Proud senior schoolgirl was tender and sweet, we fell in love

Explore hidden tales at empire

Lin Yu was at a loss for words with Xie Xiao, "Doesn't everyone have a wife or what?"

He rolled his eyes and muttered a couple of sentences before the two of them went back to the private room together.

They didn't wait especially for Liu Zhu, guessing that his emotions would need some time to settle down, and purposely waiting might make him feel uncomfortable.

Xie Xiao sent him a message, saying he had gone back to the private room first.

They could arrange a time to meet up on WeChat.

The last line was, "Don't take it to heart; it's really not a big deal."

Liu Zhu quickly responded with several messages of thanks.

Xie Xiao sighed and sent a message to Luo Yanran, "Wife, I miss you."

He guessed she wouldn't reply so soon, after all, she was visiting someone's home.

So after sending the message, Xie Xiao put away his phone.

Lin Yu suddenly thought of something and casually asked, "How did you guess that his sister has suicidal tendencies?"

Because Xie Xiao knew that feeling and had seen the devastated, sobbing state of his parents behind closed doors when they realized it.

In his last life, a young adult Xie Xiao, having just come of age and unable to accept that he couldn't stand up anymore, had entertained weak and selfish thoughts.

Moreover, at that time his organs had been affected and impacted – this life would probably not see him doing much, essentially left with a broken body.

Xie Xiao at first couldn't accept it and indeed thought of taking his own life – without him as a burden, his parents could perhaps have another child, that wouldn't be impossible.

After all, at that time, they were only in their forties, still young...

Xie Xiao had thought he kept his emotions well hidden, presumably his parents hadn't noticed.

Yet, he felt his parents were always taking turns to be with him, not giving him the chance to be alone.

It wasn't until one night, when he suddenly needed to use the restroom – the elder Xie, probably too exhausted, didn't hear any movement while lying on the bed.

At that time, Xie Xiao's wheelchair was right beside the bed, and his body had recovered a little.

At least he was capable of getting into his wheelchair.

After all, he practiced moving by himself during the day in a self-torturing manner.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Even though there was a restroom in the ward, Xie Xiao did consider another idea at the time.

So, he carefully left the ward.

He knew the place was full of surveillance cameras, so he didn't think about using the elevator to go up.

This was the fifth floor, falling down the stairwell should have about the same result, he could roll down a few more floors...

However, just as Xie Xiao approached the stairwell, he heard crying inside.

It was a very familiar voice. It was his mother's voice.

And there was a younger voice, that was Luo Yanran's voice.

Yang Lan's voice was full of pain, "I can't take it, we all know he doesn't want to live anymore, but how can we let him go, every day, we have to pretend like nothing's wrong... but it's so exhausting, I really can't take it anymore, Luoluo..."

Luo Yanran's voice was choked with sobs, "It's okay, auntie, I'll come and keep him company too, it's okay..."

She wasn't the type to comfort people, repeating the same few lines over and over again.

Yang Lan's voice was weary and crumbling, "As long as he's willing to live on, as long as he's alive there's hope, I don't want to, none of us want it this way... Luoluo, it's not tiring for me to take care of him, really, it's not tiring, but seeing him like this, your uncle Xie and I, we can't see any hope for life..."

Xie Xiao's hands were shaking, and the sound of anxious, hurried footsteps came from behind; it must have been Xie Qingxiao waking up...

It was then that Xie Xiao realized that they were all aware, even though he thought he had concealed it very well.

But those who cared about him could see something was wrong with a single glance.

Faced with Lin Yu's puzzlement, he just smiled and said, "Maybe it was just pure intuition. Let's go, let's get inside."

Lin Yu really had just asked casually without thinking much of it and went in upon opening the door.

Old Lin had also come and was being urged to drink.

Xie Xiao and Lin Yu were holding their drinks and went to have a toast with Old Lin.

Old Lin seemed a bit older than before, but his spirit was still very strong.

He was very caring, pulling his classmates aside to ask how their lives were going, and the phrase "if you need help, you can come to me" was still ready on his lips.

It was the familiar Old Lin.

Old Lin obviously still had a soft spot for Xie Xiao, and after the crowd of toast-givers dispersed, he pulled Xie Xiao aside to chat.

Lin Yu sat with them for a while but then was dragged away by Li Hua and the others to play cards.

Old Lin asked about how Xie Xiao was doing and then mentioned his love life, laughing helplessly, "You were always lovesick even when you were studying."

As he spoke, the smile on his face froze, clearly thinking of Zhou Mianmian and Yan Shi.

He sighed, "No one can get in touch with Zhou Mianmian. I went to her house before, her grandmother was sick, all alone at home."

Old Lin had always been kind-hearted.

Xie Xiao hadn't expected that after so many years, he was still keeping an eye on Zhou Mianmian's situation.

He thought of that one encounter in City B and how afterwards, they had deliberately avoided that shopping mall and never visited it again.

He wondered if Zhou Mianmian was still there.

Xie Xiao didn't know if he should say anything. Zhou Mianmian had always had a difficult relationship with her grandmother.

If it hadn't been for her grandmother's ways, perhaps Zhou Mianmian's personality wouldn't have turned out the way it did.

Xie Xiao hesitated for a moment, and Old Lin didn't bring it up again. "Yan Shi has been in for what, four or five years now? Anyway, I heard he's been doing well inside, even got a sentence reduction..."

Xie Xiao listened as Old Lin rambled on about their classmates.

He knew some of it, more or less.

In the end, he wanted to say with a smile, "Looks like you're the most capable one, now running your own company. Other teachers also say you're doing great."

Xie Xiao quickly waved his hands, "No, no, I've just been lucky, I'm not that impressive."

Old Lin just smiled, looking at the classmates fooling around with warmth in his eyes, "The teachers don't want to bask in your glory, it's enough to see each of you doing well now, life, after all, should get better and better..."

Xie Xiao didn't speak, just listening attentively, just as he had listened attentively to Old Lin's classes back in the day.

The reunion ended at eleven o'clock.

Of course, some people were planning to continue the night, heading off to a bar.

Xie Xiao and Lin Yu both didn't go.

Their excuses were surprisingly identical, "The wife doesn't allow it."

Someone who had been drinking mocked them, "No, Xie bro, Yu bro, you can't listen to your wife about everything!"

The pair looked at the tipsy man speaking; Lin Yu was more direct, "If we don't listen to our wives, should we listen to you? It's not like we're spending our lives with you."

The man burped, "That's just losing face, always listening to your wife."

Xie Xiao nodded, "So that's why we have wives and you don't. You can cuddle up with your dignity."

The other men laughed.

The man who had been gently ribbed also laughed, "Damn, that kind of makes sense! No wonder I'm single!"

"Hahahaha!"

In the end, Xie Xiao and Lin Yu still said goodbye and left with the others.

Xie Xiao walked out while checking his phone, which displayed a message from Luo Yanran, starting with a question mark emoticon.

Then she asked, "What's up?"

Xie Xiao smiled and replied, "Nothing, just missing you."