"Let me go! Let me go!" The wretched man's face began to rub against mine randomly. His disgusting bad breath made my stomach churn, as if I could vomit at any time.
I struggled desperately, holding on to the last glimmer of hope, hoping that someone would pass by here by chance, hoping that the two wretched men would be scared away by my yelling, hoping...
"Let me go! Let me go!" I screamed and roared. My summer clothes were already thin, and the collar had been ripped open by one of the men, revealing a large area of ​​my chest. I struggled hard, trying to escape, but was pulled back again and again and pressed against the wall again.
I was so scared that I really hoped that Superman would come down from the sky to save me and prevent me from the nightmare that was about to happen.
I heard the sound of fabric tearing, my own heart-wrenching screams, and the man’s… screams…
When I opened my eyes, I saw two men being kicked to the ground, groaning while holding their stomachs. Yan Wenbo put his coat on me and pulled me out the door without giving me a chance to think.
As the two of us stood breathlessly at the school gate, I looked at my clothes and then at the people around me who were pointing and talking, and I knew that I was going to make the headlines again.
Yan Wenbo took me to a bench near the grove we used to go to and sat down. He tried to hold my hand, but I dodged him. I lowered my head and managed to say, "Thank you so much for today."
If he hadn't appeared, I don't know what would happen next, and I'm not sure what I would do. The only thing I'm sure of is that if something happened to me, my grandma would be sad to death. For my grandma, I have to live strong.
"Weiwei, do you really... want to be so distant from me?" Yan Wenbo looked at me with a melancholy face.
I avoided the topic and asked him why he was here. His answer was simple. He saw me being pulled away by Ren Xiaoqi at the school gate. He knew Ren Xiaoqi and was a little worried so he quietly followed her. But he received a phone call because of family matters and was delayed in saving me.
He grabbed his hair in annoyance, hating himself for not arriving earlier and causing me to be treated like that .
I said, "You came just in time. If you had come a little later, my life might have been ruined."
He looked at me, his eyes slightly red, and the once smiling boy's face was now filled with deep sorrow. I knew in my heart that all this was caused by me, and I didn't know when the wound would heal.
I looked up and saw the leaves rustling above my head. The sky was overcast, like the last calm before the storm.
The past was blown into my mind like the wind, again and again, without stopping.
"Weiwei, can we go back to the way we were before?" Yan Wenbo asked tentatively, his tone so cautious.
Ren Xiaoqi also asked me this question. He also asked it, and my answer has always been just one sentence: we can't go back.
It hurts others and hurts yourself.
The sunny boy whom I once loved with all my heart is now as gloomy as the weather at this time, as if it will rain at any time.
"I know this incident has hit you hard. Although I don't know what happened to you in high school, I know that you are not that kind of girl. Weiwei, I hope I can stand by your side and block all the rumors for you. I also hope that when you are in danger, there will always be someone for me to stay by your side. Can you give me another chance? " Yan Wenbo said sincerely.
Facing such affection, it is impossible not to be moved, but what I see more is the reality. Just like the time when there was a flowery conversation between Ji Suting and me, there is also an indelible Xu Meng'er between Yan Wenbo and me. When there was a flowery conversation, at least Ji Suting and I had not started yet, I had no right to ask him to keep his chastity for me, and I had no right to disturb his private life too much.
But what about Xu Meng'er?
Whether she took advantage of the cold war between Yan Wenbo and I, or Yan Wenbo did not hold on during the cold war, no matter which one it was, our relationship could not continue.
Yan Wenbo asked me again: "Are you still bothered by Xu Meng'er's affairs? We have completely cut off ties, and I will not have anything to do with her anymore."
"I know you two broke up, and I also saw how sad Xu Meng'er was, but Yan Wenbo, not everything can be repaired. Once there is a crack in a relationship, it can never go back to the way it was. Let's... just be ordinary friends!" I stood up and turned my back to him, not daring to look at his eyes filled with sadness. "Anyway, thank you for saving me today. I'll treat you to a meal some other day, some other day."
We are not sure when that day will be, and perhaps that day will never come for us.
"Weiwei, is this really all we can do?" Yan Wenbo asked.
"Well, that's good." I replied, and left without looking back. If I stayed any longer, I was afraid that I would not be able to hold back my tears. If I stayed any longer, I was afraid that I would miss his hug and make the wrong decision.
I heard him whisper behind my back: "Weiwei, I'm actually beginning to hate your ruthlessness!"
I answered in my heart, I don’t want you to have love or hate for me, it would be best if you could forget it.
When I got back to the dormitory, Shi Shuxia was not there. I breathed a sigh of relief, and fatigue spread all over my body. I forced myself to take a shower, change clothes, and when I was about to go to bed, I saw Xu Meng'er. She smiled coldly at me and said, "Did you go to see Yan Wenbo?"
"Yes, I have." I replied.
She asked, "He made peace with you again? What did he do to move you this time? Looking at your clothes, could it be that he was a hero saving a beautiful girl?"
After we officially broke up, Yan Wenbo did come to me a few times, and each time he did something touching, which more or less caused a sensation in the school. Xu Meng'er went from being furious at first to being sarcastic later, and gradually stopped asking questions.
I thought she had given up completely, but now it seems that's not the case.
"No matter what, there's no going back," I said.
"Cun Zhiwei, I found you annoying from the first moment I saw you, and I always have." She looked at me with hatred, "Your past was so filthy, why do you still pretend to be so noble?"
"Same here, same here." My heart was in a mess. I didn't want to continue talking to her. Just when I was about to get on the bed, she pulled me down. I staggered and almost fell to the ground. I glared at her angrily, "What do you want?"
"Cun Zhiwei, why do you treat him like this? Hasn't he done enough for you?" Xu Meng'er glared at me, gritting her teeth, "What else do you want from him before you let him go!"
"I never refused to let him go; it was he who never let him go," I replied.
"Yes, he hasn't let it go. He hasn't let it go." Xu Meng'er forced a smile that was uglier than crying. She looked at me with red eyes, "If he could let it go, he wouldn't have to do so many stupid things."
I heard another version of the story from Xu Meng'er , a version that made me stand there in a daze and never be able to let it go.
The temperature in the south in June was already nearly 40 degrees Celsius. I stood in the dormitory face to face with Xu Meng'er, and every word she said made me feel cold all over.
Many years later, I still can't forget Xu Meng'er's expression that afternoon. On a gloomy afternoon, in the dormitory covered with dark clouds, she stood in front of me, her charming face hidden in the light and shadow, and she said: "Cun Zhiwei, you are such a fool."
She was smiling, her eyes full of smiles, tears sliding down her face, and bringing me a story that I didn't know.
Xu Meng'er fell in love with Yan Wenbo because of me.
During the days when Ji Suting and I were entangled, Yan Wenbo tried his best to make me happy, but he was afraid of touching my taboos, so he found Xu Menger. His idea was very simple, just to know my recent situation, my likes and dislikes through someone close to me, and then "prescribe the right medicine".
In Xu Meng'er's memory, there are many men like Yan Wenbo. They can do all impossible things to please a girl. Love is blind. It is not surprising that someone has done this for her before.
But she just fell into this old-fashioned way of pursuit and couldn't extricate herself.
She began to think of every possible way to meet Yan Wenbo, and started to make up all kinds of excuses to ask him out, and would feel very sad when he refused.
Later, Yan Wenbo realized that her words were a bit unreasonable and began to gradually distance himself from her. At that time, I was already officially together with him, and he really didn't need the presence .
After learning that Yan Wenbo and I had a quarrel because of Ji Suting, she found Yan Wenbo immediately and said that they met at a party organized by friends, but it was more like she did it on purpose, including the drunkenness that night, which was also a deliberate plan.
Getting drunk, checking into a hotel, going to bed... everything happened so naturally. Xu Meng'er thought that she could use this to become the person next to Yan Wenbo, but it turned out to be just her wishful thinking.
All subsequent meetings, meals and shopping trips were threats from her. In this back-and-forth threat, Yan Wenbo began to collapse.
Even if Li Chongyang stood in front of me and told me about the bed, it was all arranged by Xu Meng'er. Otherwise, how could Li Chongyang appear at the school gate so coincidentally and meet me so coincidentally? It was all a trap.
Li Chongyang loves Xu Meng'er, and Xu Meng'er likes Yan Wenbo. There is never a shortage of love triangles in this world.
Yan Wenbo and I finally broke up. Xu Meng'er tried again and again to keep the boy, but was disappointed every time. The resentment between us grew deeper and deeper.
I have more or less guessed about these things, and they were basically correct. What I really didn't expect was what Xu Meng'er said next.
Xu Meng'er asked me, "Cun Zhiwei, do you think you are very smart? Then do you know that Yan Wenbo's heroic rescue of you was a conspiracy that was planned long ago?"
"What do you mean?" I asked in shock. Thinking of the smell of those two wretched men and their disgusting smiles when they tore my clothes, my scalp went numb and I subconsciously resisted Xu Meng'er's next words.
"You should have guessed it, right?" Xu Meng'er smiled and told the cruel reality. "To be honest, I was also surprised when I heard it that day, but people tend to pursue interests. Once interests are involved, anything becomes possible."
Ren Xiaoqi had discussed with Yan Wenbo about choosing this time to release the photos.
After Yan Wenbo and I broke up, he always wanted to reconcile, but my attitude was too tough and he could never find a way to reconcile.
It was at this time that Ren Xiaoqi came to him.
At first, Yan Wenbo didn't like Ren Xiaoqi and didn't want to cooperate with her at all. He also understood that Ren Xiaoqi was someone I hated and that it was risky to cooperate with such a person.
But at that time, Ji Suting and I were busy designing the competition, and we were very close. Ren Xiaoqi took advantage of this and lured Yan Wenbo to work with her.
Xu Meng'er said that she happened to go to see Yan Wenbo that day and saw the two of them enter the restaurant. She initially thought that they were doing something shameful, but after eavesdropping on them, she realized how pathetic I was.
Of these two people, one hopes to rekindle our relationship and not break up, while the other hopes to be friends with me and reconcile as before.
Their demands are almost the same, they all want to be the closest people to me, but they work together to plot against me just for their own interests.
What am I, then? The center of their interest? Or an object that they all want?
Like Xu Meng'er, I also feel that I am very pathetic.
Ren Xiaoqi's proposal was simple. She would find a way to create a hero saving a beautiful girl. Yan Wenbo would just need to show up at the right time. I would definitely be touched. Yan Wenbo would just need to strike while the iron is hot and we would definitely reconcile. After we reconciled, Yan Wenbo would find a way to make Ren Xiaoqi and I reconcile.
After the two discussed the details, they found that simply finding two people to humiliate me might not cause me too much pain. Ren Xiaoqi made a few more suggestions, and finally the two unanimously chose the Wang Zijia incident and the photos of me when I was rebellious.
The photo appeared, the Wang Zijia incident was brought up, I was taken away by Ren Xiaoqi and then the two "Yellow Teeth" came. Then, when I was humiliated and about to collapse, Yan Wenbo appeared.
Faced with this truth, I don't know what expression to use. Should I cry? Or should I laugh heartily, at my own naivety and my own patheticness?
"Cun Zhiwei, you know what? I am very happy to see your expression now. I am very happy." Xu Meng'er laughed heartily , and tears came out of her eyes. "But do you think this is all your sorrow? No, there will be more sad things waiting for you in the future, but I will not be the one to tell you those things."
"What do you mean?" I asked warily.
"I've told you before, there are some things that I can't tell you, you need to discover them yourself." Xu Meng'er wiped away her tears, "I'm looking forward to what your expression will be like that day, I'm really looking forward to it."
I know a little about Xu Meng'er's temper. It would be futile for me to ask more questions about things she doesn't want to talk about.
At that time, I didn’t understand what could be more sad than what was happening before my eyes. Later, I discovered that God would give you “surprises” again and again, so that you would never guess where the end of the sadness would be.
Xu Meng'er left after dropping a bombshell. I stood there in a daze, unable to figure out what else I didn't know, or how much I knew about everything?
As soon as she left, Yan Wenbo called.
"Zhiwei, I thought about it for a long time after you left. I don't expect you to forgive me immediately . I hope you can give me a chance, a chance that will no longer reject me. Okay?" Yan Wenbo said.
I struggled for a long time about whether to ask him about his relationship with Ren Xiaoqi, but finally gave up. What would happen if he admitted it? It would just make both of us more sad.
"I'm sorry," I replied.
He hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
I squatted on the ground dejectedly, gasping for breath. My chest was so stuffy and my throat was sore from gasping for breath, but I still couldn't breathe smoothly.
Thunder roared outside the window and my stomach churned. I tried my best to press my chest, but the strength in my body was drained away bit by bit. I sat down on the ground dejectedly and closed my eyes.
I no longer have the energy to think about when the deeper sadness that Xu Meng'er mentioned will appear, and I don't know if I will have the strength to accept it next time. I only know that I am very tired now, very tired.