Goodbye Love
During those years when Kong Lingyu was out there, he had no sense of shame. He didn't want to understand what shame and inferiority were.
Shame can't keep him full, and inferiority can't add nine digits to his account balance.
He would fight with a smelly homeless man for a plastic bottle in the trash can, and he would also stand at the entrance of Heishui Lane and argue with a fierce old lady over a few cents until his face turned red.
In the third year of his acquaintance with Wei Lai, He Jiangyun had been hanging around in Blackwater Alley and owed a lot of money. Those cowards who bullied the weak and feared the strong took advantage of Kong Lingyu's absence to collect scrap and came to the already dilapidated hut and smashed it up. Wei Lai was beaten half to death in order to protect his computer from them.
He Jiangyun was taken away, and then he broke into the smoky casino with a steel pipe and brought the person back.
He Jiangyun became much more obedient during that time, but Wei Lai's condition was very bad and he couldn't get out of bed for several months. During the most difficult time, He Jiangyun took out his precious silver bracelet and asked him to sell it.
They had just exchanged a few hundred yuan when the debt collector saw them. The two of them ran away separately. Kong Lingyu took the bottles and money he picked up along the way and ran towards the school.
The debt collectors were divided into two groups. When they failed to catch up with Kong Lingyu, they waited for him near the school. One group of people wandered outside the school, attracted the attention of the school security, and were driven away.
Only then did Kong Lingyu shake off the debt collector. He slowly stuck his head out and walked around the huge school as if possessed by a ghost. He climbed up the old, unrenovated wall and peeked at the world inside through the rusty fence.
There was a red plastic running track with camphor trees planted around it. He saw a young man standing under the tree not far away.
The young man was wearing a white shirt. It was drizzling and he was standing on the green playground. His white face was glowing. His thin shoulders were slightly raised as he raised his hands. His slender and fair hands slowly caught the raindrops. His long eyelashes were wet by the rain.
Young and stubborn, with a small mole at the corner of her eye, her clear eyes hide sadness, just like the locust flowers on a rainy day.
The handsome face had an indifferent expression, as if he noticed the gaze behind him. The boy pursed his lips and turned back hesitantly - click, the old flip phone took a picture of the boy's handsome profile.
The fearless Kong Lingyu panicked and quickly jumped off the wall covering his face. His heartbeat could be heard through his chest.
"Maimai, my Maimai."
For the first time, Kong Lingyu was timid. He didn't want Maimai to recognize him. The plastic bottles scattered on the ground made a thud, attracting the patrolling security guard. From a distance, he could hear the security guard's angry curses.
The students, eager to watch the excitement, gathered in front of the fence, watching Kong Lingyu frantically pick up the plastic bottle and put it into a snakeskin bag. He moved quickly, ignoring the students' jeers. He didn't know if Fang Huai had noticed him, but he had only one thought: run! He couldn't let Maimai see him like this. Run!
Kong Lingyu covered his face tightly, grabbed the snakeskin bag and fled.
The hot phone vibrated against his chest, strangely beating at the same frequency as his heartbeat. He ran wildly into the rain, and for the first time, he knew what it felt like to be moved, what it felt like to be embarrassed, and what it felt like to be inferior and ashamed.
When Kong Lingyu saw the grown-up Fang Huai, his heart skipped a beat, his mind went blank, his tongue was bitten by his teeth, and he couldn't utter any sweet words.
He was disheveled and unkempt, hiding behind the fence and catching a glimpse of his beloved Mai Mai. His heartbeat was overwhelmed by a wave of inferiority. The bulging snakeskin bag behind him and the dark alley filled with sewage told him, "You can't support him, you're not worthy."
The promise he made in his youth became his lifelong obsession, and Fang Huai was the seed of obsession and the end of Kong Lingyu's road.
Of course, he couldn't tell Tan Cheng these words. Facing the curious Tan Cheng, he changed the subject: "How is He Jiangyun doing recently?"
Tan Cheng rolled his eyes in boredom and said, "He's hooking up with that little internet celebrity from the web series again. Mr. He is pretending to be a wealthy man, visiting the set every day, acting so impressive."
"Hey, Kong Lingyu, it's time to repay the favor you owe Wei Lai." Tan Cheng became excited when talking about He Jiangyun. "This old guy has been causing a lot of trouble over the years. He's like an ungrateful person who can't be tamed, as if the whole world owes him something."
Kong Lingyu looked out the window, and the scene before Wei Lai left emerged in his mind. The always proud Wei Lai knelt on the ground and humbly begged him: Don't give up He Jiangyun.
Wei Lai taught him a lot of things, gave him a place to live, and led him to the path he is on today. He is not yet a teacher, so he can only promise to repay the teacher's kindness to the people he cares about.
Have you paid it off?
Almost there.
Kong Lingyu looked at the photos on the phone tiredly, his eyes softened, and his fingertips lightly touched the photos on the screen.
"Hello, the number you dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later."
That night.
Fang Huai lay on the balcony in his slippers, enjoying the cool breeze. The cold wind blew on his face, chilling his heart. His phone remained black, and Li Xuan's voice remained silent. Fang Huai hung up, jokingly saying, "Did they block me?"
He glanced at the withered flowers in the corner of the balcony, suddenly smiled, and murmured, "Since I can't get in touch, forget it."
"good evening."
Meanwhile, Li Xuan was immersed in the lab, looking at the experimental data provided by the students with a frown on his face. "Go ahead and do the calculations. Your calculations are completely off the mark. The data is completely wrong."
"Yes, Professor."
The criticized student quickly took the document and lowered his head.
"Go get busy first." Li Xuan glanced at them and said helplessly, "The experiment must be rigorous and scientific, with repeated attempts. Don't be impatient."
"If you have any questions later, you can call me anytime." After saying that, he gave them a number.
Hearing the unfamiliar number, one student couldn't help but ask curiously, "Professor Li, have you changed your number?"
Li Xuan nodded, "Yeah."
Thanks to that student's interjection, the atmosphere finally lightened. Seeing Li Xuan's easygoing nature, another student chimed in, "Professor Li, you've been busy in the lab for over a month. Your family and friends haven't been able to contact you..." Before he could finish, another student, more perceptive than he, quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Are you a reporter? You're asking so many questions."
"Didn't you see Professor Li's expression change? He's so eager to cause trouble."
Li Xuan took in their actions and smiled, "It's okay, you guys go ahead and do your work."
After they left, Li Xuan tried the experiment again and again, but the results were not ideal. He left the operating table in frustration and sat in the rest area to reflect on his operation and whether there was something wrong.
"Your family and friends..." The student's words rang in his ears at this moment, and Li Xuan knew what the unspoken second half of the sentence meant.
Will his family and friends be worried if they can’t contact you?
His family wouldn't, because he had told Ms. Qiao in advance. His family in China also knew that he was busy with work and was very confident in him... Li Xuan threw away the old card and only told his family about the new one, not Fang Huai.
Thinking of Fang Huai, Li Xuan's mouth drooped and he looked down at his wrist. The mark left by the watch had faded, but he still felt uncomfortable.
In the past, Fang Huai would have definitely come to show his weakness and surrender, but he waited for a long time, and Fang Huai never showed up. Li Xuan deliberately kept himself busy, compressing his time to the extreme, just to avoid thinking about Fang Huai.
He conducted experiments day and night, investigating the guy who harassed him with text messages, deceiving himself into not thinking about Fang Huai, the relationship, and the last unpleasant parting.
Li Xuan knew Fang Huai's number by heart. He wanted to call him countless times, but he always pulled back because of his pride.
Over the past two years, Li Xuan had found himself becoming more impulsive, especially in relationships. He'd relied on Fang Huai's soft side, repeatedly testing his luck and forcing him to yield. Fang Huai had once been his ideal lover, gentle, handsome, and non-aggressive. But now, that docile lover had changed, sprouting thorns that would prick him.
The source of everything goes back to Kong Lingyu. If Kong Lingyu had not appeared, Fang Huai would not have changed, and would not have gotten entangled with any man other than him.
While investigating the harassing text messages, a despicable suspicion emerged in Li Xuan's heart: he suspected that Kong Lingyu was the one who did it.
When a private detective contacted him and asked if he had offended anyone recently, Li Xuan pondered for a long time and the answer was: Yes, Kong Lingyu.
But reason told him that it definitely couldn't be Kong Lingyu. Although Kong Lingyu would do anything to achieve his goal, he would always restrain himself a lot whenever it involved Fang Huai.
This guy cares a lot about what Fang Huai thinks of him. He may want to do such dirty tricks, but he doesn't dare to do it.
Li Xuan remitted some money to the detective and said, "Continue the investigation."
*
"Brother, you're here to see Lingling!"
Seeing Kong Lingyu walk into the ward, Ding Ling sat up excitedly, but seemed to think of something and sat back down, looking at Kong Lingyu with her round eyes.
"Yes, I came to see Lingling." Kong Lingyu touched the girl's furry head and said, "Are you happy these days?"
Ding Ling nodded and shook her head.
Recently, there are always some unfamiliar uncles and aunts holding microphones and asking her a lot of strange questions. She can't answer them, so the adults urge her, which scares her and makes her cry. She is unhappy.
But the brothers and sisters in the hospital drove those people out and protected her all the time, and she was very happy.
Kong Lingyu stayed with the little girl for a while and was relieved to know that her skin had recovered well.
Before leaving, he said to the girl, "Ding Ling, I did something wrong to you. Can you forgive me?"
The innocent Ding Ling raised her head, looked at Kong Lingyu seriously with her clear eyes, and asked, "Brother, is this for my own good?"
Kong Lingyu thought for a while, and when he met the girl's clean and innocent eyes, he couldn't come up with any business negotiation tactics.
It wasn't her people who exposed the incident, but their company used the opportunity to fund Ding Ling's publicity and marketing, which to a certain extent amplified the impact and drew more attention to the incident. It still wasn't purely for Ding Ling's benefit.
"It's not purely that." Kong Lingyu said seriously: "Lingling, I'm sorry."
Ding Ling twitched her lips, looking as if she was about to cry, but she still said stubbornly, "It's okay, I forgive you."
Kong Lingyu was stunned. He was puzzled. "Why?"
Ding Ling wiped her snot on his clothes and said, "Because you have helped me a lot, I will forgive you this time."
"My brother is good to me."
Ding Ling didn't know the complicated world of adults. Her approach to problems was simple, with only one criterion: "Be good to her."
Kong Lingyu wiped the girl's tears and said softly, "Thank you, Lingling. I won't do this again."
"sorry."
After coaxing the girl to sleep, Kong Lingyu said goodbye to Wang Ting, walked out of the ward with light steps, came to the familiar office and knocked on the door.
"Please come in." Huaitou said without raising his head while he was writing medical records.
Kong Lingyu walked straight up to Fang Huai and said, "Maimai, I will change."
Fang Huai looked up and opened his mouth to say something when Xu Hangran rushed in and pulled him out the door.
Xu Hangran gasped and said, "Teacher! Oh no! Something happened to Ding Ling!"
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