A day-long rain had yet to show any sign of stopping, the light rain pattered down, hitting the leaves and falling into the Qing River, creating small ripples.
The Qing River, running through Jiangcheng City, is the main source of drinking water for the entire city, and at a quiet spot by the riverbank, Xu Yuezhen sat quietly, with a black umbrella beside her, letting the rain fall.
In her hand was a letter soaked by the rain, and on her phone played a farewell video of ng Ziming and Su Qing and the others.
A pair of black earphones hung around her neck, and in her arms were a small speaker, a keychain, and a yellowed phone case.
This was a gift specifically given to her by Su Qing and the others before they parted after having dinner, even including a total of five video segnts from three years ago and today combined.
After parting, she wandered aimlessly and unknowingly found this secluded spot, replaying those five farewell videos and looking at the letter in her hand, seemingly without a trace of sadness on her face, only a dull numbness remained.
Though it was said to be four years of college, in fact, the two were classmates for only one year, and in the remaining year, ng Ziming took a sick leave of absence, during which they only kept in touch via WeChat.
At that ti, she didn't know what illness he had, only that it was serious, otherwise, he wouldn't have taken a leave of absence, but she never thought he would die.
Until later on, suddenly one day ng Ziming disappeared, vanishing from her life in an instant.
She was frightened, uneasy, and almost frantically searched for him, asking everyone she could, but they were just classmates at the ti, and she only knew he was from Jiang City, furthermore, she was just a student, there were many things she was powerless to do.
Just when she was at a loss, a package arrived at the school for her to sign, and upon opening it, she found it contained a letter.
Indeed, as the girl ng Ziming liked, in the end, she didn't receive a farewell video, only a letter.
In this day and age, with the prevalence of smartphones, nobody uses letters for communication anymore, there was no signature, but she eagerly opened the letter nevertheless.
She recognized ng Ziming's handwriting in the very first line of the letter.
"Xiao Xu, seeing this letter is like seeing in person.
I'm very sorry, I might not be able to return to school. When you receive this letter, I should have already gone to another world, although I know it's not right to disturb you like this, I still decided to send out this letter because in my limited life, there are not many things I can do anymore.
Even now, I still rember the first mont I saw you, like a scene from a novel, there was a tsunami in my heart, yet I just stood quietly, without letting anyone know.
An unrequited love is truly an unnoticed landslide, in that one year of college, I beca a thief, always secretly observing your daily life, although you were always on your own due to the reason on your face, like a little invisible person, but in my heart, you seed like a big shining sun.
In that ordinary and uneventful year, you shone into my world like a beam of light, I want to thank you, even though no story happened between us.
Although I don't want to tell you all this in such a way, I have no ti left, my body can no longer hold on, I have liked you, but you don't need to feel sad about it, I just want to tell you, that there was once soone who liked you.
It's funny to say, I recorded goodbye videos for everyone around , but I didn't have the courage to face you, maybe it's because I don't know how to say goodbye to you, this is the best thod I could think of.
I hope you don't feel inferior because of the birthmark on your face, over the past year, it made very happy to see you gradually becoming more cheerful, keep at it, even if you don't rember , it's okay, I believe you can live well even without in the future.
I wish we could watch the snow together once more, even just once.
eting you is the pride of my life, it's a pity, I only accompanied you through a path without an ending, I won't disturb the rest of your life, thank you for putting a period on my youth.
Lastly, good night, girl, there won't be any more good mornings, I wish you a life without illness or disaster."
The letter bore no closing signature, but on the paper were dried marks of tears, seeing it felt like a knife piercing her heart.
She also liked him, just a little bit more, just a little bit more and she would have grasped the light of her life.
She ca from a poor family, with three children, her parents divorced, each taking one, leaving her and her grandfather to depend on each other, because she was born with a red birthmark near her right eye, which made her originally delicate face sowhat frightening, because of this birthmark, she was self-conscious from an early age, had few friends, and even felt the disdain and disgust of others, so when she grew up a bit, she covered one of her eyes with her hair.
Even the tuition fee for college was almost impossible to scrape together, she thought that her life would just be like this, but who would have thought, in her freshman year, a boy stumbled into her world.
The boy would deliberately pick her as his dance partner in the shape class, every ti she was self-conscious about her hair, he would always comfort her by saying it was okay.
The boy's family was well-off, at least to her, but after school every day he would still go out to work part-ti with her, saying it was for work-study, but she knew, he wanted to be by her side.
After a year of being together, the two of them beca closer and closer, not only did she earn enough for her tuition, but her personality also beca more cheerful, and under the boy's encouragent, she tied up her hair, and she fell in love with this boy, but because of her past inferiority, she didn't dare to express it.
Just when she was yearning for everything, the world seed to play a joke on her, taking away her only light, in that mont, her world... collapsed.
Although she never owned it even for a mont, she felt like she lost it a thousand tis.
Since then, she beca silent and withdrawn again, covering the birthmark on her right face with her hair once more, only thinking about earning more money after graduation, to let her grandfather back ho live a good life, but then this year, her grandfather, who she depended on, passed away as well.
In an instant, she couldn't even find a reason to live anymore, so she wanted to co here and see him one last ti.
Through the letter, she knew that ng Ziming had left farewell videos for others, for three years, she ca every year on this day, asking many people, but none had the so-called video, and Su Qing and the others never appeared, until today.
Seeing the person she had thought about for three years, it seed like nothing mattered to her anymore, she knew these few videos were his last traces in the world, she had no regrets.
So when she parted from Su Qing and the others, she didn't let them see her off, she said she wanted to go back to the hotel by herself, and would leave tomorrow, telling them not to send her off.
But she never booked a hotel, nor intended to leave, before coming, she had quit her job.
A drop of water streaked across her face, indistinguishable whether it was rain or tears, she used the earphone cord to string the gifts together, tying them firmly to her hand, then solemnly folded the letter she had read countless tis, placing it in her arms, finally looking at the brightly lit city in the distance, she smiled, softly saying:
"I'm not leaving, this place is great, I really like it here, this city with you in it is really beautiful!"
A gust of wind blew by, lifting the girl's bangs, revealing a dark red birthmark, yet despite this, the girl's eyes were full of tenderness, her eyes sparkled, at this mont, she was exceedingly beautiful.
This city is big, although she doesn't belong here, this quiet corner should be able to accommodate a foreigner like her, right?
Just as she was thinking of staying here forever, behind her, a series of 'tap tap' footsteps sounded, the sound of leather shoes hitting the ground.
"Luckily, you chose to jump into the river here instead of going to an overpass or jumping off a building, otherwise, I really wouldn't know how to persuade you."
At that mont, a voice ca from the shadows behind her.
Xu Yuezhen turned her head and found a person standing not far behind her, quietly watching her with an umbrella in hand.
"It's okay, go ahead and jump, I can swim!"
...
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