Chapter 667: The last song (2)

More than four years had pa.s.sed. From a stranger at the store outside school to the strange uncle lying and hitting on her by the street to finally getting acquainted, to home tutor and boyfriend...she had been just one step away from becoming his fiancee...his little bride.

These four years.

There had been so many ‘I love you’s that Miss Xiang had counted despite not knowing their meaning.

There had been so much doting, concern and bliss that exceeded Miss Xiang’s ability to count. Right, if she really tried to recollect as she counted, listing these out one after another, it would probably still be impossible to count.

To erase all this with the wave of a hand-how could this be possible?

Just as Xiang Ning had said when she had left, she was just afraid from having suffered too much hurt. She was feeling lost, not daring to like him anymore. Yet, not daring to ultimately could not truly equate to not liking.

How was it possible that she did not like him?!

How was it possible for her to like another in the future?

At this moment, various scenes of the past surged to the front of her mind. His face was always smiling, warm. Every time his eyes were on her, they were always filled with doting.

If he had only made a mistake, with the outcome having amounted to nothing after all, Xiang Ning might just feel reluctant to leave him and cave in, forgiving him.

Yet, the greatest thing that she currently could not get over was actually not all that. Instead, it was...that person isn’t me!

That person isn’t me! It’s not this Xiang Ning but another. I’m a replacement, he’s making up for his regrets with her. If this point was established, all the happiness would lose its significance, because it could only prove just how much Xu Tingsheng had loved that person back then.

It was precisely because of this that while Xiang Ning wished to see him again before he left, she was also unwilling for him to know that she actually had lingering affections for him.

……

Li Linlin got a fright from receiving Xiang Ning’s text. She was left feeling at a loss, unable to decide if she could tell Xu Tingsheng about it at once.

She was hesitating…

A little while ago at Room 602, Lu Xu had just packed his final bit of luggage.

Because the recruitment exam for the school in his hometown was the day after tomorrow and it was a long journey back, he had no way of attending the graduation party tonight. He would be on a westbound train an hour later, the first of the five remaining people in Room 602 to leave.

Xu Tingsheng, Zhang Ninglang, Li Xingming and Old Wai were all helping him.

“Don’t forget this,” Zhang Ninglang found a mug and pa.s.sed it to Lu Xu.

Lu Xu looked down, not taking it. On the surface of the mug was pasted a photo of Chick Bao in her taekwondo attire and performing a side kick. Her actions were slick, her figure well-built, her eyes resolved, her long hair swaying in the wind…

“Bring it along with you. Otherwise, you’ll regret it in a few years,” Li Xingming said beside him, “At the end of the day, these were your best years. How great she was!”

Lu Xu nodded, looked down and took the cup. He carefully wrapped it up and stuffed it in his luggage.

When he looked up again, his face was already filled with tears.

“Let’s go. It’s time to head to the station,” Li Xingming said.

Lu Xu nodded and carried his bag.

Xu Tingsheng drove Lu Xu to the station. The other three were in the car as well, helping to hold the luggage.

They did not speak much on the way to the station. Everybody wanted to ask if Chick Bao would come...yet, they simply could not bring themselves to ask this.

Only at the waiting area did they sit down, saying stuff like ‘I’ll miss you guys’, ‘let’s keep in touch’, ‘we should try to meet up when we have the chance’, ‘our time in university was not wasted’...

As the announcement for the checking of tickets was broadcast, Lu Xu lined up with his bag.

The other four from Room 602 helped him to hold his remaining luggage, standing beside the line and moving slowly forward.

“If you have the chance, come to my hometown to play. While we can’t be considered wealthy, it’s a beautiful place. The girls are thin and pale-skinned,” Lu Xu said.

“Alright. We’ll definitely find time to go,” The others said.

“I’ll be waiting for you guys then,” Lu Xu said, “We’re especially well-known for our mutton and beef. When you come, I’ll…”

He suddenly paused, starting into the distance at the entrance of the waiting area.

Chick Bao stood there in a pale green dress, quietly shedding tears as she looked at him from far away. She had ultimately still come to see Lu Xu off...as a tomboy, she virtually never wore dresses.

Lu Xu had bought that in the past, having requested that she wear it many times. Yet, she had never been able to muster up the courage to wear it outside.

Today, at the station before they parted, she was wearing it for him to see.

Seeing that Lu Xu had spotted her, Chick Bao wiped her tears as she attempted to walk over...

At this moment, Lu Xu’s companions could clearly feel that as the figure of Chick Bao gradually approached, Lu Xu was trembling in his entirety from feet to hands to lips.

But the next moment, he yelled, “Stop right there! Don’t come any further.”

Chick Bao obediently stopped. She did not speak but just kept on crying, kept on crying.

“You really look very good in that dress. You’re really beautiful, Bao Peijun,” Lu Xu smiled while also crying.

“Alright, now, turn...turn!” Lu Xu sobbed as he yelled.

Chick Bao painstakingly turned.

“Walk forward.”

“Go!”

Chick Bao walked a few steps before she stopped, wanting to look back…

“Don’t stop. You mustn't stop. You can’t stop!”

“Go on, continue walking.”

“Don’t give me a chance to torment you, wrangle with you again. Don’t let me hold you back again.”

Lu Xu did not dare to let Chick Bao come too close. He did not dare to let her linger. He did not dare to look at her tear-stained face again…

Because if time extended with the train not leaving...

He knew that he would definitely be unable to stop himself from begging that she trust him one more time, continuing this relations.h.i.+p.

If it continued, how would things end up?

Lu Xu knew full well that he was still him. Also, henceforth, there would still be distance and many uncertain factors between them. So, in the end, it would just end up being a long period of torment for Chick Bao.

“Go! You shouldn’t hold me back too...in the future, we should take good care of ourselves. Let’s not get in touch again,” Lu Xu steeled his resolve in the end.

Then, he watched dazedly as Chick Bao took one step, one step further into the distance.

“Bao Peijun, you’ve got to find someone with a good temper in the future, someone who doesn’t wrangle.”

“You’ve got to marry a good person and be happy together till the end of your days...still, you can’t let me know about it.”

“You know, I’m petty.”

He finished speaking.

As the figure of Chick Bao vanished, Lu Xu got that ticket checked, took his luggage from Xu Tingsheng and the other three, said goodbye, looked down and left.

Xu Tingsheng and the others looked at his back figure on the platform. Saddled with luggage, he was wiping tears off his face non-stop with great difficulty.

“Sob…”

The train entered the station.

Lu Xu turned, waved and got on the train.

“Sob…”

The train left the station.

When Xu Tingsheng and the other three left the waiting area, they saw Chick Bao huddling in a corner outside and weeping painfully.

When she had cried enough.

Xu Tingsheng said, “Let’s go back together.”

After a graduation meal for the cla.s.s a few days earlier, they had all gone to a KTV together. Lu Xu had sung a song there.

“Can you let me accompany you

Since you say I can’t keep you

The road back is rather dark

Worried about letting you walk alone

I think it’s because I’m not gentle enough

Unable to bear your troubles with you

If unable to voice it out like this

Let regrets stay in the heart

……

I think I can bear the sorrow and pain

Pretending that you are not in my life.”

His singing had been really terrible.