I, who advocate giving up, feel like a disqualified person

"It's okay... If that happens, there's nothing I can do."

“…”

"Or... do you want me to just stay here?"

"No..." I responded.

In an instant, I made my decision.

..............

"Suck..."

Although Brother Nan reminded me not to use my leave to eat at restaurants outside... But as long as I don't get caught, it's fine. Besides, this is a special situation...

"call..."

If you eat in big mouthfuls, you will still feel tired.

I paused for a moment, looked up and stared blankly at the ceiling of the hotel.

"She probably... won't come back."

I muttered to myself and then began to swallow.

..............

I seem to understand a little bit what kind of life Ruomeng usually leads... After all, you only know the pain when a needle pricks your body.

"Where did you hide that damn girl?"

He looks really angry... Ruoming's father? He seems to be drinking all day long. After all, he even dares to hit other people's children. The smell of alcohol on him has already exposed his lifestyle.

The place I am in now is very unfamiliar... I don’t know which abandoned warehouse I am in. It is quite dark because there is no lighting around.

"...I'm not hiding." Suppressing the fear in my heart, I answered him calmly.

"You won't say it, right?"

He didn't seem to want to say anything more, just waved his hand, and a sound of wind seemed to come to his ears in the darkness.

The pain suddenly appeared in a place on my back, and then gradually spread. However, because my arms were restrained by ropes, I couldn't rub to relieve the pain. This spreading feeling made me tremble all over.

"...That girl usually goes to look for you...and you're pretending not to know? Okay...she's already learned how to look for men at such a young age, just like that [Harmony] bitch..."

I had no intention of listening to his rants and rants. I was just trying to calm the pain I was feeling... and I was a little worried about Rumeng. Would she run into any danger if she went off on her own?

"That's what you said!"

Then there was that feeling again, only this time in a different place.

"I said...I said..."

I almost gritted my teeth as I uttered these words.

"...Go ahead."

"I say... what you're doing... is illegal. Aren't you afraid of being caught by the police?"

“…”

That sneer is the last fragment of my memory of that incident.

. . . . . . . . .

"Don't come back again."

This is my answer.

"W...why? Do you want me to just leave like that?" She didn't seem satisfied with my answer.

"Of course not... I definitely don't want you to leave... From the bottom of my heart."

"But if you've already decided to leave, then just do it... forget everything."

I told her my thoughts seriously.

"Impossible... How could I possibly forget? Sheji, please don't..."

"If you want to forget, you can forget it very quickly. Human memory is such a strange thing."

"... Stop bragging, you're just a student..."

"What about you...you're so young and you're already thinking about running away from home."

After joking with each other for a while, we returned to our serious state.

"Is this really possible?" She still seemed a little reluctant.

"...I'm just giving you options, and how you choose is up to you..."

"...I heard that you don't want to be a hero anymore, right?" She asked this question suddenly.

"...Have you heard about it? About me..."

"Well... I roughly know what happened." She looked at the sky and sighed, "Not everyone will appreciate it..."

"I know... I'm not cut out to be a hero. Someone like me..."

"You're a hero, in my opinion," she interrupted me. "No matter what, I'll never forget it."

"Yeah..."

If that's the case, then...

"Okay, now that we've made the decision... let's do our best to prepare."

"Ah."

...............

As long as I have her words...I have nothing to be afraid of.

"Hero..." I said to myself, "But this hero is a little afraid of pain..."

As I said this, I looked back a little at the middle-aged man following me.

As expected, they finally found me... It's almost as planned... By now, Ruomeng must have already boarded the car to leave here...

Well...I wish you a happy life in the future. I will fight for your time to leave.

................

The so-called Yiren

"If you don't sacrifice anything, you won't gain anything." In fact, this sentence can be simply called "equivalent exchange."

I also roughly understand that the "price" in the so-called "equivalent" does not refer to value or price, but to "cost".

So this sentence can also be said as... "If you don't pay a price, you won't get anything in return."

That's right... This is probably one of the few truths in the world. For humans.

Compared to so-called "hard work," I think "sacrifice" is more realistic. Compared to "hard work," "sacrifice" requires more effort and is more serious, but will the rewards really come as expected? I'm not sure, but I guess I'll figure it out in the future.

Come to think of it, I now know why I treated Ruomeng as a fictional character I created.

Because I made some sacrifices at that time, but after I came to my senses, I found that I seemed to have done some things that were not well thought out... I helped my childhood sweetheart run away from home, but I didn't know where she went exactly, and I didn't think about what would happen to her when she arrived in a strange city alone, and I didn't dare to imagine what bad things would happen to her.

So, at that time, I decided to forget her... maybe just to escape the guilt in my heart.

It's really childish...

In short, after finding a way to forget her, I left misleading information to prevent myself from recalling anything about her again... Whether it was sending it to Ye Jinhua, leaving information in the diary, or talking about her who had left long ago to my junior high school classmates, it was all to provide wrong information to the present me.

That's why I got the seemingly correct answer the first time.

But...it finally reminded me...For me, is this a good thing or a bad thing...And I haven't contacted her for a long time, how is she doing now?

I...the reason I chose to escape was probably because I couldn't accept that the sacrifice I made didn't have the effect I expected, but instead hurt her.

So at that time, when I already had the answer in my heart, my subconscious was telling me not to find out. After all... now I'm starting to worry about her then, and now... what's going on with her.

...looks like he's just asking for trouble.

Chapter 28 The So-Called Beauty

"..."

As soon as I approached the school, I heard cheers and shouts... I guess we are more energetic after eating... I really don't want to join in such a lively atmosphere, otherwise I might as well just go home.

Although I had this thought, but considering Brother Nan and the troublesome forces headed by Linquanchuan, I decided to go back and find them.

..................

"Hey, you're back~"

When I was still far away from where Yehui and the others were gathered, Lingcan spotted me and greeted me immediately.

So under their gaze, I had to speed up my pace to get there.

"Is the matter settled?" Ye Hui asked me, and brought me a cup of tea. "Have you had lunch?"

"Well... I've already eaten..." I took the teacup. I knew without hesitation that it was from Rinquanchuan's hand. "And... thanks to you guys, I think the matter should be resolved."

Actually, there are indeed many people I should thank.

"That's good. While it's still early, why don't you sit down and join us?" Ling Can said as he made some room for me.

"Forehead..."

I glanced at Rinsenkawa, who hadn't said much since a while ago. He was still reading, but he wasn't as serious as usual, and there was a smile on his face... He seemed to be enjoying this feeling...

"Well... I'll sit down then."

As he said that, he sat down in the place that was made for me.

"Come to think of it, did it take you so long to eat?" I felt a little unbelievable.

"...You know it's impossible just by thinking about it, right? We are enjoying afternoon tea, understand?" Lingcan looked at me as if I was a salted fish.

“…Ah…Is that so…”

Why can you guys be so nonchalant about having afternoon tea during the sports meet?

"Let's not talk about this... Come and try this, I made it last night." Ye Hui brought me a plate with some delicious-looking desserts on it.

"Oh...the snacks you make are still as beautiful as ever." I couldn't help but sigh.

"Oh my...where did you taste it before?"

Rinquanchuan, who had been reading a book, suddenly asked this question.

"Ah? It was probably a few months ago... At that time, we went to Yehui's house and went out to play together..."

Any questions?

"That's it..."

"Ah? You...Sheji, you are too cunning, aren't you?!" Ling Can suddenly shouted at me angrily.

"How...how cunning?"

I don't know what the basis for this accusation is.

"Don't pay attention to people like him, middle school girl. Haven't we already seen through his true face?" Although Rinquanchuan spoke in a calm tone, he quietly took away my teacup... Hey... I haven't finished drinking it yet.

"...So what happened..."

Could it be because I tasted the snacks before them? It's not that small of a thing...

"Hey...Sheji is still as slow as ever." Ye Hui also smiled and put away the plate.

"..." Even Ye Hui said so... What happened...

Just when I was confused, a voice that I hadn't heard for a long time suddenly sounded from behind me.

"Sheji, long time no see."

It's my senior... I haven't seen him much recently...

"Yes, you haven't been to the drama club since the cultural exhibition ended. The members miss you very much."