Chapter 26 Meeting you in the blink of an eye

Facing Xuanlin’s question, I nodded. Although I was worried about Kunlun, I also wanted to know what had made such a gentle, tough, young man with dreams make such a crazy decision.

I believe it could never be just because of the disease!

“Give me another cigarette,” Xuanlin leaned against the sofa, not in a hurry to tell the story, but asked me for another cigarette.

I took out a cigarette and asked hesitantly, “Is it okay to smoke with your illness?”

Xuanlin smiled, took the cigarette from my hand, and said, “Do you know why I would talk so much with you, a person I hardly know? Because you are a kind person, a little silly. You see, I am obviously not your friend, and in some ways I am still your enemy. You still care about whether I smoke too much, and you still ask me to help the souls of the dead.

I smiled wordlessly. What could I say in response to such a statement? Could I say that I was just following my instincts?

Xuan Lin took a deep drag of his cigarette and coughed heavily. The same kind of morbid flush appeared on his face again, and then he said, “I don’t have many friends. I don’t know if it’s because I’m poor and can’t make friends in college, or because I naturally resist strangers. Anyway, I don’t have many friends. I feel right about you, so I’ll just grab you and talk. Or you won’t have a chance to talk if I don’t say it. Let’s talk about your funeral.”

I was speechless again. In fact, when I faced Xuanlin, I found that I was speechless a lot. I knew that it was because I was sitting across from a young man whose life was about to end. No matter what I said, it would be hypocritical, and no matter what emotions I showed, it would seem superfluous.

“I didn’t have many friends in college. The only person who was my friend, my senior, and my… my lover was Lv Ting.” In the rising light of the pale blue smoke, Xuan Lin began to tell the story again.

Xuanlin entered university at the age of 17.

Because he started elementary school early, he entered university at a relatively young age. Unlike others who entered university with dreams, Xuanlin entered university with a heavy responsibility and burden.

That is, he had to bring his family out of the stone village.

On that hot September day, when Xuanlin stood in front of the university for the first time with his admission letter, he saw the new students, some of them young and full of life, and others excited and happy. His first thought was that he would be out of place among his classmates.

In fact, Xuanlin was right. In the time to come, he really did not get along with his classmates.

The reason for this was not his patched clothes or his old-fashioned shoes, but rather his hurried appearance and his solitary and taciturn personality.

This is probably not Xuanlin’s fault. From the first day he entered the university, he had to work hard to pay for his tuition and living expenses. Where did he have time to participate in any of his classmates’ activities or accept their invitations?

But Xuanlin really wanted to integrate into the group, and he had tried hard to do so.

It was one day after he had paid off his tuition debt. He took the extra money he had saved from his part-time job and went back to his dorm room. He invited his roommates to dinner, but when he saw their smiles of rejection and alienation, he realized that he would never be able to fit in.

So Xuanlin gave up. He thought his university life would be spent in solitude until the appearance of Lv Ting, who finally brought a ray of sunshine to his lonely and gloomy university life.

Xuanlin and Lvting met on a rainy afternoon.

In an open-air corridor at the school, Xuanlin was returning from a part-time job, looking disheveled and trying to rush back to the dormitory, when he bumped into Lvting, who was holding an umbrella.

He politely apologized and helped her up.

But she replied with a doubtful voice: “Is it you?”

It’s you? Such a simple question sounded so strange to Xuanlin. He didn’t think he had any connection with anyone at this university, so he didn’t deserve to be called by such a simple name.

So when Xuan Lin looked up and saw that pretty, unfamiliar face, he was filled with doubt.

“I was the one who guided you when you first enrolled. Don’t you remember? I told you my name was Lv Ting, and that I was your senior,” the girl said.

Enrollment? Enrollment was more than half a year ago. How could the busy Xuanlin remember? After the girl mentioned it, he remembered that there was such a face in his memory.

Xuanlin, who was not used to interacting with people, didn’t know how to respond to the girl, and in the end, he could only quickly blush and say hello to his senior, then fled in a flustered manner.

On that rainy afternoon, he could escape in a hurry.

But in life, your fate, whether good or bad, can’t be avoided.

That afternoon’s encounter was like unlocking a secret lock, and from then on Xuanlin and Lvting began to encounter each other in various places at school.

The study hall, the quiet library, the cafeteria, the clean campus path…

These encounters, like a catalyst, ripened Xuanlin and Lvting. They began to greet each other, then chat for a while, and then chat more and more, until finally Lvting’s smile was in Xuanlin’s heart.

It was a very ordinary process of falling in love, but the love in Xuanlin’s heart was deeper and heavier than anyone else’s!

Finally, Xuanlin, who already knew where Lvting’s dormitory was, created an encounter that was not accidental. That afternoon, he waited for Lvting at the entrance to her dormitory.

“Let me take you to dinner,” he said, his heart pounding. He was afraid of hearing a refusal, because then he would never have the courage to ask her out again, or even to say hello to her in the future.

“Mmm,” she said, and after a brief pause, she agreed to go out with him.

These two young people had mutual feelings for each other, and all they needed to do was break through the barrier of a layer of window paper. Lv Ting waited for Xuan Lin.

The meal took a long time, and when it was no longer possible to delay it, Xuan Lin stammered and confessed to Lv Ting, and Lv Ting accepted Xuan Lin as a matter of course.

They fell in love.

However, because Xuanlin was poor and Lvting’s family was also extremely ordinary, their love was extremely simple, with no roses, no candlelit dinners, no beautiful clothes, and not even a movie.

The only thing they could do was walk around and around the campus path in the moonlight.

But how can poverty obscure the light of love? They were both content, so content that they were happy to share a bun and a bag of soymilk, which was no worse than an expensive meal 鈥� because of love.

And their favorite thing to do was to look forward to the future, because they were both medical students, and as long as they worked hard, their future could definitely change.

“Before graduation, I will get a master’s degree. There is a stipend for graduate students, and with my part-time job, it will be much easier. After I graduate from graduate school, I will find a good hospital to work at with the best grades, and then I will marry you.” This is Xuan Lin’s promise.

“Yes, I believe in you. You are my potential stock. I am waiting for you.” This is Lv Ting’s promise.

Love shone the brightest in their impoverished lives. At that time, it was the positive energy that drove Xuanlin forward. When he looked up at the sky, he always felt that happiness was within reach.

If An Yu hadn’t appeared.

When he finished speaking, Xuan Lin’s eyes were filled with tears. This was the first time I had seen this peaceful and quiet boy show such strong emotions. In fact, I could feel from Xuan Lin’s narrative that in his lonely and solitary life, in his college life, Lv Ting was really everything to him.

“Sorry,” he took off his glasses, gently wiped his eyes, and then said, “Do you want to hear the rest? Unfortunately, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s just a vulgar story. A girl gradually became vain, and gradually the boy could not satisfy her, because apart from true love, the boy could not give her anything. Unfortunately, what she wanted at that time was not love, but designer clothes, handbags, and access to high-end places. If my life could be exchanged for money, I would be willing.”

I was silent, with only one thought in my heart: I am grateful that I met Ruoxue in my lifetime.

As if by tacit agreement, Xuan Lin suddenly smiled sadly and said, “But that’s it. I’m also grateful that I met her in the moment of my life. That period was the happiest time of my life.”