Chapter 8 The Dark Cloud Behind Happiness 1
The morning sun climbed up the window lattice, and birds fluttered their wings and flew away from the branches that had sprouted new buds. The community was filled with the refreshing tranquility unique to the morning, until a sharp ring broke this rare tranquility...
"Meng Meng! I have good news for you! The first issue of Narita Gossip that we have jointly created is about to be released! I am super excited now! Just think about it, the mystery of the campus male god that everyone is looking forward to will be revealed here! I dare not even imagine the number of readers!"
Yuan Xinyi's excited voice came from the phone, and Qian Mengmeng slowly sat up from the bed holding the phone.
"That...senpai..."
Qian Mengmeng's hesitant voice.
"What's wrong?" Yuan Xinyi didn't notice anything was wrong with her at all, and was still excited. "Twenty thousand, Mengmeng, just wait until you can count the money until your hands are tired!"
The huge amount of money made Qian Mengmeng slightly excited and hesitant, but she soon spoke again: "Senior sister... do we have to release Pei Haochuan's gossip? He actually pays a lot of attention to personal privacy. How about we change it to something else? Aren't there those cute cats and dogs on the Internet now? Change it to that..."
"What are you talking about, Qian Mengmeng," Yuan Xinyi's tone on the other end of the phone suddenly became cold, "What you gave me is at best a brief introduction of the character. Did we reveal his address? Did we talk about his life from childhood to adulthood? No? We don't even know whether Pei Nanshen has had a first love, how many people he has dated, or what his future dreams are. We only know his hobbies! What else? Foods he doesn't like, things he likes..." Qian Mengmeng could almost imagine the impatient expression on Yuan Xinyi's young face, "So, what are you worried about? Or is it that Pei Haochuan's position in your heart is no longer the same as before, and you are worried that he will be exposed and feel distressed?"
Hearing Yuan Xinyi's gossiping voice, Qian Mengmeng was immediately flustered. She denied it flatly: "No, no, it's not true! I just think this is not good! After all, he didn't agree to it. If he was discovered..."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, don't you think about where we always communicate? How could anyone find out? Just admit it. Are you attracted to Pei Haochuan?"
Qian Mengmeng didn't want Yuan Xinyi to continue to speculate like this. She felt that she could not bear it any longer. She yelled into the phone: "You are more likely to like Pei Haochuan if you chase after Pei Haochuan's gossip all day long!" and hung up the phone.
After sitting on the bed for a long time with her hands covering her red face, Qian Mengmeng murmured with a sigh: "What should I do? My heart is beating so fast. How can I be so confused even by a joke like this? I am so useless..."
Just when Qian Mengmeng was secretly panicking, the cell phone suddenly rang again!
"Wow!" Qian Mengmeng hurriedly picked up her phone, thinking it was Yuan Xinyi calling, but unexpectedly saw Pei Haochuan's name.
Qian Mengmeng quickly picked up the phone: "Hello?"
"Mengmeng, are you up?" Pei Haochuan's tired but gentle voice came. That day, Qian Mengmeng stayed with Pei Haochuan until his father was out of danger after the operation and was admitted to the intensive care unit. In the following week, Pei Haochuan stayed with his father every day. Qian Mengmeng would occasionally visit him, but more often they contacted her through WeChat or phone. Pei Haochuan always spoke in a tired tone when he called her, and this time was no exception. Qian Mengmeng felt a little distressed.
"Yeah, I'm up." Qian Mengmeng replied in a low voice.
"I'm downstairs in your house."
"Ah?" Qian Mengmeng was surprised, but she quickly reacted, "How is your father? Why did you come out? Um, um, where are you?"
Pei Haochuan chuckled on the phone, and he said softly, "I'm sitting on a bench in the community park. I bought breakfast. Let's eat together."
Qian Mengmeng couldn't help but hold her breath and immediately said, "Wait a moment, I'll be down right away."
"Don't worry, take your time, it's okay with me."
But Qian Mengmeng still finished washing up as quickly as possible and appeared in front of Pei Haochuan.
Pei Haochuan was sitting on a bench downstairs in their community. He must have taken a shower in the morning, so his hair was still a little wet. He was wearing a light-colored T-shirt and cropped pants, and he looked young and cheerful. Seeing Qian Mengmeng appear in front of him soon, he couldn't help but smile and said, "I told you not to be so anxious. You are so reckless. What if you fall?"
"How can you be so delicate?" Qian Mengmeng waved her hand and smiled. She saw that there was a dark circle under Pei Haochuan's eyes and said worriedly, "Did you not sleep well last night? You have such heavy dark circles under your eyes."
Pei Haochuan smiled: "Well, although Dad is fine, I'm still a little worried."
Qian Mengmeng was silent. That's right. Who can sleep well when encountering such a thing? Pei Haochuan's appearance was normal. She was just stupid for asking such a nonsense question.
She wanted to comfort Pei Haochuan, but she didn't know how to start. Instead, Pei Haochuan seemed to see her embarrassment and took out the breakfast he had prepared long ago and said, "Eat something."
"Okay!" Qian Mengmeng breathed a sigh of relief, took the breakfast from Pei Haochuan's hand and started eating.
Pei Haochuan also sat beside her and ate breakfast leisurely. Seeing that she was eating in a hurry, he took out soy milk from the bag, inserted a straw and handed it to her, saying gently: "Slow down, no one is going to snatch it from you."
Qian Mengmeng smiled at him. In fact, she didn't know what to say so she wanted to cover her mouth with something, but she felt bad if she didn't say something.
"Pei Haochuan."
"Hmm? " Pei Haochuan turned and looked at her.
"There was a period of time when I was a child, and I often couldn't sleep," Qian Mengmeng smiled bitterly, "You also know that my father's psychological defenses are relatively fragile. He wants to He has tried all kinds of methods, such as cutting his wrists, tying himself to the sink with a towel and hanging himself, and you have seen... jumping off the building..." Speaking of the past, Qian Mengmeng's big dark eyes were full of sadness. Pei Haochuan wanted her to stop, but Qian Mengmeng continued to talk to herself, "After Dad's first failed suicide attempt, I was always worried and couldn't sleep, for fear that when I fell asleep and opened my eyes, Dad would be gone. Later... I don't know what happened. I don't remember whether it was a month or how long it was. I was too tired from working. It was clear that I had just persuaded my father who wanted to commit suicide to come back that day, but as soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up, I was startled and hurried to see if Dad was still there. As a result..." Qian Mengmeng smiled and showed two naughty little tiger teeth. She said to Pei Haochuan, "Dad is making breakfast for me in the kitchen."
"So..." Qian Mengmeng stretched and said briskly, "I changed from that day on. I'm no longer trembling with fear, and I no longer worry about nothing. As long as I do everything I can and try to prevent things I don't want to happen from happening, isn't that enough? At least, I'm happy at this moment, and that's enough."
Qian Mengmeng took a sip of soy milk, looked at Pei Haochuan and said, "Since your father is fine, you should cheer up and take good care of him. At least, everything is moving in a good direction, isn't it?"
The early morning sun parted the clouds and shone on Qian Mengmeng's smooth face. Her eyes were as bright as stars in the night, and her brilliant smile infected Pei Haochuan. He took out a straw and inserted it into Qian Mengmeng's soy milk cup with a "swish". He calmly took a sip of the soy milk in Qian Mengmeng's surprised gaze.
"Didn't you buy an extra cup?" Qian Mengmeng didn't know where to put her eyes. She maintained the posture of holding the soy milk in mid-air and watched Pei Haochuan take a sip of the soy milk in her hand.
Too ambiguous...
The ambiguity made her face blush.
"I forgot to take my cup. It's okay, just drink it like this, it's fine." Pei Haochuan said casually as if nothing had happened. But there was still a hint of smile in his eyes when he looked at Qian Mengmeng.
Qian Mengmeng had nothing to say.
"Have you finished eating?" While Qian Mengmeng was in a daze, Pei Haochuan, who had been sitting next to her, got a bicycle with a back seat from somewhere. He held the handlebars of the bicycle and said to her, "I'll take you for a ride."
"Oh! Okay!" Qian Mengmeng came back to her senses and agreed.
"By the way, this is for you." Pei Haochuan suddenly took out a breakfast coupon from his trouser pocket and handed it to Qian Mengmeng. "It's a gift from the breakfast place. They said you can redeem the gift by scanning the QR code."
Somehow, Pei Haochuan's face seemed to be a little red when he said this, and the hand that handed Qian Mengmeng the breakfast coupon seemed to be shaking a little, but Qian Mengmeng didn't notice these. She happily took the breakfast coupon, took out her mobile phone and was about to scan it, but was stopped by Pei Haochuan.
"Um..." Pei Haochuan coughed lightly, turned his head slightly, and said, "You should go home and scan it again."
"Huh? Why?" Qian Mengmeng asked curiously.
"No reason..." Pei Haochuan explained vaguely, but soon he became firm in his attitude. He looked at Qian Mengmeng and said firmly, "Scan it when you go back. If you scan it now, it will be meaningless."
Although she didn't know what Pei Haochuan meant, Qian Mengmeng still took a picture of the QR code of the breakfast coupon with her mobile phone without scanning it. After all, it was just a breakfast coupon and it didn't matter when to scan it.
After taking the photo, Qian Mengmeng put away her phone with a smile and said to Pei Haochuan: "Then... let's go!"
