When Shu Yang opened the door, he saw Meng Ting standing alone by the entrance, her eyes slightly red, looking as if she had been crying.
Shu Yang frowned. “Who bullied you?”
Meng Ting shook her head. “The rain was too heavy, it got in my eyes.”
She was indeed a bit drunk tonight, to have come up with such an excuse. Seeing that she didn’t want to talk about it, Shu Yang couldn’t force her. After showering and changing clothes, Meng Ting fell asleep quickly. She was too upset; the only way to cope was to not think about it.
The next day dawned bright, with the sun hanging in the sky. It was a new day. Today, Shu Papa had taken a day off work, and Shu Yang didn’t plan to go to school either.
Today was the day of Shu Lan’s court hearing, and Shu Papa had to attend.
Meng Ting didn’t go to court. No matter how many years Shu Lan was sentenced to, at this prime age of youth, Shu Lan had already ruined her life.
In her previous life, Meng Ting hadn’t taken the college entrance exam due to severe burns. Even though she had tried to live optimistically later, it wasn’t easy. Shu Lan deserved this retribution long ago.
On Monday, the school held a flag-raising ceremony. There were many new faces of students who had moved up from junior high to high school.
The first-year high school students wore blue school uniform jackets, full of youthful energy, crowding as they went downstairs.
Meng Ting overheard a first-year student asking, “Who is Jiang Ren?”
“He used to be from the vocational high school.”
The girl who asked showed disdain. “Why are you all so excited about someone from a vocational school?”
“What do you know? When Jiang Ren was next door last year, he was a legendary figure. Who else could be so badass as to beat up a teacher and get away with it? You know Huang Sheng from their vocational school, right?”
The girls nodded. He was an extremely fierce boy; they always took a detour when they saw him.
“Even he had to bow and scrape to Jiang Ren.”
The first-year girls’ eyes widened, obviously not believing it. “No way, was he that impressive? Where is he now?”
“How would I know? He wasn’t originally from our city; I guess he went back home.”
The young girls chatted enthusiastically. Zhao Nuancheng carefully watched Meng Ting’s expression. “Ting Ting, are you okay?”
Meng Ting nodded.
For her, Jiang Ren wasn’t a pain she couldn’t mention. It’s just that when she woke up last night with a headache, it felt like she had had an unreal dream.
In the dream, Jiang Ren was repressed but deeply in love with her.
But after waking up, there was only the little princess snow globe in the room, spinning alone in the heavy snow.
After school, Meng Ting didn’t go straight home. She went to the neighboring vocational high school to find He Junming.
When He Junming saw her, he wanted to run away.
“I just want to ask you one thing.”
“Ask, ask,” He Junming turned back with a bitter face, thinking to himself, Tan Zi and He Han are here too, you could ask them, why ask me?
But even as he thought this, looking at Meng Ting’s face, he couldn’t help but swallow.
She was so damn beautiful, like a fairy.
Meng Ting said, “Jiang Ren came back last night. Why did he break up with me?”
“…” He Junming knew it would be about this. He frustratedly ran his hands through his hair, but how could he say it? Ren-ge didn’t want Meng Ting to know, and He Junming could understand why.
If he liked someone, he wouldn’t want her to know how miserable he was either.
It wasn’t just a simple injury; it was something that might never heal for the rest of his life.
Meng Ting was great, they all knew that.
She was beautiful, gentle, and lovable. Even if they didn’t say it, who hadn’t had thoughts about her when they saw her photo?
But such a good girl could only exist in their jokes before. Ren-ge was the first to recklessly pursue her.
“Ah, how would I know? He probably just doesn’t like you anymore. Hasn’t Ren-ge broken up with others before?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, He Junming wanted to slap himself.
Damn, what was he saying?
He carefully looked at Meng Ting. In the warm sunlight, her skin was porcelain-white, her eyes clear, seeming to see right through He Junming’s lie.
He Junming felt incredibly guilty. But he was stubborn; without physical intimidation, he wouldn’t tell the truth. No way he’d betray Ren-ge!
It was the golden autumn of October.
She smiled faintly, like a pretty pear blossom on a branch, stunning all the young men.
“But I like him.”
She left after saying that.
With her light blue schoolbag, adorned with a little rabbit doll, in the endless autumn scenery, He Junming stared blankly at her retreating figure.
Meng Ting wore the uniform of No. 7 Middle School, completely different from the atmosphere of their entire school.
He Junming touched his rapidly beating heart.
He said dazedly, “I suddenly understand Ren-ge. When she says she likes Ren-ge, she’s serious, right?”
Fang Tan nodded, also momentarily stunned.
“That feeling… if a little fairy-like Meng Ting could like you, any sacrifice would be worth it!”
That pure, uplifting emotion was the kind of first love everyone wanted.
People like them had heard others say “I like you” too many times, but how much was true and how much was false, they knew clearly in their hearts.
He Han pouted, “If you value your life, stop talking.”
He Junming promptly shut up. Ah, he was just expressing his feelings.
Since He Junming and the others wouldn’t say, Meng Ting could only guess.
A big fire, and finally, the glass shattered. In her previous life, no one came to save her, and she was severely burned.
But in this life, she was unharmed. The one who carried her out was Jiang Ren. If it was him, how badly must he have been injured to not dare to be with her?
She was waiting, waiting for when his emotions could no longer be suppressed.
This December would be her 18th birthday, her coming-of-age day. Jiang Ren’s phone number had become inactive, and the promotion for the seaside villas was in full swing.
Xu Jia had come to see her later, and Meng Ting was polite. She never thought of using Xu Jia to provoke Jiang Ren again.
She couldn’t do that to Jiang Ren.
What is an irritability disorder?
She had thought about this question for a long time. When a situation stimulates his emotions, it’s when he wants to control himself but can’t.
Every day after memorizing English vocabulary, Meng Ting started knitting a scarf. Although she was dexterous, she didn’t know how to do this.
A black scarf, she knitted a small section every day. The stitches went from sparse at the beginning to becoming intricate.
Shu Lan’s sentence was announced. She was sentenced to five years and six months.
This was a heavy sentence. Probably because the Jiang family had also gotten angry.
Shu Papa didn’t say anything, nor would he mention Shu Lan at home, but when the weather turned cold, he still brought her things to keep warm.
This year’s winter didn’t snow again.
People were constantly changing due to the butterfly effect, but the weather hadn’t changed. The winter wind was still bitterly cold.
Her eighteenth birthday arrived.
When Shu Papa asked her what she wanted, she said she wanted to go out alone for a walk.
Shu Zhitong was a bit surprised but agreed.
Meng Ting wrapped herself in the scarf she had made, somewhat expecting a gift from Jiang Ren.
It was a strange feeling. She always felt that it was harder to believe that Jiang Ren didn’t like her than to believe that she didn’t like him.
She wore a red cotton jacket. The bright red might look tacky to others, but on her, it had a festive New Year feel.
When Meng Ting said she wanted to go for a walk, she just meant a walk.
She only had about a hundred yuan on her, and she decided to go to an amusement park.
The winter amusement park wasn’t as lively as in summer, mostly filled with children.
She was beautiful, her small face pure and moving. The children couldn’t help but steal glances at her.
Meng Ting didn’t buy an all-day pass. She went to play ring toss, ten rings for ten yuan, and you could take what you ringed.
She threw ten rings, each time trying to ring the goldfish bowl.
Unfortunately, she didn’t succeed once.
Meng Ting wasn’t discouraged at all. She went to play balloon shooting, but despite the specially-made gun, she still couldn’t hit any.
Seeing her serious and cute, the claw machine operator asked if she wanted to try, saying it was easy to operate.
Meng Ting went, but the claw machine was even more of a scam. The closest she got was dropping the doll at the exit.
Jiang Ren’s lips were pressed tightly.
He had a heavy aura about him.
Everything she had played, he played once too.
He caught a goldfish with one ring, hit ten consecutive shots with the gun, and won a small dolphin.
As for the claw machine, he frowned and tried, realizing it was indeed a scam, so he bought the doll outright.
Meng Ting had never been to a haunted house.
She was a bit curious. Although she had died once, she didn’t believe in ghosts.
The ticket was expensive, 30 yuan to enter. A “ghost” jumped out, opening its mouth: “Ah!”
She reacted slowly to this, only feeling scared after a moment: “Ah…”
Even the “ghost” found her adorable.
It was pitch black inside, and her heart was racing.
Halfway through, she refused to go on. It was really scary. Who designed this? Not believing in ghosts doesn’t prevent one from being afraid of them.
She stood in a corner, with ghosts occasionally jumping out to scare her.
But Jiang Ren still didn’t come.
She was about to cry.
Ghost: “Waa!”
Meng Ting: “Wuu…”
She couldn’t go back, nor could she move forward.
When the last green-faced, fanged ghost jumped out, her little face was pale white, and she couldn’t even scream.
A young man’s slender hand cupped the back of her head, pressing her small head against his chest.
He turned back, his gaze fiercer than the ghost’s.
It was truly cold and fierce.
In the dim red light, that gaze seemed capable of crushing someone.
This time, the “ghost” ran away.
Actually, visitors usually wouldn’t encounter so many “ghosts,” but the first ghost had said they met an adorably cute and beautiful girl, so all the staff wanted to run over and see.
It was winter, after all, with fewer visitors and more free time.
Meng Ting hugged his neck, snuggling into his embrace, afraid that some white-haired ghost or long-tongued ghost might jump out and go “Waa!” again.
She didn’t dare open her eyes, her tone soft and muffled with a nasal sound: “It’s all your fault.”
Jiang Ren held her tightly: “Mm, it’s my fault.”
God created girls so that these beautiful and soft creatures could be born to be loved.
In half a year, this was the second time she had seen him.
The young man was very tall, his features hard and wild. In this environment, he would be terrifying if he looked even a bit fierce.
But she probably wouldn’t be afraid of him again in this lifetime.
Beneath the chest she was leaning on, his heart was beating fast and hot.
Meng Ting mustered up the courage to look around. With this ghost-deterrent here, no ghost dared to come.
She sighed in relief, took off the black knitted scarf from her neck, and stood on tiptoe to wrap it around his neck.
He remained silent.
Meng Ting suddenly felt that in the half year, they hadn’t seen much of each other, he had matured a lot.
He had a bit of a “young master” look now.
This was a young man who loved her to his bones, yet was desperately and damnably suppressing it.
She couldn’t push him. He was born with an iron will, a tough guy.