Chapter 126 New photos plus old photos, a thousand, ten thousand times reluctant to part with them...

On the day Jiang Yueming left, Li Leshan and the others came to the station to see him off. Although Jiang Yueming tried for a long time to persuade Han Jiang and Xu Qing not to come because he wanted to spend more time with Li Leshan, he couldn't convince them. The two of them were like a 1,000-watt light bulb, and no matter how much they were persuaded, they wouldn't leave. Especially Han Jiang, at this moment, his brotherly feelings came to the fore, and it wasn't time to say he was being foolish.

Those two are really something; they can't let him spend some time alone with Li Leshan.

The train station was packed with people. Jiang Yueming seized the opportunity and pulled Li Leshan behind her, finally managing to avoid Xu Qing and Han Jiang.

"I'm leaving." Jiang Yueming looked at him, her eyes unwilling to look anywhere else.

These past few days since she returned have all flown by so quickly, so fast that Jiang Yueming can't even remember how each day went. There are so many things left unsaid; so many people left unseen; so many things left undone. The time spent together was fleeting, yet the moments of separation are so vivid.

Just looking at Li Leshan made him feel something welling up in his eyes. He felt nothing but reluctance, a thousand times more reluctant to part with him, but there was nothing he could do.

"Lele, has no one bullied you during this time?" Jiang Yueming's voice trembled as she gripped Li Leshan's hand tightly, her fingertips turning white.

Li Leshan shook his head, feeling his hand trembling. So he reached out and gently pressed Jiang Yueming's hand in a comforting gesture.

No one is bullying him anymore, and he's...doing very well now. He no longer needs to worry about Li Yong's whereabouts. Although he doesn't know when Li Yong will make a comeback, Li Leshan knows that this time, no matter what, he can withstand it.

"You haven't..." He hesitated, his hand involuntarily slipping into Li Leshan's sleeve, and said cautiously, "You haven't..."

Li Leshan also shook his head.

Jiang Yueming finally breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Li Leshan again and again, several times, saying, "Take good care of yourself at home. If anything happens, be sure to tell me. Don't bear it all alone, okay?"

"I'll take good care of myself, and so will you." The announcement urging people to get to the station came through the loudspeaker. Jiang Yueming was a little anxious; he held onto Li Leshan's hand tightly. "You...you mustn't forget me."

The words "I can't bear to part with them" boiled in my chest, and my heart felt like it was being soaked in acidic water, swollen and painful, and I couldn't get rid of it no matter what I did.

Seeing Li Leshan's reddened eyes, Jiang Yueming's own tears welled up. The two remained silent, their hands clasped tightly together.

Tears are truly powerful; they can express so many unspoken emotions—longing, grievances, reluctance to part—and sometimes a single tear can make it all clear.

Amidst the bustling crowd, Jiang Yueming lowered her head, and scalding tears fell heavily onto Li Leshan's hand, then seeped out and disappeared.

The announcement began its second call, and Jiang Yueming finally slowly released his grip. As he backed away, he waved to Li Leshan, a lump forming in his throat. After opening his mouth for a long time, he finally managed to utter, "I'm leaving! Remember to take good care of yourself!"

He seemed to want to say something, but was bumped by someone next to him. More and more people surrounded him, almost drowning him in the sea of ​​people.

Li Leshan stood there in a daze, then suddenly realized something. He staggered through the crowd to the glass railing and urgently gestured in sign language, "When are you coming back?"

Because sign language is silent, he couldn't shout and didn't know how to attract Jiang Yueming's attention, so he could only pray that Jiang Yueming could see him.

So he repeated the gesture over and over again, "When will you be back?"

Ultimately, these words sank into the crowd. He didn't receive a reply from Jiang Yueming and could only watch his figure recede into the distance.

It's not that he couldn't text Jiang Yueming to ask her this question; now that conditions are better, he can find out the answers to questions he can and can't ask, even if they are thousands of miles apart.

Once Li Leshan calmed down, he stopped asking, because he didn't necessarily want Jiang Yueming to come back. He didn't want to be someone who trapped Jiang Yueming, as if wherever he was, Jiang Yueming had to go there, regardless of the place or her own thoughts.

He was trapped like this, confined to a small world called "Li Leshan," unable to escape or see far. Even so, it seemed as if he had been trapping Jiang Yueming for many years.

If he has the chance in the future, he will definitely tell Jiang Yueming again in person, "Go wherever you want."

If there's a chance in the future...

Han Jiang and Xu Qing finally staggered out of the crowd, staring at each other at Li Leshan.

“I already said they must be up ahead,” Xu Qing punched Han Jiang, a little angry. “You insist they’re outside, outside.”

"I thought they hadn't managed to squeeze in..." Han Jiang didn't dare to refute, and lowered his head to admit his mistake.

"Then what's the point of us squeezing in if they didn't get in?" Xu Qing was unforgiving, her eyebrows furrowed. "It's not like we're the ones leaving when Jiang Yueming leaves. Sigh, I really don't know what to say to you."

"I was wrong, so wrong, so wrong, so wrong..."

"He's gone?" Xu Qing turned to Li Leshan and asked.

Li Leshan nodded.

"They left so quickly, without even saying goodbye," Xu Qing muttered.

Because he was about to leave, he didn't do it on purpose. Since the two men couldn't understand longer sentences, Li Leshan could only explain it to Jiang Yueming in his mind.

"Did he say anything?" Han Jiang asked hurriedly. "Did he say he was reluctant to leave us? Did he cry? Did he...?"

"Tch, how could he say that?" Xu Qing knew Jiang Yueming well. No one had ever seen him cry since they were little. It was all unnecessary to ask. "When have you ever seen him like this?"

Han Jiang scratched his head and chuckled a little sheepishly, "Yeah, I've never seen it before."

Jiang Yueming always held back, sometimes wanting to cry but not doing so, just like he'd been since he was little, all for the sake of looking cool and stylish. Han Jiang had never seen him cry, but he figured Jiang Yueming would definitely cry eventually. After all, who hasn't cried? Even the President of the United States cries, right? Even Li Leshan cries, right?

So he must have been crying secretly, quietly. Han Jiang wondered who he would be in front of like this? Probably not even his aunt, let alone his friends.

He nudged Li Leshan's arm, his tone confident, almost as if it were a done deal, "You've probably never seen it before, have you?"

After a long pause, Han Jiang let out a sharp, explosive shout from the crowd, "No way! Dude, why aren't you agreeing to this?!"

Things didn't go smoothly when Han Jiang, Xu Qing, and I got to Lianjiang Road. The three of us parted ways at the intersection, and the next time we met was tomorrow when school started. There was no time to catch our breath. After this holiday, even more intense studying would definitely follow.

As Han Jiang's chattering gradually faded from his ears, Li Leshan looked up at the few remaining lights still on in the tenement buildings. A cold wind blew by, causing him to instinctively pull his collar up further.

After that, he was alone again. Li Leshan climbed the steps one by one. He was actually very familiar with this situation, this kind of life where he was all alone. But occasionally, he would still hope that when he opened the door, he would see a boy grinning at him.

Li Leshan took out his keys, pushed open the door, and a blast of cold air hit him. He didn't turn on the light and went straight into the room. Everything around him was so desolate, and the happy memories that had happened in this house before quietly surfaced from the depths of his mind.

He couldn't forget those memories intertwined with happiness and pain. He couldn't forget them. He would think of them repeatedly in the dead of night, and then, clinging to that sweet memory, he would continue living.

Li Leshan sat on the bed, his gaze fixed quietly on the night sky outside the window, a sliver of moonlight filtering through and falling on the bed. His gaze followed the light, moving little by little, until it suddenly settled on a certain spot.

There seemed to be something under the pillow. Li Leshan reached out and moved the pillow aside, revealing a stack of money tied with a rubber band, each bill neatly smoothed. His throat tightened; he couldn't imagine who else but Jiang Yueming would have placed it there. This stack of money was the result of Jiang Yueming's frugal savings, accumulated through countless years of hard work, now presented to him without any reservation.

There's another photo underneath, the one taken at the Lijiang Bridge before we parted.

He picked up the photograph with trembling hands, looking at Jiang Yueming's smiling face, which gradually blurred before his eyes. Li Leshan suddenly raised his hand and wiped away the tears that were about to fall.

Why?

Li Leshan covered his face with his hands, trembling, feeling tears fall into his palms. He silently questioned himself, why was he always so good? So good that it was almost foolish, so good that Li Leshan couldn't believe such a person existed in the world. He always said nothing, asked for nothing, and did everything quietly.

The same background, the same people in the photo, gradually overlap with the one on the phone screen.

One photo is from three years ago, and the other is from now. New photos plus old ones, the new them intertwined with their youthful innocence. The two boys smile side by side, as if they will never be apart.