(55)
Ye Wenyu put on an old white trench coat, held a black umbrella, and carried a heavy backpack containing the lessons she had painstakingly prepared for the children she tutored at the library. Then she set off.
My body is sick and very weak. I feel dizzy and unsteady when I walk.
Sitting on the bus, she started to have a fever again. Her body was fluctuating between hot and cold, her face was flushed, but her hands and feet were ice cold. She kept coughing, which attracted the attention of other passengers. An aunt who was sitting close to her even fled from her as if she were escaping a plague when she saw that there were empty seats in the back.
She saw it, and her heart grew even colder and more painful as a result.
No one cared about her; in fact, her illness made her even more disliked. Ye Wenyu felt no warmth in her heart. When the bus arrived at the station, she got off in a daze and began to stagger towards her employer's house.
For her, at this moment, the road surface was no longer the solid road it usually was, but the floating sea. She was like a person about to drown in the ocean. She wanted to cry, but she knew that crying would be useless, so she gritted her teeth and tried her best to control herself.
In that instant, the backpack on my back felt as heavy as a stone. A torrential downpour began, the rain like gray tendons, forming a curtain between heaven and earth. A fierce wind began to blow, howling and howling, interspersed with terrifying lightning and frighteningly loud thunder.
In such a raging storm, the ailing Ye Wenyu didn't even have the strength to hold her umbrella tightly. Her body and the umbrella were swaying back and forth in the wind. She was like a kite with a broken string. With each step forward, her body swayed. Sometimes, because she was too weak, the umbrella tilted to one side, and the rain poured down like a torrential downpour, soaking her to the bone.
Finally, she arrived at her destination. She knocked on her employer's door, soaked to the bone. Her fever seemed to have worsened, her face was as pale as a corpse, and she was coughing violently. Her long hair was stuck to her face, dripping water incessantly.
She walked so laboriously to her employer's house, but the parent glanced at her and said, "Teacher Ye, it's flu season now. You look like you have a bad cold. You don't need to teach today. Go home and get well. My child is weak—"
She understood what the parents meant; they were afraid that her illness would spread to their child. The child who would usually appear promptly when the teacher knocked on the door hadn't shown up, probably because they were afraid of the virus she might be carrying. She could only nod, turn around, and walk out again.
The wind outside grew stronger, the rain seemed to intensify, and her high fever worsened. She became increasingly delirious, her strength gradually waning. With difficulty, she left her employer's residential area and reached the street outside.
A gust of wind blew the umbrella out of her hand and onto the ground. The wind then carried the umbrella forward. Ye Wenyu stood there, soaked by the heavy rain, watching helplessly as the umbrella, aided by the wind, seemed to have grown legs and traveled a great distance. She felt powerless. The icy rain stung her like thorns. Suddenly, she felt dizzy and could no longer hold on. Her vision went black, and she fell heavily to the ground.
Her body touched the cold cement floor, and a piercing pain shot through her. Stars flashed before her eyes. She was still conscious, but she would rather pass out than have such a miserable state of mind. She thought she should just die like this, and that would be the end of it all, because living was just too painful for her.
She gave up struggling, lying on the cold ground, letting the wind and rain assault her. She thought painfully of what her mother had told her when she was little: the most tragic thing for a person was to die on the street, becoming a roadside corpse. Whenever it was windy and rainy outside, her mother would always hold her in their small, dilapidated house, saying happily, "Xiaoyu, look, although we are poor, we have a house, a home. When the wind and rain come, we can hide inside. We are lucky. Some people in this world don't even have a home; they can only wander outside, or even die there."
Tears streamed uncontrollably from Ye Wenyu's eyes. She thought painfully, "Mom, I've become the most miserable person in the world. I've become a corpse lying on the street. I'm so young, and I'm going to die out there."
She didn't know how much time had passed when she saw a car stop. A tall man in black, holding an umbrella, strode towards her. Then the rain stopped, and the man in black squatted down under the umbrella. She felt that the cold raindrops were no longer hitting her like stones. She opened her eyes and saw a pair of familiar feet. She mustered all her strength and looked up, seeing a familiar, handsome face. It was him, Lin Tingfeng. Tears immediately welled up again, filled with grievance.
She cried quietly there, tears mingling with the raindrops still wet on her face. Then, she heard a deep sigh and felt herself being pulled into a warm, broad embrace by a pair of strong male hands. Lin Tingfeng threw his umbrella aside, reached out and pulled her into his arms. The two of them walked in the rain, and he strode forward, carrying her into the car.
His embrace was as warm and comforting as fire, filling her with a sense of longing. She pressed herself tightly against his chest, able to hear his strong heartbeat. Tears streamed down her face. If she hadn't met him today, she would surely have died out there, lying dead on the street.
She couldn't tell if what she was seeing was real or not, but she didn't care. Even if it was a dream, it was still a beautiful dream. She greedily pressed her cold little face tightly against his hot chest. She reached out and hugged his waist tightly. She burst into tears, venting all the bitterness and grievances of the past six months.
She could feel him trembling; he was desperately trying to control himself. In the absolute silence, she could hear his rapid heartbeat, fast yet steady and powerful.
Did his heartbeat change because of her?
Could it be that he loved her too? Just like she loved him? But before this, Ye Wenyu's heart was filled with doubts, and various scenes from the past floated through her mind, like scenes from a movie montage: his hand suddenly clenching and then swiftly releasing; when he handed her something, his five fingers were outstretched, his palm flat, avoiding contact with her hand; he hadn't appeared for months; he didn't give her his phone number or WeChat contact information; even when she asked him for his phone number, he refused to give it to her?
How could he possibly love her? He probably doesn't even have the slightest bit of affection for her.
But never mind, live in the moment. At this very moment, nestled in his arms, she felt warm and comfortable. A tremendous sense of security and stability flowed through her thin, damp body through his heartbeat, making her feel safe and happy.
Ye Wenyu pressed her face even closer to Lin Tingfeng's chest, like a docile cat, curling up in his arms and snuggling even tighter.
Lin Tingfeng lowered his head, gazing at her and observing her subtle movements. A smile gradually appeared on his lips without him even realizing it.
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