I really didn't expect it.
Late at night, all was silent, only the occasional distant chirping of insects could be heard outside the window. Cheng Zhixu quietly rose to her feet, preparing to clear the table. The candle wax had long since solidified, and a faint, sweet, creamy aroma lingered in the air. She picked up the nearly empty cake tray, about to wash it, when her fingertips unexpectedly brushed against a strange, slightly hard corner on the bottom.
Puzzled, she gently lifted the tray, only to find a neatly folded letter underneath. The envelope was plain homework paper, unsigned. Her heart skipped a beat, and with a premonition, she carefully unfolded the letter.
The moment her eyes touched the first line of the title, a surge of heat rushed into her nose without warning, and her vision quickly blurred. Every word was clear and careful, even with a touch of the effortful neatness that only teenagers possess. Every stroke seemed engraved on her heart.
May your world also have a light that lights up for you
Look, Mom is always like this. Your love is so silent and stubborn. You always put the tenderest part of the fish into my bowl, chewing the sparse fish bones yourself; you always pick up and put down clothes you "don't like" at the mall, but buy me the latest shoes without hesitation; you always open my door late at night just to make sure my quilt is tucked in.
I received your love, like holding a ray of warm sunshine. This care that transcends distance gently falls on my heart - I heard it and remembered it.
Mom, why don't you ever put yourself first? Why do you always pretend you don't like the tips of strawberries, the shine of new clothes, or the longing for the distant breeze? Why do your dreams shrink to become my future, your world shrink to become my roof?
I hold this weight of love in my arms like a monument built of self-sacrifice. It's so warm, yet so suffocating—I want to be your child forever, but I also long for you to break free from the identity of "mother" and become a living person again, with your own likes and dislikes, your own dreams.
Mom, I see it. I see the forgotten self hidden behind your dedication. I see you using your love to build a paradise for me while you yourself stand on earth to endure the wind and rain.
Now, please allow me to return this wish to you gently and seriously.
I wish you well. May you allow yourself to pause when you're tired, and not fear the night when you're lost. I hope you'll be kind to yourself, just as you naturally treat me well. May you keep some of that generosity and tenderness for yourself. May you become your own most steadfast protector, buy yourself a bouquet of flowers, make yourself a bowl of hot soup, and become the most important person in your own world.
Mom, you don't have to always think about others, and you don't have to carry everyone's weight on your shoulders. Your needs, your happiness, your relaxation, they are not dispensable luxuries, but the fundamental reason for your existence. You deserve to be treated well, especially by yourself.
So, please accept this gift of hope. I will take good care of myself, and please take care of the amazing you who deserves to be loved. Let's all live well and strive for happiness. This is perhaps the best response to this "blessing."
I hope that one day, I can learn to love you as much as you love me, not in return, not for compensation, but to make you finally believe: you deserve to be treated gently by the whole world, including yourself.
The letter trembled slightly in Cheng Zhixu's hands. Tears had already burst forth, silently dripping onto the frail paper, leaving a small, gentle stain of ink. She hurriedly wiped it away with her fingers, fearing to smudge these precious words. She read it over and over again, as if through these words she could touch her son's sensitive, precocious heart, filled with fervent love.
She had never imagined that her ordinary efforts day after day were seen so carefully by him, engraved in his heart, and responded in such a profound and heart-wrenching way.
At that moment, all the exhaustion, bitterness, and silent endurance seemed to have found their final destination and meaning. Cheng Zhixu carefully tucked the tear-stained letter into the drawer of her bedside table, where it sat alongside yellowed photos and important documents, becoming her most precious treasure.
After that night, something seemed to quietly shift between mother and son. It wasn't a drastic, earth-shattering change, but rather a subtle warmth and understanding that permeated the daily grind. Cheng Xiaorui remained silent, but he'd quietly offer his mother a hot water bottle when she rubbed her shoulders. Cheng Zhixu, still toiling away, had also begun to occasionally pick out discounted flowers for himself while grocery shopping.
However, the world on campus follows a different set of cruel rules. The warmth from his family did not become Cheng Xiaorui's armor against the malicious outside world. Instead, it was like a bright color that made the surrounding darkness even deeper.
The bell rang for the end of Monday afternoon, and students streamed out of the classrooms like a tide. Cheng Xiaorui deliberately lingered until the last moment, waiting until the clamor of voices faded completely into the far end of the corridor before he shouldered his backpack and stood up. He chose the longest route back to the dormitory, deliberately avoiding the quiet shortcuts and sticking only to the main thoroughfares, which were equipped with surveillance cameras and were bustling with people.
The air was filled with the tranquility unique to dusk. The rubber track absorbed the sound of his footsteps. It was so quiet that he could only hear the wind rustling through leaves. This excessive silence, however, carried a strange unease. At the corner of the tree-lined avenue, two hundred meters from the dormitory building, a hand suddenly reached out from the holly bushes and grasped his ankle like a clamp.
"Have a great time hiding, huh? Top student."
Liu Tianyu's smoky, sticky voice burrowed into his ear like a cold slug. It was the guys from Class 7. Before Cheng Xiaorui could even see how many people were in the shadows, he was yanked to the ground by a massive force and roughly dragged behind the bushes.
The rough concrete floor scuffed the elbows of his school uniform, and the back of his head struck something hard, sending sparks flying across his vision. Amidst the ringing in his ears, someone grabbed his hair, dragged him to his feet, and shoved him up the narrow stairs leading to the rooftop. The rusty iron door was violently kicked open, colliding with the wall with a deafening thud. The echo reverberated back and forth across the bare concrete floor, leaving him uneasy.
"Look at what our top students have done." Liu Tianyu pressed the phone screen against his bleeding eyes. In the photo, Lin Wanqing's hair did brush against his cheek, but the photographer had deliberately cut off the hand that was handing her the cake, making the scene as ambiguous as a lover's reunion.
Through his blurred vision, he saw three pairs of dirty sneakers forming a circle, examining him like prey. One of them, with obvious mockery and malice, crushed his scraped fingers, which were already supporting the ground. The piercing pain made him twitch violently.
"You dare to touch Lin Wanqing?" Liu Tianyu squatted down and insultingly slapped his cheek with a rolled-up textbook, and the edge of the page scratched his skin painfully.
What was supposed to come finally came.
Cheng Xiaorui's eardrums were buzzing, and his heart was pounding heavily in his chest. Just when he thought despair was about to swallow everything, a huge, metallic sound came from the entrance to the rooftop, and the iron door was violently slammed open from the outside.
The glaring light of the setting sun outlined a slender, panting figure. Lin Wanqing stood at the doorway, her chest heaving violently, a few strands of hair clinging to her forehead with sweat, blowing violently in the wind. Without even a moment's hesitation, she rushed directly into the encirclement like a flash of lightning, splitting the thick dark clouds, and with her arms outstretched, she suddenly placed herself between Cheng Xiaorui and the three men.
"Liu Tianyu, are you crazy?" Her voice was shrill and trembling from the anger and running. The hem of her uniform brushed against the back of Cheng Xiaorui's bleeding hand as she moved, bringing a slight touch. "What are you doing! Stop it!"
Liu Tianyu obviously didn't expect her to appear and was stunned: "Wanqing? You..."
"I sent that photo to Lu Ziyi!" Lin Wanqing didn't even let him finish his question. She interrupted him quickly, trying to draw the criticism to herself. "It has nothing to do with him! If you want trouble, come to me!"
"What Lu Ziyi? What does it have to do with him..." Liu Tianyu's expression became even more confused, as if he didn't understand what she was saying at all.
Lin Wanqing seemed to be certain of her own judgment, and her tone became even more excited: "How could you do such a thing! Using such despicable means!"
"Lin Wanqing?" This time, everyone including Liu Tianyu was completely stunned, and the situation became chaotic and weird.
Taking advantage of this gap, Lin Wanqing quickly half-knelt down, anxiously scanning the injuries on Cheng Xiaorui's face, her voice filled with unconcealable tears and guilt: "I'm sorry... Cheng Xiaorui, are you okay? I really don't know who took that photo secretly, and I don't know how it was..."
Cheng Xiaorui's gaze fell on her white socks, which were covered in dust and mud. She must have been running so hard to find him that she didn't even care about losing her shoes. Now she was walking barefoot on the cold, rough concrete floor.
Liu Tianyu looked at this scene with an unpredictable expression. Finally, he seemed to feel extremely disappointed and troubled. He suddenly kicked the empty can at his feet. He waved his hand irritably, and turned around and left the rooftop cursing with two other followers who were equally confused.
When the last person's footsteps completely disappeared from the stairwell, Lin Wanqing breathed a sigh of relief. She felt faint for a moment, but then she quickly pulled herself together and knelt down to carefully examine the injuries on Cheng Xiaorui's arm and forehead. Surprisingly, she pulled a small bottle of iodine and individually wrapped cotton swabs from her school uniform pocket. She expertly tore them open and carefully cleaned the wound, her expression focused as if she did this often.
"How did you know I was here?" Cheng Xiaorui asked in a hoarse voice, enduring the trembling caused by the stinging disinfectant.
"Monitoring room." Lin Wanqing didn't look up, concentrating on absorbing the seeping blood with a cotton swab. "I was originally planning to check something else... When I passed by, I happened to see them dragging you over here from the surveillance camera. And this," she freed one hand, took out her phone, and turned on the screen. On it was the maliciously cropped photo of the cake shop. Her eyes were filled with annoyance, "I guessed something might happen..."
"I don't know who took the photo secretly. I just lied to them. I didn't actually send it to Lu Ziyi," she explained quickly, her voice filled with fear. "And I looked carefully. This photo was maliciously photoshopped to make it more ambiguous..."
“…”
As dusk deepened, the streetlights in the distance lit up one after another, casting long shadows on the rooftop. Lin Wanqing's shadow gently enveloped him. "Does it hurt?" She reached out her hand, as if to touch his bruised forehead, but hesitated in mid-air, finally curling up and retracting it.
She was startled for a moment, as if realizing her own gaffe, and suddenly stuffed the entire box of cotton swabs and the bottle of iodine into his hands. Her voice was as light as a feather, with a barely perceptible tremor: "Have you... always been treated like this by them?"
"I'm sorry," Cheng Xiaorui turned his head away, avoiding her overly bright and concerned gaze, his voice hoarse and tired, "I don't know them. Don't bother me anymore, and don't get close to me... It's not good for you."
"I know it's my fault. I shouldn't have been so rash as to drag you to buy a cake, which gave people an opportunity to catch us." Lin Wanqing lowered her head, her voice full of self-blame, "I will talk to Lu Ziyi and ask him... ask him to find a way to tell those people not to bully you again." When she said the name, her tone was a little complicated, as if she was not sure whether this was a good idea, but it was the only possible effective way she could think of.
“…”
Cheng Xiaorui closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cold, rough wall, no longer looking at her. He also rejected her proposal with silence. "Go away, I'll handle it myself." His voice was filled with unquestionable rejection, as if he wanted to completely push her away, isolate her from his troubled world.
"I'm sorry..." Lin Wanqing stood there, looking a little bewildered, but she insisted on finishing her words. "If...if they bully you again, tell Brother Ziyi...or just tell me directly, and I...I'll have him find someone to deal with them. Anyway," she paused for a moment, as if she had made up her mind. Although her voice was soft, it was unusually firm. "From now on...I'll take care of you."
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