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墨書 Inktalez
When An Shaojie made his first and most resolute decision of his life, he quickly jumped out of bed, dressed at lightning speed, rushed downstairs, and frantically knocked on the door of the duty room, shouting like a madman for the aunt inside to open up. He had something extremely important and urgent to attend to.
He ran all the way until he slowed down upon reaching the bottom of the Girls' Dormitory.
In front of the dormitory, he saw two sweet figures and sadly turned back. He found his earlier impulsive decision laughable and felt childish.
How could she notice him when such a dazzling love was beckoning her? Why would he still wait for her?
On his way back, his legs felt weak, and his shadow stretched long under the moonlight. After distancing himself from those two figures, An Shaojie did not head towards the boys' dormitory but instead walked toward the wide lawn behind the basketball court.
There, away from the dormitory area, he stood in the center of the lawn, looking up at the sky. With a choked voice, he let out a few roars into the night, reminiscent of when he had roared on Wife Mountain in Liu Family Village years ago.
"Who is shouting?" Qinglan asked Xu Wen, who was sitting beside her.
"I don't hear anything," Xu Wen shook his head.
That night, An Shaojie did not return to his dormitory; he lay on the lawn all night. As dawn broke with a hint of light, he slowly opened his eyes.
It turned out that a painful night could simply pass if one closed their eyes and fell asleep.
The deep pain could be forgotten as long as one closed their eyes and slept.
However, upon waking up and getting up from the lawn, the ache in his heart still lingered faintly.
At that moment, just as the white belly of dawn was disappearing and a ray of morning light peeked over the horizon, a little bird hopped on a branch of a small tree behind Qinglan and Xu Wen, chirping away and waking Qinglan who had been resting against Xu Wen's shoulder.
"You’re awake?" Xu Wen asked.
"Where is this?" Qinglan's eyes were not fully open yet, and the first rays of sunlight pierced her eyes.
"Fool, don't you remember? We were sitting here last night. Look, the food you ate is still in my hand," Xu Wen said with a smile, his eyes filled with tenderness that seemed almost to drown Qinglan.
"Ah, we sat here all night?" Qinglan grabbed the hair at the back of her neck, her face showing a look of embarrassment.
Though it was said that "we" sat all night, she felt very guilty inside; it was clear that only Xu Wen had been sitting there while she had leaned on Xu Wen's shoulder and slept through the night.
"You ate a late-night snack, then leaned on me and talked. Before you knew it, you fell asleep," Xu Wen said.
Qinglan's face turned red from Xu Wen's words. She raised her fist as if to hit him but hesitated. Suddenly, she stood up, brushed off her clothes, and said, "You saw me without washing my face or combing my hair; how ugly."
Xu Wen also stood up, just smiling at Qinglan without responding.
"I'm going in now." Qinglan stood straight in front of Xu Wen and tilted her head playfully as she said, "Otherwise, if someone I know sees me later—especially when Liuying and the others come back—they'll tease me to death."
"Alright, go ahead. You can rest in your dorm for a bit. I'll wait for you in the cafeteria for breakfast."
It was only after Qinglan entered the dorm building that Xu Wen left.
The next day when Lu Chenyu left, Qinglan did not go to see him off because she was catching up on sleep in her dorm. Lin Xi also didn't call her, probably out of concern for disturbing her rest.
Yao Mengni and Chen Yang returned after staying in Beijing for a week.
On the day Lu Chenyu left, around noon, Qinglan and Xu Wen were studying in the library when they suddenly received a call from an unknown number.
"Hello, who is this?" Qinglan asked.
"Are you Qinglan?" the other person inquired.
"Yes, what’s the matter? Who are you?" Qinglan responded, a bit confused.
The caller explained that he was a staff member at a restaurant near the school. A classmate had gotten drunk at their restaurant and was now passed out on one of their tables, unable to wake up. They were worried something might happen to him, so they searched his pockets and found a phone book in his jacket pocket. The only number listed was Qinglan's, which is why they called.
"Oh, where is your restaurant located? Which one is it?" Qinglan immediately realized that the drunk classmate must be An Shaojie.
After hearing the location and name of the restaurant, Qinglan quickly stood up from his seat and walked to the door of the Reading Room.
Once he returned to his seat after getting the information, he told Xu Wen about the situation and said he was going to leave.
"Please take my books and bag back for me," Qinglan said.
"No way, wait for me," Xu Wen hurriedly packed up both of their things and chased after Qinglan.
"What are you doing here?" Qinglan asked Xu Wen at the steps outside the library.
"It's so late, I can't let you go find him alone. Besides, I'm worried you won't be able to bring him back by yourself," Xu Wen realized that the person must undoubtedly be An Shaojie.
"You should go back; we have classes tomorrow. If this takes too long, it will delay you. Didn't I bring him back by myself last time?" Qinglan replied.
"This time will definitely be different," Xu Wen insisted.
Qinglan paused, stopping her quick pace to look at Xu Wen.
She wanted to ask why this time was different, but after thinking it over, she decided against it and allowed Xu Wen to follow her freely.
When they found An Shaojie, he had already been moved to a long bench by the people in the restaurant and was sound asleep. However, his complexion looked very poor, pale and drawn.
Qinglan glanced at Xu Wen, and he was indeed right; this time was different from the last. An Shaojie was heavily intoxicated.
"This is bad." Xu Wen checked his breath and called out to him, then turned to Qinglan and said, "You keep an eye on him; I’ll go call a taxi."
After calling for a taxi, Qinglan and Xu Wen struggled for quite a while to get An Shaojie into the car.
"What do we do now?" Qinglan asked from the back seat, confused about why Xu Wen had called for a taxi.
"To the hospital, the nearest hospital," Xu Wen told the driver.
Hearing Xu Wen's words, Qinglan suddenly realized that things were serious. Her expression changed dramatically as she looked again at the pale An Shaojie lying beside her. With worry and panic, she asked, "Is he going to be okay? Will he be alright?" Her voice began to tremble, and tears couldn't help but stream down her face.
"He will be fine," Xu Wen calmly reassured Qinglan.
At the hospital, Qinglan and Xu Wen stayed by An Shaojie's bedside, waiting for him to wake up. It wasn't until around five o'clock the next morning that he slowly moved his head and woke up. Qinglan, who had been watching over him, quickly stood up and asked, "Brother Shaojie, you’re awake?"
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