Chapter 114 Secondary Injury All that was happening before my eyes was so absurd…
The hour and a half of torment was a real test for her.
However, Zhu Liushuang did not blame her friend for this, after all, ignorance is no excuse.
It all started with her.
The nightmare occurred when she was in fifth grade. At that time, she was immersed in the grief of losing her father, weak, helpless, and lost, and had not yet mustered the courage to fight back against her abuser.
For many years afterward, she seemed to have completely forgotten this memory.
Or perhaps, her body had activated its protective mechanism, erasing those unbearable dark memories from her mind. It wasn't until that day—when she and He Ming were trapped in the company warehouse—that fragmented memories resurfaced, instantly shattering her reason.
However, tonight Zhu Liushuang didn't break down emotionally like that day. At least, she could calmly sit in the movie theater and watch the movie with Tian Xingyu.
As the film nears its end, the protagonist, now reborn, stands at the university gate with her suitcase. She looks up, peering through her fingers at the azure sky above. Gentle sunlight bathes her, a breeze ruffles the stray hairs at her temples, and the image freezes her radiant smile for a long, lingering moment…
She thought this was the end of the story and was about to get up and leave when her friend grabbed her arm.
"Shuangshuang, there's a bonus scene...you absolutely have to see this!"
The insistence in her friend's tone touched a nerve. Although Zhu Liushuang didn't understand what her friend meant, she still obediently turned her head and focused her attention back on the big screen.
The screen dimmed, casting a soft glow over the image. Suddenly, young, unfamiliar faces appeared in the center of the screen. They bravely looked directly at the camera, revealing their experiences of being bullied during their school days. Wounds that had barely healed were exposed again; some wept, while others smiled with relief…
A cool sensation trickled down her lips, but Zhu Liushuang was oblivious to it.
The screen went dark.
Immediately afterwards, the crisp sound of typing filled the air. A line of white text appeared on the large, dark screen: This film is based on a true story; all students involved in bullying depicted in the film have been punished according to the relevant laws…
The film ends here.
The cold white lights suddenly illuminated the entire theater.
Amidst a murmur of surprise, the audience scrambled to their seats and slowly moved towards the exit with the noisy flow of people. The surrounding seats were all empty, except for Zhu Liushuang and Tian Xingyu, who remained seated, unmoved.
"Ayu?" Zhu Liushuang turned her head with slightly red eyes, only to find that her friend was already in tears.
"Waaaaah... Shuangshuang, do you know why I brought you to see this movie?" Two pairs of tearful eyes met, and Tian Xingyu threw herself into Zhu Liushuang's arms, sobbing uncontrollably, "I... I just remembered back in high school, Wei Xuan and the others... bullied you..."
Zhu Liushuang was taken aback, as if she suddenly understood something, and let out a breath. She raised her hand and gently patted her friend's back: "Ayu, I know... I know."
"Waaah...you don't know...I hated them so much back then...I just hoped that these paper tigers who bullied others would get their comeuppance someday!" Tian Xingyu was still sobbing, but then she turned her beautiful eyes and said, "Shuangshuang, I have some good news to tell you secretly."
"What?" The hand that had landed on his back paused.
“Last month, Wei Xuan’s father went to jail for embezzling public funds…” Tian Xingyu said, wiping away her tears, then quickly changed her expression and said, “Wei Xuan’s wedding was called off because of this. Don’t you think this is karma?”
Does evil have its consequences?
Zhu Liushuang had to admit that she felt extremely happy when she heard the news.
But this belated joy cannot erase the gray marks left by the ostracism and ridicule she once suffered. Although those wounds were not as profound as those of her childhood, they still formed a thick scab in her heart, and would still cause her faint pain whenever she dreamt of them in the middle of the night.
Fortunately, she was not cowardly at all during high school.
She understood that giving in would only embolden her roommates to bully her even more.
So she raised her body full of spikes, forging an impenetrable armor that forced them back step by step.
That's why they dared not provoke her again. For three years of high school, although they were like strangers, they lived in relative peace.
"Yeah, what goes around comes around." Gazing at her friend's tear-streaked face, Zhu Liushuang couldn't help but laugh and cry. "I was the one who was ostracized back then, so why are you crying even harder than me?"
"Of course it's because I care about you!" Tian Xingyu said in a muffled voice.
Yes, she cares about her, she cares about her a lot!
What would her life have been like during her three years of high school without Tian Xingyu's constant companionship?
Zhu Liushuang dared not think about it any further.
"Ayu, thank you!" she said hoarsely, her voice trembling slightly.
How many times has she thanked her?
Zhu Liushuang couldn't remember.
There must have been hundreds, if not thousands, of times, right?
But the word "thank you" was simply not enough to express her gratitude to her friend.
Like He Ming, A Yu was a ray of light that illuminated her bleak youth.
Tian Xingyu was still immersed in the indignation of talking about the past when she was suddenly stared at by Zhu Liushuang's straightforward and gentle gaze. She was touched but also a little embarrassed.
"Hey, Shuangshuang, stop looking at me like that..." She brushed her hand away and turned back as if deliberately trying to avoid it. "If you keep staring at me like that, I'm going to melt. No wonder you can warm up this block of ice, Senior He..."
"I insist on watching..." Zhu Liushuang clung to her friend relentlessly.
...
In the empty IMAX theater, two young girls were huddled together. It wasn't until the cleaning lady came in with a mop and bucket and urged them to leave that they finally slipped out hand in hand.
————
After leaving the movie theater, which was filled with the smell of popcorn, the two went down the escalator to the first floor of the mall.
"A new bakery recently opened, and I heard the bread is pretty good. Shall we go check it out?" Zhu Liushuang asked, looking around.
Just then, Tian Xingyu's cell phone vibrated at an inopportune moment.
"Why aren't you answering?" Zhu Liushuang stopped and asked when she saw her friend not moving for a while.
Tian Xingyu frowned and muttered, "It's my mom... Calling at this hour can't be good!"
"If you don't answer, Auntie will get worried." Zhu Liushuang shook her friend's arm, signaling her to answer the phone quickly.
Helpless, Tian Xingyu reluctantly took out her phone and answered, "Hello, Mom..."
While waiting for her friend to answer the phone, Zhu Liushuang stood quietly to the side, her gaze casually falling on the billboard of a gold shop not far away. The shop was having a New Year's Day sale, and there were quite a few people crowded at the entrance. While keeping an eye on what was happening on her friend's end, she idly observed the customers coming and going.
Suddenly, a young woman's face flashed across my vision.
Zhu Liushuang turned her head away in surprise. When she composed herself and looked back at the entrance of the jewelry store, that face was nowhere to be found.
She must have been mistaken! She withdrew her thoughtful gaze and stopped paying attention to the fleeting figure.
“Shuangshuang…I…” Tian Xingyu called out to her hesitantly after hanging up the phone.
Zhu Liushuang immediately noticed her friend's change in mood and asked gently, "What did Auntie say?"
Amidst the background noise of shops and the clamor of people, Tian Xingyu sighed and said, "My mom had dinner with her old friends in the west of the city tonight and got a little drunk. She insists that I pick her up now... It will take at least an hour to drive from here to the west of the city."
Sensitive as she is, she instantly understood her friend's predicament.
“Then you should go quickly… Auntie is more important! We can go to the bakery another time…” Immediately, a comforting smile appeared on her face.
"But...how will you get home?"
"Take a taxi, it's very close... Don't worry about it!" Zhu Liushuang opened the taxi app, smiling helplessly, "I'm not a three-year-old anymore, I'll text you when I get home, okay?"
"Okay, then take care of yourself." Tian Xingyu stopped being stubborn, hugged her shoulder, and turned to run towards the mall entrance.
Watching her friend leave, Zhu Liushuang exited the ride-hailing app and stood there in a daze for a while. It was still early, so she decided to take another stroll to see if there was anything she needed to buy for her home.
But before he could even take a step forward, he was stopped by someone behind him.
"Zhu...Zhu Liushuang...Are you Zhu Liushuang?" A young woman with long hair walked briskly over, holding the hand of a chubby little boy.
As Zhu Liushuang turned to look at the person, her blood rushed through her veins.
It turns out that the fleeting glance I had just caught was not my imagination.
"Who are you?" Even though she already recognized the other person, she still feigned surprise and asked in a cold tone, "Do we know each other?"
“Don’t you remember me? I’m your high school classmate, Liu Linyue!” The woman spoke with great enthusiasm, as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other for years. “You’ve really changed a lot… When you were standing at the elevator, I almost didn’t recognize you.”
"Really?" Zhu Liushuang looked at her enthusiastic expression and said indifferently, "You've changed quite a bit too."
“Really? Then I must be getting old!” Liu Linyue didn’t care whether Zhu Liushuang was interested in listening or not, and continued, “I got married and had a child, and now I’m busy with the child and the stove every day…” At the end, she handed the little boy in her hand forward: “Oh, right… this is my son, Qianqian. Qianbao, say hello to Auntie.”
The little boy who was called out rolled his eyes and complained, "Mom, how long are you going to keep talking? You promised to take me to buy toys..."
Liu Linyue bent down and gently coaxed the boy, "Good boy, Qianbao. This pretty auntie is Mommy's high school classmate and roommate. It's so rare to run into her... Quickly greet her."
What is happening before my eyes is so absurd and ridiculous.
Zhu Liushuang glanced at him coldly, her lips twitching involuntarily. A sudden chill ran through her, making her stomach churn. If she hadn't been restrained by reason, she probably would have rushed forward and loudly questioned Liu Linyue.
Has she forgotten all those things from back then?
How could she possibly mention the word "roommate"?
Anger churned on her tongue, burning her lips and making them tremble. With the last shred of reason remaining, Zhu Liushuang restrained the urge to unleash a torrent of curses.
"Don't force the child..." she said stiffly, her eyes lowered. "I have to go."
Liu Linyue shifted his attention from his son and said with a hint of regret, "Oh? Then let's exchange contact information..."
Zhu Liushuang pursed her lips, glanced at the other person with a complicated expression, and said, "Next time." After saying that, she left the mother and child in front of her and walked towards the mall entrance without looking back.
Her feet seemed to fly, her low-heeled boots clattering rapidly across the marble floor. She didn't want to admit it, but her increasingly disordered steps inadvertently betrayed her state of mind.
How ironic.
Tonight, she and Tian Xingyu sat together in the movie theater and cried their hearts out.
The painful memories that haunted them were easily erased from their minds by the abusers.
Over the years, the trauma has haunted her. All she wanted was a sincere apology from him. But the cold reality told her that Liu Linyue had forgotten, completely forgotten.
A heavy stone pressed against her chest, the suffocating feeling making it hard to breathe. Zhu Liushuang almost ran, hurriedly pulled open the windshield curtain, and rushed out the door as if fleeing.
The bright lights of the shopping mall gradually faded into the distance behind her, leaving behind a cold and silent night.
The streets were deserted, with hardly any pedestrians in sight.
She ran to the flower bed, grabbed the concrete surface, and squatted down helplessly. It was as if only in this way could she support her heart, which had been wounded a second time.
After squatting on the ground for a while, Zhu Liushuang regained her senses.
She took out her phone and dialed He Ming's number without hesitation.
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Author's note: This chapter doesn't have any romantic scenes between the male and female leads, but it still took me three days to finish writing it.
For victims of bullying, perhaps the most painful and helpless feeling is the forgetting of their abusers. In reality, many abusers do indeed forget their past misdeeds, feeling no remorse whatsoever and living comfortably without a care in the world. [Chin resting on hand]
To those who, like Shuangshuang, have experienced bullying, I want to say that their forgetting doesn't mean the memory has been completely erased, and you don't need their admission or apology to prove the authenticity of that memory. Pain makes us grow and stronger, and it constantly reminds us to love ourselves. You are far stronger and braver than you imagine.
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