After helping Xia Linchen to be transferred to the hospital, Cheng Kou and Su Yan were sent back home.
Cheng Kou took a nice hot bath and finally felt much more comfortable.
When she came out drying her hair, Su Yan was half leaning against the head of the bed, reading a book in his hand.
Su Yan saw her, put a bookmark on that page, then closed it and put it aside.
He waved to Cheng Kou: "Koubao, come here."
Cheng Kou got on the bed, half-knelt and moved to his side, raised an eyebrow: "What about Beng Beng?"
Su Yan chuckled: "You still know you are a rabbit."
Cheng Kou made two "cooing" sounds, frowned, scratched his half-wet hair, and said, "It seems to be different from Beng Beng's."
Su Yan laughed in silence, stood up and helped her wipe her hair. After it stopped dripping, he held her face and looked around.
"Let me see if you are a rabbit spirit."
Cheng Kou covered her mouth with her hands, laughing uncontrollably, and gestured at the ring on her hand: "No matter what kind of spirit it is, the goods have been sold and cannot be returned or exchanged."
Su Yan shook his head: "It's really a losing business."
Cheng Kou: “…”
"Koubao." Su Yan held her hand and asked, "It's hard for me to ask the next question, but I really want to know."
Cheng Kou restrained his expression, knelt down and said, "You say."
"Why did you like me in high school?"
Cheng Kou was slightly stunned, blinking his eyes, trying to figure out what he really wanted to ask: "Are you asking me why I didn't fall in love with Xia Linchen?"
"About the same." Su Yan's small movements revealed his embarrassment at the moment, "I have never underestimated myself, but compared to Xia Linchen, I don't have any obvious advantages."
Cheng Kou was silent for a while. What she said before, "It's better to separate," had more or less influenced Su Yan, otherwise he would not have said such a thing.
"Su Yan." She considered her words, wondering how to say it so that her meaning would be clearer. "When I first saw you, I thought you were very special."
"He seems to be a cold person, but he gives people a warm feeling for no reason."
"So, I fell in love with you at first sight."
Su Yan smiled, leaned over and gave her a brief kiss: "Thank you."
He just touched her lightly and left, but Cheng Kou's cheeks turned red because of this unusually innocent kiss.
She turned her head slightly, not daring to look him in the eye. She coughed lightly and continued, "You can tell from your good upbringing that I guess you come from a well-off family, but that's not as exaggerated as the truth. Don't even think of using this as a criterion for liking someone. I don't think your family would be interested in a girl like me."
"What's wrong with you?" Su Yan tilted his head, his eyes sparkling and shining, "I think it's fine."
"Don't interrupt me, and don't act cute." Cheng Kou waved her hands angrily. "I've observed you for a while and I think you're popular. You're also the class monitor, so you shouldn't be short of people around you. But you don't have a single real friend. I've come to understand that you're very lonely."
Su Yan smiled and said, "I've never been a very sociable person. After Qin Su left, I became even more accustomed to keeping my distance from others."
Cheng Kou concluded: "Flowers on the high mountains can only be viewed from a distance, not up close."
Su Yan said helplessly: "What did Qin Shan tell you? Don't learn bad things from that girl."
"It's just that Su Yan is very reserved and stuffy. I won't go into details about betraying my allies."
"Allies? What allies..."
"Anti-Gao Ling Flower Alliance."
"That's enough." Su Yan lowered his voice, with a hint of doting at the end. He pulled the girl over and let her lean on his arms.
"Tell me about you and Xia Linchen."
"He... I started playing with him when I was very young. His family situation was quite complicated. He didn't like to talk much at first and was a bit depressed. My mom told me that if I played with him for a month, she would buy me a beautiful dress, so I pestered him and insisted on being with him." When Cheng Kou mentioned Xia Linchen, her expression dimmed a little, but she tried to keep her voice light. "He is just like this by nature. Once he is willing to contact the outside world, he will immediately become the leader of the children, popular with the girls, and the boys are willing to follow him."
Su Yan nodded. What Cheng Kou said was similar to his impression of Xia Linchen.
"But I didn't like playing with him because of the relationship between my mother and Aunt Zhuang. He treated me very well, and the other girls got jealous and bullied me behind my back."
"Then what?"
"Xia Linchen saw us once. He was very angry and even scolded the girls." Cheng Kou recalled his childhood and felt that it was childish and warm. "At the end, he said to me, Cheng Kou, I will protect you from now on."
"Later, when I was in high school at Mingyuan, I guess Aunt Zhuang deliberately arranged us to be in the same class." Cheng Kou moved, found a more suitable position in his arms, and continued, "He took care of me for those three years. I never took my classmates' jokes to heart. In my eyes, we were childhood sweethearts, good friends, and even family members."
"I'm actually quite envious of him." Su Yan met Cheng Kou's surprised look and kissed her smooth forehead with a smile, "Just think about it, you guys spend so much time together every day, but I don't even have a reason to say a word to you."
Cheng Kou laughed secretly from an angle where he couldn't see, and then said, "You are not as good as me. I even found the excuse of borrowing a book to say the only sentence to you."
Cheng Kou suddenly realized what was happening, and turned over to lie half on top of him: "That's not right... You don't even want to talk to me when you have such a good opportunity?"
Touching her messy hair, Su Yan smiled and replied: "I'm nervous."
After the accident, Cheng Kou has been in the hospital and hasn't had a good night's sleep.
Su Yan was talking to her, and gradually, Cheng Kou's voice in response became weaker and weaker, and finally turned into an even, shallow breath.
Su Yan pulled up the quilt and covered her with it, then stared at her sleeping face in the orange light of the wall lamp.
Although he had the beauty in his arms, he did not have any romantic thoughts.
Whether it was him or Xia Linchen, Cheng Kou had given them warmth. However, in return, everyone's choices were different.
What Su Yan gave her in return was love, and Xia Linchen chose to protect her silently.
He told Lu Hanting that he would make the same choice as Xia Linchen. In fact, at that time, he was not 100% sure.
People are very complicated, and unless you have experienced it yourself, you cannot speculate about the decision you will make at the time.
At that critical moment, Xia Linchen pushed Cheng Kou away completely on instinct. If it were him, no one could say whether he would hesitate for a fraction of a second.
A love rival like Xia Linchen is worthy of respect.
It’s great to have had such opponents and friends.
Although Lu Hanting said that she could rest for a few more days, Cheng Kou still went to work as usual the next day.
Cheng Kou heard from Shen Yinran that colleagues from the social section next door also tried to interview Xia Linchen, who bravely stood up for justice, but were rejected.
Cheng Kou suddenly remembered that from a reporter's perspective, this piece of news was still worth reporting. Just the relationship between the perpetrators, victims and bystanders among them was enough to write a long article.
After get off work, Cheng Kou prepared to visit Xia Linchen. She and Shen Yinran walked out of Nanshan one after another, but saw an uninvited guest under the shade of the trees outside.
Shen Yinran frowned, not wanting to get involved in their conversation, and left first.
Cheng Kou hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked forward.
Du Lanshan looked at Cheng Kou with a calm expression, the sharpness from before was long gone.
Cheng Kou was the first to speak: "Let's find a place to talk."
Du Lanshan had just this idea, so she and Cheng Kou found a cafe near Nanshan.
Cheng Kou looked at the various types of coffee on the menu and suddenly remembered that she and Du Lanshan almost always met in a coffee shop.
It seems that every time, it is not so pleasant.
The ordered coffee was quickly brought up by the waiter, and the fragrant aroma filled their noses, but neither of them drank it. They didn't come here to taste this slightly bitter liquid.
Du Lanshan spoke first, and her words were sincere: "I'm sorry about Xia Linchen."
Cheng Kou said calmly: "I don't think you should say this sorry to me."
"I've already been to Xia Linchen's place." Du Lanshan didn't care about Cheng Kou's attitude. "Looking back, I do owe you an apology, or maybe more than one."
"Wenhao... my brother wanted to hit you. I was in the car at the time and tried to stop him, but it didn't work."
"I heard Su Yan mention that it was you and Du Wenhao fighting over the steering wheel that caused the car to go off track. Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous."
The angle of deviation did reduce the impact of the car on Xia Linchen. Perhaps it was because of this that he saved his life.
"I should. Wenhao lost his mind like this because of me after all."
Yes, it was Du Wenhao who made Xia Linchen become like this, but Du Lanshan was also to blame.
Cheng Kou thought that she could try not to hate her, but she would not forgive her either.
Du Lanshan seemed to see through her thoughts and lowered her head with an almost imperceptible smile.
Having said that, there was naturally no need to stay any longer, so the two of them got up, paid the bill and left.
The store was fully air-conditioned and the sun was scorching outside; Cheng Kou couldn't help but shiver.
"Cheng Kou, I've been jealous of you and hurt you, but a long time ago, I really wanted to be friends with you."
Perhaps she had figured out some things, Du Lanshan even wore lighter makeup than before, becoming less ostentatious and more pleasantly simple.
Cheng Kou nodded without any further response. She turned to the left, leaving behind the crying Du Lanshan and the sunshine on the ground.
Once upon a time, they were innocent and laughed heartily in the sunshine, their words full of longing for the future.
Now, many years later, there are too many cracks between them, and seeing each other again is unnecessary. Xia Linchen's eyes made this relationship irreparable.
Cheng Kou once gave her warmth, but Du Lanshan eventually went astray.