“Mm…”
Tan Qingze let out a muffled groan.
He released the girl he had instinctively caught in his arms. That collision had been anything but light—his lips had been knocked open.
Jiang Lezhi slowly lowered the hand covering her mouth, and there was already a little blood on her palm.
Two girls rushed up from behind and turned Jiang Lezhi around to look her over. “Lezhi! Are you all right?”
Jiang Lezhi waved her hand, then looked at Tan Qingze on the ground. After that, she moved her hands and made several gestures.
Only after the wave of pain had subsided did Jiang Lezhi belatedly realize what had just happened.
In the northern winter, ice formed on the ground and made the roads slippery. Although it was only six o’clock when they came out after class, it was already completely dark.
The streetlamp along the road to the dormitory had happened to break. Jiang Lezhi had not noticed, and her foot slipped. She slid straight down a slope.
Her increasing speed made her terrified, but she could neither speak nor call out. She could not ask anyone for help, either.
Jiang Lezhi did not dare imagine how much it would hurt if she fell onto the ground.
At that moment, she was sliding faster and faster. Jiang Lezhi did not dare move her hands recklessly and could only spread her arms to keep her balance.
The road ahead was pitch-black, and she was terrified.
What frightened her even more was not knowing whether there might be someone ahead. If she hit someone at her current speed, she might even fracture their bones.
Just when Jiang Lezhi had fallen into utter despair, Tan Qingze, who was not far away, seemed to hear a faint rustling sound growing closer behind him.
He glanced back and saw a girl in a white down jacket rapidly sliding in his direction.
It was too dark for Tan Qingze to make out the expression on her face, but the girl’s movements were somewhat clumsy. She did not look as if she were doing it on purpose; rather, it seemed that she could not stop.
Almost instinctively, Tan Qingze reached out his arms. The moment Jiang Lezhi crashed into him, he used the momentum to pull her forcefully against himself.
Jiang Lezhi’s heart nearly stopped. Finally… she had stopped!
Because of the inertia from her slide, the two of them inevitably fell to the ground.
At the moment they fell, Jiang Lezhi’s face bounced and was pressed downward.
The instant they came into contact with something soft, both of them froze.
Jiang Lezhi had been knocked dizzy by the fall. She drew sharp breaths from the pain and forgot to get up from the ground, remaining in that position.
Their lips were pressed tightly together, and their breathing grew hot. Jiang Lezhi’s eyelashes lightly brushed against the boy’s cheek.
It took both of them several seconds to recover. Tan Qingze, who was underneath her, was the first to react and lift the person on top of him. Only then did Jiang Lezhi belatedly realize what had happened.
The road that had just been pitch-black was now unexpectedly illuminated as the streetlamp came on, allowing Tan Qingze to see the girl’s face clearly.
Her cheeks were flushed, and the tip of her nose and the rims of her eyes were also red to varying degrees. When his gaze fell on her lips, Tan Qingze could not help touching his own.
Her lips had swollen almost instantly, and Tan Qingze’s were hardly any better.
Two girls came running down from the direction Jiang Lezhi had slid from.
Tan Qingze got up from the ground, patted his clothes, and glanced at Jiang Lezhi again.
He felt somewhat speechless. He had saved her, after all, yet this person had not even thanked him.
Jiang Lezhi came to her senses and quickly made several hand gestures. She wanted to explain what had just happened to the boy in front of her, but at the moment, she did not quite know how to describe what she was feeling.
As a result, her sign language was somewhat disorganized, though extremely fast.
Thus, from Tan Qingze’s perspective, what he saw was an exceptionally beautiful girl seriously making hand seals at him…
Jiang Lezhi blinked her large, sparkling eyes. When she saw Tan Qingze’s complicated expression, she felt a little awkward and slightly bent at the waist to bow to him.
Tan Qingze cleared his throat. His voice was cool and pleasant. “It’s fine. Be more careful next time.”
At that moment, Jiang Lezhi’s roommates finally ran down as well. They pulled Jiang Lezhi this way and that, looking her over, and only then thanked Tan Qingze beside them.
“Sorry about that, classmate. Thank you for catching Lezhi!”
“Mm.”
Tan Qingze glanced at Jiang Lezhi’s lips once more. Without saying anything else, he rubbed his wrist and walked back.
After Tan Qingze had gone some distance away, her roommate Gu Qing covered her face, looking excited. “Lezhi! Do you know who just saved you?”
Jiang Lezhi shook her head. When she turned around, she saw that her other roommate, Jiang Jiaojiao, was also struggling to hide her excitement.
“It was Tan Qingze!”
Although the two were excited, they did not forget to support Jiang Lezhi as they walked toward the dormitory, talking the whole way.
“Oh, you don’t follow the confession wall, so it’s normal that you didn’t know. Tan Qingze is someone who gets posted on the confession wall every day. That face is so handsome it drives me crazy!”
“But why do you think he still hasn’t dated anyone? It seems like he’s been single ever since we started our freshman year!”
“Ah, what’s the big deal? Lezhi hasn’t dated anyone either, has she?”
“Although the school has never officially selected the most beautiful or most handsome student, who doesn’t know that Tan Qingze, a second-year graduate student, is the universally acknowledged campus heartthrob?”
Gu Qing thought for a moment. “Lezhi seems not to know that.”
Jiang Jiaojiao: “…”
Gu Qing turned her head toward Jiang Lezhi. “Lezhi definitely didn’t know, right?”
“Mm!” Jiang Lezhi nodded.
The three of them continued walking for a few more steps when Jiang Jiaojiao suddenly realized something.
Who had just made that soft, sweet voice?
Gu Qing realized it as well. The two of them looked at Jiang Lezhi in shock together, then pulled excitedly at her hand. “Lezhi, did you just speak?”
Jiang Lezhi’s heart shot into her throat. She had been completely unaware that she had instinctively made a sound just now. Now that the two of them were staring at her, she suddenly grew nervous.
Tentatively, she opened her mouth. “I…”
The instant she heard her own voice, it was as if something exploded inside Jiang Lezhi’s head. The boom shook away every other sound, leaving her able to hear only the beating of her own heart.
“I—I can speak!”
Jiang Lezhi had not spoken a word for three years and had almost forgotten how to produce sound. But at this moment, the memories she had rehearsed countless times in her mind surged forth all at once.
Her voice was soft and sweet, perfectly suited to her. That delicate, tender tone was exactly like her usual personality.
Gu Qing and Jiang Jiaojiao could not concern themselves with anything else and pulled Jiang Lezhi into saying several more words.
For three years, this was the first time they had heard Jiang Lezhi’s voice.
It was so soft!
Before they even returned to the dormitory, Jiang Jiaojiao ran to the supermarket to buy something to celebrate Jiang Lezhi regaining her ability to speak, while Jiang Lezhi stood by the roadside and spoke again and again.
Only after confirming that she could produce sound normally did her eyes redden uncontrollably.
Jiang Lezhi hurriedly called her family. When her parents on the other end heard her voice, they became so excited that they slapped their thighs.
That night, Jiang Lezhi lay in bed after the lights in the dormitory had been turned off. She touched her throat and tentatively tried speaking in a soft voice.
Her vocal cords were vibrating.
She… could really speak again!
That night, she was so excited she nearly went crazy. She did not manage to fall asleep until three in the morning.
When she woke up, Jiang Lezhi pulled open the curtain around her bed. She opened her mouth, wanting to wish the others good morning.
But this time, she failed to make a sound. She tried several more times, yet there was not the slightest vibration in her throat. She could no longer produce any sound at all—not even a single syllable!