“What are you looking at that’s so interesting? Let me see too!” Zheng Xiaolin leaned over.

Caught off guard, Xu You was startled.

Her cheeks burning, she propped her forehead with one hand and quickly crumpled the little note into a ball, clutching it in her palm.

“What is it? Why so secretive!”

“It’s nothing…”

Xu You picked up her book, pressing her fingers against the pages, keeping her head down as if reading to hide her embarrassment.

Because there was a physical examination in the afternoon, school let out one period early in the morning.

Xu You went home for lunch. As soon as she opened the door, she discovered something wasn’t right about the atmosphere.

The house lacked the warmth of life, with an eerie quietness.

Chen Xiuyun sat on the sofa wiping tears with reddened eyes, head lowered without saying a word. Father Xu also sat on the other side frowning, holding his phone making calls.

“Dad… Mom?” Xu You’s heart sank. She changed her shoes and ran over in small steps, not even having time to take off her backpack.

Chen Xiuyun looked up and saw Xu You. She opened her mouth wanting to speak, but before she could say a word, tears fell first.

“Mom? What’s wrong?!”

Xu You was frightened. She knelt before her mother, using her hands to wipe away her tears. “Mom, what happened? Don’t cry…”

Father Xu hung up the phone on his end and sighed heavily. “The Central Hospital said she hasn’t escaped life-threatening danger yet. The perpetrator fled and hasn’t been found.”

Life-threatening danger… hit-and-run perpetrator…

Xu You anxiously looked up and asked, “Dad, what exactly happened?”

Chen Xiuyun was full of worry. She shook her head, briefly explaining in just a few words: “Your grandmother… she went out to buy groceries this morning and was hit by a motorcycle. Now she’s been sent to the hospital, still being resuscitated…”

Her words came out intermittently, several times choking up.

Xu You was stunned, thinking she’d misheard. Her mind went completely blank.

After a long reaction time.

“…Can I go back to see Grandma?”

Father Xu smoked cigarette after cigarette. After a period of silence, he said in a heavy voice, “What can you do if you go? Study properly. Kids shouldn’t worry about this kind of thing.”

“But… but Grandma…”

“I told you not to worry about it!” Father Xu looked like he didn’t want to discuss this topic anymore.

Unexpectedly, this sentence made Chen Xiuyun suddenly explode. She said bitterly, “Don’t worry, don’t worry! My father has been dead for so many years, how much longer are you going to hold a grudge… My mother now…” She couldn’t continue speaking and covered her face, sobbing softly.

—

“Hey, hey, do you know what’s wrong with Xu You?”

Song Yifan asked Fu Xueli in a low voice.

“I don’t know. I asked for ages just now, but she wouldn’t say…” Fu Xueli muttered.

From the afternoon onward, Xu You had obviously been very off, keeping her head down and distracted the whole time.

When others asked her, she wouldn’t say.

Earlier during the vision test, she’d spaced out several times staring at the eye chart, only responding after the doctor asked several times.

Now it was blood drawing, and Class Nine students were all lined up.

When it was Xu You’s turn, a young female nurse wearing a mask looked her over twice and asked, “Student, are you anemic?”

Her complexion was frighteningly pale.

Xu You shook her head, took off her coat and sat in the chair, rolling up her sweater sleeve to expose a thin, slender arm.

The female nurse lowered her eyes, picked up the rubber band nearby to tie Xu You’s arm tightly, then took an alcohol cotton ball to wipe it, searching for her vein.

After searching for a long time, the female nurse leaned in to look carefully, frowning. “Oh dear, your veins are too thin. It’s hard to find a good position for the needle.”

As she spoke, the female nurse tore open the packaging, pressed her thumb against the syringe plunger, and placed the needle tip against the skin on Xu You’s arm.

Slowly piercing through, the first attempt went crooked.

Blood beads emerged.

Xu You bit her lip tightly, closing her eyes and turning her head away, not daring to look.

Later, after trying two or three more times, each time the needle couldn’t accurately find the vein’s position. Helplessly, they switched to drawing blood from the other arm.

The girl standing behind Xu You in line watched with her heart in knots, goosebumps rising on her back.

That pale, slender little arm was already bruised purple from the needle pricks.

Finally, Xie Ci couldn’t stand it anymore. He stuck his head out from the queue and shouted forward, “I’m asking if you can do this or not? Are you only satisfied after you’ve punctured her arm completely?”

The female nurse’s expression couldn’t hold up either. She rolled her eyes.

Xu Xiaocheng, playing with his phone behind Xie Ci, quickly pulled back the person about to blow up. “Whoa, don’t get excited, don’t get excited. Public place—let’s show some respect to the doctor.”

After all that trouble, both of Xu You’s arms were covered in needle marks, with cotton balls held in place with tape to stop the bleeding.

Fortunately, blood drawing was the last item of the physical examination. After finishing, she didn’t say a word and left the examination hall wearing her coat.

The wind outside was strong, making her coat sway precariously, blowing past her cheeks and lifting strands of her hair.

Xu You walked quietly with her head down, just walking and walking.

The faint sounds of laughter and play from the distant basketball court were all left behind her.

Finally reaching a place with no one around.

Her face pale, strength drained from her body, she hugged her legs with both arms and crouched on the ground.

She crouched for who knows how long until her feet went numb.

The tears she’d been holding in her eyes finally couldn’t be controlled and all came flooding out.

She didn’t dare cry too loudly and could only swallow her sobs in her throat, her shoulders convulsing again and again.

The emotions she’d suppressed all afternoon were close to breaking down. Knowing her grandmother had been in an accident, Xu You’s heart was about to shatter. Everything in her mind was in chaos. She wanted to see her grandmother, but at noon her parents had erupted into a fierce argument, so Xu You didn’t dare mention it again…

But keeping things bottled up inside made it ferment, making her feel worse and worse.

She didn’t know why, but Xu You couldn’t stop crying more and more. At first, she just wanted to find a corner with no one to calm her emotions, not wanting to face others’ inquiries and concern, and having no energy to explain. But now alone, the sad emotions were about to drown her completely.

Her cheeks were soaked with tears. By the end, she simply sat on the ground.

Xu You cried for who knows how long until someone pulled up her wrist.

She looked up dully, tears blurring her vision.

Xie Ci’s figure stood before her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Xu You’s head was confused for a moment. She hurriedly wiped her tears messily with the back of her hand.

But the more she wiped, the more they flowed uncontrollably.

This was truly unbearable.

Xie Ci frowned, crouched down, and asked again, “What’s wrong?”

Xu You just shook her head, crying incoherently.

So he patiently waited.

Finally, Xu You couldn’t help it anymore and suddenly called his name softly.

Choking with sobs, she said, “Xie Ci, my grandmother had an accident. I’m so scared…”

“Grandma is very old… very old… I want to go see her… my dad won’t allow it… but I miss my grandma. I’m afraid I’ll never see her again…”

She really had no one else to talk to.

She spoke intermittently, almost unable to catch her breath. Xie Ci finally grasped the main point. His heart ached seeing Xu You cry. He immediately took out his phone and asked, “Okay, okay, okay, stop crying. Where do you go to see your grandmother?”

Seeing her in a daze, Xie Ci asked in a hoarse voice again, “The place where you used to go to school?”

Xu You’s eyes were moist. Not quite understanding, she nodded.

“What’s it called?”

“Xi Town.”

Within a few minutes, Xie Ci pulled her up. “Plane tickets are booked. Let’s go.”