“I don’t know. I called her, but every time it just rings for a long time and then automatically hangs up.”
Lin Xiaoyu fiddled with her phone. She had already tried many times, without exception.
‘She doesn’t want us to know.’
Bai Xue stared at the footage on the surveillance monitor. She watched as the two people met and then, maintaining a distance of about 10 centimeters, slowly walked out of the camera’s view.
She had some guesses in her heart. Just as she was about to look up and say something, she saw that Jiang Ling’s fingers, pressed against the edge of the table, were already turning white.
“That was her father, right?”
Jiang Ling looked at Bai Xue, her expression somewhat panicked.
Hearing this, Bai Xue was surprised at first, then silently nodded her head.
Under these circumstances, other than the alcoholic father Mo Ran had mentioned, no one could make her leave the dormitory of her own accord and follow them away.
After a brief silence, Jiang Ling pursed her lips. With trembling hands, she pulled out her phone and dialed 110, preparing to call.
But at the very moment she was about to press the button, the call Lin Xiaoyu had been attempting for so long finally connected.
“Hello.”
Mo Ran’s calm voice came from the other end of the line, sounding as if nothing was wrong.
“Where… where are you right now?”
Jiang Ling hurried forward, leaning close to the phone on speaker. She forced down the sob in her voice, struggling to maintain her composure. “We’re supposed to report our progress on the lyrics today. Why aren’t you back yet?”
The other side of the phone was silent for a long time. Then, Mo Ran gave a light chuckle. “I just finished buying groceries. There was nothing left in the fridge. I’ve mostly finished the lyrics—”
Along with those words, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the front door. Mo Ran walked in carrying bags of food. Before she could say anything, Jiang Ling hugged her tightly.
*Thud!*
Jiang Ling’s force caused Mo Ran to lose her grip on the shopping bags, and they all fell to the floor.
Feeling Jiang Ling’s body trembling, Mo Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she patted her back. “What’s wrong? You look like a child who lost her mommy. Although I don’t mind this kind of roleplay, don’t we still have important things to discuss?”
Jiang Ling knew she was talking about the lyrics. She pouted, but she didn’t stay in Mo Ran’s arms forever. Instead, she silently pulled away.
“Why do you all look like this?”
Mo Ran smiled and took Jiang Ling’s hand, leading her toward the room. “Aren’t we going to have our meeting?”
Her act of pretending nothing happened made Bai Xue and Lin Xiaoyu exchange a glance.
Bai Xue took two steps forward, her tone unusually serious. “Who did you just go to see?”
“No one—”
Mo Ran’s rebuttal came to a screeching halt when Bai Xue held up a screenshot on her phone. She stared at it indifferently for a moment before her smile blossomed again. “A distant relative. He had some things he wanted to chat with me about.”
Bai Xue looked at her smile for a long time before finally averting her gaze. “Let’s start the meeting.”
Jiang Ling felt their brief confrontation, and her fingers clenched even tighter.
After Mo Ran’s return, the meeting began as scheduled. Everyone took out the lyric content they had written in advance and took turns displaying it.
Jiang Ling instinctively looked at the paper under Mo Ran’s hand. It was spread out openly on the table, with disjointed sentences written on it.
[On this stage where love is misinterpreted, how can I prove my innocence?]
[Pain brings dependence, but it is buried.]
She stared at those words, experiencing an indescribable feeling.
Although Jiang Ling knew they weren’t professionals and that the words they wrote might be more boring than sappy poetry, looking at the few lines Mo Ran had written, she could actually feel a faint sense of sadness.
After seeing Mo Ran’s lyrics, Bai Xue also fell into a long, complicated silence.
Seeing this, Mo Ran rested her chin on her hand and smiled again. “Didn’t you say to write whatever comes to mind? I’ve been reading some ‘youth pain’ literature lately, so I probably got infected by it.”
As she spoke, she somewhat self-consciously folded the paper and looked at Lin Xiaoyu. “Let’s see yours, Little Yu.”
Hearing her name, Lin Xiaoyu spread out her paper. They were completely consistent on this point: they hadn’t chosen to use digital versions, perhaps subconsciously feeling that something would be missing.
[Watered dreams, dancing movements.]
[A ray of light illuminates the path ahead.]
This was quite like the lyrics of a positive girl group song. Bai Xue glanced at it and recorded it without much of a change in her expression, likely intending to organize them all together for everyone to see later.
When it was the absent Fang Wannan’s turn, Bai Xue posted a picture in the group chat. Her scrawled handwriting entered everyone’s sight.
[What is easily obtained is not treasured, so I will not lose my way.]
[If something gets in the way, then f*** it up.]
“Alright, stop looking. Everything after that can’t pass review.”
Bai Xue sighed and closed her phone.
Jiang Ling finished reading the long, rambling section of lyrics while holding back a smile. She looked up and met Bai Xue’s gaze, then sheepishly presented her own cobbled-together sentences to everyone.
[The wind brings joyful news, comforting my once-lost self.]
In fact, this was the only sentence that could be considered complete. The rest were mostly words arranged together, such as: seeds, blooming, partners, hope, and so on.
Finally, Bai Xue displayed her own lyrics. They were similar to Jiang Ling’s—not complete sentences, but occasional combinations of words.
With the results checked, the atmosphere of the meeting grew quiet.
Jiang Ling felt that if Fang Wannan were here, she would definitely have said something like, “Is our NOVA doomed?” without any hesitation. But as she looked at the other girl’s excessively long lyrics with their heavy tone of criticism, she suppressed her smile and took back the thought.
“Anyway… there’s still progress!”
She broke the silence, encouraging them as they all looked over. “After all, we aren’t professionals. This is perfectly normal.”
It was hard to imagine that just a few days ago, the person most resistant to this was Jiang Ling herself.
However, the meeting still ended quickly, given the lack of results.
After returning to the room, Lin Xiaoyu held her paper and looked at it over and over for a long while. Her expression was unusually bewildered. “Is this really no good?”
“It’s fine.”
Jiang Ling picked up the conversation, giving her affirmation. “You’ve already inherited half of what those lyricists have. Keep working hard, young lady!”
Their lyrics were all about the same… oh wait, at least they were a bit better than Fang Wannan’s.
Lin Xiaoyu withdrew her lingering gaze and looked at Jiang Ling, who was preparing to head out. She tilted her head in confusion. “Where are you going?”
Hearing this, Jiang Ling didn’t stop. “I have something to do.”
—
Looking at Jiang Ling, who had suddenly appeared in her room and was staring at her with a serious expression, Mo Ran helplessly lowered her elegantly crossed legs.
“You’ve been staring at me since you walked in without saying a word.” She beckoned to Jiang Ling. “Come and sit. How long are you going to stand there?”
Jiang Ling didn’t refuse. She walked straight to Mo Ran and sat down very close to her.
Close enough that she did indeed smell a faint scent of iodine.
When Jiang Ling used to live in the hospital, before her condition worsened, she could barely manage to go out for a walk. But the long periods of inactivity still caused her to occasionally fall and bleed. She would then be slathered in strong-smelling iodine and lie in bed for the entire day.
She pursed her lips and reached out to lift Mo Ran’s hair.
As expected, Mo Ran dodged.
She asked with her usual smile, “What’s wrong?”
Her movements and expression were so natural that there wasn’t a single flaw. If Jiang Ling hadn’t been so certain, she definitely would have been led along by the other girl.
After a brief moment of thought, Jiang Ling bit her lip. As if throwing caution to the wind, she didn’t use her hands. Instead, she leaned her entire face in and pressed her warm lips against the side of Mo Ran’s neck.
There were no extra movements. She simply let her lips moisten the fair skin. By closing the distance, Jiang Ling caught even more of the scent.
Behind the back of the neck, where Mo Ran’s pink hair barely covered it.
The heavy scent of iodine.
Jiang Ling snapped her eyes open. The bashfulness in her gaze vanished instantly, replaced by worry. She reached to lift Mo Ran’s hair again, and this time, she met no resistance.
Thus, she easily saw the hastily treated bandage on Mo Ran’s neck. Because it couldn’t be wrapped around, it was only secured with something like a circular adhesive bandage. However, it still emitted a heavy scent of iodine mixed with blood.
It didn’t smell good.
That was Jiang Ling’s first thought. Then, she realized her body was trembling uncontrollably. She opened her mouth. “Did he hit you?”
Her voice trembled along with her body.
Looking at Jiang Ling like this, Mo Ran wore an ordinary smile. She reached out to touch Jiang Ling’s shaking hand, her voice gentle. “You don’t need to think too much. We just had a talk—”
“Had a talk?”
Jiang Ling looked up, her tone full of uncharacteristic disapproval. “You said that man was scum! Mo Ran, not only did you agree to meet him, but you also got beaten up for no reason. How can you call that a talk?”
Mo Ran saw anger in those eyes that were usually timid and mild.
She was feeling angry and sad because of Mo Ran’s experience.
This discovery made Mo Ran feel like the wound on her neck didn’t even hurt anymore. She let out a laugh from the bottom of her heart.
‘Is this called love?’
She didn’t know, but Mo Ran felt a surge of joy welling up in her chest.
Because of this, Mo Ran’s voice became a bit more cheerful, even though her words described a completely different emotion. “But that’s how we’ve always talked.”
“He wants money. Every time he asks, it’s not a lot, but it’s not a little either—it’s about two-thirds of all my savings. If I don’t give it to him, he uses force. It might be a slap, or he might push me to the ground.”
Mo Ran seemed to fall into a memory, but her voice remained steady. “I said his target was me… formerly.”
“But today on the phone, he told me he heard I have a few teammates. I couldn’t ignore those words, so I went out with him.”
She murmured, “I can be hit, but you all can’t. Although I promised you I wouldn’t leave this place, I also can’t let you be harmed. So, this kind of hurt, just let me—”
“Why can’t we all be safe and sound?”
Jiang Ling’s sharp voice cut Mo Ran off. Her eyes were red as she continued, “Why must someone be hurt? And in your logic, why must that person be you? You didn’t do anything wrong, Mo Ran!”
“You’re an amazing girl, so amazing that I can’t even describe how good you are… because I’m terrible at writing lyrics. You can’t, and you shouldn’t, pile this inexplicable pain onto yourself. This isn’t what you deserve.”
Jiang Ling rambled on for a long time in one breath. Her words were disjointed, and by the end, she didn’t even know what nonsense she was saying, but the meaning was simple: ‘We can’t be hurt, and neither can you!’
Mo Ran was silent for a while after hearing those words. Then, facing Jiang Ling’s reddened eyes, she spoke a cruel truth one word at a time.
“If we report it to the police, we are father and daughter. In the absence of severe circumstances, there’s actually nothing we can do to him because these wounds aren’t heavy. He’s a man who has committed domestic violence for years; he knows how to deal with these troublesome matters.”
Mo Ran’s expression was very calm, but she didn’t stop. Instead, she gazed at Jiang Ling with a look the other girl had never seen before. Then, she curled the corners of her lips and began to take off her clothes.
Just like when they had first bared their hearts to each other.
The moment the scars were revealed, Jiang Ling’s heart twinged. She didn’t want to keep looking, but Mo Ran said, “Look at them. Look at these scars that have brought me endless pain.”
She stroked them, her expression dark and unreadable.
“You know I’ve been taking sedative medication. But those actually don’t work very well for me anymore, because I need to stay awake.”
“I really like NOVA. If I treated this place as a sanctuary before, then now I sincerely want everyone to become better. So, I don’t want to face you all with a stiff body and brain.”
“But this brings a new problem, Jiang Ling. I will have hallucinations. I’ll fall into pain and get lost in my own fluctuating emotions. I might yell at you at some point, but I don’t want that. So, I must find something—something enough to keep me awake, but without needing to use drugs.”
Mo Ran suddenly stopped speaking. While Jiang Ling’s lips were pale and trembling, she spoke again. “Pain.”
Almost instantly, Jiang Ling thought of the lyrics Mo Ran had displayed at the meeting today.
[Pain brings dependence, but it is buried.]
At the time, she had only instinctively felt that Mo Ran’s mood was wrong. Thinking back now…
“To be precise, it’s more than just pain. Including verbal abuse, everything can give me a sense of reality in this world I’m standing on. You should know the reason, Jiang Ling.”
Mo Ran softly spoke her name in an indifferent tone. Jiang Ling averted her eyes, her fingers tightening as she gripped the hem of her clothes.
“Because pain and verbal abuse—these terrible things that ordinary people find completely incomprehensible—are commonplace for me.”
Mo Ran easily spoke the words that made Jiang Ling’s heart bleed.
Jiang Ling shook her head helplessly, wanting to say something, but she knew clearly that she could not truly empathize with Mo Ran.
“This kind of existence gives me a sense of reality. It’s like a hungover person being suddenly struck on the head, gaining a brief moment of clarity.”
Mo Ran’s voice remained steady throughout, as if she were telling someone else’s story. In the end, she nakedly and calmly hugged Jiang Ling tightly, whispering in her ear, “I depend on them. That’s why I didn’t dodge when that man hit me.”
But Jiang Ling still shook her head. She looked at the startling scars on Mo Ran’s body, her gaze quickly moving to the gauze on the other girl’s neck, which was slightly seeping blood.
“This isn’t good…”
“This is very good.”
Mo Ran interrupted her. “He needs me, and I need him. This is just an exchange of interests. Besides, it won’t affect anything. I don’t really need money, and the wounds won’t be too deep. Everything is within my control. So—”
Her words were cut short, completely swallowed by Jiang Ling’s lips as she pressed them forward with uncharacteristic force.
Mo Ran discovered that in this moment, she actually couldn’t break free from the usually frail Jiang Ling.
Then, Jiang Ling’s voice, tinged with a sob but incredibly firm, rang out in her ear.
“If that’s the case, then you can need me too.”
Hearing this, Mo Ran seemed to consider the possibility Jiang Ling mentioned, but her eyes flickered, and she subconsciously rejected it. “That’s not the same.”
“How is it not the same?”
Mo Ran’s time for rebuttal was over. Now it was Jiang Ling’s turn.
Wearing a fragile expression that was enough to make Mo Ran’s heart ache, Jiang Ling stared at her, saying one word at a time:
“You need me.”