You Ran could only lower her head again to look at the magazine, but not a single word on it caught her eye.
While she was feeling unsettled, Qu Yun's words entered her ears with steady steps: "You Ran, shall we start over?"
You Ran was turning the page when she heard this, her hand trembled, and the colored page was torn open.
Qu Yun sat up from the hospital bed and walked slowly toward You Ran.
The light projected his shadow onto You Ran's back, making it appear longer and heavier, as if You Ran was being suffocated and her breathing became labored.
Just as she was about to suffocate, Qu Yun knelt down in front of her, one hand on her knee, while his bandaged, injured hand gripped You Ran's wrist.
You Ran kept her head down.
"A lot has happened between Gu Chengyuan and me." Qu Yun's voice, tinged with sadness under the hospital room light, said, "From childhood to adulthood, I've always had a smooth life. Good parents, a good family, good education, a good environment. This smooth sailing made me arrogant and unlikable. I didn't have many friends growing up, and no one could tolerate my bad temper. Later, I listened to my mother and went to military school, where I met Gu Chengyuan."
"He was very competitive, and I was equally competitive. In the first semester, we were secretly rivals. In the second semester, I went out late at night and was attacked by a group of thugs. Gu Chengyuan appeared and helped me. From then on, our relationship began to improve, and gradually, we became good friends... at least that's what I think."
"But I never expected that in the early hours of my birthday, I would receive a call from Gu Chengyuan's apartment. I could hear a man and woman breathing heavily and intimately on the other end. Through the conversation, I recognized the voices as those of Gu Chengyuan and my then-girlfriend, Tang Yongzi. Without a moment's hesitation, I drove there immediately. It was a rainy night, and as I started the car, I vaguely felt as if I had run over something. But my emotions wouldn't allow me to stop. Within minutes, I arrived at Gu Chengyuan's apartment. The door was ajar. I went inside and saw him and Tang Yongzi completely naked, engaged in intimate acts..."
“I never expected that one of my so-called best friends, my best brothers, would betray me. I was in a daze at the time and didn’t even disturb them. I returned home like a lost soul, and under the car headlights, I saw the cat lying downstairs in my building.”
“It was that cat I picked up. It was terrified of thunder. Whenever there was thunder, it would stay by my side. That day, the thunder was deafening, but I was distracted by that phone call and ignored it. When I was going to Gu Chengyuan’s apartment, it followed me. When I was driving, it crawled under the car. When I started the car… it didn’t even have time to make a sound before I ran it over.”
“I picked up its body; it was wet and heavy. I carried it back to the house and wrapped it in a quilt, but it didn’t move at all, and its limbs were stiff. I watched it like that all night. When Monday dawned, I rushed to the school, stopped Gu Chengyuan, and questioned him about why he did this. Do you know what his answer was?”
“He said he never considered me a friend from the beginning. He said he called the thugs who attacked me. He said he deliberately let me see him and Tang Yongzi in bed.” Qu Yun’s eyes were as cold as the snow on the Tianshan Mountains. “He said he just wanted to ruin me… So I hit him in front of the leaders who happened to be inspecting the school. And this was also part of his plan. My mother’s family all work in the military, so protecting me shouldn’t be a big problem. But I didn’t want to stay there, so I chose to drop out of school and retake the college entrance exam, which led me here.”
"At first, I didn't know you were Gu Chengyuan's sister. I just thought you were interesting and seemed easy to defeat, but every time I thought I was going to succeed, you would stand up and attack. It was as if you had endless energy. Fighting with you, I also felt that the days passed very quickly."
"But later, I accidentally learned about your relationship with Gu Chengyuan, and my heart became so confused that I couldn't even see myself clearly anymore. When you asked me to date you, I agreed, but at that time... it was only to get revenge on Gu Chengyuan."
"Thinking back on it, it all feels despicable and disgusting, doesn't it? But that's what I did back then. I didn't know what I was trying to do to hurt Gu Chengyuan. I kept putting off thinking about it. After I started dating you, I became much happier than before, but I transferred my hatred for Gu Chengyuan onto you. That's why my attitude towards you was sometimes cold and sometimes warm, because even I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what my feelings for you were really like."
“That time, you said you found out my birthday, and I got angry and made you leave. I thought I got angry just because you brought up that day that I didn’t want to mention, but I later realized that there was also fear… You can find out my birthday, and you can also find out that my motives for dating you in the first place were impure.”
"On my birthday, I was home alone, drinking, but my mind kept replaying that birthday I least wanted to remember. Then, you came, and afterwards... I did the thing I regretted most in my life, and said the thing I regretted most in my life."
"After I sobered up, I heard about your past with Gu Chengyuan. I knew I was terribly wrong, but at the same time, I felt a sense of relief. I thought that in the future, being with you wouldn't be an obstacle because of Gu Chengyuan. When everything became clear, when all my worries were cast aside, I realized that the reason my emotions were so chaotic was because I had unknowingly fallen in love with you. I loved your resilience, your smile, your quirks, your gluttony, and the way you were so happy with the smallest things. So, I tried everything to keep you here because I couldn't bear to let you go. I started to be afraid, afraid that you would find out about the past, afraid that you would leave me... But I never expected that no matter how much I guarded against it, this day would still come."
"You Ran, give me one chance, just one chance. As long as you come back to my side just once, I will never do anything to hurt you again."
Qu Yun's tone was sincere and calm. His face was beautiful, with a hazy whiteness that made one want to reach out and touch it.
But things that are too beautiful, like fragile autumn leaves, will fall if touched.
Like a tranquil lake surface, it would shatter at the slightest touch.
Therefore, You Ran dared not reach out.
She's been hurt so many times.
"The dormitory door is closing, I should go," You Ran said, as she tried to gently pull her hand away from Qu Yun's.
But Qu Yun wouldn't let go.
"Don't go." His voice was filled with a pleading tone.
Qu Yun held You Ran tightly with her injured hand; if she exerted too much force, the wound would reopen.
You Ran knew this, and Qu Yun knew it even better.
"I really have to go," You Ran said again, her voice soft but resolute.
Qu Yun didn't speak. He looked at You Ran with a gaze that wasn't clear, but rather a kind of dark, serene darkness.
With a slight curve at the corners of her eyes, she blinked her fingertips, and countless peach blossoms shimmered in the darkness.
But You Ran didn't look at her; she just mechanically said the same sentence: "I'm leaving."
Then, she slowly pulled her hand away from Qu Yun.
Because of his injury, Qu Yun couldn't exert much force with his hand, but he still tried his best to hold on.
On the floor, the shadows of two overlapping hands began to separate, becoming long strips, very slowly, but constantly in the process of separation.
Blood slowly seeped from the pristine white bandages before You Ran's eyes.
Gradually, it became thick and viscous.
This process accelerated when You Ran suddenly stood up.
Because of the gentle tugging, the wound was completely torn open, and the blood, in the dim light, seemed to have turned into a magnificent black.
Gradually, it fell to the ground.
You Ran did not shy away, but stared directly at the blood in front of her. She said quietly, "Qu Yun, I have to leave, because there is nothing between us anymore. Now, I am just your student, and you are just my teacher, nothing more. Yes, nothing more."
You Ran wanted to leave, not because she was still angry, not because she still hated Qu Yun, and not because she was still punishing Qu Yun.
Leaving is a responsible decision she made for her future and for her own heart.
She has to leave.
The delicate, white fingertips detached from Qu Yun's palm, departing with the most steadfast conviction.
Without any hesitation, she walked leisurely out of the ward, no longer looking back at Qu Yun, who remained kneeling on the floor, no longer looking at his bloodied wounds... no longer looking at their past.
Dragging things out is too messy and unpleasant; You Ran wouldn't allow herself to do such a thing.
"Am I lonely?" You Ran asked Xiao Xin in the drama club's activity room.
As usual, the two of them were the last to leave.
She sat leisurely on the edge of the stage, her feet dangling in the air, her red shoes swaying back and forth.
She reached out and tossed an empty can of beer into the nearby trash heap.
Shin-chan stood below the stage, slowly drinking his can of liquor, without making a sound.
"I'm asking you." Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, she casually stretched out her foot and kicked him.
Xiao Xin lowered his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them. Then, with lightning speed, he took off the shoe that You Ran had kicked him with and threw it into the trash heap.
You Ran could only hop and skip as she ran to retrieve her shoes.
"Xiaoxin, you're really not a man, you're too stingy." You Ran sighed.
Shin-chan drinks and ignores her.
You Ran didn't go back on stage. Instead, she stood next to Xiao Xin and said softly, "I heard that he does have some bone problems and is still in the hospital."
"Since you miss it so much, let's go see it." Shin-chan downed his beer in one gulp.
"You know my personality; I like to ramble on. If I really wanted to do it, if I could really do it, I would have done it already. Why wait until now?" You Ran looked up at the lights at the top of the stage. They were too dazzling; after looking at them for a while, her eyes started to feel blurry.
"Really?" Shin-chan gave a vague "hmm," and after a long pause, asked again, "Do you... still have feelings for him?"
"Maybe there's still some left over from before, but I know in my heart that I can't touch him again, absolutely not... It's like heroin, it's stimulating, but once you get involved, it's all over." You Ran closed her eyes: "To be honest, he's really good-looking, isn't he?"
"Really?" Shin-chan reopened a can of beer and started drinking it right there.
"When you saw him, didn't you have the urge to rush up and tear his shirt, push him down and finish him off, then push him down again and finish him off again, then push him down again and finish him off again?" You Ran said with a look of ecstasy.
Shin-chan's eyebrows once again stole the show: "How could I possibly have such an impulse towards a grown man?!"
"That's a shame." You Ran shrugged. "Qu Yun once told me that he wanted to touch your pert buttocks with his own hands."
Shin-chan: "..."
You Ran: "Judging from your expression, you seem to be secretly pleased."
Shin-chan: "..."
You Ran: "I should have known you were interested in him. No wonder you were targeting me all the time. It turns out you hated him because of love."
Shin-chan: "..."
Without Qu Yun, the campus is tranquil, allowing one to fully enjoy its beauty.
But the good times didn't last long. Just as one wolf left, another came – Gu Chengyuan arrived.
He drove directly to the dormitory entrance. The understated yet extremely luxurious car, along with the ruggedly handsome man beside it, attracted the attention of almost all the students.
You Ran has decided to stop running away. Since she has already killed Qu Yun, she is not afraid to kill Gu Chengyuan as well.
So, You Ran went straight up to him and got straight to the point: "I'm not in a good mood today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week, and next month. If you don't want to get bruised and battered again, please leave."
Gu Chengyuan leaned against the car door, his hands in his pockets, and slowly said, "Your dad is going to have surgery, so Mom asked me to come and pick you up."
You Ran was startled and immediately asked, "What's wrong with my dad? Is his condition serious?"
Gu Chengyuan opened the car door and said, "You'll know when we get back."
She took a step forward leisurely, but then stopped.
She suddenly realized that this might be a trick set up by Gu Chengyuan to deceive her.
So, You Ran immediately took out her phone and dialed Bai Ling's number, but the phone was always switched off.
"What, you don't believe me?" Gu Chengyuan's lips curled slightly, a smile that was neither a smile nor a laugh.
"Do you have the right to make me believe you?" Under such circumstances, You Ran found his smile very irritating.
"But do you still have a choice?" Gu Chengyuan asked leisurely. "You can't contact them now, and you have no idea what the situation is like... If I told you that your father is in his final moments, would you still leisurely go and take the train?"
Upon hearing this, You Ran suddenly looked up, her eyes wide with shock at the possibility Gu Chengyuan had mentioned. She tried her best to remain calm, but her voice still trembled slightly: "You're lying."
“You can definitely give it a try.” Gu Chengyuan smiled faintly, his smile carrying a chill: “If you delay any longer, you might not even be able to see your father one last time.”
You Ran was both shocked and angry, trembling with rage. She stood there for a long time before finally giving in and getting into the car to go home with Gu Chengyuan.
Her hands were clenched tightly, her body taut in a humiliating posture.
Just then, a voice rang out: "I'll take you."
Turning around casually, I saw Shin-chan.
Xiao Xin didn't even glance at Gu Chengyuan, and said directly to You Ran, "Come on, I'll call my grandpa's driver and have him take us there."
At that moment, You Ran felt that if Shin-chan had a golden halo above his head and a pair of wings, he would become an angel.
Xiao Xin was very efficient; the driver and car arrived at the school gate to pick them up shortly afterward.
You Ran ignored Gu Chengyuan and got into the car.
“He’s following us.” On the highway, Xiaoxin looked back and told You Ran.
“He’s not important.” You Ran didn’t have time to think about anything else at the moment; the only thing she was thinking about was her father’s illness.