After making a promise to Luo Qubai's parents, Lin Qianliu stood up , said goodbye, and left the UCC cafe with his head held high.
As soon as she walked out of the cafe, she couldn't help but cry. The world became blurry. She cried helplessly and wandered aimlessly on the street, like a heartbroken girl who was abandoned.
She didn't know how long or how far she had walked. She only knew that when she returned to school, even the people playing ball on the playground had left, and she had lost all feeling in her feet.
She picked up her phone and found that it was already ten o'clock in the evening.
Lin Qianliu didn't want to go back to the dormitory, so he went straight into the convenience store, bought a dozen beers, and then walked towards the playground while calling Lian Shengmo.
"Hello?" When the call was connected, Lian Shengmo was applying a facial mask and his voice was a little stiff.
"Amo, it's me, come out and drink with me!" Lin Qianliu realized that he was choking up when he spoke, so he paused, took a breath, and then continued, "I'll be waiting for you at the second playground, come quickly!"
After saying this, she immediately hung up the phone, fearing that she would not be able to hold back her tears again.
On the other side, Lian Shengmo frowned after receiving Lin Qianliu's call, then took off the facial mask she had just applied without hesitation, grabbed a set of clothes and put them on, then hurried to the second playground .
Ever since Luo Qubai appeared, Lian Shengmo always felt that something was bound to happen to Lin Qianliu.
She also didn't know what the so-called "accident" was, but a girl's sixth sense told her that this love affair that had ended in vain would come back with thorns, and Lin Qianliu would definitely be hurt.
Sure enough, when she arrived at the second playground, Lin Qianliu had already drunk two cans of beer and was crying loudly.
Lian Shengmo rubbed his frown, sat down next to Lin Qianliu, snatched the beer from her hand, and took a big gulp.
After drinking, Lian Shengmo turned her head to look at Lin Qianliu, only to see Lin Qianliu crying and laughing at her.
She looked at Lian Shengmo for a long while before calling softly, "A-Mo." Her voice sounded aggrieved and helpless.
As soon as she called out, she hugged Lian Shengmo, cried out "wow", and started crying even more wildly.
"Yes, it's me. I'm here." Lian Shengmo raised his hand and patted her head gently. "Don't cry. What happened this time? Tell me."
"Luo...Luo Qubai..." Lin Qianliu cried and tremblingly said Luo Qubai's name, but there was no further words.
"What happened to Luo Qubai?" Lian Shengmo asked patiently.
"Wuwu... " Lin Qianliu was unable to suppress his collapse. He collapsed in Lian Shengmo's arms and choked up, "Amo, what should I do? It's... it's me. I hurt... hurt Luo Qubai..."
"How did you harm Luo Qubai?"
"It's...it's me who harmed him. Two...two years ago, after the college entrance examination, I...I got drunk, and I don't know...I don't know why, but I pushed him...pushed him onto the road. Woo woo, A'mo, the reason why Luo...Luo Qubai is lame is all...all because of me..."
"Xiao Qian..." For a moment, Lian Shengmo didn't know how to comfort her.
“It’s all… it’s all my fault!” Lin Qianliu cried, climbed up from Lian Shengmo’s arms, spread his hands, looked extremely guilty, and blamed himself, “Ah Mo, you said I… why am I so terrible… how could I… how could I push Luo Qubai… out onto the road, how could I… how could I forget this matter…”
"You were drunk, it was an accident." Lian Shengmo comforted him. She felt very distressed for Lin Qianliu in front of her.
"Even if it was an accident, it's... my fault!" Lin Qianliu cried, picked up a can of beer, skillfully pulled the pull tab, and then gulped down half of the can of beer.
"Xiao Qian!" Lian Shengmo quickly snatched the beer from her hand, then grabbed her arms and said word by word, "Listen to me, it's not your fault that Luo Qubai is lame. It was just an accident. He was just unlucky."
"No! It's all my fault! It's all my fault!" Lin Qianliu cried and shouted, "I destroyed him with my own hands!"
Lin Qianliu blamed herself too much. She believed that she was the one who ruined Luo Qubai.
Lian Shengmo looked at her, and although she felt distressed, she could not do anything for her. She could neither go back to the past to correct Lin Qianliu's mistake, nor become a skilled doctor to cure Luo Qubai. She could only hug Lin Qianliu and use her body temperature to comfort her sad heart.
When Lin Qianliu opened another can of beer and started drinking, Lian Shengmo also poured the beer that he had just snatched from Lin Qianliu into his mouth.
Apart from hugging, she could only accompany her until she was drunk.
After a long time, when Luo Qubai called, it was almost midnight.
At that time, Lin Qianliu was already completely drunk and kept talking nonsense. Sometimes he recalled the sweetness between him and Luo Qubai, and sometimes he blamed himself for the sin that had been forgotten.
Lian Shengmo was still awake. When she heard Lin Qianliu's cell phone ringing, she directly took out Lin Qianliu's cell phone and saw Luo Qubai's name.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she simply answered the phone for Lin Qianliu.
Over there, Luo Qubai called out Lin Qianliu's name. Lian Shengmo paused, glanced at the drunk Lin Qianliu, and then said, "Xiao Qian is drunk. I am her roommate and also her best friend."
"Hello." Luo Qubai was a little disappointed, but still concerned about Lin Qianliu. "What happened to Qianliu? Why are you drunk? Where are you? Do you need me to go..."
"No need." Without waiting for Luo Qubai to finish, Lian Shengmo rejected his kindness.
The air froze and the atmosphere became awkward.
After a while, when Luo Qubai was about to say something, Lian Shengmo spoke first.
She said in a light tone: "I say, Luo Qubai, it's better for you and Xiao Qian to stop associating with each other."
Lian Shengmo's words made it clear.
Luo Qubai did not ask any further questions, nor did he agree. He was just stunned for a moment, then hung up the phone.
Listening to the continuous busy tone in his ears, Lian Shengmo didn't understand whether Luo Qubai agreed or refused.
She sighed and wanted to delete the call record, but her finger paused on the "Delete" key. Then, she sighed again, gave up deleting, returned to the homepage, and put the phone back into Lin Qianliu's backpack.
Lian Sheng thought to herself that when Lin Qianliu wakes up tomorrow, she will definitely tell her that she had taken the initiative to ask Luo Qubai to stop associating with her.
Regardless of whether Lin Qianliu blamed her or not, making sure that Lin Qianliu and Luo Qubai broke off completely was the only thing she, as Lin Qianliu's best friend, could do.
A week later, Lin Qianliu met Luo Qubai downstairs of the dormitory building.
Since that day, Luo Qubai was forced by his family to stay in the hospital to recuperate, and Lin Qianliu never saw him again. When he saw him from afar, Lin Qianliu couldn't help but stop and stare at him under the tree. The afternoon sun fell on him, softly, as if he was embedded in a painting.
The moment their eyes met, the scene of her accidentally pushing him into the road flashed through her memory.
That forgotten memory, that memory that I could not remember no matter what, is now as clear as if it happened yesterday.
Her voice, mixed with other sounds, surrounds my ears——
"Luo... Qu Bai, you... don't touch me! I don't want to... don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you, wuwu... you bastard!"
"Bang——" is the sound of a heavy object hitting something.
Lin Qianliu was startled and closed her eyes in panic. In the dim light, she clearly saw herself cursing Luo Qubai while trying to push him away. The defenseless Luo Qubai stumbled and fell backwards.
The dazzling lights of the cars seemed to cut through the sky, travel through time and space, and like a sharp knife, piercing her heart straight.
Her breath suddenly stopped and she took two steps back unconsciously. Suddenly she felt that she couldn't face Luo Qubai and she fainted.
Tears blurred her vision. It turned out that on that night two years ago, she was the one who pushed Luo Qubai away, causing his right foot to become disabled.
His clenched fists looked as if they were stained with blood.
She suddenly hated her hands very much.
When Lin Qianliu was running, the wind brought the whispers of people around him. They were whispering about Luo Qubai who was limping on one foot and chasing Lin Qianliu.
At this moment, Lin Qianliu vaguely remembered that Luo Qubai's foot was not only lame, but also injured because of her.
Feeling distressed, Lin Qianliu stopped. She stopped to wait for him, but she did not turn around to look at him. With her back to him, she hurriedly wiped the tears from her face and took a deep breath.
After her emotions calmed down and the tear marks on her face disappeared, she raised the corners of her mouth, revealed a sarcastic smile, and turned away.
One step, two steps...
She looked at Luo Qubai who was chasing after her with great difficulty. She felt so distressed that she could hardly breathe. However, she dared not say anything. She could only force herself to pretend that nothing had happened and looked at Luo Qubai with indifference and sarcasm.
Luo Qubai finally stood in front of her, half a meter apart. No one spoke, their eyes met, he was affectionate, but she was deeply affectionate.
After a while, Lin Qianliu broke the silence first - in fact, she spoke first because she saw Luo Qubai slightly opened his lips. She showed an expression of disgust and annoyance, and said, "Luo Qubai, do n't love me anymore."
Luo Qubai was slightly startled and just looked at her without saying anything, as if he couldn't react for a moment.
Lin Qianliu did not give him enough time to respond, and continued: "It's too late. When I loved you, you didn't respond to me. Now I don't love you anymore, so please, Luo Qubai, please don't come to me again in the future."
"Qian Liu..." Luo Qubai moved his lips, his face a little embarrassed, but more of it was unbelievable, "Is what you said true? Or is it because..."
"It's true." Lin Qianliu responded hurriedly, afraid that he would mention the accident two years ago and that he would have an emotional breakdown.
Luo Qubai looked at her. Although he couldn't ask, he wondered if Jian Sile had told her the truth, which was why she was so cold.
As if he could see through Luo Qubai's thoughts, Lin Qianliu gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and clenched his hands hanging at his sides even more tightly.
She said hypocritically: "The Luo Qubai I like is the boy who can protect me, but now you can no longer protect me. Luo Qubai, you know that no girl needs a disabled person. I am also a normal girl. I don't want to take care of you for the rest of my life. I still have a long life to go, but your world is limited by your right foot."
She tried desperately to suppress the pain in her heart and pretended to look down on him, with indifference, sarcasm and disgust in her eyes.
The words she said and the expression she showed hurt Luo Qubai's heart. In an instant, he seemed to smell the increasingly strong smell of blood in the air, like rust. He knew that the smell came from his bleeding heart.
My eyes became moist and my vision became blurry.
Luo Qubai withdrew his gaze from Lin Qianliu, lowered his head, sneered, and couldn't help but let his tears fall on the concrete floor . Before he could see clearly, the tears had already disappeared in the sunlight, just like the girl he had not had time to take good care of had suddenly changed her mind.
Lin Qianliu looked at Luo Qubai silently, and there was only desolate silence between them.
She didn't know that he was crying silently, but she could feel the low breath surrounding him almost suffocating her.
After taking a deep breath, Lin Qianliu turned around and left quickly.
She didn't dare to stand in front of him any longer. What she had just said were lies that went against her will. She was afraid that tears would burst out in the next second and expose her lies.
If she could never recall that memory, perhaps she could still stand beside him as if nothing had happened, admiring him and asking for his love. But now, with those injuries still fresh in her mind, she could no longer face him with a clear conscience, so she could only push him away with a ruthless determination.
Luo Qubai, if you had not met me in this life, how wonderful it would be. You would still be a perfect prince, and I wouldn't have to harbor sins and suffer from insecurity.