Chapter 33
Ever since her crush on Liang Fengshen was directly exposed last time, Sang Suibian has never had the courage to approach him again.
Sang Sui has never asked for much; she was already lucky if she could just stay by his side as a friend.
But now, she doesn't even have the right to be friends with him anymore.
Senior year of high school is filled with endless tests, rankings, and countdowns, pushing everyone forward at breakneck speed. Everyone's face carries more or less fatigue and anxiety, and an invisible, suffocating sense of urgency permeates the air.
Autumn has arrived at Rongcheng No.1 Middle School once again. The ginkgo leaves on campus are golden, like swaying little fans, falling softly in the autumn wind, creating a magnificent yet desolate scene.
During a break between classes, Sang Sui hurried across the tree-lined path below the teaching building, carrying a stack of newly distributed mock exam papers. Just as she looked up to wipe the sweat from her brow, her gaze inadvertently caught sight of a familiar figure.
Liang Fengshen, Song Shiyue, Cheng Xiao, and a few others were walking from the direction of the playground, seemingly having just finished their physical education class.
He walked slightly to the side, still wearing that blue and white school uniform. He was slender and upright, and the lines of his profile appeared clear and serene in the dim autumn sunlight.
He lowered his head slightly, listening to what Cheng Xiao was saying beside him. His face was expressionless, but the extremely dejected atmosphere seemed to have faded a lot. He just became more silent, like a deep pool of water, without any ripples.
Sang Sui's steps faltered instinctively, her heart skipped a beat as if something had gently struck it, sending a tingling, bittersweet sensation through her. She dared not look any longer, hurriedly lowering her head and pretending to tie her shoelaces, until they walked past her behind her, chatting and laughing, leaving behind a cool breeze carrying the scent of sweat and sunshine.
They didn't see her.
She straightened up and watched their departing figures, or more precisely, watched that thin, silent figure until he disappeared around the corner of the teaching building.
Being able to see him from afar, unnoticed by him, and know that he seems to be slowly emerging from that dark period, even if his world no longer intersects with hers, seems to be enough.
When you like someone, in the end, perhaps all that's left is this little bit of humble, unrequited hope.
Days slipped by quietly amidst the scratching of pens on exam papers. One late night, Sang Sui, struggling with a sea of questions and feeling dizzy, habitually opened her Weibo side account, which had almost become muscle memory, and refreshed it.
A new update appeared prominently at the top.
Posted by: LFS.
Time: One hour ago.
Sang Sui's heart skipped a beat, and her fingers even trembled slightly.
How long has it been since he last updated his status? So long that she almost thought the account had been abandoned.
She held her breath and clicked on the Weibo post.
The content couldn't be simpler, consisting of only four words and one punctuation mark:
Happy birthday, Mingying.
There were no accompanying pictures, no mentions, and no unnecessary emotional embellishment.
Such a simple blessing, however, was like a red-hot dagger, carrying scalding despair, instantly piercing Sang Sui's chest and shattering his already cracked heart completely.
Happy birthday, Mingying.
It turns out that on this day, the only thing he wanted to say was to the girl who had already left.
It turns out that the person in his heart has never changed. Even though she has gone far away and there is no news of her, he still stubbornly and silently sends her birthday wishes in some corner that she may not be able to see.
And what about him?
When he received her anonymous birthday wishes, filled with all her secrets, did he feel even the slightest bit moved?
I'm afraid not.
His heart was already completely filled with a girl named Mingying, leaving no room for anyone else.
An overwhelming sense of heartache and helplessness washed over me like a cold tide.
Sang Sui turned off her phone screen, buried her face in her arms, and silently shed tears in the quiet of the night.
For his own hopeless affection, and for Liang Fengshen's equally hopeless obsession.
Winter has arrived, and the cold wind is biting.
As the New Year approaches, there is little festive atmosphere on campus; the numbers on the countdown clock are decreasing day by day, like a death knell.
Sang Sui stared at the chat window with Liang Fengshen on his phone screen, the cursor blinking in the input box for a long time.
She typed and deleted, deleted and typed again, but in the end, the simple "Happy New Year" still couldn't be sent.
She lost all her courage.
The phrase "Don't like me" stood like an insurmountable chasm between them.
She feared her greeting would be seen as a disturbance, a colder response, or, more cruelly, a complete silence.
In the end, she left the chat window and only sent a New Year's greeting in the silent "Rongcheng F18" group, burying her feelings for him completely.
Springtime in the second semester of senior year arrives amidst an almost feverish atmosphere of intense preparation, with the air seemingly filled with the smell of chalk dust and ink.
However, a piece of news that seemed completely out of place with the intense preparation for the exam quietly began to circulate in the class.
"Hey, have you guys seen this magazine?" A girl asked excitedly during break, pointing to the cover of a beautifully bound youth literature magazine. "This model looks just like Mingying from our school!"
"Really? Let me see!"
"Oh my god! It really is her! Although the makeup is a bit heavy, those features, that aura, it's definitely her!"
"She actually became a book model? And she's quite photogenic..."
"Wow, she's amazing! She's even more beautiful than I've seen in a year."
The magazine was eagerly passed around. On the cover, Mingying wore a pure white dress and stood in a blurred sea of flowers, her face slightly turned to the side. Her eyes still carried that unique sense of detachment and emptiness. She was beautiful to the point of being unreal, yet also carried a fragile sense of vulnerability.
Sang Sui also saw that magazine.
Her heart skipped a beat. So, after leaving school, Mingying had taken this path?
Mingying is so good; she can do well no matter what path she chooses.
She was number one in her class during her school years, and even after dropping out, she still achieved such remarkable success.
Sang Sui went to a used bookstore outside the school and bought several magazines. The magazine covers were all of Ming Ying, the girl who had mysteriously disappeared for a year and returned in a way that no one could have imagined.
She held the magazine, returned to her dormitory, stared at Mingying on the cover, and then looked at herself in the mirror, feeling as if a hole had been torn in her heart.
Entering her senior year of high school, she passed through the most awkward growth period, grew even more beautiful, and even grew taller, reaching 1.65 meters, making her a pretty girl.
But all of this paled in comparison to Mingying. She instantly paled in comparison to Mingying.
No wonder Liang Fengshen liked Mingying; she was so good, so very good.
That night, Sang Sui cried so hard she couldn't breathe. She called Jiang Yaoyue, who was far away in Linchuan, and said, "I hate her, I hate Mingying."
"She gets such good grades, easily ranking in the top ten of her grade. She's so beautiful; just standing in the sunlight makes people inexplicably like her. How can she be so wonderful? Even the boy I like likes likes her."
Sang Sui thought, she definitely hates Mingying, how could she not hate her?
Mingying became a magazine model, causing a stir not only at Rongcheng No.1 Middle School but also becoming a hit online.
Initially, many netizens were stunned by Mingying's beauty, praising her and becoming her fans. However, what followed was not just astonishment. In the internet age, the speed at which information spreads and ferments is astonishing.
Soon, someone dug up Mingying's "dark history"—about her "mistress" mother and her status as an "illegitimate child".
Online, especially on the magazine's official Weibo account and related book forums, a large number of offensive comments began to appear:
"She looks so innocent, but she's actually the daughter of a mistress. How disgusting!"
"How can someone like this be a book model? How did the magazine review it? Aren't they afraid of setting a bad example for teenagers?"
"Get out of the entertainment industry, you illegitimate daughter!"
"She's not even in the entertainment industry yet; she's just a book model."
"But shouldn't she already have one foot in the entertainment industry? She looks like a screen person."
"Her mother broke up someone else's family; she's probably no good either!"
"She's obviously a scheming bitch, what's with the pretense of being high and mighty!"
Those vicious, prejudiced words, like dirty mud, were splattered wantonly on that beautiful and silent girl.
Sang Sui looked at the shocking comments on her phone screen and trembled with anger.
She remembered Mingying's eyes, which always held aloofness and stubbornness; she remembered her lonely figure walking alone on campus; and she remembered Liang Fengshen's pained and dejected state because of her.
She couldn't understand why these people could harbor such malice towards someone they didn't even know.
What did Mingying do wrong?
She couldn't choose her birth, nor could she take responsibility for her parents' mistakes; she simply wanted to quietly and diligently walk her own path!
An indescribable anger and sense of justice overwhelmed Sang Sui. She forgot that Ming Ying was her "love rival," and forgot the bitterness and heartache she felt because of Liang Fengshen.
At this moment, she felt incredibly angry and heartbroken for a girl who was being cyberbullied innocently.
She logged into her rarely used Weibo account, found the most aggressive comments, and replied to and refuted them one by one:
"Please watch your mouths! Do you even know the truth of the matter?"
"She couldn't choose her birth, so what did she do wrong? Besides, the truth is not like that at all."
"Her mother was the original wife."
"Why not focus on the work and the person involved? Why resort to personal attacks?"
"To refrain from commenting without knowing the whole story—where is the basic courtesy?"
Sang Sui's rebuttal was like a stone sinking into the sea amidst the torrent of negative comments, instantly drowned out, and even attracted a barrage of attacks and private messages from several trolls.
But she did not back down; she stubbornly continued to report and argue against each and every one of the allegations, despite her limited strength.
Sang Sui's tears fell onto the phone screen. A voice inside her screamed wildly, drowning out all her grievances and bitterness:
She really should hate Mingying.
But the boy she likes loves her so deeply, she's so good, so beautiful, so special, so why are you all criticizing her like this...?
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