Late summer.
The frantic chirping of sparrows cut through the twilight, fading into the red glow of the sky.
Below the teaching building, teachers anxiously called the police.
Surrounding them were students, packed together, watching the spectacle.
They all craned their necks to look at the rooftop, murmuring amongst themselves.
“Are people even teaming up to jump off buildings these days?”
“One guy, one girl… is this a lovers’ suicide?”
“Lovers’ suicide, my foot! Didn’t you see that’s Han Xiao? What reason does she have to jump?”
“So what’s the situation now?”
“You’re asking me?”
“Hey! Who’s the other one?”
“God knows! Never heard she had a boyfriend…”
Chirping and chattering.
Meanwhile.
On the rooftop, the girl put down her phone, warily watching the boy not far away.
The setting sun dyed the entire world orange, but he had his eyes closed, sitting on the edge of the rooftop, arms spread, enjoying the natural breeze.
The moment she saw him, the girl felt as if she’d seen a ray of light.
Clean, handsome.
Wearing the simplest white shirt and the most ordinary light blue jeans.
“C-c-classmate, when did you get here?”
“Been here.”
Xu Huo opened his eyes, tilting his head to admire her profile.
This girl was beautiful.
Her nose was tall and delicate, her chin slightly upturned, and the curve of her cheeks was graceful.
From this angle, he could even clearly see her curled, long eyelashes.
Her beauty couldn’t be described simply as ‘sweet and cute,’ ‘exquisitely charming,’ or ‘pure and ethereal,’ but rather something more complex.
“Impossible!”
Recalling her embarrassing self-filming just moments ago, the girl’s small face grew hotter and hotter.
All the blood rushed to her thin skin, and her heart pounded as if it would leap out of her throat: “I clearly didn’t see you when I came!”
“Or perhaps you just didn’t see me?”
Xu Huo sighed: “This world is really interesting. Even jumping off a building is done in groups!”
“You’re going to jump?!”
The girl’s eyes widened in horror.
“Otherwise, why would I be here? To look at the scenery?”
As Xu Huo spoke, he moved closer to her, causing another gasp from downstairs.
The girl’s heart seemed to crack.
She quickly asked, “…Why?”
“My parents divorced… no one wants me.”
The girl’s eyes widened in surprise: “What’s the big deal? Why jump?”
“…Heh, if only it were just that.”
“Is there some other hidden reason?”
Xu Huo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging hostility in his pupils, and said with anguish: “I also have a mentally challenged younger sister at home. Neither Mom nor Dad wants to take care of her. These past few years, I’ve been going to school and taking care of her… it’s too tiring.”
“Outrageous! How can people be like that?!”
The girl exclaimed, but then immediately offered comfort: “But you can’t jump! If anything happens to you, what will your sister do?”
Xu Huo seemed not to hear, sighing again: “And then, my girlfriend found my family too much of a burden, so she got together with another guy. And that guy just happens to be my best friend.”
The girl put a hand to her forehead, feeling that this world was truly crazy.
Aren’t we high school students?
How can the plot be so melodramatic?
Xu Huo gave a bitter smile: “As for myself… my grades are just average. And during a previous physical exam, I was diagnosed with mild left varicocele. To treat it, the conditions are very strict.”
The girl saw his serious expression, a hint of worry appeared in her eyes, and she frowned: “Is that illness very serious?”
Xu Huo nodded: “Yes, so tell me, isn’t living tiring for me?”
“But that’s no reason to jump!”
“That’s not a reason?”
Xu Huo looked into her eyes and asked, “What about you? Why would someone as pretty as you jump?”
“Me?!”
The girl bit her lip, her thoughts flickering.
“Inconvenient to say?”
“If it’s inconvenient, then forget it… Should you jump first or me?”
“How about ladies first? You jump, then I jump?”
Why did it suddenly get romantic?
The girl scrutinized Xu Huo with some surprise.
After much hesitation, she finally asked, “What’s your name?”
“Xu Huo. You?”
“Han Xiao.”
“Good name! And you’re pretty too, it’s a shame you chose to jump…”
“What’s wrong with jumping?”
Xu Huo pointed downstairs: “Do you know what happens if you jump from here?”
“…Death?” the girl asked tentatively.
“Of course you’ll die, but the ways of dying are different. Think about it, from such a height, if your head hits the ground, it’ll definitely burst open like a watermelon. When the forensic doctor collects the remains, it’ll inevitably be like scooping up trash… I’m a guy, so it doesn’t matter, but for a girl, it’s very undignified.”
“If I were you, I’d find a way to buy a box of sleeping pills, take a bath, put on some makeup, and lie quietly in bed. It’s painless and dignified.”
“Then why don’t you buy them?”
Xu Huo’s smile was bitter: “No money. The little living expenses I have left are better saved for my sister. Anyway, she doesn’t know anything. Maybe if I die and the internet pays attention to this, some kind-hearted person will take care of her?”
The girl wanted to speak but stopped, then wanted to speak again.
Staring at the milling crowd downstairs, her heart was filled with anxiety.
“By the way, do you have any money on you?”
Xu Huo suddenly asked.
The girl was stunned for a moment, then said, “…Only a few hundred left. What do you want to do?”
“Anyway, you’re going to die, so lend it to me! It’s my sister’s birthday today, but I don’t have money to buy her a birthday cake.”
As he said this, Xu Huo even sincerely put his palms together, giving her a “please, please” look: “It’s fate that we met today. Go ahead, I’ll die another day, so people don’t say it was a lovers’ suicide and ruin your reputation… I’ll make time to buy a few bouquets of flowers for your grave later.”
“Alright! Then come and get it!”
The girl offered him her wallet with almost no hesitation, her eyes intensely eager, and her knuckles slightly trembling and white from gripping too hard.
Xu Huo approached with an apologetic expression, continuously muttering, “Sorry! Sorry!”
The girl smiled bitterly and shook her head.
Just as Xu Huo was about to take the wallet, a cunning look, like that of a little fox, appeared in the girl’s eyes.
She grabbed his wrist and, at the same time, lunged forward into the rooftop area.
But in that same second, a sharp glint also flashed in Xu Huo’s eyes.
He grabbed her other wrist, kicked the railing with his right foot, and leaned back, pulling himself away.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
In an instant.
Before the girl could react, a tremendous force pulled her towards the inside of the rooftop, and she tumbled into his arms.
Spring breeze exiting the sleeve, a beauty entering the embrace.
Xu Huo leaned back due to inertia, and the girl’s body followed his backward momentum, falling forward.
Then, Xu Huo was sitting, and she was kneeling on the ground, burying her face in Xu Huo’s abdomen…
This was a posture that even adults would avert their eyes from.
Perhaps it was the sudden accident, but the girl’s mind was in a state of shutdown.
Xu Huo, on the other hand, adhered to the principle of “if the enemy doesn’t move, I don’t move,” especially since he was quite enjoying it.
Warm, soft jade, the fragrant scent of flowers filling the air.
EX…
EX…
The girl finally lifted her head, looking up at Xu Huo and angrily shouted, “What are you doing?!”
“Saving someone.”
“Who asked you to save me?”
The girl struggled to get up.
Her knees were a rosy red from kneeling, which stood out particularly brightly against her fair, delicate, long, and straight thighs.
But her strength was simply too small; Xu Huo held her firmly with one hand.
“Can’t I save myself?”
Xu Huo’s expression was helpless, “I was just minding my own business, enjoying the scenery here… You suddenly came up and sat on the edge. It’s just the two of us on the whole rooftop. If you really jump, and they rush in, then if I’m next to you, jumping with you is ‘lovers’ suicide,’ and not jumping with you is ‘incitement,’ or I might even be considered the murderer. Isn’t that unfair to me? You jump another day, find a secluded spot, and don’t get blood on me!”
The girl looked at him in astonishment, exclaiming, “I was going to jump?!”
Xu Huo’s mouth twitched.
“Could it be me?”
“!!! So everything you just said was a lie?”
“How could it be! I never lie to girls…”
Just then, a group of teachers with panicked expressions pushed open the rooftop door.
Closely following them was a girl, petite in stature, perhaps not even one meter sixty tall, wearing a white dress that showed off her slender, straight legs.
Coupled with her non-threatening eyebrows, eyes, and nose, her pale and thin appearance made her seem harmless.
From the perspective of appearance alone, if Han Xiao were to describe her, she would probably be a sweet girl-next-door type.
If you were to gently pinch her soft cheek, she would pout her little mouth and look at you with those watery, wronged eyes, clearly someone who looked easy to bully.
But it was precisely this kind of person who, with a face full of panic and fear, rushed straight into Xu Huo’s arms…
“Brother! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere… Why would you jump?”
“No, why would I jump? I was just acting heroically. All of you, quickly hold her down!”
Xu Huo patted his bottom and stood up, pushing Han Xiao towards the group of teachers.
Then Han Xiao was “locked” by a group of teachers.
It was reality, yet in that instant, it was as if someone had pressed a mute button.
The moment the teachers gripped her arms, Han Xiao felt a momentary trance, a strange dizziness washing over her.
When she came to her senses, what she saw was a black and white, silent world.
The previously noisy world became silent.
The teachers in front of her continuously opened their mouths, some shocked, some scared, some worried, but her gaze could pass through the layers of people, landing on the brother and sister.
They were the only color in this world, and the only source of sound…
[If not to jump, then to look at the scenery?]
[Parents divorced.]
[Sister is a simpleton.]
[Girlfriend ran off with someone.]
[The one who poached her was my best friend.]
[My own grades are bad.]
[And I was diagnosed with a terminal illness at the hospital.]
[Want to buy my sister a birthday cake before I die.]
UZ…
[I never lie to girls.]
This person has been lying from the very first sentence he spoke?!
“Han Xiao, are you okay! What happened, did someone bully you? Why would you think of something like that?”
A gasp suddenly came from beside her, and the world instantly returned to its original trajectory.
The vibrations in the air stimulated Han Xiao’s eardrums, sharply pulling her back to reality.
She glared fiercely at Xu Huo, an inexplicable feeling of grievance surged in her heart, and she shouted at the top of her lungs, “Xu Huo! You liar!!!”
Charmingly expressive.
Pretty girls always have this kind of trouble.
Even when they want to be fierce towards someone, the expression they make looks like they’re being coquettish.
Xu Huo didn’t have mind-reading abilities, but from those sullen, grave, dissatisfied, and regretful expressions and gazes, he could discern the teachers’ thoughts:
“As expected, it must be love turned to hatred, right?”
“Which class is this student from?”
“Call the parents! Must call the parents!”
As for his sister…
Her concerned expression froze on her face.
She looked up at Xu Huo, then at Han Xiao.
Her delicate, melon-seed-shaped face gradually lost its expression, and her pupils slowly lost their color.
“Brother?”