Chapter 31
The rain in early July was incessant, leaving only a few students staying on campus for the summer. Li Muxue stood by the dormitory window, her fingertips futilely tracing the glass, trying to wipe away the tiny raindrops, as if hoping to soothe the anxiety in her heart.
Xu Chen will be released from prison in three days.
"Muxue, can you take a look and see if this pregnancy test is broken?"
Gao Yun's voice came from behind, slightly trembling. Li Muxue turned around and saw the delicate woman from the Jiangnan water towns wearing a silk nightgown, clutching a pregnancy test stick in her hand; the two red lines were glaringly obvious. Gao Yun's boyfriend was from the Japanese department next door; he had even brought bubble tea to the dormitory a few days ago. He didn't seem like the type to abandon someone. But that night, Gao Yun's boyfriend, who looked remarkably like Hidetoshi Nakata, said on the phone, "How do I know if it's mine?" and then there was no answer. Gao Yun cried until midnight. The next morning, there was a loud crash from the bathroom. When Li Muxue burst into the bathroom, Gao Yun's wrist was soaking in bloody water, next to a cracked enamel basin.
Emergency treatment, blood transfusion, hospitalization for observation, and then an abortion.
The lights in the emergency room were old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, blindingly bright. As the nurse inserted the syringe into Gao Yun's hand, Li Muxue pulled out a train ticket from her pocket, rubbing the date "July 12th" until it creased with her fingertips. The doctor said she had been saved, but was six weeks pregnant and had undergone an abortion. She was emotionally unstable after the procedure and needed constant care. Gao Yun's parents were doing business in another province, and she dared not tell them this devastating news. Yue Bingrou, a local, had returned to the suburbs to help her grandmother harvest wheat; her family didn't have a phone, so she could only communicate via the village public phone, and said she wouldn't be able to return to the city for ten days. Meanwhile, another roommate, Qin Xin, had already taken leave to return to her hometown in Northwest China before Gao Yun's accident, to attend her grandfather's funeral.
Gao Yun lay on the hospital bed, her voice weak: "Mu Xue. Actually, you don't need to worry about me. I know you're looking forward to seeing Xu Chen."
Li Muxue sat down beside Gao Yun's bed, hiding the anxiety in her eyes, and smiled gently, smoothing the stray hairs on her forehead: "Don't talk nonsense, Bingrou will be back soon, and someone will take care of you then. I'll go home. It's only a few days, Xu Chen and I..." Li Muxue paused, "There's plenty of time."
"But I..." Gao Yun wanted to say something, but a sharp pain in her lower abdomen suddenly interrupted her.
Gao Yun lay on the hospital bed, her face as white as the hospital sheets, the IV drip slowly falling. Li Muxue looked at her, then glanced at the train ticket in her hand, suddenly stuffed it into her pocket, and turned to go to the train station. The aunt at the ticket refund window glanced at her and said, "A 20% handling fee is deducted for ticket refunds." She nodded, clutching the change she received, feeling as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out…
Those few days felt like being submerged in lukewarm water, dragging on endlessly. Every morning, Li Muxue would carry a thermos from her dorm to a snack bar near the hospital to buy millet porridge, and also bring Gao Yun two tea eggs. At noon, she would sit by Gao Yun's bedside and read her a copy of "Reader's Digest," but her mind would drift off, because according to the schedule, Xu Chen should have been released from prison by now, and she wondered what he was doing? Was he upset that she hadn't picked him up? At night, Gao Yun would always cry in her dreams, shouting, "Abin, don't leave me!" and then wake up with a start. Li Muxue would sit by the bed and pat her back until dawn before she could finally doze off for a while...
The day Yue Bingrou returned, the rain that had been falling for several days finally stopped, but it was still overcast. Yue Bingrou carried a bag of freshly picked peaches and said, "My mom asked me to bring these for you; they're very sweet!"
Li Muxue didn't have time to eat the peaches. She explained Gao Yun's medical records and prescriptions to Yue Bingrou, grabbed her canvas bag, and ran to the train station. Her hastily purchased ticket was for a standing ticket. She squeezed into the connecting area between carriages, holding onto the rusty railing. During the six-hour bumpy ride, she imagined Xu Chen's expression when he saw her—surprise, joy, perhaps even ruffling her hair like before, calling her "silly girl." Maybe he'd even be wearing that black T-shirt she thought was the coolest, clutching a mung bean ice cream. He always said ice cream was the ultimate summer treat…
The familiar atmosphere of her hometown still lingered. Li Muxue carried her luggage bag and practically ran out of the train station. She took the No. 204 bus for an hour and arrived at her familiar stop. After getting off the bus, she ran towards Xu Chen's house. The alleys in the old town were full of potholes, and she tripped and fell, scraping her knee but not caring about the pain.
The moment she arrived at the new dormitory building of Huaxing Machinery Factory, she was stunned by the scene before her. Because the entire factory had been auctioned off, including the dormitory building, the property rights had been transferred to a real estate developer. Therefore, relocation was underway, and a few neighbors hadn't yet moved out. But she was certain that Xu Chen had already moved away, because she saw that the familiar window was missing its glass, the frame smashed, leaving only a dark, square hole…
Li Muxue panicked and started looking for the neighbors who hadn't moved out yet. Finally, she found Zhao Xiujuan, who used to work in the factory's finance department. She was Aunt Zhao, who treated Xu Chen like her own mother. When Zhao Xiujuan saw her, she sighed and said, "Xiaoxue, why are you only coming back now? Xiao Chen has left. She asked me to give this to you."
Aunt Zhao handed Li Muxue a manila envelope. Her fingers trembled as she opened it. Inside was no letter, only a developed photograph—a picture she'd taken of Xu Chen on the playground during their senior year of high school. Xu Chen stood under the basketball hoop, sunlight falling on his face, his smile revealing his tiger teeth. On the back of the photo were Xu Chen's words, each stroke written with great force: "Muxue, you should have a new life. Don't wait for me. I'm going to work in the south. You study hard in university, become a French translator, and don't hang out with someone like me with a criminal record..."
Li Muxue stood frozen in place, the July sunlight suddenly turning bone-chillingly cold...
(To be continued)
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