In a single day, Su Xun's world changed.
Her father owed a lot of money in another city. Neither she nor her mother knew exactly how much he owed. All they knew was that on the day she left for her exam, a group of fierce-looking people came to their house, demanding repayment of the money, and smashed everything in the house.
The father's whereabouts are unknown.
That day, her mother took her and her younger brother away by train overnight. Su Xun didn't know where the train was going or what place it would take her. She was completely numb and didn't dare to make a sound to disturb her mother.
After getting off the train, they stayed in a small hotel and spent a few days in a state of anxiety. They dared not stay in one place for too long, often staying in one city for a few days and then immediately taking a train to another city.
She later learned what had happened from her mother's fragmented descriptions.
What my father did last spring was not a legitimate job at all; it was just a scam. The friend who kept coming to our house to persuade my father to go out and make money with him was obviously not a good person either. He was recruiting relatives and friends everywhere. In the end, my father couldn't resist the temptation of making money and listened to him.
At first, in order to appease those who had just been tricked into going there, Dad made a small fortune, and their family's standard of living improved considerably.
However, the amount of money needed to be invested increased later on, and my father dared not take money from home. He didn't know who he had borrowed money from, but he ended up with a staggering amount of debt. Later, the fraud ring was investigated, and key figures were imprisoned, while my father, being just an insignificant person, escaped punishment. But the borrowed money still had to be repaid. Unable to repay, my father fled to avoid the debt collectors, who eventually came looking for him at his home in Huaicheng.
And then, it turned into this scene.
Sitting on the train late at night, listening to the snoring of the people around her and the occasional crying of children, she thought that she must be resentful of her father at this moment. He had caused a lot of trouble outside, but chose to run away and let his wife and children bear the consequences.
To avoid being found, they are now forced to drift from city to city, like rootless duckweed floating aimlessly.
She thought that a man, as a husband and father, was extremely unqualified.
She had a terrible summer vacation, and the days of hiding and running around were not pleasant.
She secretly went to an internet cafe to check her scores. Out of a total score of 560, she scored exactly 520, which was more than enough to get into the best high school in Huaicheng. However, she knew that she probably wouldn't be able to go back to Huaicheng, that not-so-cold southern town that was famous for its fireworks.
That day, her phone was smashed and disappeared without a trace, and she lost contact with all those people she used to know. She logged onto QQ as if possessed, and saw the barrage of messages from people frantically trying to reach her, all filled with uncontrollable worry. Her eyes welled up with tears.
One person sent the most messages, and the constant stream of messages revealed the sender's anger and worry. The usually reserved person lost his composure, constantly questioning and pleading.
She silently read all the messages without replying to anyone. Instead, she quietly turned off her computer and left the internet cafe, because she was about to leave for another place.
The intoxicating moonlight that night, the dazzling fireworks, and that tender, captivating gaze—it all felt like a dream from years past, so real yet so distant.
Finally, he broke down in tears.
Meanwhile, on the other side, chaos and turmoil reigned.
Su Xun seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth overnight; no one could contact him, and he didn't even attend the class graduation party.
Friends and classmates called the home phone until it was practically worn out, but no one answered. Tang Shi knew where Su Xun lived, and after several days of not hearing from her, she rushed over to her house, only to learn that the family had moved away a few days earlier.
Now, all news of them has truly vanished.
The one most devastated was Pei Ke, who was also hoping for a good outcome. In the past few days, he had been frantically searching for news of Zhao Suxun, but all his efforts had been in vain.
In an instant, a tremendous sense of grievance welled up, like a pet abandoned on the street by its owner. Accompanying it were deep feelings of anger and disappointment.
When he couldn't sleep at night and was in a daze, he would think that she must be getting revenge on him. He hadn't attended her graduation ceremony three years ago, and he remembered that the girl had been angry with him for a long time.
He thought that the girl must be holding a grudge and wanted him to experience that feeling of disappointment.
Of course, most of the time when he was sober, he knew that all of this was just a lie he was telling himself.
Much later, he thought again, Su Xun is such a liar. He's only fifteen and he's already so good at lying. He said they would be together after graduation, but that was all just to fool him.
However, the person who was good at deceiving him, after tricking him and luring him into a trap, simply disappeared without a trace, as if they had never existed.
"The flowers of spring, the wind of autumn, and the sunset of winter—I, in my melancholy youth, once thought this way."
"The windmill turns every day in the song of the four seasons, and I grow year by year in the verses of romance and beauty."
"The flowing water carries away the stories of time and changes a person, right there in that sentimental and first-time-waiting youth."
Those best times are like a wisp of smoke, gone with the wind.
Time flies, but I await our reunion.
Volume One: Old Times
over
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
