Chapter 122: The Heart-Wrenching Su Qianqian

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The Heart-Wrenching Su Qianqian

Gu Yizhou paid and got out of the car.

He walked straight into the hospital.

There weren’t many people in the hospital at this hour. Gu Yizhou took the elevator to Room 305, where Su Qianqian was staying.

When he reached the door, Gu Yizhou suddenly stopped in his tracks...

Because he could hear Su Qianqian’s voice coming from inside the room.

Her voice was loud, as if she were arguing with someone.

Gu Yizhou looked through the small glass window on the door and saw Su Qianqian on the phone.

Her face was flushed red, and she was extremely agitated!

Gu Yizhou didn’t go in right away.

He stood by the door.

He decided to wait for Su Qianqian to finish her call before going in.

He waited.

For a good ten minutes or so...

Before the sound of arguing inside finally subsided.

However, though the arguing had stopped, it was replaced by the sound of weeping.

Through the window on the door, Gu Yizhou saw Su Qianqian inside, hugging her knees and sobbing.

It was a picture of utter desolation and grief.

Something stirred in Gu Yizhou’s heart.

"Haaaah..."

He took a deep breath.

He knocked gently on the room door.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK..."

"Classmate Su, it’s me..."

he said softly.

He knocked out of politeness, wanting to give Su Qianqian time to compose herself. After all, no one would want someone else to witness such an embarrassing moment.

Inside the room, Su Qianqian was indeed startled by the sound of knocking.

It snapped her out of her weeping, and then she heard Gu Yizhou’s voice.

She froze for a moment.

She hadn’t expected Gu Yizhou to come at this hour, so she hurriedly wiped the tears from her face.

"Please... p-please come in."

Su Qianqian said, trying her best to make her voice sound calm.

"CLICK~"

Gu Yizhou opened the room door and walked in.

"Yizhou... What... what are you doing here?"

Su Qianqian asked, flustered and surprised.

She turned her head aside, trying her best not to let Gu Yizhou see her tear-reddened eyes.

Gu Yizhou pretended not to see her red and swollen eyes.

"I heard you were hospitalized, so I came to see how you were doing."

Gu Yizhou said after a moment of hesitation.

"I... I’m fine. I probably just ate something I shouldn’t have. It’s acute gastroenteritis."

"It’s already very late. You should go home and get some rest. You have work tomorrow!"

Su Qianqian said softly.

"Uh..."

Gu Yizhou paused for a moment. The image of Su Qianqian hugging her knees suddenly surfaced in his mind.

In that instant, he made a decision.

"It’s alright. I’ll stay here with you tonight."

Gu Yizhou shook his head and said softly.

"Huh?"

Su Qianqian froze for a moment.

She slowly lifted her head to look at Gu Yizhou, completely forgetting that she didn’t want him to see her red, swollen eyes.

She was so shocked that it slipped her mind entirely.

"Yizhou, you... you’re going to stay here with me?"

Su Qianqian asked, finding it hard to believe.

Seeing Su Qianqian looking at him with her large, slightly swollen eyes, Gu Yizhou nodded gently. "Mhm... I’m staying with you tonight."

For a moment, Su Qianqian was at a loss for words.

’Could it be that this blockhead, Gu Yizhou, has finally gotten a clue?’

Just as her mind was racing, Gu Yizhou spoke softly, "Classmate Su."

"Hm??"

Su Qianqian tilted her head up to look at Gu Yizhou, a confused expression on her face.

"Um... I want to ask you something."

Gu Yizhou said.

"What is it?"

Her eyes were still a little red and swollen as she asked with a puzzled look.

"Um... just now, outside the room, I heard you arguing with someone on the phone?"

After some thought, Gu Yizhou decided to just ask directly.

He figured that if Su Qianqian was in some kind of trouble, he should help if he could.

After all, they had known each other for a long time; at this point, they could be considered friends.

Silence...

After hearing Gu Yizhou’s question, Su Qianqian fell silent.

Perhaps she was debating whether to say anything, or perhaps she was hesitating, trying to figure out how to say it.

After a long moment...

"It was my... mom."

Su Qianqian suddenly said.

"Huh??"

Gu Yizhou looked confused.

He thought for a moment, then said, "Why would you suddenly get into an argument with your mom? Is there some kind of trouble? You can tell me. Maybe I can help you."

"I..."

Su Qianqian didn’t answer Gu Yizhou’s question directly.

Instead, she began to speak softly, as if to herself. "My family is from a small mountain village in Sichuan Province. My parents weren’t educated; they made a living as farmers."

"They had suffered the hardships of being uneducated their whole lives, so they knew that for a child from the village, the only way to leave those mountains behind was to study hard. There was no other choice!"

"So my parents were very strict with me from a young age, always pushing me to study hard."

"But, the year I started junior high, my mother’s health gave out from overwork, and she passed away..."

Hearing this, Gu Yizhou suddenly felt a pang of confusion.

’Her mother passed away...’

’Then who was Qianqian talking about just now???’

But this time, Gu Yizhou didn’t interrupt.

He listened on, still puzzled.

"During my first year of high school, my dad felt it was too hard to raise me on his own."

"So, through an introduction, he remarried!"

Hearing this, it all clicked for Gu Yizhou!

’So the "mom" Qianqian mentioned earlier was her stepmother...’

Su Qianqian didn’t pause, continuing, "The year after my dad remarried, my stepmother gave birth to a younger brother."

"Our family wasn’t well off, so during my senior year of high school, my stepmother wanted me to drop out to save the family money."

"She wanted to build a new house for the family."

"I refused, and my dad refused as well..."

"My stepmother fought with my father constantly over it."

"After that, during my senior year, I never went home except for the Spring Festival!"

"I spent my time after school, on weekends, and during holidays working part-time jobs."

"After the college entrance exams, but before I got my acceptance letter, my stepmother kept trying to convince me to give up on college, saying it was useless for a girl to get so much education..."

"She even arranged a blind date for me with a man more than ten years my senior. She wanted to marry me off quickly so she could collect a bride price to save for my younger brother’s future wedding."

"When my dad found out, he had another huge fight with her."

"Of course, I didn’t go along with her plan. After I got my acceptance letter, my dad gave me money for tuition, and I came to Modu early by myself. Once I got here, I found a part-time job at a bubble tea shop and worked there until the semester started."

"She called just now... She said she’s arranged another blind date for me and that I have to go back in the next couple of days. It’s with a wealthy fruit farmer from our county. The man is almost as old as my father. She kept going on about how rich he is, what a great catch he is... She even said the age difference doesn’t matter because once the man dies, everything he has will be mine..."

"I was already in a bad mood today because I suddenly felt sick and ended up in the hospital, so I couldn’t stop myself from arguing with her..."

Su Qianqian recounted this entire story in a very flat tone.

As if she were talking about something trivial and unimportant that had nothing to do with her.

After Gu Yizhou finished listening.

But his heart was stirred, ripples of emotion spreading within him...