Chapter 124: Chapter 122: Liu Qianqian Speaks (Second Update)_1
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Fang Ren sat on the steps outside the lecture hall. He had just phoned Liu Qianqian, telling her about how he damaged the floor of the lecture hall, asking her to come and take a look, and how much she wanted in compensation, he was ready to pay in full.
During the call, Liu Qianqian's voice sounded somewhat low and indifferent. Fang Ren didn't know if it was because she had been asleep and he had woken her up, making her unhappy.
Before long, Liu Qianqian, dressed in pink pajamas, arrived at the lecture hall.
Her complexion still wasn't great, but compared to the morning, her eyes had improved a lot, and she wasn't as taciturn as before. At least she had answered Fang Ren's call and had come out late at night.
Seeing her come over, Fang Ren stood up and walked towards her, saying somewhat awkwardly, "Um, I damaged the rooftop again. Should I take you up to see it?"
"No need," Liu Qianqian shook her head, her voice very low.
Fang Ren paused for a moment, then said, "If you're not going to look at the floor, there was really no need to come out. When I called you, you could have just jotted it down in your notebook."
"I have something to ask you," she said.
Liu Qianqian lifted her head, her lifeless eyes fixed on Fang Ren as she spoke.
When Fang Ren met her gaze, he was taken aback. He had never seen her like this before--her despondency was frightening, and he could not see any of the usual spirit in her eyes.
"Is it about the incident with your mother the other day?" Fang Ren said, "I'm sorry, maybe I went too far..."
Liu Qianqian shook her head and replied, "No, she is excessive towards others too, that's the treatment she deserves. I don't think there's anything wrong with you demanding her apology."
"Then what is it for?" Fang Ren asked.
"I want to know about you and student Hui Qing," Liu Qianqian said, looking straight at him.
"Why would you ask about that?" Fang Ren said, puzzled.
"I just want to know," said Liu Qianqian, her gaze still firmly on him.
Fang Ren felt somewhat uncomfortable under her relentless, somber gaze. He couldn't fathom why she would be acting like this, other than because of her mother.
"Alright, go ahead and ask," Fang Ren nodded.
"The Mu Family must already know about your relationship with her, and they must be trying to stop you two from being together. The last time she came here to find you, she must have come secretly, right?" Liu Qianqian said.
"Indeed, it was kind of secretive. After all, if the Mu Family knew she came to see me, probably no one would approve," Fang Ren said.
Liu Qianqian: "She really loves you..."
"Uh, what's up?"
"To defy family opposition, to disregard the rules of the battlefield, to act solely for what she wants."
"..."
Fang Ren didn't understand what she was trying to say.
Liu Qianqian kept looking at him, her expressionless face continuing, "I really envy her strength, doing whatever she wants, and even if her family finds out she secretly visited you, her family won't punish her. The Mu Family wouldn't dare punish you, either, because she has the power to protect you.
No matter how many rules there are on the battlefield, she has the ability to break them, and even if there are countless mountains and seas between them, she has the ability to cross them instantly... She's such a perfect person, for you."
"What's gotten into you today?"
Fang Ren was beginning to worry about the Liu Qianqian in front of him. From beginning to end, her gaze hadn't left his eyes, and her face was emotionless.
Rather than saying her mood was low, it might be more accurate to say that she looked... fearless.
Yes, fearless, as if she wasn't afraid of anything and didn't care about anything.
"There's nothing wrong with me. I just think everything about her is just too good for you," said Liu Qianqian.
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"I don't understand what you mean," Fang Ren said, frowning.
"I used to think it would be very difficult for you two to be together, but now it seems, as long as she sets her heart on being with you, nothing will be too hard because she dares to oppose her family, and she has the ability to oppose them as well," Liu Qianqian said.
Fang Ren shook his head and sighed, "No, you're wrong. Even if we disregard the public's gaze, even if she has the ability to stand against her family's decisions... there are still unimaginable difficulties ahead of us that block our path."
"There might still be difficulties, but for Xuan Nv of the Ninth Heaven, can those things even be called difficulties?" Liu Qianqian said.
Fang Ren sighed. Liu Qianqian had no idea about the situation at the Central District Command, and he didn't want to discuss these matters with her further, because they were simply too complicated, and she might not even believe them.
"If only I had been that powerful in the past," Liu Qianqian's gaze was still fixed on Fang Ren's eyes.
"Don't worry, you'll soon break free from your family's marriage constraints," Fang Ren said.
"You've misunderstood again, Woody," the redness began to appear in Liu Qianqian's eyes, "To be accurate, what I want is not marriage freedom, and the strength I speak of was needed in the past."
"..."
"Then I would have had enough confidence to accept the boy who confessed to me twice, to say that I wanted to be his girlfriend," she continued, her eyes growing redder, "Then I wouldn't have to worry about my family opposing me; even if my family wanted to hurt him, I would have been strong enough to protect him from harm.
I could be brave, I wouldn't let him mistake me for just wanting to be his ordinary friend, and I could agree to any of his requests, as long as he asked me..."
As she spoke, tears finally escaped from the corners of Liu Qianqian's eyes, and she kept her unwavering gaze on Fang Ren.
The Fang Ren standing before her, hearing her words and seeing the tears falling from her eyes, felt as if his brain had short-circuited.
He began to doubt what he was hearing, what he was seeing.
"Right?" Liu Qianqian's voice trembled, tears covered her cheeks, "If only I were strong, if I were strong we could be together. At that riverbank that day, I could have excitedly thrown myself into the arms of you in formal attire, accepted the flowers you gave me, and shed tears of happiness saying I love you. I don't want to be friends anymore; I want to be your girlfriend, to be your bride!
I don't want to keep giving you vague hints, I don't want the flowers you were about to give me thrown in the trash. Then I would have run after them, crying, picking them out of the trash cans! Crying alone by the river for a long time! The next day I had to endure the heartache and deliberately ignore you, acting as if keeping my distance, spending my days with Li Xinyue and the others!"
By the end of her speech, Liu Qianqian became overwhelmed with emotion, her hand clutching her chest fiercely, almost crying out in heartrending pain.
"Do you have any idea how you're like a pig? If I didn't like you, why would I hold hands with you every day? Why would I share my half-drunk beverage with you? Why would I sleep on your lap during a nap? I even pretended my chest hurt one time and pulled your hand to touch my chest. Am I sick?
Do I have a mental deficiency? Am I a three-year-old kid who doesn't know those places can't be touched by men?"
Yelling and crying, Liu Qianqian's tears continuously dripped from her chin, falling to the concrete and blooming into a tear-flower.
Fang Ren was completely stunned, his expression nothing short of complex. As he listened to her words, he began to recall the past, all those couple-like scenarios, those jokes that were nowhere near what friends would say...
How did it suddenly become true...
"I just don't understand why I was born into that family! Why couldn't you be the one they forced me to marry! Why does protecting you from getting hurt by my family end up with me being severely punished in the end? I've had enough!!"
Liu Qianqian's hair became a mess as she cried and shouted, her tears flying through the air as she shook her head, some even landing on the back of Fang Ren's hand.
The warmth of those tears felt like a red-hot branding iron, striking his tumultuous heart with bouts of sourness and stinging pain.
"It's all my fault! It's all because I can't break free from my family! It's all because I can't protect you! It's all because I'm not as strong as Mu Huanqing! Isn't that right? Isn't it!" Liu Qianqian's voice grew hoarser by the moment.
"It's all in the past..."
The moment those words left Fang Ren's mouth, he suddenly felt sick. How could he say such a thing about this situation?
"Yes! For you, everything is in the past, but for me, it never passes! The boy I like! Even if I keep getting hurt, I will protect him from my family's harm! Why doesn't Hui Qing care about how much you get hurt by societal judgment? The boy I would risk my life to protect!
Why does she still need to prove herself worthy before she can marry you?"
Liu Qianqian screamed until she ran out of strength, then collapsed on the ground, sobbing, "Is it just because she's strong... Why does the world give her talents and me a Spirit Embryo that confines me to marriage... Why can she be with you while I have to consider so much... It's unfair..."
Fang Ren also squatted down immediately, looking at Liu Qianqian's tear-streaked face, which could only be described as "miserably crying." For a moment, he couldn't find any words to say.
His throat felt blocked by a huge stone, fearing any word he might speak could make her more distressed, or be disloyal to Mu Hui.
In that instant, he felt as if he was suffering from a split personality, on one side desperately wanting to console the person before him, using any language, even if it involved deceiving her, even if it meant temporarily betraying Mu Hui.
On the other side, he reminded himself frantically that he had Qing'er, and that Qing'er was pregnant, he absolutely must not speak those words. Not even a little bit!