In the place where Guo Jingyu settled in the capital, besides him and Li Tongzhou, nobody else knew.
Having withdrawn over two hundred thousand in one go previously, Wu Xiajun thought something had happened to him. She contacted him twice, but Guo Jingyu only mentioned it was a family matter, without elaborating further. He didn’t tell them about his arrival in the capital either.
Now that he has regained what he lost, a part of his heart still hangs in the air. Apart from himself, there was hardly anyone he dared to trust.
Even with his family, he didn’t make contact. He turned off his phone and used a public telephone to call Gu Yu, asking him to pass on a few words. When Gu Yu asked, Guo Jingyu didn’t hide anything and told him everything about himself and Li Tongzhou.
At first, Gu Yu was surprised, but unexpectedly, he didn’t ask anymore questions. He simply said to him, “Alright, I got it. I’ll tell it to Auntie. Take care of yourself out there, I have enough for tuition, so feel free to use the money over there.”
Guo Jingyu said, “Alright, thanks, brother.”
“Why are you being so polite? You’ve helped me a lot, no need to hold back,” Gu Yu replied. After a few more reminders to his younger cousin, he added in a low voice before hanging up, “Well, if it’s convenient, when I get back, bring Xiao Li along. Let’s have a meal together, so the family can get to know each other.”
It took Guo Jingyu a moment to realize he was referring to Li Tongzhou. He smiled and agreed.
Guo Jingyu bought everything he needed from the market near the neighborhood, carrying back two big bags. He didn’t step out of the house for several days straight.
He didn’t go out by himself, nor did he let Li Tongzhou go out.
Despite Li Tongzhou being the one injured, it was Guo Jingyu who experienced the stress reaction.
At the slightest sound, he couldn’t help but come over to check. At night, he made sure the door was locked, and sometimes during the day, he wouldn’t even draw the curtains, preferring to stay in the room with the light on, guarding Li Tongzhou.
He knew this behavior wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t control it.
He was just too afraid.
The mere thought of the possibility of losing Li Tongzhou made him restless.
During the day, as long as he could see the other person, it was fine. But at night, even if they slept together, Guo Jingyu would always wake up startled in his dreams, unable to get a good night’s sleep for several days in a row. He kept having the same dream, the details fuzzy, but waking up with a heavy feeling in his chest. He dreamt of the sanatorium in the city, desperately running through the corridors to find Li Tongzhou, pushing open door after door, only to find emptiness inside, with no one there.
His dreams were like fragmented pieces, sometimes set in the sanatorium, sometimes flashes from news broadcasts on television.
Years later, the news broadcasted the closure of the sanatorium. The host reported a string of chilling numbers, detailing the casualties among the youths inside. Some died, while most suffered irreparable harm. They mentioned a boy who used to compete in professional gaming, his right hand now rendered useless… The television screen flashed a room at the end of a corridor, the most tightly guarded area, reserved for those who were the “most disobedient.”
That room was opened, its walls covered in formulas and some seemingly incomprehensible numbers and symbols. Those who had been locked in here were either geniuses or madmen, their names etched into the walls alongside the formulas. The handwriting was faint, as if scratched out with fingernails, all bearing the same name, as if it had been written for a long time, the formulas and names layered on top of each other, becoming indistinct.
Guo Jingyu tried so hard to make out the words, and in that instant, a sudden pain gripped his chest, slowly bringing him back to consciousness.
The back of his shirt was soaked with sweat. When he woke up, his emotions remained trapped in the realm of the dream.
Li Tongzhou held him, softly asking, “What’s wrong?”
Tears welled up in Guo Jingyu’s eyes as he hoarsely asked, “Li Tongzhou, who is Beibei?“
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Li Tongzhou was slightly surprised, but still replied, “It’s you.”
Guo Jingyu’s breath hitched, his fingers gripping Li Tongzhou’s sleeve with such force that his knuckles turned white, his throat choked with emotion, rendering him speechless. The room was dim, and Li Tongzhou, who was sleeping beside him, felt unusually embarrassed. With a soft laugh, he said, “You saw the note on my phone that time, right? I couldn’t think of anything else. If you don’t like it, I’ll change it next time...“
Xeb Alcuse ifjcfv lc ab xlrr tlw, rlifcmlcu tlw jcv rkjiibklcu atf kbgvr tf tjvc’a olclrtfv.
Ol Kbcuhtbe rfcrfv rbwfatlcu kjr kgbcu joafg pera j mbeqif bo xlrrfr. Jeqqlcu Xeb Alcuse’r ojmf, tf iloafv tlr tjcv ab klqf jkjs atf wblraegf ogbw tlr mtffxr, kjcalcu ab jrx ktja kjr kgbcu. Dea yfobgf tf mbeiv rqfjx, Xeb Alcuse qglfv bqfc tlr ilqr, qeiilcu tlw lcab vffqfg vfrlgfr.
For a full three days, they stayed together and didn’t step foot outside.
What Guo Jingyu used to hear the most was that Li Tongzhou only had him as a friend and couldn’t be without him. But now he realized it wasn’t like that.
It wasn’t that Li Tongzhou couldn’t be without him, it was that he himself couldn’t be without this person by his side, needing constant hugs and touches to assure himself that this person was right there, allowing him to finally let go of the anxiety weighing on his heart.
He didn’t dare to sleep, afraid that after waking, he wouldn’t see Li Tongzhou beside him.
Even during the day, if Li Tongzhou was out of his sight for too long, Guo Jingyu would anxiously search for him. Sometimes, he was so frantic that he didn’t even bother to put on slippers and ran barefoot to find him.
When Li Tongzhou was in the kitchen trying to cook noodles, after seeing Guo Jingyu approaching, he would hug and kiss him, the kiss landing on his forehead like a soothing medicine, dispelling his anxiety.
Guo Jingyu felt that this wasn’t right, but he was sick.
He couldn’t control himself, at least not for the short term.
In the past few days, Li Tongzhou had been with him and talked a lot with him.
Some discussions were about family, while others were about himself.
Li Tongzhou didn’t speak much. When he did, Guo Jingyu listened quietly. They nestled together on the sofa, Li Tongzhou gently stroking his hair as Guo Jingyu turned to hug Li Tongzhou’s waist, nuzzling against him, which earned him a light kiss on the ear from Li Tongzhou, who bent down.
After a few days, Guo Jingyu’s condition improved somewhat, and he could go out with Li Tongzhou to buy groceries.
Before the rain of early summer, the weather was humid and hot. Guo Jingyu bought a transparent umbrella from the small shop selling fruits and took it home. Yesterday, when Li Tongzhou went out to buy things, he brought back paints and pens for him. After returning, Guo Jingyu used them to paint a picture inside the umbrella. He didn’t sketch anything beforehand, just painted spontaneously to relieve boredom. Perhaps feeling a bit down, he used a lot of deep blue. When he snapped out of it, he smudged and adjusted the colors.
He painted an umbrella with a starry sky and whales, with shades of deep and light blue intertwining. He decorated it with starlight, so it didn’t look too dark.
It rained for the next two days, and Li Tongzhou used this umbrella when he went out to buy things. He really liked the umbrella. When he came back, he would carefully shake off the water droplets and then wipe it with a handkerchief.
Guo Jingyu sat on the sofa at home, watching him for a while, then suddenly asked, “Do you like the rain?”
“I do,” Li Tongzhou replied.
Li Tongzhou crouched there, wiping the umbrella. Because of a single character in the other person’s name, he even liked it when it rained.
Guo Jingyu was also watching him. He had improved a lot these past few days and no longer felt that gripping fear in his heart every time Li Tongzhou stepped out of the door. He could now calmly watch him come home.
When Li Tongzhou approached, Guo Jingyu reached out his hand. “Li Tongzhou, I’ll tell you a secret.”
Li Tongzhou sat beside him, leaning shoulder to shoulder, and squeezed his fingers. “What secret?”
“I’ve been having trouble distinguishing between dreams and reality for a while. It felt like I was in an exceptionally long dream, but I can tell now,” Guo Jingyu tightened his grip on Li Tongzhou’s hand, whispering softly, “Where you are, that’s where reality is .“
Li Tongzhou kissed his fingers, as if comforting a child. His palm was firm and dry, his lips gentle.
On the other side, in Lincheng.
Several days ago, after receiving the news about the sanatorium, Li Qingcheng and Jiang Min rushed over, but they never expected such a big commotion overnight.
The gates and walls of the sanatorium were forcibly demolished, causing such a stir that it attracted many journalists. It even made it to the local television news. For a while, various newspapers carried the story. What started as a “mistaken demolition” incident, where a wall was wrongly torn down, turned into a more serious social news. Once again, the matter of this compulsory sanatorium was exposed.
But for Jiang Min, the most important thing was that her son was missing.
The already tense string in her heart snapped, and she cried out in pain.
Li Qingcheng was also extremely angry. He had originally planned to send his son over for “education” for a few days and was even planning for the next exam. The registration fees and pre-paid expenses were not insignificant costs. Now, it was all wasted. Li Qingcheng paced around the room, listening to the crying beside him, unable to resist scolding Jiang Min, “Enough, stop crying! Aren’t you ashamed enough? He brought this after himself, doing such reckless things and then daring to run away. Now, everyone knows!”
“We shouldn’t have sent Xiaozhou here in the first place!”
“Huh? As if I wanted to! It’s all because of his habitual lying!”
Jiang Min stood up and forcefully shoved him, gritting her teeth. “He didn’t lie!”
“Leaving aside everything else, that ring is real, isn’t it?! I personally found it. He even told you himself before, saying he wasn’t in a relationship. Is that not a relationship?!” Li Qingcheng angrily threw the ring out from his pocket. “Take a look at it yourself. If I didn’t care, what would he have become by now!”
Jiang Min was distraught, no longer wanting to maintain her previous demeanor in front of him. She picked up the ring that had been thrown on the ground. It was attached to a platinum necklace, emitting a faint friction sound as it rubbed against the floor.
Li Qingcheng continued to reprimand them.
“He didn’t lie, not even a single word. It was me… it was me who said it!” Jiang Min broke down in tears. “It’s all my fault. Even if Xiaozhou was in a relationship, so what? You always expect him to meet your expectations in everything. He’s already trying so hard. You don’t see him. Your heart is not even in this family!”
Li Qingcheng’s face changed slightly, and he scolded, “Nonsense! You’re trying to blame me at this time. Let me tell you, Jiang Min, I have never done anything to betray this family!”
While at home, Li Qingcheng wasn’t as charming as he was outside. He sat there, speaking very bluntly.
It seemed that not crossing the line was already the greatest contribution to this family.
Jiang Min looked at him, her eyes reddening, murmuring, “Xiaozhou has always been at the top of his class in school. He has never caused me any trouble. Why do you keep forcing him to do things he doesn’t like? He wants to go to the south of the city. He wants to study domestically. What are you so dissatisfied with?…”
“He doesn’t get to decide this. When we find him, if I say he’s going, then he’s going!” Li Qingcheng tugged at his collar, feeling irritated. “I see he’s falling back into his old habits! It’s all because of your spoiling. Back when he was taking the entrance exam for high school, his mindset was unstable, and he performed poorly. He only got into Chengnan Yi Zong. If he had performed as he did before, I could have sent him to the Provincial Experimental High School.” He went on complaining about past grievances, directing all his resentment toward his wife. “With the child turning out like this, how have you been disciplining him!”
Jiang Min responded, “He knows what he’s doing. He has his own plans.”
“How old is he? What does he understand!”
“You…”
“Jiang Min, you don’t have to play the good person here. Didn’t you also agree when I said we should send him here for correction?”
Jiang Min couldn’t reconcile with him at all. She didn’t want to sit in the room and listen to him scold anymore. Anxious and upset, she ran out to find someone.
She first went to the sanatorium, where many parents were gathered demanding an explanation. Several parents even demanded the surveillance footage from that evening, their attitudes extremely firm.
“The sanatorium only had its outer gate and walls demolished, but the buildings are still intact, right?! We sent our children here, paying so much money every month. Now you’re telling me my child is missing. I absolutely won’t accept this!”
“Yes, I sent my well-behaved child here. How could you let this happen?!”
“The lock is broken? What kind of excuse is that?!”
“I don’t care what you say today. Show us the surveillance footage and let us see what happened that night. Otherwise, we’ll call the police and accuse you of child trafficking! My daughter is only twelve years old!”
…
A group of parents, furious and impassioned, surrounded the staff of the sanatorium. Finally, someone couldn’t resist pushing through the crowd and ignoring their excuses, rushing into the office building inside.
Jiang Min hesitated for a moment but followed suit.
With so many parents, they managed to find the surveillance footage.
The footage from that night was extremely blurry. Indeed, there were some people with hats running back and forth in the corridor, and some were opening doors. However, these people didn’t forcibly drag anyone out from inside. Instead, it seemed like they were searching for something. They just opened the door, glanced inside, and quickly ran off. There was a brief moment of silence in the corridor, then all the children from the rooms poured out and ran away swiftly!
The parents couldn’t believe it. They searched through the previous surveillance footage again, hoping to find a reason. However, the surveillance in the sanatorium was regularly cleared, leaving only videos from the past week.
But that was enough.
Jiang Min stood behind the crowd, also trying to watch the screen in front. The silent black-and-white footage showed the familiar building and location in the corridor. A group of teenagers dressed in uniform slowly approached. Someone seemed to say something among them, and then they all stopped. They formed a circle, leaving a frail girl standing inside.
No one said a word. They just watched her.
Then, suddenly, under everyone’s gaze, the girl knelt down with a “thud” and began slapping herself on the ears. As she hit herself, she shouted something loudly. Everyone around watched in silence until she collapsed to the ground, sobbing in pain. Surprisingly, the others began applauding her.
All the parents stood there in shock. Some were desperately trying to find excuses, but others had already lost their voices, crying out, “This is cruel! They never told me it would be like this. Wasn’t it supposed to be just the ruler?”
Jiang Min trembled in the crowd, feeling a chill run down her spine. She couldn’t help but shiver.
As she watched the scene on the screen, she couldn’t imagine her son, such a proud person, being treated like that. The words Li Qingcheng had said kept echoing in her mind. She had nodded back then, agreeing to send her son here.
She did something wrong. She had pushed her son into the abyss.
K: its okay to cry i did. it took me hourse just to complete this chapter cause fuuck my heart. Even editing it was so bad i had to stop and do other things *insert ugly ccrying noise* ALSO FUCK LTZ PARENTS THEY DONT DESERVE HIM AT ALL NAD HIS MOM ?? COME ON IF YOU JUST STOOD UP FOR YOUR CHILD THIS WOULDNT HAVE HAPPENED AT ALL
I am impressed how the author handled the circumstances. Guo Jingyu was the only one who actually went through the experience of losing Li Tongzhou and having to live without him; but learning how it happened must have left him very wounded. Li Tongzhou, in comparison, experienced a few hours of being tied up in a dark room, which is horrible enough, but he can probably process it a lot better than Guo Jingyu. I still wish the parents were taken by the police for child abuse. The sanatorium staff should really stay in prison forever! 😡
I cried so much, this is so heartbreaking… I hope his mom could think for herself and Guo Jingyu and Li Tongzhou, would come back…