Chapter 3
Bai Nan stayed.
Ten years have passed, and there is only one thing she remembers clearly.
She dared not get involved in this less-than-ideal situation. While the butterfly effect might be an exaggeration, no one could place a bet on something unknown.
But if you do nothing, then you've come back for nothing. Even if it's just a dream, it should still be a perfect one.
With this mindset in mind, Bai Nan went out.
Since Xu Xin doesn't recognize herself yet, she'll relive the path she took when she was seventeen.
Although her memories were fragmented, the pieces about Xu Xin were always complete. Following the contents of those fragments, she led Bai Di to stand in front of Bai Lu's room.
Through Bai Di's words, she recalled some details of their first encounter.
In the dimly lit room, they met because of a misunderstanding.
She was a thief who sneaked into someone else's room to steal a handheld game console, and he was a concerned citizen who discovered the thief after checking in temporarily and was ready to catch her red-handed.
With Bai Lu's arrival, this misunderstanding turned into an awkward situation for all three parties.
She couldn't remember what happened after that, but she was confident she could give a perfect performance in this scene.
After all, she survived each night she lost him by clinging to those memories. Like a cow without fresh fodder, she could only survive by repeatedly ruminating on the grass in her stomach.
But she forgot that the reason why things happened back then was precisely because of those details that she overlooked.
Her arrogance, once again, backfired.
"sorry..."
Just as she was about to pick up the handheld console, Xu Xin suddenly pushed her away, and the impatience in his brow bone easily stung her.
"I don't accept it."
He sat on a chair next to the bookshelf, his long legs slightly apart, his chin slightly raised, and his eyes filled with disdain as he looked at her.
At this moment, Bai Di, who was outside the door, heard the noise and asked a question in a loud voice.
"sister?"
Xu Xin stopped looking at her face, only waving the handheld game console in his hand. Hearing this, he raised the corner of his lips and said in a mocking tone, "Your brother?"
Bai Nan nodded blankly, still unaware of the problem.
"Ha, it was a gang operation."
He turned his face sarcastically. "Let him in."
She had no choice but to follow his instructions and go open the door.
As soon as Bai Di entered the room, he saw the person in the chair: "Who are you? Isn't this Bai Lu's room?"
Xu Xin sneered, as if he had heard something amusing.
"I don't think I need to explain to the thief."
He was so indifferent that he didn't even glance at Bai Di, staring intently at the handheld console screen.
"you!"
Bai Di was clearly provoked by his attitude.
"This is my cousin Bai Lu's room! Who do you think you are, trying to act all high and mighty here?!"
When he gets agitated, he becomes incoherent, and his later words become increasingly illogical: "Besides, the handheld console you're holding belongs to my cousin! What evidence do you have that we're thieves?!"
"I think you're the thief!"
Although we don't know where the problem lies, the tense atmosphere is the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed right now!
"Bai Di!"
She knew that Bai Di's emotions were easily triggered, and he could do extremely dangerous things when he got carried away, so she immediately stood in front of him.
They were afraid that he would start a fight if he lashed out at them.
She had seen Xu Xin fight before; ten Bai Dis wouldn't be a match for him, so even if they fought, he wouldn't gain any advantage.
"Yeah?"
Unfortunately, Xu Xin doesn't have a very good temper; most of the time, he's just too lazy to talk to people.
Xu Xin took out his phone from his pocket, swiped it left and right a few times with his slender fingers, and then turned the screen towards the two of them.
At first, the screen was completely black, and Bai Nan couldn't see anything. It wasn't until she heard the sound of a drawer being pulled open from the phone that she realized what was on the screen.
Sure enough, the video ended after the screen lit up brightly.
This is actually video evidence of Bai Nan 'stealing' the handheld console!
Bai Nan was a little confused. She had no memory of this scene at all, but judging from the starting point of the video, he started recording as soon as she entered the room, which meant that he must have recorded it when he was seventeen.
But he didn't produce that video at the time...
While Bai Nan was in a daze, Bai Di charged forward, fists clenched.
"Fuck your mother!"
Before Bai Nan could stop him, Bai Di's fist was already at Xu Xin's face.
Just then, another question came from the doorway: "Sister Nan?"
It was Bai Lu. He stood at the door looking at Bai Nan, then heard Bai Di's cursing and turned his gaze to the two of them.
"stop!"
He only had time to shout those words before Bai Nan reacted and immediately stepped forward, grabbing Bai Di's arm and pulling him backward.
Unfortunately, the person closest to Bai Di was Xu Xin; no one was as fast as him.
Bai Nan felt a weight on her hand, and the next moment Bai Di slammed down on her. She couldn't dodge in time, and Bai Lu, who was behind her, was also hit.
The three of them fell down one after another like dominoes.
Bai Lu, who was pinned at the bottom, let out a miserable cry.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch—"
Five minutes later, all three of them were kicked out of the house.
Bai Nan rubbed his nose, which was sore from the slamming door, and sat down against the wall of the corridor.
She needs to go through her memories again.
"Bai Di! Are you out of your mind?" Bai Lu, who was sitting down next to him, rubbed his sore shoulder with one hand and said indignantly, "You're supposed to be the third-best student in the whole school, can't you understand basic social etiquette?!"
Bai Di, whose mind was still reeling from the punch, finally came to his senses: "He came up to me and called me a thief, I didn't care about anything else..."
"Then you should take a good look at yourself first. You can't even beat Sister Nan, yet you think you can knock down a 1.9-meter-tall man with one punch?!"
It's rare to see Bai Lu being so harsh.
"He just arrived this morning, and my grandpa arranged for him to stay in my room. Can't you understand that? I have to treat him like royalty, and you actually resort to violence over a mere disagreement? I'm truly speechless..."
"If he tells my grandfather, none of the three of us will escape!"
Hearing this, Bai Nan was speechless for a moment.
Even ten years later, she still didn't know how powerful the Xu family was in Taipei. As for his family, all she knew was that his mother had passed away when he was eight years old.
After all, when we were young, even if we had a very good relationship, we rarely talked about family.
Besides, Xu Xin isn't someone who likes to talk about himself.
Only then did Bai Di realize the seriousness of the problem. He stopped being stubborn and simply lowered his head in silence.
"What? Aren't you going in to apologize to him? You were the one who started it, so even if the police come, you'll be the one admitting fault!"
Bai Lu had always disliked Bai Di for always acting like a quail, hiding behind Aunt Ying and the others when things went wrong as a child, and hiding behind Bai Nan when things went wrong after starting school.
In short, he's a giant baby who will never learn to solve problems on his own.
He turned to look at Bai Nan, surprised that she didn't say anything sarcastic.
Bai Nan is a typical Scorpio. She says the harshest things, keeps the most vicious grudges in her diary, and can be so ruthless that she can even hurt herself.
Such people are easy to misunderstand, so naturally no one is willing to spend the effort to get close to them.
But as his childhood friend, he saw it most clearly.
Born into a family that favored sons over daughters, it took Bai Nan all her energy to grow into a normal person.
"He won't tell on me."
After a long silence, Bai Nan finally spoke.
Bai Lu looked puzzled: "So certain? What if he's petty—"
"No, trust me."
"All right."
The conversation between the two came to an end, and Bai Di immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Bai Lu was so angry at his appearance that she gritted her teeth: "The thought of being in the same class as you when school starts makes me feel unlucky! Don't tell me you know me then!"
Upon hearing this, Bai Di immediately retorted, "Tch, do you think I wanted to be in the same class as you? I got into this class through my own hard work and talent! You're just a lowlife who paid to get in!"
"Holy crap! You're asking for it, aren't you—"
Okay, this is never going to end.
Bai Nan quickly got up and left this place of trouble.
It wasn't until evening that Bai Nan finally understood the cause and effect.
She never hugged Xu Xin back then, so naturally he wouldn't have harbored such malice towards her.
From Xu Xin's perspective, she's now a lovesick fool with delusions, clinging to him like a leech.
That's why he was so mean to her.
The lover she embraced with such affection is now just a stranger who doesn't know her.
However, the loss of her memory and the deepening misunderstanding between the two made it impossible for her to recreate the actions of that year to get to know, understand, and love him.
There was only one chance, during the memorial ceremony that very evening.
She needs to revise her plans.
At 7 p.m., everyone gathered in the front yard.
There were twenty tables of various sizes in the courtyard. She sat in the northeast corner. All the tables were arranged in a chessboard pattern to support the central mourning hall. A corner of the black coffin was visible beneath the hall, making the scene appear exceptionally solemn and dignified.
However, once the chef served the dishes, the atmosphere suddenly became lively.
Before the banquet officially began, Bai Zong tearfully reminisced about the deceased, and some of the older people listened with tears welling up in their eyes.
The deceased was named Li Laokou, and he was Bai Zong's father-in-law.
She was also the person Bai Nan least wanted to mention; she hadn't even spoken of Xu Xin. He was a nightmare, meant only to be buried in the most inconspicuous corner.
Fortunately,
Time is impartial; it takes away both beautiful things and painful ones.
For young people, the memorial service is just a boring routine. Death is not far away from them, and the deceased has almost no connection with them.
So after the young people finished kowtowing according to the procedure, they all left.
Only Bai Nan was left behind by her parents, and she was required to keep vigil that night.
Bai Lu wanted to stay with her, but she persuaded him to go back.
She remembers what she did back then, but now there is something more important to do: change Xu Xin's perception of her.
Taking advantage of a break in the vigil, she secretly slipped out.
Although he doesn't remember whether he did it back then, according to his later account, Xu Xin was in a period of frustration at the time and needed to use this incident to vent his emotions.
She left through the back gate and walked along the country road leading to the hillside.
She didn't have a cell phone; the watch on her wrist only emitted a very faint light, barely enough to illuminate the path beneath her feet.
Finally, after walking for about twenty minutes, she saw a dark figure.
It's Xu Xin.
He leaned against a motorcycle, head tilted back, quietly smoking.
According to Xu Xin later, this period was the first time he had ever tried cigarettes, and she remembers asking him, "What does it taste like?"
He chuckled softly and shook his head: "I guess it's... the taste of freedom."
"Stop smoking, it smells awful, and it'll turn your teeth yellow." At the time, I didn't understand the sadness on his face at all; I was just trying to persuade him very earnestly.
But even now, I don't really understand it.
He has too many secrets, hidden in every unspoken silence, in every complex expression, and in every sleepless night.
All she could do was quietly stay by his side, trying to blend into the same environment and atmosphere to understand his true feelings.
But she underestimated Xu Xin's keen insight.
Why are you following me?
He didn't turn around, just chewed on the cigarette butt in his mouth, talking casually. If someone didn't know him, they would probably think he wasn't angry.
But Bai Nan knew that the calmer his tone, the more agitated he was.
This is his usual way of expressing his emotions; if it were someone else, they would have developed breast cancer long ago.
She had no choice but to come out and sit down a little distance away from him: "I just came out to get some fresh air."
"Yeah?"
In the darkness, he seemed to chuckle, then got on his motorcycle and nodded at her.
Want some strong wind?
Bai Nan naturally couldn't refuse, so she quickly ran to the car.
"Hold on tight."
As soon as Xu Xin finished speaking, the car shot off like an arrow.
After being tossed and turned until she was completely disoriented, Bai Nan realized that his gentle invitation was just a way to punish her.
He didn't believe her, thinking she must have ulterior motives.
That's why he threw out a hook, and she easily fell for it.
"Ugh—cough, ugh—"
As she vomited uncontrollably, supporting herself on her knees, Xu Xin left with a sneer and vanished in a flash.
After Bai Nan finished vomiting, he walked for at least an hour before he saw the backyard gate.
Despite her weakened state, she continued to kneel on the prayer mat to keep vigil.
Fortunately, her father had already curled up and fallen asleep, otherwise she would have been beaten and scolded.
After everyone fell asleep, she finished what she needed to do. After all, this was Bai Nan's obsession at seventeen, and even she herself had no right to forgive her on her behalf.
The night was as dark as spilled ink, without a single star in sight.
Just like the reality she wanted to change, there was not a glimmer of hope in sight.
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