"Still not leaving? Expecting to return sothing to you?" He brushed past her, pushing her away from her seat. "Well, sorry, but I don’t have the habit of collecting trash! Even if I did, when a person becos unimportant, their things are just like garbage; once thrown away, there’s no reason to take them back and forth anymore!"
She had already turned her back to his desk and heard a "rip" sound, unmistakably the sound of paper being torn apart.
That piece of writing she had saved for nearly twenty years had thus turned into trash...
She heard her own heart tear open with a "rip" as well.
She exhaled once more, "Then goodbye!"
Calling it trash wasn’t wrong, when nothing has aning anymore, all mories beco junk. Just saying goodbye like that handwriting, breaking off completely is the best conclusion...
"Goodbye," he replied.
She ran off at once, sprinting to the cafeteria. Hao Ren had already prepared lunch, saving a seat for her. Seeing her arrival, he waved her over.
"Done cutting ties?" Hao Ren asked her.
"Mm." She sat down indifferently, taking big bites of her al.
After swallowing several mouthfuls and stuffing her mouth full, soone called out, "Su Ronggui, you’re here for lunch too?"
She choked, the food stuck in her throat, nearly suffocating her. Hao Ren quickly handed her a bowl of soup, which she gulped down with difficulty, finally catching her breath, her face flushed.
Hao Ren sighed, saying nothing.
She looked up, seeing him at the back of the line for food, then lowered her head to continue eating. Yet, the sound of the na kept trickling into her ears, "Su Ronggui... Su Ronggui... Su Ronggui..." People continued greeting him, followed by a sharp and loud call, "Su Ronggui! Why are you eating in the cafeteria again?"
Su Rongxing had arrived.
Su Ronggui had already gotten his food, but Su Rongxing snatched his tray and thrust it into soone’s hands behind him, "Here, you eat!" Then, pulling him along, "No cafeteria food! Let’s go eat outside!"
And just like that, he went with Su Rongxing.
Her ears suddenly echoed with what Su Rongxing had once said, "I didn’t say anything wrong, did I? I heard it straight from you, didn’t exaggerate or spread rumors this ti, right?"
Her mind flashed back to her good friend in middle school, the one to whom she had hesitantly confided her biggest secret, only to have it sold out in an instant. Strangely, she still rembered how exceedingly angry she had been about the betrayal, yet she’d forgotten what that girl even looked like.
So, ti truly was the most effective ng Po soup. Those you thought you’d rember forever, and the pain you thought you’d never forget, would ultimately fade with the passage of ti, eventually leaving no trace. If you still rembered, it was just that not enough ti had passed, or you hadn’t wanted to forget.
She watched out of the corner of her eye as those two walked farther away, suddenly feeling everything had returned to the starting point. She hadn’t reunited with her Xiao Xu, and he and Su Rongxing were really whom he belonged with, inseparable and with no secrets between them.
Perhaps, the story was ant to start this way and end this way. Her forced and intrusive entry had only disrupted the rhythm.
He had once said she provoked him, and he wasn’t wrong to say that.
"Feeling sad?" Hao Ren suddenly spoke, breaking her thoughts.
She instinctively shook her head, then nodded. Feeling sad was inevitable; even if soday Bangbangtang disappeared, she would feel sad, let alone soone she’d rembered for twenty years.
"Little Sha..." Hao Ren sighed, calling her na, as if to comfort her.
She smiled, "I know."
"..." Hao Ren was taken aback by her words, "Know what?"
"I know what you want to say." She poked her rice, "I just need a little more ti, that’s all."
Hao Ren didn’t persuade her further, the only thing he could do was accompany her for the al. The barrier between her and Su Ronggui was like a towering mountain, unmovable by re words from an outsider.
"Hao Ren, you’ve bought a house. When do you plan to get married?" Tu Hengsha changed the subject.
Hao Ren smiled, not shy at all, "Whenever soone is willing to marry , I guess!"
"Is it because your standards are too high? What kind do you like? My mom has several single female teachers at her school."
Hao Ren thought for a mont, "Not too high, really. Sensible, kind, and... female, that’s all."
Tu Hengsha laughed, "Well, your standards really aren’t high!"
"Even with such low standards, it’s still hard! You know my family’s situation, I have to live with my parents, no chance to switch to a bigger place soon. Everyone squeezed into that small house, conflicts are bound to arise. If temperant isn’t good, life would be chaos every day; might as well not marry."
Tu Hengsha listened, thinking that this was how her mom matched people up. The conditions were similar, tempers matched, and it could work out. Love, in the end, was just about living day to day, and the simpler the life, the happier.
Soone had said, live a superficial life. Eat when hungry, sleep when tired, pursue dreams, and be with those you like. People are ant to live simply.
At that ti, did they both not realize that a simple life was actually the hardest to achieve?
After that day, Tu Hengsha didn’t run into Su Ronggui for several days. Occasionally she might bump into Chen Qi, but him, she hadn’t seen at all.
Likely, he was busy with his criminal psychology investigation, or perhaps he went on a business trip. anwhile, she and Hao Ren awaited the truth of the past murder case—the killer turned out to be the victim’s wife.
The details of the murder and the solution weren’t disclosed by the police, and Tu Hengsha and Hao Ren only learned of the motive—dostic violence.
As journalists, they only saw a short piece of footage. In the video, the woman in the orange detention center uniform looked with vacant, hollow eyes, a scar on her forehead like a centipede. With tears, she said, "He beat every three days. Not only , but my daughter too, for several years now. When the daughter was still in swaddling clothes, he even threw the whole bundle. Why? I don’t know why either. He wanted a son, his mother wanted a son too. But when I had a daughter, my body was damaged, and it’s hard to conceive again. But I don’t understand, why are other families so delighted when a daughter is born? Even if he doesn’t like her, he could be indifferent, criticize her, but hit her, she’s so small, how could he bear it? Divorce? I ntioned divorce too, but any ntion of divorce only led to more severe beatings. Why wouldn’t he leave alone? Why couldn’t he let go? Why? This scar isn’t from an accident, it was the last wound he gave . That day he ca back drunk, sohow annoyed, and took it out on , smashing my head by grabbing it onto the table’s edge. My daughter saw and tried to fight him off, but he grabbed her and beat her too, tossed her to the ground. I went crazy, afraid he’d kill her, so I fought to save my daughter, taking all his last violent acts. Later, he got tired of hitting, was too drunk, and passed out on the ground. I took my daughter, covered in injuries, and went back to my parent’s ho for a day. Then I left my daughter there and returned ho alone at night. He was drunk again, sleeping like a dead pig..."
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