Quick Transmigration: I Was Cannon Fodder But Became the White Moonlight

That night was the eve of the release of the college entrance examination results.

Chen Su sat in front of the computer. The webpage was already open. The hands of the clock on the wall slowly moved toward twelve o'clock. The webpage was refreshed countless times. Her palms were sweaty. She was both expectant and afraid.

A mix of drowsiness and tension made her head feel a little foggy.

She lay on the table, her cheek pressed against the cool surface, her eyes fixed on the screen.

The webpage seems to have crashed due to the large number of people accessing it. I wonder how many families stayed up late tonight to wait for the final results.

Chen Su was getting a little tired of refreshing the page, so she set it to refresh automatically every three minutes.

Just then, my phone rang.

He picked it up and saw it was a voice call from Shen Que.

She answered the call immediately.

"Chen Su".

Shen Que's voice came through the receiver, lower than usual, with some background noise, as if he were not indoors.

"Um."

Chen Su responded, letting out a small yawn, her voice heavy with weariness. "What's wrong, Shen Que?"

"Are you sleepy?" Shen Que asked.

"Hmm... a little. But I'm so nervous waiting to check my results..."

She admitted that her heart was racing because of nervousness and the late-night phone call.

"Don't be nervous, you'll definitely do well on the test." Shen Que's tone was very confident, filled with complete trust.

But the faint background noise, the muffled echo of the broadcast, the whispers of the crowd, the rhythmic rumble of suitcase wheels...

These subtle sounds, transmitted through the receiver, mixed with his voice which sounded drier than usual, suddenly touched a sensitive nerve in Chen Su in the quiet of the night.

A sudden, intense unease gripped her heart, instantly banishing all sleepiness.

"I believe you," he continued, his voice seeming to fade into the distance, with a faint background noise.

"Shen Que," she interrupted him, her voice unconsciously rising, "where are you?"

There was a moment or two of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Shen Que, where are you?" Chen Su asked again, her voice filled with a panic she herself didn't realize.

In that brief moment of silence, a clear, standard airport announcement voice pierced through the background noise:

"Ladies and gentlemen, boarding for Air China flight CA808 to San Francisco is now commenced. Please bring your carry-on items, present your boarding pass and passport, and proceed to gate E21..."

The broadcast sounded like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing all of Chen Su's hopes.

She understood everything.

He is leaving.

just now.

At the airport.

We're about to board the plane.

At this moment, she was completely unprepared, even eagerly anticipating his birthday in a few days.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes."

Her voice began to tremble, choked with disbelief, "Why...why didn't you tell me beforehand? Didn't we agree that you'd wait until after your birthday celebration before you left? You promised...sob..."

The grievances, the anger of being kept in the dark, and the overwhelming pain of parting instantly broke down her defenses.

Tears, however, flowed uncontrollably before words could be spoken, rolling down without warning and scalding her cheeks.

She raised her hand to wipe it, but the more she wiped, the more there was.

On the other end of the phone, Shen Que's breathing seemed to become heavy for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Chen Su."

His voice was soft, with a suppressed hoarseness and dryness, as if he was trying his best to hold back something, "Don't cry, it's my fault."

"Why..." Chen Su asked, sobbing, tears streaming down her face, almost blinding her. "Why couldn't you even tell me beforehand..."

"I'm scared."

Shen Que interrupted her, saying those two words with extraordinary difficulty, yet with extraordinary clarity, "I'm afraid that by then, I won't be able to leave."

He had always been attached to everything here, to the city where he had lived for eighteen years, to the soft touch of the little orange cat against the back of his hand, and to the fact that the villa was no longer as quiet as it used to be because of the addition of a person and a cat.

And the most important one, the one he was most reluctant to part with, the one who unsettled him the most, was her.

It's Chen Su.

Every extra day he spent here, every second he spent with her, was an attempt to dissuade him from taking this predetermined path to a distant foreign land.

If he doesn't leave now, he'll wait until after his birthday, until she stands in front of him with a gift, until she says "Happy Birthday."

He could no longer leave.

He couldn't bear to part with it.

All of Chen Su's questions and grievances were stuck in her throat, leaving only uncontrollable sobs.

Her crying attracted the grandmother next door, who pushed open the door and asked worriedly, "Susu? What's wrong? Did your grades come out?"

Chen Su held her phone, shook her head at her grandmother, but her tears flowed even more fiercely.

Speaking into the microphone with all her might, her voice trembling with tears, she accused, "Shen Que, I hate you."

On the other end of the phone, Shen Que seemed to take a light breath, and then a very soft, hoarse response came through: "Mm."

He accepted it. He accepted her dislike, her anger, and everything about it.

On the other end of the phone, the final boarding announcement became clear and urgent, repeating the gate number and flight information.

"I'm leaving." Shen Que's voice was so low it was almost inaudible. "Take care of yourself."

Silence.

All that remained on the other end of the phone was Chen Su's suppressed sobs and the distant hustle and bustle of the airport.

One second, two seconds… Before her last shred of reason crumbled, Chen Su bit her lip hard, sniffed deeply, and with all her might, choked back tears, but clearly spoke into the microphone:

"Shen Que... have a safe journey."

"it is good."

The phone hangs up.

The busy signal kept ringing, like a hammer blow to an empty heart.

Chen Su could no longer hold on. She threw down her phone, rushed into her grandmother's arms, and burst into tears like a helpless child.

All the pressure, reluctance, grievances, and the sudden, premature pain of parting all burst forth at this moment.

Grandma didn't ask anything, she just patted her back tenderly, letting her cry until her clothes were soaked.

Amidst this deafening grief, the computer screen on the desk automatically refreshed the page of the website I was searching for.

Midnight has passed.

"Susu, look!"

With her eyes red and swollen, Chen Su was helped by her grandmother to look at the screen.

"The results are in..."

The score was clearly visible.

She scored higher than in any of her mock exams, performing exceptionally well.

A score high enough to get her into any ideal university and bring tears of joy to her grandmother's eyes.

Grandma saw the number clearly, let out a short gasp, then covered her mouth, her eyes reddening: "Good child...you did so well...so well..."

She spoke incoherently, her rough hands stroking Chen Su's hair over and over again.

But at this moment, looking at that string of numbers that represented a bright future, Chen Su's tears rolled down silently once again.

That summer night, she received the long-awaited good news, but also bid farewell to that boy forever.

The future seemed bright and clear before her, and the road leading to the distance was flat and wide.

But in a corner of my heart, it felt as if a piece had been ripped out, leaving an empty void filled with the howling wind from the midnight airport.

The wind swept through the hall, across the boarding bridge, and through 30,000 feet into the sky, finally reaching a distant place she had never been before.