Chapter 86

◎Yet it made me fall deeper and deeper into love, to the point of madness. ◎

He Qingzhao, wrapped in Cheng Jiamo's pink bath towel, stood in front of the bathroom sink, awkwardly washing his underwear. He washed it very carefully, but very clumsily, showing that he rarely, or had never, done this kind of thing before.

In fact, that is indeed the case.

During the three years Cheng Jiamo was with him, she never saw him wash his underwear.

She had seen He Qingzhao's long, slender, pale hands holding a pen to paint, seen him skillfully tapping on the keyboard, and even seen him using those long, slender, pale hands to play pranks on her, but she had never seen him wash his underwear.

During the three years they were together, no matter when or where, He Qingzhao always maintained a composed and elegant demeanor, except for the occasional hint of debauchery in bed.

Cheng Jiamo stood outside the bathroom door, staring intently at him.

The scene before her eyes seemed somewhat surreal to her, and she couldn't quite describe how she felt about it.

Water gushed from the tap. He Qingzhao held the men's black underwear in both hands and rinsed it under the tap. He rubbed and wrung it, but he couldn't get the hang of it and ended up washing it terribly.

Cheng Jiamo finally couldn't stand it anymore and walked over to him: "Stop washing, have someone bring your luggage over."

He Qingzhao's lips curled up, and a smile appeared in his eyes: "Momo..."

Cheng Jiamo quickly interrupted him, "Don't overthink it. I'm not asking you to stay. I just hope that after you've rested, you can change your clothes and leave as soon as possible."

He Qingzhao's upturned lips froze, and the smile in his eyes faded.

Cheng Jiamo turned around, her back to him, and said in a gentle and calm tone, "He Qingzhao, let yourself go."

As she said those words, it felt like a thorn was stuck in her throat.

"You can't do things like washing underwear, and there's no need to force yourself to do them, because you simply don't need to. With your abilities and family background, you'll never have to do such a thing in your life."

He Qingzhao held the wet underwear in one hand, clenching his fingers so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged out, squeezing out the water from the underwear and letting it drip into the white porcelain basin.

Cheng Jiamo added, "I came here to teach because I wanted to get rid of you, but you've been building teaching buildings here and donating all kinds of teaching equipment for free. This only makes me feel like I'm always being controlled by you and have never been free."

With a snap—

The wet underwear was thrown to the ground. He Qingzhao threw the underwear aside, grabbed Cheng Jiamo's slender arm, and pulled her forcefully into his arms.

Before Cheng Jiamo could react, He Qingzhao had already forcefully embraced her.

"He Qingzhao, what are you doing!" Cheng Jiamo looked up at him again.

He Qingzhao pinched her chin with two fingers, forcing her to raise her head: "What am I going to do? Cheng Jiamo, what do you think I'm going to do? I want you, I want you to stay with me forever, why can't you agree?"

Cheng Jiamo tilted her head, her chin slipping from his grasp, and said with her face turned to the side, "He Qingzhao, I loved you, but in the years when I loved you the most, you never truly loved me."

He Qingzhao hunched over again, lowered his head, buried his face in her neck, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, Momo, I'm sorry. I will love you properly now, and love you sincerely."

Cheng Jiamo sighed: "He Qingzhao, what you feel is not love, but an obsession with something you haven't obtained. The cats, dogs, goldfish, turtles, parrots, and other pets you lost in your childhood, as well as me later on, are all obsessions you've never had in your life."

She raised her hand and gently patted He Qingzhao's head, soothingly saying, "He Qingzhao, you're sick. These obsessions have made you sick. Let them go. Find a girl who suits you, a sunny and energetic girl. Find a girl like that to accompany you and let her warm the rest of your life."

"I'm not a good match. We're the same kind of people. I can't warm your heart, and you can't warm mine."

As Cheng Jiamo was talking, she suddenly felt her shoulder get wet.

She paused, stunned, and continued, “Five years ago on New Year’s Eve, my mother passed away in Thailand. When I received a call from my aunt, I cried for a long time, as if I had returned to that rainy day in Thailand. I was terrified at the time and didn’t know what to do. At that moment, I really wanted to go back to you and seek some warmth from you, so I sent you a text message.”

"If you hadn't been in that car accident, if you hadn't ended up in the hospital, if He Jingyang hadn't used your phone to send those messages..."

"Unfortunately, there are no 'what ifs'..."

"You got into a car accident because you were chasing me in the snow; you chased me because I left you; I left you because you locked me up for six months; you locked me up because I was drugged; I was drugged because you married someone and then broke off the engagement, offending someone; you married someone because of your obsession with what you couldn't have..."

Her voice choked with emotion, and she couldn't continue.

He Qingzhao hugged her tightly, not even noticing that the bath towel around his waist had fallen off.

Cheng Jiamo noticed, but she didn't react much. She calmly patted his back and said softly, "He Qingzhao, what I will always remember is you twelve years ago, when you were twenty-four, and nine years ago, when you were twenty-seven. You marked these two dates on the wall, but I marked them in my heart."

He Qingzhao let go of her hand, bent down to pick up the bath towel from the ground, and wrapped it around her waist again.

Cheng Jiamo turned and walked out of the bathroom. The bathroom door closed, and the sound of running water could be heard from inside.

-

Cheng Jiamo didn't have to attend evening self-study today. After class in the afternoon, she didn't go back to her dormitory but took a bus to Moon City to have dinner with her friends.

After finishing her meal, she took a car back to Quanshui Town.

Just as she was leaning back in her seat with her eyes closed, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes and cursed.

Cheng Jiamo opened her eyes abruptly and asked, "What's wrong?"

The driver pointed to the windshield ahead: "I don't know what's going on, look, there are so many frogs and field mice on the road, and oh, and a few snakes too."

Cheng Jiamo craned her neck to take a look, and her scalp tingled as she looked at it, causing her body to tremble.

She turned to look at the side window of the car, and what she saw was astonishing – a dense mass of ants crawling about.

A sudden panic gripped her. She opened the car window and looked up at the sky, only to find it dark and gloomy, devoid of moonlight or starlight, a dark and oppressive darkness.

"Oh no!" Cheng Jiamo's voice trembled with fear. "There might be an earthquake."

She quickly took out her phone to check the earthquake detection software, and what she saw immediately sent a chill down her spine—her phone had no signal!

"earthquake?"

The driver also took out his phone to check, and cursed, "Damn it! My phone has no signal!"

Cheng Jiamo refused to believe it and tried to call Principal Zhang, but she couldn't get through.

The driver said, "It's probably because the nearby base station is broken or is being interfered with."

Cheng Jiamo was trembling with fear: "Driver, please take me back to school quickly! I need to notify the school leaders before the earthquake hits!"

Driver: Okay!

He floored the gas pedal and sped off, ignoring the field mice and frogs crawling on the road; at that moment, he couldn't care less about anything else.

However, it was too late.

-

"Earthquake!"

"Run! Run!"

"Don't panic, students, don't panic!"

"All teachers and students, assemble on the playground!"

With a loud bang—

An old school building covered with ivy collapsed suddenly.

Screams, cries, the sound of an old building collapsing, and the blaring of loudspeakers.

He Qingzhao rushed into the school in a panic, looking everywhere for Cheng Jiamo, but couldn't find her.

The power lines were broken, the streetlights weren't working, and everything was pitch black. He couldn't see anything, and his mind was buzzing, as if he had been crushed inside the truck again.

He casually grabbed a female teacher and asked, "Where is Cheng Jiamo?"

The female teacher said, "They're probably on the playground."

He Qingzhao ran quickly to the playground, but still couldn't find Cheng Jiamo. He asked Principal Zhang, the homeroom teacher of the class Cheng Jiamo taught, and everyone he could, but they all said they hadn't seen Cheng Jiamo.

At this moment, a girl said, "Professor Cheng might be in the previous teachers' dormitory."

Without saying a word, He Qingzhao turned and ran towards the abandoned teachers' dormitory. Principal Zhang quickly grabbed him: "Mr. He, you can't go there. Half of that dormitory building has already collapsed."

He Qingzhao shook off Principal Zhang's hand and ran towards the abandoned teachers' dormitory, calling out as she ran: "Cheng Jiamo, Cheng Jiamo!"

Principal Zhang chased after him, saying, "Mr. He, you can't go! You mustn't go!"

Principal Zhang shouted, "Students, hold Mr. He down!"

He Qingzhao was held down by a group of boys. Principal Zhang caught up with him and grabbed his arm tightly, panting as he said, "Mr. He, don't panic. Teacher Cheng is most likely not in the old dormitory. If she were, how could she not come out with such a commotion?"

With a loud crash, the old dormitory collapsed.

He Qingzhao felt as if he could no longer see, and shouted sharply, "Cheng Jiamo!"

Cheng Jiamo ran back to school breathlessly, only to hear He Qingzhao's shrill cry of "Cheng Jiamo!" She quickly ran to He Qingzhao and choked out, "He Qingzhao."

He Qingzhao couldn't see her, but he recognized her voice. He hugged her tightly, his whole body trembling as if he were freezing cold. His voice also trembled: "Cheng Jiamo, Cheng Jiamo."

Cheng Jiamo hugged him back: "I'm here, He Qingzhao, I'm here."

He Qingzhao released Cheng Jiamo and calmly instructed, "Principal Zhang, take a headcount, reassure the students, and organize a rescue."

Principal Zhang led the teachers in a headcount, and the final count revealed that all teachers and students were present, with no one missing.

All of this is thanks to He Qingzhao for building new dormitories here. If we were still living in the old dormitories, I can't imagine how miserable the Spring Water Society would have been after tonight's earthquake.

Cheng Jiamo breathed a sigh of relief, then deflated like a punctured balloon, leaning limply against He Qingzhao.

He Qingzhao hugged her. He could see now, but his vision was still blurry.

Cheng Jiamo took out her phone and found that there was still no signal.

He Qingzhao said, "The base station has been destroyed." He told Principal Zhang, "Protect all the students. I'm going to Moon City with Teacher Cheng."

Although they said they were going to Moon City, He Qingzhao actually just told Cheng Jiamo to drive the car to a place with a cell phone signal.

As soon as his phone got a signal, He Qingzhao immediately called the relevant departments.

After hanging up the phone, he turned to look at Cheng Jiamo and asked, "Where did you go tonight?"

Cheng Jiamo said, "I went on a blind date."

Actually, no, she was just having dinner with a female friend.

He Qingzhao looked at her and suddenly smiled, a smile as gentle and refined as when they first met under the Bodhi tree twelve years ago: "Momo, if I die in this earthquake, how long will you remember me?"

He raised his hand and gently stroked her face, his smile tender yet cold: "You said my obsession with you is just a morbid obsession, but what about you? What are you to me? Your fleeting, firework-like infatuation has made me fall deeper and deeper into love to the point of madness."

[Author's Note]

With only two chapters left, this book is nearing its end, and many readers are dissatisfied.

Some friends feel that *Jing Yu* is not as good as *Chang Ye*, but *Chang Ye* is *Chang Ye*, and *Jing Yu* is *Jing Yu*. Tang Jingyao is Tang Jingyao, and He Qingzhao is He Qingzhao.

You might be hoping for a plot development like the later stages of the Long Night, but Jingyu won't follow that path.

If there is anything you are not satisfied with, I can only say "I'm sorry" to you all for letting you down.