Lin Qiaoqiao, you are very brave.
The entire space fell into a deathly silence. Lin Shiren was trembling all over, both from fear and from the resolute look in Yu Xuehui's eyes.
It was a kind of utter despair.
Lin Shih-ren dared not say anything provocative and tried to speak calmly: "You're just sick right now, that's why you have so many negative emotions. We can go see a doctor. And think about your parents, think about all the people who love you. You'll be very sad if you leave them."
It's unclear what words touched her, but Yu Xuehui finally reacted. She looked up and asked, "Will they be sad?"
“Yes,” Lin Shiren nodded vigorously, then reached out his hand to her: “You have to believe me.”
Yu Xuehui took out her phone, found "Mom's" number in her contacts, dialed it, and pressed speakerphone in front of Lin Shiren. While doing this, she kept a wary eye on Lin Shiren, not allowing him to get close.
The "beep" sound reverberated in the quiet air, carrying a slight echo. Lin Shiren could hear his own breathing and the pounding of his heart.
Her hand was still suspended in the air: "Why don't you come down and make the call?"
Yu Xuehui ignored her.
His brow furrowed, he stared intently at the screen, as if to verify Lin Shiren's words, or perhaps to complete a final act of self-rescue.
Three seconds later, the call connected, and a middle-aged woman's voice came through amidst the static: "Hello."
Lin Shiren felt a jolt in the back of his head, staring intently at his phone screen. Yu Xuehui's eyes began to redden, tears streaming down her cheeks, her voice choked with emotion: "Mom, I'm not feeling well today, could you...?"
"Trying to take another day off? What's your reason today?"
Before she could finish speaking, the woman interrupted her harshly: "Xiao Hui, you have really disappointed me. Your father works from dawn till dusk to earn money, and I quit my favorite job to become a housewife and take care of you. Everyone is doing their best to support you, and this is how you repay us by taking leave every day?"
The other side was furious, while the other side was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Yu Xuehui didn't argue, but she gripped the phone tightly, so tightly it trembled, as if she had reached her breaking point.
Then the middle-aged woman's voice cut in again: "Before, when you dropped out of the top class, your father and I were afraid of hurting your self-esteem, so we didn't dare to say anything. But now there are only six months left until the college entrance examination. Just six months. Once you get into college, our whole family will be free."
The phone was disconnected with a "click".
These words fell into his ears without him missing a single one. Lin Shiren's face turned ashen, and cold sweat streamed down his back. Yu Xuehui's mother knew nothing, and seeking verification under such circumstances was inherently extreme.
"Did you hear that? Nobody cares about me at all." Tears streamed down Yu Xuehui's face as she gripped the railing with one hand, most of her body dangling in the air, her hair frailly floating in the air.
Lin Shiren shook his head: "No, they love you, they just don't know how to express it..."
If it weren't for Xin Xiaomei's unwavering support for her during the Cai Shichen incident, she would never have felt her mother's love.
"Which sentence made you feel loved?"
Yu Xuehui laughed silently: "They don't love me at all. The daughter they want is obedient and can bring them honor, not the one I am now, do you understand?"
"I understand."
“No, you don’t understand anything!” Yu Xuehui shouted these words.
The entire campus was vibrant with life, and everyone was striving for their dreams, but she was like a discarded pawn, drained of all her strength, and on the verge of collapse.
Lin Shiren's heart jumped into his throat: "Be careful."
In that tense moment, she heard faint footsteps coming from across the corridor. Recognizing Zhou Lin from just a glimpse of his profile, she saw he was leaving Chen Mo's office and heading towards Class 1's classroom.
It was 3:15 PM, and the psychology lecture was still going on. The students were all staying in the classroom with self-discipline. Lin Shiren was in a state of turmoil. His appearance was like a fire in the winter night, rekindling her hope.
Zhou Lin, slow down.
Look over here, one glance is enough.
She dared not shout for help, nor dared to leave, and could only try to stall for time: "When you were in elementary school, if you forgot to wear your red scarf, you felt like the sky was falling; when you were in junior high, if you did poorly on a test, you felt like your life was over, but look back now... life is not that fragile, and the margin for error is greater than you can imagine."
With her back to Zhou Lin, Yu Xuehui seemed lost in some kind of emotion, her voice trembling slightly: "Senior year of high school is very stressful. Nobody wants to hear me say anything nonsensical. If I'm not studying for even a second, I feel like I'm committing a crime, and everyone thinks it's my fault..."
Lin Shih-ren retorted, "So you're going to help them bully yourself?"
Zhou Lin seemed lost in thought, never looking in their direction. With each step he took away, her heart sank, feeling as if she could see a hole through the back of his head, yet he never turned back.
Yu Xuehui glanced down at her feet again. Lin Shiren's chest heaved slightly, and sweat glistened on his eyelashes.
She took a deep breath and said, "I like having someone urge me to sleep when I stay up late, I like having someone wipe away my tears when I cry, I like having someone remind me to take my medicine when I'm sick... So when all of that falls apart, I've stood on the rooftop before."
Images of Xin Xiaomei wielding a kitchen knife and Lin Zhiyuan strangling her neck flashed through her mind. Before she even had a chance to experience family affection, she had already lost everything.
Lin Shih-jen's eyes were clearly red as well. She continued, "The wind on the rooftop was really strong. It could blow away all the fog, and I could see the distant mountains and rivers clearly. At that moment, I thought that when a person decides to jump, they can be half a god."
Yu Xuehui stared at her face and sniffed: "Were you rescued?"
Lin Shiren knew that she had softened at this moment. The best way to save someone on the verge of collapse was to show her his own scars and prove that he was the same kind of person as her.
"I guess so."
She hastily wiped away her tears: "Later, the librarian called me and said that the books I borrowed were three months overdue, and asked when I was going to return them. I thought I couldn't cause trouble for the librarian just because I wanted to die, so I came down."
Yu Xuehui was speechless for a moment, not expecting this reason.
"When a person thinks about dying, it usually only lasts a few minutes. In those few minutes, the librarian became my god."
Lin Shiren paused, then slowly took a step towards her: "Now, are you willing to let me be your God?"
Yu Xuehui seemed to be moved, and large tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision. But she still moved towards the edge of the steps, saying in a tearful voice, "But I really can't take it anymore..."
“Yu Xuehui, don’t be like this…” Lin Shiren reached out to her again, “I promise, as long as you come down, everything can be resolved.”
She shook her head: "I'm in so much pain..."
"You just want to end the pain, not end your life. There are many ways to end pain..."
"..."
The two faced off for a while, perhaps a few minutes, or perhaps only a few seconds, but Lin Shiren felt as if she had endured all four seasons. At that time, she was unaware that the campus broadcast had secretly changed its content, and every classroom was making urgent preparations.
Almost simultaneously, the doors of all the classrooms in the west corridor opened at the same time, and a cacophony of footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. Students threw their cotton-padded coats and down jackets on the ground, like a carnival after a winter fashion show.
Looking down from the fourth floor, the first floor was covered with a thick cushion, which would reduce the impact even if someone fell. Lin Shiren breathed a slight sigh of relief. She saw Zhou Lin in the crowd winking at her, as if conveying some message.
The principal, the dean of studies, the homeroom teachers of each class... everyone came. But they dared not step forward, and everyone's face was filled with anxiety and worry.
Her homeroom teacher, Wu Ping, walked from the crowd to the front and stopped three meters away from her, looking at her with concern: "Yu Xuehui, you are a very good child. I have seen your hard work. If you feel tired, you can take a break for a while. You have a long life ahead of you. Don't go to extremes."
Yu Xuehui's eyes were very red: "But with my current grades, I can't even get into a 985 university..."
She was still sick and kept getting stuck on her own thoughts.
"Even if we don't get into a 985 university, so what?"
Wu Ping surveyed the crowd, pointed at Chen Mo and said, "Teacher Chen graduated from Beijing Normal University, and I graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Back then, our college entrance examination scores differed by a full fifty points. He was also a medalist in the physics competition, and now he's working as my colleague."
Chen Mo: "..."
I was scolded while passing by.
These are words you would never say under normal circumstances. Every difficulty is a challenge, and everyone runs towards the finish line crying under the stars and moon.
But Yu Xuehui's current situation doesn't meet her self-expectations, so Wu Ping could only say that.
She pointed downstairs again: "Huiwen has so many students, and there are hundreds more ranked behind you. Are they all going to die?"
At this point, a boy downstairs put his hand to his mouth and said, "Yu Xuehui, you're just playing a game. Now you've entered a dungeon trap. Don't miss the more valuable main story content that follows."
The people around them shouted in unison, their voices deafening: "Come down, we can't lose you."
Never expecting to receive so much attention, Yu Xuehui was stunned for a moment. Taking advantage of this opening, Lin Shiren grabbed her wrist and pulled her tightly, while Zhou Lin rushed up from behind...
Yu Xuehui was rescued. Wu Ping called her parents, and it is said that when her mother arrived, she ran away without her shoes and burst into tears while holding her.
The people in the corridor gradually dispersed, but Lin Shiren's emotions had not calmed down at all. As if she had suffered a great injustice, she was nestled in Zhou Lin's arms and sobbing softly.
The God who just saved people from dire straits has suddenly become a crybaby who can't hold his tears.
Seeing her condition, Chen Mo knew she couldn't attend evening self-study. He asked Zhou Lin to take her home safely and gave him a wink, meaning to be mindful of the impact.
Zhou Lin didn't care about the consequences; he cared about whoever's girlfriend it was.
He carried her to the stone steps at the corner of the stairs, patting her slightly trembling back to help her catch her breath.
Lin Shih-ren is only now beginning to feel the fear that follows.
This living, breathing person almost jumped in front of her. Although she was well prepared, what if she hadn't caught him?
The scene of climbing onto the rooftop in her memory overlapped with today's. For a moment, T's throat felt sore and blocked, just like the countless times she had been speechless and unable to speak during her teenage years. No one understood her sensitivity and inner turmoil.
She grabbed Zhou Lin's collar, her eyes brimming with tears, and looked up at him: "When I stay up late, can you make sure I go to sleep?"
"Okay." Zhou Lin wiped away her tears, a dull ache shooting through his heart.
"When I'm sick, can you remind me to take my medicine?"
"Can."
"When I'm in a bad mood, can you hug me?"
"Can."
"..."
She asked about everything she had cared about in the past, whether it was reasonable, unreasonable, absurd, or childish... Zhou Lin gave affirmative answers without hesitation.
Until he said in a controlled voice, "Baby, don't cry, it hurts so much."
The delicate kisses traced her hair, forehead, and bridge of her nose, finally landing on her rosy lips with a tender, loving touch.
Lin Shiren had been through too much trauma today, and at this moment he needed intimate kissing to feel safe. She cooperated by hugging his neck tightly and tilting her head back to kiss him.
The two kissed quietly for a while.
By then, her emotions had finally calmed down. Her fingers kept playing with the logo on Zhou Lin's school uniform. The skin under the logo felt itchy as if something was hooking it. Zhou Lin looked away, not daring to look into her watery eyes.
The little girl's experience was so terrible; he can't let his mind be filled with such beastly thoughts.
After waiting for a long time without hearing Zhou Lin's voice, Lin Shiren hooked his arm around the back of Zhou Lin's neck and bit his chin, beginning to vent his frustration: "I was desperately trying to signal to you in the hallway, why didn't you look at me?"
"We saw it a long time ago, otherwise how do you think everyone knew?"
Lin Shiren pouted in dissatisfaction: "Then why didn't you give me a hint? You made me so anxious."
Zhou Lin cupped her face in his hands and gently pecked her lips, his voice a little hoarse: "Lin Qiaoqiao, you are very brave."
Lin Shiren finally saw a different version of himself in his eyes.
Yes, she is very brave.
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Author's note: This chapter was so emotionally intense that I cried several times. Crybaby lovers, get your tissues ready.
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