Find out the truth
Left with no other choice, Nanqi supported Duan Peng and, stumbling along, took him to the nearest clinic. Then she called Zhang Bing.
Duan Peng is squeamish about blood, but he'll be fine after a rest. His head injury isn't too serious. Nan Qi, on the other hand, is covered in whip marks, and the wounds are quite deep. Her muscles have formed a protective barrier, so her bones haven't been damaged. She slowly moved her muscles and bones a few times, and apart from the superficial injuries, she had no other problems.
Nanqi didn't know when Duan Peng noticed her. Maybe Duan Peng followed her after school. When she rode her bike, Duan Peng was also riding behind her, but she was riding too fast and had something on her mind, so she didn't notice.
"What happened?" Zhang Bing rushed over and asked.
"Uncle, when he wakes up, please take him home."
"I mean, what happened to you? Who hit you?"
When Zhang Bing saw her, her back was already wrapped in a lot of gauze. The stimulation from the drugs had made her experience the pain of being whipped again.
To prevent Zhang Bing from noticing her injury, she even wore Duan Peng's coat, but the white gauze around her neck was still visible.
"Fighting with someone."
"What's wrong with you? Can't you change? Haven't you suffered enough losses already?!"
"Don't tell my mom, she's not in good health, don't let her worry."
"I was just about to ask you, what's going on between you and your mother?"
“It’s a long story,” Nanqi sighed. “Second Uncle, I would like to ask for leave.”
Zhang Bing sat down and said, "Hey, you can't go to school like this. You're about to take the college entrance exam. Do you even want to take it?"
"I will learn on my own. If there are any new learning materials, I will ask Duan Peng to bring them to me."
"Sometimes I really can't understand how our Zhang family could produce such a troublesome person like you," Zhang Bing said, both angry and helpless.
Nanqi lowered her head and said softly, "Second Uncle, thank you."
Nanqi stood up, intending to leave first. Zhang Bing wanted to see her off, but she firmly refused. She wanted to be alone for a while, and if she wasn't forced to, she really didn't want to see any acquaintances right now.
With her injuries all over her body, she couldn't go back to the dormitory, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Song Zhao's house. The place was already empty, and she endured the pain from her wounds, quietly lying on Song Zhao's bed.
She was unwilling to accept losing Song Zhao so inexplicably. She would not give in, and even if she came back injured, she would find out the truth.
For the next two days, Nanqi stayed in her room reading. In the afternoon, she would go to the clinic to change her dressings. She would take care of the inconvenient parts herself. The wound healed very quickly, and the gaps became visibly narrower. In some places, red scabs had already formed.
Last time she was beaten, she lied to Song Zhao that she had a tendency to form keloids, but that's not true. She had many wounds, big and small, since childhood, but none of them left scars.
Aunt Fang came back once in the middle of the time. She must have forgotten to take something. When she saw Nanqi in the house, she was really startled and insisted on taking her to the hospital.
Nanqi refused, however. She didn't want to cause any more trouble and only wanted to stay for a few days until she was better before leaving. Aunt Fang felt sorry for her and cooked her a meal.
On the fourth day, her wounds began to itch, especially the ones on her back. She uncomfortably unwrapped the gauze, turned to the side and looked at herself in the mirror. Her entire back was covered with all sorts of scars, which were glaringly obvious.
"It looks really bad."
She hurriedly wrapped the gauze back up and was fastening the button when suddenly the door creaked open.
Nanqi's heart skipped a beat, and she turned her head in a daze. The person who came was Song Zhao.
When Song Zhao met her gaze, she was already crying her eyes out. She ran up to her and questioned her about why she had made herself like this.
Nanqi touched her face in disbelief; it was still so fair and soft, and her hair still carried that familiar jasmine scent. Confirming that it was indeed the person she had been longing for, Nanqi was overwhelmed with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow, feeling as if half a century had passed since she last saw her.
Seeing Song Zhao's tears, Nan Qi subconsciously wiped them away with her fingertips, "Don't cry, I'm all better now."
"Why were you so foolish? How much pain must it have been in?"
"I want to know your reasons. I know you won't leave me easily. Although the method is clumsy, I can't think of any other way."
"If I don't come back, are you still going to go looking for them?"
Nanqi said with sharp eyes, "I will."
Song Zhao sobbed uncontrollably, "What am I supposed to do with you?"
"I'm sorry, I'm being selfish in this respect and haven't been able to consider your feelings," Nanqi said gently.
"But what if you can't accept the truth..."
"Then I can tell you with certainty that as long as you ask, I will definitely accept it."
Having no other choice, Song Zhao took a deep breath and said, "My aunt and I made a deal with Li Cheng's parents. We exchanged 2.2 million for their letter of understanding and your testimony that you hit someone in self-defense. My aunt gave them her savings book. I wanted to borrow another 2 million from my dad, but he refused. So I went to an entertainment company and signed a contract with them. If I work there for five years, they will lend me 2 million."
Nanqi frowned, looking at her with heartache: "You...you sacrificed yourself to save me..."
"No, it's just a job. I'll pay back the money within five years, then I don't have to renew the contract, and it won't affect my college entrance exam. The only thing is, I can't date during these five years..."
"So this is the real reason you left me without saying goodbye?"
"Um."
Nanqi pulled Song Zhao into her arms, resting her chin on her shoulder, her eyes already brimming with tears. She struggled to hold back her tears.
"See, it's so much better to say it out loud. I haven't done anything wrong, so why keep it all bottled up inside?"
Song Zhao cried and said, "I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it. You've always been the one to shoulder things, never willing to let others shoulder them for you."
Her words brought back the tears that Nanqi had painstakingly held back, which uncontrollably slid down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and tried her best to swallow the bitterness in her throat.
Nanqi bit her lower lip hard, holding the crying Song Zhao in her arms, and forced herself to smile: "But you're not just anyone, you're my lover, I can owe you that..."
Each word I uttered felt like a sharp blade piercing my throat.
"We'll pay off this debt together from now on. Don't underestimate me; maybe I'll earn more than you, maybe it won't even take five years..."
Song Zhao's phone rang. She had missed over a dozen calls on her way here, and she couldn't ignore it any longer. The voice on the other end of the line was cursing, and Song Zhao simply replied, "Coming right away," before hanging up.
The sudden interruption brought them back to reality. This time, Song Zhao pulled Nan Qi into his arms, letting her face press against his collarbone, wanting to give her all the warmth he could want at once.
"I'm leaving."
Nanqi gently rubbed her spine in response to Song Zhao's embrace.
"Go."
"We might not see each other for the next five years..."
"I know."
Will you be sad?
“A little, because…” The immense pain almost made her lose her voice.
Yes, I will miss you…
Finally, Nanqi personally saw Song Zhao off. She watched as Song Zhao got into her manager's car, stood there, and smiled and said goodbye to her with all her might.
Until she could no longer see the car, she clutched her chest, staggered two steps, and finally, exhausted her last bit of strength, knelt on the ground and wailed.
"ah…"
"ah……"
"ah!!!"
At 2 a.m. on May 20, 2010, the evening breeze passed through her body, drawing an embracing outline on her incomplete shadow.
Nanqi hadn't cried so freely in a long time. At this moment, no one could see her weakness, helplessness, resentment, and pain. Perhaps the comfort of being alone was her safest refuge.
She cried until her eyelids were almost too heavy to keep open. Suddenly, she realized that she had no right to cry. So she forced herself to stand up and staggered back to her once sweet little house.
Nanqi lay in bed, and as soon as she closed her eyes, tears still streamed down her face uncontrollably, leaving two bitter, salty tear tracks.
"Tomorrow, I won't cry anymore... Just give me one night, just one night..."
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