Redemption

"Cough!"

"Cough, cough, cough!!!"

"Cough!!!"

Spitting out a mouthful of water, Lin Yu opened his eyes in pain.

What met his eyes was not the night sky and the stars, but a beautiful, tear-stained face, as radiant and flawless as the moon.

The sound of rushing water echoed beside him. The moonlight reflected beautifully on the rolling waves of the river, which had long lost the ruthless, life-threatening demeanor it had just moments ago.

In front of him were intermittent sobs, and the person before his eyes was already soaked to the bone by the freezing river water.

Drops of water fell from above onto Lin Yu's face. He couldn't tell if it was river water or tears.

Lin Yu couldn't really distinguish it either. His skin was numb from the freezing river water, and for a moment, he couldn't feel whether the water drops on his face were hot or cold.

The touch on his lips was like a swallow gliding across the sky, leaving behind a hazy trail of clouds.

It was hard to describe and hard to understand, but he could definitely feel the trace of what had just been there.

Lin Yu propped himself up with one hand on the ground, intending to sit up.

Seeing this, Tao Yaoyao quickly stepped forward to support him, helping Lin Yu sit up.

Tao Yaoyao was still crying, sobbing continuously and choking back tears.

Lin Yu looked at her, not knowing how to comfort her, or even how to thank her.

In the silence, Lin Yu suppressed his thoughts. He turned his head and looked around. The surroundings were lush and green, but there were no lights or signs of human habitation.

Lin Yu took two slow breaths and asked in a hoarse voice:

"Where are we?"

"I don't know either."

"We were washed far away by the river. The water here is a bit slower, so we were able to get ashore."

Tao Yaoyao said, choking on her sobs.

"Where is your phone?"

Lin Yu withdrew his gaze from the river, the bushes, and the rocky beach under his feet, looking at Tao Yaoyao as he asked.

"My phone is broken from soaking in the water."

Tao Yaoyao took out her phone. The black screen was covered with wet water droplets, and water was even slowly dripping from the charging port.

"What about my phone?"

Lin Yu looked around. This time, without Tao Yaoyao having to say anything, Lin Yu quickly remembered that his phone was in his hand when he fell in.

As for now...

It was probably sleeping next to some random cobblestone at the bottom of the river.

Lin Yu struggled to stand up and looked around again. He still didn't see any lights, only bushes and woods.

Lin Yu took a few steps, instinctively wanting to find some people to ask for help, but he quickly realized that Wang Shuo and the others would probably follow the river to look for him, so he just needed to wait here.

Stopping in his tracks, Lin Yu stood on the sandy ground mixed with fine sand and cobblestones.

The night breeze blew, slowly taking away his body heat.

But Lin Yu didn't care about this. He wanted to be angry, but found that he couldn't muster the anger.

He wanted to pretend to be relaxed, but found he couldn't do that either.

Finally, Lin Yu found a relatively smooth, large stone to sit on. Looking at Tao Yaoyao standing in the moonlight, Lin Yu said calmly:

"Tell me."

"About you and Xu Mingyao."

Tao Yaoyao was wet all over. Her heavy white dress clung to her body irregularly. Under the moonlight, the faint glimpses of her skin even seemed somewhat sacred.

Her face showed grievance and confusion. Her reddened eyes were far from something the river water could have irritated.

She didn't understand why Lin Yu would be so cold to her after waking up.

It wasn't until Lin Yu asked this question, which sent a chill through her body like the moonlight and the river water, that Tao Yaoyao finally understood.

Surprise lingered briefly on her exquisite and beautiful face, and then she became calm.

The grievance and confusion that were previously on her face seemed to have been washed away by water, leaving not a single trace.

"Where should I start?"

Tao Yaoyao didn't try to quibble or hide anything. Her voice was soft, and she asked in a tone as calm as water.

"Take your time."

"It should still take them some time to find us."

"We have time."

Lin Yu said softly.

Tao Yaoyao moved. She walked step by step towards Lin Yu. Coming to his side, she bent down, tilted her head, and asked softly:

"Can I sit here?"

Lin Yu didn't speak, and Tao Yaoyao sat down next to him.

The stone was not small, and it didn't feel crowded with the two of them sitting on it.

Tao Yaoyao spoke softly. Her gentle voice, accompanied by the sound of the river water, didn't sound distant at all.

"My family situation was very poor."

"When I was very young, my dad passed away."

"My mom lived with me for a few years, but she really couldn't stand having me as a burden, so she dumped me on my grandparents and went off to marry someone else."

"I was about eight years old when I started living with my grandparents."

"Life was very hard back then. My grandparents were both very old."

"Every time I grew a little older, they grew a little older, and we became a little poorer."

"When I was in the first year of middle school, my grandpa passed away, leaving just me and my grandma to live together."

"My grandma was sick. Once my grandpa was gone, our broken-down home became even harder to maintain."

"Every month, we could only rely on the government subsidy and the grain and oil delivered to us to survive."

"The government subsidy wasn't much. After deducting the money for medicine, there was almost nothing left."

"Pocket money was always a luxury for me. I rarely had any when my grandpa was around, and after he left, I had almost none."

"But it didn't matter, I could do without it."

"At school, because of the policy subsidizing poor students, I didn't have to pay for any of my basic expenses. I studied hard and always washed my school uniform very clean to ensure there wasn't a trace of the sour smell of poverty on it."

"But I was still targeted."

Speaking of this, Tao Yaoyao glanced at Lin Yu. Seeing that he was still looking at the river not far ahead, she withdrew her gaze and continued to speak softly:

"Grandpa once said I was very pretty."

"My nose looked like my dad's, and my eyes and lips looked like my mom's. I gathered all the good features from both of their faces and grew up to be prettier than both of them."

"Grandma also said I was pretty."

"She said that with such a pretty face, I definitely wouldn't have to worry about getting married in the future, and I would be pursued by many boys."

Speaking of this, Tao Yaoyao's tone rose a little, seeming a bit proud, but soon, her voice softened and sounded a bit heavy.

"Grandma was right."

"In school, there were many boys chasing after me."

"But I rejected them all."

"I was a good kid back then, how could I date in school?"

"Later, when I was in the second year of middle school."

"I rejected a boy's confession just like I rejected the others."

"That boy actually had a girlfriend, and she was in our class."

"That girl was very angry about her boyfriend's confession to me, and started to instigate our classmates to target me and alienate me."

"I wasn't very popular with the girls in the class to begin with. With her leading the way, all the girls in the class started to intentionally target me."

"Being targeted by all the girls in the class felt terrible."

"Those days were really, really hard to endure."

"But that wasn't the hardest part."

Tao Yaoyao paused. Her voice grew even softer, like a ghost swaying in the wind.

"I got my period."

Tao Yaoyao's voice drifted through the air, gradually fading away with the wind. After a moment of silence, she continued,

"I didn't have money to buy sanitary pads."

"I didn't know what to do."

"I could only use toilet paper instead."

"My flow was heavy, so I had to fold the toilet paper thicker and thicker."

"At my poorest, when I saw someone else's used sanitary pad in the toilet, I would stand there and hesitate for a long time."

"That girl was quite popular. Because of her instigation and efforts, the boys in our class also gradually started to distance themselves from me and target me."

"Ah."

Tao Yaoyao let out a soft sigh, her calm tone finally tinged with a hint of bitterness.

"Being a good kid is really hard."

"Back then, I often thought to myself, why not just find a boy at school, or a grown man out in society, so my life wouldn't be such a financial struggle?"

"Later, just as I made up my mind to rely on a man so my life wouldn't be such a struggle anymore..."

"She appeared."