Chapter 233: Han Yangting's Memories 2

"Big brother, look, this is Hudong Middle School, so I'll see you off here." The little girl waved at me and left without the slightest hesitation.

She was all alone, wearing her school uniform, her hair tied in a ponytail, skipping along; she was clearly so lonely, yet so optimistic and upbeat.

I stood at the school gate for quite a while until a security guard came out and asked me, "Who are you here to see?"

I said, "I'm looking for your principal."

"Do you know him?"

"I don't, but I want to donate a library to your school."

The guard paused, looked me up and down for a moment; he must have thought I was just putting on airs.

After a while, he said, "Alright, wait here for a moment, I'll go tell the principal."

Ten minutes later, the principal came out.

He looked at me with suspicion, not expecting me to be so young and yet so wealthy.

"You want to donate a library to the school?" he asked again to confirm.

I nodded: "Yes."

The principal asked: "May I ask who you are?"

I said: "You don't need to worry about who I am; you just tell me whether you want this library or not. If you do, my people will contact you; if not, I'll be on my way."

"Our school did have a library, but it's too old and we were just planning to tear it down and rebuild it; you've come at just the right time." The principal was still looking at me, puzzled.

"Then someone will contact you tomorrow." I said this and left.

Leaving the principal and the security guard standing there in a daze.

……

After leaving Donghu Middle School, I lived in Fengcheng for a month.

I went to the hospital to see the little girl's father and also contacted the best doctors, but they could only extend his life; there was no way to wake him up.

I also discovered that the little girl often went to see her father secretly after school, always going in with a smile and coming out with a smile.

However, when she walked to the bus stop, she would secretly wipe away tears all by herself.

From Monday to Friday, she was almost always alone.

It wasn't until the weekend that her older sister, who was in college, would come back to keep her company, and there was also a younger brother, only a few years old, who would be left for the two sisters to look after.

In front of the old house, she would patiently coax her brother to eat, chasing him around for two hours to feed him. If he wouldn't eat, she would coax him, "Huahua, do you see the fruit on the tree? If you open your mouth, the fruit will fall down."

As soon as her brother opened his mouth, she would immediately stuff food into it.

Although he had been tricked, he would still open his mouth the next time she coaxed him.

Her sister would sometimes say, "Ruoruo, if he won't eat, just let it be, there's no need to keep chasing him to feed him," but she didn't agree and still insisted on coaxing him, never tiring of it.

……

A year later, the library at Hudong Middle School was completed.

I also closed my original investment company and took over Baiyin.

During that time, I was at a turning point in my life; for one thing, I had to think about the future path for Baiyin, and for another, I wanted to take a break for a while.

Afterwards, I went to Hudong Middle School and became a librarian.

The previous library would close right after school, but I required that students be allowed to come in and read after school, closing at 8:00 PM. There was a free telephone inside the library, and students who came to read could call their parents.

Children whose parents kept a tight rein on them naturally weren't allowed to stay at the library to read; they were usually made to go home early to do their homework.

Thus, Ruoruo became a regular at the library, and she was usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Sometimes she would read inside, sometimes she would do her homework; in any case, she was very quiet.

She probably didn't remember me anymore.

At first, we maintained the relationship of a librarian and an ordinary student, not disturbing each other; later, I chatted with her intentionally or unintentionally.

She seemed a bit flattered.

She said she didn't dare talk to me usually, because so many girls talked to me, and I never paid them any mind.

Thinking about it carefully, there were indeed many girls who liked to come and ask me questions at the beginning, but my indifferent personality came out again; as long as it wasn't related to work, I wouldn't pay them any attention at all.

But I didn't expect that she wouldn't dare to talk to me either.

I asked her why she wasn't home yet when it was so late.

She said there was no one at home, and it was better to read in the library.

After a few back-and-forths, we gradually became familiar with each other.

I would have my assistant bring over food, always two boxes at a time, one for her. At first, she didn't want it, but I said I had too much and couldn't finish it.

Because I knew that after the library closed, she would just eat whatever she could find on the way home, sometimes half a bowl of porridge, sometimes half a bowl of noodles.

Every time she left after closing, I felt empty inside.

Sometimes I would also go to the playground to play basketball with the boys from their school. Although the middle school boys had started to shoot up in height, no one could beat me; a team of five, and usually only three of us were needed to challenge their whole team.

Seeing that I played basketball well, the school leadership simply had me accompany their school team to play.

After that, many girls came to watch us play, including Ruoruo.

Ruoruo was very quiet at school, always smiling faintly, holding a bottle of mineral water in her hand. I would pass by the other girls to take the mineral water from her hand to drink; she understood, and from then on, every time she came to watch the game, she would bring a bottle of mineral water.

As we became more and more familiar, I would invite her out to eat, but she didn't dare accept my favors because if I treated her, she would have to treat me next time. She said that if I had any leftovers, just letting her eat a little would be enough.

Slowly, I liked spending time with her more and more.

I liked her big eyes, I liked her smile.

One weekend evening, she came to the library with red eyes. Seeing this, I went over and asked her what was wrong.

She kept crying, saying she had gone to the hospital to see her father today and heard that he would never be able to wake up.

First she cried softly, then she sobbed loudly. I couldn't hold back, so I pulled her into my arms and stroked her head.

I don't know how much time passed before she left my embrace and looked up at me.

"Big Brother Fu Jing," she said, calling out to me.

I have been using a pseudonym here, Fu Jing, which carries the meaning of carrying thorns on one's back; I am seeking forgiveness.

"Ruoruo, what is it?"

"If a person has no father and no mother, can she still live happily?"

I stroked her hair and said to her, "Of course, as long as you are strong; you have always been a strong girl. Besides, you are not alone; you still have your sister and brother, right?"

Her eyes turned red: "But my sister is not my mother."

"But your sister loves you very much. If the two of you are all that is left in this world, then you must rely on each other to survive, so that your father and mother can be at peace."

This was the first time in my life I had ever said words to comfort someone.

It seems that from that moment on, I became better and better at comforting people; for example, when comforting the heartbroken Ling Feng, I told him that after enough heartbreaks, he would get used to it in the future.

And then Ling Feng started getting heartbroken often.

Comforting Leizi, who was being ostracized at home, I said, let them squeeze you; if you get squeezed enough, you will either erupt in silence or perish in silence.

Later, Leizi erupted, and his family didn't dare to ostracize him openly anymore, only doing so behind his back.

I also comforted my mother, telling her to find a new stepfather. But if she found a stepfather, she would only be able to split the family property in half; if she didn't, the family property would belong to both of us.

My mother looked at me in shock at the time, and she said that she had been thinking the same thing.

These days, money is much more important than men.