She Jiaxin looked at him with red eyes. At first, tears fell silently, but she soon burst into tears and threw herself into Chi Cheng's arms.
"Chi Cheng, I really don't know who this is. What should I do?"
Chi Cheng glanced at Shi Ling again, and finally sighed, putting his arm around She Jiaxin and patting her on the back.
"If you're sick, go get treatment; if you're in love, go after it, understand?"
The author has something to say: She Jiaxin is a tragic character. I like her and feel sorry for her.
I saw the comments section explode again today! You fairies have been so active lately, mwah! Keep it up!
With a realistic writing style, I hope to bring warmth to you all living in this world.
And you might not believe it, but I didn't have an outline at all. I wrote it very freely, so please feel free to point out any bugs.
Finally, I would like to thank the fairies who threw the lightning bolts: Ru Ni, Gaigai Yao Gaigai, Yun Hu Bu Xi, Fei Yu, Mao Xiao Tian, and 32771883.
Chapter 13
After She Jiaxin returned, she disappeared from their lives.
She mentioned in the group chat that she had changed her plans at the last minute and was going to the United States, so she started studying for the TOEFL.
Perhaps because she usually has a wild lifestyle, no one in the group believed her and asked her where she went to have fun and how she managed to win over her parents.
Some people have guessed closest to the truth: Did Sister Jiaxin cause someone's death?
Chi Cheng and Shi Ling naturally kept quiet about the matter. She Jiaxin used to be spoiled and willful, and only got along well with Li Qiuling. She only played with the others a few times, and soon no one mentioned the matter anymore.
Although Chi Cheng didn't think Shi Ling would be so stupid as to believe he had gonorrhea.
But that night on the rooftop, Shi Ling's expression of watching a show made Chi Cheng somewhat embarrassed.
In addition, just two days after She Jiaxin disappeared, her oral English teacher was changed from Dylan to Wilson, a chubby British old man wearing a vest.
The question only asks people to get up and come back to answer questions about spoken English.
The two, who already had little interaction, became even more aloof from each other this time.
**
For Shi Ling, of course, it had no impact whatsoever.
Elsa was extremely efficient. She sent her passport information that day, and the confirmation letter for taking the IELTS test in Hong Kong came through very quickly.
Elsa reminded Shi Ling to remember to check her Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macau.
Shi Ling was taken aback.
She had just applied for her Hong Kong visa not long ago, because she and her ex had agreed to take a trip to Hong Kong after she finished her postgraduate entrance exam. Little did she know that the visa she applied for for her long-awaited trip would only make it easier for her to take the IELTS exam and travel abroad.
Although she has a rather aloof personality, she is completely devoted to this relationship.
Many people pursued her, but most of them used the same old tricks, or they quickly lost patience with her and stopped pursuing her.
Only his ex stood out among the crowd for being excessively honest, without any fancy tricks, simply offering his heart to her. However, this honesty ultimately became a bargaining chip for his parents to control him. It wasn't that he hadn't fought for their relationship, but he couldn't resist his father feigning illness, which made him abandon several years of romance and dutifully return to his hometown for another arranged marriage.
Shi Ling smiled self-deprecatingly. She used to hate people who played tricks on her, but now that she had experienced betrayal, she had become much more open-minded.
When she went down to the lobby reception desk to pick up her Hong Kong and Macau travel permit by express delivery, she ran into Lin Ziqi squeezing between two narrow rows of shelves looking for her package.
Lin Ziqi saw her and nodded. "Get your package? I'll help you find it; it's dirty inside."
Some packages were lying on the ground; he had clearly been searching for them for a while, and there was a streak of dust on his right shoulder.
Shi Ling looked at it and really didn't want to go in. "It's a file folder with my name on it. Thanks."
Lin Ziqi had just found hers and threw it out for Shi Ling to hold.
He then looked down and searched through Shi Ling's file folder.
Then I remembered to ask her, "Hey, why did you choose such a name? Ling is rarely used."
Shi Ling: "Do you know Xiling Bridge? It's where my parents got engaged."
"West Lake? I only know of the Xiling Seal Engraving Society."
"right."
"Wow, how romantic."
Shi Ling watched as he squatted down with great difficulty; the boy's long legs made him look even more cramped.
Feeling a little embarrassed, she started chatting with him, "What did you buy?"
Lin Ziqi chuckled, "Don't even mention it. Chi Cheng and I were playing tennis on the Switch, and I got so excited that I broke his racket. So I just bought him a new one."
Shi Ling responded with an "oh".
He also realized that Shi Ling probably wouldn't understand, so he explained to her carefully, "It's like a tennis game on a video game console, where you put the game controller inside a plastic racket to play."
Shi Ling replied cooperatively, "That sounds good."
Lin Ziqi turned to her and said, "Come play next time too. Chi Cheng, that jerk, is very patient with girls. Before, when She Jiaxin and Li Qiuling wanted to play, he abandoned us."
Before Shi Ling could make any comments, Lin Ziqi stood up.
"Holy crap, I finally found it. Here you go."
Shi Ling smiled at him and said, "Thanks."
She rarely smiled, and Lin Ziqi thought about it and realized that this was probably the first time she had ever seen her smile.
During afternoon class, Shi Ling felt a surge of heat between her legs. She endured the sticky, wet feeling and rushed to the restroom after class.
She's always been sensitive to cold and usually avoids anything even slightly cold. Perhaps it was because she indulged herself with countless drinks last week that this has brought about the consequences.
The pain was far greater than usual.
By the time get out of class ended in the afternoon, her face had turned somewhat pale.
For dinner, Shi Ling simply ordered takeout to be delivered to the classroom. After drinking the hot soup, she felt much better and continued to half-lie on the table to listen to the audio.
She has been practicing intensive listening comprehension in a planned way recently, and her listening skills have improved rapidly. She does a fixed set of intensive listening comprehension exercises every day without fail.
Shi Ling listlessly tucked her coat into her lower abdomen. The cramping pain in her lower abdomen made it impossible for her to concentrate on listening, and she took off her headphones after less than twenty minutes.
She gritted her teeth and held on for a while, but it was simply too late to continue.
I had calmed down a bit, but now I'm in so much pain that I'm sweating profusely. It feels like there's a meat grinder inside my lower abdomen, and the blood clots just won't come out.
Moreover, the pain came in waves, each more intense than the last; at one point, the pain was so intense that she almost bit her lip until it bled.
She had originally planned to give up studying tonight, but even after returning to her room, she found it unbearable to be in this state.
Shi Ling called the front desk downstairs and asked for a hot water bottle, but it was shift change time, so she had to go downstairs to get it and then go back to her room to fill it with hot water.
She regretted not taking action when the pain wasn't so unbearable, always thinking that she could just endure it and it would pass.
In her current condition, it's already difficult for her to even manage to get back to her room, let alone endure the pain to go down to the lobby to get it. They're on a side staircase, and the lobby reception faces a draft; you can imagine what it will be like down there.
Shi Ling gritted her teeth, and for some reason, she remembered Lin Ziqi, whom she had met when she picked up the package earlier that day.
We had no prior contact, but today I can see that he's quite kind-hearted.
Shi Ling was always cold and aloof, and would never speak unless absolutely necessary. Seeing the pleading tone in her voice, Lin Ziqi knew that Shi Ling must be extremely uncomfortable, and quickly called her via WeChat voice message to ask if she was in her room.
Shi Ling said it would be fine for him to take her to her room, as she was heading back to her room now.
Lin Ziqi said she understood.
He came down less than a minute later and saw Shi Ling, who was pale-faced, in the classroom.
Seeing her like this, Lin Ziqi asked her if she had a fever, and Shi Ling shook her head helplessly.
Lin Ziqi understood and stopped asking questions.
Shi Ling couldn't even stand up straight; she was half-bent over, clutching her clothes, her fingertips white from the force.
Lin Ziqi said, "Let me carry you up."
Shi Ling waved her hand and said no.
Lin Ziqi smiled and said, "Don't be so polite with me. I'll carry you upstairs right away and get you a hot water bottle. Chi Cheng and the others are waiting for me to play games with them."
Shi Ling was still hesitant.
Lin Ziqi had already spread her hands, "Alright, everyone has times when they need something, don't always be so stubborn."
He bent down to reach under Shi Ling's legs, and Shi Ling didn't refuse anymore. She reached out and hooked her arms around his shoulders, letting him pick her up.
After I picked him up, he said, "So light."
Lin Ziqi carried her to the elevator, and Shi Ling reached out and pressed the elevator button.
Shi Ling was indeed grateful for his help without hesitation, and said to him while waiting for the elevator, "Thank you very much."
Although they didn't have much contact, Lin Ziqi could tell that Shi Ling was extremely independent and would never ask for help from others if she could rely on herself.
He was just helping out casually, and she felt so embarrassed.
Lin Ziqi shrugged, not wanting to add to her psychological burden, and said, "I'll treat you to dinner next time."
Shi Ling endured the pain and forced a smile, "Okay."
The elevator beeped, and the indicator light in front of the door flashed blue.
The elevator doors slowly opened, pointing upwards.
Chi Cheng was standing in the elevator, and all three of them were stunned.
Lin Ziqi greeted them first, "Where are you going? Aren't you going to play games later?"
Chi Cheng looked them both up and down. Even though he could see that Shi Ling's bangs were damp with sweat and stuck to her face, her lips were completely pale, and her eyes, which were usually aloof, were now filled with suppressed pain and resentment.
He still wore his usual teasing expression, his tone ambiguous, "Didn't you run away? I went downstairs to buy cigarettes, why are you still playing cards? Just throw them away."
He said the last sentence in Cantonese, and knowing that Shi Ling couldn't understand it, Lin Ziqi replied with a swear word in Cantonese, "Your mother's."
Lin Ziqi said in Mandarin, "Wait for me, I'll be right there after I take Shi Ling back to her room."
Shi Ling glanced at Chi Cheng. Although she didn't understand what he meant, she clearly understood that he was teasing them about their relationship.
Her pain came in waves without any improvement, and she had no mind to think about anything else.