All blood
Jiang Yuanzhou found me when the bell rang for the end of evening study.
He walked towards me with some hesitation and stopped two steps away from me.
"Can we talk?"
His voice was a little hoarse and he had obvious dark circles under his eyes.
Since the "Yao Xin" incident that day, we have had very little contact. When we passed each other in the corridor, I saw his hesitant look.
But I don't know how to face him.
In fact, I am not angry, but more of a feeling of powerlessness, and even some regret.
I once firmly believed that the bond we shared growing up together was indestructible. If I had known earlier that "love" was so fragile, I would never have allowed it to destroy our friendship...
"Go ahead," Lulu pushed me from behind and winked at me, "you two should talk it out."
Then, without waiting for my reaction, he ran out of the classroom with his schoolbag.
We stopped under the locust tree where he confessed his love to me.
It was here that I vaguely remembered a few months ago when he said he liked me with red ears and stumbling over it.
Standing here at this moment, I feel as if I am in another world.
Jiang Yuanzhou suddenly turned around and hugged me with his arms.
His school uniform had the familiar smell of laundry detergent.
"I'm sorry," his voice was muffled on my shoulder, and his chin hurt me a little. "I was wrong last time... I shouldn't have lost my temper with you."
I didn't say anything and didn't push him away.
I could feel his chest vibrate slightly, and his breathing was heavier than usual.
He loosened his grip a little and looked down at me. The distance was so close that I could see the bloodshot in his eyes.
"Did you stay up late again last night?"
I couldn't help but reach out and touch the dark circles under his eyes.
He grabbed my fingers, a little tight, but his voice softened, "I'm sorry, Nian Nian."
"I failed the last mock exam. The college entrance exam is coming up soon, and I..." His voice trailed off, as if he was a little annoyed. "I was too anxious, and the pressure was a bit too much... I'm sorry."
I said "hmm" and let him hold my hand without pulling it back.
He seemed to notice the unusualness of my attitude and pinched my fingertips, as if to confirm something, before slowly speaking, "We won't break up over such a small matter, right?"
His palms were warm, reminding me of how he would put my cold hands in his pockets in winter.
"No," I heard myself say, my voice calm. "We've been friends for so many years. Even if...what happens in the future, we'll still be friends."
His fingers stiffened for a moment, and the air was silent for a moment.
"I'm sorry, Nian Nian..." He hugged me tighter.
I know what he is thinking.
It is easy to take the step from "friends" to "lovers", but how easy is it to go back to the original position?
Neither of us seemed to be good at handling this subtle change in the relationship, which is why we went into a cold war for so long because of a piece of news.
We tacitly agreed not to mention "Yao Xin" again.
I didn't delve into what the phrase "still friends" actually meant.
Some things, if said too clearly, will make the situation more difficult to handle, so it’s better to leave it this way for now.
————
"Niannian, didn't Lulu come back with you after school today?" It was almost eleven o'clock when Aunt Zhou called.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Aunt Zhou, Lulu...isn't with me. Should she go home directly after school?"
I remembered the news I kept seeing on TV recently about single women disappearing on their way home.
A bad premonition gripped my heart. As I put on my shoes and went out, I called Jiang Yuanzhou, "Jiang Yuanzhou, Lulu is missing, come out and look for her."
We searched the route we usually took after school three times, looking in every corner where he might have lingered, but there was no sign of him.
No one answered Lulu's phone calls.
I suddenly felt a little regretful.
Evening self-study classes were already very late, and Lulu never paid attention and always liked to take shortcuts to save time...
"Is nothing going to happen?" My throat was dry and all kinds of horrible scenes from social news flashed through my mind uncontrollably.
"No, don't think too much." Jiang Yuanzhou's words of comfort were very pale.
"Why? Why do you have to talk to me after school!"
I was so upset and regretful that I couldn't help but vent my emotions on him, saying, "If only we went home together like usual, everything would be fine."
I know he is innocent, but he just clenched his phone and said nothing.
It was almost one in the morning when Lulu finally called back.
"Hello..." Her voice was shaking badly.
"Lulu! Where are you?!" I almost shouted in anxiety.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds, followed by a burst of suppressed sobbing, intermittent, as if someone was trying hard to hold it back but couldn't.
"Hospital... Second Hospital..."
————
When we arrived at the hospital, Lulu was sitting on the stone steps outside the emergency room.
The pale light from the street lamp shone on her, and her wrinkled school uniform wrapped around her thin body.
Her cuffs and lapels were covered in dark red blood.
I was shocked and my heart almost jumped out of my throat.
"Lulu?"
I squatted down and put my hands on her shoulders. She hugged her knees tightly and curled up into a small ball, as if trying to hide herself.
When she finally looked up, I gasped.
Her right cheek was swollen, blood clots formed at the corners of her mouth, her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her face was covered with dried tear marks, and new tears were still falling.
Jiang Yuanzhou immediately took off his coat and put it on her. "What happened?"
"I'm fine...Cheng Yu'an..."
Her voice was so hoarse that it almost broke.
My heart sank and I wanted to pull her hand, but my fingertips touched the back of her hand, which was frighteningly cold.
"It was those thugs from the backstreet. They... suddenly covered my mouth from behind and dragged me into the alley..."
Lulu didn't seem to feel the cold, she just kept shivering and talking incoherently.
"Cheng Yu'an... he suddenly appeared..."
"Why did you show up... didn't you say you didn't know me? Didn't you say... you were a stranger?"
Her emotions suddenly became agitated and tears burst out.
"He's only one person... there are four or five of them," she said, her teeth chattering.
"He pushed them away and told me to run first... then... then I heard..." She began to tremble violently, tears streaming down her face. "So much blood... blood everywhere..."
"I called his name... I covered his head with my hands..." Lulu sobbed, but continued stubbornly, her open palms still stained with dried, dark blood, "But the blood kept flowing... I couldn't cover it... I couldn't cover it at all..."
"Lulu, we don't want to do it anymore. We don't want to do it anymore..."
I hugged her with heartache. Her tears quickly soaked the clothes on my shoulders. They were so hot that it was frightening. Her body was trembling and gasping in my arms.
"Niannian!" She suddenly grabbed my wrist tightly, her eyes filled with desperate pleading, "Can you help me go check on him? Go see how he is... I... I don't dare to go in... I don't dare to look..."
I just nodded desperately, my eyes were sore, and I held Lulu's hand tightly.
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