Chapter 5
Zheng Ziyu fell silent.
So did I.
When Chen Beizhou tried to speak again, I grabbed his hand and begged him with my eyes to please stop talking.
Lu Yan finally arrived.
He stopped several paces away, afraid to come too close. “Xiaoyu, calm down. Don’t do anything foolish.”
The anxiety in his voice restored the gravity of the moment.
Tears rapidly filled Zheng Ziyu’s desolate eyes. “Loving you for ten years was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done!”
Lu Yan looked bitter. “Yes, this is all my fault. Please come down first, all right?”
Zheng Ziyu sobbed. “I can’t escape those ten years. Do you know what people are saying about me? My love has become my disgrace.”
I inched forward, then saw that the police had already set up an air cushion below.
Relief loosened my chest as I watched Lu Yan and Zheng Ziyu’s verbal tug-of-war.
“Don’t care about what other people think. This isn’t your fault. It’s mine. If I’d realized sooner that you loved me…”
Zheng Ziyu stared at him. “Would you have stopped loving Song Qingmiao and loved me instead?”
Lu Yan glanced at me, his expression complicated, and did not answer immediately.
Buddy, why were you looking at me now of all times?
Lu Yan lowered his eyes and said guiltily, “I would have handled our relationship better.”
I closed my eyes.
Inside, I begged the Bodhisattva to protect me.
I would have nightmares after getting tangled up in this rotten mess.
The police reached the rooftop and began talking to Zheng Ziyu.
At some point, Chen Beizhou sidled up beside me. He clicked his tongue. “Mr. Yes is so devoted. I’ve decided to rename him Mr. Handle-It-Better.”
I ignored him.
He glanced at me and couldn’t suppress a laugh. “Why are you such a coward? She’s not actually going to jump.”
Terrified Zheng Ziyu might hear him and be provoked, I clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Saving one life brings immeasurable merit. If you don’t want to be the straw that kills the camel, then stop being a straw… or a snowflake.”
Chen Beizhou’s eyes curved as he fought back laughter.
I could feel his body shaking beneath my hand.
Zheng Ziyu began crying even harder. Suddenly, she shouted at me, “Song Qingmiao, are you happy now? After hearing him proclaim his undying love for you, are you absolutely thrilled?”
Now I truly panicked. “W-What would I be happy about? I don’t even like him!”
“You agreed to be his girlfriend, and you still don’t like him?”
My face crumpled.
This was my fault. I had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Fine. I was wrong, and retribution was coming for me.
I silently started climbing toward the edge, only for Chen Beizhou to wrap both arms around my waist and haul me back down.
“Who are you waiting to visit your grave? Stop joining in the commotion.”
Tears spilled from my eyes. “I don’t know! Someone’s about to die, and if she blames me, how am I supposed to live with myself? If fate wants a life, it can take Lu Yan’s, not mine! Oh heavens—why is my life so miserable?”
Everyone stared at me, dumbfounded.
Zheng Ziyu forgot to cry and gaped at me.
Seizing the opportunity, an officer who had been creeping closer grabbed her and pulled her safely away from the edge.
Meanwhile, my crying performance only grew more impassioned.
“I’m so sick of this! I told you I didn’t want to date you. I don’t want to go outside. I just want to be a shut-in. Who am I hurting? Lu Yan, tell me what you like about me and I’ll change it, okay?”
Lu Yan stared at me, his voice trembling. “After five years, you don’t like me even a little?”
He looked so pitiful. That same expression had softened my heart and made me agree yesterday.
Choking on my tears, I said, “I like puppy-type guys.”
Lu Yan had sharp, severe features without a trace of approachability.
“I hate going out.”
Lu Yan loved outdoor sports.
“I don’t want to talk to strangers.”
Lu Yan loved gathering huge groups of friends for parties.
“Talking to high-energy people is exhausting. You shine so brightly, I feel like I’m being dried into human jerky.”
Lu Yan could climb a mountain, stroll through a temple fair afterward, and still visit a technology exhibition that night.
“Lu Yan, we truly aren’t compatible. I’ve told you over and over that I hate going out and that I don’t like you. I don’t want to get involved with you and Zheng Ziyu. But for five years, you’ve refused to listen. When I deleted you, you asked other people to plead your case, and they kept coming to tell me how devoted you were. I don’t want my private life dragged into the light for everyone to see. It feels like streaking through the streets. Please let me go. I only want to be a little internet-dwelling shut-in.”
The light in Lu Yan’s eyes went out completely.
Zheng Ziyu looked at me, then at Lu Yan.
As one person’s hope faded, the other’s returned. Her face suddenly brightened. “Lu Yan, don’t you understand yet? Look at the man beside her. He’s exactly the puppy type.”
I sniffled and turned toward a bewildered Chen Beizhou.
Lu Yan’s expression darkened. “You fell for him, so you’re breaking up with me? You couldn’t even wait one day?”
Wow. A true master of comprehension.
Now I was genuinely getting angry.
I laughed in disbelief.
“Holy crap, are you two braindead—are you even human—”
Chen Beizhou covered my mouth and chuckled dryly. “No more talking.”
Half dragging me and half carrying me, he moved me away.
Lu Yan chased after us and said with restrained emotion, “I’ll come back after you’ve calmed down. I can pursue you for another five years.”
I tore Chen Beizhou’s hand away and shouted, “Lu Yan, you blockheaded idiot with donkey hair stuffed in your ears!”