There were a few misbehaving students in the third year, and they often cut class to play in the field.
They saw that Lu Nanze was good-looking and had some money, so they tried to bully him.
By the time she ran there, they were already in a tussle. Because of a heated exchange, the group had started to hit Lu Nanze.
He did not move. He squatted on the ground as he was being beaten. He didn’t even try to retaliate.
Seeing this, she somehow found a surge of strength as she shrieked and charged at them.
The girl used all the strength she had and single-handedly chased away all the students.
Eventually, looking at Lu Nanze who by then had fallen on the ground, she kicked him angrily and said, “You’re a guy. Don’t you know how to fight back when they hit you? Where has your pride gone? Aren’t you very clever? Why did you get beaten up like that?”
As she berated him, she began to feel something amiss.
She bent over and lowered herself to look at him. It was only then she realized that he was crying.
His face was swollen and he was crying.
Qiao Lian was shocked and asked, “Hey, what- what’s wrong? Don’t cry. Are you in pain? I’ll get them to come back here and we’ll fight them again.”
As she spoke, he suddenly extended his arms and threw himself to her.
Qiao Lian got angry at once and said, “Can you say something? Why are you doing this? Second Brother, you—”
The next moment, he said in between sobs, “My mom… she killed herself.”
She was shocked upon hearing these words and froze.
When she took a proper look at him, she realized that he smelled of alcohol and he looked lost and disoriented.
Beyond those words, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything else.
The only thing she could do was to reach out and hold him, saying, “It’s going to be ok, it’s going to be ok.”
Then, feeling his pain, she cried along with him.
“At the time, you cried so pitifully that anyone who hadn’t known any better would have thought it was your mother who died. And after you started crying, I suddenly felt that there really was nothing to cry over. Then I just watched you. Qiao Lian, in that moment, do you know what I was thinking?”
As Lu Nanze’s voice resonated in Qiao Lian’s ears, she felt herself being pulled back to the present.
Lu Nanze continued, “I was thinking that since you had cried so much because of me, and had fought those kids for me, I should protect you for the rest of your life too, right?”
At this point, he took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder saying, “Eventually we all grew up. Then I discovered I could no longer bear to be apart from you.”
“Qiao Lian, you are the only girl I’ve ever loved, one and only in my heart and mind. I’d always thought that if we continued being together, we could get married after we graduated, did you know that? When we were in middle high school, I wanted to ask you which university you wanted to go to because I wanted to go to the same university. Then we could be together and never be apart.”
After he said all of this, he moved his face close to hers, looked at her in the eyes and said, “Qiao Lian, can you really not remember this?”
Remember all of this?
Of course she did, clearly.
In fact, many times she had wished that they never had to grow up. Wouldn’t that be so great?
But reality was always cruel.
