Chapter 55 Numb.55 Is Xu Wu going to die?
The streets were filled with the smell of gunpowder from fireworks and firecrackers in the early morning. Xu Wu leaned against the wall, head down, and took a few steps with difficulty. She wasn't wearing a coat, and the smell made her already dizzy head feel even more unsteady.
Her body temperature seemed to be steadily rising. Her palms, pressed against the wall, lingered on the slightly cool touch, and after warming up the spot, she couldn't resist moving to another spot to continue touching it.
Xu Wu was panting, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. She was choked by the lingering smell of smoke in the air and coughed violently twice.
"Cough, cough—"
She frowned.
This was a shortcut back to her rented apartment, but because it was just past four in the morning and the first day of the Lunar New Year, the buses weren't running, so she had no choice but to walk, turning what should have been a ten-minute journey into half an hour.
It was obvious that she was in a terrible state, wearing only a thin shirt on her upper body. The relentless cold wind howled through the wide sleeves, chilling her skin to the bone.
She should have been frozen numb, but Xu Wu showed no change in expression. It was as if the terrifying temperature had numbed her. Even her hand, which was supporting her against the wall, looked pale and weak, with the protruding bones of her knuckles showing an unhealthy, sickly white color, devoid of any blood.
It hurts, it hurts everywhere.
The pain was so intense it felt like bones were being broken and tendons were being torn apart, and the wounds were being viciously bitten, but they couldn't penetrate to the surface, causing the inside to rot and decay into a pile of mud.
Xu Wu stopped, her breathing rapid, too exhausted to even lift her head.
My vision is blurry, I can't see clearly.
Her vision went black, and her knees buckled, nearly causing her to fall heavily to the ground.
The next second, a large hand reached through her abdomen and pulled her into an embrace, almost supporting her to stand.
In an instant, the mild, refreshing scent of sea salt enveloped her. Xu Wu, her mind hazy, raised her hand and placed it on the person's shoulder, the faint breath seeping into her nostrils.
"Fog" rang in my ears with a panicked yet concerned voice.
The warm breath sprayed onto the back of her neck, and the rare warmth made Xu Wu both resist and want to get closer.
She felt heavy and unsteady, unable to stand up straight. If no one held her up, it would be only a matter of time before she fell to the ground and passed out.
But... who is it?
Xu Wu tried to open her blurry eyes to see the person in front of her, but her vision was unfocused. She could only vaguely make out what looked like a clump of hair talking, and she couldn't even see any facial features.
"Why are you dressed so scantily?"
"Are you running a fever?"
As the urgent voice subsided, the other person's warm hand reached out and covered her forehead.
It's so hot, don't touch it.
Xu Wu frowned, wanting to push him away in disgust.
Immediately afterwards, the coat, still warm from the other person's body, was draped over her shoulders. Xu Wu was dizzy and didn't react, but the churning in her stomach made her nerves ache.
The visitor, still not satisfied, pulled the clothes tighter, wrapping her up completely, leaving her almost completely covered except for her rosy face peeking out from under the collar.
Terrible people often have a strange sense of security.
Xu Wu's stomach convulsed, and his vision went completely dark.
......
When she woke up again, she was still dazed and not fully awake.
The first thing that caught her eye was the white ceiling, a place she didn't visit often but which left a deep impression on her. Xu Wu frowned and glanced around briefly—
Outdated room color scheme and outdated wardrobe.
The walls are covered with photos of her from various angles.
The curtains were drawn tightly shut, preventing any light from getting in. Xu Wu didn't have her phone, so there was no way to tell how long she had been asleep.
Perhaps because she received some care while unconscious, her face wasn't as hot as before, but the dizziness wasn't going away so easily.
Xu Wu opened her pale, bloodless lips and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling certain in her heart that the owner of this house was the right person.
Thinking this, the bedroom doorknob suddenly clicked and turned, then was pushed open from the outside. A fluffy head poked in, and before it could speak, a long meow squeezed in from the crack.
Before Xu Wu could react, the little tabby cat jumped onto the bed. The fluffy white mangosteen walked towards her with its four limbs on the blanket, then flicked its tail and lay down, the lingering curve of its tail brushing against her cheek.
"I'm sorry." Jie Ying's nervous, soft voice came from behind. He carefully closed the door, afraid that the cold air outside would come in and worsen Xu Wu's condition. He waved to the little tabby cat, who was stretching on the edge of the bed, and said, "Mimi, Mimi, come here."
The little tabby cat lowered its head and licked its fur, only wagging its tail to indicate that it had heard its owner's words.
Jie Ying looked helpless, but she was afraid that the increasingly plump cat might accidentally step on Xu Wu, so she could only keep an eye on it, afraid that it would kick around randomly.
Suddenly, a very small, muffled laugh rang out, echoing for only two or three seconds before disappearing completely.
He paused, his gaze involuntarily falling on Xu Wu, who had already thrown off the covers and was struggling to sit up. Perhaps because she was sick, the aloofness around her wasn't as strong as usual. Her touch to scratch the little tabby cat's chin was very gentle, her downcast eyes were very mild, and the aggressiveness of her beautiful appearance had diminished considerably. Even her loose hair fell obediently to her chest.
Jie Ying recalled the scene when he ran into her on the street around 4 a.m. At that time, Xu Wu was only 400 or 500 meters away from her rented room. He dared not imagine what it would have been like if he had not run into her.
She was so fragile, as fragile as a butterfly whose wings had been maliciously torn off, as if she were about to break. Her skin was naturally fair, but at that time her face was terribly pale, as if all the blood in her body had been drained. She was also dressed so lightly, and in the weather that was only four or five degrees Celsius, her lips were almost turning purple from the cold. In addition, her forehead was abnormally hot.
In an instant, Jie Ying's breathing became rapid, his pupils contracted sharply, and without thinking, he rushed over and caught her.
Even now, looking at Xu Wu who has already woken up, his hands hanging at his sides are still trembling uncontrollably. His heart has long since lost itself, and overwhelming fear is about to tear him apart.
Is Xu Wu going to die?
He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
This feeling is so painful, Jieying is in agony.
If this is the only way, why keep him here?
Why leave him in this abyss without her?
Seeing the man staring at her without moving, Xu Wu looked up at him, glanced at her clothes that hadn't been changed, and asked in a hoarse voice, "You brought me back?"
She hadn't drunk any water since leaving the police station. Although she seemed to feel something dampening her chapped lips and wiping them away in her sleep, it was nothing compared to what she was doing.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm—" Jie Ying nodded.
Noticing the confusion in his eyes, Xu Wu ignored it and instead asked another question: "How did you get there?"
Upon hearing this, Jie Ying pursed her lips, a slightly embarrassed blush rising on her face. Clutching the hem of her dress, she stammered, "I...I went to your place to clean up, and then...I was thinking about you, about whether you'd come back early and was planning to leave, but...I didn't expect—"
Xu Wu carefully observed the expression on his face, without nitpicking or questioning why he went over to clean, since it didn't matter anymore.
"Oh, it was fog. I even threw up on the way back."
He spoke honestly.
Upon hearing this, Xu Wu froze.
Damn Jieying.
Two seconds later, the thought began to surface in her mind with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
"You're vomiting a lot, you feel terrible."
Stop talking.
Xu Wu gripped the blanket tightly, looking at him expressionlessly.
"I even cried in my dream."
"You weren't fully awake and couldn't take your medicine, so I... I didn't give you any medicine, I just put on a fever-reducing patch."
Xu Wu loosened his grip.
He didn't say anything more.
Jie Ying asked her, "Where's your... where's your phone?"
“I fell,” she replied.
It fell.
"Um."
It did indeed fall, and it was smashed to pieces.
To prevent her from calling the police, her stepfather smashed her phone without saying a word, while Fang Rumei watched silently without uttering a sound.
Xu Wu was too exhausted to cope, and she couldn't say anything at all.
Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. She originally wanted to buy a ticket to visit her father's grave, but she lost her phone and can't go anywhere.
Ding-dong—
The doorbell rang outside.
The two exchanged a glance, and Jie Ying was the first to react, reassuring her, "You, rest for a bit first, I'll go take a look."
After receiving a nod from Xu Wu, he quietly left, making sure to close the door behind him.
Jie Ying looked towards the door, feeling a little confused. He couldn't guess who would come, since he had no relatives or friends here.
Compared to that, the matter of cooking some porridge for Xu Wu later took precedence.
He wondered if he had gone to the wrong floor.
Walk over to the door and say, "Hello—"
His unfinished words abruptly stopped when he touched the woman standing outside the door. When he met her eyes, which were seven or eight parts similar to his own, he was struck dumb, as if hit on the head. He was completely stunned and could no longer utter a sound.
The woman wore an elegant fox fur coat, and her aged face, well-maintained, showed no signs of aging, instead possessing a mature and charming beauty.
It's exactly the same as I remember, without even the slightest change.
Jie Ying stared intently at her, her grip on the doorknob tightening until her veins bulged, then she released her grip a moment later, her throat dry: "...Mom."
"How have you been these past few years?" the woman asked, looking up at him.
They share the same blood, yet face to face, they can't find a single word to say, only offering perfunctory greetings.
Jie Ying nodded silently.
"I'll pick you up in a couple of days and take you to Beijing. Your dad wants you to go back and visit him," the woman said succinctly.
Hearing this, Jie Ying didn't react much. The other party didn't even invite her in to sit down. To her, this house was no different from a flood or a monster.
"You absolutely must go," he asked, looking down at him.
"You get quite a few benefits from going there and scanning your face, so please help me out and save me some trouble."
Jieying remained silent.
Seeing that he didn't speak, the woman said, "I'll come pick you up in a couple of days, so you don't need to pack your things."
The moment the front door closed again, Jie Ying glanced back at the locked bedroom door, listened to the footsteps fading away outside, and stood motionless.
To be honest, he still resented her. He felt wronged by being tossed around like a burden after the divorce, and he longed for them to remember him, feel guilty towards him, and take him with them.
However, as he grew older, he realized that this was wishful thinking, so he stopped hoping for it.
If it hadn't been brought up, his pent-up resentment would have been forgotten. He had once been so angry that he had cursed them all to die.
Everyone else was moving forward, but he was left behind in the fog.
The road ahead is unclear, and there is no way back.
He had been wandering in confusion for a long time, on the border between life and death, when he finally took a complete step.
He had already lost everything.
"What is this?" Xu Wu sat on the bed, holding the little tabby cat, and looked at the key in front of her with a puzzled expression.
"The key." Jie Ying placed the key on the bedside table and said softly, "My mother is back."
Xu Wu paused, her hand stroking the little tabby's fur slowed down, and her heartbeat calmed down a bit: "...It's fine."
“You don’t need to leave. Here, this is the key to this place.” He gazed at her face, his eyes sweeping over the two moles on her left cheek, one above the other.
It's really hot.
When Jie Ying recalled that when Xu Wu had a fever and fell into a coma, he reached out and touched her face to check her temperature, and as if possessed, he gently touched the two moles.
An unknown allure, perhaps due to his illness, made him feel a faint burning sensation at the location of the two moles. That scorching heat traveled through his fingertips, which were touching her skin, and almost engulfed him in this sea of love.
"Are you leaving?" Xu Wu frowned.
"I'm going out for a few days, I'll be back soon." He smiled and said, "No need, don't worry."
"Who's worried about you?" She turned her head away.
"We're going to Beijing," Jie Ying explained earnestly.
"Oh..." Xu Wu blinked and asked him, "I saw on the news the other day that the snow in Beijing hasn't stopped yet. Are you going to go see the snow?"
“No, go, go find someone,” he said. “You like snow.”
"Well, I guess so." Xu Wu thought for a moment and replied, "I've never seen snow."
"Then I'll bring it back for you to see."
"It'll probably melt on the way."
"Then, I'll take the picture."
Xu Wu said he was annoyed.
Jieying smiled and went out to cook her a bowl of porridge. She watched her drink it before letting her take her medicine.
Xu Wu's illness came on suddenly. He originally wanted to wait until she recovered before going to Beijing with that woman, but she was urging him to hurry up, so he had no choice but to remind her of some precautions in advance.
She kept nagging on and on until Xu Wu was tired of hearing it, and she urged him to hurry up and leave.
Before leaving, Jie Ying told her, word by word, that he would only be staying for two or three days and that she should not worsen her condition.
But there weren't even two days left.
Because Jieying left.
On the first day, Xu Wu squatted on the ground and fed the little tabby cat food.
The next day, Xu Wu sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in her room watching the fireworks.
On the third day, Xu Wu checked her temperature and confirmed that she was cured.
On the fourth day, Xu Wu went out and bought a new mobile phone.
Day 5...
She was bewildered and didn't understand why Jieying had lied to her.
Didn't you say you'd be back soon?
Li Jiang is too far from Beijing; she really can't find him.
She couldn't log in to her old WeChat account because she hadn't set a password, and when she registered a new WeChat account, she couldn't find any contact information for Jieying. She stared blankly at the empty interface for a long time.
When school started, she went to the office and was told by her homeroom teacher that Jie Ying had applied for withdrawal and wouldn't be coming back. The teacher said it was a pity that she was so impulsive when she was almost in her senior year of high school.
Xu Wu lowered her eyes, concealing the turbulent thoughts within them.
Unable to find him, she could only wait in the same spot.
How long will it take?
She really—
I absolutely hate waiting.
Ironically, what she excels at most is waiting.
Author's Note: The Campus Arc is Over
I also revised the copy a bit.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
