RCHE **Chapter 1: Car Accident**
"Excuse me, are there any tickets to Pengcheng left for today?"
"Not here. To go to Pengcheng, you need to catch a bus at the main station. All the buses to Pengcheng left this morning."
"Okay, thank you."
Chen Kangjie walked out of the ticket hall at the western bus station of Deying City with a gloomy face and furrowed brows. He was dragging a suitcase with some spare clothes inside. His eyes looked confused and dim, and his face was sallow, showing signs of lethargy and poor spirit.
He stepped out of the station, glanced at the blue sky, and sighed deeply. The weather was actually very bright today. The sunlight was warm and comfortable on his body. The recent weather in the southern winter had been good, but Chen Kangjie still felt a bit shaky, which was related to his mood in the past two days.
This is Deying City, a county-level city with a population of only 100,000, under the jurisdiction of Qingyuan City in Yuedong Province. It is 200 kilometers away from the provincial capital, Yangcheng, in the northern part of Yuedong Province, which is a relatively poor mountainous area where people generally speak Hakka.
In 2011, on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Chen Kangjie came to Deying City to spend the New Year with his girlfriend's family. He didn’t want to come initially because, after more than four years of dating, he had been to her house a few times, but it always ended unpleasantly. Several times she left him alone to play cards.
This year, Chen Kangjie didn't go home for the New Year. In fact, he hadn’t been home for several years since graduating from university. After graduation, he went to work in the special economic zone of Pengcheng, changed jobs several times due to various reasons, and tried to start a business three times but failed due to bad luck. So he never returned to his hometown in Qianzhou Province for the New Year. His girlfriend initially promised to come to Pengcheng to spend the New Year with him, and he had been looking forward to seeing her after months apart. However, on the 28th of the lunar month, she called and told him she had gone home alone and asked him to join her family for the New Year. Hearing this, Chen Kangjie felt deceived again. Li Tingyan’s promises to him almost always fell through.
Chen Kangjie was very angry but also numb. This situation had happened dozens of times since they started dating, leaving him in a daze. He constantly questioned whether Li Tingyan loved him. They had broken up many times because of this, but every time he saw her sad eyes, her tears, and heard her say, "I love you very much; I can't live without you," Chen Kangjie softened.
Actually, it wasn't just that Chen Kangjie was soft-hearted. The main reason was that he loved her deeply. After graduating from middle school, Li Tingyan went to Deshun to work, and they met online by chance. Five years ago, one evening after work, Chen Kangjie, who was almost a homebody, was online at home when a QQ message popped up. A girl added him as a friend, and his calm personality didn’t refuse.
Chen Kangjie browsed the girl’s profile to see who had added him. Opening her photo album, he slowly viewed each photo, finding her elegant, graceful, and with bright eyes and white teeth. Each photo showed her dressed fashionably, sometimes with a cool vibe. Some photos showed heavy makeup, but she still radiated charm. Although Chen Kangjie wasn’t fond of heavy makeup, it was normal for young city girls. As he browsed further, he noticed subtle changes in her expressions. Compared to earlier, more radiant photos, there was now a hint of melancholy, suggesting sadness.
Of course, with billions of QQ users and millions online at any moment, Chen Kangjie had seen many pretty girls' photos, so he didn't pay much attention. Before he finished viewing the album, a message popped up.
"Hello."
Seeing that it was from the girl, he replied, "Hello."
And so, they began to chat. Chen Kangjie, sincere and humorous, soon had the girl talking more. Through their conversation, he learned she had added him randomly. Her name was Li Tingyan, four years younger than him. She had just learned to chat online after breaking up with her boyfriend. Chen Kangjie also opened up about his failed relationships, and they chatted all night. By the next morning, they had agreed to chat again the following day.
Over the next three or four days, they chatted late into the night. As they got to know each other, Chen Kangjie learned more about her. She had deeply loved her boyfriend, doing everything to keep his love, but they eventually broke up for various reasons.
Hearing her story, seeing her sad eyes and tears, Chen Kangjie was deeply moved, feeling a strong urge to protect her. He always wanted a sincere girlfriend who would give her whole heart for love. At that moment, he fell deeply in love with Li Tingyan, vowing to love, cherish, and protect her forever.
A week later, Chen Kangjie suggested meeting in person, but she refused, saying she wasn’t ready. Chen Kangjie understood that it was difficult for a girl who had recently broken up with a loved boyfriend to accept a new relationship quickly. Despite his disappointment, Chen Kangjie didn’t give up, believing he shouldn’t abandon this girl. He felt a strong urge to protect her from other men’s harm.
For the next two or three days, Chen Kangjie eagerly rushed home after work to chat with her. She worked in a jewelry store in a mall and went to an internet café after work to chat with him. He kept asking to visit her in Deshun, and after two days of refusal, on the third night, the eighth day since they met, she finally agreed to meet him. Chen Kangjie was so excited that he couldn’t sleep all night.
Thus began their five-year relationship.
Chen Kangjie left the west station and took a motorcycle taxi to the main bus station in Deying City. Maybe due to the ongoing holiday and good business, the driver sped through the streets. At that moment, Chen Kangjie wasn’t worried about safety. His heart felt dead, and tears rolled down his cheeks, blown away by the wind before they could fall.
The day before yesterday, on the second day of the lunar new year, Chen Kangjie and Li Tingyan visited her relatives in the countryside. Her family used to live in the countryside but moved to the city after her three brothers found work there. However, they still had two uncles in the countryside. Their old house had been given to the younger uncle’s family, while the older uncle built a new house next door.
Yesterday morning, after a quick breakfast and some careful grooming, Li Tingyan went to a class reunion with her cousins, A-Ling and A-Yu. The night before, a male classmate had come to chat with them until late. When he arrived, it seemed her attention was focused on him, even though she sat next to Chen Kangjie. She hardly spoke to him or made eye contact.
Perhaps feeling it was rude to leave Chen Kangjie alone with her relatives, she said, "Why don’t you come with me?"
Being easygoing and understanding, Chen Kangjie knew they hadn’t seen their classmates for years and wanted to give her space to reconnect. So he said, "You go ahead. I won’t fit in with your classmates. Just come back early."
"Are you sure you won’t come?"
"It’s your reunion. I won’t have much to say. Just come back early."
"Alright, I’ll be back in an hour or two," she said, referring to her cousins.
Then she happily left with her cousins on A-Bing’s motorcycle, heading to the neighboring village, a 40-minute walk away, to the male classmate's house who had visited the night before.
"Are you coming back for dinner?"
In the evening, as they were about to have dinner, Chen Kangjie called Li Tingyan. She had been gone for over six hours.
"I’m not coming back for dinner. You go ahead."
"When will you be back?"
Her response made Chen Kangjie very unhappy. She said she’d be back in an hour or two, but now it had been six or seven hours, and she wasn't returning for dinner. Anyone would be upset, especially hearing she wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
"I’ll be back later. You have dinner and rest early," she said amidst the sounds of laughter and cars in the background, making him even more puzzled.
"Are you on a car now? Where are you going? Back to the city?"
Her next answer infuriated him.
"We're going to the city to sing karaoke."
That response left Chen Kangjie speechless and deeply hurt. He suddenly realized that Li Tingyan didn’t care about him at all.
Without hesitation, he hung up and asked A-Bing to take him to the town center to catch a taxi back to the city, planning to stay in a hotel for the night and return to Pengcheng the next day.
Despite their insistence for him to stay, Chen Kangjie’s determination couldn’t be swayed. Coincidentally, A-Bing’s brother, A-Ka, and their cousin, A-Xin, also had to go to the city, so they rode two motorcycles together back to the city.
Initially, Chen Kangjie wanted to find a hotel upon arrival, but he felt it was inappropriate not to inform Li Tingyan’s family, especially since her brothers and mother treated him well. He also realized that A-Bing and the others took him
back out of good intentions, not because they wanted to, so he decided to go home first and leave for Pengcheng the next day.
Around nine or ten at night, A-Bing took him back home, had dinner, and chatted with him. They advised him not to overthink and comforted him, saying they were close and should understand each other better.
At eleven, Chen Kangjie sent A-Bing home and returned, but his girlfriend hadn't returned yet. Though his anger had slightly subsided, he couldn't shake off the disappointment. He sent a text message: "You enjoy yourself. I’m going back to Pengcheng tomorrow."
Within ten minutes, the sound of a car came from downstairs. Li Tingyan, with A-Ling, A-Yu, A-Sun, and some classmates, had returned. When she saw Chen Kangjie in his room, she avoided eye contact.
Without saying a word, Chen Kangjie stood up, washed up, and went to bed. She followed shortly after but couldn’t sleep. At midnight, he asked her to sleep on the bed, but she declined, remaining silent.
Chen Kangjie, disappointed, fell asleep. Around three in the morning, he awoke to find her still awake, crying softly. He turned on the light, sat beside her, and gently asked, "Why are you crying?"
She remained silent, tears streaming down her face.
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