#41: May My Girl Be Safe and Happy Forever

Later, Li Chu came and knocked on the bathroom door, urging Cheng Mi to leave.

Outside the frosted glass door, Li Chu could be faintly seen leaning against the wall.

Cheng Mi turned to open the door.

Her gaze was tightly held by Si Tingyan’s lowered eyes, who didn’t let go of her. He pressed her hand, with his hands overlapping on the doorknob.

Si Tingyan’s imposing manner didn’t weaken after saying those words, and the chilling look in his eyes still grated on her.

Li Chu outside could see them like this.

Cheng Mi wasn’t flustered or anxious in the slightest. She didn’t turn to look back, still staring at Si Tingyan.

“You didn’t come to find me this afternoon,” Si Tingyan said suddenly.

Cheng Mi didn’t move her eyes.

Si Tingyan: “Did you go to the airport?”

Li Yeheng was returning on a flight that afternoon.

Cheng Mi hadn’t, but she didn’t answer his question.

Her eyes glistened with a layer of moisture, tracing his eyes, and she said a sentence to him.

“Happy birthday, Si Tingyan.”

Si Tingyan looked at her without a word.

Inside the bathroom, water droplets slowly dripped onto the sink.

After a long while, Cheng Mi thought Si Tingyan would continue to bother her for a bit longer.

But he didn’t.

Her hand on the doorknob remained still.

Instead, the hand that Si Tingyan had placed on the back of her hand turned the doorknob with hers.

The bathroom door opened.

Si Tingyan’s gaze pulled away from her face, and his breath was no longer so close to her.

Outside the door, Li Chu, who hadn’t been waiting for Cheng Mi, came face to face with Si Tingyan as he emerged.

Their eyes met, but neither said anything.

Si Tingyan left.

Inside the bathroom, Cheng Mi’s mood recovered quickly. She walked back to the mirror, maintaining her usual nonchalant composure, as if the incident had no effect on her.

Her lipstick was smeared, a thin streak of red extending from the corner of her mouth.

Cheng Mi looked in the mirror, raised a hand, and wiped away the red smudge.

Then she placed her red-stained hand under the water to wash it.

Li Chu stood against the wall next to the bathroom door, watching.

Cheng Mi turned off the water, turned back to Li Chu and said, “Let’s go.”

Then added, “Thanks.”

Normally, Li Chu would never seek out Cheng Mi voluntarily; it was usually because of a matter of importance, and this time was no exception.

Just now, when Cheng Mi and Si Tingyan were lip-locking in the bathroom, they could hear people talking outside.

Initially, when there was a commotion in the bathroom, Si Huiru thought Cheng Mi had fallen, and came over anxiously to check on her.

After hearing that she was okay, she felt relieved and reminded her to be careful on the slippery floor before leaving.

Right after, they in the bathroom clearly heard Si Huiru calling out Si Tingyan’s name from outside the bathroom door.

At that time, Si Tingyan was still biting her and refused to let go.

The people outside had all seen Si Tingyan return. Si Huiru wanted to go to Si Tingyan’s room to ask him to come out and have some stew.

Then she was diverted by Li Chu, who said she was about to go to the airport with Cheng Mi.

Since Si Huiru had known they were rushing to Jiacheng tonight, she had already planned to prepare some snacks for them for the road. Hearing what Li Chu said, she immediately went to get them.

At this moment, Li Chu was still standing outside, looking at her: “If you two don’t come out, his mom is going to find out he’s not in his room.”

She would soon discover that the two of them were together in the bathroom.

Li Chu finished speaking and walked away.

The bathroom was quiet and empty. Cheng Mi casually tied up her hair and walked out.

When she went back out, Si Tingyan was at the dining table. Both of them were the same, neither showing any signs of abnormality.

Si Huiru hurriedly handed them some food. Cheng Mi even smiled at her as she took it.

Si Huiru didn’t ask what they were going to do in Jiacheng. Li Yeheng had probably told her that they were going to see a friend, but hadn’t specified the details, so Si Huiru probably didn’t know that the friend they were going to see this time was at a cemetery.

Before they left, Li Yeheng told them to be safe on the road.

Cheng Mi and Li Chu left together, pulling their suitcases.

________________________________________

At eleven o’clock in the morning, the plane took off with a slight jolt.

Outside the cabin window, the magnificent city lights of Fengxun gradually shrunk into fragmented specks of light.

They finally disappeared completely under the cover of the clouds.

Cheng Mi and Li Chu’s seats were not together; she was sitting by the window.

Over a thousand kilometers, two hours, flying over countless mountains, rivers, and city lights, Cheng Mi was completely sleepless. Her mind was constantly taut with something.

Finally, they arrived above the city of Jiacheng.

Cheng Mi’s thoughts, however, began to become muddled amidst the roar of the plane.

The lights were sparse, but looking out the cabin window, it seemed as though she could see that rooftop in a single glance.

Cheng Mi was trapped in this world. Her thoughts were restless in her dream, rising and falling with it.

Until finally, she sank completely into the darkness.

...

Li Chu’s angry curses and screams, accompanied by the sound of torn clothes, pierced the sky.

Humiliation and rage ripped through the clouds, and her voice tore sharply right by Cheng Mi’s eardrum.

Cheng Mi couldn’t breathe. Her chest felt like it was drowning in her gasps.

Her legs felt like they were filled with lead, like they were shackled with heavy chains, yet she refused to stop for a moment. Her legs were constantly marked with bloody cuts, and blood flowed all over the gray stairwell.

Finally, she stumbled and pushed open the iron door to the rooftop.

Li Chu’s white clothes were exceptionally conspicuous against the gray ground of the rooftop.

Like a sharp, shining blade, they stabbed straight into Cheng Mi’s eyes.

It was too chaotic at that time. Her mind had already been driven to a frenzy.

When Cheng Mi thought back to the next scene, it was a blur.

She didn’t know how she got in front of Chen Zhaochi, or how she got rid of those men.

She only remembered that she had gone mad at that point, and all she wanted to do was kill Chen Zhaochi.

When her mind finally became clear, she was holding a knife, with the tip of the knife pointing down, pressing it against the throat of Chen Zhaochi, who was kneeling on the ground. Amidst a chorus of screams and roars, she plunged the knife down.

Piercing Chen Zhaochi’s skin, making the eye that had looked at Li Chu bleed.

Chen Zhaochi had to kneel and repent to Li Chu for the rest of his life.

In the end, the villains scattered and fled.

Cheng Mi didn’t run. She ran to Li Chu’s side, tightly wrapped the clothes around Li Chu in her arms, and held her tightly with a trembling embrace.

Her forehead was pressed against Li Chu’s.

The abandoned and dilapidated building’s rooftop had no railings, and the view was unobstructed.

They both saw Jiang Xunzhi’s car.

They couldn’t imagine what kind of expression Jiang Xunzhi, such a gentle and polite person, would have on his usually smiling, handsome face in his final moments.

The most rational and gentle big brother among the three of them.

In the end, his car, as if driven mad, charged towards those who were trying to escape.

Two cars, facing each other, were destroyed in the high-speed collision.

Li Chu, who had not cried from beginning to end in Cheng Mi’s arms, let out her most piercing, broken scream.

Amidst the huge sound of metal crashing.

...

A voice came from a distance, overlapping with the sharp crying sound in her ear.

“We’re here.”

Cheng Mi felt someone gently touch her.

She slowly opened her eyes. Li Chu’s sullen face appeared in front of her.

It merged with the fragmented and pained face in her mind from a few seconds ago.

Li Chu said, “We’ve landed.”

After she finished speaking, she didn’t wait for her and followed the remaining people in the cabin out.

After the two of them came out of the airport, they hailed a car to the hotel.

It was one o’clock in the morning, already November 9th.

Two years ago, it was on this very day that Jiang Xunzhi died in that car accident.

The atmosphere in the car was heavy. Cheng Mi and Li Chu didn’t speak to each other the whole way.

After they arrived at the hotel, Li Chu took her clothes to the bathroom to wash up. Cheng Mi didn’t look at her phone, didn’t smoke, and didn’t do anything at all. She rested her chin on her hand and looked at the night view from the window for a while.

Cheng Mi truly didn’t blame Li Chu for her reaction and attitude towards her today.

All those troubles were caused by her in the first place. Getting involved with the villainous Chen Zhaochi was her greatest sin, even if it wasn’t a sin she had intentionally committed.

But it was precisely because of her misfortunes that they befell the others.

Also, if she hadn’t made that phone call to Jiang Xunzhi after calling the police that year, he would never have shown up under the rooftop when those people were trying to escape.

That night, Jiang Xunzhi should have been waiting downstairs at Li Chu’s house, waiting to pick her up to go to the amusement park.

The three of them could be said to have grown up together since childhood. Jiang Xunzhi was five years older than Li Chu and six years older than Cheng Mi. They met Jiang Xunzhi when they were seven or eight years old.

At that time, Li Chu’s mother had passed away, and before she was taken in by Li Yeheng, she had lived in an orphanage for a while. Cheng Mi almost spent all her time there with her.

And Jiang Xunzhi was the son of one of the aunties at that orphanage.

Although he was only a few years older than them at the time, Jiang Xunzhi, as a brother, was already very well-mannered. His features were gentle, and he was very kind to all the children in the orphanage.

At that time, Li Chu was very rebellious, and Cheng Mi was also mischievous. Jiang Xunzhi was never angry with them.

Li Chu had liked Jiang Xunzhi for a long time.

On the day of the incident, Li Chu, who was in her third year of high school, received her mid-term exam results. Because she had exceeded expectations, Jiang Xunzhi, who had already graduated from university, had promised to grant her a wish.

Li Chu confessed her love to Jiang Xunzhi.

Surprisingly, Jiang Xunzhi smiled and said that saying it over the phone didn’t count, but this time, he, as her brother, needed to tell her something in person.

He drove back from the city where he worked, ready to take Li Chu to the amusement park.

Li Chu had told Cheng Mi all of this after she hung up the phone that day.

Jiang Xunzhi actually understood Li Chu very well. Although Li Chu looked cool, she wouldn’t dislike things that other girls liked just because of how people defined her personality.

Cute, beautiful, cool, sullen—everyone has the right to like them.

Jiang Xunzhi was the gentlest boy Cheng Mi had ever met. He respected all aspects of Li Chu’s personality. He respected her cute side, and he also respected her cool demeanor.

Similarly, he also respected Cheng Mi. When others slandered her for going to bars to sing and have fun, Jiang Xunzhi, as her brother, never told her that she shouldn’t do these things.

He only told her to do what she loved, but to prioritize safety first.

He had also cleaned up messes for Cheng Mi before.

It was this kind of person who, on the day of Li Chu’s accident, chose such a radical method.

To be completely destroyed along with those people.

And on that day, Li Chu had not yet heard his confession.

If Cheng Mi hadn’t made that phone call, if it hadn’t been for all the mess she had gotten into, Jiang Xunzhi would not have died so tragically.

As she was thinking, the bathroom door behind her opened, and Li Chu came out.

“Go take a shower,” Li Chu said.

She was even willing to talk to her and let her go to see Jiang Xunzhi.

Cheng Mi turned around. Li Chu was already in bed, lying down with her back to her.

Cheng Mi looked at her back for a while.

The ends of her granny-gray hair were semi-damp.

Li Chu had kept this hair color for so many years, as if she never tired of it.

Back in high school, when they were still inseparable and shared their most intimate secrets every moment, Li Chu had told Cheng Mi that Jiang Xunzhi had complimented this hair color on her.

Cheng Mi withdrew her gaze from Li Chu’s back, grabbed her clothes, and went into the bathroom.

________________________________________

The cemetery.

The sky was grayish-white, misty, and the air was filled with cool condensation.

The steps extended, each stone slab solemn and dignified.

Cheng Mi and Li Chu, both dressed in black, walked up together.

“After I’ve climbed all these long steps, I hope all of this was just a nightmare.

But I know it’s not a nightmare. I will atone for my sins forever and ever.

The long staircase, bearing my crimes, until they are buried with me.

So I hope the girl beside me will have no more pain.

And I hope when you come to see her, you will tell her that it’s okay.

If possible, may my girl be safe and happy forever.”

...

White chrysanthemums were placed in front of the tombstone.