Chapter 1 A Nightmare: The policeman said her father was dead. ...
Unrequited Love Has a Good Time
By Gucheng Luoyu
Published on 2024.09.28
——
Zhu Liushuang had a dream.
In her dream, she was walking home alone with a heavy schoolbag on her back when she bumped into her father, who was rushing over excitedly.
"Why are you free to pick me up from school today? Mom said you two had to work overtime this morning before I left." Despite her young age, she spoke with a maturity beyond her years.
The father smiled, took the schoolbag off her shoulder, and slung it over his own shoulder, his tone exceptionally gentle: "Today is Shuangshuang's birthday, and Dad took half a day off especially for this. Your mother is already at home making dinner..."
His large, rough hands took her thin, small hands in his.
The sun was about to set; winter nights fall particularly early. The cement road stretched towards the other side of the twilight horizon. In the distance, vast stretches of camphor trees stretched endlessly.
Suddenly, her father disappeared. She was left all alone on the winding path.
Zhu Liushuang searched anxiously around, but the area was empty. She suddenly ran towards home.
"Dad! Dad..." she called out with all her might along the way.
No one responded.
He shouted until he was hoarse, but still no one answered.
As darkness fell, a cold wind swept over her, chilling her tear-streaked face.
On the quiet, deserted path, she bent over, panting heavily. Her doe-like, bright eyes held both stubbornness and bewilderment.
"Zhu Xiangdong—" With her last bit of strength, she straightened up and called out her father's name loudly, including his full name.
The wind stopped, the leaves ceased rustling, and darkness fell completely. The shouts seemed to have been swallowed by the night, vanishing without a trace.
Suddenly, a blinding white light pulled her back from the darkness.
A dull knocking sound came from outside the door.
Zhu Liushuang hesitated before opening the door: "Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked hesitantly.
The corridor lights flickered on and off, and two police officers in blue uniforms stood by the door.
She couldn't see their faces clearly, but she heard someone ask her, "Young lady, is this Zhu Xiangdong's home?"
With a loud crash, the porcelain bowl in my hand fell to the ground, shards flying everywhere.
"Shuangshuang, did you break the bowl again? I told you to be careful!" the mother shouted outside.
Zhu Liushuang turned her head toward the kitchen, her eyes glazed over. "Mom, the police said Dad is dead."
But she couldn't hear her own voice no matter what she did.
Her throat felt like it was being squeezed tightly, and then she plunged into the middle of the lake. The icy water rushed towards her from all sides. Her feet felt like they were being pricked with needles, a piercing pain. Soon, the water submerged her waist, chest, and head…
"Liu Shuang, Liu Shuang—" someone was calling her urgently.
...
Zhu Liushuang slowly opened her eyes, her gaze blank, not daring to move.
Her colleague Zhuang Xiaoqian waved her hand in front of her and asked with some concern, "I just saw you shaking while you were sleeping. Did you have a nightmare?"
The rain was pouring down outside, pounding against the windowpanes with a loud "clatter." It took Zhu Liushuang a while to come to her senses.
"I'm probably a little tired because I haven't rested well these past few days. Thank you, Sister Zhuang." She forced a weak smile in response to her colleague's concern.
Zhuang Xiaoqian picked up the remote control on the table and turned up the air conditioner temperature a bit. "There's a lot going on at the beginning of the month, so don't be too anxious. Take it slow." She was the cashier, had joined the company two years earlier than Zhu Liushuang, and was several years older, so her mindset was naturally more relaxed.
Zhu Liushuang gave a token smile to express her gratitude, then turned her gaze from the window back to the computer screen.
The Excel spreadsheet was filled with densely packed numbers, and at that moment she felt dizzy and lightheaded.
The numbers she dealt with every day kept flashing in her eyes, like swarms of ants crawling in and slowly gnawing at her skin.
Zhu Liushuang shuddered, goosebumps instantly rising on her arms.
Zhuang Xiaoqian reached out with the water glass in her hand and pressed it against her forehead: "You don't have a fever, do you? I clearly turned the air conditioner up..."
The sudden physical contact made her involuntarily shrink back. Zhu Liushuang awkwardly pulled Zhuang Xiaoqian's hand away and said casually, "Sister Zhuang, I'm fine. I'm just still a bit groggy from my nap."
"It's good that you're alright... But you seemed a bit off after lunch. Is it... something's wrong?" Zhuang Xiaoqian leaned closer and asked.
Zhu Liushuang stopped typing and said, "It's not difficult. By the way, Sister Zhuang, aren't you going to the bank this afternoon to make a deposit?"
The topic was quickly moved on, and Zhuang Xiaoqian finally remembered that she had important business to attend to, so she stopped bothering Zhu Liushuang with small talk.
"It's raining so hard, I really don't want to go out. Poor working people..."
Despite complaining, she still grabbed the umbrella from the table and hurriedly left.
After Zhuang Xiaoqian left, only Zhu Liushuang remained in the finance office. The keyboard made a "clattering" sound, and after a while, the typing stopped abruptly.
Zhuang Xiaoqian was right; she had indeed been out of sorts ever since lunch. More precisely, it started after she saw that news report.
————
Rewind to noon that day, Zhu Liushuang, as usual, went to the public canteen downstairs for lunch with Zhuang Xiaoqian.
While waiting in line for her food, she heard a considerable commotion ahead of her.
"Have you guys seen today's trending topics on Weibo? It's so bloody..."
"What's trending?"
"Headline in the social section: Passenger assaults bus driver, face covered in blood..."
Zhu Liushuang's right hand, which was holding the plate, paused, and he almost spilled the whole plate of boiled fish.
Fortunately, Zhuang Xiaoqian behind her reacted quickly and helped her catch it, saying, "Be careful, the red oil is spilling out."
Zhu Liushuang then noticed her lapse in composure, stared at the shiny red spot on the back of her hand for two seconds in silence, and quickly put two bowls of vegetarian dishes into her plate.
The cafeteria was packed. They arrived late and could only find two seats near the food collection area, so they had to share a table with others.
However, she didn't pay attention to who was sitting next to her the whole time, her eyes were glued to her phone screen, so much so that she didn't even notice when the person next to her greeted her.
Having not logged into Weibo for a long time, it was a bit laggy when it opened. After waiting a moment, Zhu Liushuang eagerly clicked into the trending topics page. The headline of the social section prominently displayed the words: "Jiangcheng bus driver attacked, passenger detained." The word "boiling" followed the title.
The official footage of the incident was blurred out. Even so, resourceful netizens have already doxxed the driver and the passenger involved.
Others, claiming to be colleagues or family members of other passengers on the bus, shared their accounts on Weibo.
The comments section was filled with condemnation, mostly directed at the perpetrator.
Of course, some people questioned whether the driver's response was appropriate.
Zhu Liushuang stared at the comments one by one, feeling a tightness in her chest.
No one is an island. Fortunately, several strong young people on the bus stepped forward this time, preventing a more serious consequence. Do you all remember the bus accident in Gucheng that plunged into the lake thirteen years ago? Eleven lives were lost...
Jiangcheng is right next to Gucheng, and this comment caused a huge uproar. The number of likes increased rapidly, and the discussion in the comments section became extremely heated. Zhu Liushuang's finger froze in mid-air, hesitant to click.
"Do you have a grudge against this plate of boiled fish? If you poke it again, the fish pieces will turn into sieves..." Zhuang Xiaoqian joked with her.
Zhu Liushuang lowered her head, took a deep breath, locked her phone screen, forced a smile, and said, "It's too spicy, I can't eat it. Do you want some?"
Zhuang Xiaoqian was about to say, "You haven't even eaten yet, how can you think it's spicy?" But seeing the two drops of red oil that Zhu Liu hadn't wiped off the back of his hands, she shook her head helplessly, "I've been feeling hot lately, I can't eat it either."
As she spoke, she picked up a tissue and wiped away the two glaring drops of red oil for Liu Shuang.
The lunch was unusually dull.
The two have been working in the same office for two years. They usually have things to talk about during lunch, but today was an exception.
As she was leaving after throwing away the leftovers, Zhuang Xiaoqian teased her, "Why did you leave so much food today? Are you not hungry or are you on a diet?"
"Losing weight..." Zhu Liushuang said casually.
It was sweltering and muggy outside, with torrential rain pouring down. But the air conditioning inside the office building was blasting.
Looking at Zhu Liushuang's slender back, Zhuang Xiaoqian said, "Oh my sister, you're already so thin, and you still want to lose weight... How am I supposed to live?"
Zhu Liushuang's thoughts were still on Jiang Cai's trending topic, but she didn't forget to respond. She stopped and turned to look at Zhuang Xiaoqian, her tone sincere: "Sister Zhuang, you're not fat at all, you're definitely curvy, I'm so envious!"
A barrage of flattery made Zhuang Xiaoqian beam with joy. She took Zhu Liushuang's arm and said, "You have such a sweet tongue. My sister is getting married in November. Do you want to be her bridesmaid?"
"Congratulations!" Zhu Liushuang said, perking up. "Bridegroom? If you need someone later, I can fill in..." The last part of her sentence was ambiguous.
Zhuang Xiaoqian knew that suddenly inviting others to be her bridesmaids was a bit abrupt. But she wasn't young anymore, and most of her friends were already married, so getting six bridesmaids together wouldn't be an easy task.
Then her tone became even more enthusiastic: "My husband's colleagues are all talented young men, I'll introduce you to some. Also, there are six groomsmen on the wedding day. If you take a fancy to any of them, I'll set you up."
"Sister Zhuang, I'm still young, I'm not thinking about dating..." Zhu Liushuang didn't want to offend her colleague, so she had to make up an excuse.
“You’re not young anymore, you’ve been out of school for two years. Start looking now, date for a few years, and then talk about marriage…” Zhuang Xiaoqian advised with the air of someone who had been through it all. “It’s settled then! In September, I’ll take you to try on bridesmaid dresses.”
Since things had come to this point, Zhu Liushuang couldn't refuse any longer for the sake of their colleague relationship.
"Was the guy sitting next to you just now from the tech department? I saw him trying to fawn over you with a big smile, but you ignored him, which was so embarrassing..." There were only two people in the elevator, and Zhuang Xiaoqian covered her mouth and gossiped quietly.
"Huh? Who is it? I didn't notice..." Zhu Liushuang was completely confused.
The elevator doors closed slowly, cutting off the conversation inside.
A few minutes later, two pairs of gleaming leather shoes appeared at the elevator entrance.
A young man with slicked-back hair put his arm around another man's shoulder and said sarcastically, "Didn't you say you could win over Accountant Zhu within three months? It's been two and a half months, and she hasn't even given you a second glance..."
The man who had lost face sat next to Zhu Liushuang at lunch. His name was Wang Yizheng, and he was a new employee hired last year in the technology department of Ruixin Technology Co., Ltd. He usually liked to flirt with pretty young girls.
A few months ago, the technical department overcame a significant problem, and Wang Yi was the key player. As a result, more and more people began to flatter him. After hearing so much praise, he naturally became arrogant.
The tech department is entirely male, and when they go out drinking and socializing, they often gossip about the women in the company. Who's pretty, who's easy to get along with, who has connections…
When talking about Zhu Liushuang, everyone agreed that this girl was pure and beautiful, the kind of girl who evoked pity. However, she was always polite to everyone, making her seem quite difficult to pursue.
Someone egged Wang Yizheng on, saying, "Brother Zheng, I heard you're good at flirting with girls. How about you meet up with our finance department's beautiful Zhu?"
The man, who had been drinking, slurred his words and patted his chest, making a boastful statement: "What's there to be afraid of? Three months, I guarantee I'll get him!" He made a "three" gesture with his finger, and his flushed face revealed a sly smile.
Zhu Liushuang was unaware of these things.
Wang Yizheng recalled the setback he had suffered at Zhu Liushuang's hands two months ago, feeling somewhat embarrassed. He gritted his teeth and said, "She has high standards; she wouldn't even look at me. Look at her delicate appearance; she probably has someone backing her up! Otherwise, how could she, a mere accounting assistant, have been promoted so quickly?"
"Keep your voice down, it'll be crowded at lunchtime." The slick-back-haired man glanced around. "The young lady seems honest and hardworking. Don't spread rumors about her..."
Wang Yi glanced at his colleague, then said angrily, "Whose side are you on? Just wait, your true colors will eventually come out..."
A note from the author:
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I've started a new story! Please support me, my darlings, and add it to your favorites!
Please take a minute to carefully read the reading guide~
Reading Guide:
1. Double C/HE
2. Highlight! A story about a woman's unrequited love (the female lead has a lot of inner thoughts in the early stages; unrequited love always involves some heartache).
3. The female lead comes from a poor family, but she lives a good life, works hard to earn money, takes care of her family, and tries her best not to depend on others.
4. Realistic small-town literature, slow-burn, with everyday family life.
If you don't like it, you can leave on your own. No need to inform me if you want to drop the article. Thank you.
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