The Fourteenth Fallen Leaf
After the violent shock and the ensuing blankness, Wu Yu forced herself to calm down.
She carefully saved the image of the notice to her photo album, then read through the entire comment section on Weibo.
Among the comments from netizens who either knew the truth or were merely spreading rumors, the young man whose identity had been unclear ever since they met gradually became clearer.
Some were furious, saying that he had killed his own parents and fled.
Some lamented, saying that he had been the best-performing child in their village and had only just been admitted to Jinling Medical University.
But even more onlookers were discussing his looks, saying that he had the face of a human but the heart of a beast. There were also those whose values had run off with their appreciation of his features, lamenting why such a handsome guy would think life was not worth living.
The white-background ID photo in the notice had probably been taken during Ji Shiqiu's high school years. He looked little different from now, except for his hairstyle.
The crew-cut boy had sharp, cold features and an indifferent expression, with a face whose proportions were almost perfectly balanced.
He looked nothing like a criminal.
He looked upright and dignified, and handsome as well.
He had falsified his name, but not his age. Judging from the ID number revealed in the text, he really was only nineteen.
His hometown was also in the northern part of Anhui.
Wu Yu glanced at the back of Ji Shiqiu's head. All those doubts from the past few days that she had never quite understood suddenly became clear.
Her feelings were complicated.
She wanted to wake him immediately and confront him, to ask whether there was some other hidden circumstance.
But she was also worried. If she truly opened herself up to him and spoke frankly, would he turn out to be like what the others had said, someone whose face she knew but whose heart she did not?
Would she only end up putting herself in danger?
Wu Yu did not dare act rashly.
For some reason, when that latter thought arose, she felt a strange sense of guilt, as though she were wronging Ji Shiqiu by even thinking it of him.
Could less than a week really be enough to see through a person?
That boy who had leaped without hesitation into the lotus pond beneath the setting sun, shining so brightly, kept appearing again and again in her mind.
Just then, movement came from beside her.
Wu Yu's thoughts snapped taut. She hurriedly turned off her phone and looked toward Ji Shiqiu's face as he turned in his sleep...
No. Perhaps she should call him Yu Lang now.
Yet this unfamiliar name could not possibly match this defenseless, innocent-looking face.
Wu Yu felt a profound sense of incongruity.
She understood even less.
Why didn't he turn himself in?
Wu Yu remained awake throughout the night.
In the latter half of the night, she stopped paying attention to what was happening online. She lay down and quietly gazed at Ji Shiqiu's face, so close that she could reach out and touch it.
She admired her own boldness, and was also astonished by the pity that had arisen within her of its own accord.
Now that he had become completely exposed to her, she found that she could no longer see herself clearly.
She did not know when she had fallen asleep. When she woke again, she discovered that Ji Shiqiu had already pulled her into his arms.
The warmth of his chest had returned to a comfortable heat, and his strikingly black-and-white eyes were fixed on her as well.
Wu Yu instinctively held her breath, her eyes widening in alarm.
Ji Shiqiu noticed the unfamiliar emotion that flashed through the woman's eyes.
"What happened?"
Wu Yu quickly returned to her normal state.
"I had a nightmare."
Ji Shiqiu asked, "What kind of nightmare?"
To make it sound more convincing, Wu Yu casually made up a story.
"I dreamed about a little dog..."
Ji Shiqiu said, "Mm."
"It got a fish bone stuck in its throat."
"And then?"
"Nothing then."
"That's it?"
Ji Shiqiu laughed.
"How is that a nightmare?"
Wu Yu said, "I woke up before I could save it. Doesn't that count as a nightmare?"
The seriousness of her expression made Ji Shiqiu's smile deepen.
After his fever had subsided, he looked somewhat more spirited. After washing up, he returned to the bedside.
Afraid that he might start thinking too much and become suspicious, Wu Yu did as she always did. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him toward her for a kiss.
Ji Shiqiu obediently bent down.
Wu Yu pretended to lose herself in it, and felt a little envious of him.
In the span of one night, her world had been turned upside down, while he was still living in a beautiful, illusory paradise of lies.
He was so fresh and untainted that he seemed like a lie himself.
All morning, Wu Yu did not go downstairs.
She carried the chair beside the desk over to the window and sat behind it, watching outside while smoking one cigarette after another.
Meanwhile, Ji Shiqiu was called downstairs by Sister Lin to help dry the grain.
The little courtyard in front of the house was filled with sunlight.
The young man followed the woman around as they busied themselves, never seeming to tire of it.
After a while, Sister Lin went to the shop next door and came back with two bottles of soda.
But he unscrewed one first and handed it to Sister Lin.
The middle-aged woman was delighted by this small gesture of consideration and hurriedly waved her hands.
"No, no, I don't want it. This is for you to bring to Wu Yu."
As she spoke, she looked upward.
Wu Yu knocked the ash from her cigarette and casually waved at them.
Sister Lin shouted, "What are you looking at? You only know how to slack off up there."
Wu Yu shot back, "Dajie, I'm your tenant, you know."
Sister Lin said, "And Xiao Qiu isn't?"
Wu Yu said, "He's nothing. If I ever don't have enough money for the rent, I'll leave him with you as collateral."
Sister Lin dusted off her hands. "Then I'd be more than happy to have him."
At her words, Ji Shiqiu's smile beneath the shadow of his cap became bright and clear.
The cap... No wonder he hadn't let her take it off that day. He didn't carry a phone, only used cash. One had to admit, this boy was clever.
Before fleeing, he had already carefully devised his plan to die.
Unfortunately, he had met her, and she had forcibly pulled him down from the cliff at sunrise.
Wu Yu's brows knitted slightly as she opened the notice on her phone and enlarged the photograph.
Ji Shiqiu.
Why did you choose this path?
After taking the unopened Fanta upstairs, Ji Shiqiu saw Wu Yu sitting back at the desk.
Without his permission, she had taken the photograph of him and his mother from the drawer and was examining it with her head lowered, her expression unreadable.
When she saw him return, she raised her eyes and glanced at him, her expression perfectly ordinary.
Ji Shiqiu was slightly taken aback. He stepped forward twice and took the photograph back.
Wu Yu asked mildly, "What's wrong?"
Ji Shiqiu said, "Did I let you look at it?"
Wu Yu was always so matter-of-fact.
"Haven't I seen it before? What's wrong with looking again?"
Ji Shiqiu set down the soda, put the photograph into another drawer, then went to the bathroom.
When he came back out, the woman was looking straight at him without blinking.
When he drew near, she curved her lips and said, "You look quite a lot like your mom."
Ji Shiqiu did not respond.
Wu Yu asked, "What's your mom's name?"
Ji Shiqiu said, "Why do you want to know?"
Wu Yu rested her chin on her hand. "Just wanted to ask."
Ji Shiqiu's tone was flat. "There's nothing to say."
Wu Yu countered, "Then why did you ask me where I was from the day before yesterday?"
Ji Shiqiu fell silent.
After a while, he turned his eyes toward her.
"You didn't answer me either, did you?"
Wu Yu said, "I did answer you."
Ji Shiqiu asked, "When?"
He actually knew when it was, but he wanted to hear her truly say it, just to him.
Wu Yu said, "On the boat. Are you deaf?"
Ji Shiqiu pressed his lips together.
"If you want to know my mom's name, trade something you have on you for it."
Wu Yu casually toyed with the lighter, making the flame appear and disappear.
"What do I have on me that you haven't already touched or seen? What else do you want?"
Ji Shiqiu felt as though something were stuck in his throat.
After a moment of silence, he asked, "Where in Jiangxi Province is your family from?"
Wu Yu smiled.
"What, are you planning to cling to me?"
Ji Shiqiu simply looked at her.
Wu Yu put on an exasperated expression, as though she had no way to deal with him.
"Qianzhou."
Ji Shiqiu's thick lashes lowered slightly, as though making a connection, or perhaps committing the name to memory.
When he looked up again, he said, "Ji Mingyue."
Wu Yu paused, then feigned surprise.
"You take your mother's surname?"
Ji Shiqiu did not hesitate for even a second.
"Mm."
The air remained quiet for two seconds.
Wu Yu gave a slight nod and tossed the lighter back onto the table with a click.
Sister Lin called them downstairs for lunch. She had cooked two extra meat dishes to reward Ji Shiqiu for helping her with the work, one plate of sweet-and-sour hairtail and one plate of oil-braised prawns.
After taking her seat, Wu Yu was her usual smart-mouthed self.
"New Year's Eve dinner?"
Sister Lin was already accustomed to it.
"Thanks for the compliment."
Wu Yu calmly arranged her chopsticks.
"You're welcome."
There were only three people at the table, and Ji Shiqiu sat across from her. He strictly followed the rule of not talking in bed or at the table while eating, so he barely said a word throughout the meal.
The large yellow dog that inevitably appeared whenever it was time to eat came visiting as reliably as ever, drooling and begging for food beneath the table.
It was starving. With its huge tongue hanging out and its tail wagging like a propeller, it often splashed Wu Yu, who was wearing a skirt, with drool or brushed against her with its coarse fur. Irritated, she would nudge it away with her calf.
But she didn't use much force. Dogs were shameless creatures. The more you pushed them away, the more they would pester you and try to get close.
After battling the big yellow dog under the table for fifty rounds with her feet, Wu Yu put on a look of utter misery. She was just about to say, "Does nobody want to deal with this dog?" when the dog suddenly turned and went somewhere else.
Wu Yu found it strange and was about to take a look beneath the table when she heard Sister Lin exclaim beside her:
"Are you going to wait on the dog like he's the crown prince?"
Her tone was one of utter amazement.
Wu Yu raised her eyes and saw Ji Shiqiu using his chopsticks to remove the bones from the piece of fish in his own bowl.
Only after carefully removing all the bones did he toss the fish meat over to Da Huang, then vigorously rubbed its head twice.
Ji Shiqiu lowered his eyes, smiling faintly without saying a word, looking perfectly content as he did all this.
Seeing that he neither explained nor defended himself, Sister Lin turned to Wu Yu, seeking her agreement.
"Wu Yu, hurry up and look at him. Have you ever seen someone like this?"
Wu Yu did not say a word either.
But she could no longer tear her gaze away from Ji Shiqiu.
She had never seen anyone like him.
But now, she was seeing one with her own eyes.
The little dog in the lie had not been rescued, but it had tasted the deliciousness of fish, and the tragedy had been delayed.
She suddenly realized that after coming down the mountain, Ji Shiqiu had already made his decision.
She had been troubled by the same dilemma all day.
Yet she had never expected that she herself was the only answer.
She could not become a savior;
but she could delay the end from arriving too soon.
She was not a judge, nor could she pretend to be a detached, impartial observer.
She would only be a benevolent attendant, a compassionate believer.
She had taken in a boy who had nowhere left to turn, knowing only that his name was Ji Shiqiu;
she had chosen to become bound to his fate, to guard the final limit of freedom left to him.
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