A Campus Love Story: Meeting You in the Worst Time of My Life
She didn’t know whether she should feel happy or sad right now. The memories seemed to have shattered into pieces, scattered behind her, bit by bit, never to be grasped again.
Chapter 1
Xie Yurong’s bicycle had its tires deflated again—this was the third time this week.
Someone had used a tiny thumbtack to puncture the tires. The first time, Xie Yurong thought it was an accident, but three times in a row meant it was definitely deliberate.
She looked around but didn’t see anyone suspicious, and it made sense—who would stick around after committing the act? They’d have run off by now!
Xie Yurong’s brightly colored, stylish bike stood out among the dull, old bikes around it, like a peony blooming in a field of weeds—out of place and eye-catching. She had initially refused the bike because she didn’t want to draw attention, but her parents insisted on buying it as a reward for her getting first place in the grade.
But with rewards came punishments. When she didn’t achieve first place again, she couldn’t count how many times her parents scolded her, how many sighs she had to endure from them. It was as if the sky had fallen, as if she had turned into some sort of delinquent.
With the tires flat, Xie Yurong had no choice but to push her bike along. When she reached the school gate, the old security guard gave her a suspicious look. The school bell hadn’t rung yet, and students leaving early always drew attention. After some thought, Xie Yurong went to the small guardhouse and explained to the old man that she wasn’t feeling well—her stomach hurt, and she had already gone to the bathroom four times in just two classes. The teacher told her to go home and rest.
The old man didn’t make things difficult for her and let her go easily. She needed to find a place to get her bike fixed before she could head home. The shop she had visited before was pretty good—it only cost a few yuan to fix a tire, and they would pump the tires, check the bike’s other parts, and even oil it for free. The old man there had a young apprentice, who always had a cold expression, with stubble just beginning to grow on his face. He seemed to look at people with a probing gaze.
Xie Yurong pushed her bike over, and the apprentice came over right away, asking what the problem was and taking the bike from her to pull out the thumbtack with practiced ease. As he worked, he casually said, “My name’s Hu Chuang. If your bike has any problems in the future, just come to me.”
Xie Yurong responded with a nod, feeling her stomach rumble again, worried she might need to rush to the bathroom. Luckily, the pain subsided after a while.
Hu Chuang looked like a bad guy—shoulder-length greasy hair, tattoos on his arms, always wearing tight clothes, and a toothpick perpetually dangling from his lips. His face was always dark and brooding, even when he said something nice, it was in a gruff tone.
Xie Yurong was a little scared of him, thinking, “Who would dare come to you for help looking like this?” She decided to stop riding that flashy bike and instead pulled out the old, worn-out bike from home, hoping that would make her less of a target.
Chapter 2
Xie Yurong’s family wasn’t wealthy—they were just an ordinary family. But growing up, her parents always insisted on buying her the best things. In kindergarten, she had the most expensive backpack; in elementary school, she had a learning machine; when she started middle school, she got a new bike. Her dad even pulled strings to get her seated next to a good student in class. Whatever they could provide, they did, whether she needed it or not.
Xie Yurong grew up under this protective bubble, even though she had said many times that she didn’t need it. She could be like other kids; she could grow up naturally just like them. But no one ever listened. Eventually, she realized it wasn’t that they didn’t want to listen—they just wanted to use these things to get more out of her.
If she received these things, she had to give back more achievements in return. If not, it was like committing a grave sin.
For example, when Xie Yurong didn’t perform well on exams, they would say, “We’ve given you the best of everything, and you still don’t understand. You’re wasting our expectations.” But what did doing well on exams have to do with being understanding? Did understanding kids automatically excel at quadratic equations and chemical formulas? Did they naturally memorize countless English words and phrases? Every person is different—maybe someone who’s not good at studying likes to draw, maybe someone who can’t draw sings well, maybe someone who can’t sing can fix TVs. But sometimes, even when you know the truth, you just don’t want to accept it.
Xie Yurong’s parents were like that. They would often argue about how to educate her—should they send her to piano lessons or violin lessons? Should she learn Chinese painting or oil painting? Should they focus on English or math tutoring? These arguments could last for hours. Sometimes, Xie Yurong thought, what’s so bad about growing up normally? Did they want her to be an artist or a diplomat? But she herself had no interest in any of that.
So, when Xie Yurong found a toad in the basket of her old bike, she didn’t scream or run away. Instead, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction. She had never been bullied, always protected so well. But now, who was going to protect her for life? Look, it was useless now.
Someone had deflated her tires with thumbtacks, placed a toad in her bike basket, and even stolen her bike lock a few times. Maybe it was the same person, maybe not, but Xie Yurong couldn’t figure out who she had offended until she decided to deliberately park her bike where she could see it from her classroom window. She put it in the outermost spot in the bike rack, so she could clearly see anyone who approached it. What she didn’t expect was that the person turned out to be Hu Chuang!
Chapter 3
Pushing her bike to the repair shop, Xie Yurong pointed at Hu Chuang and called him out. Hu Chuang, with a toothpick in his mouth, glanced at his master and then at Xie Yurong, snorted through his nose, and despite his usual dark expression, spoke gently. He said nothing and just walked toward the door.
Following him, Xie Yurong demanded, “Why did you deflate my tires and put things on my bike?”
Hu Chuang replied, “What’s with all the questions? I messed up, that’s all. How was I supposed to know it was your bike?”
“Don’t pretend!” she retorted. “This happened so many times—it wasn’t just once. What are you trying to do?”
Hu Chuang turned to face her, suddenly with a sincere expression, and said, “Sorry, Xie Yurong, I won’t do it again. It was just a prank, a bet with someone, nothing more.”
Yurong was prepared to confront him if he denied it, but he admitted it and apologized so easily that she was left speechless. Seeing this, a barely noticeable smile flickered in Hu Chuang’s eyes. He crossed his arms and said, “Don’t be so petty. You girls are so easy to mess with! How about this—if your bike has any problems in the future, I’ll fix it for free. Just start riding your new bike again. I promise I won’t do it again, okay?”
She had never seen this side of him before. Though he still looked stern, he wasn’t as scary as usual, and there was even a hint of playful charm. She pouted and demanded, “That’s not enough! You still have to refund the money I paid for repairs before!”
Hu Chuang spat out his toothpick, pulled a hundred yuan out of his pocket, and handed it to her. “Take it, kid. You’re extorting me!”
Without hesitation, Xie Yurong took the bill and stuffed it into her pocket, grinning broadly. “Thanks, little Hu. See you!”
As she walked away, she felt like one of those school bullies who extorted money from students after school, but who would have thought the target would be someone like Hu Chuang? The thought made her laugh out loud.
Over time, since she passed his shop every day after school, they became familiar with each other. She realized that Hu Chuang wasn’t that hard to get along with—he just had a scary face. She thought he probably just didn’t want anyone to get too close.
Chapter 4
But Hu Chuang didn’t stop his pranks as he had promised. He continued to play tricks on Xie Yurong, as if it had become a habit. Though she often got startled, it added some spice to her otherwise dull school life.
Hu Chuang’s favorite phrase was “no big deal.” No matter what you asked him to do, he would wave it off, saying, “Sure, no big deal.” But Xie Yurong knew that many things weren’t as simple as he made them out to be.
Just like how she later regretted asking him to do something that would change both their lives forever.
It was just an ordinary monthly test, but Xie Yurong didn’t do well, not even making it into the top ten of her class. When the results came out
, her homeroom teacher called her in for a talk, asking if something was bothering her or if she hadn’t been focusing on her studies lately. With so many tests each year, why make such a big deal out of one bad grade?
But someone didn’t think it was just a fluke—they wanted her to go home and talk to her parents and figure out what went wrong. But what was there to figure out when she didn’t even know herself? Going home would only make things worse, with her family making a huge fuss over it.
That’s when Hu Chuang appeared, and an idea struck her.
Hu Chuang often jumped out from behind to pretend to steal her things, just to tease her. But this time, when he did it, Xie Yurong suddenly froze.
“Why don’t we do this,” she suggested. “Let’s put on a show, just the two of us. We’ll write, direct, and act in it ourselves. How about it?”
Chapter 5
When Xie Yurong ran home that day, she had lost one of her shoes, her clothes were torn, her backpack was missing, and she had abandoned her bike. She refused to say anything, no matter how much her family asked, she just kept crying. When her family suggested calling the police, she stopped them.
After a whole night of this, Xie Yurong finally spoke. She said she had been robbed by a gang of thugs who took all her money and her watch. The thugs also threatened that if she reported the incident, they would block her at the school gate every day.
Luckily, she wasn’t physically harmed. The sudden robbery overshadowed the poor exam results, and no one brought up the test anymore. The next day, her family went to the school to ask for leave, and Xie Yurong stayed home to recover from the shock. But the school still reported the robbery to the police, as such incidents couldn’t be tolerated for the safety of other students.
That afternoon, the police came to investigate. They questioned people in the neighborhood, even though Xie Yurong told everyone she couldn’t remember anything, that everything happened so suddenly she was too scared to recall details. The police, however, quickly identified Hu Chuang as a suspect.
They suspected that Hu Chuang had robbed Xie Yurong, but no one would have guessed that it was actually Xie Yurong who had instructed Hu Chuang to rob her! Now it was her turn to panic. She thought about her childish prank, which was only meant to divert her family’s attention and avoid punishment for a bad exam. It wasn’t a flawless plan, and it definitely wouldn’t hold up under investigation.
Desperate, Xie Yurong found a way to get a message to Hu Chuang, urging him to flee overnight. She gathered all her New Year’s money and even stole a few hundred yuan from her family to give to him, telling him to say that a relative back home was seriously ill and he needed to leave immediately. It just so happened that Hu Chuang had mentioned a few days earlier that he was planning to join a friend in another city who was doing well.
Xie Yurong felt guilty for getting Hu Chuang into this mess; she hadn’t expected things to escalate like this. But Hu Chuang didn’t blame her. He just said, “Yurong, remember, I’m leaving because of you.”
There was something in Xie Yurong’s heart that she couldn’t quite describe. She thought to herself that this was a debt she owed him, but she didn’t know when or how she would repay it.
Chapter 6
After Hu Chuang left, the matter was quietly dropped. It was just a few dozen yuan that was stolen, along with a missing backpack, which was later found by someone who returned it to the school using the information in the notebooks. The situation wasn’t as serious as it initially seemed. After a while, it was like a winter snowfall that melted away and was forgotten.
Xie Yurong wanted to contact Hu Chuang, but she couldn’t find any trace of him. She still frequently visited the bike repair shop, subtly inquiring about him, but the old master would always say that Hu Chuang had gone off to do big business and wouldn’t be coming back.
That summer passed quickly. Later, she heard from the old master that Hu Chuang was doing well in another city, that he had his own car repair shop with several employees working under him. Only then did Xie Yurong breathe a sigh of relief and slowly start to forget about him.
It was that same year when He Mengdu transferred to her school. He had previously studied in Shanghai, but because he didn’t have a Shanghai household registration, he had to return home to take the college entrance exam. His family had him transfer back at the start of the third year of high school, and he stayed with his aunt.
When He Mengdu first arrived, not only did he dress differently, but everything about him seemed different. His shirt’s front panels were asymmetrical, there was a tiny bow on the collar, and he had chains hanging from his pants. Sometimes his pant legs were wide, and sometimes they were extremely tight. In short, his clothes were the kind you only saw on TV, and no one here had ever worn anything like them. He even spoke differently, his English pronunciation was different, with an exaggerated rolled ‘r’ and a heavy nasal sound. The teachers often praised his English and asked him to read aloud in class.
After less than a month, He Mengdu’s school uniform was ready, and now everyone was wearing the same uniform, eliminating the differences in clothing. But even in uniform, he looked different. It was hard to say exactly how, but the uniform on him didn’t look bad at all—in fact, it made him look sporty and vibrant.
He Mengdu’s grades weren’t great. The big city and the small town were worlds apart, and He Mengdu found it hard to adapt to having only Sunday afternoons off each week. Every week, he’d get caught napping in class and be punished by standing at the classroom door, and he was also penalized for not completing test papers by having to copy mistakes from his errors notebook. After two monthly exams, He Mengdu was a shadow of his former proud self.
The first time He Mengdu and Xie Yurong crossed paths was after an evening self-study session. He Mengdu had been punished again, and Xie Yurong was writing on the blackboard for the class bulletin. By the third year of high school, neither the teachers nor the students wanted to spend much time or energy on the bulletin board, so it was assigned to one student each time, who would just copy inspirational content from a book or newspaper. This time, it was Xie Yurong’s turn. He Mengdu sat on a desk, swinging his legs, watching as she wrote, then erased, then wrote again. He said, “Filling the whole board with words looks awful. Can’t you add some cartoons or illustrations?”
Yurong stopped and said, “I’d like to, but I can’t draw.”
He Mengdu tapped the desk with a mischievous grin. “How about this? I’ll draw for you if you help me with my test papers. Deal?”
Xie Yurong thought it over and agreed. She had already done that test paper before, so copying it again was no big deal.
That was the first deal between He Mengdu and Xie Yurong. She didn’t expect him to be so good at drawing, and the bulletin board became much more lively with his additions. The next day, many people praised the board, and Yurong generously credited He Mengdu for the drawings, which earned him even more admiration.
There was also an unexpected benefit—the school checked the bulletin boards and gave Yurong’s class high marks, awarding them a red flag for excellence. Yurong was the one who went to collect it, and when she returned, she saw He Mengdu smiling at her.
When He Mengdu smiled, he looked quite handsome. Yurong felt like his smile was a little brush, tickling her heart and making it flutter.
Chapter 7
He Mengdu’s bike was parked up ahead. When Xie Yurong saw it as she left the school gate, she decided to take another route home, not because she didn’t want to see him, but because she didn’t want to today. She just hadn’t made up her mind yet.
He Mengdu had left an envelope in her bike basket. Inside was a comic, a portrait of Xie Yurong in a Japanese manga style. Next to her was a very tiny boy holding a flower, with a caption that read, “Do you like me?”
Many people have this feeling when they’re young. When he walks by, your heart races. When he glances at you, your face flushes. When he’s within your line of sight, you can’t help but follow him with your eyes…
It was just like that.
Xie Yurong had these feelings for He Mengdu, but she was a bit scared. Love had arrived without warning. It wasn’t that she didn’t expect it or didn’t want it, but as a girl, she instinctively wanted him to ask a few more times, to make it seem like she wasn’t that into him, that she only agreed in the end because she was moved.
Yurong never responded to He Mengdu, but she continued to talk to him, sometimes even in front of others, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He Mengdu, obviously experienced, didn’t press her for an answer, and instead, by leaving her hanging, he actually ended up talking to her more. Sitting right in front of her, he’d sometimes poke her with his pen, and she’d lean against his desk, listening to him without turning around.
The opportunity came soon enough. During one evening self-study session, the power suddenly went out, plunging the entire classroom into darkness. Everyone was thrilled, chatting and singing in the dark, enjoying the unexpected break.
What Yurong never expected was that He Mengdu took the opportunity to kiss her. He asked her to lean in, saying he had something to tell her. But when she turned her head, he grabbed her by the shoulders.
It was the first time a boy had kissed her—cool lips, warm tongue. At first, she was so startled she almost screamed. But his hands on her shoulders were so strong and steady. Though it lasted only a few seconds, it felt as long as a lifetime.
But at that time, she didn’t yet know how long a lifetime really was.
When the lights came back on, Yurong’s face was still flushed. No one noticed, but she felt like everyone was watching her. It was probably just her guilty conscience. She buried
her head in her work, pretending to focus on the test papers, not daring to look up. Even though He Mengdu occasionally called out to her from behind, she didn’t respond, still lost in the memory of the kiss, afraid that if she turned around, he’d see the blush on her face.
Chapter 8
The days in the third year of high school passed slowly, but when added together, they flew by like a rolling wheel. In the blink of an eye, it was spring again. But this spring was not a pleasant season for Xie Yurong. Though spring had arrived, it didn’t feel like it. It was already March, but it was still bitterly cold, and the heavy coats and visible breath made the season feel dull and lifeless.
If Hu Chuang hadn’t suddenly reappeared, Xie Yurong would have quietly made it through the season. She could have held hands with He Mengdu on the way home from school, enjoyed his beautiful smile, and waited for his lips to touch her forehead in some dark corner after evening study. Despite the cold, this spring could have been a happy one for her.
But Hu Chuang was an unexpected twist. Xie Yurong thought she would never see him again. Since He Mengdu came into her life, she had almost forgotten about Hu Chuang. She only knew that he was doing well, had become successful, and she even thought that if that incident hadn’t happened, Hu Chuang would still be working at that little bike repair shop. Maybe he should thank her, so she no longer felt she owed him anything.
But Hu Chuang cornered her in the alley where they had once staged the robbery. It was nighttime, the streetlights were dim, and she couldn’t clearly see his face, but he seemed thinner. He pinned her bike down, trapping the front wheel between his legs, and leaned on the handlebars, his face so close to hers that she instinctively took two steps back. But he grabbed her arm, stopping her from retreating.
“Do you know how I’ve been living these past few months?” Hu Chuang asked. “Have you really forgotten me so quickly? Isn’t that a bit wrong?”
“You’re doing well, aren’t you? Running a car repair shop, being the boss?” Yurong didn’t know if it was fear or nerves, but her voice trembled. She tried to see his face, but it was too late, and he was still wearing sunglasses, making it impossible to see.
Hu Chuang suddenly laughed. “How do you know I’m doing well?”
Yurong didn’t answer, and he leaned in closer. She turned her face away. “I heard it at the bike shop.”
Hu Chuang hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her hand. “So, what’s the deal between you and that guy?”
Yurong’s heart skipped a beat. Had he been following her, asking around, or finding out in some other way? But this was her life—what did it have to do with him? She yanked her hand free. “That’s my business. Don’t think that just because you helped me before, I have to listen to you!”
Hu Chuang’s hand hung in mid-air, and while he was stunned, Yurong quickly pulled her bike away, jumped on it, and pedaled away as fast as she could.
That night, Xie Yurong couldn’t sleep. She was scared that Hu Chuang might take revenge by revealing their past or that he might continue to harass her. From what he had already found out, it seemed he had been digging into her life for some time. Could it be that he had feelings for her all along?
If that were the case, it would be even more worrying.
Chapter 9
He Mengdu went missing. His aunt called the teacher in the middle of the night, saying he hadn’t come home. The teacher, along with some male students, searched everywhere but couldn’t find him. The police said he might have gone somewhere to play, and if he didn’t return by the next day, they would investigate further.
The next day, He Mengdu was found lying at the school gate, injured and disoriented, as if he had been forced to drink too much alcohol. Later, it was suggested that he might have been drugged. He Mengdu was taken to the hospital for gastric lavage and observation, but he himself had no idea who had done this to him.
Only Xie Yurong knew—it had to be Hu Chuang. But Hu Chuang had left no contact information. If he didn’t come forward, she wouldn’t know where to find him. But she was sure he would show up again—that was certain.
The next few days were a blur for Yurong, as if she had a time bomb inside her, ready to explode at any moment. When Hu Chuang reappeared, it was on a rainy day, the third day of He Mengdu’s hospital stay. When Yurong saw him, she burst into tears. Hu Chuang asked, “Are you crying for him? How much do you like him? If I had known you liked him this much, I would’ve hit him harder!”
Hu Chuang was still wearing those sunglasses, so Yurong couldn’t see his eyes, and she didn’t feel like she was facing the same Hu Chuang who once loved pranks but was kind at heart.
“Let him go,” Yurong pleaded. “I won’t be with him anymore, and you don’t have to bother me anymore. You run your business, and I’ll study for college. Let’s just stay out of each other’s lives, okay?”
“No,” Hu Chuang said firmly. “I want us to be together.”
Yurong felt like she was about to break down. She was wearing a thin raincoat but was still suffocating from the heat. Her underwear was soaked and clung to her skin, making it hard to breathe.
“If we’re not together,” Hu Chuang continued, “who knows what will happen to that guy?”
Yurong bit her lip, feeling dizzy. How had Hu Chuang, the boy who once cheerfully dismissed everything as “no big deal,” become this person? Had she really wronged him, or had he been waiting for this day ever since he left, to come back and claim his due?
In the end, Yurong agreed to be with Hu Chuang. After He Mengdu was discharged from the hospital, she never spoke to him again, no matter how much he tried to talk to her.
But it didn’t take long for He Mengdu to find out the truth. He followed her and confronted Hu Chuang when they met. “So, it was you behind what happened to me,” he said. “I know everything now.”
What He Mengdu hadn’t told Yurong was that the drink Hu Chuang forced down his throat contained not only sleeping pills but also cocaine! Cocaine—the stuff you see in TV dramas, the stuff that terrifies people, the stuff that leaves lasting damage. He hadn’t told her because he didn’t want to worry her, but now he knew the person behind it all was her!
As he left, He Mengdu said, “Good job, Yurong!” The look in his eyes was filled with hatred. For a brief moment, Yurong felt utterly desolate, as if the world had ended.
Chapter 10
From that day on, He Mengdu never spoke to Xie Yurong again. Even when they crossed paths and had to meet each other’s gaze, his eyes were filled with hate. Yurong knew he had every right to hate her. What happened had left him with more than just emotional scars—it had physical consequences too.
Yurong just wanted time to pass faster. She threw herself into studying, doing test papers, desperate to get into college. Once she got into college, she could leave this place. She didn’t believe Hu Chuang would follow her forever. She even thought about applying to schools in remote places, far away from everything here. Everything here was a chain, suffocating her.
Leaving Hu Chuang, leaving He Mengdu—no longer living in such guilt and fear, no longer being controlled by them. To live a free life! Just thinking about it made her feel like she had suddenly been transported from a polluted city to a lush forest, eager to take a deep breath of fresh air.
As the college entrance exams drew closer, every day that passed lightened her heart a little more. But that feeling was shattered not long after. After an evening self-study session, Hu Chuang came to see her and said, “You should apply to a local university. I’m about to open a car repair shop here. Once you get into college, we won’t have to sneak around anymore!”
Hearing this, Yurong felt like her head was about to explode. She said, “I don’t want to go to a local university. I want to go to another city, to see distant places!”
Hu Chuang laughed. “You think I don’t know? You just want to get away from me! But I’m telling you, you can’t escape! No matter where you go, I’ll find you. We’re destined to be together for the rest of our lives!”
Yurong didn’t respond. But then Hu Chuang softened his tone. He placed his hands on her shoulders and said, “Let’s go back to the way we were before, okay? Like we used to be, okay?”
She still didn’t say anything, but inside, a storm was brewing. If she could go back to the past, she wouldn’t care if she never rode a bike again, if she was bullied for life, or if she never made it into the top three on an exam—anything to avoid making a friend like this.
But what she
never expected was for a third person to suddenly appear.
He Mengdu, like a ghost, appeared out of nowhere and punched Hu Chuang in the face, sending his sunglasses flying. “Is this what you call loving someone? This is harassment—do you understand that?” he shouted.
Stunned, Hu Chuang didn’t immediately retaliate but instead searched the ground for his sunglasses. With the help of a flashlight and the dim streetlights, it wasn’t too hard to see.
When the light swept across Hu Chuang’s face, Yurong was shocked to see that he only had one eye—the other eye was gone, leaving an empty socket. Seeing Yurong’s expression, Hu Chuang quickly turned away, found his sunglasses, and put them back on.
That must have been why he usually only appeared at night and always wore sunglasses. It was only now that Yurong realized she had never really looked at him properly since his return, nor had she tried to understand what he had been through during his absence.
Chapter 11
Hu Chuang didn’t own a car repair shop, nor was he a boss.
After he left, he went to Guangzhou, but as soon as he got off the train, he was robbed of all his money and documents. After much difficulty, he found an old acquaintance, only to discover that the person was involved in child trafficking and organizing theft rings. When Hu Chuang refused to join, he was imprisoned. He lost his eye while trying to escape—he jumped from a fourth-floor balcony and landed in a garbage dump, where a discarded kebab skewer pierced his eye.
After being injured, there was no escape. He was caught by the gang leader and, though he received treatment in a hospital, he eventually lost his eye. With no hope left, he finally joined their organization, helping to organize child thefts and selling illegal goods.
Later, Hu Chuang no longer wanted to escape. With the chances of success too slim, he never found another opportunity. This time, he left because the gang leader in Guangzhou had been arrested, and the gang scattered. Some were wanted by the police, but those like him, with no real name, simply disappeared. Some could live under the radar for a lifetime, but there was no guarantee they wouldn’t get caught one day.
Yurong urged Hu Chuang to turn himself in, but he refused. “Do you know how many people in this world have done worse things than me and are living just fine? Do you think if you lose a few thousand yuan at the train station, reporting it will get your money back or catch the thief? Do you think murderers always get the death penalty? I’ve decided not to do those things anymore. Why should I go bother the government? Isn’t it better to live a good life than to spend years in prison?”
Then, in a harsher tone, he added, “You just want me to turn myself in so I won’t bother you anymore, right?”
For a moment, Yurong was tempted, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go that far. After all, she was partly responsible for Hu Chuang’s current state. Besides, he really wasn’t doing anything bad now, except for what he had done to her and to He Mengdu.
Thinking of He Mengdu, Yurong’s heart felt heavy. That punch he threw at Hu Chuang had moved her, but it also scared her. She didn’t know if she was overthinking it, or if it was because she no longer trusted anyone since Hu Chuang’s return.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that He Mengdu wouldn’t let things go so easily.
Chapter 12
Hu Chuang was taken away by the police less than a month before the college entrance exams. Yurong only found out about it the next day from her family. During breakfast, her mother, like reading from a gossip magazine, said, “Yurong, did you hear? There was a drug trafficker in our area. Do you know who it was? It was that guy who used to work at the bike repair shop near your school. And, it turns out, he was the one who robbed you! I heard he confessed to everything. You’d better be careful these days when you come home. Who knows if he has accomplices who might cause trouble? I’ll have your dad come to pick you up…”
Yurong didn’t hear the rest. The memories she had buried deep within her, memories she never intended to revisit, spilled out like a basket of beans being overturned, playing out clearly in her mind.
She hastily drank two sips of milk and left for school, hoping to hear more news there. But the school was quiet. No rumors, no whispers—just the usual chatter during the morning lessons. Some students napped, some memorized vocabulary, some secretly chatted, and some read novels in their desks. Everything was as calm as any other day.
It was disappointing.
She spent the entire day in a daze until, at the end of the day, He Mengdu handed her a note. It read, “Now he won’t bother you anymore. Focus on your exams, get into college, leave this place, and start a new life.”
It was He Mengdu who had exposed Hu Chuang.
Yurong held the note as she walked to the school gate, lost in the crowd of students heading home. She thought about all the past years—the good and the bad with Hu Chuang, the good and the bad with He Mengdu. It all felt like it had happened so long ago, yet also as if it had just happened yesterday. She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or sad, but it seemed that her memories had all shattered into fragments, scattered behind her, bit by bit, beyond her reach.
Yurong thought, “Maybe I’ll never be able to escape this for the rest of my life.”
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
