disturbed
Outside, the sycamore leaves swayed in the wind. Gu Hanzhi paused as she turned her wheelchair. Her plaster-wrapped right knee jutted out from under the blanket, a heavy burden. She had been wheelchair-bound for half a month, and the crutches she used in the stairwell had worn down to the edges. Every time she climbed the stairs, the metal handle left a cold mark on her palm.
Her phone vibrated in her lap, and when Jiang Wanning's profile picture popped up, Gu Hanzhi almost immediately swiped the call button. The twang of wind chimes mingled with her friend's loud voice, "Hanzhi! Is your knee okay? I heard Shen Zhihe hurt you. I knew that Shen was no good. What was it about him that made you fall for him?"
The wheelchair made a subtle sound as it scraped against the wooden floor. Gu Hanzhi pushed her textbook aside. The glass window reflected her helpless expression. "I accidentally hit his cat while riding my bike. Besides, it's just a fracture. It will heal after a while."
"A bone fracture isn't serious?!" Jiang Wanning's voice suddenly rose, and the rustling of pages seemed to be heard in the background. "Think about it, we're in the second semester of our second year of high school now. After we graduate from our third year, we'll all go our separate ways. Who knows, we might end up together in college. If he reveals his true colors then..."
"Stop, stop!" Gu Hanzhi pinched her sore wrist, and turned the wheelchair towards the bay window, where the sunlight fell on the plaster. "We are not even friends now. Your brain circuit is almost reaching outer space." She remembered the guilty look on Shen Zhihe's face two weeks ago.
There was a rustling sound from the other end of the phone, as if someone was rummaging through something. Jiang Wanning lowered her voice a little: "Don't take it lightly. Last time I saw him talking to another girl in the library, his actions were very ambiguous..."
"They were discussing math problems!" Gu Hanzhi blurted out, realizing her own gaffe. Her leg, beneath the cast, unconsciously curled up. She hurriedly added, "Lu Chenzhou saw it. They were all participating in a math competition."
"Oh, so clear?" Jiang Wanning suddenly laughed, with a cunning voice that seemed to see through everything. "Okay, when your leg is healed, I must meet this classmate Shen in person to see what it is about him that has so captivated our Miss Gu..."
"Jiang Wanning!" Gu Hanzhi's face flushed crimson, her wheelchair thumping against the cushions beneath the bay window. "I'm going for a walk!" Without waiting for a response, she hurriedly hung up the phone, staring blankly at her own flushed face on the black screen. The rustling of the sycamore leaves outside the window mimicked the blush that had spread behind Shen Zhihe's ears when he frantically apologized that day.
Gu Songyi caught a glimpse of Gu Hanzhi standing up by the wheelchair's armrest, and rushed over in a hurry: "Sister, your wound hasn't healed completely yet!" He blocked the wheelchair's path, sweat dripping from his forehead. "During the last checkup, the doctor specifically said you need to rest. Can I push you to the yard to get some fresh air?"
Gu Hanzhi smiled and tucked her drooping hair behind her ears. Her pale fingertips brushed the wheelchair armrests. "I've been lying in bed for half a month. If I keep this up, my bones will rust."
"But..." Gu Songyi's grip on the wheelchair's backrest turned pale, his Adam's apple rolling as he tried to dissuade her. Gu Hanzhi had already pushed his arm away, the metal parts of the wheelchair reflecting a cold light in the morning light. "Xiaoyi, I broke my leg, not my wings." She turned back and blinked, the pearl hairpin at her temple swaying slightly with her movements. "Want sweet and sour pork ribs or cola chicken wings for dinner? I'll show you my skills when I get back."
Watching Gu Hanzhi's thin figure disappear around the corner of the corridor and the rustling sound of the wheelchair wheels rolling over the floor tiles gradually faded away, Gu Songyi leaned against the door frame and sighed heavily, his nails unconsciously scratching the wood grain.
The wind, carrying the sweet fragrance of locust flowers, brushed Gu Hanzhi's hair. The subtle sound of the wheelchair rolling over the bluestone pavement was particularly clear in the quiet alley. She lowered her eyes to look at the silk shawl that had slipped from her knees, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a white skirt swaying in the distance.
The white seemed to have seeped from an oil painting. The young woman wore stilettos, her hair shimmering with light from a pearl hairpin. Gu Hanzhi subconsciously gripped the wheelchair armrests. The pearl necklace dangling from the girl's neck overlapped with the jewelry box on her mother's dressing table in her memory—a delicacy she could never reach again.
As the other person turned, the moonstone on the earring suddenly reflected a cold light, like an ice-hardened dagger, piercing Gu Hanzhi's eyes. She clenched the armrest of the wheelchair, her knuckles turning white - the curvature of the cut surface of the moonstone was exactly the same as the one Lin Yue wore on her left ear three years ago.
In my memory, Lin Yue always wore black pants, a half-faded rose tattooed on her neck, and a cigarette dangling from her lips. Now, she was clad in an off-white dress, a pearl hairpin neatly pinned to her temples. She had transformed from a street corner thug into a porcelain doll in a shop window. Even more eerie, as she turned to walk back, her slender white fingers naturally wrapped around the arm of the boy next to her. The boy, with bright yellow hair, was smoking a cigarette, his collar casually open, revealing half a silver chain.
Gu Hanzhi's wheelchair made a creaking sound as it rolled over fallen leaves, and cold sweat ran down her spine. When Lin Yue looked up and chatted with the blond boy, her collarbone was bare, but Gu Hanzhi remembered it clearly: that rainy night, the knife fragments had left a deep wound on her skin, so deep that the bone was visible.
On the other side, Lin Yue, who had shed her usual cold temperament, had a tender look in her eyes. She said in a soft voice, "Brother Wang, I've dressed up according to your request. As long as you agree to my request..." As she spoke, she bit her lower lip slightly, her eyes full of expectation and flattery.
Wang Ye, the tall man with dyed yellow hair, smiled meaningfully and said jokingly, "Oh, I didn't expect that the eldest daughter of our Lin family has fallen to the point of begging me for help. Since Miss Lin is not short of money, what do you want me to agree to?" His words were full of ridicule and pride.
Lin Yue raised the corner of her mouth in a charming arc, and her slender fingers gently drew a circle on Wang Ye's chest, and said coquettishly: "Brother Wang, you know, what I want is your manpower. You are doing very well in Linjiang City, and you must have a lot of brothers following you." Her voice was soft, with a hint of coquettishness.
After a pause, Lin Yue continued: "Just lend me a dozen of your brothers, preferably strong ones. You know, I have had some conflicts with the Du family, and the people around me are not very powerful..." She raised her eyes and looked at Wang Ye, with a cunning light in her eyes, as if she had seen that things were about to be done.
Wang Ye let out a hearty laugh, put his arm around Lin Yue's waist, and said in a somewhat heroic tone: "Okay, Miss Lin said so, I, Wang Ye, will definitely do as you ask!" The two of them had their own thoughts and reached this seemingly simple but actually hidden mystery transaction on the small road.
In the evening, Gu Hanzhi curled up under her covers, her fingers unconsciously tugging at the corners. The ticking of the old-fashioned clock beside the bed was particularly piercing in the silence. Her right eyelid suddenly twitched uncontrollably, and she sat up abruptly, a fine layer of cold sweat breaking out on the back of her neck. From a moment ago, half asleep, she seemed to see Lin Yue's vicious face floating in the darkness.
Gu Hanzhi sat up abruptly, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing against the cool tabletop, making a small, rustling sound. "What on earth does Lin Yue want to do? Could it be..." Her voice trailed off abruptly, the tail end like a broken string. The wind outside suddenly pounded against the glass. She stared at the twisted shadows of the trees, a flickering reflection of panic in her pupils.
Her throat tightened as she mechanically lifted the water cup, only to find that the sweat from her palms had left dark stains on the sides. A crack suddenly ripped open in her memory. The whispers in the back of the classroom at fourteen, the torn-up perfect test paper in her locker, and her new shoes slashed in the rainstorm flashed before her like old film. Digging her nails deep into her palms, she repeated to herself: No, in three years, that won't happen again.
The wind ripped at the windowpanes, a piercing whine. The torrential rain pounded against the eaves like a volley of arrows, sending up a spray of white mist. The old tree in the corner of the courtyard swayed violently in the wind, its twisted branches bent into strange arcs, its leaves scattering like countless butterflies with broken wings. The sound of rain and wind intertwined into a frantic symphony, as if venting some indescribable emotion, or even telling something earnestly.
Gu Hanzhi sat up straight, her gaze piercing the rain at the hazy sky, her fingertips unconsciously caressing the glass's rim. The swaying reflection in the glass flickered, sometimes brighter and sometimes darker, seemingly overlapping with the swaying rain outside the window, leaving her unable to tell whether she was gazing at the world, or the world gazing back at her.
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