22. Back from the Brink

Two days had already passed since returning to school, and not for a single moment had Wen Mingjuan's mood settled. Consciously or not, she kept thinking of Gao Weizhao. Tao Muwei too had grown noticeably quieter lately; he seemed to sense something, to understand what was in his little uncle's heart — that he was in love with Teacher Wen, and that was why he'd been willing to sacrifice himself to protect her. He didn't blame Teacher Wen in the slightest; instead he often came by to comfort her, telling Wen Mingjuan not to be so hard on herself.

Only Wen Mingjuan simply couldn't stop blaming herself, no matter what. How could she not blame herself? If not for her, Gao Weizhao would still be safe and sound at Tao Muwei's house, maybe with his legs crossed watching television, or maybe leisurely smoking a cigarette, enjoying life... In any case, he would never have ended up at Tulong's mercy, left to be slaughtered like an animal.

Now not only had Lan Yunmei failed to come home, but Gao Weizhao had been dragged down along with her. She had no reason to forgive herself.

These past few days, Wen Mingjuan's once sunny face hadn't managed even the faintest hint of a smile. Aside from giving the principal and Zhang Tingyu a rough outline of what happened, she didn't want to say much more about anything else. She genuinely didn't know how she could possibly just brush this off, let alone forget it entirely.

She couldn't.

She couldn't forget any of this.

Was she truly destined to owe Gao Weizhao a debt for the rest of her life, with no chance to ever repay it?

Her colleagues tactfully avoided bringing up the matter in front of Wen Mingjuan; when they passed by her, they'd just pat her shoulder, a small gesture of comfort.

As for this outcome — who could possibly say anything more?

Lin Yitan had gone quiet this time too, but beneath that quiet exterior his heart was churning with turmoil. He'd long sensed the feelings Gao Weizhao held for Wen Mingjuan, but he never imagined it would end up like this.

What was he supposed to do now?

If it hadn't been for Gao Weizhao, how could Wen Mingjuan have possibly come through unscathed?

To resolutely put his own life on the line to protect Wen Mingjuan — even he had to admit that kind of love put him to shame. There was an indescribable bitterness in his heart.

So he chose silence, just as everyone else had chosen silence.

* * *

After finishing her first class, Wen Mingjuan dragged her hunched, weary body back to the office in a shuffling gait. She'd barely settled into her seat when Lai Chunxiang slipped her today's morning paper.

"Take a look at this!" Lai Chunxiang circled a section in red pen so Wen Mingjuan could see it clearly.

In bold, eye-catching letters, the headline read: "Massive Gang Warfare Erupts, Reportedly to Rescue a Young Successor — All-Out Defensive Battle Waged Regardless of Cost, Massive Police Force Mobilized Before Dawn to Sweep the Capital..."

"Is this Gao Weizhao?" Lai Chunxiang asked in a hushed voice.

"What's a 'young successor'?" Lai Chunxiang stared at her, utterly bewildered.

"Don't jump to conclusions — this report isn't necessarily even about Gao Weizhao." Wen Mingjuan said quietly.

The description under the headline was rather sparse; she wasn't even familiar with the Taipei districts and street names mentioned, and she had no way of telling from the article whether it had anything to do with Gao Weizhao and Tulong.

Besides, gang warfare was the last thing Gao Weizhao would want to see happen.

In the past, if she'd seen a report like this, she would have cursed a blue streak, denouncing these social dregs for disturbing the peace. But now, she found she didn't want to curse them at all — she even found herself harboring a faint, unspoken hope that it truly was Gao Weizhao's brothers, having learned of his situation, going to rescue him.

Such a change even startled her.

* * *

The next day, sixth period, Wen Mingjuan was teaching her own homeroom class. The gloom that had followed her these past several days had deeply affected the whole class. Of course, this was also because Lan Yunmei's disappearance, now nearly two weeks with no word, and the grim prospects for Tao Muwei's little uncle, were both matters closely tied to this very classroom. So the air in the room always felt especially heavy; no one could joke around like they used to — it was somber and quiet. Apart from Wen Mingjuan's lecturing and her occasional coughing, you'd hardly know there were dozens of students present in this classroom.

She had just filled up an entire blackboard and picked up the eraser to wipe it clean when a sudden commotion broke out among the students below.

"Teacher..."

From dead silence to sudden uproar — this abrupt shift made Wen Mingjuan spin around at once to see what was happening.

"Little Blueberry... it's Little Blueberry, she's back."

Cries of astonishment rippled through the once-quiet school one after another, so much so that the classes next door were affected too, breaking out into noisy chatter of their own.

"Little Blueberry?" Wen Mingjuan practically froze on the spot. Was she dreaming? It really was Little Blueberry! She was running toward the classroom from down the central corridor.

"Teacher." Little Blueberry's joyful shout had already stirred up the whole row of classrooms; heads poked out from every window to watch.

"I'm back, I wanted to let you know I'm safe, Teacher." Lan Yunmei "called out" to Wen Mingjuan even as she ran and cried at the same time.

"I'm sorry, I made you all worry." She threw herself into Wen Mingjuan's arms, sobbing.

"As long as you're back, that's all that matters..." Wen Mingjuan held Lan Yunmei close — this was her precious treasure whom she had very nearly lost — and asked anxiously, "Did they do anything to you?"

By now the rest of the class had gathered around too, all thrilled and excited to welcome her safe return.

"Getting beaten up is nothing, and they gave me two shots, but I'm fine." Though tears still ran down Lan Yunmei's face, her mood was oddly calm. "Just two shots, no big deal — whatever I felt, I just gritted my teeth and it passed."

"Teacher! I'll never run off recklessly again. From now on, whatever's on my mind, I'll talk it over with my dad first before I do anything, I won't be so stubborn and impulsive anymore."

"You've grown up." Hearing Lan Yunmei's heartfelt words, Wen Mingjuan too felt a wave of comfort. After this ordeal, the child had matured a great deal.

Only the tuition for that lesson hadn't come cheap.

Because her mother had moved, the only address Lan Yunmei had was her mother's old one. Not knowing this, she'd gone up to Taipei full of hope to find her mother, only to come up empty-handed. Unwilling to just go home empty-handed after that, she'd wandered aimlessly into Ximending, where some of Tulong's men had struck up a conversation with her. Naive as she was, it hadn't taken more than a few words before they'd wormed out of her that she was a kid from down south with no connections and no backing. With her innocent, guileless manner, she'd easily believed what they told her: they'd help her find a job first, earn a bit of money, and that would let her stay on in Taipei to keep searching for her mother.

They'd spun quite the elaborate tale, and it was enough to convince Lan Yunmei — a girl who only knew how to study and had no idea how treacherous people's hearts could be — and she'd gone along with them just like that. It was only once she met Tulong that she realized something was very wrong, but by then it was already too late.

"But..." Suddenly remembering something, Wen Mingjuan looked at Lan Yunmei in confusion. "How did you manage to escape?"

This was an important question — with just Lan Yunmei's own feeble strength alone, there was no way she could have easily gotten free. Otherwise, Gao Weizhao wouldn't have ended up paying the price too.

"Yeah, exactly!" Her classmates voiced the same doubt.

"It was Uncle Wei!" Lan Yunmei's face suddenly lit up, and she broke into tears of joy.

"What did you say?" The moment Lan Yunmei said "Uncle Wei," Wen Mingjuan's heart felt as if struck by lightning, her head buzzing with a ringing sound.

"Uncle Wei?" She could hardly believe it — she thought she must have misheard. "He couldn't even protect himself, how could he possibly save you?"

"It's true." Lan Yunmei's eyes shone with a bright light as she spoke. "Uncle Wei was covered in wounds, but there were a bunch of other uncles protecting him. Uncle Wei insisted on bringing me along, and through all the gunfire, he kept reassuring me the whole time. If it weren't for him, I would've gone crazy with fear."

"A few uncles with submachine guns covered our retreat, and let Uncle Wei take me and go first."

Just hearing this much, tears had already welled up in Wen Mingjuan's astonished eyes.

"Are you saying Gao Weizhao is still alive? He's... he's really alive and well?" Her voice caught with emotion.

"Of course." Lan Yunmei said firmly.

So the newspaper really had been about Gao Weizhao after all.

Wen Mingjuan mulled this over in her mind.

"It's because he promised you, Teacher, that he'd get me out safe, so Uncle Wei went and rescued me no matter what it cost him!"

Gao Weizhao had said that?

Had he really said that?

In this moment, Wen Mingjuan's heart was a tangle of a hundred conflicting feelings.

"So... where's Uncle Wei now?" Wen Mingjuan grabbed Lan Yunmei's shoulders, unable to wait another second.

"Yeah! Where's my little uncle?" Tao Muwei jumped in too, both shocked and thrilled to learn his uncle was safe and sound.

"He's the one who brought me back to school — he's right at the front gate." Lan Yunmei smiled. "Uncle Wei said he wants to hand me back to you in person, Teacher!"

"Hand you back in person?" Wen Mingjuan blinked, staring blankly at Lan Yunmei. "What does that mean?"

"Our homeroom teacher's really being dense here!" The students began laughing and clamoring one after another, the gloom of the past few days swept away entirely; they'd instantly returned to their usual giggly, playful selves.

"You don't get it either?"

Tao Muwei gave Wen Mingjuan a firm push, saying slyly, "Go on! My little uncle asked for you by name, aren't you going to hurry up?" He paused, then added, "He comes back and doesn't even come see me first. Hmph! I'm jealous!"

"Teacher, hurry up and go! We'll be good, don't worry about us, it's fine, go, go, go!" The students waved their hands, egging each other on, urging Wen Mingjuan to rush to the front gate for her meeting with Gao Weizhao.

Had Gao Weizhao really made it back safely?

Wen Mingjuan couldn't even begin to describe what she was feeling right now.

Even though it was class time, she no longer cared. Who cared whether class was in session or not right now? In this moment, all Wen Mingjuan wanted was to fly straight to Gao Weizhao's side.

Her feet moved on their own; Wen Mingjuan ran urgently, cutting across the central corridor, dashing past the flower-bed plaza, the image she'd carried with her day and night was now taking shape as a real person waiting for her not far away. She had never felt anything like this before — such an intense longing to see someone.