Rebirth

Rebirth

"You said you had to go up the mountain with me, and now you've broken a bone." Jiang Li scolded him while helping him adjust the IV drip. "You've never done farm work before, and it's such a high mountain, and it just rained, and you took Qiu Yang with you. He's fine, but you'll have to stay in the hospital for at least a month. Who will take care of you when I go to school?"

"Stop talking, it hurts so much." Nan Jiaxu lay on the bed wailing, one of his legs hanging high and his hands bruised.

Jiang Li sighed, "Jin Mao and the others went to pay the fees."

"How's Yangyang?"

"Don't worry, he's fine, just a scratch on his forehead."

"How is that possible? He fell down too and hit his head on a rock."

Nan Jiaxu excitedly propped himself up, but was pushed down again by Jiang Li.

"He's really fine. No, you can read the report yourself later."

Hearing him say that, I finally felt relieved.

Seeing him calm down, Jiang Li sat down and peeled an apple for him. "Nan Jiaxu, Nan Jiaxu, should I call you brave or an idiot? You were so high up, and you held him tightly to your chest. The mountains are full of sharp rocks. You'd faint after rolling down a few times, you know that?"

"Oh, you don't understand, this is called love."

Jiang Li chuckled and shook his half-dead leg with a fruit knife. "Is this love?"

Nan Jiaxu suddenly instructed him to rock the bed. Jiang Li put down his work and adjusted his position. He said, "I didn't think too much about it at the time. Halfway up the mountain, it suddenly started raining. There was nowhere to hide. Yangyang lost his balance and slipped. I instinctively pulled him up, but who knew I would sprain my ankle too, causing him to roll down the slope with me. My only thought at the time was to protect him. Now I think if he was lying here, I would definitely feel worse."

He said this seriously, and even Jiang Li couldn't help but look at him, focused yet distracted.

Nan Jiaxu knows more about the topic of "love" than he does.

"Please make way."

Jiang Li stood up upon hearing the voice and stepped aside. It was because of this that the two eyes met unexpectedly.

The air seemed to condense, and everything around became unreal, so blurry that only the person in the center of the focus could be seen. His hair had grown longer, covering his eyes, and he had some blue stubble on his face. He looked thinner.

Suddenly, a figure came closer and closer, and his hands were empty, and both the apple and the knife were taken away.

He found that he would easily lose his mind whenever this person appeared. For example, now, the peeled apple was put back in his hand, and he could only stare at him unconsciously, just looking.

This state was very dangerous. He thought that all those chaotic and complicated emotions had been sorted out during the few days he was away. Even if he met Chen An again, he would be able to face it with ease as he had explained to Nan Jiaxu. However, the facts overturned his promise.

Jiang Li came to his senses, retracted his gaze, walked past him, and handed the apple to Nan Jiaxu.

Nan Jiaxu took a bite mechanically. The atmosphere was too weird. His eyes kept moving between the two people who were struggling. Finally, he came to a conclusion that this person was Jiang Li's heart knot.

Jiang Li didn't look back, and Chen An didn't leave, so the two of them just kept doing it.

Nan Jiaxu's plan came to his mind and he coughed twice.

Jiang Li hurriedly asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"I choked, and you didn't even give me a glass of water! How can you be someone's boyfriend!"

"Me?" Jiang Li's eyes widened in disbelief. Nan Jiaxu pinched him under the quilt and urged, "Fall down quickly! Cough cough cough..."

Jiang Li could only pour him some water, but Nan Jiaxu took a small sip before pushing it away, saying, "It's too hot! Are you trying to burn me to death?"

Jiang Li was so angry that his teeth itched. He put on a "friendly" smile and said, "I advise you to restrain yourself."

"Oh my! You're the one who's always forsaking me! Look how you treat me when I'm injured! No wonder they say a friend in need is a friend indeed. You wouldn't even offer me a glass of water after I fell and got hurt!"

He finally understood that Nan Jiaxu wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make a scene.

"Okay! I'll pour it for you!"

Jiang Li turned around and went out with the cup, and sure enough, the latter followed him.

There were few people at the water dispenser, so Jiang Li placed his cup under the cold water. He knew Chen An had followed him out, but he pretended not to notice until Chen An asked him, "Is that person in there really your boyfriend?"

Jiang Li raised her eyelids, looked at him, and said "hmm" reluctantly.

Then the other person frowned.

After Jiang Li finished taking the water, she saw his expression and found it quite funny, so she added: "New, boyfriend."

Then he waited at his ease to see Chen An's expression, but he just smiled and ruthlessly exposed him, "You're lying, he's not your boyfriend."

Jiang Li didn't intend to admit it yet and rolled his eyes, "You say it's not true? You're being lenient."

Chen An still insisted, "To be honest, his acting is average, and I..."

"I heard you guys talking."

"You're eavesdropping!"

Chen An leaned against the wall, lowered his head and tapped his toes, "No, I just happened to hear it."

It's rare to see him showing any guilt.

A sense of accomplishment came over me. Does that mean... he cares about me a little bit?

Jiang Li shook his head to sober himself up, "You guessed right." After that, he took the cup and walked back. The person behind him asked him.

"What are you going to do?"

He turned around and asked, "What should I do?"

"Going to school and taking care of people." Chen An said, "Does he have any family?"

"No, he has a boyfriend."

Chen An looked up, blinked, and said, "Ah."

Jiang Li said calmly: "He needs to be hospitalized. His family will rent a house here, and I will go to school and live there as a boarding student." After that, he strode forward and returned to the ward. Nan Jiaxu wanted to continue to make trouble, but was stopped by Jiang Li.

When he saw the people standing at the door, he knew that their work was not over yet.

"Jiang Li, come out for a moment."

Nan Jiaxu raised his eyebrows, looking as if he had expected this.

Jiang Li took a deep breath, stood up and went out with him. People were coming and going in the corridor. They walked forward for a while and stopped at the stairs.

"What's up?"

"Move back home."

Jiang Li's eyes lit up, but he quickly lowered his head to hide them and whispered, "Why?"

"Houses in good locations are expensive these days, and it's hard to find one with school starting soon. My place is close to the police academy, so it's convenient for commuting. Plus, the academy doesn't allow pets. I can help take care of Guazi while you're at school, and it'll be convenient for you to come back and see him on weekends."

Jiang Li just listened to him quietly, the little hope that had been burning in his heart was extinguished little by little, and then his expression returned to calm.

"Chen An, before I left, didn't I tell you that I don't want you to care about me anymore?" He looked straight at the person in front of him, and the other person also frowned. He didn't understand. This person obviously didn't want to face this matter, so why didn't he run away? He obviously didn't like him, so why didn't he just get rid of this trouble? Sympathy, pity?

In the end, I could only say angrily: "This is not the answer I want. I will not move back, and please stop interfering in my business in the future."

Chen An's temples were throbbing with anger, but he still held him back. "What do you want to hear? To hear me say that I like you too, and then to be with you regardless of the consequences?"

He straightened Jiang Li's body and advised, "Jiang Li, you're still young. You can't assume that everyone who treats you well is in love. You like me, and I can understand it as your affirmation of me. Everyone likes things they think are beautiful, and it's normal, but this can't be confused with that kind of love."

Jiang Li felt angry and wronged, as if his heart was being twisted so hard that it hurt so much that he couldn't breathe.

"Do you think I can't tell the difference between dependence and love?" He couldn't help crying as soon as he opened his mouth, which scared both himself and the other person. He seemed to have underestimated the weight of the other person in his heart.

He clearly wanted to leave, and he could have easily let go of everything before meeting the person. He had clearly adapted well, but the moment this person appeared, all his psychological defenses were broken down.

"It's okay." The man hugged him, touched the corners of his red eyes, wiped away the tears that were about to fall, and comforted him, "It's nothing serious."

Jiang Li grabbed his clothes and threw herself into his arms, "I hate you. It's sad to be close to you, and it's also sad to be away from you."

His face was wet with tears, and he buried his head in his clothes and said in a muffled voice: "Have you looked for me?"

Chen An's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and he admitted frankly, "I've looked for it."

The person in his arms raised his head, "Really?"

"Yeah." He touched Jiang Li's hair, "I know you are in Qiushui Township."

Jiang Li immediately realized that the feeling he had that day was not just an imaginary thought. He had really been there, but he just didn't see him.

He grabbed the man's collar and gritted his teeth, "Chen An, I hate you!"

The two of them hugged each other in the corridor for a while. After he calmed down, Chen An whispered, "I'm sorry."

Jiang Li pushed him away, turned her head to wipe the tears from her face, and said, "You have to compensate me."

"Okay. How do you want to make it up to me? I'll do whatever I can."

Jiang Li raised his face and pretended to be a little bully, "I can move back, but I won't pay the rent!"

Chen An couldn't help but curl his lips, "Okay."

I didn't intend to charge you rent.

Jiang Li still felt unsatisfied, "I can't clean! I can't cook! And... you have to take care of Guazi too!"

Chen An agreed to everything.

Across the stairwell was the elevator. The patient who had just been wheeled into Nan Jiaxu's ward seemed to be moving to another ward. Zhu Liangcong and the nurse were waiting for the elevator. When they saw Chen An coming over, they greeted him, "Officer, you haven't left yet?"

"Oh, yes." Chen An changed the subject. "Are we going to change wards?"

"right."

The person on the bed suddenly moved, revealing their hand from under the quilt. Jiang Li's vision was a little blurry after crying. As she got closer, she saw a familiar pattern. "That pattern looks so familiar."

"pattern?"

Chen An followed his gaze and saw that Zou Liang had a large tattoo on his left arm. Upon closer inspection, it was a rose with a string of English words wrapped around its winding roots. The red and black color combination made it look particularly ghostly.

Jiang Li recognized the word, "Somnus."

"Then officer, we're leaving first."

Chen An nodded, and Zhu Liangcong followed them into the elevator.

"What's the problem?"

Jiang Li frowned. He wasn't sure if this logo was the same one he had seen on the forum. He opened his phone to look for previous posts, but found that the posts had expired. "This logo looks very similar to the logo of a forum I saw before, 'Somnusclub', an OD club."

"OD Club?"

"Yeah," Jiang Li recalled. "OD stands for overdose, which means drug abuse. I saw the sign when I was in my third year of high school. This club specifically targets middle and high school students, tricking them into abusing drugs and then engaging in self-harm. They also circulate pictures and videos of these acts to lure more people in."

“What kind of people will they target?”

"Maybe they're people with low self-esteem, are sensitive, have unhappy families, or have had a difficult upbringing. I don't know."

"Did they look for you?"

"They..." Jiang Li paused. There was no sound beside him. He glanced sideways. Chen An was looking at him with a look he couldn't understand. "What...what's that look?"

After a while, Jiang Li said weakly, "I didn't cut my wrists."

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