Tong Yun
Growing up, Tong Yun always woke up in the middle of the night to see his grandmother holding a photo. The photo showed a family of four: his grandparents, his mother, and his lost aunt.
I heard that my grandfather died of illness in the second year after he moved from Guangdong to Nan'an with his wife and daughter. My grandmother was uneducated and unemployed, and had to raise two daughters, so she sold snacks in the market to make money.
It's easy to be a businessman, but it's not always easy to be a businessman when raising children. My grandmother didn't notice and my aunt disappeared. She searched for her for more than ten years while raising her eldest daughter.
Without the care of fatherly love, the mother was heartbroken because of her younger sister, and the eldest daughter also suffered a lot psychologically. She did not finish junior high school and was only thinking about going out to work.
The grandmother was worried that her youngest daughter would come back and ask her to stay in Nan'an, but she was also afraid that she would go on a long journey and get lost like her youngest daughter and not be able to come back, so she did not agree.
At this time, she met Tong Xiuyuan, a gangster, but a gangster who was good to her. She foolishly bet her fate on him, ran away from home with him, and got on the train.
God did not hear the girl's prayers, and the next time her grandmother heard news of her, it was news of her death.
According to the neighbors, Tong Xiuyuan no longer loved her, and she became an abandoned woman. However, she became pregnant with his child. After giving birth, she became depressed and cut off one of Tong Xiuyuan's fingers, held it in her palm, cut her wrist and died.
"You are so stupid... for a man... No, blame me. I didn't teach you well. I'm sorry." Grandma blamed herself every night, cursed Tong Xiuyuan, and missed her two daughters.
Tong Yun usually closed her eyes tightly at such times, not daring to make any sound. She hypnotized herself, "Mom didn't commit suicide because of me. It wasn't grandma's fault. Grandma didn't blame me either. I don't have a father."
She always believed in these things, but her biological father was still alive, and Tong Yun would inevitably meet him. He also wanted to take her away from her grandmother, or he would go to school to find her and use this as a threat to ask her grandmother for money.
Tong Yun watched with his own eyes as the money his grandmother earned from selling mung bean cakes went into Tong Xiuyuan's hands. He hated him so much and also hated himself for being incompetent and fragile.
"Why can't I be braver?" Tong Yun muttered to herself as she walked aimlessly. She felt deeply that she was a burden to her grandmother. Her grades were a mess, she was good for nothing, and she was only a burden.
She wanted to go to the train station, somewhere random like her mother, so that Tong Xiuyuan wouldn't find her and wouldn't cause trouble for her grandmother. She would come back to be filial to her after she made some money.
There was still 500 meters to the train station. The closer Tong Yun got, the more she wanted to cry. She kept imagining what would happen to her grandmother after she left. She wondered whether she should leave or not. Before she could make a decision, someone ran by and bumped into her shoulder.
Tong Yun saw the man's profile, and he looked like Tong Xiuyuan. Someone behind him shouted at him: "Catch the thief! That person stole my wallet..."
She clenched her fists and decided to be brave for once, so she chased the thief, shouting, "Stop! Don't run!"
In fact, she was not good at running, and she didn't know why her endurance was so good that day. She was really caught up by him. She imagined the man was Tong Xiuyuan and pushed him to the ground.
But when she saw clearly that the man was not Tong Xiuyuan, all the anger and courage she had accumulated dissipated, and she became the timid Tong Yun again.
But she didn't expect that she met a special person. The girl was wearing a princess dress and seemed to have her own light. She kindly gave her tissues and praised her for being so great.
Tong Yun was not good at dealing with people, so he just said thank you lightly and left.
After walking a few steps, she remembered her reason for coming to the train station and walked back. As a result, she heard the girl put her hand on her chest and said to herself: "Don't cry. You have to be obedient and don't cause trouble for anyone, so that Daddy can come back soon."
She forced a smile and walked towards the taxi. Tong Yun stopped and looked at her back. Ten seconds later, her grandmother called her. Tong Yun smiled and said, "Grandma, don't worry, I'll be back soon."
Tong Yun has always had the habit of writing a diary. That was the first time that Lin Luo appeared in her writing. At first, Tong Yun described her as a princess, and later Tong Yun used all the beautiful words to praise her.
Lin Luo is her first good friend in all these years. She doesn't care that her father is a gangster, doesn't despise her family's poverty, and is willing to study with her to become excellent.
And because of Lin Luo, Tong Yun made more friends, including the honest and delicate Zhu Changyu, the generous and righteous Xu Yangyang, the cold and distant Ruan Ye, the free and easy Zhu Sui'an, and the excellent and sunny Fu Xingchuan.
During the time when her grandmother passed away, if it weren't for them, if it weren't for Lin Luo's company, if it weren't for Zhu Changyu's singing, and if it weren't for Fu Xingchuan's help in her studies, she would definitely not have been able to hold on.
There was another factor that became her motivation to live: she fell in love with Fu Xingchuan.
Of course, she also knew clearly that she was not worthy of him, so she studied harder, for her grandmother, for Lin Luo, for Fu Xingchuan, and for herself.
For the first time, she felt that her looks were useful because she used them to shoot a promotional video with Fu Xingchuan.
When filming the flag-raising ceremony, she and Lin Luo sat side by side, staring at him in the camera. When the filming was over, he approached, and she quickly grabbed a glass of water and handed it to him, her face flushing. But he didn't look at her, instead speaking to Lin Luo beside him.
"Am I overthinking it? They just know each other longer and sit in the same class in the front and back rows, so they have a good relationship." Tong Yun muttered to himself on the way to find Ding Wenxin.
Ding Wenxin gave Tong Yun a few more supplementary teaching materials. Tong Yun was not the only student she treated specially; there were many other students who were taken care of by her. Tong Yun stood in the office and looked at her, vowing to become a person like her in the future.
A piece of paper fell on her desk. No one else noticed it. Tong Yun picked it up and saw that it was a flyer about teaching in Tibet.
She looked at it for a long time until Ding Wenxin called her and she came back to her senses. She noticed what she was holding and told her, "This was my childhood dream."
Tong Yun didn't take it seriously at first, but later she actually dreamed of the vast grassland for a few nights, and from then on she also had her ideals.
During the summer vacation, Lin Xiao said she would take extra classes at Fu Xingchuan's house. Tong Yun followed her into the old house with a sense of restraint. It turned out that Fu Xingchuan lived in a house like this. She thought of her own old, run-down two-bedroom apartment and pursed her lips.
In the study, Tong Yun thought about the gap between herself and Fu Xingchuan. In addition, due to livelihood reasons, she had to work part-time after the tutoring class and had no time to read, so she forced herself to devote every minute to study. She tried her best not to regard Fu Xingchuan as a secret crush, but as a teacher, and listened carefully to him when he explained the questions to her seriously.
Time flows out slowly like the ink in a ballpoint pen, turning into knowledge points printed on paper and engraved into her mind.
A ballpoint pen quickly ran out of steam, and soon it was six in the afternoon, so she had to leave.
"Let me take you there!" Zhu Changyu said kindly when he saw her panicking. Tong Yun hesitated, but Zhu Changyu did not give her a chance to refuse.
Being alone with a boy, to be honest, wasn't easy for Tong Yun. She cautiously sat on the back seat of Zhu Changyu's electric scooter, but he was very comfortable. As she listened to him talk about Xu Yangyang, how Xu Yangyang had tried to skip cram school yesterday, and how Xu Yangyang had been scolded by her mother again today, she gradually relaxed.
Tong Yun was quite envious of Xu Yangyang, as she had a childhood sweetheart who talked about her every day. It was said that Zhu Changyu used to send her home every day.
"Your part-time job is right on the way to my house. I'll drop you off next time! You don't have to waste time taking the bus." Zhu Changyu suddenly said to Tong Yun once. She couldn't believe it. "It's very troublesome, is that okay?"
"Of course you can, provided you wear a helmet." Zhu Changyu put the helmet prepared for Xu Yangyang on her head. Tong Yun looked at him. Even when the electric scooter was moving on the road, the wind did not blow away the blush on her face.
Zhu Changyu really gave her a whole summer vacation like this. Their relationship became increasingly close, and their topics of conversation ranged from Xu Yangyang to Zhu Bajie from Journey to the West...
She felt that she and Zhu Changyu could become good friends of the opposite sex, but she was very clear that her feelings for Zhu Changyu and Fu Xingchuan were different.
Throughout the summer, she and Fu Xingchuan had little conversation other than about studying. The only chance they had to chat was at the amusement park, but they didn't even have a few words. Only when she was riding the roller coaster, at the top of the machine and her adrenaline was soaring, did she seem to hear a voice behind her that sounded very much like Fu Xingchuan, saying, "I like you."
It's most likely an auditory hallucination.
Before school started, they went to the beach, which was Tong Yun’s first time traveling far away.
She and Lin Luo had an appointment to watch the sunrise. Although she had gotten the answer from Zhu Sui'an, she still mustered up the courage to ask Fu Xingchuan if he wanted to go with her when she borrowed the camera.
"I can't get up, go by yourself." Fu Xingchuan said. Tong Yun nodded shyly, and then heard, "I'll ask Zhu Changyu to send you the tutorial later."
Fu Xingchuan left after he finished speaking. Tong Yun was so preoccupied with her girlish thoughts that she didn't notice the calmness in his tone.
Fu Xingchuan usually spoke in a gentle and clear voice. It was the first time she had heard Fu Xingchuan scold someone after Lin Luo rescued them. Following them from a distance, Tong Yun couldn't help but complain, "There's no need to be so harsh. Luo Luo also means well."
That day, Tong Yun was surprised to find that she liked Lin Luo more than Fu Xingchuan and favored her unconditionally.
Lin Luo's illness made her very worried.
But at the beginning of the school year, Tong Xiuyuan came to her again. He owed money and wanted her to sell her house to pay him back. When Tong Yun refused, he gave her home address to the gang. Chen Long took the lead in bullying her, and another group of gangsters even blocked her way to school.
"Every wrong has its perpetrator, and if you want money, go find Tong Xiuyuan. If you dare come any closer, I'll call the police." Tong Yun said in a trembling voice. The gangsters ripped off her schoolbag and poured out everything inside.
There was also a thug who pushed her against the wall and said, "You are pretty, do you want to be my girlfriend?"
Tong Yun was so nauseous that she almost vomited. Another thug found an open notebook in her schoolbag with Fu Xingchuan's name written on it. "Who are you, Fu Xingchuan?"
The thug in front of her tried to put his hand on her chest, but Tong Yun dodged and said, "My...my boyfriend."
The thug immediately withdrew his hand, "Really? Or is it a lie?"
Tong Yun bit his lip, not wanting to lie but feeling a little lucky, "Really."
But Fu Xingchuan happened to be passing by and heard her words. She looked at him embarrassedly, but Fu Xingchuan did not expose her. He put his hands in his pockets and questioned the gangster, "What are you doing in my territory in broad daylight?"
"Brother Chuan, it was Master Ba who asked us to come here. I didn't know Tong Yun was your girlfriend beforehand."
"I'm asking, what do you want to do with her?" Fu Xingchuan said in a bad tone.
The thug stepped back, leaning his back against the wall, and watched Fu Xingchuan take out his hand. "Nothing, we won't dare to mess with her again..."
Tong Yun was afraid that Fu Xingchuan would know about Tong Xiuyuan from the gangsters, so he quickly picked up his schoolbag and pulled Fu Xingchuan's wrist and walked away, "We're going to be late, let's go to school first!"
After walking out of the thugs' sight, Tong Yun explained to Fu Xingchuan, "My father owed a debt and couldn't pay it back, so they came to collect the debt and found me. I'm sorry for using you to deceive them just now."
"It's probably more than just debt, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to find this Ba Ye they're talking about. Ba Ye is the remaining dark force in Nan'an, and he's capable of anything. Your father is in his sights, and there's no way he can escape. You're safe for now. They don't dare touch you again, for fear that your father will be driven to despair and harm you and those around you. I suggest you put justice above your own family, find your father as soon as possible, and hand him over to these thugs."
"As for the excuse just now, just know in your heart that it's fake." Fu Xingchuan said seriously.
Tong Yun nodded.
He lowered his eyelids to look at his hands and reminded them, "You can let go now."
"Oh." Tong Yun quickly let go.
Fu Xingchuan walked in front of her, keeping an arm's length away. When they were almost at the school gate, Fu Xingchuan let her go in first. Tong Yun turned around and saw Fu Xingchuan saying to Director Wang: "Director Wang, have you watched the news recently? Our school has a brave young man who did something righteous. You also know him, Lin Luo."
"She's in the hospital because she saved someone. If she's late today, don't let her run, okay?"
"Director, you must agree! I really want to see Lin Luo!" Tong Yun muttered to herself as she walked away. What happened in the morning was too fantastic and she urgently needed to calm down.
Fortunately, Lin Luo recovered well and the gangsters never looked for her again. Tong Yun attended school safely and was admitted to the sprint class.
Her friends happily congratulated her, and Zhu Changyu also gave her a gift. Tong Yun would open the box every day to look at the scarf inside, hoping that winter would come soon.
But just as some people were nice to her, there were also people who were jealous and excluded her. At the sports meet, someone deliberately registered her for the 800-meter race.
Recently, she has had more frequent nosebleeds and her body must be exhausted. She is worried that she can't run fast enough and will fall behind the class.
However, with Xu Yangyang helping her warm up, Lin Luo and Zhu Changyu cheering her on, and Lin Luo bravely wanting to run 3,000 meters, supported by all these, she finally stood on the track.
But she had unexpectedly fallen so hard. Fu Xingchuan carried her to the medical center and accompanied her to the hospital. After an X-ray was done to rule out bone damage, Tong Yun lay dazed on the hospital bed and heard Fu Xingchuan say to Director Wang: "Can you send a message and ask Teacher Ding to tell Lin Qiao that Tong Yun is fine?"
Hearing this, Tong Yun tried to open her eyes. Director Wang noticed her and said, "Okay, I'll make a call."
After he left, Tong Yun sat up and lifted the quilt to see that the bandage covering the wound was stained red, and the bleeding seemed to have not stopped. Fu Xingchuan frowned, feeling something was wrong. A doctor passed by and accidentally saw it. "Little girl, there may be a problem with your blood coagulation function. Just to be safe, do a routine blood test."
Tong Yun's heart was beating wildly, but he met Fu Xingchuan's gaze and said, "I'm fine. I just pulled the wound and the bleeding started again."
"Let's draw some blood!"
"I'm tired now. I'll come to the hospital by myself another day." Tong Yun lay down and closed his eyes.
Fu Xingchuan didn't speak to her again.
After a while, Fu Xingchuan woke her up and said that Lin Luo had fought with others for her. She hurried back to school with Fu Xingchuan.
When they arrived, Aunt Du was there too. Lin Luo had a determined look in her eyes, which touched Tong Yun deeply. He insisted that the girl apologize to her.
At night, she and Lin Luo slept in the same bed. Lin Luo fell asleep, but Tong Yun lay awake all night, thinking about the doctor's words, "Luo Luo, I'm a little scared."
Lin Qi's long eyelashes moved, and she muttered in her dream, "Tong Yun... don't..."
Tong Yun's heart tightened, and he gently stroked her back, "It's okay, we are not afraid."
After the bleeding stopped, a few bruises were left, which did not go away for a long time. Tong Yun did not go to the hospital, but just tried to avoid getting hurt and occasionally improved his diet by eating something better.
It's the end of the year, the first year after her grandmother passed away. She wants to live a happy life for the sake of her grandmother in heaven, and think about other things after the new year.
On Christmas Eve, during the second period of evening study, Tong Yun had another nosebleed. She went out to clean it and happened upon a dazzling fireworks display. She stood there staring at the sky for a long, long time, until the smoke cleared, leaving no trace, and until evening study ended and a flood of white school uniforms streamed onto the boulevard.
She came back to her senses and said to herself: "I like fireworks, no one knows."
"Now I know, don't I?" Zhu Changyu suddenly appeared beside her and said to her with a smile.
Tong Yun curled the corners of his lips.
In the evening, she sat at her desk and finished writing another diary, leaving only the last blank space on the back of the cover. She did not write anything and closed the "Pandora's Box".
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