Chapter 41 A Bitter Fruit in the Bitter Summer

On the weekend, Shen Qingli bought lunch for Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen at the First People's Hospital of Suzhou and stayed with them in their ward.

She heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Shen Qingyun standing at the door of the ward.

“Ah Li.”

She approached her and called out to Grandpa Shen on the hospital bed and Grandma Shen sitting beside her, and also called out to her.

"Sis, you're here so early today? Didn't you say you were going to work overtime?" Shen Qingli was a little surprised by her appearance.

"I just finished my work, and I saw that I still had some time, so I thought I'd come over and relieve you."

As Shen Qingyun spoke, she took out the fruit she had brought from home and peeled them one by one. Finally, she handed the peeled apple to her, saying, "Here, have an apple."

"Thank you, sister." Shen Qingli smiled and accepted the fruit basket, but her gaze lingered on it, noticing that there wasn't a single pear inside.

Over the years, she has been studying at a university away from home and has been returning to Suzhou less and less. Apart from keeping in touch with her grandparents, the only person who knows about her recent situation is Shen Qingyun.

She was the one who accompanied her to the doctor, but after a series of examinations, they couldn't find anything wrong with her body; she was perfectly healthy.

Therefore, everything could only be attributed to psychological factors. That afternoon after leaving the hospital, Shen Qingyun was unusually silent and didn't say anything. She just kept apologizing to Shen Qingli.

What kind of psychological factors could cause someone to have such a strong and stressful reaction to something they once loved most?

Shen Qingyun was very smart. She knew that all of this was related to what happened at the end of high school. She also understood that Shen Qingli had always harbored resentment.

She refused to return to Suzhou and refused to communicate much with Shen's parents. In their eyes, what happened back then was just a child's late rebellious phase and her bad behavior of trying to break free from their control. Only she knew that what was erased that summer was a complete Shen Qingli.

-

The two sisters chatted with the two elderly people in the ward for a while, and just then the nurses came to check on them, so they came out first.

Standing in the quiet hospital corridor, Shen Qingyun stared at the half-eaten apple in her hand. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I heard that No. 1 Middle School is going to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Are you planning to go back and take a look?"

As expected, Shen Qingli knew that No. 1 High School would invite outstanding graduates, and she would definitely not be left out. She also guessed that the other party would definitely ask her about it after finding out.

“I’m not going.” She blinked and frankly admitted without hiding anything, “I have to go to work that day, and besides, I don’t really miss anything about No. 1 High School, so I don’t think it’s necessary to go back.”

"You always say that." Faced with her sister's answer, Shen Qingyun had long expected her to say that, but this time, she rarely tried to persuade her: "Since you returned to Suzhou, apart from taking a day or two off when Grandpa had surgery, I haven't seen you rest at all. I'm really afraid that you'll overwork yourself."

"It's not as exaggerated as you say." Hearing this, she looked away guiltily when she met her sister's worried gaze.

"Look at your dark circles, they're really bad. Have you been working late shifts again lately?" Shen Qingyun knew her well. The question seemed like a question, but she knew the answer all too well. So she sighed helplessly. "You have to work overtime again, and after that you have to come to the hospital to take care of Grandpa. You're always like this. I've told you so many times not to come over when it's too late, but have you ever listened?"

As she finished speaking, she saw the person in front of her lower their head and remain silent. She shook her head helplessly, her face full of sorrow. "Ah Li, you promised me that you would take good care of yourself when you're out here."

"Sister, I know, you don't need to worry about me. I'm all grown up now, I'm not a child anymore." Shen Qingli smiled awkwardly. She didn't want to continue the topic, so she tried to brush it off.

Faced with her sister's ridicule, she was indeed aware that she was in the wrong.

During her time in Suzhou, she kept herself busy. When revisiting familiar places, she dared not look back. Everything in Suzhou felt both strange and familiar to her. She dared not go back to her home in the countryside, and when passing through many familiar places, she left in a hurry and panic.

She had desperately, almost to the point of forcing herself, to forget everything from the past. Now that she's back, she finds that forgetting isn't as simple as she thought.

On the day Lin Xiaqing left Suzhou, Xia Lin was also discharged from the hospital.

She didn't even have time to say goodbye to Xia Lin before she lost track of where they went. Her gradual loss of contact with Luo Yiqiu completely deprived her of her only channel for obtaining information about Lin Xiaqing.

They are no longer from the same world, and will never have any contact with each other again.

Amidst that pain, she even felt a sense of relief, thankfully that no one knew about this story from beginning to end, and no one would mention Lin Xiaqing in front of her.

They truly became the "strangers" everyone talked about.

No one knows, no one remembers.

No one knew they had ever met, and no one remembered anything about them.

-

Before leaving the hospital, Shen Qingyun thought it over and over again, and finally asked her for a favor. "There's something I might need to trouble you with. I promised Teacher Zhao that I would go back, but I have to go to No. 2 Middle School to attend a public class, so I can't go. But I promised Teacher Zhao that I would give her something. Ali, please do me a favor and go back for me."

"Sister..." Shen Qingli looked at her with some difficulty. With the tacit understanding between the two sisters over the years, she naturally knew at once that the other party's intention was not what it seemed. "You've tried every means to get me to ask for leave, haven't you?"

"No, I really can't find anyone else to help with this, so I can only ask you for help. It's perfect, go have some fun and relax, don't always be so tense." Knowing that her intentions had been seen through, Shen Qingyun smiled apologetically.

"Okay, I understand. Remember to give it to me when the time comes." She nodded, understanding the other party's good intentions. Not wanting Shen Qingyun to continue worrying about her, she hesitated for a moment before finally agreeing.

Although she still wasn't interested in returning to Suzhou No. 1 High School, giving herself a day off was a good thing, and it would also be a good opportunity for her to get together with Luo Yiqiu and the others.

Hearing her finally agree, Shen Qingyun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "That's more like it. Going back to school might be a lot of fun!"

"I hope so." She forced a smile, completely disregarding what she was about to say.

Returning to Suzhou No. 1 High School, she felt she could never be happy again.

"But this time, you should be able to run into Luo Yiqiu, right? I heard she's a teacher at No. 1 Middle School now?"

When Luo Yiqiu was mentioned, Shen Qingli looked at her blankly for a moment before saying, "Yes, you two are now colleagues. She was in charge of organizing this 100th anniversary homecoming."

"So that's how it is..." Shen Qingyun nodded thoughtfully after hearing this.

When talking about her, everyone will inevitably think of another person; that's probably the power of childhood sweethearts.

On each other's life trajectories, whether or not they are still walking together, they cannot avoid each other's names.

"Have you kept in touch frequently in the years since you graduated from high school?"

“Very little. I only know that she went to university in Jiang City later, and returned to No. 1 High School to work after graduation.” Shen Qingyun’s sudden question implied something Shen Qingli knew perfectly well, so she kept it to herself and said directly, “So I don’t know much about what happened to Senior Zhao after that. I’ll ask her when I go back to school and see her.”

Upon hearing Zhao Yixiao's name, Shen Qingyun's face finally showed a different expression. Her expression stiffened for a moment before she slowly nodded and whispered, "Okay."

"But I doubt she even knows."

Although Shen Qingli didn't know the full story of what happened back then, she could vaguely sense that Zhao Yixiao's departure was because of Luo Yiqiu.

He was always afraid of holding the other person back, but whether or not he was held back shouldn't be a decision he made alone.

"If even Luo Yiqiu doesn't know his whereabouts, then probably no one else in this world will be able to find him."

The two walked side by side down to the hospital lobby. Under the cover of night, listening to Shen Qingyun's somewhat melancholy words, she couldn't help but feel a little down, perhaps because of the night.

So much has happened in this hospital right in front of us.

When she first started university, Shen Qingyun was still trying to find Zhao Yixiao, but the longer time went on, the less hope she had.

His disappearance was both too sudden and too premeditated.

Over the years, people have gradually stopped mentioning this name, partly because it evokes sadness, and partly because time is too cruel.

In the ebb and flow of life, some people will always be left behind and forgotten in the past. And those who cannot forget may not be because the feelings are too strong, but because the scars left behind are too deep.

...

Shen Qingli didn't know what to say about this matter; she felt that she had always been just an observer in that relationship.

She didn't answer, and Shen Qingyun smiled at her. The two of them didn't continue the conversation, but instead tacitly changed the subject.

Before leaving, looking at the completely dark sky outside, Shen Qingyun told her to be careful. Shen Qingli threw away the apple core in her hand next to the trash can and obediently responded.

Watching her movements, Shen Qingyun's eyes flickered, and unpleasant memories flooded her mind. She continued to ask, "You still can't eat pears? Have your symptoms gotten any better?"

"It's the same as before," she replied casually, wiping her hands with a tissue from her bag.

"Well, what a pity, this used to be your favorite fruit."

Hearing the slight regret and sadness in her tone, Shen Qingli thought of something else. Recalling everything from that summer, she chuckled softly, as if laughing at herself.

"Yeah, I think I'll probably hate eating pears forever." And I'll probably hate that summer forever too.

She didn't say the second half of her sentence.

Because no one knew anything about her and Lin Xiaqing, unrequited love was like a bitter fruit. She couldn't speak up, had nowhere to confide in, and only she knew that it was a bitter fruit, so painful that she couldn't bear it.

Unfortunately, the pain of this unrequited love was delayed for many years.

Looking up at the moon hanging in the night sky, the soft moonlight bathed her face. For a moment, Shen Qingli didn't know what to say. She had never felt that she still liked Lin Xiaqing after all these years.

She simply hadn't forgotten him. In the cruel passage of time, the story of unrequited love seemed to be amplified, making even forgetting so slow and heavy.

And in the years that followed, she would occasionally think of him when she looked up at the moon, or when she saw pears at a fruit stand.

Perhaps it is the lingering pain left by unrequited love over the years, making one feel bitter just thinking about it.

This was a one-sided love affair filled with joy and sorrow, and no one should be held responsible for this relationship.

Outside the hospital, the wind blew past her ears. In the sweltering summer heat, even the wind carried warmth, leaving a sticky residue on her skin.

In the wind, she vaguely thought that perhaps it was no one's fault.

-----------------------

Author's note: Note: "Unrequited love is like a bitter fruit," a modified version of a quote from the internet.

I'm late! I didn't expect to be so tired after getting home. Even after a day of rest, my back and waist still ache. I'll try to write more and post twice tomorrow TvT