Chapter 1241: Night Rain Sounds Annoying (Part 2)

PS: See the previous chapter's author's note for the recap.

Main text:

"Why? I've already been so forbearing, why won't you still let me go!"

Xia Qing's hysterical roar kept lingering in Lin Sheng's mind.

He had never seen such a look; it was like a beast driven into a desperate situation, filled with despair, madness, and indignation, shocking to the eye.

Lin Sheng urgently learned about Xia Qing from his classmates and finally understood what had happened to her two months ago.

It turned out that the person sitting in his current seat was a beast named Zhao Yunjie, who had been pestering Xia Qing for half a year but had been rejected the whole time.

However, on the day the summer vacation started, this beast succeeded.

The classmates didn't say anything more about what happened next, and Lin Sheng had already guessed the answer.

Currently, that beast was still being detained, but it was said that there was insufficient evidence and he would be released before long.

Insufficient evidence? Hearing this familiar term, Lin Sheng felt an unspeakable sadness surge in his heart; at this moment, he and Xia Qing shared a feeling of mutual pity.

"I should do something..."

Lin Sheng said this in his heart.

Returning home that night, he didn't lock himself away as usual but sat in the living room.

His foster mother saw him and showed a surprised look, coming over to ask after him.

Lin Sheng had lost his parents since he was a child and was raised by his foster father Ma Weiguo and foster mother Li Mei.

Like many families in the world, the mother was gentle and loving, and would more or less dote on the child.

The father, however, had a short temper and was not good at communication, but was very good at "stick education," so his relationship with his rebellious son was very tense.

A while ago, Lin Sheng was ordered to drop out of school for fighting, and Ma Weiguo tied him to the coconut tree outside the door and whipped him for an entire afternoon.

After that, Lin Sheng refused to say another word to his foster father; whenever Ma Weiguo came home, Lin Sheng would immediately lock himself in his room, refusing to come out even if he was starving.

Li Mei, caught in the middle, was so worried she couldn't eat or sleep, and even asked her husband to say a few soft words.

And Ma Weiguo's answer was: "If he doesn't eat, let him starve; if he starves to death, so be it!"

The house was only so big, so Lin Sheng heard this angry remark clearly, and thus the father and son began to butt heads.

But today, Lin Sheng suddenly didn't hide in his room; Li Mei thought her son had finally come to his senses, so happy that tears flew, and even said she would go out to buy meat and make a big meal tonight.

Not long after Li Mei left, Ma Weiguo came home from work.

Compared to when he arrested Zhao Yunjie two months ago, Ma Weiguo's image was much worse.

His face was covered in thick stubble, his dark circles were large and deep, and his brow was full of worry.

But his eyes were still firm and spirited, clearly knowing what he needed to do, how he should do it, and he would not compromise because of any pressure.

After entering the house, Ma Weiguo saw his son sitting on the sofa and was clearly stunned for a moment.

Then he pretended not to care and started changing his shoes, asking in a deep voice: "Not hiding from your old man in your dog kennel anymore?"

"I have something to ask you." Lin Sheng's tone was also very stiff; although the father and son had no blood relationship, their tempers were equally foul.

"Do you know Xia Qing?" Lin Sheng continued to ask.

Ma Weiguo frowned: "Why are you asking about this?"

"She is my deskmate; she was beaten by Zhao Yongjie's girlfriend today and is currently reflecting at home."

"She is a very good person; she was bullied for a long time and no one helped her, but this time she resisted and was still punished to reflect at home."

Lin Sheng said to himself, his voice sounding very low.

"Did you help?" Ma Weiguo asked.

Lin Sheng immediately replied: "Yes, but just as I walked over, Xia Qing had already solved it herself; the woman who bullied her was disfigured and sent to the hospital."

Ma Weiguo was silent for a while and said: "If that's the case, then letting her go home to reflect is actually protecting her."

Lin Sheng shouted angrily: "But it was clearly Li Wei and the others who were in the wrong first, Xia Qing was just resisting."

"Do you have evidence?" Ma Weiguo questioned with an equally loud voice.

"So if those people beat me, I have to take the beating without fighting back to have evidence?" Lin Sheng clearly wasn't talking about Xia Qing this time, but the grievances he had suffered himself.

As a police officer, Ma Weiguo certainly couldn't act on impulse; everything had to be rational and based on evidence.

And this was exactly where the conflict between father and son lay.

Lin Sheng didn't get the answer he wanted from Ma Weiguo this time, so he decided to find Xia Qing himself.

Before Xia Qing's incident, she had a few good friends in class who knew where she lived, so Lin Sheng didn't spend much effort finding Xia Qing's address.

Xia Qing's home was located against a mountain; behind the mountain was the sea, to the left of the mountain was the sea, and to the right of the mountain was also the sea; walking in the woods, one could even hear the sound of waves breaking.

Lin Sheng arrived at Xia Qing's house and gently pressed the doorbell.

However, the person who opened the door was a skinny old man who looked at Lin Sheng with a cold face and said guardedly: "Who are you looking for?"

"I am Xia Qing's deskmate." Lin Sheng said, taking a book out of his schoolbag, "The teacher is worried Xia Qing will fall behind in knowledge points, so he asked me to bring the notes over and explain the points she doesn't understand."

To make this lie sound convincing, Lin Sheng had listened to the lecture and taken notes more seriously than anyone else today.

And when Xia Qing's grandfather heard that Lin Sheng came for this, his expression became amiable; he invited Lin Sheng into the courtyard and then turned to call Xia Qing.

After about half a minute, Xia Qing came.

She was wearing a white pleated skirt at home, as pure as a lily; Lin Sheng couldn't tell if the fragrance floating in the air came from the orchids in the courtyard or from Xia Qing.

He was stunned, his heartbeat even skipping a beat.

This young boy's heart had never throbbed like this before; many unclear and unspeakable words appeared in his mind.

Lin Sheng wanted to say these things out loud, but found he couldn't organize them at all, let alone say them.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, and Lin Sheng raised the notebook in his hand: "These are the notes I took today, but the handwriting is a bit ugly."

"Thank you." Xia Qing took the notebook, as gentle as a summer breeze.

Then, Lin Sheng naturally stayed behind, using the knowledge he had only learned for one day to explain things to Xia Qing.

During this time, he almost slipped up several times, but fortunately, he used his wits to smooth things over.

For the next half month, Lin Sheng came to deliver notes to Xia Qing every day.

At first, their topics were only about studying, but as they became familiar with each other, they started talking about other things.

However, Lin Sheng didn't mention a single word about Xia Qing's past.

During this period, Lin Sheng also got along very well with Xia Qing's grandfather, Xia An.

This skinny old man was as gentle and kind as his granddaughter Xia Qing, and he was also timid; killing a chicken would turn into a chaotic mess.

Xia An asked Lin Sheng to help hold it down, but Lin Sheng had never killed a chicken either, and was so scared on the side that his hands were shaking.

As a result, the old man gritted his teeth and made a cut; the chicken was in so much pain it immediately broke free and started flapping around, blood splashing all over the courtyard; anyone who didn't know would have thought it was a crime scene.

Xia Qing watched the old and young pair of clowns on the side, laughing until tears were almost coming out.

Besides cooking for Xia Qing, the old man usually spent his time building a road on the mountain.

There was originally no road from the foot of the mountain to the top, and few people went there, but the old man had been building the road for many years, and now it was only a little bit away from the top.

Lin Sheng didn't understand and asked Xia Qing for the reason.

Xia Qing told him that many years ago, her grandmother went missing on this mountain.

Her grandfather was afraid that if her grandmother came back one day, she wouldn't find the way home on the mountain, so he built this road.

Xia Qing also said that the place where her grandparents fell in love was also at the top of this mountain.

It was a forest full of fireflies; at night, the stars in the sky and the fireflies on the ground were very, very beautiful.

However, Lin Sheng and Xia Qing once specifically waited in the forest until midnight, but didn't see any so-called fireflies.

Half a month later, Xia Qing received notice to return to school because there was going to be an exam.

Lin Sheng was full of confidence for this exam because the most diligent time in his life was these recent days, and his grades would definitely improve.

After the exam, he took a look and found that there was indeed great progress.

Then he ran over excitedly to ask Xia Qing how she did, and was told by Xia Qing with a smile that she had taken first place in the class this time.

Then Lin Sheng blushed, so ashamed he wanted to find a hole to crawl into on the spot.

A poor student acting like a teacher for half a month for a top student was simply a huge joke.

"So why didn't you expose me?"

Lin Sheng asked with his head down.

"That day, you came to the restroom not to see me make a fool of myself, right?" Xia Qing asked faintly.

Lin Sheng immediately replied: "Of course not, I wanted to help you!"

Xia Qing smiled brightly: "Among so many classmates, you are the only one who wanted to help me; everyone else avoided me."

Some things only need a look or an action to be confirmed.

No need to say anything more; Lin Sheng already understood everything.

However, the happy days only lasted for such a short time; sadness was the main theme for the two of them.

After school, Lin Sheng said goodbye to Xia Qing as usual, preparing to go home for dinner.

However, he was suddenly attacked by a group of people.

Lin Sheng immediately recognized the identities of these people.

As mentioned before, Lin Sheng's father was a murderer who killed a construction foreman.

And that construction foreman's son was among the group attacking him.

Before transferring schools, this person had often caused him trouble; he didn't expect that after transferring, he would find him again.

Lin Sheng naturally started fighting with them, but two fists were no match for four hands.

Just when other classmates were watching, a girl came to his aid; it was Xia Qing, who had returned.

She swung a wooden stick, trying hard to hit those who were attacking Lin Sheng.

But she was no match for these people and was soon pushed to the ground.

Xia Qing originally wanted to crawl up and fight again, but felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and fresh blood flowed from between her legs.

Now everyone looked at her, their expressions at a loss.

Xia Qing was soon sent to the hospital; the doctor told her the baby couldn't be saved and could only perform surgery to induce labor, and asked Lin Sheng if he was the father.

Xia Qing shook her head to deny it, but Lin Sheng answered yes.

This made Xia Qing very angry, asking him why he would admit to something he didn't do.

Lin Sheng didn't answer, just told the doctor to hurry and perform the surgery on Xia Qing.

Soon Xia Qing came out of the operating room, and Lin Sheng followed her into the ward.

The two sat opposite each other, saying nothing.

After a while, Xia Qing broke the silence: "Aren't you curious where this child came from?"

Lin Sheng smiled gently: "Actually, I knew a long time ago, but I don't care about your past."

"No, I care." Xia Qing squeezed the bed sheet, "I will never forget those few days; it's like a wound deep to the bone, seeping blood with every breath you take; it will continue to torture you in the past, present, and future, never healing for a lifetime."

Lin Sheng clenched his fists, his eyes revealing infinite loneliness; he didn't even know how to start comforting her.

"I used to think so." Xia Qing suddenly added, "Until I met you, which let me see the hope of the wound healing, so, thank you very much."

After opening up, Lin Sheng told Xia Qing his story.

When he was young, his parents were workers at a construction site.

After working for a year, the construction foreman refused to pay their wages.

Lin Sheng's mother went to ask for the wages, but was beaten to death by the foreman's henchmen.

As a result, because of insufficient evidence, only those henchmen were punished, and the foreman only paid some money.

To take revenge, Lin Sheng's father stabbed the foreman and one of the henchmen to death and was sentenced to death himself.

After losing his parents, Lin Sheng was adopted by Ma Weiguo, who was in charge of the case.

Since he was a child, he grew up with the infamy of being a murderer's son and was often bullied, especially by that construction foreman's son.

The beating that happened today had often happened before.

This was also the reason Lin Sheng hung out on the streets.

In a sense, Lin Sheng and Xia Qing both had the same fate, tasting the same pain.

So two wounded souls could trust each other like love at first sight and huddle together for warmth.

Not long after, Xia Qing was discharged from the hospital.

Although she didn't want the child, those people causing her miscarriage was a very serious crime, and everyone had to go to jail.

However, if they could get her forgiveness, it would be possible to strive for a suspended sentence.

Facing the pleas of these people and their families, Xia Qing said she could forgive them, but on the condition that they wouldn't go looking for trouble with Lin Sheng in the future; he hadn't hurt them.

These people naturally agreed to Xia Qing's request, and their grudge with Lin Sheng was wiped clean.

However, on the other side, Li Wei publicized Xia Qing's miscarriage and slandered her maliciously, just to ruin her reputation.

At the same time, because of insufficient evidence, Zhao Yunjie was about to be released.

Blow after blow struck Xia Qing, and the strange looks and gossip from the people around her made her almost unable to cope. ===== CHAPTER 1242 =====