Chapter 8: The Day of Falling
The car slid smoothly into the city traffic; neon lights outside flowed and shimred.
“Yan Junzhu” she kept her head down, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.
Xiao Ran in the driver's seat gripped the steering wheel with both hands, looking straight ahead; her profile in the dim dash light appeared unusually calm.
Her lips were pressed into a straight, expressionless line, and there was no extra expression on her face.
However, it was precisely this excessive calm that made Yan Junzhu's heart sink bit by bit, filling her with unease and guilt.
She knew Xiao Ran too well.
This kind of unruffled calm was exactly how she showed that she was angry.
The cabin held only the low rumble of the engine and the faint hiss of the air vent.
“Junzhu.”
At last Xiao Ran spoke, her voice low.
“Ranran……”
Yan Junzhu instinctively tried to ease the mood.
Xiao Ran did not respond to her pet na, nor did she even turn her head to look at her.
“Yan Junzhu! You’ve gotten quite bold, haven’t you?!”
“Running away from ho?! Huh?!”
“Phone off! No contact at all! Do you know how many calls I made to you?! Do you know I almost called the police because I couldn’t reach you?! I nearly drove to your parents’ house and turned it upside down! I thought sothing had happened to you! Kidnapped! Or—”
“The result.”
Xiao Ran's voice returned to that flat, emotionless steadiness, but it carried a deeper, chilling sarcasm.
“My dear best friend, the goddess teacher of Jiangcheng No.1 High School, appeared in a senior male student's ho, and stayed overnight.”
She finally turned her head slowly, her gaze fixed on her pale face.
“Yan Junzhu, use that Cambridge-educated brain of yours and give a reasonable explanation.
Tell you understand what this ant.
Tell you considered the weight of the two words ‘teacher’s ethics,’ and thought about what would await you if any rumor leaked.”
Her tone did not rise; there was no obvious fluctuation of emotion.
But it was precisely this extre coldness in her questioning that tore Yan Junzhu apart.
Each word struck at her reason and her sha.
She opened her mouth, but found she could not make a sound, only burying her head lower as if that could hide from the gaze that pierced everything.
The car interior fell into a terrifying silence; only the air conditioning hissed.
The Audi made a sudden sharp turn, the tires screeching on the road, and ca to an abrupt stop in a temporary pull-off area.
The engine died.
A deathlike quiet.
The next second, the driver's seatbelt unclipped.
Xiao Ran turned around.
Not with the harsher scolding one might have expected.
Xiao Ran simply leaned over abruptly, opened her arms, and hugged Yan Junzhu in the passenger seat tightly, with force.
The force was so great it felt as if she wanted to crush her and grind her into her bones.
Yan Junzhu froze, then the tautness of her body went soft in an instant; a huge wave of grievance and dependence burst out like a dam breaking.
She could no longer hold back, and she wrapped her arms tightly around Xiao Ran, burying her face in the hollow of Xiao Ran's neck that slled faintly of perfu; the suppressed sobs finally spilled out.
“Wuwu… Ranran… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
She babbled apologies; tears instantly soaked Xiao Ran's collar.
Xiao Ran held her tightly, chin resting on the crown of her head.
“You idiot… you big idiot!
Do you know how worried I was about you?!
Huh?!
Even if you didn’t want to get married, co to !
If the sky collapsed, I’d hold it up for you!
I’d help you think of a way!
We’d deal with your parents together!
Why did you run off alone?
Why did you let yourself end up like that?!
Do you know… in that shabby little room… I—”
Xiao Ran's voice choked, and she hugged Yan Junzhu's arms more tightly.
“I almost went mad!”
Yan Junzhu shook her head violently in her embrace, sobbing incomprehensibly: “I… I just wanted to find you… Ranran… I was actually… I was going to co find you last night…”
Xiao Ran's body tensed; she loosened her hold a little and cupped Yan Junzhu's tear-streaked face with both hands, forcing her to et her eyes.
“You were going to find ? Then how did you end up in your student's house?!”
“Bag—”
Yan Junzhu choked, her voice broken and full of grievance and remorse.
“I took the subway… on the way to your house… my bag… my bag was stolen… phone, wallet, keys… all gone… I… I had no money, and I couldn’t reach you… I twisted my ankle… I was cold and hungry… I couldn’t walk anymore… I just sat for a while by the convenience store door… and then… then I t Bai Lengci…”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter until it was almost inaudible, only her shoulders trembling slightly from crying.
When Xiao Ran had heard everything, she sighed long and heavily, and hugged Yan Junzhu again, this ti more gently, with endless consolation.
“All right, all right… it’s okay now… as long as you’re safe…”
Xiao Ran patted her back softly, her voice gentling.
“Don’t cry, be good, let’s go ho. The rest we’ll deal with at ho.”
She pulled out a tissue and carefully wiped the tears from Yan Junzhu’s face, then restarted the car.
......
Yan Junzhu left.
The door closed.
Bai Lengci stood quietly where he was.
There was no expression on his face; his gaze was so calm it revealed no ripple.
The room returned to silence.
He walked to the dining table and, with sowhat slow movents, picked up the last of the ss.
Plastic food containers were tossed into the trash.
Then he returned to the bedroom and picked up the pill box on the bedside table.
Under the transparent lid, colorful tablets and capsules were sorted into compartnts.
Click.
The pill box opened.
Clatter.
The pills fell into his palm.
Gulp.
Taken with warm water.
He washed, turned off the light, and lay back on the not-very-soft bed.
Fatigue surged over him like a tide, and his consciousness began to blur and sink.
……
Again that sea.
Boundless, viscous like blood.
The scent of death was denser and more real than before.
It was no longer a vague dream but an imrsive experience.
Bloodwater carrying the sharp sll of rust and rot engulfed him in an instant.
A heavy pressure from all directions pressed in from the west, crazily forcing into his mouth, nose, ears, and every pore.
Suffocation.
A real, complete choking gripped his throat and crushed his chest.
Consciousness struggled in severe pain and lack of oxygen.
He struggled, instinctively reaching upward, trying to grasp at the light above, blurred red at the top.
The light… it was clearly there…
But his body was dragged down faster by countless invisible hands.
Struggling…
In vain.
Calling out…
Only strings of desperate bubbles vanished soundlessly into the viscous, blood-colored abyss.
Consciousness was ground and shattered bit by bit.
His vision was entirely filled by the thick, all-consuming dead-red silence.
This ti, he did not wake.
The dream did not interrupt.
He was truly going to die…
Finally…
He ceased to struggle.
His body relaxed completely, allowing the viscous, cold sea of blood to wrap, engulf, and assimilate him.
Sinking down.
Sinking down.
Toward that eternal darkness with no light, no sound, no pain.
Vision vanished completely.
Hearing vanished completely.
Touch vanished completely……
The bedroom was utterly silent.
The distant hum of the city outside seed to have vanished as well.
The person on the bed lay quietly, in the sa position as when he had lain down.
Only the faint rise and fall of his chest had ceased entirely.
The pale, handso face lost the last trace of feverish flush; only an icy stillness remained.
On the bedside table, the small digital clock's second hand ticked silently, pointing to an ordinary, unremarkable mont.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The cold, steady sound struck the unresponsive body like a mute funeral bell.
Bai Lengci was dead.
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