Chapter 92: Guardian

After the craziness, when Lü Yang wanted to say something to Yi Ya, his head felt dizzy for a long time. His body swayed a few times, and then he fell to the ground headfirst.

…

“Xiao Ya!”

Lü Yang woke up with a loud shout.

“I’m here,” said Yi Ya’s aggrieved voice. Her eyes were red from crying.

“Where is this place?” Lü Yang sat up.

“The Community Hospital… After you fainted, the Security Guard from the Residential Area helped me stop a Taxi to bring you here. Doctor Xia checked you and said you’re fine—strong as an ox—but you were exhausted and got caught in the rain. She said you just needed to sleep for a while.” Yi Ya explained to Lü Yang.

Lü Yang’s body felt sore and weak, and his head hurt a little. He leaned lazily on the bed, looking at Yi Ya, unsure of what to say to her.

“Want to scold me? Go ahead, I promise I won’t talk back.” Yi Ya could see Lü Yang was angry, but she also seemed very upset.

Lü Yang closed his eyes and said nothing. He wasn’t angry; he was trying hard to recall the earlier moment when he hugged and kissed Yi Ya. Was that moment… just a hallucination from his extreme weakness before he passed out, or did it really happen?

If it really happened, what about her sister Yi Yi?

“You meanie! Do you want to hit me? Go ahead! What does it mean when you say nothing?” Yi Ya seemed even more upset.

“Keep it down! There’s an elderly lady sleeping in the next room!” Nurse Xia Yan from the Community Hospital pushed the door open, stuck her head in, and spoke unhappily to Yi Ya and Lü Yang.

“Understood.” Yi Ya replied quietly to Xia Yan, then looked back at Lü Yang.

“Hit you? How could I do that?” Lü Yang opened his eyes and shook his head at Yi Ya.

He felt very powerless right now—not just physically, but mentally too… especially when he realized that he had always deeply loved the girl in front of him. He felt an indescribable heartache and weakness.

“Are you still mad at me?” Yi Ya asked persistently.

Looking at her expression, Lü Yang again began to doubt whether the hug and kiss at the gate of Jing’an Residential Area was just his imagination… Otherwise, wouldn’t that kiss have been enough to express everything he felt?

“No, never. Not before, and not in the future. Just… please don’t ignore my calls anymore. I would go crazy.” Lü Yang looked calmly at Yi Ya, but his heart was far from calm; it was as if he had just experienced a terrifying Mysterious Domain.

“I won’t…” Yi Ya leaned over Lü Yang and started crying again.

Lü Yang reached out and stroked Yi Ya’s wet long hair, sighing softly.

“Actually, I knew about you long before the day you saved me last year…” Yi Ya murmured from Lü Yang’s embrace.

“Oh?”

“Before that, I saw you giving up your seat to an elderly person on the bus. I saw you giving food you bought to a begging child on the street. I saw you helping people move things and push a coal cart, and then you’d always leave quietly without a word…”

“Once, you even helped Lin Yin and me carry our luggage. But you never really looked at me. You just carried the things upstairs and left, without even giving us a chance to say thank you.”

“I knew you were a good person, someone who loved life and deeply desired to be accepted by society… Last year, on this day, that night, I had already seen you nearby. That’s why I dared to yell at those two thugs who bothered me. I don’t know why… but I wasn’t scared at all… because… I knew you wouldn’t just stand by.”

“And then… you really rushed over, like a mad lion, fighting desperately to protect its young… not caring about anything…”

“You were stabbed three times, covered in blood…”

“Even then, you just urged me to hurry back into the Residential Area, telling me not to go out late at night, not caring that your clothes were soaked red with blood… until you passed out from blood loss on the ground…”

Yi Ya cried again, sobbing uncontrollably. The scene from a year ago appeared vividly before her eyes.

“I remember that night too. I wasn’t completely unconscious, just very dizzy… After you called the ambulance and they took me to the hospital, I could hear you begging the doctors, pleading with them to save my life. Later, when the doctor said my injuries weren’t fatal and that I was strong and would be fine, you still stayed by my side all night. Even though the stab wounds hurt badly, looking at you, my heart felt warm and sweet…” Lü Yang also remembered that night clearly.

For the first time in his life, a girl was worried and crying for him—and such a beautiful girl at that.

Usually, he only watched her from afar, but that night, she cried for him and guarded him.

“But you kept telling me to go back, insisting I take a Taxi and call a classmate to come down and meet me. When I refused to leave, you even pulled out a bloody bill from your pocket, saying it was for the taxi fare… I thought then, how could you be so foolish? If I were to find a boyfriend, I definitely wouldn’t pick someone as silly as you…”

“Xiao Ya, you may seem cold, but you have a kind heart. That night in the hospital, I never expected you to stay and watch over me… Once before, someone snatched a purse on the street. I chased them for two blocks and got the purse back, but I got stabbed in the process. When I returned the purse to the Woman, clutching my bleeding wound, she just grabbed it and walked away without even saying thank you.”

“Isn’t that too unfair to you?”

“Unfair? But then I met you, didn’t I? For a Migrant Worker like me, who came to the city to make a living, to have the chance to guard an angel like you for a whole year—it’s all been worth it. If I could go back to that night last year, I would still rush over without hesitation.” Lü Yang smiled as he looked at Yi Ya.

Whether it was worth it or not… Lü Yang had never really thought about it. He only knew that, though the city never accepted him and its residents never welcomed him, many Migrant Worker brothers he knew would step up in such moments. Even if they got hurt, they wouldn’t complain; they’d just return to some corner of the city after sunset, licking their wounds alone.

When the sun rose the next day, they would bear the pain and set out from all corners of the city, full of hope, searching for every work opportunity—not for dreams, but for survival and for the city’s acceptance.

…

Yi Ya had never talked to Lü Yang as much as she did tonight. She had also never realized until tonight that Lü Yang, who seemed silly and careless, was actually so thoughtful and deep inside.

Yi Ya talked, laughed, cried, and reminisced. Lü Yang watched her talk, watched her laugh, watched her cry, and shared the memories with her…

The distance between their hearts drew close once more. Across past and present lives, two hearts that had long been searching—for their own support or sense of belonging among strangers—only after meeting last year on this day, after getting to know each other, and after a year of knowing each other, did they vaguely understand what they were truly looking for…

Was it love? Or the happiness they had promised each other?

Unnoticed, dawn began to break. At some point, Yi Ya stopped reminiscing, leaned against Lü Yang’s chest, and fell into a deep sleep.

Lü Yang didn’t sleep. He sat perfectly still, afraid of waking the angel in his arms. His heart had never felt so pure, and his sense of happiness had never been so strong before.

What he wanted to guard was not just her, but also the love that belonged to him.

Even if it cost him his life.