Chapter 88 The Truth
Lin Qiyuan certainly knew that his story was full of loopholes and would probably sound like a joke to Zhou Yang.
But the moment he saw Zhou Yang in the auditorium, he panicked. In his thirty-plus years of life, this seemed like the second time he'd been so flustered. The first was when Zhou Yang had been in a car accident—though he'd avoided it, the thought still lingered in his mind. And then there was this time.
It was clearly a lie that sounded insignificant, but looking at that unfamiliar look, Lin Qiyuan felt that in Zhou Yang's eyes, this matter might be more important than anything else.
He didn't understand, but he could feel it.
He agreed with Cheng Fei's statement, and it was his cowardice that made things so uncontrollable.
Lin Qiyuan was still calling everyone Zhou Yang knew one by one, but City B was not City S after all, and Zhou Yang was unfamiliar with the place, so no one knew where he had gone.
Cheng Fei saw Lin Qiyuan's hands shaking as he dialed the phone. It was the first time in his life that he had seen Lin Qiyuan so flustered. He wondered if his words had been too harsh and had really hurt Lin Qiyuan. He hurriedly comforted him, "Don't worry. Zhou Yang is a very generous man. This incident shouldn't cause him to break up with you. He's probably just throwing a tantrum and letting off some steam. Give him some time."
Lin Qiyuan turned a deaf ear to Cheng Fei's comfort and did not stop dialing the phone. Soon, a male voice came from the other end of the phone, and Lin Qiyuan quickly put it close to his ear.
Cheng Fei understood when he heard Lin Qiyuan called him "Qi Dongdong". He also knew that Zhou Yang had a childhood friend who was also in City B. Maybe Zhou Yang stayed at his house yesterday. Finding him was indeed the quickest and most effective way.
Cheng Fei didn't hear the conversation between the two people clearly, but they made an appointment to meet as soon as possible, which was obviously a big deal.
The school leader came to invite Lin Qiyuan to have lunch together. At this time, Lin Qiyuan had no time to eat, so Cheng Fei helped him refuse and called a car.
Ten minutes later, Lin Qiyuan, Cheng Fei, Qi Dongdong and another boy met in front of a shopping mall.
Qi Dongdong was not polite at all. When he saw Lin Qiyuan, he started to scold him. He said things like, "I gave Yangyang to you, and you just lost him like that?" "Yangyang is so innocent, and you actually lied to him. Are you still human?" "Yangyang has hated being lied to since he was a child, especially by those closest to him. You are sick and you are touching his taboos!"
Lin Qiyuan had never been scolded like a grandson by others, but Qi Dongdong was right to scold him. Every word hit him so hard that he couldn't refute it.
Cheng Fei finally realized something was wrong: "What's going on? Is it that serious?"
"Of course it's serious!" Qi Dongdong rolled his eyes at Cheng Fei and turned to Lin Qiyuan, "Why did you lie to him about something else? Why did you have to say it was social anxiety? You don't know how badly he was deceived by social anxiety in the past. I don't even understand why he accepted you, a 'social anxiety'!"
Qi Dongdong was obviously very angry and worried. There was a tearful tone in his voice and his words were incoherent. It was Mo Huai next to him who helped him explain the situation clearly.
The year Zhou Yang went abroad to study, his family did not support him and did not actually provide any living expenses. Zhou Yang relied on the bonuses given by the school to pay for tuition and living expenses.
The climate in Country Y is very different from that in China. Zhou Yang was not able to adapt and fell ill as soon as he arrived.
As an exchange student, Zhou Yang has a heavy workload. In addition to the homework from J University, he also has to complete and submit double the homework every time.
When he was lying in bed with a high fever and unable to get up, a senior who lived next door to him and was also Chinese found him and saved him.
The senior was called Ge Wen, who arrived at J University a year earlier than him. Seeing that Zhou Yang had not gone out for several days after moving in, he thought of visiting this "otaku" neighbor, but unexpectedly he saved his life.
Zhou Yang and Ge Wen quickly became familiar with each other. It was rare to have a friend to talk to in a foreign country. Zhou Yang was very grateful to this quiet neighbor, and Ge Wen also had a good impression of him. The two hit it off and quickly became friends.
As they got to know each other, Zhou Yang discovered that Ge Wen was not very sociable and had no friends other than himself. He could even be quite paranoid at times, and the two of them often had very different opinions on the same things.
Ge Wen's explanation was that he suffered from social phobia and could only communicate with people in a small circle.
Zhou Yang naturally believed it and acquiesced to Ge Wen's abnormality.
He also admitted that Ge Wen treated him really well as a friend.
Zhou Yang couldn't get used to Western food, so Ge Wen prepared Chinese meals and brought them to him every day, even though Zhou Yang could handle it himself. When the city's power went out, Ge Wen washed his clothes, even his underwear and socks, in cold water. When Zhou Yang revealed his love for model ships, Ge Wen went to great lengths to buy him the priceless model from Japan that Zhou Yang liked...
All that Ge Wen did for Zhou Yang was that in Zhou Yang's more than 20 years of life, no one had ever been so kind to him except the highly paid nanny at home.
He was not an ungrateful person. He was very grateful to Ge Wen and tried his best to repay him.
However, Ge Wen's social anxiety symptoms became more and more serious, and these were reflected in his attitude towards Zhou Yang.
He was unhappy that Zhou Yang talked too much to others; if Zhou Yang replied to his message late once, he would become furious; a word that he didn't like would cause him to be sarcastic. Sometimes Zhou Yang felt puzzled, and sometimes he wondered if it was his fault.
The incident happened within a few days. At the end of the week, we had to work with our group to complete the professor's assignment. Due to the tight schedule and heavy workload, we all decided not to go home and instead rent a large apartment to study and relax.
The project was progressing smoothly. On the night when it was about to end, Ge Wen, who never went to other people's houses, came over. The blonde girl who opened the door for him could never have imagined that the fruits of their week's work were destroyed in an instant by a black-faced man.
That was the first time Zhou Yang had an argument with Ge Wen. The argument was so intense that everyone in the room was frightened. It was also the last time.
That night, Ge Wen jumped from the balcony on the fifteenth floor where they lived and stopped breathing on the spot.
When the police arrived, Zhou Yang was listening to hypnotic music with earplugs.
The police quickly determined that Ge Wen committed suicide, but Zhou Yang found it hard to accept the bloody corpse in front of him.
The next day, Ge Wen's parents came from afar and looked at Zhou Yang with hatred, as if he was the real murderer.
Ge Wen's mother even shook his arms, crying heartbreakingly and questioning, "He has social phobia and is only friendly to you. Why did he jump off the building? Did you do it?"
All this became Zhou Yang's nightmare for a time.
Sometimes, he even wondered if he had done something wrong. If he had been more sensitive to Ge Wen's emotions, he might not have jumped off the building. If he had been more patient, Ge Wen might not have argued with him and then given up his life in anger. If...
Unfortunately, there are not so many ifs.
For a full six months, Zhou Yang felt like he was living in a nightmare. Even when he heard others say the word "social phobia", he would feel scared reflexively.
Fortunately, his senior brother He Yan was a more careful person. Seeing that he had nightmares again and again, he took him to see a psychologist.
The doctor advised him to relax, but he always felt that he was carrying a life on his shoulders. The hateful and resentful looks from Ge Wen's parents made him unable to sleep.
A few years passed, and Zhou Yang looked as if nothing had happened. No one could remember that episode, but Qi Dongdong knew that it was an indelible shadow in his life.
"During the two months I visited him in Country Y, he was so thin he barely looked human. His despairing look made it impossible to imagine him as the once-proud son of heaven. Later... later, I don't know how much willpower it took for him to get back on his feet."
At this point, Qi Dongdong stood up excitedly and grabbed Lin Qiyuan's collar. "Why did you lie to him about your social anxiety? I told him to stay away from you. He was looking after you out of guilt towards Ge Wen and sympathy for you. Do you know how much courage it took for him to face this again? And you ended it with just a simple lie? Lin Qiyuan, you are not a human being!"
No one expected things to turn out this way. Cheng Fei could understand Zhou Yang's overreaction, and he could also understand Qi Dongdong's anger and heartache. Anyone with a conscience would not easily live their life with a clear conscience, even if it was a trumped-up charge.
If Zhou Yang were to be brought in, Cheng Fei would start to resent Lin Qiyuan.
He turned to see Lin Qiyuan's reaction. Lin Qiyuan's face was as gloomy as water, and there seemed to be no emotion on his face. But as a childhood friend, how could Cheng Fei not see it?
The veins on the back of his clenched fists were bulging, as if he was trying to suppress his emotions. The shimmering light in his deep eyes was something Cheng Fei had never seen before in his life.
Cheng Fei was stunned for a moment, then was interrupted by Lin Qiyuan's hoarse and low voice: "You're right, I'm not human. But the most urgent thing is to find Yangyang. Please tell me, how can I find him?"
Qi Dongdong was so focused on speaking up for his friend that he didn't even notice the word "ask," which was considered extremely important by outsiders. He said impatiently, "If I had known, I would have gone to look for him long ago. Why would I waste my time talking to you? If he wants to hide, no one will be able to find him! Now, it all depends on whether he wants to come to his senses. If he does, he'll come back!"
Lin Qiyuan stood up and said to Cheng Fei, "I have to fly to Country Y. The company will arrange for you to send it to Li Baiyu for me in the next few days."
Cheng Fei didn't know what Lin Qiyuan was doing in Country Y at this time, but if he couldn't do anything, he felt that Lin Qiyuan was probably as dangerous as Zhou Yang was at that time, so he waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, go early and come back early. I will help you keep an eye on Zhou Yang's movements."
"Thank you!"
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