Ning Yi closed his eyes and exhaled deeply a few times before he mustered up the courage to open the box.

Unlike her unusual reaction, the box was not anything special, but a stack of letters.

Two stacks, to be exact.

A stack of letters wrapped in fine envelope paper with the sender Zhou Xiaozhi and the receiver Ning Yi.

At that time, although Ning Yi was not personally supervised by Yu Xueshen, she was also monitored by a special person: every place she went, every payment she made, including every letter she sent, would be strictly checked. These situations will be reported to him.

Therefore, most of them took the initiative to send her letters, but she rarely replied.

The letters are well kept, but they are noticeably older than the other stacks.

That's because Ning Yi used to flip through it often, and in those dim years, it was almost the only thing that supported her.

She casually chose the letter and opened it, and Xiaozhi's familiar handwriting came into view-

September 2nd.

Gardenia, how are you doing? Yesterday the Sens Academy had started school and I had already started classes. Sens is the school I've been looking forward to for so long, it's so beautiful inside! It was so big and spacious, I almost got lost. The canteen is also clean and bright, and there are five floors, but the price is too expensive.

September 15th.

Gardenia, how are you doing? Yesterday the results of the first exam of our class came down, and I finally got the first place after so much hard work, you must be studying hard to live an active life, right? Because didn't we agree that we would maintain good grades together in the future and get a place sent abroad by the school? We all have to work hard.

October 20th.

Gardenia, how are you doing? I read the weather forecast in your city, it will cool down the day after tomorrow, you remember to add more clothes to avoid getting sick and catching a cold.

……

Ning Yi looked at these letters that he had read countless times with great concentration, and suddenly as if he couldn't bear it, he covered his face and whimpered softly, full of self-blame.

Why...... I didn't realize it at that time?

From a letter every half a month at the beginning, to a letter every month later, Xiaozhi no longer mentions school life as frequently as at the beginning.

If...... If she had discovered these doubts earlier, wouldn't she have been able to save them?

It took a long time for her to turn her gaze to another stack of letters.

The letter was only wrapped in plain wrapper, and the sender and recipient were not written on it.

It was a letter that Twig wanted to send but didn't.

It was she who got the bad news and came back, and went to Xiaozhi's house, which had been empty, to get it back.

Ning Yi recalled the shock and anger of the first time he read these letters, and his fingers trembled slightly uncontrollably.

She opened the letters, and the messy handwriting inside was wrapped in painful and desperate memories, and they flooded her up—

"I don't dare to tell anyone, I don't dare to tell my mother, she has a bad heart, and those people, we can't afford to mess with, I don't dare to say to Xiao Yu, she will definitely come back desperately if she knows, and she will definitely be punished by her stepfather again, I can't be so selfish......"

“…… They locked me in the toilet again, my knee hurt so much, and my mother almost found out when I got back from school. ”

"Why, why did you do this to me, I really don't know what I did wrong, was it because I was too fat and had an ordinary family? It's useless to keep apologizing and begging them......"

The humiliation and torture suffered by Xiaozhi are basically restored in these long and repetitive letters-

The summer vacation before she entered the Academy of Saints, and the summer when she was forced to separate from Ning Yu, fell seriously ill.

Xiaozhi, who frequently eats hormone-containing drugs and gains weight, was brutally bullied by Fang Mingzhu and Jiang Yuan because of his status as a special enrollment.

Tearing up her books, smearing red ink on her chair, forcing her to participate in a scarred "punching bag" after school, and driving the class to put "dead fat pig" and "ugly and fat" notes behind her back......

The smile faded from her face, and she began to become too silent, not daring to look into other people's eyes when she walked......

Ning Yi pinched the thin letter paper, and the painful and messy handwriting on it suddenly changed a little-

"I seem to like a person a little bit."

That person was none other than Gu Huai.

A person who is diametrically opposed to the bullied Zhou Xiaozhi, he is handsome and cold, with a respectful identity, and always stays quietly in the studio that belongs to him alone.

He was also one of the few who did not participate in the ridicule and isolation of her.

Perhaps it was envy, or looking for emotional sustenance, Xiaozhi began to secretly observe him.

She never dared to say a word to him, but she was satisfied when she watched from afar.

It was the only light she had created for herself in the years of violence and bullying.

But some people are unwilling to let her go, and they don't even leave her this last bit of light.

Her secret was discovered.

Lu Jiming called her out of the classroom and asked her if she liked Gu Huai.

Just when she thought she would be attacked more violently, Lu Jiming suddenly laughed.

He told her gently and patiently that he had always been sympathetic to her plight and that he wanted to help her.

"Love is something to say, isn't it?"

Twig's courage had been worn out by a series of devastation, and she shook her head, indicating that she didn't dare.

Lu Jiming was kind and tempting: "Since you don't dare to go in person, then write a letter, and I will help you send it to him." ”

He chuckled and was gentle: "Just take it as if I made it up to you, and...... This is a rare opportunity, and you don't want to leave regrets, do you? ”

"It doesn't matter if you fail, because I handed it over, and if you refuse, I will convey it."

Under his constant persuasion, the twig faltered.

It was the light she had been looking up to and enviing, and she ...... Want to give it a try.

She wrote a letter according to Lu Jiming's words, and then handed it to him for him to pass it on.

Frankly speaking, she didn't report any hope that Gu Huai would accept it.

They hadn't even spoken, and he was so dazzling and excellent, how could he accept her?

Fortunately, she just wanted to tell him her admiration and envy for his excellence in her heart.

All he needs to know, as long as he knows, it's fine.

But to her surprise, Lu Jiming handed her the reply a few days later.

Xiaozhi couldn't believe that this was written to her by Gu Huai, Lu Jiming had no choice but to point to the red engraved seal with Gu Huai's name engraved on the envelope to show her: "You also know that this is an engraved seal that belongs to him alone, right?" ”

This engraving is unique to Gu Huai and is printed underneath each of his paintings.

Twig finally believed, and she reverently opened the letter with trepidation and excitement.

Gu Huai actually said in the letter that he remembered her, and he thought she was very cute and wanted to meet her alone.

In the end, he also attached the address and time, saying that he would wait there for her to come to the appointment.

The letter was like a beautiful dream with scents and pink bubbles, and who could refuse an invitation from a crush boy?

Her mind, which had always been shrouded in gloom and fear, seemed to have received the best healing medicine.

By the time the appointment had been made, she had been in front of the mirror for almost the entire day.

In order to go to the appointment with the best image.

But at that time, Xiaozhi didn't know that what awaited her ahead was not a beautiful girl's dream, but a cruel and boundless nightmare that could send her to hell.