Xie Tao had never imagined that the day she would see Zhou Xinyue again would be in a hospital.
The plump girl who had always protected her in her memories was such a lively and cheerful person. However, standing outside the hospital room, as Xie Tao looked through the glass window and saw her lying on the bed, her back to her, she suddenly realized that everything seemed different from before.
“It’s good that you’re here; you can talk to her more,” Yan Xiping said, standing beside Xie Tao with a light sigh, “She refuses to say more than a few words to me or her dad.”
She knew that to her daughter, Xinyue, Xie Tao was her best friend.
Xie Tao nodded, then she turned the doorknob and walked in.
The girl lying on the bed did not turn around when she heard the clear footsteps. She lay on her side, her eyes seemingly looking out the window, but her gaze was dull and lifeless, devoid of spirit.
“Xinyue.”
It was not until Xie Tao stood by her bed and softly called her name.
Perhaps it was because she was too familiar with her voice, the girl on the bed reacted almost instantly as Xie Tao spoke.
Her eyelashes trembled.
A glimmer of life seemed to finally appear in her eyes.
Xie Tao waited for a while before she saw the girl lying on the bed slowly turn around to look at her.
The Zhou Xinyue before her was pale, her lips chapped, and the usually smiling eyes now seemed to have lost all their brightness, dull and grey.
In that moment, Xie Tao had many questions she wanted to ask her, but she found herself unable to speak.
Looking at Zhou Xinyue’s cast-covered right leg, she stood there, suddenly feeling a sourness around her eyes.
“Tao Tao…”
Zhou Xinyue stared at Xie Tao by the bed for a while before moving her chapped lips and calling out her name.
“Why did you come?” Zhou Xinyue sat up, pulling a smile, her voice sounding very calm.
She even curved her lips, as if trying to ask lightly, “Didn’t you say you never wanted to return to Nan City?”
“I messaged you, but you didn’t reply, and you didn’t answer your phone, so I wanted to come see you…” Xie Tao pursed her lips, softly saying.
“I lost my phone, sorry for worrying you,” Zhou Xinyue said, lowering her eyelids.
After saying this, the room fell into silence again.
Xie Tao stood there for a while before taking out a box from her backpack and handing it to Zhou Xinyue, “Xinyue, this is the crisp heart candy I made for you, your favorite chocolate flavor.”
If it had been the Zhou Xinyue from before, she would have excitedly taken it and might have even kissed Xie Tao on the cheek.
But the Zhou Xinyue at this moment, upon seeing the box of crisp heart candy Xie Tao extended towards her, seemed overly calm.
“Tao Tao, I don’t want to eat these anymore.”
She did not reach out to take it.
Xie Tao’s hand holding the box stiffened, and she stared at Zhou Xinyue’s overly pale face for a while before asking, “Xinyue, are you hiding something from me?”
Xie Tao sat down by her bed, tossed the box aside, and reached out to hold Zhou Xinyue’s shoulder, “What’s really going on with you?”
Perhaps it was seeing the worry and urgency in Xie Tao’s almond-shaped eyes, Zhou Xinyue seemed a bit lost in thought as she looked at her.
Her tears fell without warning, dropping onto the back of Xie Tao’s hand.
For a moment, it seemed Zhou Xinyue had countless words buried in her heart that she wanted to share with Xie Tao in front of her, but her lips moved without saying anything.
She had long lost the desire to express herself.
“Tao Tao, you can go, I’m tired.”
Finally, she gently removed Xie Tao’s hand from her shoulder, laid back down, pulled the quilt over herself, and turned away again.
In that moment, Xie Tao clearly felt a seemingly insurmountable gap had formed between her and Zhou Xinyue.
“Xinyue, I’ll come to see you again.”
As Xie Tao stood up to leave, she thought for a moment and decided to leave a box of butter candies on her bedside.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Zhou Xinyue, lying in bed, turned her head and stared at the box of candies for a long time.
Tears were always present in her eyes.
Later, she sat up, took the box of candies, and opened it.
The sweet scent of chocolate was within reach. Zhou Xinyue tentatively put a piece of the candy into her mouth.
The next moment, she was leaning over the bed, vomiting incessantly.
She was choked by the vomiting, coughing nonstop, tears streaming down her cheeks. She turned over, curled up in bed, and wrapped herself completely in the quilt.
She was trembling, crying with repressed despair.
—
When Xie Tao left the hospital and was walking alone on the street, her mind was filled with the words Yan Xiping had spoken to her after she had left the hospital room.
Zhou Xinyue was ill.
She had severe depression.
And because of the self-loathing emotions caused by depression, she also developed anorexia.
“Tao Tao, I don’t want to eat these things anymore.”
Xie Tao suddenly remembered these words Zhou Xinyue had said. Standing on the bustling sidewalk, she raised her head and was blinded by the sunlight on the horizon.
She transferred to a school in Nan City in the fourth grade of elementary school.
At that time, Xie Tao became especially introverted and gloomy due to Su Linghua’s unpredictable and irritable mood swings.
For a while, she was the target of bullying by other students.
Children’s malice often comes without reason; perhaps they just find it amusing, or maybe, they thought she was different because she didn’t have a father.
Xie Tao was often bullied at school and had to endure her mother’s harsh criticisms on her studies at home.
Until one day, Zhou Xinyue, who was forced to transfer schools after getting into a fight with a boy, became her desk mate.
From that day on, Xie Tao was never bullied again.
Because everyone knew she had a friend who could fight.
Because of Zhou Xinyue, Xie Tao at that time finally saw a glimmer of light in her life.
Also because of her, Xie Tao became more extroverted, no longer silent or solitary, no longer keeping to herself.
It was Zhou Xinyue who helped her out of her loneliness, giving her the courage to live.
She is the most cherished friend in Xie Tao’s life.
Xie Tao couldn’t imagine that Zhou Xinyue, who had once protected her and kept her from being bullied, had become a victim of school violence.
“Xinyue had mentioned wanting to transfer schools before, and both her father and I didn’t take it seriously. How were we to know she was suffering like this?”
Yan Xiping couldn’t help but tear up when mentioning this.
Due to long-term verbal and even physical violence, more than a month ago, Zhou Xinyue fell from the second floor in a state of mental disarray, breaking her leg.
Afterward, the hospital diagnosed her with severe depression.
And even anorexia.
At that moment, Yan Xiping felt as if she had been struck by lightning, fainting on the spot.
Over a month, Zhou Xinyue attempted suicide twice.
Fortunately, Yan Xiping found out in time, otherwise, Zhou Xinyue would no longer be alive.
Yan Xiping said that because the school’s surveillance couldn’t find any evidence of those girls bullying Zhou Xinyue, the issue remains unresolved to this day.
How long exactly did Zhou Xinyue suffer violence? Xie Tao couldn’t imagine.
Sitting on a bench at the bus stop, Xie Tao blankly watched a bus parked by the roadside until it drove away, still sitting there, her eyes red.
Anger mixed with bitter emotions surged and intertwined inside her, her knuckles gradually tightening into fists.
Her mind was filled with the image of Zhou Xinyue’s pale face, even her dim eyes.
Those people had tormented her best friend into this state, yet they still lived their lives contentedly, unaffected, without paying any price.
But they, they should pay a price.
As the sky gradually darkened, Xie Tao found a cheap motel to stay in.
While searching through her backpack for clothes, she unexpectedly found a stack of cash.
More than a thousand yuan.
Without a doubt, this must have been put in her bag by Fu Miaolan.
With a slight warmth in her eyes, Xie Tao held the stack of money, sitting on the bed for a while, before finally taking out her phone and making a call.
“Auntie Fu.”
After the call connected, Xie Tao first called out.
“Tao Tao, where are you now?” Fu Miaolan’s voice sounded very happy.
“I’m in a motel,” Xie Tao honestly replied.
Upon hearing this, Fu Miaolan quickly said, “Are you staying at that really cheap hostel? Tao Tao, don’t skimp on spending money, you need to be careful out there on your own!”
“I know…”
Hearing Fu Miaolan’s voice, Xie Tao felt the concern in her words.
Her eyes warmed, and tears fell.
“Auntie Fu…” Her throat moved, her voice somewhat choked, “Did you secretly put money in my bag?”
“Oh, Tao Tao, why are you crying? Auntie Fu is just worried about you being out there on your own, it’s always good to carry more money,” Fu Miaolan said on the other end of the phone.
“Why did you hide it in my clothes…” Xie Tao wiped her tears and sniffled.
Fu Miaolan laughed, teasing her, “Finding a stack of money suddenly, isn’t it a pleasant surprise?”
Xie Tao pursed her lips, tears falling again, her knuckles whitened as she gripped her phone tightly.
“Tao Tao, don’t feel burdened. That over a thousand yuan is yours to have, it’s a bonus from Auntie Fu, just keep it.”
Fu Miaolan seemed to have guessed her thoughts, and when she remained silent, added another sentence.
“Auntie Fu,”
Xie Tao’s lips moved, choking up, “I might… not come back for a while.”
This was a decision she had made while sitting at the bus station in the afternoon.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, and after a while, Xie Tao heard Fu Miaolan laugh again, “Tao Tao, you’re only seventeen, it’s the age to study, it’s good that you’ve thought it through.”
“I’ll come back to visit you…” Xie Tao said softly into the phone.
After hanging up, Xie Tao wiped the tears from her face and looked out the window at the night, lit by neon lights of various colors.
This is Nan City.
The place Xie Tao disliked the most in her life.
If possible, she never wanted to return here.
But this time, she had to stay.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated, bringing her back to reality. She unlocked it and opened WeChat.
It was from that nameless WeChat account.
“Who are you”
Just these three words, in a vertical line.
Xie Tao found it strange, but couldn’t quite place why.
She opened the chat box and replied:
“And who are you?”
She did not know that the moment she pressed send, her WeChat message transformed into a sealed letter, appearing on a writing desk in another dimension.
Wei Yun watched as the copper pendant emitted a pale golden glow, gradually forming into a letter, his expression remaining untroubled.
However, deep within his amber-like pupils, there was always a hint of dark flow.
The envelope still bore the words “Personal for Wei Yun.”
He reached out to open the envelope, pulling out the glittering golden paper inside.
There were only four characters on it, accompanied by a strange symbol, still arranged from left to right in horizontal order.
Crumpling the paper again in his hand, Wei Yun looked down at the seemingly ordinary copper pendant on the writing desk, his eyes shadowed by light and dark.
This copper pendant was clearly connected to the mysterious light curtains that appeared like illusions.
And the mysterious person hidden behind this copper pendant might just be the key to unraveling the mystery.
Wei Yun did not like the feeling of being out of control.
He must find out the identity of this mysterious person.
If necessary, he would thoroughly eliminate all the unstable elements behind this copper pendant.
Including… this unknown mysterious person.
“Wei Jing.”
His brows slightly furrowed, fingers tapping on the desk, Wei Yun suddenly looked up towards the door.
“My lord.”
A man dressed in black, who had been standing guard outside, immediately entered, bowing respectfully to Wei Yun.
“Where is the son of Shao Anhe now?”
Wei Yun, holding the copper pendant, looked up at Wei Jing with an indifferent expression.
