “Meng Ting is so beautiful.”
“…”
With Zhao Nuancheng and Meng Ting joining, they didn’t dare to play too wildly. After eating, the group started playing cards.
Meng Ting only knew how to play “Fight the Landlord,” so everyone took turns playing with her.
The result was shocking! They simply couldn’t beat her.
He Junming couldn’t believe it. His competitive spirit aroused, and in the end, no one could drag him away.
Only in one round, when Meng Ting didn’t have a single ace, did she let him win.
He Junming was ecstatic, forgetting this was the little fairy Meng Ting: “Drink up, drink up, two glasses, his ~” He had already drunk three bottles and was not clear-headed.
Zhao Nuancheng had also drunk half a bottle of red wine, and now she was seeing multiple images of the light bulbs.
Meng Ting didn’t cheat. She quietly drank two glasses of red wine.
She had never drunk this kind of wine before; the alcohol content was high.
She could only handle about two glasses of wine.
Throughout the entire birthday party, she smiled when she was supposed to. Drunk, she curled up into a small ball on the sofa, tears hanging on her eyelashes. She was, in fact, quite sad.
H City was pouring with rain.
A loud clap of thunder finally woke up the confused He Junming.
The door of the private room in Xiaogangcheng was pushed open.
A black-haired youth silently looked over.
Zhao Nuancheng was pinching He Junming’s face, asking him about a big chicken leg. He Junming looked devastated: “Where the hell is there a big chicken leg, you crazy woman, let go…”
Then his voice got stuck in his throat.
He Han also swallowed, addressing the person at the door: “Ren-ge?”
The dim light of Xiaogangcheng stretched the youth’s shadow long, the room falling silent. He walked in step by step, took off his coat, picked up the small curled-up figure from the sofa, and gently wiped her tears.
Throughout the entire process, the private room was eerily quiet. It wasn’t until he had carried her away that He Junming broke out in a cold sweat.
From June to October, nearly four months had passed before they saw Jiang Ren for the first time.
A silent, enduring, and particularly cold Jiang Ren.
He appeared without saying a single word.
Yet everyone saw that in the short distance from the door to the sofa, Jiang Ren was… limping.
Even in the dim light, this fact couldn’t be changed.
No one said a word.
They finally understood why Jiang Ren had broken up with Meng Ting.