Chapter 24. His Lighthouse
Yi Lingjia was sitting alone in the office.
He stroked the necklace around his neck with his fingers, staring blankly in the afternoon sun.
Dr. Xu once suggested that he get rid of all the things related to Ke Fan. He gave away all the couple items they bought when they were together, and even Ke Fan’s ID photo that he kept close to him.
He couldn't bear to part with the rubber band with the small lighthouse that was left next to his pillow when she moved away. In the end, he made the pendant into a necklace and has been wearing it for all these years.
He traced his fingertips over the red and white lighthouse pattern on the pendant.
When they were still together, he thought his life was going smoothly, with no pressure and no goals. With the support of a wealthy family and open-minded parents, he thought he could just follow the routine, graduate, get married, and have children.
It was Ke Fan who took him to study every day and pushed him to take English exams, which enabled him to graduate with honors and go on to graduate school in a prestigious university.
After the separation, he lost the support of his family, experienced a sudden change in life, and was forced to take over his father's job. When he accompanied one client after another in the private room, smoking and drinking, he would always think of her.
Thinking of her firmly saying, "My destiny is in my own hands," I felt like I could grit my teeth and hold on a little longer.
When she was at her worst, Nie Fei showed him the photo she had posted on the Tianjin University WeChat account after she published her article in a prestigious journal. She was standing at the entrance of the wind farm, gazing at the camera with a faint smile, her whole body gleaming in the sunlight.
Suddenly, a surge of strength filled his heart:
At least I can't be too bad, right?
So Fengshun was put on the agenda and it was unexpectedly a great success.
Looking back, she has been both a knot in my heart and a support over the years.
It is also a beacon that shows him the way.
On the way to getting closer to her, I laughed, cried, and complained, but I never truly hated her.
But when she reappeared in his life, he actually felt homesick.
Six years ago, he couldn't even let her stay. Now that he's so broken, can he bear to lose her again?
He had originally regarded the kiss in the stairwell as an extra chapter of a story that had not been concluded many years ago, a sweet gift he had stolen.
But she insisted on coming to discuss cooperation.
She sat upright in his office, her rosy lips touching each other, talking about "win-win".
Never mention the intimacy they had in the past few days.
The emotions he had deliberately suppressed felt like being stung by a bug, itching and painful. He angrily said that he would let Nie Fei handle the liaisons from now on, and he wouldn't have to show up himself. Unexpectedly, she calmly agreed.
They rarely met after that, he didn't go and she didn't come.
Maybe it’s not a bad thing, he comforted himself in his heart.
If they meet more often, he will no longer be able to keep calm.
He would definitely ask, whether she liked that kiss in the stairwell that day, or what she was thinking when she lost herself in the pouring rain six years ago.
Of course, he deliberately forgot about her "boyfriend." Trying not to get close to her had already taken up all his energy, and he no longer had time to think about anything else.
But things always go against our wishes.
On such an ordinary afternoon, a brief phone call completely broke the calm he had tried so hard to maintain.
Nie Fei's voice was filled with a hint of guilt:
"Lingjia, Ke Fan's boyfriend—the school hunk—is here in Jinshi. Do you want to have dinner together with a few of us alumni?"
*
The dinner was set for the night before Lu Qiaoyuan left Tianjin.
During the day, taking advantage of the free time before leaving, Lu Qiaoyuan went to the campus where they went to school.
Tianjin University has several campuses. The campus where they studied was the newest one at that time. Many things were not very perfect at that time. Now the school gate has changed a lot and has become extremely imposing.
Lu Qiaoyuan stood at the school gate and looked to the right. With the development over the years, the small dark alley had long been replaced by various bright shops and no longer looked the same as before.
The memories of the past are as clear as yesterday.
This was where Ke Fan had seen him in his most miserable state.
"You idiot, you think you've made it big just because you went to college? You don't even answer my calls? Where's the money? Where's the scholarships you got?"
That day, he was stopped at the school gate by his own father, the father who had kicked him out of the house when he was sixteen, and dragged into the dark alley like a dog without dignity.
Fists and slaps fell on his body and face again and again, but he gritted his teeth and refused to beg for mercy, just like when he was a child.
Warm liquid flowed out of his nose, and he could feel his face swelling rapidly. He knew without looking that it was all blue and purple and looked unrecognizable.
Just when he felt that his teeth were about to be loosened, a cold female voice sounded, and she shouted:
"What are you doing! Stop it! I'm calling the police!"
She took out her phone, and the man glared at the two of them fiercely before leaving from the other end of the alley.
"Classmate, classmate, are you okay?"
A slender but strong hand tried to lift him up, and when he looked up, he met a pair of gentle and worried eyes.
These eyes belonged to a person with a temperament as pure as water and a picture-perfect expression. She leaned over and asked with concern, descending to the earth like a white crane.
He suddenly felt that his muddy body looked particularly dirty. He hugged himself silently, squatted in the corner, and said bitterly:
"Don't call the police. That person just now is my...immediate family member."
He really couldn't bring himself to say those two words.
He felt more powerless and ashamed. Even though he was admitted to an unfamiliar city, he still couldn't escape from such a terrible family background.
The girl standing in front of me calls me classmate.
Is she also a student of Tianjin University?
I was so embarrassed that I didn't even dare to ask the other person's name.
"Classmate, it's okay. I will keep this matter a secret from everyone. My name is Ke Fan, and this is my cell phone number. If you need any help, you can contact me later."
Seeing that he was unwilling to stand up, the girl loosened her hand, took out a notebook from her backpack, tore off a piece of paper, wrote her cell phone number on it, and handed it to him.
"Ke is the Ke in Nan Ke's dream, and Fan is the Fan that sets sail." Her voice was calm and peaceful, and the chaotic thoughts in Lu Qiaoyuan's mind gradually subsided. He reached out to take the paper, but still lowered his head, not knowing how to face the classmates who might be in the same campus in the future.
As if she saw what he was thinking, Ke Fan suddenly said, "And there's more." She paused, then slowly rolled up her loose cuffs, revealing the knotted burn scar between her left upper and forearm.
Lu Qiaoyuan was a little surprised. She lowered her sleeves and smiled at him: "Classmate, everyone has such difficult and embarrassing moments. Don't worry too much. Just move forward. It will definitely get better."
To this day, standing at the school gate, Lu Qiaoyuan can still feel the slight shock in his heart when he heard her speak.
Ke Fan was like a white boat on the sea, always sailing forward, and from that day on, he had become accustomed to sailing with her.
From the time she went straight to her doctoral program to her move to Haishi, they have always been the closest of friends over the years.
He actively participates in every one of her projects and is even a co-author of her top magazine.
Three years ago, he took the opportunity to propose a fake boyfriend-girlfriend plan to protect each other from romantic interests. The day she agreed, the ecstasy in his heart was like a tsunami.
Everything was going in the right direction until she came to Jinshi because of the Oasis project.
He noticed her changes and her distraction.
He couldn't help but chase after her.
From the moment he saw Nie Fei's figure, Lu Qiaoyuan was certain that Yi Lingjia must be here too.
Thinking of the dinner in the evening, Lu Qiaoyuan couldn't help but clench his fists.
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