The "click" sounds of computer keyboards and mice echoed in the semi-open sound control room.
At 5:37 in the afternoon, although the summer sunset still hung high in the southwest sky, the pastor's office diagonally behind the sound control room drew the curtains, blocking the dazzling sunset light that penetrated into the lobby through the transparent glass windows.
The pastors are not here, probably going to another church to share the message. The air conditioner is running, and the cold air passes through the air outlet and directly touches the person at the computer desk.
A neat bun is tied on the top of her head, and a few strands of too-short black hair hang down her temples along her hairline. The Korean style clothes make her slimmer, but the shadow amplification effect modifying her body shape good enough in other people's eyes.
It's washroom time again, and the scent of lavender wafts from the women's toilet that is temporarily used as a bathroom directly behind the sound control room. Fu Xiangqin stretched and heard a "beep" sound coming from the door of the children's Sunday school room that served as a dormitory.
She looked up at the person who had the same purpose as her. That person was wearing neutral clothes and dark orange short boots as usual, with long black hair flowing freely, a face that looked expressionless when she wasn't smiling, and a heart that was arrogant and coquettish.
Fu Xiangqin smiled.
After several short missions and weekly gatherings, she figured out this person's psychology earlier than anyone else. It was so fast that even she couldn't believe it.
They can actually become good friends.
"Ruoling, also want to come and print the registration information？"
Today is the day for the results release of the optional senior high school education. She got into the No. 1 Business School in this City as she wished, while Yu Ruoling was "opportunistic" and admitted to Hanchung High School - if Ruoling had not been admitted, she would have directly jump out that window at this floor, Fu thought with a twitch of her mouth.
They will all report to the community education center at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. It just so happens that her and Ruoling's schools are on the same floor.
"No. We don't have anything to print. We just need to bring the graduation certificate to the staff for inspection. "Yu picked up the two paper bags on the handle, "Wenhuan has finished taking a shower, I will be next."
"Oh, "Fu Xiangqin clicked the mouse and said with double concentration, "I seem to be behind you."
It's not "as if", it's basically "is". Yu lifted up her long hair, and a few strands of hair got tangled in her hands and fell onto the dark green tile floor.
“Oh yap, you know that？”Fu Xiangqing pressed the green bottom of the printer, the white machine spit out a crisp scanning sound, “Brother Tianzhao got the compulsory soldier service circular, seems he will in in next Saturday.”
"So fast？"
Yu suddenly felt her heart beat suddenly, the air quickly became silent, and a familiar feeling of support was wiped out.
She heard Lin Tianzhao say before that he was likely to receive a military order this year, but she didn’t expect it to be this time. It happened to be when she needed...the strength of companions most.
Lin Tianzhao is her only male friend who can speak boldly without fear of being misunderstood. The first one is Shao Xu'an, the second one is Yuan Junfan, and the next one is him. She doesn’t know why, but whenever she chats with anyone who is male, she will be misunderstood a girlfriend of that male friend every time.
She thought a little depressed. Because of that guy, she doesn't like sharing her feelings with people of the same sex. Although this habit is very bad, when she chooses a male friend, she will first look at "whether he has a girlfriend." Only those who don't have a girlfriend or don't plan to get married at all, or even have the same sex orientation, will she be "more" willing to have limitless chatting with him.
The so-called "limitless chatting" refers to the number of conversations between the two parties, or how far away from him if everyone goes to eat together so that other people would not look at her twice, and whether private messages can only be business, or whether it is actually possible involved personal matters... and the like.
She listed many things, she just didn't want to be thought that she had a boyfriend - which she really didn't - and she hated being put on the "couple filter" by others.
All in all, for her, Lin Tianzhao going to join the army was no less than losing a friend directly. After all, he might get to know other cute little girls during this period, and then like Shao Xu'an, he would gradually be deliberately alienated by her. She didn't want to be regarded as a third-wheel, someone who had no sense of shame or moral bottom line.
Generally speaking, Yu Ruoling felt quite melancholy. She was so melancholy that on the last night of the first short-term mission, Fong Xuan had no choice but to forcefully pull her into the mind world and knock her out. Otherwise, Fong Xuan would really be disturbed to death by her thoughts. Fortunately, these things were not discovered by Fu Xiangqin who slept next door to her, otherwise she would not be able to clean herself even if she jumped into the Arctic sea and froze into ice.
Probably only He and Fong Xuan knew why Yu Ruoling had such a big psychological reaction. It's just that the transition to senior high school is missing a supportive partner. The school, students, and classmates are all unfamiliar, and she doesn't even know anyone.
When Yu was in junior high school, it was probably because she had not yet opened her heart and had no stable gathering with fellowship, so she felt that the support from her peers was quite low. Therefore, she was used to relying on herself, so she thought it was no big deal. But it's different in senior high school.
Yu Ruoling had been at Erling Church for three full years at this time. Those who were very stubborn in the past have almost been beaten to the point of weakness, as Fong Xuan can bear witness. As the former bodyguard and the current second personality, "she" knows very well that Yu Ruoling is much weaker than before. The subject of Yu can no longer say anything to these people in fellowship with an expressionless face, can't reject them, unable to say official style words, subconsciously lax on guard, often teased, always throwing snacks at people who make crazy jokes, and even tilting her head to rub the shoulder of her friends（only female）to act coquettishly.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Also, when playing board games, she doesn't play in a figurative way. When she goes to eat with them, she wants to take a bite of everyone's meal（but if that one is a boy, she won’t do this without cutlery）, just because the food in other people’s bowls always looks more delicious.
“She" saw all the changes in her eyes, and Fong Xuan understood that Yu Ruoling could no longer overcome the fear of school and her peers with her own "strongness" alone.
Now the only person who can be her support partner is Yuan Junfan（there are no women. For people of the same gender and age, even friends, she cannot express her feelings frankly unless she is drunk. Of course, this is impossible）. Although one sounds enough, the more one gets, the more greedy one will become, and Yu Ruoling is no exception.
What she wants is not just a partner, but a team（there is no distinction between men and women here, because what she longs for in the team is just a sense of security）, and it doesn't matter even if she doesn't necessarily know everyone in the team. It is a kind of spiritual power that is very powerful, very powerful, and so powerful that nothing can destroy it.
Even if someone is heavily in debt, there will be a group of people behind the scenes who will each chip in a little money to help without asking for repayment. Both "she" and He have seen Yu Ruoling's happy appearance after tasting the warmth of her companions. Now she will officially start on the road of healing and restore the broken field she once trampled on.
This is a difficult, painful, and laborious process, but it must be done, Fong Xuan thought, "she" remembers what He said.
'I don't want her to be like a broken doll. She is one of the princesses of the kingdom, and she is a member of my most elite army.'
"She" could hear his reluctance of Yu's hard way, and at the same time, “she” suddenly discovered that sooner or later, "she" and Yu Ruoling would eventually become one.
Fong Xuan has not forgotten that those bad memories are all stored in “her”. If “she” disappears alone, then those memories will be separated from Yu's brain forever, and Yu Ruoling will never remember that she was trampled like scum.
But if this were the case, Yu Ruoling would be incomplete. This is not what He wants, and it is certainly not what Fong Xuan wants.
In any case, Lin Tianzhao's temporary departure from fellowship is an official start, in order to remind Yu Ruoling that she can no longer paralyze herself with the warmth of this safe place, or try to escape the fate that should be in her life.
She can't run away anymore.
Fong Xuan opened “her” eyes and looked at the 07:30 mark on the wall clock. “She” sneaked back into the mind world and threw Yu Ruoling who was still sleeping, out.
*
Before nine o'clock, the indoor square in front of the performance hall of the Social Education Hall was already crowded with people. Several school staff members wearing various adult-style school uniforms held loudspeakers and stood in front of the registration desk in charge of them, shouting in an imageless manner. Many freshmen looked a little confused, as if they had encountered something scarier than the opening of the gate to hell.
The registration offices of Hanchung Senior High School and City First Business College happen to be opposite each other. Although they were lined up in parallel lines, the distance between them was so close that they could almost put their hands on the shoulders of the strangers opposite.
She huddled in the queue and let out a breath of discomfort.
She was surrounded by the scent of her peers, which made her feel really uncomfortable. The uncomfortable feeling of conflicting magnetic fields and auras made her dizzy. Yu could only force herself to keep a terrifyingly expressionless face, staring at the floor silently, listening to nothing and looking at nothing, doing nothing but following the group forward.
Her companion stood a little further across from her, Fu's brows gradually furrowing.
This kind of Yu Ruoling was something Fu Xiangqin had never seen before in all the time she had known her.
Such withdrawal, such introversion. Or -
- Such fear.
Fu sighed and looked at Yu Ruoling with her arms around the folder and eyes fixed on the ground. Her whole body moved as stiffly as a bamboo, looking like a zombie.
In this state, when they attend the celebration banquet at noon, will she pass out at the MRT station due to difficulty breathing of the ups and downs？Fu Xiangqin had no choice but to call out her name.
"Ruoling."
When Yu came back from her daze, she didn't really want to pay attention to the joy of being called out by her companion and feeling rescued. She turned around and saw that Fu Xiangqin's team was moving very slowly.
"What's wrong？"
"Wait for me at the door after you finishing checking in, "Fu pointed outside and then forward, "it's super slow here. But there should be enough time, we can take the MRT together."
Yu Ruoling said "ok", gave her friend a small wink and a smile, and finally calmed down. The discomfort of being surrounded by peers was indeed unbearable, and she began to force herself to think about the short-term missionary celebration dinner in a restaurant in a department store two hours later.
It's not so much a celebration banquet, more as a relaxing dinner. After all, next Friday - today is Wednesday - they have to rush to Tianliao Fuzhen Elementary School to hold the second short-term mission. The dinner at the end can be regarded as a real celebration banquet.
She rolled up the folder into a small roll and put it into her brown backpack. She breathed a sigh of relief and planned to leave quickly. Staying here was simply more painful than the New Year's Eve feeling of not knowing where to go（too many people）.
She waved to Fu Xiangqin, and after confirming that her friend had received her intention, she turned around and walked out of the indoor square without hesitation.
"Help..., the sun is so hot that I can fry an egg on top of my head."
Yu Ruoling raised her hand to cover the fierce sunlight in the sky. The dazzling white gold reflected the mica stones in the granite tiles on the ground, irritating her so much that she could hardly open her eyes.
As soon as she hid in the shadows, her cell phone rang. The rose metal shell physically damaged her eyes again, and the currently irritable black-haired girl almost blurted out a "fuck".
"Ling, have you settled the matter with Xiangqin？"Said the bold and uninhibited voice on the other end of the phone. Although his tone sounded impatient, Yu Ruoling, who had worked with him, understood that it was just a well-intentioned prank, "You guys are very slowly, there are only two of you left in the world. Did you not eat enough or slept until your legs were as weak as a snail？"
She twitched her mouth.
So Lin Tianzhao is acting like a commander before even entering the barracks. Even though she was a little frustrated that he was going to the barracks for four months, which happened to be the most vulnerable period of her freshman year, Yu Ruoling just wanted to punch him in the head.
"Sir, the procedure for number 007 has been completed, and the number 001 is still waiting in line. Over."She said jokingly.
Lin Tianzhao laughed loudly, "You know it very well！Have you ever been a soldier or an undercover agent or something. …Maybe you as old as He Wanying？！You're just disguised, right？"
You are totally destroyed by Wanying's fist. Yu Ruoling was speechless, and suddenly heard a scream of "Ouch！" and weak complain.
"You can forgive the sins committed by the natural disaster, but you can't live if you do the sins yourself."She said jokingly.
"Hello？Ruoling？"He Wanying's unique baby voice came to her ears. Unfortunately, after the murder just now, no matter how sweet or cute her voice was, it would only make people feel scared.
It's like Annabell is coming home~
Some types of. ^_^
"Ruoling, we'll leave in half an hour！After you finish it, take the MRT to find us. If you can't find us, you can call me~ It doesn't matter if you leave your luggage at the church for now. After dinner and shopping, we will come back together to get it~"
"Okay. "It seemed that Lin Tianzhao's screams could still be heard in her ears. She touched the top of her head, which was almost smoky from the sun, feeling a little pain for no reason, "Ah！Wanying, I saw Xiangqin, gonna hang up the phone, byebye."
Yu Ruoling shouted to Fu Xiangqin, and when her friend ran over, she couldn't help but relax and put her arm around Fu's shoulders.
It wasn't until it was all over that Yu Ruoling felt a sense of relief, just like a climber who unfortunately fell off a cliff but was lucky enough to grab a protruding rock. At the thrilling timing of losing strength, climber heard the sound of the rotor symbolizing life. And in order to continue to hear this too beautiful voice, she will continue to work hard - even if she has lost consciousness - to hold on to the life-saving rock tightly.
Even if her arms are shaking like chaff on a bamboo plate, she will hold on until she dies.
She walked a little behind Fu Xiangqin, squinting her eyes slightly and looking at the blue sky, thinking silently in her heart.
"You, Xiangqin, my parents, brothers and sisters, and these spiritual family members -"
"- is the most rare happiness in my life."