06 Heartbreak

The weather was very good on the day of the high school entrance examination.

Even the weather was unusually good. The drizzling Lu Town suddenly became cloudless, and the sun shone brightly. The gel pen Yang Dashe had sent to the mountain temple for blessing was in Yang Xiao's hand, giving her a sense of confidence.

Yang Xiao has never been more excited than now. The questions she practiced at night and the knowledge network woven with red and black pens actually firmly absorbed her nervousness before entering the examination room.

It feels like writing with divine inspiration.

Two days passed quickly. When Yang Xiao left the examination room, the tense nerves in her heart finally relaxed. She took a deep breath and walked towards the door.

As a result, when Yang Xiao went out and looked around, she didn't see Zhou Daye, but Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi carried a bunch of lychees and waved to her with a smile in the crowd.

Yang Xiao looked at the tall, thin Zhou Qi in the distance. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black pants, with a touch of sunset color. The evening sun had long since lost its glare, falling steadily on him, gently enveloping him.

Yang Xiao was distracted for a moment and ran towards him.

"You're back!"

"Well, go back and eat lychees."

"Aren't you going to ask me how I did on the test?"

"If you want to tell me, you can tell me naturally. Besides, I trust you very much."

Yang Xiao was overjoyed when she heard this. She came close to him and said, "I'm sure I'll be able to get into the city's strong foundation program."

Yang Xiao suddenly came close, bringing a scent of soap into Zhou Qi's eyes. He blinked subconsciously, then turned away from Yang Xiao and said, "Then let's celebrate tonight."

Yang Xiao nodded, her ponytail swaying with the movement of her head.

Zhou Daye is very happy tonight.

So are Yang Xiao and Zhou Qi.

Yang Xiao described it as a family working together for a long time and finally getting a half-answer. She said that before the results are out, everything can only be described in half.

So at the dinner table, the Zhou family raised a toast to this half of happiness tonight. Zhou Qi, who seldom drank, also drank half a glass of white wine, and even his voice had a hint of alcohol in it.

After dinner, Zhou Qi helped the slightly drunk Zhou Daye to lie down in the inner room, then came out to the stone table and helped Yang Xiao clean up the leftovers.

Yang Xiao was wiping the table while Zhou Qi stacked the bowls and carried them to the kitchen. The two worked together in perfect harmony.

After Zhou Qi put the bowl away, he lifted the mosquito screen in the kitchen and came out to see Yang Xiao sitting on a stone bench in the yard, looking up at the stars. Zhou Qi guessed that she might be thinking about Yang Guoqiang, so he patted her shoulder comfortingly as he walked past her and sat down next to her.

The yellow jasmine in the courtyard was in full bloom again, blossom after blossom bursting from the branches. The night breeze, carrying tuberose from who knows where, and the unique fragrance of the yellow jasmine, brushed past their ears and noses, then drifted into the inner room, rustling the books.

Such a nice summer night.

At least that's what Zhou Qi and Yang Xiao thought at the moment.

Yang Xiao spoke first, interrupting the crickets' nocturne. She turned her head to look at Zhou Qi and said, "If I could really go to high school in the city, my dad would be so happy if he knew."

After hearing this, Zhou Qi glanced at her, pointed at the stars in the sky and said, "Uncle already knows."

Yang Xiao looked at his neat profile, grinned, and replied, "Yes, my father already knows. He must be extremely powerful in heaven now."

While waiting for the results at home, Yang Xiao was not idle.

In the morning, she picks yellow orchids from the yard to sell flower strings. At noon, when it is hot, she goes home to read Zhou Qi's previous high school textbooks. In the afternoon, she learns to cook with Zhou Daye. Don't look at her thin figure, she can stir the wok as well as Zhou Daye.

Li Maoqiu would sometimes come to see her in the evening. The two little girls would hold each other's arms and stroll along the town's small river, telling Yang Xiao the little gossip that she had missed because she was busy studying.

"Do you know Yue Ting from the class next to ours? She's tall and likes to wear pigtails." Li Maoqiu gestured with his hands to indicate Yue Ting's height, and then looked at Yang Xiao's expression.

Sure enough, Yang Xiao looked back at her in confusion.

"Hey! Now that you are in high school, you have to hang out more with your classmates. There are few of us in town, and your teacher likes you, so no one will isolate you. But you can't do this in the city." After saying that, Li Maoqiu shook Yang Xiao's arm with increasing amplitude. Yang Xiao felt that if she didn't agree, she was going to twist her arm off.

So he agreed repeatedly, "Okay, okay."

Li Maoqiu then let go of her arm and said, "That's right."

After saying this, the two of them seemed to be frozen for a moment, speechless for a long time.

This is very unusual.

Normally, Li Maoqiu would talk to her like a talking wheel, and Yang Xiao would happily continue her topic. There had never been such silence between the two of them.

Yang Xiao grabbed Li Maoqiu's hand and asked, "Maoqiu, what's wrong with you?"

Li Maoqiu paused, then took Yang Xiao's hand in his, holding it tightly, and tried to force a bitter smile: "Nothing, it's okay."

Yang Xiao's heart was filled with alarm, something was wrong.

Li Maoqiu must be hiding something from me.

Yang Xiao didn't leave, just stood there. Li Maoqiu had no choice but to gently release the hand he was holding, but turned his back to her, his voice choked with sobs: "I haven't had my period in two months."

After hearing this, Yang Xiao didn't think about anything else. She walked up to Li Maoqiu in two steps, hugged her, and kept touching her back, comforting her up and down.

"Maybe you're under too much pressure. Don't worry. If things don't work, go to the health center. I'll go with you."

Li Maoqiu felt the warmth from Yang Xiao, and her heart was filled with uncontrollable pain. She sobbed even louder, her whole body trembling with sobs. "No... No, I might be... pregnant."

Yang Xiao froze after hearing this, and the hand that was originally soothing her back also stopped. Her heart beat faster and faster, but her mind subconsciously thought that maybe there was something wrong with her ears, so she asked, "Okay, Mao Qiu, stop joking. Where did you get a boyfriend?"

Li Maoqiu pulled his arms out of her embrace, squatted on the ground, covered his face with his hands and cried. His cries turned into sharp hammers hitting Yang Xiao's heart, almost breaking it.

My hands, which were about to help Li Maoqiu up, began to tremble. Yang Xiao, you can't panic now. You have to help Maoqiu solve the problem. You are going to high school together, right?

At once, anger, uneasiness, sadness, these complex and strong emotions all flooded into Yang Xiao's heart, blocking her from speaking. Her lips were filled with bitterness. A glimmer of hope popped up in her mind. What if it wasn't true?

But she couldn't ask again. Those details were too shameful for them in this small border town to discuss. Of course, Yang Xiao hadn't forgotten the knowledge from her eighth-grade biology textbook.

The town clinic was always crowded, and accompanying Li Maoqiu to the doctor like this would inevitably lead to some criticism. This world was such a shabby place. But things always had to come to an end. Yang Xiao also squatted down, gently patting Li Maoqiu's back, which was heaving with sobs and uneven breathing. As if she knew the answer, she tentatively asked, "Do your parents know?"

Li Maoqiu shook his head, his voice a little hoarse and sticky after sobbing loudly, "I...I don't want them to know."

Yang Xiao was a little at a loss. She once thought that as long as she had books and knowledge, she could solve most of the troubles in this world, or at least avoid many detours. But now she only had a deep sense of powerlessness, as if the knowledge had trapped her. Apart from seeking help from outside, she could hardly think of any other way.

After sighing, Yang Xiao slowly stood up. The dizziness in her eyes from squatting for so long made her even more irritated. After gently shaking her head to make sure it had disappeared, she helped Mao Qiu, who was sobbing that his body was as limp as a ball of cotton, up from the ground. "Come on, come home with me and talk."