boyutpedia Chapter 196 Sudden Changes
Chapter 196 Sudden Changes
Back in Beijing, Zhou Yanruo was extremely busy preparing for the Lantern Festival gala on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Despite her tight schedule and exhaustion, she regularly shuttled between three places every day—home, school, and the television station.
Every night, when Zhou Yanruo is alone at home, she is overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness and longing. She becomes so sensitive that she is almost neurotic. She dares not let herself have too many thoughts, because if she does, tears will fall uncontrollably.
Late at night, she would get up and turn on her computer, hoping for a reply from Wang Jie, praying that he would be online, even if it was just a simple reply. However, Wang Jie's profile picture remained grayed out, without any activity.
She gradually increased the amount of time she spent sleeping at night. Initially, she had difficulty falling asleep and could barely sleep for six hours. Later, she would come home from the TV station exhausted and fall asleep as soon as she entered the door, not even bothering to eat. Sometimes, she could even sleep for more than ten hours straight. The alarm clock would ring for a long time in the morning to wake her up, but even so, she still felt sleep-deprived and was always yawning during the day.
Seeing her like this, the teacher repeatedly reminded her with concern: "Zhou Yanruo, you need to pay attention to rest and don't put too much pressure on yourself. This will only affect your condition and hinder your performance."
Zhou Yanruo quickly replied shyly, "Yes, thank you, teacher. I will definitely pay attention."
She also felt that something was wrong with her, but she could only talk about it and not do it.
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and finally the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month arrived.
Early in the morning, before the alarm clock rang, Zhou Yanruo woke up, something she hadn't done in a while. However, her head felt groggy, and she seemed listless and dispirited.
For Zhou Yanruo, today was definitely not a day to indulge her emotions.
Everything would wait until after the evening performance; she planned to take leave and return to Xichuan. Wang Jie had mentioned that besides Jian Zheng, he also had a classmate named Zhang Qian who worked at Sunan University. Since she couldn't contact Jian Zheng, she decided to go find Zhang Qian. She had to find out, she absolutely had to find out, why Wang Jie wasn't replying to her messages—had something happened, or did he simply want to have nothing more to do with her?
As Zhou Yanruo thought this, she quickly washed up.
Then, as usual, she turned on her computer, logged into MSN, and left a message for Wang Jie: "Today is the Lantern Festival, and I'm going to perform on TV. It's a pity you can't see it, which is your loss, you deserve it. I know you probably won't reply to me, but I just want to say, if you don't want to reply, then don't, who cares?"
Before leaving home, she called her grandmother's house to remind her not to forget to watch the Lantern Festival Gala on Beijing TV. It would start after the evening news, and she would be the first performer.
The phone rang a few times but no one answered. "So early, has Grandma already gone out?" she wondered. Then she thought, maybe Grandma went to the morning market. She would call her again when she had time at noon.
Zhou Yanruo went to the school first, and then took the TV station's shuttle bus to the studio.
With the performance approaching, today's schedule became surprisingly relaxed. After arriving at the studio, Zhou Yanruo went through the procedures as arranged by the on-site director, and was then taken to the dressing room to rest, waiting for makeup and costume changes in the afternoon.
Several young girls who had come together were very excited, chattering excitedly and vying to peek through the crack in the door at the passing guests. One of the older girls suggested, "Since we have nothing to do now, let's go check out the VIP waiting area. I heard that Sister Fei is arriving soon, and her dressing room is right behind us."
The girls responded enthusiastically. Zhou Yanruo had liked Sister Fei for many years, and it would be wonderful to meet her in person.
So she secretly slipped out with a few other girls. Just as she turned the corner in the corridor, a male teacher walking towards her called out to her: "Zhou Yanruo, you must be Zhou Yanruo."
Zhou Yanruo stopped nervously and replied softly, "Yes, I am Zhou Yanruo." Upon seeing this, the others were so frightened that they all ran away in a flash.
The male teacher said, "Then come with me, someone is looking for you."
Zhou Yanruo asked in confusion, "Who would come here to find me?"
She nodded and hummed in agreement, then followed the male teacher down to the reception hall.
Although the reception hall on the first floor was not large, Zhou Yanruo saw five people standing in the middle as soon as she entered, two of whom she recognized very well.
When the teacher in charge saw Zhou Yanruo walking over, he introduced her, "Zhou Yanruo, these are leaders from Tsinghua and Peking Universities."
Zhou Yanruo was a little confused: "Hello, boss! Are you looking for me?"
A female leader who looked familiar stepped forward and said, "Zhou Yanruo, right? I met you when I was a child, but you might not remember me. Professor Yang and I are colleagues."
Zhou Yanruo was still a little confused, and greeted softly, "Hello, Auntie!"
The female leader continued, "We've come to pick you up to go to Xichuan. The car is already waiting outside. We plan to fly there from the West Suburbs Airport."
Zhou Yanruo was confused again: "Go to Xichuan? Did my mother send you to pick me up? But I have a performance today."
The female leader explained, "It's like this, this morning, Professor Zhou and Professor Yang had an accident at the experimental center of Sunan University. The two... um, your mother and father were both injured." The female leader spoke somewhat hesitantly.
"You're injured? Where are you injured? How serious is it? Are my parents both injured?" Zhou Yanruo was so shocked by the question that she couldn't speak coherently and asked several questions in a tearful voice.
The female leader instinctively turned her face away, unsure how to respond.
At this moment, the young man who came with the female leader chimed in, "Let's go to the airport first, we're running out of time, we can talk more on the way."
Zhou Yanruo was completely stunned. She looked at her mentor and said, "Teacher, I need to ask for leave to visit my parents."
Her mentor took her hand and said, "Stop talking and hurry up and follow the school leaders."
Surrounded by a crowd, she got into the Audi waiting at the door, and the group quickly headed to the western suburbs airport. Just as they boarded the plane, it roared into the sky and took off.
Only then did Zhou Yanruo begin to confront this sudden turn of events. She turned to the female leader and asked softly, "Auntie, may I ask what kind of accident happened? How are my parents now?"
The female leader's eyes flickered, and she stammered, "We... we're not entirely clear on the specifics either. Once we get to Xichuan, someone there should be able to tell us in detail."