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The atmosphere was awkward to the extreme.
Except for the policewoman who didn’t know anything, the other four people standing at the entrance of the police station all had their mouths open but couldn’t make a sound.
“Could you help pick up the coat.” The first to speak was Fang Yongnian. He was speaking to Lu Boyuan. “Lu Yixin’s clothes were torn, she’ll get cold.”
In the end, the daughter was more important. Lu Boyuan and Liu Miqing acted in perfect sync; Liu Miqing’s eyes were still red.
They had never before received a phone call from the police station in the middle of the night. The person on the other end had spoken very seriously, saying that Lu Yixin and her classmate had run into hooligans outside and were now at the station. The rest was vague, but just those few words were enough to scare them half to death.
“Where are you hurt?” Liu Miqing started to check her daughter’s condition. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”
“Thank you so much for your trouble.” Liu Miqing looked at Fang Yongnian with reddened eyes. “Let her father carry her. She’s heavy.”
Lu Yixin wanted to speak, but before she could open her mouth, Fang Yongnian stopped her.
“No need.” Fang Yongnian looked straight into Liu Miqing’s eyes. “It’s more appropriate that I carry her.”
Liu Miqing looked back at him without saying a word.
“We’re in a relationship.” Fang Yongnian didn’t avoid it.
Liu Miqing’s tears flowed just like that, her hands and feet turning cold.
Lu Boyuan was still frozen in that same wide-eyed, open-mouthed posture, his throat making a gurgling sound but unable to produce words.
“But this isn’t the right time to talk about that.” Fang Yongnian’s voice was still calm. “The hooligans tonight were after Lu Yixin’s roommate. I’ve asked my brother to help follow up with the report and the procedures.”
“Lu Yixin is very tired. I want to take her home first.”
He made a night full of chaos sound so simple, yet from his tightening arms, Lu Yixin could feel his tension.
They had originally planned to confess over the weekend.
With Fang Yongnian’s personality, he would have prepared everything perfectly for that day. She didn’t know how he planned to convince her parents, but she knew that when the time came, he definitely would have.
But not now.
The timing now was too terrible. She saw the disappointment in her mother’s eyes when Fang Yongnian said they were in love.
Fang Yongnian hadn’t let her speak, he took everything upon himself.
That wasn’t what they’d agreed on; she was supposed to protect him.
But now, no matter what she said, it would only add fuel to the fire.
All she could do was hold onto Fang Yongnian’s neck tighter. She would apologize to her mother later, but right now, she only wanted to stand by Fang Yongnian’s side.
So the four of them stood at the entrance of the police station like that. No one going in, no one able to leave.
“Um…” The policewoman, faintly sensing she might be witnessing a family drama, unconsciously softened her tone. “Aren’t you going inside?”
“Well, it’s like this.” She gave an awkward dry laugh. “These two students went through quite an ordeal tonight, and their emotions are unstable. Li Xiao’an doesn’t want to call her parents. The homeroom teacher lives far away but is already on her way here by taxi. I think it’s still best if there’s an adult around in the meantime.”
She spoke very tactfully.
In truth, she meant that until the homeroom teacher arrived, it would be best if there was an adult to stay with Li Xiao’an.
Liu Miqing had been staring at Lu Yixin the whole time.
She watched her daughter lying on Fang Yongnian’s back with such trust, her face pale, a scrape on her cheek.
Her heart sank heavier and heavier, until in the end, she could only hold her husband’s hand to seek a bit of comfort.
“Let’s do it this way.” Liu Miqing forced herself to finish speaking. “Boyuan, you stay and accompany Lu Yixin’s classmate for the statement. I’ll take Yixin home first.”
She looked at Fang Yongnian. “Your brother has everything arranged, right? There’s no need for Yixin to stay here any longer, is there?”
“No need.” Fang Yongnian was wearing only a thin T-shirt in the middle of winter, his lips turning a little purple from the cold.
“Then we’ll go first.” Liu Miqing spoke slowly. “Are we taking your car or mine?”
Her words were unusually clear. She knew Lu Yixin wouldn’t understand, but Fang Yongnian definitely would.
She couldn’t bring herself to say the words disabled. At the peak of her disappointment, the cruelest thing she could bring herself to say was merely to remind him, they didn’t even drive the same kind of car.
Fang Yongnian understood, of course.
His already dark eyes turned even deeper, completely black.
“My car.” He answered Liu Miqing without hesitation, his tone steady and without any fluctuation.
“Don’t sleep yet after getting in the car. It might be a little cold.” He patted the obedient Lu Yixin on his back, his voice softening a little.
Liu Miqing held tightly onto the nearly-exploding Lu Boyuan.
She didn’t want to make a scene outside. Yixin was indeed, just as Fang Yongnian had said, a bit too shaken. And she herself needed time to process her anger.
That man had been Lu Yixin’s idol for nearly ten years. Every word she said next, every action she took, could become an irreparable crack between mother and daughter.
She quietly got into Fang Yongnian’s car.
Fang Yongnian, after all, didn’t go so far as to forcefully put Lu Yixin in the front passenger seat.
He let Lu Yixin sit in the back seat, took all the blankets from the trunk, and wrapped her tightly in them.
“Talk after we get home.” He looked at Lu Yixin’s face, full of hesitation and worry. He wanted to pat her cheek but held himself back.
He started the car and saw through the rearview mirror that Liu Miqing was frowning, removing the blankets he had wrapped around Lu Yixin and replacing them with the ones from their own house.
He sighed in his heart.
No matter how they tried to avoid it, they had still run into the worst possible situation.
The only consolation was that this had happened after they had already made up their minds. As long as they were certain, everything else could be dealt with.
He lowered his head and glanced at his prosthetic leg.
When he received the call and rushed out, he had put on his prosthesis too hastily and had fallen. Now, the socket inside his sweatpants was pressing against the flesh of his thigh, and after all the sitting and standing earlier, the friction had broken the skin. Blood was slowly seeping through the fabric.
Hard—it was truly hard.
Too wretched, too miserable. After being discharged from the hospital following the accident, he had promised himself that he would never again live such a pitiful life. Yet in the end, it was still inescapable.
Only, compared to last time—covered in injuries and full of grievances—this time, he wasn’t alone.
Lu Yixin, with her usually reckless temper, had actually held back and not said a word just now.
She had really grown up—she knew that at this moment, anything she said would only hurt, that no matter what she said, it would only make things worse.
Being in love with him, being forced to mature because of him—that was what he least wanted to see, yet also the price he could never avoid.
Once they got through this hurdle, everything would be fine.
He comforted his girl silently in his heart.
Once they got through her parents, everything afterward wouldn’t be so tormenting to the heart—after that, they could hold hands openly and with confidence.
୨୧ ⏔⏔⏔⏔♡⏔⏔⏔⏔ ୨୧
Liu Miqing didn’t say a word.
She didn’t speak in the car, didn’t speak in the elevator, and when they reached the front door, she opened it and, in one swift motion, yanked Lu Yixin inside, shutting the door hard behind them.
Bang.
Lu Yixin: “…”
“Go take a shower first and change your clothes. I’ll put medicine on you.”
After changing her shoes, Liu Miqing immediately started looking for the first aid kit.
The lights in the house were still on, and the heater hadn’t been turned off either. Her parents must have been terrified after getting the call; in the middle of the night, even under their coats, they were still wearing pajamas.
“Mom…” Lu Yixin lowered her head, standing in the entryway. “I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d worry.”
Liu Miqing’s hands didn’t stop moving as she searched.
“I’m not like Li Xiao’an…” Lu Yixin hesitated for a moment. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you things just because you’re often not around. I just didn’t want you to worry.”
Liu Miqing set down what was in her hands with a clatter. The tears she had been holding back for so long finally fell.
“I’ll go change my clothes.” Lu Yixin still kept her head down as she limped toward her room.
“Change into the one on your bed.” Liu Miqing wiped her eyes. “Be careful not to touch the wound when you shower.”
“Okay.” Lu Yixin’s voice was still hoarse, but her mood finally lifted a little.
Other than the matter between her and Fang Yongnian, what she most wanted to apologize to her parents for was this.
When they rushed over, they must have been so upset.
“Never mind, wear this one.” Liu Miqing walked into the room and took out a cotton dress from Lu Yixin’s wardrobe—short sleeves, so it wouldn’t brush against her wounds. “I’ll turn up the air conditioner a bit.”
Lu Yixin took the dress weakly, and Liu Miqing hesitated for a moment.
“Will you be scared to shower alone?” Her heart had already softened.
Lu Yixin had kept silent the entire way home, and the first thing she did after arriving was apologize.
Her daughter was already so sensible, so thoughtful—how could her heart not soften?
Besides, she had gone through something like this tonight.
“…Yes,” Lu Yixin’s eyes were red, her lips trembling.
“Why did you rush back in there? Wouldn’t it have been better to grab a passerby to go with you?” When Liu Miqing saw her daughter’s body covered in bruises and scratches, her tears wouldn’t stop. “How did I give birth to someone so stupid!”
“No one would help me…” Lu Yixin rasped, her voice hoarse with grievance. When the water touched her wounds, she whimpered in pain.
“Maybe you shouldn’t stay in that dorm anymore.” Liu Miqing frowned.
She was only a freshman, this Li Xiao’an seemed a bit too much trouble.
“I don’t want to! I finally started to enjoy what living with others feels like.” Lu Yixin shook her head, but halfway through, her eyes suddenly widened.
“Finished!” she screamed. “My phone, my phone!”
“What is it?” Liu Miqing was nearly scared to death by her, rushing out with soapy hands to help her look for the phone.
“I forgot to tell Wu Qi that we’re not going back tonight—she’s not still waiting at the dorm office with the dorm supervisor, is she?” Lu Yixin hurriedly wiped her hands clean and, still dripping wet, started sending messages on WeChat.
“…Our number was given to the police station by your homeroom teacher.” Liu Miqing was speechless. “After all that commotion, did you really think your school wouldn’t know anything?”
“…Right.” Lu Yixin gave a dry laugh while holding her phone.
“Good thing it’s winter.” Liu Miqing checked all of Lu Yixin’s injuries. “They’re all scrapes, nothing deep—but you really scared us to death.”
“It was an accident…” Lu Yixin mumbled awkwardly.
While drying herself off, she secretly peeked at Liu Miqing.
Liu Miqing ignored her.
When she was putting on her clothes, she snuck another glance.
Liu Miqing still ignored her.
“Mom…” she began tugging at her mother’s sleeve coquettishly.
“Take care of yourself first. As for that matter, I absolutely don’t agree!” Liu Miqing’s face turned cold.
Lu Yixin’s face crumpled, and she was just about to try again when—
A knock sounded from outside the door.
“It’s me, Fang Yongnian.” Lu Yixin heard her man’s calm, steady voice.
