22 Pain

◎Love is a symbiotic pain◎

Song Qinggui walked silently in her own world; her adolescence was dark and chaotic.

It wasn't until Luo and others handed her a copy of "Olympic Mathematics Competition Past Papers" that a ray of light shone into her world.

Luo was her mentor in her studies. Under his guidance, she developed a yearning for knowledge... no, to be precise, she developed a belief in the legendary "knowledge changes destiny".

For a high school student, having this kind of faith is undoubtedly fortunate.

However, improving grades always takes time. By the end of the first semester of his first year of high school, Song Qinggui's grades were only slightly above average.

Tuition at Yucai High School is paid per semester, and the first thing to do upon registration each semester is to hand over the tuition fee to the homeroom teacher.

At the beginning of the second semester of the first year of high school, the homeroom teacher called out names one by one, and when he called on Song Qinggui, he asked: "Where is your tuition fee?"

Song Qinggui stood up, clutching his school uniform trousers with both hands, and said with his head down, "Two days later."

"Two days late again?" The homeroom teacher said irritably, "Why can't you ever pay on time for anything? Our school's tuition is only eight hundred yuan per semester, can't you even pay this?"

Song Qinggui's high school homeroom teacher was a snob.

Back then in Cangcheng, it was common to give gifts to teachers, and the homeroom teacher would naturally treat each student differently based on their status.

Song Qinggui mechanically repeated, "Two days later."

The homeroom teacher rolled her eyes at her: "I'll give you a week."

However, Song Qinggui disappeared the next day.

The homeroom teacher then launched into a sarcastic remark to the class: "At such a young age, she's already skipping school and not learning anything good?! If she ever gets into university, I'll take her surname!"

Song Qinggui didn't come for the next three days, and Luo and the others became increasingly worried.

The students discussed among themselves: "Could that mute guy have dropped out of school because he can't afford the tuition? Is he really that poor?"

On the fourth day, Song Qinggui finally appeared at the classroom door, but her right eye was swollen and the corner of her mouth was bruised, indicating that she had been beaten.

The students in the class started whispering again, but Song Qinggui ignored them, walked to her seat, and took out her textbook from her tattered schoolbag.

Luo and the others grabbed her arm: "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing happened." Song Qinggui broke free.

"Your dad did it?" This was the only answer Luo and others could think of.

Most of the men on Changli Island make a living by fishing. They are exposed to the wind and sun at sea, and when they finally return home, they like to drink, lose their temper, and beat their wives and children.

But Song Qinggui didn't speak, and Luo and the others couldn't press him for an answer.

Even the homeroom teacher, who was always finding fault, didn't bother Song Qinggui that day. He just glanced at her after class and said, "Song Qinggui, don't forget to bring your tuition tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Song Qinggui sat there like a puppet, staring blankly at the blackboard.

Luo and others knew that she still couldn't afford the tuition.

That night, Luo told his parents about Song Qinggui.

The next day, Luo's mother came to the school and met Song Qinggui.

She was an extremely gentle woman. She took Song Qinggui's hand and led her to the principal's office, paid all of her high school tuition for her, and then took her to the hospital, where she was prescribed medicine for her external injuries.

That evening, Luo Deng's mother asked the teacher for leave from evening self-study and drove Luo Deng and Song Qinggui to the food street in Cangcheng. There was a Limin Shopping Mall there, and Cangcheng's first KFC had just opened. It was Song Qinggui's first time eating KFC.

With red eyes, Song Qinggui chewed the hamburger frantically; she was extremely hungry.

Luo's mother patted her back and said, "Eat slowly."

Song Qinggui nodded, but didn't change his eating manners much.

Even with such care, Song Qinggui remained taciturn and couldn't even manage the most basic greetings with his elders.

Luo and his mother only remembered that when they took Song Qinggui to the intersection of Xingfu Road, Song Qinggui looked at his mother awkwardly but passionately and said, "Auntie, I will definitely pay you back."

This amount of money was nothing to the Luo family, and Luo Deng's mother repeatedly told Song Qinggui not to feel pressured, but Song Qinggui kept his word.

Starting from the second day, every day during lunch break and after school in the evening, a loitering figure could be seen next to every trash can in the school—it was Song Qinggui picking up bottles and cardboard that could be sold for money.

Some classmates laughed at her, while others said she smelled like a garbage dump; she was the laughing stock of everyone.

But Song Qinggui didn't care. Later, she even ran to other classrooms during breaks to ask if there were any unwanted bottles.

Song Qinggui earned some money by selling scrap, so he bought some goods, including Magic Chef instant noodles and Weilong spicy strips that his classmates loved, as well as nice-looking ballpoint pens and notebooks. Whenever he had free time, he would sell them between the various teaching buildings and dormitories.

The principal and some teachers took pity on Song Qinggui and turned a blind eye to her small-time vendor behavior.

The first year of high school passed quickly, and on the day they received their final exam results, Luo and others skipped a grade and went to the third year of high school.

Before leaving, Song Qinggui spoke to him for the first time: "Um... I haven't saved enough money yet, but I won't forget, don't worry."

Luo and others were quite helpless with her stubbornness, so they left her all the reference books they had finished reading: "Song Qinggui, study hard and make progress every day."

Song Qinggui looked at Luo and the others, and suddenly smiled.

Luo was momentarily dazed; this was the first time he had ever seen Song Qinggui smile.

The boy's heart skipped a beat. Luo was intelligent, but not precocious in matters of the heart. It took him a long time to realize that his first stirrings of love were the moment Song Qinggui smiled.

However, that moment occurred at the moment they parted ways.

By the time Song Qinggui had saved enough money, Luo Deng had already been admitted to university without taking the college entrance examination and had left school early. So she could only ask Luo Deng's homeroom teacher to give him the money.

This was the last time Song Qinggui and Luo Deng interacted during their youth.

Upon hearing this, Xue Lu was already unsteady on his feet. He braced himself against the railing with both hands, his whole body covered in sweat.

He realized for the first time that emotional pain could be transmitted to the body; it hurt so much…

The physical and mental pain that Song Qinggui experienced ten years ago finally landed on his body tenfold or a hundredfold at this moment.

Luo and others noticed the changes in Xue Lu's posture and expression, and he understood.

The pain that Xue Lu felt today because of Song Qinggui was something he had experienced ten years ago.

He was just too young to connect that pain with love.

"When I went to the senior year, I realized that Song Qinggui was very famous throughout the entire high school." Luo and others recalled: "Everyone talked about her endlessly, praising her, scolding her, commending her, and belittling her. In fact, they all admired her."

At this point, Luo paused, then looked at Lawyer Xue: "President Xue, a young girl who is beautiful, ambitious, and poor is actually very easy to fall into depravity. Cangcheng is a very small city, and Changli Island is an insignificant little island, but there are always some people who have the ability to buy out a beautiful girl's life. In high school, Song Qinggui had many paths to fall into. If she had hesitated even for a moment, she wouldn't be the Song Qinggui we see today. That's why I look down on you, Cheng Wuliang, and Yan Fengqian. You have no idea what kind of person she is, yet you think you can trample on her with money."

Xue Lu's arms were straight as he leaned on the railing, but his entire upper body was hunched over. Fine beads of sweat covered his temples and forehead. He couldn't utter a single word, as if a dull knife was cutting into the flesh of his throat.

He felt utterly ashamed in the face of Luo and others' "trial".

He recalled Song Qinggui's question to him earlier: "Lawyer Xue, do you know what true poverty is?"

He thought that No. 76 Xingfu Road, Meng Yuxing's dilapidated house, was the ultimate symbol of poverty, but he still underestimated the suffering in the world. But why... why did such suffering have to befall Song Qinggui?

When Xue Lu reached the age of thirty, he felt for the first time that the way of Heaven was unjust.

At the same time, he recalled all the things he had done in the past...

Driven by an unspeakable and insane jealousy, he went so far as to describe her as a "plaything."

To satisfy his own desires as a superior, he forced her to leave her beloved clinical job when she was applying for employment.

He's still giving her the cold shoulder...

Lawyer Xue... what exactly did you do...?

Xue Lu swallowed hard, the pain choking him, and asked hoarsely, "Back in high school, who hit her..."

Luo and the others sighed: "We don't know. At first, we didn't know because we couldn't get an answer from them. Later, we didn't know because we didn't want to know anymore."

Xue Lu looked at Luo and the others: "Why?"

"Because I feel so sorry for her." Xue Lu's voice trembled slightly. "She doesn't want to talk about it, so why should I reopen her wounds?"

Xue Lu lowered his head, a guess forming in his mind that made his arms tremble involuntarily.

After thinking for only a moment, he straightened up, turned around, and strode downstairs.

Chengcheng brushed past Xue Lu: "What's wrong?"

Xue Lu ignored him.

On his way out of the banquet hall, Xue Lu passed by many people, all of whom wanted to strike up a conversation with this business tycoon, but the tycoon walked briskly and gave them no chance at all.

Just as he was about to reach the door, a waiter suddenly bumped into him, spilling a tray of champagne all over Xue Lu.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Xue." The waiter hurriedly wiped Xue Lu's clothes, saying, "Mr. Xue, I didn't mean to, your suit..."

Xue Lu was displeased by this unexpected situation, but he had urgent business to attend to, so he simply shook his head at the waiter and said, "Be more careful next time."

Chengcheng chased after the waiter downstairs and scolded him, "How could you be so careless?!"

The waiter quickly apologized: "Boss, I didn't mean to. I... I'll find a way to compensate for Mr. Xue's coat."

Cheng Cheng glared at the waiter: "I haven't seen you before, did you just arrive?"

The waiter, head bowed, replied, "Mm."

Chengcheng wasn't a mean-spirited boss: "This matter is over, you don't need to worry about it. You can't afford to pay for his clothes. Besides, it's just a suit jacket, he doesn't care. Be more careful next time, if you're so reckless again, you're fired."

"Thank you, boss." The waiter's eyes darted around, and he left.

Yan Fengqian walked over: "What's wrong with Lawyer Xue?"

"I don't know, I just chatted with someone for a while and that's how it happened."

After saying that, Chengcheng looked up at the second floor. Luo and the others were still standing there. Yan Fengqian also looked up at the second floor, but he didn't take Luo and the others seriously.

"What's the deal with that waiter just now?" Yan Fengqian asked.

"What could possibly happen?" Chengcheng said. "The young guy doesn't know how to do things, he just spilled the wine."

Yan Fengqian seemed to be deep in thought.

He had only glanced at the waiter from afar, but Yan Fengqian felt he had seen his profile somewhere before.

"Young Master Yan, don't tell me you're now so respectful and considerate that you're even feeling sorry for the waiters," Cheng Cheng said sarcastically. "I wouldn't believe it even if you broke three of my legs."

"Get lost!" Yan Fengqian rolled his eyes.