Ju Nian froze. She pinched herself; she wasn't daydreaming. Could it be that he had brought Chen Jiejie to his home?
Wu Yu looked preoccupied. She closed the door, took a few steps, and then remembered to turn back.
"Ju Nian?" He looked surprised and delighted. "What brings you here?"
Even though it's the Year of the Orange, I can't be completely without reservations.
"I'm visiting my aunt and just passing by." She tore the leaves of the foxtail grass to shreds and threw them all over the ground.
Wu Yu could sense her unusual behavior, so she walked over and smiled. "You didn't come to see your aunt. Ju Nian, what happened? Come inside and tell me."
"No need." Ju Nian wasn't mentally prepared to see Chen Jiejie at Wu Yu's house.
"Come in."
"She's inside too?"
Wu Yu looked at Ju Nian in silence. After knowing him for so many years, this was the first time Ju Nian noticed that the little monk's pupils were a very light brown. At first glance, they seemed to contain an indescribable emptiness. Perhaps it was these eyes that gave him a feeling of loneliness and nothingness.
He led Ju Nian into the house. The house was completely open, and apart from his bedridden grandmother, there was no one else there.
Ju Nian couldn't understand. "Where's Chen Jiejie? Do you know that Chen Jiejie ran away from home? Everyone's saying that she eloped with a man. Wu Yu, are you going to play dumb with me?"
Wu Yu sat on the edge of her grandmother's bed. The old woman looked a little unwell, and the old house was filled with the smell of herbs.
"I know she's gone, but I don't know where she went."
Despite harboring resentment towards Wu Yunan, Ju Nian still didn't doubt his words at all.
"She...she didn't leave with you?" Ju Nian asked, looking down.
The old woman started coughing in bed. Wu Yu didn't have time to answer and spent a long time calming her down.
"She asked me to go with her. But you know, I can't leave," Wu Yu said calmly.
A pang of sadness welled up in Ju Nian's heart. "Because of your grandmother's illness?"
“That’s one reason. I worried that I wasn’t the person she expected, and I didn’t have the strength. Where could I go? I didn’t even know what I could give her. But she was so stubborn.” When he mentioned Chen Jiejie, what was in his light brown eyes? Pity? Compassion? Or remorse for his impulsiveness?
"So she left alone?" Ju Nian's voice trembled almost imperceptibly.
Wu Yu nodded, a faint, bitter self-deprecating smile playing on her lips. "Perhaps she's very disappointed in me."
Yes, of course I'm disappointed. But aren't expectations something we create for ourselves? So is disappointment.
Ju Nian couldn't imagine what kind of determination Chen Jiejie needed to leave her sheltered environment, to run away alone without Wu Yu's promise. She knew she didn't have that kind of courage.
The old man started coughing again, and Ju Nian helped Wu Yu by patting his chest and soothing his breathing.
As people age, they can feel the decay of their bodies with just their hands.
"How long has Grandma been sick? Has she seen a doctor?"
Wu Yu used a towel to wipe the phlegm stains from his grandmother's lips. "She sees it every time. The people at the nearby clinic say they can't do anything and should send her to a better hospital in the city." He turned and smiled at Ju Nian, "Actually, they also told me to give up."
This is Wu Yu's only relative, and the person who raised him.
That sense of helplessness seeped into Ju Nian's heart. "What should I do?" The question itself was futile.
Wu Yu still held the towel in his hand. "Sell the house," he said, as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today."
He owned nothing but this dilapidated house. How much could the house sell for? Who would buy it? Could the money save his frail, elderly father? Even if he miraculously survived, where would he go to settle down?
These are all problems, each a mountain that Ju Nian couldn't climb. But if she were in her shoes, she would make the only choice.
"Luckily, someone made an offer," Wu Yu told Ju Nian in a cheerful voice, sharing this "good news."
"who?"
"Lin Henggui."
"......"
Ju Nian seemed to chuckle, but the sound stuck in her throat, tinged with a metallic taste.
"She was the only one who was willing to pay for the house out of cash. And she gave a lot, seventeen thousand dollars."
"You believe him?"
"What can I do if I don't believe him? I'm sending him to the hospital tomorrow. The receipt is all ready. He'll pay me eight thousand yuan upfront as hospital fees, and the rest will be settled later."
Ju Nian stopped talking. Grandma's cough never stopped. The patient was afraid of the wind, so the room was tightly closed, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.
"I'm leaving now. I need to pick up Wangnian, my little brother, from kindergarten later."
"Okay, I won't take you to catch your ride. Be careful."
"Um."
"Year of the Orange!"
Ju Nian stood there, and after a while, took something out of his pocket, placed it in Wu Yu's palm, and then closed his fingers.
That was the breakfast allowance and pocket money she had just received from her father for a month—fifty yuan—which she gave him entirely.
Wu Yu lowered his eyes; his eyelashes were thin and long, like silken rain covering the desolate wilderness.
"Ju Nian, if my grandma gets better, let's sign up together for the mixed doubles in the city's middle school badminton tournament." He spoke as if making a distant vow, filled with wistfulness.
“Okay.” Ju Nian nodded, her hand resting on the door frame. The old wood, decades old, was infested with termites, and when she pinched it, it was riddled with holes.
“Wu Yu, I, I have a request.”
Ju Nian turned around and met Wu Yu's gaze. She had a strange feeling that he was also listening and waiting.
"If you truly consider me your most important friend, no matter where you go in the future, who you're with, how far you go, or whether you come back... before you leave, please remember to say 'goodbye' to me, okay?"
Wu Yu only needs to say "good" or "bad," nodding or shaking her head.
But he said, "I swear!"
Was he also uneasy? He had forgotten that his vows were the weakness he least trusted.
Sixteen days after Chen Jiejie ran away, during an ordinary morning reading time, when the students had become accustomed to the empty seat next to Ju Nian, she walked into the classroom with her schoolbag on her back, amidst the gaze of fifty pairs of surprised eyes, shattering the silence on the floor.
The peaceful morning reading session was filled with whispers. She greeted Ju Nian with a calm demeanor, looked at English for a while, and then began to bury herself in painting her nails. The long-lost smell of paint ignited the curiosity of the onlookers to a boiling point, but she seemed to have just said "goodbye" to everyone after school yesterday.
Chen Jiejie is back, just as unexpectedly as she left, and now she's back in a completely different position. It seems the school and teachers were informed beforehand; no one has commented on the matter, nor has anyone expressed surprise.
That afternoon, a notice criticizing Chen Jiejie for skipping class was quietly posted in the corner of the school bulletin board. A few days later, it was torn down, and this sensational event came to an end in a completely incongruous silence.
Chen Jiejie was no different from usual. She walked lightly, smiling and greeting familiar classmates. Even when she suddenly turned around, she seemed oblivious to the various meaningful glances directed at her. Because of this, none of her classmates dared to ask her what had happened, why she left, or why she had returned. Not even Ju Nian.
However, during a dull evening study session, while Ju Nian was memorizing economics principles, Chen Jiejie buried her face in her books and said casually, "You're right. He said that sentence too."
"Huh? What?" Ju Nian was stunned for a moment before turning her attention back to what was happening.
“He said, ‘I can’t take you with me.’ His tone was exactly like yours. You two are truly childhood friends.” Chen Jiejie said, laughing the whole time. She had lost a lot of weight.
"Why did you come back?" Ju Nian asked awkwardly.
"I thought I was free, but then I ran into a thief in Sanya. Besides a few clothes, I had nothing of value left." Chen Jiejie said, as if telling a joke unrelated to herself. "That's when I realized I was helpless. I had no skills to make a living, couldn't endure hardship, and couldn't bear to listen to others. I was like a bird raised on feed, with wings but unable to fly high. So I wandered around for a day, borrowed a phone to call my mother, and they rushed over that very night. My parents didn't dare say a harsh word to me; they were afraid I'd be traumatized, afraid I'd run away again. They comforted me, and sealed all the windows and balcony tightly, haha."
"Why are you doing this?" Ju Nian aimlessly fiddled with her pencil. "You should have known from the beginning that Wu Yu is different from you."
Chen Jiejie said, "He said he couldn't give me anything... but I don't want anything. I just want him to hold my hand." At this point, she smiled gently, "But then again, it's best not to make promises to someone like me so easily."
Are you blaming him?
"Why blame him? He didn't agree to go with me. At least, at least he didn't lie to me."
Ju Nian wanted to hate Chen Jiejie, to blame her disappointment and sadness on her so she could feel better. But she couldn't bring herself to hate her; it had always been this way. Chen Jiejie had simply shared the same dream with her; she slept peacefully, refusing to wake up, while Chen Jiejie, in her sleepwalking, stumbled and fell. They both, without prior agreement, projected their dreams onto Wu Yu, forgetting to consider how he could possibly bear it all.
"Why Sanya?" Ju Nian asked, puzzled.
Have you ever heard that if you make a wish at the ends of the earth, it will surely come true?
Do you believe that wishes can really come true?
Chen Jiejie said, "I don't care. I've already made my wish, so I've done what I was supposed to do. The rest is up to God." She chuckled and leaned on her desk. "Maybe it really works. But it's not surprising that people like me and Wu Yu are exceptions."
As Chen Jiejie said, after she returned home, her parents coaxed her gently, fearing she might do something wrong again. No matter how the adults questioned her, she refused to reveal who she had run away from. The matter was then forgotten and never mentioned again. But behind the beautiful lace curtains in her bedroom, many iron bars were now in place, her money was strictly controlled, her cell phone was subtly taken away, and her computer could only be used for studying. Whenever she appeared where there was a phone, she was always surrounded by people watching her. Going to and from school, playing—everything was escorted by her family's car; she had become a veritable caged bird.
Besides Ju Nian, no one else knew that Wu Yu, who seemed completely unrelated to Chen Jiejie, had once been involved in her life. For Chen Jiejie, going to see Wu Yu as freely as before was now a luxury; Ju Nian had become their only connection. She silently handed letter after letter to Wu Yu, only to receive a few meager words in return.
Wu Yu said, "Tell her not to be silly."
Wu Yu said, "Tell her to take good care of herself."
Wu Yu said, "I'm sorry."
Chen Jiejie would always smile sweetly when she heard this, but she never stopped sending letters.
Ju Nian spoke less and less in front of the two of them, simply acting as a messenger in a blank state.
One day, Fang Zhihe, who rarely spoke to her, took the initiative to greet her by holding a Jin Yong novel.
He said, "Xie Junian, do you think the Bone-Melting Palm technique is powerful?"
The Bone-Melting Palm is an internal martial art, characterized by its soft exterior and firm interior, flowing continuously. When struck by the palm, it feels as if feathers or cotton wool are flying around, leaving one completely unaware. However, one doesn't know when it begins, but unseen parts of the body are being severed inch by inch.
Not long after, Wu Yu's grandmother died in her hospital bed after using up the last penny she had for medical expenses.
When a person dies, they are freed from all their illnesses, which is true.
Ju Nian and Wu Yu rushed to catch the last train and signed up for the mixed doubles event of the city's middle school badminton competition.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Who is Whose Partner?
The high school badminton tournament kicked off in early May, a highly anticipated event in G City, a city with a strong badminton tradition. With less than 100 days until the grueling month of July, high school seniors, whose time is precious, should ideally not be distracted by such activities. However, given that G City is being designated a key national demonstration city for quality education, the school hopes its stressed-out seniors can balance work and rest, and therefore acquiesced.
Cross-school doubles pairs were an innovation of that year's competition, aimed at promoting exchange between schools. In reality, there weren't many pairs of students from different schools competing together, and cross-school mixed doubles were even rarer.
Once, when Ju Nian was delivering a letter to Chen Jiejie, she said to Wu Yu, "Why don't you partner with her? She would be very happy if you did."
Wu Yu was carefully applying a layer of transparent tape to the worn part of his racket head. It was the same racket that Ju Nian had given him a few years ago. The workmanship wasn't very fine, and it was a miracle that it was still in use.
"Don't you like me being your partner?" His doubt was as thin as mist in an empty mountain.
Ju Nian replied with a quote Wu Yu had once said: "You said it yourself, those are two different things."
Wu Yu laughed and said, "Could I find someone more compatible than you?"