26. Nuvole Bianche

◎Us? ◎

As Liang Chuling watched the comments section gradually clear up, her frustration subsided considerably. She knew she didn't need to say anything more; letting things pass in silence was the wisest choice.

However, there are always some people who love to watch the drama unfold.

A comment appeared below her most recent Weibo post and was liked, making it to the top:

[Just passing by, observing the drama. Seriously, Professor Liang, what's going on between you and Zhou Xu? He's acting so strangely. I feel like your relationship isn't that great privately, is it just mutual flattery?]

The comment received many replies, with some speculating that the two were indeed just a fake couple, and others mocking Zhou Xu for being delusional.

Liang Chuling recalled Zhou Xu's reckless behavior, how he had taken the brunt of the attack for her, and a mix of emotions, whether loyalty or guilt, welled up inside her.

Reason told her not to respond, not to complicate things. But a voice inside her screamed that she couldn't do that.

What would Li Xun do? He would probably ignore it gently, or handle it in a more tactful way.

But she is Liang Chuling.

She replied directly to that comment: "We have a very good relationship. Zhou Xu is an artist and friend that I greatly admire and respect."

[Has the person in question gotten involved?]

Wow! They personally confirmed we're friends!

Looks like Zhou Xu's crazy outburst wasn't in vain, it was worth it!

[Tsk, bringing this up at this time is a bit awkward...]

[Liang Chuling seems quite loyal; she didn't let Zhou Xu take the blame alone.]

[Heh, another round of marketing about their amazing friendship? It's just a script.]

There were supporters and mockers, but in any case, Liang Chuling's heartfelt response did quell a lot of the speculation about the relationship between the two, and also subtly changed some people's perception of Zhou Xu. At least the people he defended were also defending him.

After posting, she left Weibo and didn't pay any more attention to the subsequent discussion.

She knew she might have done something unwise again, but she didn't regret it. She couldn't bring herself to hide in the background, unwilling to even acknowledge a definite relationship.

--

Zhou Xu faced some restrictions because of that live broadcast; several scheduled performances were temporarily canceled or the performers were replaced.

He didn't seem to care. Leaning against the window of the music room, looking at the gray sky outside, he suddenly suggested, "How about we go racing tonight? I know a good place."

Liang Chuling wanted to refuse. It was dangerous and boring.

But as the words reached her lips, looking at Zhou Xu, she remembered that the reason he was restricted from performing was also because of her. Her refusal turned into a hesitant one, tinged with guilt. It felt as if she owed him a favor.

She heard herself say, "Okay."

Zhou Xu was a little surprised that she agreed so readily, then gave a bright smile: "That's great."

That evening, Zhou Xu picked her up in a silver sports car.

Liang Chuling opened the car door and got in. As she fastened her seatbelt, she watched Zhou Xu skillfully operate the vehicle and asked, "You actually have a driver's license?"

Zhou Xu raised an eyebrow at her: "Of course. Otherwise, how would I drive?"

Liang Chuling looked him up and down suspiciously: "How old are you?"

Zhou Xu casually replied, "Three months younger than you."

Liang Chuling was shocked: "Then you're not an adult! Where did you get your driver's license?!"

Zhou Xucai suddenly remembered this and shrugged indifferently: "I'm from America, I took the test when I was sixteen. Don't worry, my skills are fine."

Liang Chuling instantly regretted it: "I want to get off the bus."

Zhou Xu floored the gas pedal: "Too late. Hold on tight, it'll be alright!"

The wind howled, but strangely, Liang Chuling didn't feel afraid. Instead, she felt a kind of stimulation from the sudden release of pent-up emotions.

Zhou Xu glanced at her sideways: "Feeling better now?"

"Huh?" Liang Chuling realized what she was asking. "That felt good. But I'm a little sorry that you were affected so much. Actually, after a while, netizens won't be interested in this news anymore."

Zhou Xu turned around, his voice resonating in the wind: "There should be no hesitation in dealing with those kinds of people. We did nothing wrong, and it's only right that bad people are punished. If we ignore everything and just wait for the heat to die down, it will only make those people think we're easy to bully!"

The simultaneous psychological and physical release caused Liang Chuling to inevitably feel her heart racing.

She closed her eyes, letting the wind fill her ears, temporarily putting all her worries and thoughts behind her.

But as it turns out, you can't just make empty promises.

Zhou Xu's driving style was just like his piano playing style—aggressive and showy. Liang Chuling gripped the handrail above the car door, feeling like a sack tied to a roller coaster.

While going around a sharp bend, the tires ran over something, the car suddenly skidded, and the front of the car crashed uncontrollably into the roadside guardrail.

Bang--!

The airbags deployed, and the enormous impact slammed the two people into their seats. The world spun around them, then fell into dead silence, with only the hissing sound coming from under the hood.

Liang Chuling was dizzy from the impact, her chest ached from the seatbelt, and she didn't know where she had hit her forehead. She shook her head.

My first reaction was to move my hands and feet. Luckily, I was fine. Then I reached out and touched my forehead. It was warm and sticky. I opened my phone camera and saw that it was blood. There was a cut on my forehead.

“Zhou Xu?” She turned to look at the driver’s seat.

Zhou Xu looked much worse. He was pale, pressing his left arm with his right hand, and sweat was beading on his forehead.

"How are you?" Zhou Xu asked her first.

"I just scraped my forehead, it's nothing." Liang Chuling looked at his arm, which was clearly not right. "What happened to your hand?"

"I don't know what's going on." Zhou Xu hissed, trying to move his left arm. He groaned in pain, glanced at the mangled front of the car, and looked outside. A flash of light caught his eye; someone had probably called the police. He forced himself to unbuckle his seatbelt with his uninjured right hand. "We have to get going."

He gritted his teeth, opened the car door with his right hand, staggered out of the car, and then went around to the passenger side to help Liang Chuling, who was still relatively mobile, open the car door.

"Can we walk?" he asked.

Liang Chuling nodded, covered her forehead wound, and got out of the car. A gust of night wind made her heart flutter.

Zhou Xu pulled Liang Chuling away from the accident scene, walked to a more distant part of the mainland, and hailed a passing taxi. He put Liang Chuling in the back seat, but didn't get in himself. He gave the driver the address of Liang Chuling's residential area.

"Go home first, and pretend nothing happened," Zhou Xu said through the car window. "I'll handle things here."

"You need to go to the hospital for your hand right away!" Liang Chuling was both anxious and scared.

"I know, don't worry about it, just go." Zhou Xu closed the car door.

The taxi sped away, carrying a dazed Liang Chuling. She stared out the window, her heart still pounding, her mind a jumbled mess.

Beijing is too big; it took the taxi almost two hours to get to the entrance of her residential compound.

Liang Chuling stepped out of the car with unsteady steps, shivering.

Just as I was about to walk into the residential area, I looked up and saw a figure standing under the streetlight.

Li Xun's figure appeared thin in the cold light, his face weary, as if he had been waiting for a long time. Liang Chuling inexplicably wanted to hide, but he had already seen her and walked straight towards her.

Without asking her where she had gone, why she was so late, or how bad her forehead was, he didn't even give her a chance to speak. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the residential area.

"Li Xun, what are you doing!" Liang Chuling stumbled as he pulled her, the warmth from his wrist startling her, but she felt more inexplicably displeased.

Li Xun didn't even turn his head: "I'll take you to the hospital."

Liang Chuling tried to shake off his hand: "Why would I go to the hospital? I'm fine!"

"Check it again, confirm it," he said succinctly, his steps never faltering.

"I told you I'm fine! Let me go!" Liang Chuling's temper flared up. She had already been frightened tonight, and she had a somewhat aggressive personality. Now she was extremely agitated and struggled violently.

Li Xun stopped and turned around.

The light from the streetlamp shone into his eyes, which were like a small sea, with emotions swimming within them, including the anger that Liang Chuling had seen for the first time.

"Liang Chuling," he called her by her full name, "Can you please stop being so careless about safety!"

Liang Chuling was stunned by what he said.

Having known Li Xun for so long, she has never seen him lose his temper; he is always gentle and tolerant.

While she was still in a daze, Li Xun no longer gave her a chance to resist. He forcibly dragged her to the side of the car with its hazard lights on and stuffed them both into the back seat.

The two remained silent the entire way. Liang Chuling turned her head to look out the window, feeling resentful and unwilling to admit her grievances.

She didn't understand why Li Xun was suddenly like this. Wasn't she perfectly fine?

The doctor confirmed that apart from being frightened and suffering some soft tissue contusions, she was indeed fine, and her forehead was also unharmed. Li Xun's tense expression eased slightly.

Liang Chuling held her breath and took out her phone, which she hadn't paid attention to before. Push notifications and messages flooded in.

A news item suddenly appeared: [Breaking! Pianist Zhou Xu involved in a car accident while speeding late at night; passenger suspected to be Liang Chuling; are the two suspected of attempting suicide together?!]

Below is a blurry photo of the accident scene, along with some eyewitness accounts.

Liang Chuling was so shocked that her jaw almost dropped. Her fingers trembled as she clicked on the details. The article vividly described how Zhou Xu was troubled by love, took her for a nighttime car chase, sought thrills, and ultimately had an accident, with the two of them miraculously surviving the tragic love story.

What is all this nonsense... She immediately turned to look at Li Xun, wanting to tell him that this was absurd, but saw that Li Xun was not looking at her and was getting medicine from the doctor.

He must have seen the news, or rather, that's why he showed up at her doorstep and brought her to the hospital without saying a word.

But after he got the medicine, as he and Liang Chuling walked out, he finally spoke, but the question wasn't about the absurd rumor.

“Liang Chuling, you are Chinese, you know that people under the age of eighteen are not allowed to drive in China. How could you still ride in his car?”

Liang Chuling opened her mouth to explain, to explain that she had been semi-forced, to explain that she didn't know his age at first... But looking at Li Xun's expression, as if he already knew the answer and was just waiting for her to admit it, she felt that he wasn't asking her a question, but judging her. Using an absolutely correct standard.

She knew, of course, that speeding was wrong, but after Zhou Xu stood up for her, Li Xun and Zhou Xu were now on opposite sides.

She and Zhou Xu stood on the same side.

The Five Poisons felt a surge of shared hatred for Zhou Xu after fighting alongside him, while Li Xun seemed to be skipping over all the steps and pointing directly to their common crime.

Liang Chuling must defend the legitimacy of her choice of companions, even if the method itself is wrong.

She also lost her temper, her neck stiffened, and she snapped back, "Why are you angry! I'm the one who rode in his car! It wasn't you! I'm fine, aren't I?"

Li Xun gave her a deep look: "Yes, I'm very angry. Zhou Xu has been in a bad mood lately and wants to vent, which is none of my business. But he has no reason to drag you into this completely irresponsible venting behavior."

Liang Chuling couldn't believe it: "He was in a bad mood because of me! He was restricted from performing because of the live stream he did for me!"

“He did it for himself,” Li Xun interrupted her. “To satisfy his hero complex and desire for recognition. If he really cared about you, he wouldn’t have put you in the same dangerous situation when he lost control of his emotions. This proves that when he acted impulsively, he prioritized his own emotional release rather than your safety and situation.”

Liang Chuling felt a chill creep up from the soles of her feet. She couldn't understand how Li Xun could use such calm, even harsh, logic to deconstruct Zhou Xu's actions.

In her eyes, it was a kind of loyalty, but in Li Xun's eyes, it turned into selfishness and irresponsibility.

"Li Xun, how could you think like that?"

The feeling of being wronged and the sense of isolation from being betrayed by someone she trusted arrived at the same time. Looking at Li Xun's overly calm face, she felt that it had five big words written on it: moral high ground.

Wanting to pierce through his outer shell, wanting to see into his heart, wanting to glimpse his vulnerability, she impulsively blurted out: "Li Xun, if I accidentally died in a car accident today, would you cry for me? Or would you still calmly analyze how immature I was, how I deserved it?"

Li Xun frowned, his face showing obvious confusion and astonishment: "Liang Chuling, why did you say such a thing?"

“Because I was right, wasn’t I?” Liang Chuling met his gaze, tears welling up in her eyes but refusing to fall. “Because Zhou Xu and I are the same kind of people! We can be impulsive, reckless, and do stupid things for pleasure! We’re not like you! Li Xun, haven’t you been wanting to scold me for a long time?”

His concerns were genuine, and his reasoning was sound. But Liang Chuling only felt that it was too correct; this correctness was a perfect mirror, reflecting her flawed, reckless nature.

She had never felt so clearly stressed and helpless.

Liang Chuling suddenly felt very tired and didn't want to face him anymore: "Don't stay here, I don't want to see you."

Li Xun did not move.

Liang Chuling went out to hail a taxi on her own, and Li Xun neither stopped her nor left.

Looking at her flushed face and tear-filled eyes, Li Xun felt the words "We are not like you" pulling at his heart like seven strands of rope.

He couldn't help but think—

us?

You're no longer "us" with me, are you?

As the night deepened, clouds gathered in the sky, and raindrops began to fall. The rain pattered down on the taxi window, gathering into winding streaks that meandered downwards.

Liang Chuling looked out the car window at Li Xun; the rain streaks resembled streaks of tears.

That's terrifying!

It looked like Li Xun was crying.