Turn off all the lights in the room. I pulled the curtains open, stood barefoot by the window, and gazed into the distant sky. Suddenly, my thoughts reversed direction. I wondered, if Jian Wei had been a female version of Luo Ben, would she also have had some unavoidable hardship that forced her to break up with me?
The moment this thought emerged, I startled myself and then laughed at my overactive imagination. How many hidden sorrows could there really be to enrich our lives? Having Luo Ben and Wei Manwen around was already more than enough!
I thought again of Mi Cai, who was still on a long flight at this moment. If she learned about Wei Manwen’s whereabouts now, how would she feel? Would she, for the sake of her sisterly bond with CC, try to stop me from uncovering the truth?
I thought she definitely wouldn’t, because she was a rational and sensible woman who would also want to give Luo Ben a chance to regret his past decisions.
As my mind wandered, the night grew deeper. The moon halfway across the sky seemed to weaken, using the dark clouds as a soft haven, refusing to reveal itself again. Finally, I realized it was time to rest.
Just as I was about to turn around, a bright glow ignited in the distant horizon. I, who had been immersed in darkness, felt momentarily disoriented. In that daze, I glimpsed a transparent city, but I couldn’t capture it in time. I chased after its vanishing trail in disappointment until it disappeared completely. Then I felt as though I had been gently teased by it. I patted the wall and muttered to myself, “You shouldn’t tease me, because the guy next door, Luo Ben, deserves to be teased far more…”
The next day, there was no imagined sunrise, no warm breeze—only a sky full of dark clouds, a drizzling rain, and hurried tourists passing by under their umbrellas.
Luo Ben and I stood side by side under the rain shelter on the balcony, each lighting a cigarette. I took a deep puff first and smiled at him, saying, “The weather is really nice today!”
Luo Ben looked toward the willow trees by the riverside and nodded, replying, “It is nice. If it hadn’t rained soon, those willows would have nearly dried up.”
“Actually, the willows by the riverbank wouldn’t die easily—they have roots that can absorb water from the river.”
Luo Ben flicked the ash from his cigarette and said after a long pause, “But if it keeps not raining, even the river will dry up. The willows won’t escape the fate of mutual destruction either.”
“They say this river has never dried up.”
“But it will if it doesn’t rain soon!”
I sighed softly and asked, “So you really long for the rain?”
“I do.”
“It might turn into a fierce flood.”
“I’d rather drown in a violent flood than die of thirst unknowingly in a dry land!”
I tightly gripped Wei Manwen’s photo in my pocket, looked at Luo Ben again, finally pulled it out, took a deep breath, and handed it to him, saying, “Take a look at these two photos.”
Luo Ben extinguished his cigarette butt and calmly took the photos from my hand…
His lips trembled, his mouth twitched, and after a long pause, he said, “This is Manwen!”
I wasn’t surprised that Luo Ben recognized Wei Manwen immediately, because she was the woman he had longed for even in his dreams. I nodded slowly after a while and said, “Yes, it’s definitely Wei Manwen!”
Luo Ben’s voice choked up, “How did she end up like this?”
I replied solemnly, “After she returned from Suzhou to Beijing back then, she suffered from severe depression. It took half a year for her to gradually recover. Later, she went to Jinping County in Guizhou Province and became a volunteer teacher in a remote mountainous area. She has suffered a lot over these years.”
Suddenly, Luo Ben’s body weakened. He leaned against the railing, trying not to collapse completely. However, the seemingly strong walls he had built up within himself crumbled in a devastating tsunami. His heart shattered.
Luo Ben tightly pressed the photo of Wei Manwen against his chest, raised his head, and tears streamed down his throat and soaked into his clothes. He began punching the steel-reinforced concrete railing repeatedly, trying to relieve his psychological pain through physical pain… He had completely broken down.
“Luo Ben, stop torturing yourself!” Suddenly appearing, CC grabbed Luo Ben’s arm and pulled hard, preventing him from continuing to slam his flesh and blood against the cold railing.
Luo Ben said nothing, like a stunned person, still punching the railing with all his strength. He mumbled something, but no one could understand what he was saying.
In a frenzy, CC pushed Luo Ben to the ground, gently held his bloodied hands, and cried, “If you miss her, just go find her… Don’t do this to yourself. It’s not entirely your fault!”
Luo Ben lowered his head, his body trembling, but no tears came… And I felt so helpless because this kind of pain couldn’t be comforted.
Yao Le, who had been with CC all along, came to my side, sobbing and scolding me, “Why did you just stand there and watch him break his hands without stopping him?”
“If it were me, I would have done the same. At least it would make me feel a little better.”
Yao Le seemed to agree with my words, then turned to Luo Ben and said coldly, “Luo Ben, you deserve this… You deserve to be like this now!”
Luo Ben raised his head, looked at Yao Le, suddenly lay on the ground, and cried out in agony…
Yao Le bit her lip and softly said, “Cry as much as you want. After you finish crying, remember to face your relationship with her honestly. At most, you can travel across mountains and seas to find her and tell her: For all these years, you’ve loved her deeply, yet you always ran away like a fool…”
Luo Ben gradually calmed down. I handed him a cigarette. With tears in her eyes, CC cleaned his wounds with disinfectant and bandaged them with gauze, but the shocking injuries remained.
After finishing the cigarette, Luo Ben asked me expressionlessly, “Which mountainous area in Jinping County is she in?”
I looked at Yao Le, waiting for her to answer for me.
“She is in Huochong Village, Jinping County. The transportation is very poor, and it’s extremely remote.”
Luo Ben stood up from the ground and immediately walked toward his room. I followed him in, and he had already begun packing his luggage. I didn’t stop him, only asking, “Are you leaving now?”
“I just want to see her as soon as possible. I can’t wait even a second!”
“It’s too complicated there. I’ll go with you for company.”
“No need.”
I didn’t listen to his refusal and said, “Wait for me. I’ll go pack my things right away.”
At that moment, Le Yao and CC also entered the room. Le Yao said, “Luo Ben, CC and I are also going. This is a big matter, and as your friends, we must accompany you. Besides, you owe CC an explanation.”
Luo Ben finally stopped what he was doing and looked at CC with a complicated expression.
CC nodded and said, “I want to meet her. I also want to find out why you devoted your life to loving her instead of me.”
Luo Ben didn’t refuse. He simply nodded and continued packing his luggage. Thus, this trip to Guizhou became inevitable. At this moment, I believed that not only CC, but also I and Le Yao, who were about to set off, were filled with curiosity about this woman named Wei Manwen.
Three years after meeting Luo Ben again and learning the truth about why he had forced her to leave Suzhou, what would her reaction be? I really hoped she could forget the inevitable hardships and not hesitate or hold back.
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