El hibisco como pintura

Capítulo 19

Gao Xiaoyuan nodded.

"Then why did he come back now, and why did the surviving students from Class 0 of Grade 11 also happen to appear now?"

Gao Xiaoyuan was stunned. It sounded quite a coincidence. If Lin Nana was telling the truth, then she had been trapped in that room for a year, and it was possible that Li Wenbin and Li Biqi had suffered the same fate, meaning they had just been released as well. How could it be such a coincidence that Chen Shuai returned at this time? Something felt off. But Chen Shuai didn't seem to be lying either.

“Actually, Biqi and Li Wenbin have a very good relationship in private. They often study music together,” Lin Nana said, looking down at the notebook in her hand. “The notes recorded in this notebook are actually a kind of musical language between them.”

Gao Xiaoyuan quickly snatched the notebook and flipped through it rapidly until she saw the same note as the one on the blackboard.

classroom

"What does this mean?" Gao Xiaoyuan asked.

Lin Nana shook her head and said, "I don't know either. Do you mean the concert hall?"

“The concert hall is where your Class 0 of Grade 11 rehearses, performs, and you could also say it’s a classroom,” Gao Xiaoyuan thought about the connection between the two.

"The most important thing is that Li Wenbin and Biqi often sneaked in after school to practice their pieces together."

"Okay, let's go right away!"

The concert hall was sealed off again, but Lin Nana didn't push the door open. Instead, she pulled Gao Xiaoyuan to the back of the concert hall, where there was a pile of leaves in a corner. After Lin Nana reached out and brushed the leaves aside, Gao Xiaoyuan immediately saw a small hole that looked like only one person could squeeze through.

"When we wanted to come here but were afraid of being discovered, we crawled in through here." After saying that, Lin Nana immediately bent down and crawled in.

Gao Xiaoyuan raised her head and looked around.

The red phone booth stood not far away, now hidden by fallen leaves. For some reason, Gao Xiaoyuan thought of Su Siyu again, and also of Qiu Wangzi, but mostly of Xu An.

"Why aren't you coming in yet?" Lin Nana, who had already gone inside, waved to Gao Xiaoyuan.

Gao Xiaoyuan quickly crawled into the hole.

The autumn wind blew down a few fallen leaves that had covered the red telephone booth. Inside the booth, a cold, stern face stared coldly in the direction of the opening.

The concert hall was quiet and dark, with a lingering smell of dust and an indescribable stench. Perhaps it was because a body had been found here, and Teacher Xia had hanged herself here, that gave rise to this strange odor.

Gao Xiaoyuan groped her way out into the darkness and whispered, "I don't have a flashlight. Do you?"

There was no sound.

Gao Xiaoyuan thought that perhaps her voice was too soft, so she raised her voice and asked, "Nana, where are you? Did you bring a flashlight?"

There was still no sound.

Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly felt a chill. Lin Nana was right next to her just now, but when she touched her now, there was nothing there. And why wasn't she saying anything?

"Lin Nana—" Gao Xiaoyuan called out again, and just then, the stage lights suddenly came on.

Gao Xiaoyuan was so frightened that she took a few steps back and pressed her body tightly against the wall. She couldn't see Lin Nana at all.

The beam of light shone on the ground in the very center of the stage.

Only then did Gao Xiaoyuan realize that she was standing in the last row of seats. She stared nervously at the light, not daring to even breathe. She remembered that Peng Zhi's body was found there, but she didn't know why it had disappeared later.

The beam of light suddenly started moving, slowly shifting towards the edge of the stage.

Gao Xiaoyuan stared intently, not daring to move an inch.

The beam of light continued to move, moving off the stage, towards the seats, and slowly shifting to the right side of the concert hall.

Gao Xiaoyuan's pupils dilated at that moment because she saw a blackboard on the right wall of the concert hall that had been smashed in half, and a girl in a school uniform was drawing musical notes on the remaining half with chalk.

"Li Biqi!" Gao Xiaoyuan cried out in disbelief.

The girl in the school uniform seemed not to hear her and continued drawing on the blackboard.

"Are you... are you alive... or dead?" Gao Xiaoyuan asked, her voice trembling.

The girl in the school uniform suddenly stopped her hand on the blackboard, and then she slowly turned her head. The beam of light shone directly on her face.

His eyes and mouth were tightly closed, his face was covered in bloodstains, and various colored thumbtacks were stuck in his eyelids, nose, and mouth.

Gao Xiaoyuan's lips trembled, and before she could even utter a sound, everything went black and she lost consciousness.

Just then, Xu An crawled through the hole and saw Gao Xiaoyuan fall heavily to the ground, a notebook falling from her body. At the same time, the lights in the concert hall went out.

"Xiaoyuan!" Xu An crawled to Gao Xiaoyuan's side by feeling his way back from memory and picked her up.

It started raining at night, and the rain got heavier and heavier.

On the street, Xu An draped his coat over Gao Xiaoyuan and carried her on his back, running anxiously forward: "Xiaoyuan, hang in there! You must hang in there! I'll take you to the hospital right now."

Gao Xiaoyuan opened her eyes a crack and said weakly, "Xu An... don't go... don't leave me again..."

Xu An stopped in his tracks. The rain relentlessly lashed his and Gao Xiaoyuan's faces. He turned to look at the unconscious Gao Xiaoyuan, his eyes glistening with tears of emotion.

Si Xu'an, don't go.

The sound was like countless water droplets falling one after another. Was it rain? A cold wind blew by, but I also felt very warm, as if I were next to a heater.

Gao Xiaoyuan slowly opened her eyes, and through her hazy vision, she seemed to see a blurry face. The face was cold, devoid of any color, yet it stirred Gao Xiaoyuan's heart.

"Xu An..."

"Xiaoyuan, who are you calling? It's your mother! Are you so feverish that you don't even recognize your own mother?"

Gao Xiaoyuan finally came to her senses and finally saw the face clearly. It wasn't Xu An's face; it was Li Yu's face, her mother's face.

"Where...am I?" Gao Xiaoyuan reached up and touched her head, which hurt a little.

“You’re at home now. Your classmate called to say you’re sick.” Li Yu looked at Gao Xiaoyuan with concern and reached out to touch her forehead.

Gao Xiaoyuan was suddenly touched. Her mother rarely treated her like this; she was usually very strict.

"Xiaoyuan, why did you suddenly develop a fever? And who was the boy who brought you here and called me?" Li Yu asked tentatively.

Gao Xiaoyuan was taken aback. It turned out that her mother wasn't concerned about her at all, but just wanted to know if she was in a relationship as Teacher Duan had said. Gao Xiaoyuan turned over in disgust, turning her head to the other side, and said, "Mom, I'm tired. I want to rest."

"Xiaoyuan, are you really tired?" Li Yu seemed not to believe it.

Gao Xiaoyuan closed her eyes; she had decided not to talk to her mother anymore.

Li Yu frowned and said, "Xiao Yuan, I shouldn't have told you that you're sick, but you're still a student and young. You can't be in a relationship, or it will interfere with your studies."

Gao Xiaoyuan kept her eyes tightly closed and remained motionless.

Li Yu was a little unhappy: "Your dad and I work so hard for you, hoping to send you to university abroad in the future, so you absolutely cannot be in a relationship now! I will talk to your homeroom teacher about this." After saying this, Li Yu got up to leave, but Gao Xiaoyuan stopped her: "Mom, I don't want you to interfere in my affairs! Please don't go to that annoying Teacher Duan again!"

"Xiaoyuan, how can you talk to me like that!"

"Mom, since you've never cared about me or looked after me since I was little, then don't care about me or look after me now either!" After saying that, Gao Xiaoyuan pulled the blanket over her head forcefully.

Li Yu stood there stunned, never expecting Gao Xiaoyuan to speak to her in such a tone. She had to compose herself: "I only rushed back because I heard you were sick. I have to go back to work now, I'll talk to you when I get back." With that, Li Yu slammed the door shut.

Gao Xiaoyuan could no longer hold back her tears.

The door opened gently, and Xu An slowly walked in. He sat down on the bedside and reached out to pull back the covers, but stopped halfway through. After hesitating for a moment, he withdrew his hand and simply listened quietly to Gao Xiaoyuan's crying, quietly staying by her side and quietly protecting her.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, Gao Xiaoyuan pulled back the covers and gently wiped away her tears, at which point she saw Xu An's cold and handsome face.

“You…you’re really here.” Gao Xiaoyuan didn’t know what to say.

A rare smile appeared on Xu An's face. He reached out and gently brushed the hair from Gao Xiaoyuan's forehead: "Sleep a little longer."

"You saved me, didn't you?"

Xu An nodded.

"So you saw Li Biqi too?" Gao Xiaoyuan tried to sit up, but as soon as she looked up, she felt dizzy and quickly lowered her head.

“I was a little worried when I saw you and Lin Nana go in, so I followed you in. I found you had fainted and the lights were off.”

"So you didn't see Li Biqi?"

Xu An shook his head.

"She...she was terrifying. I saw colorful thumbtacks stuck in her face, and...and lots of dried blood..."

"Xiaoyuan, are you hallucinating?"

“No,” Gao Xiaoyuan clutched the corner of the blanket tightly, “I saw the stage lights moving, and then they moved to the side of the concert hall. That’s when I noticed there was a broken blackboard there. Li Biqi was standing in front of that blackboard writing something. I started calling her, but she didn’t hear me. Then she suddenly turned her head, and I saw… I saw…”

"Xiaoyuan, you need to rest now. Don't think about anything else." Xu An looked at Gao Xiaoyuan with concern.

Gao Xiaoyuan shook her head and said, "I won't sleep. I'm afraid that when I wake up, you'll be gone again."

Xu An looked at Gao Xiaoyuan with emotion: "I will always be with you."

Gao Xiaoyuan shook her head.

Xu An smiled gently, took Gao Xiaoyuan's hand, and said softly, "If you hold my hand, I won't leave."

Gao Xiaoyuan nodded and slowly closed her eyes.

Xu An sat quietly, watching Gao Xiaoyuan.

Her face was pale, but a faint smile played on her lips; she must be having a sweet dream. Xu An lay down beside Gao Xiaoyuan, facing her quietly, gazing at her for a long, long time. Finally, he closed his eyes and placed Gao Xiaoyuan's hand tightly against his chest.

The second code on the blackboard

A gentle breeze blew, and as the first rays of sunlight streamed in, Gao Xiaoyuan slowly opened her eyes. When she saw Xu An's handsome and aloof face, she was stunned. He was sleeping beside her; his eyelashes were so thick, his nose so high and straight, his lips so perfectly shaped… Gao Xiaoyuan stared blankly, her heart pounding nervously.

"What are you looking at?" Xu An asked softly, but he kept his eyes closed.

Gao Xiaoyuan was startled, her face immediately turning red. Instinctively, she tried to prop herself up with her hands, only to find that Xu An was holding her hand tightly. At that moment, Xu An opened his eyes, and his cold and stern face softened slightly.

"Didn't you say that I only held your hand because you were afraid I would leave?"

Gao Xiaoyuan stared blankly at Xu An.

Xu An smiled faintly and slowly moved closer to Gao Xiaoyuan. Gao Xiaoyuan's heart pounded faster and faster. Just as Xu An was about to get close, he suddenly reached out and touched Gao Xiaoyuan's forehead: "The fever is gone, but you still need to rest well today." After saying this, Xu An sat up from the bed and got out of bed.

Gao Xiaoyuan breathed a sigh of relief, her face turning even redder. She quickly sat up from the bed, casually combing her hair. When she unconsciously looked out the window, she noticed something on the windowsill.

It turned out to be a picture frame.

Gao Xiaoyuan's heart tightened, and she quickly walked to the windowsill and picked up the photo frame.

It's another group photo of Class 0, Grade 11, and this time it shows a girl's photo.