Old Knife helplessly pulled out the silver needles.
When Ke Jingran woke up again, it was five minutes later. Seeing the concerned looks of everyone, he apologized, "I’m always worrying you all..."
"Shh, don’t talk." Joyina made a silencing gesture. "Rest well, and you mustn’t pass out again. If we have to poke you a few more tis, your face will be ruined."
"I promise, that was the last ti." Ke Jingran faintly curled his lips into a smile. "I just saw my parents and my younger brother. They told to live happily no matter what."
Joyina uneasily rubbed her arms. His words sent goosebumps all over her body.
Yi Luowa pulled Joyina to sit down. "Don’t be scared. This is sothing Ke Jingran thought deeply about, and it ford a vision in his mind. He must really love his family."
Joyina pouted her lips. "Ke Jingran, since you love them so much, they must love you just as much. They want you to live a happy life, so don’t let them down."
Ke Jingran lowered his eyes, looking a bit sorrowful. After a long mont, he slowly said, "I lost my mother when I was ten and my father when I was twelve. I survived with my younger brother, who was two years younger than , relying on the help of others.
Because we couldn’t afford school fees, we both dropped out. One day, my elentary school teacher ca to find us. He told us he didn’t have much money but could afford to send one of us back to school. Who got to go, he left up to us to decide.
I wanted my brother to go. He wanted to go. We were at a stalemate until he suggested we draw lots. The piece of paper I picked said I should go to school. Later, I found out that his paper also said to go to school. He lied to for the first ti, just so I could return to school.
Our teacher’s family wasn’t well-off either. When I was in high school, my brother and I decided not to take his money anymore. I worked part-ti at school, and my brother took on all kinds of odd jobs. Finally, we pulled through the hardest tis.
When I went to college, I was scouted by a talent agent from an advertising company and started working as a print model. With my first paycheck, I sent my brother back to school. He was smarter than . Just by reading the books I’d used, he effortlessly got into college.
...The good days had only just begun, but then he left like this. I couldn’t accept it at all."
Yi Luowa sniffled. "He had liver cancer. Not only is it incurable, but it’s also excruciating in the later stages. He left this way because he didn’t want you to see him tornted by the pain."
Ke Jingran sighed softly. "For those twenty-sothing short years, he lived for . This was the second ti he lied to . I always thought he was still in school. Who would’ve known he was working at a hotel? When I saw the pictures online, I couldn’t believe my eyes..."
"That’s why you need to live well, because you carry the hope of your entire family."
Ke Jingran nodded silently. "I will live well."
"Ke Jingran, although your brother had been thinking about suicide for a while, I still need to tell you what happened at noon today..."
Yi Luowa didn’t hold anything back as she recounted the events of the afternoon. She knew that without what had happened earlier that day, Ke Jingran’s brother might not have left so suddenly.
"Choosing death requires courage too." Ke Jingran’s eyes shifted slightly. "Thank you for telling all this. If it were soone else, they’d probably try to hide it, but you didn’t hesitate to share it with even if it might trouble you."
"You have the right to know everything." Ke Jingran looked deeply at Yi Luowa. "You’re just like I imagined you to be!"
"Imagined?"
Ke Jingran stood up. "I’m going to keep my brother company for a bit."
As they watched his hurried departure, Yi Luowa turned to Joyina with suspicion. "Why do I feel like he’s running away in defeat?"
"You scared him off!" Joyina grinned mischievously. "You’re too beautiful. Staring at you for too long makes it hard to breathe."
"Don’t be ridiculous!" Yi Luowa glared at her. "Joyina, do you think soone, knowing they were about to leave this world, would still go out to work?"
"Different people would have different thoughts, I guess. If it were , I’d let everything go, pack a bag, and go see the world. Wherever I went, that’s where I’d rest."
"You and I think alike. I would do the sa." Yi Luowa furrowed her brows slightly. "Logically speaking, their life had already improved. There was no reason for him to earn that little bit of money at the hotel..."
"Do you think maybe he had already made up his mind, choosing to end his life at the hotel so he could leave his brother with a sizable compensation?"
Yi Luowa shook her head. "They’re brothers. His brother must know Ke Jingran’s personality. And as it turns out, even if he did leave compensation, Ke Jingran wouldn’t accept it."
"Then why, in his final days, didn’t he choose to see the beautiful world outside but instead stayed cooped up in a hotel?"
"That question, only he knows the answer to." Yi Luowa rubbed her forehead. "I wonder if Dapeng has caught the person yet. If this had happened to an ordinary family, they might have been dragged to hell by now, never able to recover."
Joyina shook her head playfully. "That’s one thing I’m not afraid of at all. You know what kind of people our family is? As my dad always says, we’re nothing but a pack of sly foxes. If soone wants to play us, they’d better wait for their next life!"
Yi Luowa looked at her and chuckled.
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