SYLM Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Car Accident

The streetlights on the roadside cast the pedestrians’ fatigue into stark relief. No matter how hard the sticky evening breeze blew, it couldn’t dispel the day’s frustrating troubles. The swaying neon lights of nightlife only amplified those inexplicable feelings of restlessness.

The car pulled into the residential area. After it came to a stop, Chen Lu immediately unbuckled her seatbelt and headed for the elevator without looking back. Gu Wan Jun got out of the car and jogged to catch up, squeezing into the elevator before the doors closed.

In the confined space, the air was thick with the faint scent of their perfumes, as well as an undercurrent of tension.

Yes, that’s right, someone was about to explode with anger.

With a “ding,” the elevator arrived.

Chen Lu strode towards their front door, Gu Wan Jun following behind her, silent like a child who had done something wrong.

After entering the apartment, Chen Lu, who had been angry the whole way, didn’t say a word and went straight to the study. The door slammed shut with a dull “thud,” making Gu Wan Jun’s heart tremble. She stood in the middle of the living room, the hem of her soft knit sweater twisted into numerous wrinkles by her anxious hands.

Chen Lu was still angry.

She knew it.

But what should she do?

Duo Duo was staying at her parents’ house today, so the ice-breaking charm to lighten the mood wasn’t available. Gu Wan Jun stood there, sighing and sighing, silent for a long time. As if she had thought of something, she went straight to the kitchen.

Angry or not, dinner still had to be made.

Gu Wan Jun mechanically washed vegetables, cut meat, and made soup, her movements skilled but absentminded.

People can’t do things well when they’re preoccupied. While cutting the meat, Gu Wan Jun was careless, and the knife blade sliced her fingertip. A bright red bead of blood immediately welled up. She instinctively gasped, fortunately, she retracted the knife quickly, and the cut wasn’t too deep.

Gu Wan Jun sighed. Just as she was about to rinse the wound under the faucet, she turned around and, with a “clatter,” accidentally knocked over the salt shaker, scattering white grains all over the floor.

What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she even do these little things right now?

Gu Wan Jun bit her lip, shook her head, and squatted down, fumbling to clean up the mess. Whether it was because she was thinking about something or because salt grains had gotten into her eyes, the butterflies that wanted to fly were weighed down by wet wings, blinking rapidly.

An hour later, three dishes and a soup were placed on the table.

Finally, there was a reason to stand in front of the study door.

At the study door, Gu Wan Jun raised her hand and lowered it, repeating the action three times before finally gently knocking on the door.

“Chen Lu, dinner’s ready.”

As soon as she knocked, the door opened almost immediately, as if the person inside had been waiting for this moment.

Chen Lu stood in the doorway, her eyes, which usually curved into crescent moons when she smiled, now as cold as ice. She was half a head taller than Gu Wan Jun, and the way she looked down at people carried a sense of oppression that couldn’t be ignored.

“Gu Wan Jun.”

Chen Lu said with a cold face, her voice filled with obvious displeasure: “I am very unhappy right now.”

When Chen Lu was angry, the corners of her eyes would unconsciously tilt upward slightly, like sharp little hooks that tugged at people’s hearts, causing them pain. Gu Wan Jun lowered her eyes, unsure how to respond, and could only nod lightly:

“Mmm…”

Mmm…? What did “mmm” mean? Was that all she had to say?

Chen Lu frowned, took a step forward, and closed the distance between them. The oppressive aura made Gu Wan Jun unconsciously retreat until her back pressed against the cold wall.

Chen Lu crossed her arms and looked down at her condescendingly: “coax me.” (coax means to coax)

“……”

Gu Wan Jun suddenly looked up, her peach blossom eyes full of astonishment.

“I told you to coax me!”

Chen Lu raised her voice impatiently, her crescent-shaped eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a profound sense of danger.

Her back against the cold wall, Gu Wan Jun’s lips trembled slightly. She lowered her eyes again:

“I’m sorry…”

“What did you do wrong?” Chen Lu pressed relentlessly.

Silence spread between them. Gu Wan Jun could hear her own rapid heartbeat:

“I shouldn’t have speculated about your relationship with Li Sa…?”

“……”

Gu Wan Jun’s voice was as light as a mosquito’s hum, her tone rising at the end, like a student unsure of the answer.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the hint of expectation in her eyes dimmed instantly. Chen Lu’s face turned cold, and she almost fainted from anger.

Li Sa, Li Sa, it was still Li Sa. Was this person doing it on purpose?

Chen Lu gritted her back teeth and stepped forward, grabbing Gu Wan Jun’s shoulders and trapping her between herself and the wall. They were so close that they could feel each other’s breath. Any closer, and they would be touching.

Gu Wan Jun was so frightened by this sudden closeness that she closed her eyes, her long, raven-feather eyelashes trembling violently. She instinctively held her breath, afraid that any small movement would break this dangerous balance.

She was afraid.

She was afraid of making another mistake.

Stopping an inch away from Gu Wan Jun’s lips, Chen Lu looked at the woman curled up in front of her. She felt both angry and pained, but she couldn’t swallow her anger.

After waiting for a long time, the expected forceful kiss didn’t come. Gu Wan Jun bit her lip, hesitating whether to open her eyes when suddenly, the collar of her knit sweater was pulled open, followed by a sharp pain on her collarbone—

“Hiss…!”

Gu Wan Jun let out a soft cry, her body couldn’t help but flinch, but she didn’t push Chen Lu away. The pain of teeth sinking into her skin instead stirred up a strange, almost morbid sense of security in her heart.

There was never a moment that was always, but at least at this moment, Chen Lu’s attention was completely on her.

Looking up and seeing Gu Wan Jun’s tightly closed eyes and trembling eyelashes, the fire in her heart gradually fermented into bitterness. Chen Lu leaned down and gently licked the spot where she had just bitten, and then continued upwards. This action startled Gu Wan Jun. The little bit of peace of mind she had just felt vanished in an instant. She opened her eyes abruptly, her voice trembling:

“Chen Lu… don’t do this…”

“Chen Lu? What happened to the Gu Wan Jun who used to call ‘Lu Lu, Lu Lu’ all the time? Why aren’t you calling me that now?”

“……”

Meeting the little girl’s eyes that seemed to suck people in, Gu Wan Jun only glanced at them before instinctively lowering her head to escape. But Chen Lu used her thumb to lift her chin. The little girl’s cold, commanding voice beat against her eardrums:

“Gu Wan Jun, look at me.”

“Mmm…”

“Call me Lu Lu.”

“…Lu Lu… don’t do this…”

“Do what?”

“……”

Chen Lu pressed closer step by step, and Gu Wan Jun stumbled over every obstacle.

“Don’t… don’t bite me…”

“I like to bite, can’t I?”

Chen Lu couldn’t hold back her anger. Before the words were finished, she lowered her head again and bit Gu Wan Jun’s shoulder. This time, it seemed to be even harder than before. The pain brought tears to Gu Wan Jun’s eyes, but she bit her lip to stop herself from making a sound, her mind filled with Chen Lu’s words “I like to bite.”

What did “like to bite” mean? Did the little girl also bite Li Sa so intimately?

Thinking of this, Gu Wan Jun’s eyes turned red instantly, tears welling up.

Could she not do this to others? Could she only do this to her?

Gu Wan Jun had thought about these words thousands of times, almost engraving them in her mind, but she couldn’t say them no matter what.

After biting twice in a row, Chen Lu’s anger subsided for the most part. She let go of her mouth, but when she looked up, she saw Gu Wan Jun’s eyes were red and pitiful.

Was Gu Wan Jun… crying?

The person who had been so angry and tense suddenly panicked a little. Chen Lu quickly softened her voice, her tone sounding a little helpless:

“What’s wrong? Did I bite you too hard?”

Gu Wan Jun didn’t speak, just shook her head. Chen Lu was a little anxious and was about to ask something else when the person in her arms suddenly closed her eyes and finally hugged her waist with hands that didn’t know where to put them.

Calling it a hug was just a loose, cautious, symbolic embrace.

Gu Wan Jun’s forehead pressed against hers, her voice so quiet that it was almost inaudible:

“Lu Lu, don’t be angry with me, don’t ignore me…”

“……”

Chen Lu was stunned.

This was the first time Gu Wan Jun hadzhudong: taken the initiative to hug her since Li Sa appeared. She could clearly feel the person in her arms trembling slightly, like a wronged little animal that had been abandoned.

A pang of bitterness surged into her heart, a mix of emotions. Chen Lu followed suit and closed her eyes, and cold liquid streamed down her face, making it impossible to tell whose tears they were.

Gu Wan Jun, when will you be honest with me and try to rely on me?

This one-sided argument ended with a certain little turtle taking the initiative to “Post” (tiē tiē: sticking close).

Being willing to speak was a good thing, even if it was just one sentence.

Chen Lu believed that she would eventually wait for the day when Gu Wan Jun was willing to open her heart.

Good things take time. They had a long future ahead of them.

The conflict triggered by the name “Li Sa” was temporarily resolved. Compared to the problem between herself and Gu Wan Jun, Chen Lu was more worried about Fu Yi Wen.

Did Tang Ying go to the restaurant in the end?

Did they meet?

How was Fu Yi Wen now?

Would she still suppress her emotions and try to comfort Tang Ying as she had before?

Even after finishing dinner and sitting at her desk, facing the computer, Chen Lu was still in a state of distraction, unable to concentrate on writing.

In fact, Chen Lu wasn’t the only one with a heavy heart.

The lesson plan was spread out in front of her, but Gu Wan Jun still hadn’t picked up her pen.

As Tang Ying’s friend, although she understood that Tang Ying had many difficulties, Gu Wan Jun couldn’t help but feel that everything that had happened today was too cruel to Fu Yi Wen.

On one side was love, on the other side was family. Tang Ying wasn’t a saint. How could one have both in this world?

Thinking of saints, Gu Wan Jun shook her head and smiled bitterly.

Not only Tang Ying was like this, but she herself was no different.

On one side was Chen Lu, on the other side was Chen Lu’s happiness and her own moral bottom line…

Where should their future lead?

Or rather, did they even have a future?

The two people in the study were worried about the same thing, but they didn’t know that the people and things they were worried about had already undergone earth-shattering changes in just a few hours.

—-

In mid-August, the summer night, the night sky at nine o’clock was like ink, diluted and splashed across the sky. The night breeze carried the bleakness of early autumn, sweeping up a few early fallen plane tree leaves from the roadside, swirling them in the air before floating away.

In the taxi, cold sweat soaked the broken hair on her forehead. Sitting in the back seat, Fu Yi Wen wiped her eyes from time to time, restless.

The driver looked at the passenger he had just picked up in the rearview mirror, and sweat seemed to break out on his face.

Five minutes ago, a young girl staggered into the middle of the road and stopped his taxi with open arms. After a screech of brakes, he rolled down the window to yell at her, but was stunned the moment he saw her face.

This girl was okay? How could her face be as white as paper…

“Hospital!”

The young girl opened the car door and fell into the back seat, her tone so urgent that she was about to cry:

“Yunjiang City People’s Hospital, as fast as possible!”

No wonder she was in such a hurry, her family must be hospitalized.

Thinking this, the driver sized up the strange passenger through the rearview mirror. The young girl looked about twenty-four or five years old, wearing a simple white hoodie and jeans. She should have been at an age full of vigor, but at the moment she looked like a sunflower broken by a storm. The broken hair, soaked in cold sweat, stuck to her pale cheeks, her lips trembled uncontrollably, and her eyes were filled with fine sparkles and despair swollen with tears.

“Girl, there’s a bit of traffic jam ahead on this street, you see…”

“Master, please find a way to get me to the hospital as soon as possible. I’ll pay double the price, no, triple! As long as I can get to the hospital, any amount of money is fine!”

Fu Yi Wen raised her voice, the end of her sentence carrying an obvious tremor. She quickly pulled out a few bills from her wallet and stuffed them into the front seat. The edges of the bills were a bit wrinkled because she had used too much force.

The driver glanced at the bills and then looked back at Fu Yi Wen in the back seat. He sighed and pressed the meter: “Okay, girl, hold on tight.”

As soon as the words fell, the taxi turned to merge into a new street, the tires rubbing against the ground making a harsh sound, like an arrow leaving the string, and Fu Yi Wen was pressed hard against the back of the seat by inertia. She wiped her watery face hard, the knuckles of her hand holding the phone turned white, as if she was holding on to a lifeline.

Ten minutes ago, a call from an unknown number came in.

In the noisy background sound, a strange female voice with an urgent tone exploded in Fu Yi Wen’s ears like a bolt from the blue:

“Are you Ms. Fu Yi Wen? This is the emergency department of Yunjiang City People’s Hospital. Ms. Tang Ying was injured in a car accident and is now being sent to our hospital…”

When Fu Yi Wen received this call, she was downstairs at the convenience store buying alcohol, planning to get drunk. When she heard the words “Tang Ying” and “car accident” linked together, the phone fell to the ground with a “slap,” and the canned beer she had just selected slipped from her fingers and fell on the tiled floor, bursting into golden waves. The cold liquid splashed on Fu Yi Wen’s bare ankles, like countless fine needles piercing her skin. The convenience store clerk screamed, and almost at the same time, Fu Yi Wen turned around and rushed out of the convenience store. The dark wine stains on the legs of her jeans quickly spread in the night breeze.

Tang Ying had a car accident…

Car accident…

How could this happen…

The call just now was like a blunt knife stabbing hard into Fu Yi Wen’s heart. A pile of bad scenes circled in her mind, and tears fell with a “drip, drip.” She didn’t remember how she left the convenience store, let alone how she got into the car. At this moment, she only had one thought: she wanted to see Tang Ying, she wanted Tang Ying to be safe.

Whether it was because the taxi was going too fast or because she was too grief-stricken, Fu Yi Wen couldn’t help but gag halfway through the journey.

When the taxi stopped at the emergency department of Yunjiang City People’s Hospital, Fu Yi Wen almost fell out of the car, her knees staggered on the steps, but she couldn’t feel the pain.

First floor lobby.

The rolling electronic sign blurred into a piece of vision, and Fu Yi Wen only had her thunderous heartbeat in her ears.

“Tang Ying… Tang Ying…”

Fu Yi Wen grabbed the sleeve of a passing nurse, her voice hoarse to the point of almost being unable to speak: “About, about half an hour ago, a car accident patient was sent in, her name is Tang Ying, where is she now?”

The nurse’s eyes turned quickly, and she pointed to the end of the corridor: “She is in emergency room 3, and there is also a gentleman over there…”

Fu Yi Wen had no intention of listening to the nurse, she stumbled and ran over, but stopped suddenly at the corner of the corridor a few seconds later.

At the door of the emergency room, a tall man in a suit and leather shoes was pacing back and forth. Even at this critical moment, his pace still had a certain rhythm, a habit that could not have been developed in a day or two.

Jiang Ying Xu.

The name was like an effervescent tablet stuck in Fu Yi Wen’s throat, unable to spit it out, unable to swallow it.

The last time she saw Jiang Ying Xu in person was at Tang Ying’s wedding five years ago. Five years later, the man looked more stable than he did at the wedding, wearing an all-black suit, his tie tied meticulously, even his cufflinks were shining coldly under the corridor lights, a few strands of his neatly combed back hair fell on his forehead, his shiny leather shoes moved back and forth, and his right hand unconsciously turned the ring on the ring finger of his left hand.

It was the wedding ring he and Tang Ying exchanged when they got married.