Chapter 57 Li Nian's Independent Side Story - When He Remembered It (Part Six)
Gone...
"It's really...gone."
Lu Qingyao stared at the blank space below the chat box, her fingertips repeatedly dragging to refresh the page, unwilling to give up.
However, no matter what she did, the phone screen did not display the record she wanted.
As time went by, all the efforts proved to be in vain.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
He muttered unconsciously, "How could this be... how could this happen? I clearly remember sending it..."
Yu Qingzhou noticed the woman's anxious expression.
Although it's unclear exactly what happened, one can guess the general idea based on Lu Qingyao's words and actions before and after.
Finally, just as the other person couldn't help but start biting their nails, she spoke up and gently comforted them.
"Don't worry, it might be a system malfunction, and it might recover on its own later."
Upon hearing this, Lu Qingyao raised her eyes in a daze.
Her eyes were red, and she nervously bit her lower lip with her upper teeth, which stained it with a little lipstick.
"But……"
"Now that we're face to face, you can tell me anything you want to say directly."
As Yu Qingzhou spoke, she handed Lu Qingyao a tissue, gesturing for her to wipe off the excess lipstick.
Lu Qingyao hummed in agreement, took the tissue from her head, and wiped her face hastily.
"I don't know why, but I always have this feeling of unease..."
Realizing her lapse in composure, Lu Qingyao smiled somewhat embarrassedly.
He still seemed unsettled.
Do you remember when you were in middle school?
She looked into Yu Qingzhou's eyes, about to say something.
Their gaze suddenly fixed on a spot behind the young man, and then their expression changed abruptly.
"How could that guy..."
Yu Qingzhou turned her head and saw Li Nian standing at the entrance.
It was a gloomy, rainy day, and the area outside the coffee shop was dark.
The dim yellow light at the entrance illuminated the tall, silent silhouette of the young man. His face, shrouded in shadow, held an inscrutable expression.
Nevertheless, a clear gaze pierced through the soothing music and the cacophony of voices, locking directly onto Yu Qingzhou.
At that moment, a strange sense of unfamiliarity suddenly rose in Yu Qingzhou's heart.
The person standing there really was someone I knew...
"Darling, I've been looking for you for so long. I've finally found you."
The young man walked to Yu Qingzhou's side and leaned slightly down against the table.
Rain-soaked strands of hair fell across her forehead.
A mist of moisture rose on that face, which still appeared excessively pale under the warm light, and then, under Yu Qingzhou's scrutinizing gaze, a smile suddenly appeared.
The familiar words and scene made Yu Qingzhou momentarily dazed.
When was that?
It seems to have been at that bar last time... no, it seems to have been before that, much further back...
Yu Qingzhou was distracted and therefore did not correct the other party's overly sweet address in time.
"Why don't you use an umbrella? You might get sick."
Yu Qingzhou sighed helplessly and handed over a clean tissue.
Instead of reaching out to pull her hand away, Li Nian directly took Yu Qingzhou's hand and brought it to her wet cheek, rubbing it against it affectionately.
"If I get sick, my darling will never leave me alone at home. If I can always be with you, my darling, then being sick will become a joyful thing."
Yu Qingzhou thought to herself, "How come this guy is talking nonsense before he even has a fever?"
It feels a bit cheesy.
I don't know if it was the effect of this rambling, or simply because I was chilled by the other person's body temperature.
Realizing that they were still in a public place and that there were people they knew watching from the opposite side, Yu Qingzhou subconsciously tried to pull her hand back.
However, Li Nian gripped his wrist much tighter than he had expected.
Look at those thick eyelashes, like fan leaves, adorned with glistening raindrops.
Yu Qingzhou finally softened.
"Okay, let's find a place to take a hot shower first, and then change out of our wet clothes."
Yu Qingzhou suggested that his plan was to find a hotel nearby and book a room.
However, Li Nian's attitude was very firm.
"But all I want to do is go home."
Li Nian whispered in an almost hushed voice.
With such a tall stature, when she lowered her head, her eyebrows and eyes drooped obediently, immediately revealing a pitiful innocence.
Yu Qingzhou couldn't stand the other person being like this.
In particular, the warm breath from Li Nian's voice seemed to brush against his ear—near the back of his neck.
Yu Qingzhou was originally ticklish.
At that moment, the young man was gently rubbing the back of his hand with his rain-dampened, cool cheek.
Yu Qingzhou didn't show it on his face, but in reality, he already had a fine layer of goosebumps, and his ears were also showing signs of fever.
If this continues...
It's not just that one shameless person who makes a fool of themselves.
"Um... excuse me, I'll take my leave now. See you next time..."
Yu Qingzhou greeted Lu Qingyao somewhat apologetically.
In the past, at times like this, Lu Qingyao would definitely have a resentful expression of anger at their lack of ambition and sorrow at their misfortune.
I couldn't help but make some witty remarks and tease them, but today it was unusually quiet.
It was as if he was carrying some deep-seated secret.
Yu Qingzhou called her name, and the woman snapped out of her daze.
"Don't overthink it, it's probably just a system glitch. It's raining so hard, you should head home early. Remember to contact me anytime if you need anything."
"Okay, you too..."
Yu Qingzhou's gentle words of advice stirred a familiar warmth in Lu Qingyao's heart.
The latter nodded in agreement, but seemed somewhat absent-minded.
Seeing this, Yu Qingzhou couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"Should we—"
He wondered if he wanted to ride in his car with them.
But Lu Qingyao waved her hand, interrupting Yu Qingzhou.
"Alright, alright, we're not children anymore, why are you so worried? Besides, I have no interest in being a third wheel."
Yu Qingzhou was still a little hesitant, but Lu Qingyao's smile didn't seem fake.
In addition, the itching on the back of my neck had reached an unbearable level.
He was about to say something when he was suddenly pinched in the lower back.
The force was neither too light nor too heavy... It was perhaps closer to pinching than squeezing.
Moreover, it was the kind of malicious manipulation.
Yu Qingzhou managed to stop herself from speaking in time, thus avoiding accidentally making a rude sound.
He frowned, knowing that Li Nian was doing it on purpose.
However, it's not appropriate to argue about this matter with the other party in public.
We'll have to leave that aside for now.
"Then... be careful on the road. The roads are slippery in the rain, so please be safe."
Yu Qingzhou gave him another word of advice, still feeling uneasy.
Only after receiving a positive reply did he drag the young man, who seemed to have lost his bones, out of the coffee shop.
Once outside the parking lot, I realized that the sky was unusually gloomy.
Heavy dark clouds pressed down on the sky, scattering a silent, mournful drizzle upon the earth.
Yu Qingzhou felt uneasy.
He dislikes rainy days, especially traveling by car in the rain.
I don't know when it started, but rainy days, roads, traffic jams... these words together constitute a certain unspeakable psychological taboo.
It's as if something terrible had happened in similar weather before.
Therefore, whenever I encounter the same scene, I involuntarily fall into an uncontrollable state of tension and irritability.
However, in reality, Yu Qingzhou had never had such a traumatic experience.
No one I know has ever died in a car accident, and I've never even heard of a minor traffic accident that only resulted in minor injuries like cuts and bruises...
Of course, this does not mean that Yu Qingzhou wanted those around her to get involved in the accident.
But if that were the case, everything would seem to make sense, especially the inexplicable emptiness in my chest.
"It's not good to get distracted while driving."
A smiling young man reminded them from behind.
"Although dying for love can be romantic, if possible, I still want to grow old with my beloved, well, until we're so old we're practically toothless."
Yu Qingzhou's thoughts were interrupted by Li Nian's somewhat irreverent joke.
Although I disliked hearing death-related topics from the other person, the oppressive atmosphere that had been weighing on my mind dissipated somewhat as a result.
"...You talk such silly things all day long, don't you feel nauseous?"
Yu Qingzhou spoke softly.
Then I heard snickers coming from the back row.
It feels closer than before.
"Because, I'm serious."
As he said this, the backrest behind him suddenly slumped back a little.
The scent of youth enveloped me from behind, a refreshing minty fragrance mingling with the damp air.
The chill has doubled.
Yu Qingzhou glanced in the rearview mirror at a young man who was leaning forward, stretching out his arms to wrap around her, almost hanging himself entirely behind the driver's seat.
I was speechless.
Who exactly is ignoring traffic safety?
He was about to tell Li Nian to sit back down obediently when he opened his mouth and something cool was stuffed into it.
A refreshing minty flavor, accompanied by a cool, sweet aftertaste—
It's the mint candy that Li Nian always carries with her.
Yu Qingzhou frowned, but ultimately kept it in her mouth without spitting it out.
He doesn't like sweets, but peppermint candies are an exception.
Seeing Yu Qingzhou silently eat the candy, Li Nian revealed a satisfied expression.
He slowly let go of her hand, leaned back in his seat, and smiled as he looked at the people sitting in front of him.
"While I'm here, you're not allowed to think about anyone else."
Then, he suddenly spoke.
It was said in a half-joking tone, but it gave people a strangely serious feeling.
—When did I ever think about someone else?
Yu Qingzhou wanted to refute this, but with the candy in her mouth, she couldn't speak.
He didn't like chewing raw food, so he silently frowned again.
Li Nian seemed to have seen through the former's thoughts, and generously curved the corners of her mouth.
"It's okay, none of that matters anymore. As long as from now on... you only look at me, only have me in your heart, that's enough..."
As Li Nian spoke, her voice gradually faded, almost as if she were talking in her sleep.
Yu Qingzhou managed to swallow the candy with great difficulty, thankfully she didn't choke.
"Go back to sleep and then go back to sleep."
He spoke in a hoarse voice to remind him.
Upon hearing this, Li Nian, who was leaning back in the back seat, seemed to snap out of his daze for a moment. He nodded, showing a rare, bewildered obedience.
Yu Qingzhou felt as if something inside her heart had collapsed.
"Yes, I won't sleep, I'll just keep watching you—"
"..."
"I've been looking at you the whole time. After all, it took me so long to find you, so I have to look at you to my heart's content."
Listening to the muttering that was gradually going off-topic, Yu Qingzhou began to realize that the young man's brain had indeed been scrambled.
Moreover, it's the physical kind.
Looking at Li Nian, who was clearly extremely tired but still forced to keep her eyes open and stare at her with a silly grin, Yu Qingzhou didn't know whether to be angry or laugh.
It's certainly pitiful to get sick from getting caught in the rain, but getting soaked like this without an umbrella on a rainy day is just what you deserve.
I really don't understand what they're thinking every day...
Thinking this to herself, Yu Qingzhou couldn't help but drive a little faster.
This has never happened before.
If he had known it was raining, he would never have driven out.
However, the rain came suddenly.
When I went out, the sky was clear and the weather forecast didn't predict that the weather would change.
So the fundamental point is—
[A sudden and unexpected disaster.]
A strange word flashed through my mind.
Why...did I suddenly think of this?
Yu Qingzhou suddenly felt a sense of disorientation.
From any perspective, this is not a suitable word for the current context.
However, it suddenly crashed into Yu Qingzhou's chest, tearing open an invisible wound.
The rain fell silently, weaving between the gray and white world, like a silent old movie.
After turning the corner at that intersection, turn right again and walk less than 50 meters, and you'll see your residential community.
Perhaps that's why Yu Qingzhou lowered her guard.
By the time he noticed a splash of red in his field of vision, it was too late.
Accompanying the screech of brakes was the horrific sound of flesh being struck.
In the infinitely stretched time, Yu Qingzhou seemed to see a giant red butterfly in mid-air.
Then, belatedly, I realized—
It was actually an open red umbrella.
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