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墨書 Inktalez
When An Shaojie and Qing Shusheng returned to Liu Family Village, the sudden thunderstorm had quietly subsided. The entire landscape had been washed clean, the air was fresh, and the night breeze was cool.
The night felt even more tranquil and serene!
Yet the darkness seemed to shine brighter.
Aside from the orange-red lights projected from the windows of each household, Liu Family Village appeared silent, even the dogs that usually barked were nowhere to be heard.
By the pond, a fragrant tree was blooming with small white flowers, releasing a faint fragrance into the still night.
An Shaojie looked at Qing Shusheng, and Qing Shusheng looked back at An Shaojie, both clearly able to see each other's faces.
One had a deep yet youthful face, while the other bore a deep but weathered expression. One pair of eyes appeared slightly melancholic and indifferent yet bright, while the other set was calm, sorrowful, but resolute, gazing at each other without avoidance.
"Well, you should go back! Let your Mother and Sister rest easy."
An Shaojie nodded, his tall and slender figure soon disappearing into the darkness.
Inside the house, it was quiet.
Bai Cuifen sat on the edge of her bed in her room, while Shaw Min sat beside her holding her hand.
An Shaojie pushed the door open.
Hearing the sound, Bai Cuifen and Shaw Min stood up almost simultaneously, exchanged glances, and stepped out of the room together.
"An Shaojie? An Shaojie is back?" the two of them asked simultaneously.
"Mother, Sister."
Bai Cuifen turned on the light in the living room and saw An Shaojie standing in front of her with his hands hanging limply at his sides, looking disheveled and with a swollen face.
"An Shaojie, what happened to you?" Bai Cuifen rushed over to ask.
Shaw Min looked at him with a surprised expression.
"I'm fine," An Shaojie replied.
"What about Lanlan? Is she with you? How is she? You didn't do anything to her, did you?" Bai Cuifen's eyes were filled with questions, along with anxiety and an unshakeable fear of the unknown. She anxiously shook An Shaojie's arm.
Her son was covered in injuries, his face marked with scratches and swelling, his eyes filled with exhaustion and fatigue, and his heart overwhelmed with fear and shock.
But Bai Cuifen had no time to worry about him; she was more concerned about Qinglan.
What happened to Qinglan? Has Qinglan come back? What is Qinglan's situation now? A series of questions swirled in Bai Cuifen's mind.
An Shaojie did not answer any of their questions. He wearily walked into his room, leaving wet footprints on the floor of the living room.
Seeing the water marks on the floor made Bai Cuifen realize that her son was soaked, his face pale, and his body trembling from the cold. The combination of exhaustion and chill was almost too much for him to bear as he swayed slightly.
Bai Cuifen immediately instructed Shaw Min to fetch hot water for An Shaojie to take a bath while she hurried into the kitchen to prepare ginger soup with brown sugar.
After settling An Shaojie, Bai Cuifen sat on the bed, troubled and unable to sleep. She wanted to go to Qing Shusheng's house to see how things were, whether Qinglan had returned, and what the situation was like.
But she didn't dare.
When she asked An Shaojie, he remained silent.
Oh! I hope everything is fine, and I hope An Shaojie hasn't let her down with the teachings she had imparted to him and his understanding of reading and writing. Bai Cuifen silently prayed in her heart.
After settling An Shaojie, Shaw Min went back to her room to sleep.
In An Shaojie's room.
After taking a shower, changing into dry clothes, and drinking ginger soup, An Shaojie lay exhausted on the bed.
Although tired, he couldn't fall asleep.
No one knew that at this moment he quietly recalled the events that had transpired over the past few hours since evening; tears streamed down his face once again.
No one knew the intense inner struggle he had gone through in just a few short hours today.
No one knew that in those few short hours, he had shed more tears than he had in the past ten years combined.
No one knew that in those few short hours, his heart had never felt so soft before.
Lying on the bed, he recalled that scene, a scene he might forever keep deep in his heart, never telling anyone, never letting anyone know how his heart had once felt weak for her—painful, racing, hurt, and moved.
Lying on the bed, An Shaojie found all the images in his mind returning to the evening hours.
He stepped out of his house and walked towards Wife Mountain.
There was a corner there that brought him peace of mind.
Just as An Shaojie had not walked far from his home, Qinglan, who had been watching his every move from in front of their house, immediately followed him.
For the past few days, she had quietly trailed behind him, listening to his howls and the release of his inner pain in that forest.
Although she could not do anything for him or alleviate his suffering, what Qinglan could do was simply to accompany him, silently being there for him, sharing his tears and his pain.
However, this time when they arrived at the forest, An Shaojie was unusually quiet. He did not cry out in despair or beat the trees like he had before.
He sat quietly on the ground.
Suddenly, he stood up, brushed off the grass and leaves from his clothes, and walked deeper into the forest.
Qinglan looked up at the sky beyond the trees; the setting sun had faded away, leaving only a faint glow. The sky was darkening, and night was about to fall.
"Why is he still going deeper at this time? He should be heading back by now," Qinglan wondered to herself, but her feet did not stop moving as she unconsciously followed behind him.
His pace quickened, and Qinglan could only jog to keep up. However, looking at the increasingly dense forest ahead and the familiar village growing distant behind her made her feel a bit scared.
She turned back to glance several times, and with her wooden sandals slipping occasionally, she stumbled along. After chasing for a while, she began to feel breathless.
Suddenly, with a swift movement, Qinglan let out a cry of "Ouch."
Hearing the sound from behind, An Shaojie turned to look and saw the person in the red dress rolling down the slope.
That person was Qinglan.
Just the sound of "Ouch" was enough for An Shaojie to know it was her.
A single glance at that dress confirmed to An Shaojie that the person behind him was indeed her.
More importantly, he had already known she was following him.
Yes, he knew she had been trailing him for the past few days.
Yes, after seeing Sister's sadness at home today, he planned to lure her deep into the woods, causing her to get lost and leaving her stranded in the mountains, making her cry alone in fear. He wanted her family to worry and search for her everywhere.
He knew there would be a heavy rain tonight; he intended to punish her and her family.
However, as he watched the red figure rapidly rolling down, he hesitated for just a moment. In an instant, An Shaojie turned and ran towards the rolling figure because there was a steep cliff below where she was tumbling. He could see she was about to fall off. An Shaojie rushed over but ultimately arrived just a moment too late; Qinglan had already rolled off the edge, and when An Shaojie reached the cliff's edge, she had already fallen down.
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