Volume 13
Chapter 3: The Crux
The ghost wandered in the air of Chuanhai No. 1 High School. Its form had already become blurred, no longer even considered human-shaped. His gaze passed through layers of buildings and fell on the roasted goose leg at An Baili’s feet. He thought, what a waste of food, what a pity. Suddenly, he came to his senses. Ah, so it was here. So the crux of An Baili’s problem was here.
…It was indeed something he, Lu Li, would do. He was really not a good person.
Sure enough, the most dangerous thing in the world is sympathy. Excess sympathy often sprouts in the heart of the recipient in other forms. For An Baili, Lu Li’s sympathy made her develop a rather unhealthy attachment. She felt she was not worthy of Lu Li, and she didn’t want anyone else to be worthy of him either. Thinking back to the crybaby at home, Lu Li’s heart softened. He had been like this his whole life, so soft-hearted. Even if time went back once, he would still reach out to help An Baili. He hoped that in his next life, he would be reborn as a stone, truly with a heart of stone.
He didn’t know how much longer he could survive, nor did he know how long this backtracking would last. He was like a spectator, quietly watching this forgotten memory that belonged to him.
…
The Lu Li of that time didn’t notice An Baili’s abnormality, because he had always thought this girl, An Baili, had a somewhat strange personality. After returning to the private room, Lu Li subconsciously sat a little closer to Wen Hupo’s seat. An Baili’s small fist, hidden under the table, clenched and then relaxed.
From then on, the twenty-eight minutes after school were no longer exclusively for An Baili and Lu Li; Wen Hupo also joined in. This time, Lu Li spoke, Wen Hupo replied, and she, An Baili, had completely become an outsider. No one spread rumors about an ugly girl with a handsome guy anymore, because anyone with eyes could see that Lu Li and Wen Hupo were dating.
When they talked about An Baili, it was mostly with ridicule, saying she didn’t know her own place, that she was a simp, that her servile mentality was deeply ingrained.
An Baili felt the light in her world growing dimmer and dimmer. The sunlight that had finally shone into her world was being drawn away, strand by strand. It seemed she was about to return to that bleak and miserable human world.
An Baili’s bangs grew long again, covering her eyes, like a curtain separating her from the world. Wen Hupo was too dazzling. She was intelligent, beautiful, gentle, and independent, with the most simple and pure trust in love, completely in line with Lu Li’s attitude toward love. The two’s personalities had both commonalities and complementary points. In the words of the gossips in the class, they were simply the interpretation of “meeting the right person at the right time.”
A match made in heaven, a golden couple, a talented man and a beautiful woman… these words were like poisonous thorns, piercing into An Baili’s heart.
In comparison, An Baili seemed dark, uninteresting, vulgar, and despicable. She had imagined a traffic accident more than once, taking the life of this woman Wen Hupo. But she was a coward, only daring to have sweet dreams in her pre-sleep fantasies, not daring to put them into practice. She felt like a wriggling caterpillar, following the two butterflies step by step, not knowing what she sought, not knowing what she was after, just moving toward the light, aimlessly forward.
Just as An Baili was becoming more and more gloomy, an unexpected change tore a new opening in the overcast sky.
Lu Li and Wen Hupo had a fight.
Many people were talking about it.
They said that this couple, who were the envy of everyone in the school, had a fight and were going to break up.
A fight. An Baili thought with some happiness. Isn’t a fight very normal? What couple doesn’t fight? It’s common for married couples to fight, let alone a couple?
But An Baili didn’t dare to go and confirm it. She was afraid Lu Li would see through the little bit of filth in her heart. It wasn’t until after school, when she found that Wen Hupo hadn’t walked home with Lu Li today, that she realized the rumors might be true. Lu Li’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as if he were struggling with something. An Baili didn’t like to see Lu Li frown. She felt a little heartache. She hoped Lu Li would always smile cheerfully, always be happy.
“Um… Lu Li, where’s Classmate Wen?” An Baili asked in a small voice.
“…Mm. Maybe she’s angry,” Lu Li said.
“Ah.” An Baili covered her smile with an exaggerated mouth shape, even though Lu Li wasn’t paying any attention to her expression at all. “Did you two have a fight?”
“It was just a small thing. Mm… or maybe not so small? Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal.” Lu Li was also a little hesitant. If it wasn’t a big deal, why would he and Wen Hupo have fought? They had been discussing their future plans before. Wen Hupo had hoped that Lu Li would go to the Americas with her after graduation, to manage a small company of the Amber family, and live a peaceful, well-fed, and prosperous life in the future. Lu Li, on the other hand, had hoped to continue his university studies in Shenzhou and then work and put down roots in Shenzhou. He had a more urgent need for fame and fortune; he wanted to stand out, to make Yameng proud.
An Baili asked cautiously, “Did you two break up?”
Did they break up? Lu Li wasn’t sure either. If this disagreement wasn’t resolved, a breakup was only a matter of time.
An Baili timidly took the corner of Lu Li’s shirt. “It’s okay… if you don’t mind, I… I’ll always be here.” Her heart pounded unpromisingly. She was so afraid Lu Li would hear her heartbeat.
Lu Li was stunned for a moment. He was about to answer when he suddenly heard Wen Hupo’s voice from behind. “Lu Li…!”
An Baili quickly pulled her hand back and stood there, at a loss, as awkward as a little duckling abandoned by its mother.
Lu Li turned his head and saw the golden-haired angel standing not far away. “Hupo…” He hadn’t yet thought of how to reply to Wen Hupo. He realized that in the end, he and Wen Hupo were not on the same level, not from the same world. Perhaps he should know when to back down.
However, Wen Hupo’s words left him stunned. “Lu Li, I’ve thought about it carefully. I was indeed inconsiderate. In Shenzhou culture, the demands on men are stricter. I think I should respect your spirit and the culture of Shenzhou. The Amber family isn’t that great either. If you don’t want to go… I can also study at a university in Shenzhou. And… I’m sorry about this afternoon. I shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t be angry…” As she spoke, she walked toward Lu Li and opened her arms. “Do you forgive me?”
Lu Li was incoherent. “No, don’t, Hupo. Actually, I, I was also at fault. You should be the one to forgive me. I also failed to be considerate of your feelings. It should be you forgiving me. You’re right. I can’t even stabilize my own future here. Going abroad with you might be the best way out. If I stay in the country, I’ll just live a hard life, maybe not even knowing where my next meal will come from…”
Wen Hupo hugged him. “It’s okay. If I’m with you, life won’t be so hard. It would break my heart to see you suffer alone.”
Lu Li, a grown man, suddenly couldn’t stop his tears. He felt he had been completely ensnared by Wen Hupo, that he would never be able to get rid of her in this lifetime.
An Baili stared blankly at the two of them, who had reconciled and were now hugging. The emotions that had been building up in her heart for a long time finally erupted:
“Why are you like this! Why!”
