Later, he became the boy who dated Zhu Xinya for the longest time before her death—a full year. Even after she jumped to her death, everyone said he was her true love. His feelings for her were also profound and unmatched.

…

About two months into their relationship, the passionate feelings of early love gradually faded. Although Zhu Xinya still very much liked this reserved and handsome boy, she had indeed begun to grow weary of their simple lifestyle. This weariness started with material desires.

Chen Zhaoci was poor. Even though his father worked in the municipal government office, he could barely scrape together any money. He was also proud—whenever they went out together, he insisted on paying. As a result, he could only take her to cheap restaurants, and they watched pirated movies in the dormitory. Zhu Xinya’s previous clothes, cosmetics, and new phones had all been provided by her former boyfriends. Though she didn’t want to leave Chen Zhaoci now, life became increasingly frustrating.

Zhu Xinya began borrowing money from classmates. But they were all students, and could only lend five or eight hundred yuan at most. When her living expenses arrived from home, she would barely manage to repay her debts, only to borrow again.

Soon, no one would lend her money anymore. Yet she still owed over a thousand yuan for a designer bag she had just bought on credit.

In a moment of desperation, she approached an ex-boyfriend for money. He still harbored feelings for her, speaking with careful consideration and even with hints of mutual understanding. Zhu Xinya played along half-heartedly, neither willing to betray Chen Zhaoci nor wanting to burn bridges with this potential source of money.

“I’m also tight on cash right now,” her ex-boyfriend said, “but I have a friend who runs a company that can lend you money. There’s some interest, but you only need to pay back a small amount weekly. It’s super easy to get approved—just need your student ID.”

Before Zhu Xinya, it seemed like a golden path had opened up.

At that moment, she didn’t realize that a black snake was already slithering up her back, its forked tongue flicking.

…

At first, Chen Zhaoci was oblivious, only noticing that Zhu Xinya seemed more cheerful than before, laughing louder, and walking more proudly beside him on the street. Gradually, he sensed that behind that pride lurked a certain melancholy. She had once been a carefree girl, burning bright like fire. Now she would sometimes space out, lost in thought. She seemed to be hiding something, creating a barrier that Chen Zhaoci could feel.

During that time, he was busy with graduation and job hunting, too occupied to pay much attention. But the boy’s heart remained steadfast—graduate, find a good job, rent a nice place, build a simple but safe nest for this impetuous girl who always seemed to be rushing headlong into things.

Gradually, she began avoiding his calls and rarely replied to messages. Even when he managed to reach her, her voice sounded exhausted, claiming she had been sleeping or watching shows, and quickly ending the calls.

He felt uneasy but didn’t want to believe it. One rainy weekend afternoon, he ran to her dormitory, only to be told by her roommate that she wasn’t there.

“Not here?” Chen Zhaoci asked, “Do you know where she went?”

The roommate’s face flickered with complex emotions: sympathy, disdain, hesitation.

“I’m… not sure,” the roommate answered. “She didn’t come back last night. Seems like… someone picked her up in a car.”

Chen Zhaoci walked into the rain, forgetting to open his umbrella, just holding it in his hand. When he was completely soaked, he turned back and realized several people were watching him from the upper floors. He suddenly smiled. Were they watching a comedy? Everyone knew.

Just like in that so-called “home” years ago, when he tried so hard, so carefully to minimize his presence, wanting to live properly. But his father knew, that woman knew, the whole world knew. He was redundant. No one would want him.

Like a carefully built straw house suddenly collapsing in the wind and rain, Chen Zhaoci didn’t return to his newly rented apartment but went straight to the suburbs, walking to a deserted area and crawling into a tunnel. He bought a pack of cigarettes and sat there amid the damp, moldy dust for a long time.

He had always been a meticulous person with quick wit. Now, deliberately investigating, it didn’t take long to uncover the whole story.

“She was used to a comfortable life. It didn’t take long with you before she couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“She took out student loans. I heard she owes a lot, maybe hundreds of thousands with compound interest.”

“We’re not friends anymore. You’d better make her pay back soon. She borrowed my ID card, saying it was for library books, but who knew she’d borrow more than twenty thousand! Now debt collectors keep calling me, and my parents are going to kill me!”

“Me too! She was the arts and cultural committee member, said it was for activities and borrowed my ID card too, then took out an eight-thousand loan! The teachers know about it now, and the school will deal with her! Once she comes back, she’ll be expelled! They’ve already notified her parents. Evil deeds return to haunt their doer!”

“How did you end up with a woman like that? Huh… she settled for you? She used to only date rich handsome guys, you know? Look, let me tell you something—with women like that, once you see their true colors, just leave them be. The other night, my buddy saw her going to a nightclub with some men. Heard she was… quite wild.”

…

It was in the hotel above that nightclub where Chen Zhaoci and Zhu Xinya had their last meeting.

Just three months ago, she had still been nestling in his arms, clingy and unwilling to let him study.

Chen Zhaoci was always methodical. After getting concrete information, he also used an ID to book a room on the same floor as them, without drawing any attention. To prevent any violent confrontations, he even brought a baseball bat. Then he smoked a pack of cigarettes in the room, waiting until it was late enough that whatever was going to happen would have happened. He left his room and knocked on their door.

A man opened it, bare-chested, wearing only a towel around his waist. Chen Zhaoci ignored him and walked straight in. The man grabbed him from behind: “Hey, who are you?” Chen Zhaoci had come prepared and ran quickly inside.

The bed was a mess, and Zhu Xinya was there, in an unspeakable state. Even though Chen Zhaoci had grown up witnessing his father’s escapades with that woman, he was still shocked at this moment.

The bathroom door opened then, and another man walked out. Zhu Xinya turned her head, and that face was unrecognizable to Chen Zhaoci. Her expression was extremely cold, that coldness seemed etched into her cheekbones. But her complexion was unnaturally flushed. When her eyes met Chen Zhaoci’s, all color drained from her face instantly, and her lips began to tremble. She screamed, trying to pull up the sheets to cover her shameful body.

Seeing this, the two men hesitated to approach.

Chen Zhaoci found himself surprisingly calm, and the only thing he wanted to say at that moment was: “Xinya, is this what you wanted?”

He turned and walked out, leaving that woman and her chaotic world far behind him.

Even after he went downstairs, with the night wind blowing on his face, he seemed to feel nothing. After walking a few steps through the neon-lit world, he suddenly heard a tremendous crashing sound, and something dark fell rapidly. Chen Zhaoci turned his head to see Zhu Xinya lying face down, wearing only a thin white nightgown. Blood slowly spread from beneath her body, but her face seemed somehow intact, her eyes open, showing a hint of innocence he had never seen before.

People around gasped and quickly gathered. Chen Zhaoci looked at her a few more times, then turned and walked away.