Chapter 51 Cause and Effect
She is dying.
Luo Qingxi secretly looked at the empty seat in front of her. This seat was originally occupied by a girl, but she had not been to school for two weeks. Now everyone knows that this girl has a terminal illness and will not live long.
This was the second time that Luo Qingxi was about to face the departure of his classmates.
The first was her best friend, Ding Muli, who suddenly disappeared when she was in junior high school.
The second one is this girl named Bai Xiaoyu. She was Luo Qingxi's high school classmate, but not a close friend of Luo Qingxi. But she was always the most eye-catching girl in the class. She was lively and cheerful, especially good at singing. She would always sing solo at every school party.
Everyone knew that Bai Xiaoyu was going to apply for the music college. Her dream was to become a singer. Her classmates believed she could do it. She had a pretty face with a slightly brown skin and a natural good voice. She even had a nickname "Little Tan Yun".
"The doctor said Bai Xiaoyu has a serious terminal illness." This news spread among the class. The students carefully talked about this news, and sympathy and worry spread like ripples.
"How could that be? It was fine before, how can it be cured?"
"Her parents are going crazy. She has been hospitalized now."
"My aunt is in the Third Hospital. She said that Bai Xiaoyu might be..." A girl showed a sad expression and shook her head.
The fear of death exchanged in their eyes.
They are already at an age where they can fully understand the meaning of the passing of life, especially when the object is still alive, a girl close to them.
Afterwards, the head teacher officially announced the news at the class meeting.
"Bai Xiaoyu needs to rest now. I can understand everyone's desire to visit her together, but her physical condition does not allow her to see so many people."
Then the teacher made a suggestion, that is, everyone should write a message to Bai Xiaoyu in a notebook, and student representatives would go to the hospital to visit her.
In the afternoon, the notebooks began to be passed around the class. When it was handed to Luo Qingxi, the notebook was already half filled. She opened the front page, which was mostly filled with blessings from classmates: "You must get better!!" "We will wait for you to come back!!" "Please don't be in trouble!!"
She flipped through a few more pages and found what Yan An had written. He wrote:
[For your song list at this semester's party, I would like to reserve "Flying Under the Starlight" first. ]
"Flying Under the Starlight" is one of Tan Yun's famous songs. Luo Qingxi thought to himself that Bai Xiaoyu was also a loyal fan of Tan Yun. Perhaps it was most appropriate for Yan An to downplay the patient's condition and not mention it.
The next day, the teacher appointed Yan An and Luo Qingxi as student representatives and handed them the notebook filled with blessings from their classmates.
"I've already told Bai Xiaoyu's parents, you can just go there tomorrow."
For this task, the teacher gave them half a day off and asked them to go directly to the hospital to visit Bai Xiaoyu after coming out in the morning.
Luo Qingxi came out very early that day. She and Yan An made an appointment to meet at the bus stop.
It was a foggy morning, the roadside flower beds were soaked with dew, new mushrooms sprouted under the sycamore trees, and everything was filled with a fresh and new breath. But her classmate was about to die.
Luo Qingxi subconsciously touched her backpack. The notebook inside was a gift from her classmates, a token of friendship between high school classmates. She didn't know what to say when she saw Bai Xiaoyu. Any words seemed to be nothing but dust in the face of illness.
She could still clearly recall Bai Xiaoyu's singing voice, which was sweet and childish, with imperfect skills but full of passion. She liked the way she sang.
Will we really be able to see Bai Xiaoyu singing again at this semester’s party?
Thinking of this, her nose couldn't help but feel sore.
A figure appeared from the foggy corner, its movements swift and smooth. Luo Qingxi subconsciously took a step back, and then she saw it clearly. It was a cat.
The cat was moving very fast, but stopped suddenly as it approached. It stared at her, its golden eyes gleaming with a strange light.
"Who are you?"
This greeting appeared in Luo Qingxi's mind. It was not a voice, but a will that appeared in her mind. It was clear and without any emotion. She subconsciously looked around, but there was no passerby on the street.
"Who are you?" This sentence appeared in her mind again. Luo Qingxi suddenly realized that it was the cat in front of her who was asking her a question.
This...is impossible.
Even though she was a high school student, Luo Qingxi was already past the age of fantasizing. Cats could never talk. It was impossible. But the question in her mind was real and clear. She stared at the cat in front of her without blinking, unable to utter a word.
This was a beautiful cat, its golden eyes were like the purest color of fire, its fur was smooth and shiny. It stared at her, and Luo Qingxi actually thought it looked handsome and solemn.
"You are touching a taboo that you shouldn't touch..." The cat seemed a little confused, "What did you do?"
The cat said this in her mind. Although she understood the meaning of each word, she had no idea what it meant.
What was going on? Was I still awake? Or was she just dreaming? But she could smell the earth and dew in the air, and she could smell the breakfast aroma wafting from the windows of the residents upstairs behind the wall. These smells were vivid and real. She was not dreaming.
"you……"
"Mr. Cat! Why are you talking to a human?" Another voice sounded, and a boy stepped out of the thick fog and appeared behind the cat. After seeing his face clearly, Luo Qingxi's eyes widened in astonishment.
Yan An? This was her first reaction. But she rejected this idea later. The boy in front of her was obviously a few years younger than Yan An. His face was softer but his expression was cold. He was like a shadow of Yan An's past growth, with other elements added, even younger and more disturbing.
"You are..." The boy who looked like Yan An turned his head and looked at her in confusion.
Who are you? Why am I so scared? Luo Qingxi felt that she couldn't breathe, and her hands were shaking. The man and the cat in front of her were blurring, and even her consciousness began to become sticky.
A hand patted Luo Qingxi's shoulder. Luo Qingxi turned around and saw Yan An standing behind her.
Yan An asked: "What are you daydreaming about?"
"I..." Luo Qingxi said, "I'm looking at a cat." She turned around and saw that the street corner was empty except for fog.
"What cat?" Yan An said, "There is nothing."
"There's another person next to the cat." She frowned and tried to recall everything that had just happened, but their faces were as blurry as the mist, gradually disappearing from her cognition. After only a moment, she began to wonder why she was in a daze.
"Are you sleepy?" Yan An said, with the corners of his mouth curled up.
"No way!" Luo Qingxi retorted. She looked at Yan An again. Yan An had beautiful lips, and when they were upturned, they made people feel warm.
The two of them walked towards the station. They sat down on the public seats at the station. Luo Qingxi arranged the bouquet of flowers in her hand, which she had just picked up from the flower shop. The flowers that the teacher had ordered before also represented the thoughts of the classmates. Yan An took out a Mathematical Olympiad tutorial book from his schoolbag and started reading it.
"You really are racing against time."
"It's just a last-minute cram." Yan An replied, "I'm going to take an exam soon." The exam Yan An was talking about was the Mathematical Olympiad. Because it was difficult, not many people in the grade participated in this competition. Luo Qingxi knew the reason why Yan An participated in this competition. Every year, the school has a few places for admission to T University without taking the exam. As long as Yan An can get a good ranking in this Mathematical Olympiad, he will be eligible to compete for admission to T University.
No one would believe that he was just cramming for the exam. Luo Qingxi tilted her head and looked at the bouquet of flowers. After looking at it again and again, she found that she had forgotten to put the card in. So she opened her backpack, took out the card and pen, put the backpack beside her, and began to write blessings on the card.
"I wish you a speedy recovery" is just a helpless consolation for terminally ill patients, she thought. If possible, she hoped that Bai Xiaoyu would be safe and sound.
A few minutes later, the bus arrived. Yan An and Luo Qingxi got on the bus. There were many people on the bus, and they were separated as soon as they got on. After sitting for a few stops, Yan An squeezed next to Luo Qingxi. Luo Qingxi was concentrating on protecting the flowers in her hand.
"These flowers must not be crushed," she said.
"Luo Qingxi, where's your bag?"
Luo Qingxi was stunned. She touched her shoulder, but the bag she was carrying was gone.
“…”
"Where's the bag?"
“I forgot it at the bus stop!” she yelled, “The notebook is still in my bag!!”
They both got off the bus at the nearest stop. It was the morning rush hour and it was hard to get a car. Yan An told Luo Qingxi that he had parked his bike nearby when he was tutoring last time. He was going back to get his bag.
"Don't worry!" Yan An said, "I'll get it."
Yan An disappeared at the intersection on his bike, while Luo Qingxi ran across the street, anxiously waiting for the return bus.
Time passed slower than any other time, and she waited for more than ten minutes before a bus came. She got on the bus and prayed that her backpack was safe, because it contained gifts from her classmates, and she had to deliver it to Bai Xiaoyu.
The closer they got to their starting point , the more anxious she became. What if someone took her backpack? What if Yan An couldn't find it when he rode back? What if they messed up today?
Her hands were sweating, and the scenery outside the car became a meaningless outline of color blocks. She just wanted to go back and see Yan An as soon as possible. Maybe seeing him, all her uneasiness would only prove to be a false alarm.
If only I could see him.
A small green-winged bird flew past the car window.
At some point, more people were walking on the street. When she turned into the street they had started from, she saw a dense crowd of onlookers. Several traffic police stood on the street, signaling the bus to change its route. An ambulance screamed and drove over from behind the bus.
"Car accident!!" "A car accident just happened here!!!" the passengers shouted.
Luo Qingxi got off the bus in a daze. People gathered in the center of the road, not far from the bus stop where they started. She saw a bicycle lying crookedly on the side of the road. Green-winged birds were circling above the crowd, chirping non-stop.
She didn't think about anything and squeezed into the crowd. Traffic police were maintaining order. Several passers-by lamented, "She's still a student, how tragic." "How could she be hit?"
She saw Yan An. He was lying in a pool of blood. She couldn't see his face clearly, but she could see that his arms were tightly holding her backpack.
In the evening, Luo Qingxi sat in front of the window.
The doctor declared that Yan An had died and all rescue efforts had failed.
Yan An is dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
She didn't want to leave the hospital, but her parents pulled her back.
I have killed him, she thought.
She didn't dare to recall the expressions on Yan An's parents' faces.
If I hadn’t put down my backpack to write a card.
If only I had been more careful.
No, it would be nice if nothing happened.
If Bai Xiaoyu wasn’t sick.
Then everything will be as usual.
Everything will be the same as usual.
She kept crying, for Yan An who had died, for Bai Xiaoyu who she had not yet met. She fell asleep in tears of regret and sorrow.
The next day was another day like any other.
Luo Qingxi finished his breakfast, picked up his schoolbag and went to school.
It was a new day, and the distant sun was gleaming above the clouds and treetops. Just like any other clear day.
She walked into the classroom and saw Bai Xiaoyu sitting in the front seat with a rosy face and full of energy, humming Tan Yun's song as usual.
Yan An was concentrating on reading his tutorial book while his classmates were talking and laughing.
Everything is as usual.
It was a day no different than any other.
Yes, this was the life she deserved.
Luo Qingxi subconsciously grabbed the pendant on her chest. Between her fingers, the fine patterns on the wooden plaque moved slightly, surging like waves.
After a moment, only a silver flower was left on the criss-crossing lines.
