The Eighteenth Fallen Leaf
Wu Yu remained silent for a long while.
Her mind, after boiling over, suddenly cooled, finally dissolving into nothingness.
She stood dazed for a moment before coming back to herself. She shot Ji Shiqiu a vicious glare and flung away the towel in her hand.
She pushed aside this wall of a man standing before her and rushed to the desk. She picked up her phone and, afraid that even a moment's delay would be too long, pulled up the text message interface.
Wu Yu had a habit of frequently clearing out her messages. At this moment, the completely white message list was no different from before, yet it was also as empty as a bitterly cold snowy day.
Text messages could not be recalled.
How did he know her phone password?
...
Wu Yu's mind was a mess. Holding on to a sliver of hope, she turned her head. "The message?"
Ji Shiqiu stood not far away. "Deleted it."
She strode back, grabbed him by the collar as though she were about to fight, and stared him down. "You're getting quite capable. What did you send?"
Ji Shiqiu's gaze remained fixed on her face, utterly calm. "Nothing much. I just used your tone to tell the police officer listed on the notice that I was here."
Wu Yu asked, "How did you know their contact information?"
Ji Shiqiu said, "A quick search was all it took."
The taut line of Wu Yu's waist collapsed.
Yes. News of the search for him was everywhere. With only a little attention, anyone could know everything.
Why? Wu Yu wanted to ask why, but it was as though something had caught in her throat. Her complicated emotions had taken on a physical form, choking her there, impossible to cough out or swallow down, bringing tears to her eyes.
They had agreed to leave together.
How could he turn against her just like that?
Ji Shiqiu felt a pang of pity for her, but he could not comfort her immediately. The clock was counting down. He had to arrange everything according to the original plan as quickly as possible.
He walked to the television set-top box and lifted it up. From underneath, he pulled out a sheet of sketch paper about the size of a book.
On the front was the drawing from after they had come down the mountain. The back was densely covered in writing.
He brought it over, handed it to Wu Yu, and said methodically, "Everything that happened during the days we've known each other is written here, every detail. Some of it is true and some of it is false, but from this moment on, you have to treat all of it as your real experience. Go over it a few times quickly. When you give your statement later, just tell the police what's written here."
Wu Yu looked up in astonishment.
She did not take it.
Ji Shiqiu was frantic to the extreme, and his tone could not help becoming somewhat forceful. "Take it."
What answered him was a slap, so hard that it sent his face sharply to one side.
"You lied to me." Wu Yu's expression was cold and bleak. "And now you still expect me to listen to you?"
The pain brought a flush of red to Ji Shiqiu's eyes, but he had no time to care. His expression remained stubbornly resolute. "Right now, you can only listen to me. The police station closest to here is only an hour's drive away."
Wu Yu gave a cold laugh. "Ha. You even looked that up?"
Ji Shiqiu did not refute her.
Wu Yu looked at him as though he were a stranger. "What else? How long have you been preparing?"
Ji Shiqiu found it difficult to answer. This stretch of time had been so joyful that it made a person forget time, yet so agonizing that each day felt like a year.
He only remembered that from the moment Wu Yu began showing unusual signs, he had already made up his mind and secretly planned this adventure.
It was not that he had never considered turning himself in. Perhaps that would have been the best and most advantageous choice.
But with Wu Yu's strong-willed personality, she would certainly be dragged into it by him for many years.
She deserved a life as beautiful as spring, filled with flowers and splendor.
Not one wasted on someone like him, adrift and teetering on the brink of collapse. Even if she were willing to wait, his ability to give her the ordinary happiness of this world in the future would be greatly diminished.
That was even more unacceptable to him than being sentenced to death.
So, rather than promise her an uncertain and distant good ending that might never come,
he would rather be hated by her from this moment onward.
"Only this." Ji Shiqiu caught one of her hands and forcefully stuffed the paper into it. "You only need to remember this."
Wu Yu resisted and struggled. In the confrontation, the face of the boy in the drawing became wrinkled, and some of the charcoal lines blurred. No one noticed.
Ji Shiqiu let out a desperate roar. "Take it!"
Wu Yu was stunned into stillness, staring straight at him.
She clenched her teeth and watched him for a long time. Finally, she gave in.
On the paper were several lines of exceptionally handsome, neat handwriting.
Wu Yu had never seen handwriting this beautiful. It had been written with a ballpoint pen, the ink a deep blue, more beautiful than the handwriting of every teacher she had ever had.
The contents were also clear and concise, like several outlines that were easy to remember.
In Ji Shiqiu's story, he was simply Ji Shiqiu, and Wu Yu knew nothing about his true identity.
She was merely a girl who had run away from home, who, in this village, happened to encounter a homeless boy.
They traveled through the mountains together, developed a slight affection for each other, and that was all.
All the love and pain, sorrow and joy, tenderness and collisions, none of it was recorded.
Not a trace remained.
The words gradually blurred beneath a veil of mist.
Wu Yu held herself back again and again, refusing to let her tears fall and strike the pages.
Ji Shiqiu asked, "Finished reading?"
She took a deep breath. "I can't remember it, and I won't lie."
Ji Shiqiu insisted, "You can. I just praised you for it." Not long ago, he had told her she was cute.
So everything had its reason after all. The resentment surged up, and Wu Yu's chest felt unbearably tight. "Don't think I'll listen to you."
Ji Shiqiu's voice remained gentle. "If our statements don't match when the time comes, the police may think I'm giving false testimony."
Wu Yu's pupils abruptly widened.
He had calculated her temperament perfectly.
He was actually willing to use himself to coerce her.
How could he...
How could he be this ruthless and stubborn?
Wu Yu felt as though she had been drilled straight through, utterly collapsing. In a panic, she pushed the paper back toward him. "I don't want it. Don't give it to me."
Then she turned around and paced wildly around the room like a headless fly, trying to stuff everything he had ostentatiously taken out back into the travel bag.
All the while, she muttered like a curse, "You promised me. You can only leave with me."
Ji Shiqiu chased after her, pulled the distraught woman back, and looked at her intently. "Wu Yu! Look at me!"
Wu Yu avoided his sharp, bright gaze. He held her chin, forcing her to return to his eyes, and gave her the last of his strength. "It's already come to this. How long do you think we can keep running? How long can we keep dragging it out?"
Wu Yu could not answer. Her heart was dead, like cold ashes.
The muscles on her face twitched uncontrollably. Her expression was neither crying nor smiling. "I want... at least..."
She choked slightly. "...at least, to see the Chinese tallow trees turn red."
The pain tightened between Ji Shiqiu's brows. "You can see them in many places. This kind of tree is everywhere."
"What about the one I saw with you?" Wu Yu demanded.
She did not want to be so aggressive either. "What if I want to see it this year?"
Ji Shiqiu's Adam's apple moved slightly. "Do as I say, and you'll see it this year."
"And you? Where will you be then?" Wu Yu gave a bleak, mocking little laugh. "What's the meaning of seeing it by myself? I'd never noticed this kind of tree before. Only you told me its name, told me that it would turn red, that it would become like a tree covered in flowers. If you can't take me to see it, then what right did you have to tell me about it?"
Within her dazzling description, Ji Shiqiu's eyes slowly grew gray and barren.
He squeezed out three words. "I'm sorry."
He had thought that Heaven's punishment for his crimes would be death, or a long imprisonment. But he had never imagined that it would be making him meet the girl he most wanted to love in the most unbearable circumstances. This hurt a thousand, ten thousand times more than the first two. And he was so powerless, so helpless. The only thing he could do for her was to make sure she got away unscathed. The perfect adventure he could accompany her through was to protect her safety, give her the best possible ending, and then say a final goodbye to her.
His heart felt as though it were being cut by a knife. Ji Shiqiu was in so much pain that he could not speak.
Wu Yu said nothing either. She was waiting, waiting for him to reveal even a trace of genuine weakness or reluctance to part with her. If he did, she would enshrine those words as the guiding principles of her life for many years to come. She was only twenty-four. What she lacked least was time.
Yet Ji Shiqiu was more resolute than she had ever known or imagined him to be. "These past few days, I've basically listened to you. I'm asking you, please listen to me just this once."
The grief in Wu Yu's eyes turned fierce, her tone icy. "Fine. Ji Shiqiu, once you're inside, I won't wait for you."
He seemed to let out a sigh of relief. Tears threatened to fall, but he forcibly held them back. With difficulty, he answered, "Okay."
He picked up the sheet of drawing paper covered in carefully formed handwriting and handed it to her again. "Look at it a few more times."
Wu Yu sat down and wiped her eyes. A few minutes later, she handed it back, her face expressionless throughout.
"Remember it?"
Wu Yu did not answer.
Ji Shiqiu knew that she had remembered it. He turned the drawing paper over and glanced at his own unsmiling face on the front, then tore it into pieces.
He found Wu Yu's lighter as well, burned the pieces to ashes in the ashtray, then carried them to the bathroom.
The woman standing beside the bed looked as though most of her soul had been stripped away, her expression wooden and rigid.
At the sound of running water, she suddenly seemed to come alive. Clenching both fists, she hurried toward the same place and collided with Ji Shiqiu as he walked out the door.
She began to beat his chest viciously with all her might, fighting as though her life depended on it. She refused to look at him, her face red as blood.
Ji Shiqiu remained motionless, without even blinking.
The instant all her strength finally gave out, he pulled her into his arms. It was a deep, fleeting embrace, using every last bit of his strength, as though he wanted their flesh and souls to merge, bone sinking into bone, blood seeping into blood.
Wu Yu whimpered sorrowfully.
He wiped her tears with his thumb. "Don't cry anymore. The police will be here soon."
Wu Yu could not stop crying, yet she had no choice but to force herself to.
Ji Shiqiu embraced her once more. This time, it was gentle. When he confirmed that her nasal voice had begun to settle, he leaned close to her ear. "Don't come to the hearing. Don't come to see me. Take good care of yourself."
Before Wu Yu could answer, there was a knock on the door. It was Sister Lin's voice. "Wu Yu? Are you asleep?"
Wu Yu swallowed once and called out, "No."
Sister Lin's tone was casual. "Old Zheng brought over some crabs. I steamed them. Are you and Xiao Qiu coming down to eat? They'll get fishy once they cool down, and then they won't taste good."
Sister Lin had never come looking for them at this hour. Wu Yu guessed what was happening. Her eyes reddened again, and her lips trembled uncontrollably. Ji Shiqiu gently stroked her cheek, his eyes reminding her to answer.
Wu Yu tried to force a "yes" from her throat, but she had gone completely mute.
Ji Shiqiu lifted his head and answered clearly and distinctly, "Got it, coming right away."
The words had barely fallen when he lowered his head and looked at Wu Yu. His eyes lingered on her face for several seconds. He smiled.
Then he released her, and without looking back, walked toward the ending that belonged to him, and out of the paradise that was destined to close for good.
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